Bill shook his head in disgust.
“Let’s just play. Here.” Sebastian put down his drink. “Okay, never have I ever...” He tried to think of something fun. “Never have I ever run down the French Quarter naked.”
The other men laughed. Sebastian lifted his whiskey and took a deep drink. He noticed Marco and James did the same, while Bill barely sipped at his. This was going to be one hell of a looong night at this rate. Sebastian bowed his head.
“Okay, okay, I have one.” Theo raised his glass. “Never have I ever gone more than six months as an adult without sex.”
Theo tipped his glass back. James and Sebastian both drank, but Bill failed to lift his glass.
“Are you serious?” Theo glanced at Marco, surprised.
Both Marco and Bill shrugged. “Hey, anyone can have a drought,” Marco said.
“Well, I haven’t had sex with my wife since the first year I got married,” Bill admitted. Sebastian’s mouth fell open. “Just telling you, bud, things change when you get married.”
“No, they don’t.” Sebastian wanted to derail this conversation pronto. While marriage might kill a man’s sex life, the last thing he wanted was for Marco to start thinking matrimony meant never having sex again. “Lola isn’t like that. She’s mad for you. I don’t think you’ll be like...” Wingtip Bill, who seems to be walking birth control.
“Sebastian defending marriage? Never thought I’d see the day. What? You’ll be getting married next!” Theo exclaimed.
“If I find my person, you bet I will.” Sebastian was surprised by his own forcefulness. Since when was he so open to the idea of marriage? Or was he just playing the part for Marco? Keeping the man’s spirits up? Hey, I’m just walking the man to the guillotine here, trying to remind him things don’t look so bad.
“Really? And how are you going to find your person sleeping with everyone?” James asked.
Sebastian stared at his glass and frowned. “Hey, how do I know unless I try them all?” The other men at the table chuckled at the joke.
“If you’re really serious about this,” Marco said, “you’ll get serious about dating.”
Was Sebastian serious? He could be, he reasoned.
“There’s no way this conversation is even happening,” Theo said, shaking his head. “Come on, get serious. I’ve had longer relationships with yogurt in my fridge than this guy’s had his whole life.”
“Not true.” Sebastian was getting a bit defensive. “Besides, what does that have to do with finding the one?”
“You can’t find Mrs. Right if your bed is crowded with Ms. Right Nows,” Marco pointed out. “I’d been hookup free for a full month before I met Lola. It was nice not to have all that other noise when we started dating. I didn’t have to keep my phone away from her or worry about awkward run-ins with dating-app hookups.”
“You’re going to ask Sebastian to be celibate for a whole month? Not possible.” Theo shook his head so vigorously, he sloshed a little whiskey out of his glass. “Heck, even a week would be too much. Or weekend!”
“I could be celibate for a weekend,” Sebastian protested. Of course, come to think of it, he hadn’t been celibate for a whole weekend in a long, long time. But so what? He could do it anytime he wanted. All he had to do was shut off his Spark profile. “I’ll bet I can be celibate this entire cruise.”
Marco and Theo laughed. “We’re stuck on a boat, so that feels like cheating.”
“Stuck on a boat with thousands of attractive women. Uh-huh. Not exactly so easy,” Theo offered.
“Look, I’m not a sex addict,” Sebastian maintained, wondering why on earth he had to defend himself for getting some often and just the way he liked. “But what do I get if I do it? What’s the wager?”
“Bragging rights?” Marco offered.
“Why would I brag about not getting any?” Sebastian joked. Somehow he’d dropped out of this reality and into a dimension where men had seemingly lost all their hunting instincts.
“Fine, then, a nice bottle of bourbon,” Marco said.
“Hardly enough for a weekend of blue balls,” Sebastian said.
“What? You not man enough to take it?” Theo nudged Sebastian with a sharp elbow.
“Oh, I’ll show you what kind of man I am.” Sebastian flashed a wicked smile. “Give me five minutes alone.”
Theo laughed. “I don’t need my ass kicked today, thanks very much. You win.”
Marco raised his glass. “To Sebastian, and his vow of weekend celibacy.”
“We’re seriously going to toast celibacy at a bachelor party?” Theo asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Besides, he’s never going to last the weekend.”
“I could last the weekend,” Bill offered.
“Your wife isn’t even here, Bill,” James pointed out.
Sebastian cleared his throat. “Okay, you nut jobs. Here’s to celibacy.” He lifted his glass reluctantly as he glanced around the table.
“Your celibacy, not mine,” Marco joked, and the men laughed and clinked glasses.
Just then a shrill cackle of voices hit them like a wall of noise. Sebastian turned in time to see their man cave whiskey bar being invaded by...bridesmaids...and the bride.
What the...?
“Baby!” cried Lola as she ran into Marco’s open arms. “Is it okay that we dropped in?”
“Is it okay? It’s more than okay,” Marco said and clearly meant it. He swept her up and gave her a fierce kiss, worthy of a chick flick. Lola gave the kiss her all, as well, wrapping her finely manicured hands in his thick, brown hair. Sebastian felt a twinge of envy then. Their love was the real deal. Anyone could see that.
Sebastian glanced at the bridesmaids, the first time he’d seen them since boarding the ship that afternoon, and recognized Felicia, who’d seemed to have had a rough ten years since high school. Why did she look ten years older than the rest of them? Somehow she’d etched crow’s feet into her crow’s feet. Her sister, Liv, looked exactly the same, except for the blue streaks in her hair.
Felicia and Liv saw him and frowned. It looked like they weren’t going to let bygones be bygones. This was going to be awkward. Granted, he’d not exactly been the most sensitive guy in high school, but then what guy was at sixteen? Of course, this would make his vow of weekend celibacy that much easier to keep. They beelined for James, Marco’s brother, practically ignoring Sebastian. He supposed he deserved that.
Veronica came in next and gave him a happy little wave. Well, at least there was Veronica. She was nice to everyone. It was a good thing, because Sebastian knew he would have his hands full this weekend. He’d known coming back
