Seven Groomsmen from Hell Page 5

  “Damn right it’s probably not going to happen. If you haven’t forgotten, she can’t stand you guys,” Kent said.

  I lifted my drink to my face, but muttered before I took a sip, “that should make the points for the first even higher.”

  “Yes!” Luke said, pointing at me excitedly.

  “Take it off,” Kent growled.

  Luke shook his head. “We’re not taking it off, but we solemnly swear we will not touch her, or even try, or even pretend to try, until after the wedding. Dr. Cody will you please prescribe Kent a double-dose of chill pills.”

  “I could, but that probably wouldn’t do it,” Cody said, and everyone laughed.

  Kent started to loosen up once we assured him that we would not do anything with Khloe until after the wedding, and we finished enjoying a couple more rounds of drinks, and then retired to our rooms for the night. Just before falling asleep, we got a group message from Luke. It included a picture of the scorecard he drafted, alongside a text:

  I don’t know if any of you jacked off to the thought of doing this with Khloe, but I know I did. Let the games begin.

  10

  Khloe

  “Khloe, pleeeeeease?” Anna was standing in my hotel room trying to convince me to go sunbathing with her despite the fact that I was just sitting with her and Kent at breakfast when he mentioned that all the groomsmen would be on the beach today. “It’ll be fun, and I’ll be bored with all the guys playing and Kent ignoring me.”

  “Just like the good ol’ days,” I spat back, not intending to be as mean as I sounded. Anna poked out her bottom lip and I knew I’d dug myself a grave. “I’m sorry, that was mean, but I’m really looking forward to not having to deal with the guys today.”

  “So don’t deal with them,” Anna responded. She looked so innocent with her pixie haircut, and her eyes glowing in the morning sunlight streaming in through the window, it was hard to deny her; like a little kid asking for candy. “Kent said he made them promise to lay off you last night because it’s almost the wedding day, plus we’ll look so good with nice island tans in the wedding photos.” She grabbed my arm and pulled. “Please? It’s my wedding.”

  I sat there looking at her in disdain before finally letting out a sigh. “Fine.”

  Anna jumped up. “Yes! It’s gonna be great.” She ran into the bathroom and when she came back she had a towel in her hands. It was wrapped in an orange bow and had my name on it. “Here.”

  I took it with a smile, but a slight tilt to my head. “I think the resort supplies towels.”

  “Just open it,” Anna whined.

  I undid the bow and unfurled a towel and a peach bathing suit fell out. The bottoms had a cute ruffle around the waist and the top had an ‘M’ on the right cup and an ‘H’ on the left cup, and they were attached with a silver clasp that looked like an ‘O’ so when looking at it it had the initials ‘MoH’ for ‘Maid of Honor.’ The towel was white and had letters scrawled across that read, ‘I’m with the bride’ and when I looked back up at Anna, she’d opened her sundress to reveal her matching bathing suit that ‘BtB’ for ‘Bride to Be’ on it, and held up her towel that said, ‘I’m the bride.’ It was adorable.

  “Oh my god,” I said. “This is too cute. I can’t.”

  Anna nodded. “I know! Aren’t you glad you agreed to come?”

  I laughed. “That remains to be seen, but I do love these.” I hugged her. “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you,” she responded, then she pushed me away. “Now go change so we can hit the beach!”

  I did exactly that. I skipped into my bathroom and put on the new bathing suit that Anna got me, feeling a little arrogant at how cute it looked on me. The bottoms hugged my wide hips perfectly, and the ruffles brought attention to my full thighs, that I was actually a big fan of. The top struggled to contain my breasts, but in a way that was teasing and fun, and despite the fact that I was a bigger girl, my belly was flat and toned, so I didn’t mind going out in a bikini top. If Luke really did find me attractive, he was going to eat his heart out. I pulled on a pair of shorts and one of my loose, yarn shawls that I always wore to the beach, and then Anna and I headed out.

  When we got down to the beach, the game of beach football that Kent had told Anna and I would be happening was already underway. Many of the resort guests had gathered around and were watching the game, and it wasn’t hard to see why. All of the guys glistening with sweat, with their abs revealed to the world and their calves working overtime to grip the loose sand as they ran around and tackled one another; they were a treat for the eyes for sure. Kent fit right in among the good looking men, with his feathered, light brown hair, perfectly sculpted body, and deep dimples, and the eight of them simply looked good doing what they did best.

  “Damn, my husband is sexy,” Anna hissed.

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re very lucky,” I replied. “Put lotion on me.”

  We found a spot near enough to the game to watch, but far enough away to not be sucked into the crowd, and put our towels down. Once we were comfortable, we took out the suntan lotion and took turns helping one another apply generous coats.

  “So,” Anna asked as she massaged some across my back. “How’s it going with these guys? I know you hate them and you’re only tolerating them for me, but are things getting any better?”

  “What about the way those men behave would make you think they’d get better for any reason?” I responded. “You were the one that told me that they were uncivilized and awful.”

  “I know,” Anna responded, “but you’re so great. I guess I assumed you’d soften them up.”

  She wasn’t entirely wrong. I couldn’t stand them, but after hearing Luke and Cody talk on the plane a couple of days prior, it was clear I’d had some sort of profound affect. “I’m just holding onto my few remaining threads of sanity. This process with them has been trying.”

  Anna whimpered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for my wedding to stress you out.”

  I whipped around and grabbed Anna’s hands. “No! I’m so glad I got to do this for you. I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. I’d deal with these men for another six months for you.”

  Anna smiled. “Thank you, you’re a good friend.”

  “Besides,” I said, squeezing some lotion onto my hands and rubbing it onto Anna’s back. “It isn’t just because of them. I also had a friend come to stay with me for a while. She’s having a tough time back home.”

  “Oh no,” Anna said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Her name is Jordan. Believe it or not, she’s in love with six men.”

  “Six?!” Anna yelped. “I can barely handle one.”

  I laughed and she joined me. “I know.”

  I decided to keep it to myself that I’d considered that type of relationship on more than one occasion. I opened my mouth to say something else, when I was interrupted by a voice singing at me from across the beach.

  “Oh, mistress!” I rolled my eyes at the sight of Luke leading all seven men in my direction, still shirtless, still glistening, still mouthwatering, still assholes.

  I dug my foot into the sand and prepared to take off. “Bye.”

  Anna grabbed my arm and held me in place. “No! You said you were going to sunbathe with me. Just ignore them. What was that you just said? You’d deal with them for another six months for me?”

  I glared at Anna and rolled my eyes. “Bitch.”

  “Love you too,” Anna responded.

  I pulled my sunglasses from the top of my head where they had been sitting, down over my eyes, and tried to lay back and relax, but my body was tied in more knots than a sailor’s rope. All those good-looking men headed straight at me, my groin was tingling just imagining two or three of them having their way with me.

  I shook the lurid thoughts from my mind as Kent ran interference to try and keep the guys out of our hair. I could overhear him telling them that we were trying to tan and that if they knew better, they’d avoid us.
I took out the notebook I’d brought with me to the beach and started double checking that I had everything in line for the wedding. The videographer was all set up to tape it for Anna and Kent’s families back home. Cece said the flowers would be arriving 24 hours before the wedding. I’d already called to confirm the venue was ready, and I would be able to get in the night before to make sure it was decorated appropriately. I’d spoken with the caterer who was already on the island and ready to prepare the perfect tropical food for Anna’s ideal day. The groomsmen…

  I looked up and saw the groomsmen all eyeing me from where they were standing by Kent.

  …the groomsmen were all there, and that was probably going to be the biggest problem I’d have to face.

  11

  Cody

  I was feeling good from our first game of beach football and was ready to get into game two. It was a beautiful day on the beach, with the sand not too hot that it couldn’t be walked on, but still warm enough that it felt good on my bare feet as I charged through it. My calves were on fire from fighting against the malleable sand, but I knew that it was only strengthening them for my favorite past-time of running.

  All the guys were gathered up and ready to get a second game going, but we’d reached something of an impasse. The game was fun, but we were all inherently competitive guys, and just playing for shits and giggles wasn’t enough to really get our blood pumping. Some of the beach goers had gathered around to watch us play against one another, but it still didn’t really feel like the stakes were high enough.

  “A hundred dollars?” David suggested for a bet.

  “That’s chump change for us,” Brett replied.

  “A thousand?” Mason said.

  I shook my head. “It’s not money. That’s not what we need to bet. It needs to be something else.”

  “Well what? Booze? A car?” Bram said. “I can’t think of anything besides money.”

  We stood there in silence for a minute all trying to put our minds on what we could bet to make the game more interesting. We were a very tight knit group and shared a lot of things, so most of our material property was always at one another’s disposal. I knew that we had to bet something high profile to make the game worth playing, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around what that item would be. I started to look around the beach, hoping that maybe something one of the guests had on them that would help me figure it out, when my eyes found the perfect thing.

  Not too far from where we were playing, sunbathing on a towel, with her milky skin shimmering in the sun, was Khloe. I zeroed in like a crosshairs through a scope. Damn she was lovely. She was perfect as far as I was concerned. As a doctor, I was well aware of what a good, healthy woman looked like, and Khloe was it with a cherry on top, or should I say it with two big, voluptuous breasts on top and a pert, apple ass on the bottom. Most women weren’t good-looking enough to make me blink when they passed by, but Khloe was enough to make me stop and look twice.

  I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see Luke’s jaw clench and eyes pierce, almost as if he was angry, but I knew he was trying to keep his arousal in check; weren’t we all? It didn’t help that we’d indulged ourselves in a conversation about actually getting Khloe; it had probably made things much worse for everyone. Still, something interesting caught my eye as I turned my head to take another drink of Khloe’s form. Despite her best attempts to seem like she wasn’t, every few seconds her eyes would drift up and land on Luke. It did make me briefly jealous that he was the one drawing her attention, but I couldn’t necessarily blame her. I didn’t need to be a woman to see that Luke was a Greek god. He had chiseled, toned abs, and well-defined biceps. He’d been considered for a popular magazine’s yearly ‘Most Attractive Man of the Year’ award, just barely losing out to a world-renowned actor. Bram and Brett were near the top of the pack too, but even I could see they had nothing on Luke. He was gorgeous, and if Khloe was going to give in to any one of us, it was likely to be him.

  That’s when it hit me. Khloe was the bet.

  I was fully aware of the fact that we were crossing over from demeaning with the scorecard to straight up pigs offering her as a bet, but if we were going to do it, why not go all in? I pulled Luke a few feet away from the guys, mostly Kent, and lowered my voice.

  “I know what we’re gonna bet,” I said. “Gotta keep it from Kent though.”

  Luke didn’t look crazy about the idea. He was Kent’s best friend and the best man at his wedding, so it probably made him a little uncomfortable to keep something from him. After contemplating it for a few seconds, however, he peeked over his shoulder at Kent and then nodded an affirmation at me.

  “The winner gets to make the first move on Khloe,” I said.

  Luke let out a dramatic gasp. “You wanna bet ‘The First?’ We can’t do that.”

  “Scared you’re gonna lose?” I teased. “This is your job, right? Surely you’ll have no problem beating me.”

  Luke’s face got a little red. Whether or not he was planning on maintaining his promise to Kent to not touch Khloe until after the wedding, he’d probably already decided that he’d be the first one. In truth, I wasn’t actually planning on beating Luke and winning the right to go for her first, but I wasn’t going to just roll over and let him take it; if we wanted something interesting to bet, this was certainly it.

  “What about the rest of the guys? We can’t all bet it if we’re playing in teams,” Luke said.

  “We’ll play three games. First four versus four. The winning team splits into two teams, each team gets two of the losers, and we play again. The two guys on the winning team from the second round, who also won the first round, become captains, the captains pick teams for the final round, and we duke out. The winning captain gets to ask out Khloe,” I explained. “Easy.”

  “‘Oh, look at me. I’m a doctor. I’m good at math,’” Luke mocked.

  “You have a business degree,” I growled at him. “Quit stalling and man up,” I said.

  Luke peeked back at the guys, then over at Khloe, then back at me. “How do we tell the other guys without telling Kent?”

  I clapped my hands and turned around and walked over to Kent. “Hey, Kent.”

  Kent turned around and looked at me. “Yeah? Are you two about done making out over there?”

  “Hilarious,” I said flatly, just as Luke was making his way over as well. “Luke and I thought it might shake things up to do things tournament style. Each of us pitches in $50 and the winner gets $400.”

  “How will only one person win?” Kent asked.

  “A three game style where the winners keep splitting teams until we’re down to two. I’ll explain it all, but it’ll be easier if I can write it out on a piece of paper.” I pointed over to where Khloe and Anna were sitting, feeling a bit of internal pride at the way Khloe jumped and turned her head away the second I did it. “Since we’re not allowed to go near Khloe, can you go ask to borrow a piece of paper and a pencil?”

  “We could just keep score on our phones like we did the first game?” Luke said. I turned and looked at him and sighed. For an incredibly intelligent man, he could be really thick. He stared back at me for a moment and his eyes widened. “Oh, right, you’re a doctor so you prefer shittily writing things out.”

  Kent snickered. “Good one.” He fist bumped Luke and then turned and rushed off towards Khloe and Anna.

  When he was close enough to the women, Anna jumped up to kiss Kent and I knew he’d be distracted for a couple of minutes. I gathered the rest of the guys and explained my plan. Even though everyone was still trying to be somewhat solicitous of Luke being the first one to lust after Khloe, it didn’t take much to get them on board. Everyone was fired up to compete for the challenge to be Khloe’s first of the seven of us, or at least to be the first one shot down. It kicked the fire into us all that we needed to make the football games high stakes and adrenaline fueling. I explained that everyone was going to have to ante up $50 bucks if for some reason Ke
nt won, but it was a small price to pay for the chance to go after Khloe.

  Once Kent got back with the paper and pen from Khloe, I explained the modified rules to him, we decided we would play to 18 and then wrote out the brackets. The first round teams were decided completely at random. I used the bottom of the paper we got from Khloe to write all of our names on, and then let a couple of the onlookers draw two names from a hat for captains. Each captain then drew names randomly until we had two teams of four. Kent was the captain of the first team and drew Mason, Brett, and David, and Luke was captain of the second team and drew me, Bram, and Christian. A coin toss determined that Kent’s team was the receiving team and the game was underway.

  It became clear fairly quickly that the teams were pretty mismatched. Even though Luke got saddled with the two “non-ballers” of the group, me and Bram, we worked together with Christian and Luke so well, that you wouldn’t know we weren’t professionals. Toss in the fact that Mason and David were used to working with Luke as the quarterback, so trying to play with Kent who was traditionally a defensive player was a bit of a struggle. We were more agile, younger, and more adept, and the match ended in a complete slaughter; 18-0.

  For the next round, we followed a similar system. A guest watching us play picked two names at random to be captains, and then each of them picked one name at random from the remaining two winners. The captains then had their pick of the losers to round out their teams. The captains pulled were Christian and me, and Christian pulled Bram, which left me with Luke. Luke and I had gotten close over the course of our friendship and I was confident we could pull out a second victory, plus it would be delightful irony for it to be he and I in the final matchup.