He squinted up at me. “What’s up?”
“Do you remember when Will hired that creepy clown to deliver a singing telegram on my birthday?” I asked, an involuntary shudder moving up my spine. This kind of thing had become the norm in the Will, Bennett & Max Show. After having accidentally hired a transvestite hooker for Will while we were all in Vegas, he’d retaliated by having a couple of goons pretend to bust us for card counting. It had only escalated from there. Chloe insisted it was only a matter of time before one of us ended up in the hospital or jail. My money was on jail.
Max groaned. “Fuck. I thought I’d finally erased that mental image. Thanks for bringing it back.”
I glanced back toward the hotel to make sure I didn’t see Will coming down yet. “I have some retribution in the works.”
“Okay . . .”
“Did you happen to meet Chloe’s aunts last night?”
“The ones that looked like a couple of hyenas circling a lame gazelle? Yes, lovely ladies.”
“I may be partly responsible for that,” I said, waiting for his reaction. He seemed completely unfazed.
“‘Partly,’ Ben?”
“Okay, completely.”
He shook his head, but was clearly amused. “You don’t think they’ll get their hopes up, do you?”
“I got the sense that they were just looking to have some fun. I sort of told them he liked experienced women and that he liked them in pairs. All of which is true, I might add.”
He raised a brow.
“Technically true,” I corrected. “I’m going to hell, aren’t I?”
“Did you give Hanna the heads-up?”
“I’m not a total dick, Max.” When he lifted his brows as if to say Oh really? I ignored him, continuing, “I may have suggested she play along. She agreed.”
“That’s it? She’s easier than I expected,” he said, already shaking his head in disbelief. What girlfriend would ever agree to such an evil albeit brilliant plan? Clearly, Hanna was a genius.
“It took a little reassurance that he’d escape unharmed, but yes, she did. I really like her, by the way.”
“Same,” he said with a quick nod.
“So what do you think? Should I call it off? I’ll be honest, I’m feeling a little dirty over this one. They’re Chloe’s aunts.”
We heard footsteps move across the deck and both looked up, seeing Will jogging toward us.
Max leaned in quickly and whispered, “Tell him and I’ll kill you.”
There were surfers scattered down the shore and a few runners passed us as we started away from the hotel.
“So what had you up so early?” Max asked from my right, keeping a steady pace with me. Will, the competitive runner, was about twenty feet in front of us, shouting insults and patronizingly encouraging remarks over his shoulder every few minutes.
“Just . . . everything,” I admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so exhausted and so keyed up at the same time in my life. You probably don’t want to hear this, but I’m not sure whether I want to sleep for ten hours or fuck.”
Max gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “I know the feeling,” he said.
“Like hell you do,” I said back, looking over to him.