David and Fiona Beckham had dated for a while during the spring until she left to film a movie. Mr. Happy got a half-chubby as the big brain remembered her honey-blond hair. It was the kind that shimmered in the afternoon sun, thick and long, with some natural curl. When he’d first met her, it was pulled back into a ponytail that gave her a sporty look. Setting everything off was her piercing blue eyes that simply jumped off the screen in her films.
There were two problems with Fiona. The most significant red flag was that she was tight with Lexi. The other reason he hesitated was that she and Crystal were equally good-looking. The only advantage she had as far as arm candy went was her fame. Not that David seriously considered that for a real girlfriend, but for a fake one …
Note to heart: ‘Find other women to have crushes on.’
Note to self: ‘Stop talking to yourself. People might think you’re weird. Well, weirder than usual.’
“Fair enough,” David said and went back to his shower.
“You sure?” Crystal asked.
“Yep. No problem,” he assured her.
“I thought Kate Upton was your dream girl.”
“You vetoed her.”
“Huh … just like that?”
“Just like that,” David said as he shut off the water.
He was a bit irritated when there wasn’t a towel on the rack, so he stepped out and shook his head like Duke did when he got wet.
Crystal shrieked and ran out of the bathroom. He spotted a hand towel. He was frickin’ six-four and expected to dry off with a hand towel? Being a guy … oh, well. He’d used worse.
◊◊◊
“I’m being attacked by a unicorn. Help! It’s getting glitter on me!” David cried as he walked out onto the top deck.
The Queen Mary had an upper deck in the center of the ship. David, his closest friends, and his family were having a private dinner. Afterward, they would watch the fireworks before joining all their guests on the much larger aft deck. That was where they would have cake and ice cream, followed by a party.
His niece and nephews had tossed handfuls of glitter and were now running for their lives.
“You three are on my you-know-what list,” David teased.
His horde was a step slower, so he squatted down and ducked his chin so they could toss glitter onto his hair.
“Rah!” David roared as he scooped up Carol, who was a step too slow on the retreat.
Peals of giggles and squeals of excitement followed as he scooped up each of his children in turn. He either tickled them or gave them raspberries on their tummies as they played a disorganized game of tag. For some reason, their dad was always ‘it.’
He wasn’t at all surprised to see Cassidy helping the munchkins get more glitter to toss on him.
Before it got too far out of hand, David collapsed on the deck and let the little ones climb on him. The adults began to take pictures of him in his thousand-dollar suit as he played with the kids. Cassidy dumped the remaining bucket of glitter on the pile of fun.
Finally, Ashley announced it was time to eat. Each of the mothers corralled their kids and pulled them off him. His buddies from high school, Tim and Wolf, reached down to help him up. They fell into step beside him, and David knew that his two friends were probably drawing blood from biting their tongues so hard.
Wolf broke first.
“He looks like he just came from the lunch show at the local titty bar. Did you have to pay extra to get your whole head between her tatas?”
“David’s gladiator name is Glitorous,” Tim said.
“Ow!” “Ow!”
David chuckled as Cassidy took them to their knees.
“Behave,” she warned and then went to sit down.
Tim and Wolf led David to a table of their old friends. He was glad Crystal had an empty seat next to her.
“Dude, incoming,” Tim warned, pointing behind him.
David whirled around without thinking. So much for cool—well, as cool as you could be with glitter stuck to your face and in your hair. So much for suave. So much for calm and self-possessed and witty and urbane. If his whiplash motion hadn’t drawn her eyes to him, David’s explosion of coughing did the trick.
It was Gwen Larkin, the crazy woman who had stalked him. Once his coughing attack subsided, and he could finally breathe again, he saw the true extent of the disaster about to befall him. Her hair looked like where birds went to die, and her eyes were rolling around until they locked on him. She made a beeline straight for him … or so he thought.
“You! What are you doing with my man?!” Gwen screeched as she launched herself at Crystal.
Ruth came out of nowhere and tackled her. David had never seen Ruth unable to subdue anyone until that moment. Gwen went apeshit crazy, which scared the little ones. David had had enough as he got up and physically hauled Gwen out of sight of onlookers.
“Let me go!”
“I am only trying to do you a favor, crazy train. I’d rather walk across a bed of rusty nails than to pretend to be anything with you.”
That brought her up short.
“But Lexi said …” and then she burst into tears.
‘Lexi has gone too far,’ David seethed with sudden anger.
Before he could say anything—and really, what would he say?—Gwen disappeared down the stairs.
Ruth came to his side.
“Have the security team track her down. I’m afraid for her safety,” David said.
Gwen had mental health issues. Being an actress did her no favors because her studio and family wanted her on set instead of locked up somewhere she could get the help she desperately needed.
Ruth held up a finger as she listened to her earpiece.
“They have her, sir.”
“Let’s hope that’s the last of the excitement tonight.”
Somewhere, God was laughing at him.
◊◊◊
It was almost like his birthday because dinner was a big ribeye and a lobster tail. After they had finished eating was when the intervention occurred. David should have been clued in when Tim, Wolf, and Crystal all went to the bathroom, and Rita James and Tracy took the empty seats on either side of him. Brook, Tami, Pam, and Zoe sat across the table.
“Halle feels awful,” Rita began.
“You need to forgive her,” Tracy added.
When David finally got mad, it was best if you left him alone. Usually, he got over it after he’d had time to work it through. Halle setting up Ben and Lexi felt like a betrayal he couldn’t let go of.
Then again, Halle grew up in Hollywood, where that kind of behavior was the norm. And after all, she hadn’t put a gun to their heads. Lexi and Ben were the real culprits in this unfaithfulness. It felt like his broken heart had been left bleeding at his feet when he found out.
In truth, David might not have cared who Lexi spent time with if she’d just come clean and told him. Over spring break, he’d started to return the feelings she’d confessed to having for him.
Colleen had blindsided him. While he didn’t have any deep feelings for her—even though the sex was great—it was the timing of it all. Everything seemed to happen at the same time, and Halle was an easy target.
He looked up and saw all the women patiently waiting him out. They knew exactly how to handle him.
“You all suck,” David said as he shook his head.
“He’s okay,” Tracy announced.
Rita sent a text, and a moment later, Halle walked onto the deck. She was wearing one of those sundresses that were meant to be taken off slowly. It was apparent that she wasn’t wearing a bra. His gaze zeroed in on a pair of perky nips he remembered so well.
“Friends don’t drool over other friends,” Brook quipped.
David’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at each of the women. Then he stood and hugged Halle.
“Let’s go somewhere to talk,” she suggested.
“Let’s don’t. Just know that I’m not mad at you anymore and leave it at that,” David suggested.