“Another surprise?” she asked, eagerly picking up her crab-cracker. She stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and concentrated on breaking the hard shell of the crab.

I took a sip of my beer and leaned over my plate. Her eyes met mine.

“You’ve got a lifetime of surprises coming your way, Doc.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Dre

My next surprise turned out to be Ray and Thia who were kind enough to organize a bachelorette for me. They’d both become great friends in recent months.

They took me to a bar called Hansen’s where we played pool, drank pitchers of warm beer (everyone except Ray), danced to the music from the live band, and talked about all things wife/woman/mother/life while pretending like we didn’t know that Wolf and Rev, who were standing on opposite corners of the room, were sent to keep an eye on us.

After our second pitcher of beer, I excused myself to use the restroom.

I was in a stall doing my business when I heard the door open. A wave of loud music from the band came bursting in then swiftly disappeared as the door was shut again. I didn’t think anything of it until I heard the door being locked. Footsteps slowly clacked across the uneven tile. “Ray?” I asked. “Thia?”

No answer.

I really wished the stall was the kind you could see under but no such luck, the door went all the way to the floor.

Fear turned to panic as the footsteps stopped just outside the stall.

I pulled up my panties and pulled down my dress assessing where I could go or what I could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. I was about to just push open the stall hoping to hit whoever was standing behind it and make my escape when a loud knock came at the bathroom door. “Why the fuck is this locked?” A female voice slurred, followed by more knocking. “Open up we gotta pee,” another girl shouted.

The footsteps retreated. I heard the door being unlocked followed by both the music and the chatting girls stumbling their way in.

I slowly unlatched the door and when I emerged there were only two girls in the bathroom. One was fixing her lipstick. The other was peeing in the sink with her red panties down around her ankles.

“Was there anyone else just in here?” I asked.

“No, but we thought the door was locked, but I think it was just jammed, we got it open.”

“And there was no one else in here?” I asked. “Are you sure?”

Did I imagine the footsteps?

“No one but us and our fine selves,” the one girl answered, hopping off the sink and pulling up her panties. “Wait, were you waiting for someone so you could like hook-up in the bathroom?” The other girl asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “That’s so slutty, I fucking love it.”

I left them behind in the bathroom. The only explanation for what I experienced was a left over side effect from when Preppy’s mom had someone attempt to kidnap me. Fear in its most basic form running amok.

She’s dead. There’s nothing to fear. I reminded myself.

Plus, there was a very important day coming up, so of course I was a little on edge.

Logically, there was no way someone could have been in the bathroom, unlocked the door and left, without those two girls not seeing them. By the time I’d made it back to the pool table to join Ray and Thia, I’d convinced myself that it was all a misunderstanding and I’d let my imagination and fear take over.

It was my bachelorette party after all. I was going to make the best of it.

Ray handed me a shot and I took it without asking what was in it. The clear liquid burned my throat on the way down. No sooner than I set the glass down on a nearby table did a pair of masculine hands grabbed me around the waist from behind. I shrieked, but the voice only laughed. He released me and I twirled around to find myself face to face with Brandon!

I shrieked again, this time in delight instead of fear. I jumped into his arms and gave him a hug that bordered on strangling. “Hey, doll face,” he said, setting me back on the floor.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” I said.

“These girls over here called me and told me that it would be a major life travesty if you didn’t have your bestest friend in the entire world here for your bachelorette.” Ray and Thia paused their game of pool. “So here I am! You have them to thank.”

“Thank you so much guys,” I said, leaning against Brandon. I’d missed him in recent months. A few phone calls a week wasn’t the same as having him nearby all the time.

“Don’t thank us,” Ray said, lining up her shot.

“Yeah, I don’t even know what he’s talking about,” Thia added with a wink.

“I’m glad they let a boy crash your party, especially since they just tossed one out,” Brandon said with a wink, tossing down his own shot and wincing with one eye shut.

“What? Who?”

“Oh, he means Kevin,” Thia said, sinking the corner shot she’d been aiming for. “He showed up just as you went to the bathroom. Tried to crash our party so we gave him the boot. No boys allowed...” she looked to Brandon, “unless that boy likes other boys.”

Thia looked to Wolf and Rev who were scanning the crowd. “Or unless you’ve been hired to be here for security,” she amended.

They all clinked their beer bottles together. “Hey, is everything okay?” Brandon asked me with a nudge. I couldn’t help the sinking feeling in my stomach.

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine,” I said, because it was. It’s not like Kevin would make his presence known to a bunch of potential witnesses and then try to assault me in the bathroom.

Right?

I plastered a smile on my face. The rest of the night was spent laughing, playing pool, dancing, drinking, and singing off key at the top of our lungs. At no point did I think of that incident again because I was having a great time.

It wasn’t even lingering in the back of my mind at all. Not even a little bit. Since it couldn’t have happened, it didn’t need to be thought about.

Not when the bar shut down and we all said our goodbye’s. Not when Wolf drove me home. Not when I turned the key in the lock. Not when I pushed open the door. Not when I slowly walked passed Kevin’s shut door before checking in on Bo. Not even when I curled in bed next to Preppy and wrapped myself around his big warm sleeping body.