Page 24 of Here You Are

I stretched and checked under the covers to make sure no boobs fell out of my dress during the night. I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit my day to the brothers, but he seemed to be a good ally for the confrontation that was about to go down this morning.

“Sure. I need to get freshened up and let Cora know we aren’t sisters anymore. Then I would be happy to meet you for breakfast since you survived the night.”

“I understand this was not what you had envisioned, but I consider this a roommate upgrade. Let’s go find those rascals.”

We didn’t get far before we found Jeffrey leaning against the hallway outside the door, fast asleep in last night's clothes.

Justin kicked his leg, and Jeffrey snapped awake. “Why the hell are you sleeping in the hallway?”

“How the hell should I know? I came back to the room last night, and you wouldn’t let me in. I tried going back to Cora's room, and she didn’t answer. So, this seemed as good a spot as any to sleep. I’m just glad we are at the end of the hallway, so I didn’t get run over by the room service cart this morning. Mind letting me in? I’d like to change and brush my teeth because I’m pretty sure a buffalo shit in my mouth during the night,” Jeffrey explained.

“Where is your key?”

“Beats me. I definitely could have used it to come snuggle with you guys last night if I knew where it was,” he shrugged.

Justin let him in the room and told him to meet us at breakfast. We walked off toward my room, and I let out a little giggle.

“What’s so funny?” Justin asked.

“Oh, man, if you knew me at all, you would not believe how out of character the last twelve hours have been. I’m not even that mad at Cora for kicking me out of my room and my comfort zone. She’s probably waiting back in the room for me to rain terror down on her.”

As soon as we walked up to my room, the door popped open. Cora screamed and pulled me into her arms.

“Oh, my God. I thought you were dead. In a Mexican jail! Sold to the Cartel! Swimming with the fishes!” She yelled while shaking my body back and forth.”Why didn’t you answer your phone? Why didn’t you come back to the room?”

“My phone is dead, and my charger was trapped in the room with the brother you were boning.”

“How do you know we boned? Where did you sleep?”

“Cora! I know because I walked in on you guys. How much did you drink?”

“I literally drank everything Mexico had to offer, so clearly the details are fuzzy!” she cried. “Where did you sleep? Where is Jeffrey?”

“I slept in their room. He is back in the room getting ready to meet up for breakfast.”

Her eyes bug out of her head. “YOU slept in a room with two strange men?”

“Just one strange man.” I looked over to see Justin smirk. “Jeffrey slept in the hallway because no one would let him into either of the rooms he occupied. Are you ready to go for breakfast?”

“Yes, give me a second to comprehend that you’re still alive and now someone who sleeps with strangers. Wait.” She looked between us. “Did you guys sleep together?”

Justin let out a laugh-snort. “I just barely had her convinced I wasn’t going to murder her in the night. I wasn’t going to try anything for fear she would murder me in response. I’m a little scared of her.”

“Me too, kid,” Cora agreed.

“Well, don’t let me scare you, but I’m going to go get ready. Why don’t you guys go get us a table, and I’ll be down in ten minutes.

“I really don’t want to have breakfast with my one-night stand. That kind of goes against my whole belief system,” Cora moaned.

While I understand this is an awkward situation for her—as I would probably have the same complaints—she had put me in a top-tier awkward situation the night before. I saw my sister having sex, was kicked out of my own room, and slept in a stranger's room.

“Well, Cora baby. I myself was in an awkward situation, and Justin saved the day, so I'm going to treat him to breakfast. " You're coming with me whether you like it or not.”

“Treating him to breakfast at an all-inclusive resort, really generous,” Cora mutters. “All right, you knight in shining swim trunks, let's go have breakfast.”

I didn’t really need time to get ready, but I did need a minute to myself to take a few deep breaths and be grateful I made it through the night. It could have been so much worse. Justin seems like a nice guy. I’m thinking he might be a bit younger than me. Jeffrey is the older brother. And Justin’s local, so who knows. I pause my train of thought to berate myself for thinking of turning a Mexico situation into something long-term. I think he likes me, though. At least enough to let me sleep in his room.

I arrived for breakfast. Cora, Justin, and Jeffrey were already there waiting for me, sipping on coffee. I sat down as soon as I got there, and they all stood up and left to get their food.