Bathroom Ambush
Bathroom Ambush
The silence during dinner as Cruz pondered the evidence, she felt she very neatly laid out in front of him was extremely uncomfortable. It hung over her like a shroud and she was as wrapped up in her own misery as he
was in his.
All of her life he thought they were in some kind of mutual prank war, and it was all started because her brother lied and said her mother beat him up. She didn’t even know what to make of it. What she did know was bo
mother was going to be devastated when she told her.
“How was your meal?” the overly chipper server interrupted Presley’s thoughts. “Can I interest either of you in dessert? We have a delicious crème brulée or a small collection of patisseries.”
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“No thank you.”
“Yes, the patisseries, please.” Cruz spoke over her.
“Seriously Cruz?” she growled at him when the server walked away carrying their dishes. “I’m ready for this to
be done.”
“We’ve barely spoken a word in nearly thirty minutes. My photographer probably hasn’t gotten a single good photo. We’re going to have dessert, we’re going to smile at each other like a loving couple. I’m probably going to feed you a few bites of the petit fours or whatever the f**k they call the little treats we’re going to share and then we’ll go dancing.”
“I don’t want to go dancing with you.”
“And yet, we’re going to. This is one of our Vancouver dates, remember?”
“Fine but I need the bathroom.”
“Leave your bag here.”
“What?”
“Leave the bag here. If you’re going to the toilet, leave your bag here with the room card because I’m not having you disappear on me after you’ve climbed out the bathroom window or something absurd.”
“Fine,” she almost shrieked with frustration when he called her out on exactly what she was going to do. She got up and marched to the bathroom, grumbling all the way.
A woman was in the lavatory washing her hands when Presley stepped in, and she didn’t even meet the woman’s gaze as she closed the stall door and threw her hands frustratedly into the air. None of this vacation was going the way she wanted. She’d been hoping for a relaxing vacation which would invigorate her mind, get her creative juices flowing again and reset her emotions because she’d been feeling the pressure and weight of the demands of making each book better than the last. This however was the antithesis of what she’d expected and despite her earlier words to Sloane about wanting to pack up and go home, she truly didn’t want to. Going home meant facing her parents and Odin again and she was so tired of them and the drama which came with being a Brookmore,
She came out of the bathroom and noted the woman who was washing her hands was still there fixing her lipstick. Presley went to the second sink and washed her hands offering a tight smile.
“I saw you and your partner having dinner. Looked intense. Your s****l chemistry is so evident,” the woman
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said with a sideways glance. “Are you a committed couple or just starting out?
She wasn’t sure what this woman’s angle was but considering how much s**t she was already in with enz she decided it would be in her best interests if she ever wanted a door back on her bathroom to go along with the narrative Cruz and his PR team created. “We’re engaged. Having a pre–wedding vacation before the chaos of everything. We didn’t schedule things very well and everything after our wedding is booked solid and we were going to take a honeymoon next year but decided we were feeling a bit weighed down and decided to reconnect before the wedding.”
“It’s really nice to spend time together. He can’t take his eyes off you.”
Probably because he suspected she was going to run and leave him at the table. She smiled benignly. “I’m sure there are times he wishes I’d disappear, but he’s been very attentive since we’ve gotten here
“Here’s the thing,” the woman approached her, “my husband and I are here with a couple of friends and they’re turning out to be the worst.”
“I’m sorry to hear this.”
“No, you don’t understand. We’re swingers.”
Nothing could have prepared Presley for the words which came from the other woman’s mouth. “Oh.” She barely got the word out. Was this another Cruz prank? “Damn you Hawley,” she thought angrily. “Even in the
bathroom?”
“I love my husband. I do. His c**k is everything a girl can dream of, you know, and he knows what he’s doing with it. However, I’m bi and I love to play with a woman while her partner does or to watch while two men give her pleasure or be watched,” the woman went on and on at length about her s****I likes while Presley stood there unsure of what the woman was actually saying because she felt she was underwater, and her ears were full. “So anyway, long story short, since our traveling companions, who usually are great fun back home, are fighting constantly, my husband and I can’t be bothered to play with them. My husband noticed you as soon and your fiancé ever as you two came into the restaurant and I noticed you two seconds after him. Have you considered swinging? Do you want to explore with us?”
Presley smiled hoping it wasn’t coming off as crazy as she felt and exhaled, “wow. I’ve never had someone make such an offer to me in a bathroom before.”
“Really? Sweetie with your looks I’m surprised you don’t have couples chasing you down to be their third all the time. I mean your partner is hot, don’t get me wrong but you,” the woman ran her hand down Presley’s arm, “are next level. We’re staying in one of the villas on the beach. What are your plans for the rest of the
evening?”
“Dancing,” it was all she could spit out.
“Well, maybe we will see you there. Think about it. My name is Paris.” She again dragged her palm down Presley’s and then when her hand touched Presley’s hand she squeezed it.
Presley stood there for several long seconds after the woman left before she made her way back to the t where Cruz was glaring in her direction.
“What took so long? I almost got up to go check to make sure you didn’t climb out the window.”
“Um,” she was stunned to silence. It was not anything she was accustomed to feeling. She looked around the room and noticed the couple were talking to one another and looking at her directly. “Are you pranking me
O
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again?”
“With what, Ladybird?”
“Swingers in the bathroom?”
“I’m sorry, what?” he followed her gaze, and the woman named Paris wiggled her fingers in a hello at him.” What do you mean?”
“They are swingers. She asked if we, as a committed couple, ever swing: It seems the people they are traveling with are their usual swinging partners are back at their room fighting, I think. I lost part of what she was saying as I panicked.”
He leaned forward and met her eyes, “tell me you said no,”
“I didn’t say anything, Cruz. At first, I thought she was simply being friendly in the bathroom. You know, girl talk or something, but she hit on me. She said she likes girls, and her husband likes girls and something about watching while her husband pleasures me or something,” she grabbed one of the little desserts off the plate between them with her fingers and shoved it into her mouth. “You did it, right? You set me up in the bathroom to be embarrassed?”
“f**k no, Ladybird. Are you kidding me? We,” he waved his hand between them, “are incredible. I don’t want to
share.”
“We aren’t anything.” She shot back covering her mouth to stop the delicious square of cake from spitting all over the table. “You didn’t plan this?”
“No. I don’t want to watch someone else f*****g you,” he said with a bite to his tone.
“Cruz you almost sound jealous.” She snickered as her own heart rate started to come down and even out.
“I am.” He picked up a piece of what looked like a truffle and set it on his plate. He used a knife to cut it in half and then held a piece out to her.
“What?” she took the piece of chocolate from him. She closed her eyes as the chocolate and strawberry confection nearly melted on her tongue. “Oh my god this is good. It’s better than the food we ate.”
“You’re making my d**k hard with all the moaning.” He shot a sideways glance at the couple who was still watching Presley, “their d***s too.”
She kicked him under the table. “Why are you jealous?”
“Because I haven’t experienced s*x like what we shared today in,” he paused, “actually in ever. We’re like nitrous oxide. Boom,” he let his hands make an explosion gesture around his head.
“You’re insane. You’re my brother’s best friend and my childhood bully.”
“Which I’ve apologized for, and Odin and I are not best friends, not ever again.”
“Yes, you are,” she laughed.
“Look, Presley, he and I barely talk once a month if that. The day at your house for brunch was the first ti I’ve seen him since last summer when he visited me in Toronto.”
“You’ve been in Vancouver six months.”
“I know!” he rubbed his chin, “last summer when he visited, he got drunk at a strip bar and when he was arrested for his behavior, he used my name as his get out of jail free card. He called me from the back of a
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cruiser and the cop did me a solid and brought him to me at my office building. I met them in the lobby and Presley, he was so drunk he puked in the lobby and argued with my security personnel. After I put him on a private plane back to Vancouver, I told him I was really busy and have been ducking his calls. Honestly, Vancouver makes better sense for me from a professional standpoint because a lot of my investors are Chinese and Southeast Asian. I’m closer to my investors in Vancouver but I dreaded coming back. I’ve been lying to him for months telling him I’m too busy. The day we ate brunch at your parent’s house I faked the call from my tech guy.”
“You’re kidding,” she was stunned.
“No. I’m not. Look, Presley, both Anderson and I have been avoiding him but both for different reasons. When he’s around me, he drinks, to excess and then tells everyone he can do what he wants because he’s with the son of the richest man in Canada. When he’s with Anderson he wants to go out whoring for women. He gets Anderson to bring the women to the table. The last time he went out with Anderson,” Cruz sighed, “Anderson said he didn’t know what Odin said to the woman but while Anderson was dancing with one of the two girls on the dance floor, the woman dumped an entire pitcher of beer on Odin and the server who brought it over, clapped.”
“Sounds about right,” she muttered.
“We’ve been friends with him since we were five in kindergarten but the last couple of years, we’ve drifted apart and we’re good with it. If I’m going to choose between the Brookmore siblings, I’ll very happily choose the one I’m sitting across from now.”
Tatienne Richard
Note this story is going pay to read
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