Chapter 12: Chapter 12

SHAY

~FRIDAY, JULY 15~

The next morning, Shay woke up in Dario’s villa. She’d fallen asleep in the living room, and Dario had draped a blanket over her to keep her warm.

After speaking to Ethan last night, she’d made her way back to her room, crying, and grabbed her pillow before going to Dario’s villa.

He’d said nothing and asked nothing as she sat on his sofa, just tried to provide her some comfort. Thankful, she soon fell asleep, exhausted from flying as well as crying.

She couldn’t understand why this situation affected her so much. When her relationship with Pete ended, she’d barely shed a tear.

With Ethan it was different. Although it was new, it hurt more than it ever did when she was with Pete.

Shay went back to her room while it was still dark. As soon as she got there, she stripped out of all her clothes, showered, and waited for the sun to rise.

Sitting on the outdoor chair just outside of her room, she stared at the waves, calming and moving as the sun crested the horizon.

Feeling the breeze on her face, she took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. But the anxiety continued to creep in. Was she rash to snap at Ethan that way? Was she in the wrong?

However, she ultimately decided that it was in the past, and she could only focus on what was ahead of her.

Today was going to be an activity-filled day. She and her brothers and Pete had decided they should fill the second day with games and top it off with a big family dinner. After all, everyone they’d invited was considered family.

As she was getting ready, Shay decided it was useless to apply any makeup since they’d be spending their entire day in the sun and in and out of water.

Once she’d rubbed on as much sunblock as she could, she put on her white bikini and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She loved how the white contrasted against her tan skin.

Her curls had extra volume due to the heat, making her hair slightly frizzy, but she didn’t care. Pushing her curls to one side, she grabbed one of the bobby pins that she always carried and pinned them back.

She checked her reflection one last time before throwing on an oversized T-shirt.

Locking the door behind her, she skipped breakfast and headed to the beach. She knew she was already late since she’d spent most of her time just sitting outside her room, watching the waves.

“There you are! I was about to tell Pete to go find you!” Ian yelled as soon as he spotted her.

She smiled and waved as she got closer to the group. Everyone was already warming up and getting ready. Looking around, she spotted Dario’s bag. Filled with camera equipment, she knew it could only be his.

Dropping her own bag, Shay removed her shirt.

“Can we talk?” a familiar voice asked behind her.

She turned around and looked up at Ethan, squinting her eyes and using her hand to block the sun.

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, taking a step to the side, trying to create some distance between them.

“You look amazing, Shay.”

“Look, if you’re just going to compliment me, save your breath. I honestly couldn’t care less if I’m the hottest person on the planet or a freaking potato.”

She paused to take in the amusement on his face. “How I look is the furthest thing from my mind. And to be honest, I think I was only another conquest to you. Maybe a challenge to get in bed.”

His face stiffened, and Shay spotted Pepper walking toward them.

“My love!” Pepper called as she approached them. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“Pepper, go away. I’m in the middle of a conversation,” Ethan said.

“Come on, Ethan, bring me back to the room and cuddle with me while I fall asleep,” she whined, rubbing up against him.

Shay noticed discomfort on Ethan’s face as he tried to pry Pepper’s hands off him.

“To be frank”—Shay held out a finger—“this is my family vacation.” She paused and looked at Pepper. “I want to enjoy this time with my family, and I want to relax.

“If you guys need a private room, let me know, and I’ll arrange it for you. Maybe even the honeymoon suite, but for now—” Someone grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away.

“What the fuck?” she screamed as she felt her body being lifted off the ground, turned around, then hoisted over Dario’s shoulder.

“Shay!” he scolded, smacking her on the butt.

Yelping, she struggled against him as he carried her to a corner before placing her down on the sand.

She glared at him. “What the hell, Dario!”

“I don’t know what’s going on between you and Ethan, but I’m saving you from yourself,” Dario said.

It took a second before she allowed his words to sink in.

“I’m sorry, D,” she sighed, knowing that he was right. She didn’t need another scandal.

Dario knew her, and all he was trying to do was protect her. Pepper was a guest after all.

And Shay wasn’t sure what Pepper was capable of. Especially with the release of her new line being so close, Shay couldn’t jeopardize everything just for Ethan.

“What’s going on anyway?” he asked.

“We’ve been seeing each other, and then he invited his ex-girlfriend to ~my~ family vacation. He said that they were in business together and he was trying to help her.

“He told her he was coming and she kind of invited herself. She wanted to talk to my dad about her business and maybe strategize with them.”

She sighed. “Well, yesterday we were all playing a few drinking games in the tree house, and she was beside him the entire time, cuddling him. And it seemed like they were a little more than just friends.

“I kinda exploded after your call and told him I’m not interested in coming between him and his ex, or whatever that was.

“Maybe it’s just jealousy. Maybe I’m overthinking things. But whenever I see Pepper, all I want to do is bitch-fight her.”

She knew Dario would be able to handle this. She trusted him as he listened patiently.

“I was heartbroken, D,” she said, shaking her head as she crossed her arms against her chest.

“Look, I don’t like him,” Dario said. “I think you know that. But at the same time, I won’t try to stop you from pursuing a relationship with him if you want. I just think that you and he need to sit and talk, like adults.”

She sighed. She knew what he was saying was true.

“Shay Zaia Haze! Get your damn ass over here!” Ivan yelled.

Eyes widening, she giggled and linked arms with Dario. Ivan hated people being late, and him calling her by her full name meant that he was furious with her.

“I’m sorry. I was going through something,” she said when she reached her brothers. Both of them looked annoyed with her.

“Let’s get started, shall we?” she said, trying to cover up the fact that she was late.

They both groaned, but they gave in.

“We’re starting!” Ivan yelled, and everyone gathered around them.

They had already discussed the games they wanted to play, so as Ivan explained the rules, Shay looked around. When she didn’t spot Ethan anywhere, she shrugged her shoulders.

Shay split everyone into pairs. Uncle Ben would be the only one not playing since he’d recently had a heart attack, so she appointed him the referee.

“What about you?” Dario asked as everyone partnered up.

“It’s fine. I’ll watch with Uncle Ben,” she said, looking back at her dad’s best friend. He looked so comfortable in his beach shorts, sipping his beer with his belly hanging out.

“I’ll be your partner,” a voice said from the other side, and when she turned her head, she was surprised to see Ethan.

“It’s fine,” she said nonchalantly. “You can partner with Pepper.”

Although she felt like walking away from him, her brothers were in earshot. She didn’t want her brothers to think Ethan had done something to her.

“I sent her home, actually,” he confessed, scratching the back of his head.

“What?” She wasn’t expecting that response.

“I didn’t want to be around her anymore. She crossed the line. I’m not even sure why she was so clingy.”

“What about your business deal?”

“I told her if she needed help, she could call my office and set up an appointment. But I won’t be dealing with her anymore—my associates will handle her,” he explained carefully.

“Can we start the game now?” Ivan yelled in frustration, his inner competitiveness showing. He looked over at Ethan and raised an eyebrow.

Sighing, Shay rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we can start.”

“Do you want to switch?” Dario asked, and she shook her head to assure him that everything was okay.

Ethan held his palm out. She stared at it for a second, then nodded and placed her tiny hand in his.

As Uncle Ben counted them off, Shay tried to stay focused on the game instead of the person beside her.

“Ready, set, go!” Uncle Ben sounded the whistle.

They instantly took off running. The first thing they needed to do was dig—there were hidden clues in the sand—then run down to the ocean and, without anything to use as vessels, transport water and fill up five different buckets.

And then there were the obstacles, each one set up by the resort staff. They’d told them in detail what games they wanted to play, and the staff had prepared everything.

Finding a spot in the sand, Ethan and Shay dropped to their knees and started digging. Instantly realizing she was wearing a ring, Shay took her hands out of the sand and looked at her hand to make sure the ring was still there.

She glanced around, but she had no place to store it, then touched her chest. But she forgot that she’d removed her necklace before coming to Tulum.

“Do you want to loop it in my chain?” Ethan asked, noticing her struggle.

She handed him her ring, and he quickly looped it on his chain as she continued digging, hoping to find something.

“Got it!” Ethan said, taking a look at the rubber band he’d just dug up, which had a tag on it.

As they ran to the water, some pairs were still digging in the sand, but some were already ahead of them.

“How do you want to do this?” she asked him.

“We can’t move the buckets, right?”

“No,” she said.

“Are you okay with getting your hair wet?”

She was touched that he was even concerned about her hair. “It’s fine, I can wet it.”

“I can remove my shorts. I have my trunks underneath. I can dip my shorts in the water and squeeze them into the buckets, and if you’re okay with it—”

“I’ll dip my hair into the water,” she said, finishing his sentence without even thinking twice.

Ethan immediately took off his shorts as Shay closed her eyes and submerged herself in the water, making sure she wet her hair from top to bottom before getting out.

Spotting their buckets, she ran over and quickly squeezed the water out of her hair and into a bucket before going back to the water and repeating the process. She kept her focus on the task at hand, and not on Ethan.

Once their buckets were filled, they moved on to the next task.

Throughout the entire race, she was aware her brothers were ahead of them, Drake and his partner were even with them, and her dad and Billie were right behind them.

In the Haze family, everyone was equally competitive—all wanting to win but supportive of each other at the end. They knew at the end of the day, it was all about the power of family.

So coming in second to her brothers was bittersweet.

Ethan hugged her from behind as she stood in place trying to catch her breath. There were still pairs finishing up, but the ones who had already completed the course were resting.

“That was amazing,” she gasped in between breaths. All the activity in the sun had gotten their heart rates up. She was sweaty, and she knew he was too, but she didn’t mind him on her.

“If I knew how great these family vacations were, I would’ve joined earlier,” Ethan said.

Raising her eyebrows, she turned her head back to look at him.

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “I’ve been invited a few times, actually. But I’ve always been busy and I was only close to your brothers and Holden, so I never really thought it was appropriate for me to join in.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off by her stepmother.

“That was a good game!” Billie said as she approached them.

Shay agreed as she pried Ethan’s hands away from her waist, but she knew Billie saw because of the teasing, knowing look she gave them.

“Are you guys…?” Billie asked as she glanced from Shay to Ethan.

“~Billie,~” Shay said in a warning tone, and Billie raised her hands and backed away, laughing and nodding her head.

Shay turned to look at Ethan. He was openly staring at her, which gave her goosebumps.

“We should talk,” he said, his expression soft.

“Yeah,” she said, knowing he was right. “Just let me go talk to my dad first, and then I’ll go shower. Meet me in my room in an hour?”