When Asher embraces Joey, she eyes me skeptically over his shoulder. “What were you two doing?”
“N-nothing. We just got here,” I reply as evenly as possible.
“You’re not staying with my sister, are you?” Cam locks hands with Asher—hard, by the bulge in the veins in his forearm.
“What?” Asher says, his face paling a little.
Cam nods to the brown leather bag Asher dropped just inside the door when we arrived.
Panic rising inside me, I swoop in. “Nope. His room wasn’t ready yet, so I said he could leave his stuff here until later.”
The look Joey gives me is intense enough to burn a hole through my retinas if I made direct eye contact, I’m sure of it.
“Give me a minute to change and we can go.” I sling my weekender over my shoulder and head for my bedroom.
“Hurry up,” both Cam and Asher shout after me.
I toss them matching middle fingers without turning around.
When I return, Cam and Joey are hunched over Asher’s phone, swiping through pictures and videos of Bea and wearing the biggest smiles.
As I approach, they all straighten up and Asher tucks his phone into the pocket of his shorts. He’s wearing a backward hat now, obviously ignoring my request of lookingless sexy.
“Where should we go?” I ask, once we’re on the sweltering streets of Manhattan. I’m so glad I changed into an athletic dress.
My brother clasps Joey’s hand and leads us west. “I know the perfect place.”
Asher and I fall in line behind them, and every several steps, his hand grazes my lower back or ass. The touch is so swift and subtle the first time it happens that I assume it’s an accident, but after the third time—and once I catch the smirk on his face—it’s obvious it’s intentional.
Cam stops outside For the Vibes, an adult toy store wedged between a vintage record shop and a Thai restaurant. A store I’ve ordered from online but have never been inside.
We walk up a flight of stairs, and as we enter the building, we’re welcomed by two blow-up dolls—one dressed in lingerie, the other in a leather harness and a strap-on.
Eyes wide, I turn to Cam. “Go stand over there so I can pretend like the timeline where my brother and I are in the same sex shop doesn’t exist. Please?”
He ruffles my hair. “Don’t be so immature, sis.”
“C’mon.” Joey loops her arm through mine and drags me deeper into the store. “The party stuff is over there.” She points to the back wall, where a rainbow penis piñata hangs from the ceiling.
Soon my hands are filled with so much bachelorette and bridal merchandise that I’m forced to find a basket. That’s when I bump into Asher.
“There you are,” he croons. “Have you been avoiding me?”
Scanning the surrounding area, I spot Cam and Joey safely engrossed in studying the items on the far wall.
“I’m not avoiding you. It’s just awkward with my brother here.”
He nods like he doesn’t quite believe me but leaves it at that.
“I was thinking…” he says with a twinkle in his eyes. “Why don’t you pick something out we can have a little extra fun with this weekend?”
His limbs are loose, his expression bright. This is the most relaxed I’ve seen him all summer. Maybe this weekend is the escape he needs. A break from the camp. From fatherhood. A weekend to simply be a carefree man in his twenties.
Scanning the shelves of sex toys, I ask, “See something you like?”
His lips brush against my jaw. “Surprise me.”
With that, he disappears around the corner.
