Page 114 of Earned Husband

The next thing I knew, someone grabbed my ankle and another pair of hands caught my other leg. I jerked awake just as someone grabbed my wrist. I tried to sit up, but it seemed there was someone holding my shoulders too.

“What is happening?” I asked as my eyes flew open to find every single one of the Saad brothers gathered around my bed.

“No talking,” Rami announced. “Tarek, get his pillow.”

“My pillow?” I echoed. “What the hell is going on?” I blinked into the early morning darkness. Khaled smirked as he watched his brothers physically lift me out of bed. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Tarek said happily, motioning at the youngest two brothers. “Lift his legs higher. Put your back into it!”

“This is definitely not safe!” I protested as I left the mattress completely against my will while Rami laughed so hard he nearly dropped me, but the procession charged through the house, Khaled leading the way outside.

Nobody bothered telling me where we were going, but I finally caught on when I saw the pool. My entire body stiffened. “No! Guys, come on.”

They didn’t slow down, marching toward the water with such deliberate strides that I knew my fate was sealed. Moments later, they swung me a few times, then launched me at the pool. I hit with what felt like a spectacular splash, the cold water swallowing me whole.

I surfaced to cheers and clapping. Rami was laughing so hard that it looked like he was about to fall over while Tarek wiped tears from his eyes. A few of the younger cousins I hadn’t even realized were with us high-fived each other like they’d just won a championship.

Khaled wandered over to the edge of the pool. “You’re awake now. We can begin.”

I shoved wet hair out of my face and rolled my eyes. “I was awake as soon as Tarek grabbed my foot.”

“No, you were waking up. Now, you are awake.” He offered me a towel after I’d heaved myself out of the pool. “It’s time for your bachelor party. We couldn’t begin while you were still half asleep. It would’ve been rude. What if you’d missed something?”

I glanced at the sky, only just starting to grow lighter. “You want my bachelor party to start at dawn?”

He looked genuinely confused. “When else would it be?”

A familiar laugh echoed across the courtyard, and when I looked up, I spotted Isaac standing in the crowd, bent over with both hands on his knees, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “You’re really early.”

“Man, I love your new family,” he wheezed, barely able to get a word out for how hard he was still laughing. “Of course, I came early. Did you really think I was going to miss this?”

CHAPTER 48

DEJA

Today, the women of Colin’s family would be arriving, which meant we were all supposed to be preparing to receive them, but with the resort staff doing most of the heavy lifting, Jasmine and I were huddled under an umbrella by the pool and she was giving me all the juicy details of Colin’s forced bachelor party.

“He swam in the Nile,” she said, grinning as I gaped at her. “Twice.”

“Twice?”

“Well, the second time wasn’t entirely voluntary. Tarek said something about tequila and convincing Colin to race him.”

I groaned. “No.”

“Yes.” She peeked at me over the rim of her giant sunglasses. “They also took him to that nightclub in Zamalek, you know, the one with the karaoke rooms?”

“They sang?” I winced. “That’s awful.”

“Some of them, but I think they might’ve gotten kicked out for being too loud, so then they bought matching tourist hats and Tarek might’ve tried negotiating for a camel, but it bit him.”

I laughed, trying to imagine what that day must’ve been like for Colin, but it sounded like they’d had fun doing innocent, drunken things. “I’m sure Tarek deserved the bite.”

“Even he said that he did,” she admitted, then chuckled again. “Anyway, I think they might’ve broken your fiancé. Nanna thought he was dying because he spent the last two days in bed.”

My amusement died an immediate and fiery death. “What?”