Ashton's POV

This has to be the universe serving my karma on a silver platter because there is no fucking way.  I would much rather sleep with Evelyn in any room, even if it means in two separate beds. How the hell did this even happen? I'll never get over how badly I obliterated the good thing I had with her. I let all the unhealed parts of me ruin what we had; she forgave me once. I should've known she had too much self-respect to forgive me a second time. I never doubted her self-respect, I doubted my fucking self, and in the process, I lost her. 

I was lucky to even be back in her presence as a friend, but I didn't want her to be my friend I wanted her to be mine. Watching her detox with only Valium and Tylenol was rough, even for me. It reminded me of my brother, his name was Chase. She was strong enough to do what he couldn't, and I hate thinking about it that way but at least he isn't hurting anymore. He left me broken, and that's my fault for not seeking help afterward. 

Gianna was snoring on the bed closest to the room door and my mind was racing. God, I was going to go crazy in here tonight, thinking about what they could be doing when I'm in here and Jax and Evelyn are in there. I had heard her call Jax over when she was standing on the balcony and saw a monkey, I know this because my balcony was right next to theirs. I literally saw the same monkey; it was a really cute monkey. 

I need to take a nap before we go out.

- - - 

Evelyn's POV

Jax woke me up with a gentle shake to my shoulder, when my eyes fluttered open the first thing, I saw was his wet hair and his lonely dimple. He told me it was around 5 pm and that Gianna and Ashton were ready, so they were waiting on me. 

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" I raced to my suitcase since we hadn't even unpacked yet and proceeded to look for an outfit. Jax just stood there with an amused smile on his face, that was sexier than it should be. I shake my head at my train of thought. 

"You seemed like you were sleeping so good, it's fine just throw anything on, and let's go." 

I gape at him; does he not know anything about girl world? I looked for a dress in my suitcase and ended up finding a strapless, green mini-dress that looked as if it had been knitted. Yes, these are the vibes I'm going for. The dress just looked like some cute, island wear. I open my other suitcase which is solely for my shoes and jewelry. I pick out some pumps and a pair of dangly green earrings. I grab the dress, the pumps, earrings, and my makeup bag and dash to the bathroom. 

I take a ten-minute shower and jump out. I put some concealer on, mascara, and clear lip-gloss. I then put on my earrings, the strapless dress, and my pumps. I don't even bother doing my hair, so I end up doing a high-pony tail which is cute because it shows off my earrings. Because the dress is a yarn-like material it's soft on my skin and comfortable, it ends right about my knee. 

I realize Jax left his phone in here, so I grab it to go ahead and give it to him, then it vibrates, announcing he got a text message. I looked down at it, not trying to be nosy but it was more of a reflex. 

*I'm so glad you texted! How's the trip?? Better than philosophy class I'm sure lol*-Maya 

I feel my high spirits fall and an unpleasant emotion creep into my chest. Whatever. I walk out of the bathroom and Jax's eyes scan over my body and then my face, making me a little self-conscious. I extend my hand out to him and pass him his phone waiting for him to grab it. 

"So, you grew some balls and texted her huh, good for you," I remarked, my eyes not meeting his and my arm still extended out to him. 

"You look beautiful." He commented, catching me by surprise. 

"Thanks, Maya sounds like she's really beautiful too. You know with her strawberry-blonde hair and all." I say, definitely sounding bitter and I'm not sure why I'm not even trying to hide how bothered I am.  I start walking towards the door, after grabbing my clutch off the bed and I feel his hand grip my arm turning me around abruptly and stopping me from walking away. 

"What's your problem?" He asks frowning, making me look up at him, his hand still gripping my arm but more gently now. 

I study the stunned and perplexed expression on his face as his eyes search mine for an answer as to why I just acted like a brat. His cheek bones emphasized by the low lighting in the room. His forehead creases slightly as he frowns. 

I yank my arm away from his grasp and look down at the floor, trying to think of how to respond to him. I look back up at him, completely dejected. "There is no problem, it's not polite to keep a lady waiting so please answer her. Come on, I'm hungry." I deadpan. 

He tilts his head to the side as if he's just come to a profound realization and starts shaking his head, with a sarcastic chuckle. "Why don't you cut the bullshit and speak your mind?" He retorts. 

I turn back towards the door and stop moving when he says that sentence. 

"I just did." 

Nothing else was said between us when we met Gianna and Ashton outside. 

- - - 

We find a little spot on the beach, it's a bar/restaurant. Gianna and I order for ourselves, and the boys get some grilled octopus, with olive oil and black olive sauce. I keep looking at Ashton's plate because it looks so much better, and his eyes catch up with mine. 

The corners of his mouth pull up into a lopsided smile and I try not to laugh. He stops eating and puts his fork down. 

"Do you want to try it?" He asks, eyebrows raised. Jax looks at me briefly, his eyes gleaming with irritation. 

"I'm sorry, I should've gotten the octopus." I laugh, shaking my head. 

Ashton cocked his head slightly to the side, still smirking, and put a piece of his dish on mine. I bite into it with my fork and a small moan escapes my lips as I savor the flavor. "Wow, that's good," I say, after swallowing. 

Gianna is drinking a margarita and I'm drinking water, the boys are drinking tamarind juice, which is exceedingly popular in Costa Rica. There are people around us smoking a joint freely and eating at the same time. People look so happy here, it felt like I was taking in new air. The problems of Florida didn't follow me here. 

"So, what are we doing after this?" Gianna asks with a mouth full of yellow rice. Her big green eyes scanned our faces. 

I shrug and see if the guys have any ideas. Jax and I have angry tension between us, Ashton and Gianna oblivious to it. I reflected on the traction of the moment back in the room with Jax, heavy then, and heavy now. He looks at me with a firm gaze as he chews his food and then sits back in his chair once he's done. Finally looking away when Ashton asks him what he wants to do next. 

"Alright well, I'm going to go to the bar really quick and order a mock-tail, while you guys brainstorm, okay?" I breathed, putting my hands on the table to push my chair out. 

I walk over to the wooden bar surrounded by a couple of people laughing, drinking, and smoking and get hit by a wave of what smells like some really strong cannabis. I raise my eyebrows, almost choking on the surrounding smoke. I lean my forearms on the bar top and try to grab the bartender's attention. 

"Que le gustaría nena?" (what would you like sweet girl?)

I smile and ask him if he can make me a cocktail without the alcohol, thanking my parents internally for the Spanish classes they put me in when we lived in Miami when I was a little girl. 

"Puedes hacerme un trago sin alcohol por favor?" (can you make me a drink without alcohol in it please) 

He winks and nods at me and says he has just the thing for me. As I wait, I take a look back to where the boys and Gianna are sitting and see that they've ordered dessert, Jax glaring at me with hooded eyes, I turn my attention back to the bartender as he juices various exotic fruits and shakes the mixer. 

"I know a tourist when I see one." A handsome figure purrs, standing beside me. I'm not in the mood. But I'm polite anyway. I smile quickly, glancing at the fair-haired man next to me who looks to be about in his mid-twenties. 

"Yeah, I'm here with my friends," I mutter awkwardly, not looking back at him. 

I feel him inch closer and closer to me until I'm extremely uncomfortable, so I take a step back. "You wanna come hang out with me and my friends? You can bring the other girl you're with, but you'll have to ditch the guys, sweetheart." He murmurs, too close for my comfort.

Now what on earth gave him the idea that I'd like to go hang out with strangers in a foreign place? I look at him, with a dull expression on my face and tell him I'm not interested. I'm guessing this guy is missing a few brain cells because when I say that he just scoots even closer to the side of my body, almost causing me to stumble. 

"Your drink is ready." Jax pops up behind me, he was speaking to me, but his deathly glare was on this creep. 

"Your wife must like how friendly you are," Jax tells the guy, my eyes scan over his hand and there indeed is a ring on the finger. I scoff, disgusted. The blonde-haired guy rolls his eyes before going back to his table. 

Jax softly places a hand on my back, shoving me lightly back towards the table, drink in hand, where I see a distracted Ashton. Once I sit back down and Jax does too, I mutter a quick prayer because if Ashton had seen that, I'm almost positive he would've caused a scene. Jax doesn't look at me again and I want to thank him, but my pride seems to be bigger than my gratitude. All it takes is for Jax to look at his phone again and my annoyance arises with the same intensity it had in the room. 

I take my spoon and dip it into the coconut-flavored dessert, which causes my eyes to roll back. Gianna laughs and nods her head because yes, it was that delicious. I sip on my drink and as we speak about internships we're looking forward to, Jax's incident with the football coach where he had pissed him off by making the team but not joining. Gianna had asked me if I had read any new books and I told her about some great ones even though she doesn't like reading, I appreciated the conversation. Ashton talked about his father's business and the upcoming opportunities he had. 

But the only thing on my mind was going back to the room, and the letter Jax had given me. What could it possibly say? It was such a random thing to give me. A letter, that could be romantic depending on what it says. Why had he sounded so eager for me to read it? Ugh, my brain hurt just from contemplating the possibilities. I also thought about how Gianna had literally begged to stay in Ashton's room which was weird and completely went against girl code, if I were in her shoes I would've slept on the fucking floor. 

Ashton snaps a finger in my face bringing me back to reality. "You good there?" He frowns. I look at him, wondering if he would dare to sleep with one of my best friends. I wouldn't put it past him, but then again, I don't think in a million years that Gianna would do something like that. 

"Yeah, just thinking.... about stuff." I clear my throat and ask what they want to do next. 

"We can go get more dessert. At a different place, like dessert tasting or something. I doubt you guys would want to go dancing tonight." Ashton offers. 

"That is actually a great idea. Is everyone on board?" I ask, peering at Gianna, who nods her head with a grin, and at Jax who doesn't look up from his phone but utters a 'sure'. Great, now what's his problem?

- - - 

After we finished the night off by stuffing our faces with different types of sweets and chocolates, we headed back to our hotel. It was around 10 pm and we were all tired, plus, we had yet to unpack. The hotel was illuminated by warm lighting that wrapped around different plants and areas of the small building. 

We get to our rooms and Gianna wraps me in a warm hug and kisses my cheek. "I love you; I am going to sleep." She says, patting my head. I smile at her and remind her to not sleep in her makeup and she waves me away. Ashton is standing in front of Jax and I and I'm not exactly sure how to say goodnight to him. I don't want to look at him for too long and have feelings I've buried deep in my soul come flooding out. 

Jax daps up Ashton, I grin as I look down at the boyish handshake and he heads back inside our room, leaving me alone with Ashton. 

"I hope you sleep well," I say, my voice barely above a whisper as I look him in the eye, so he doesn't call me out again like last time. His white V-neck exposes a chain that reminds me of the necklace he gave me on my birthday, the one I never took off. He stares at it for a moment before folding his bottom lip into his mouth. 

"I hope all you do is sleep tonight." He admits. My eyes go wide at him, and I frown. 

"Excuse me?" I say, my weight shifting from one foot to another. He lets out an exhale and brings his hand to his waist. 

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that I'm an idiot." He mutters, but then I realize that I had accused him mentally of wanting to sleep with my best friend. I look at the door next to me and then back at him, taking a couple of steps closer to him, I hug him. 

His body warmth engulfs me, relaxing every nerve in my body. Even now, I still felt like it was all okay when his arms wrapped around me. His chin touches the top of my head, and I can hear his heart quicken, I pull away first. 

"Goodnight Evelyn." His deep voice utters, before walking into his room.

I get a surge of mixed emotions resembling Florida's weather. I sigh and open my door just to freeze when I walk inside.