Sandcastles

His face. That gorgeous face that I couldn't take my eyes off of looked...awful. I had been right about the busted lip. I had also been right about him maybe having a black eye. There were also several little cuts and scrapes. I fought back tears and I tried to memorize every single wound he had that was essentially caused by me. My head rested against his tanned shoulder with his one arm was slung over my waist and the other draped across his stomach. I couldn't help but notice his bloody knuckles either. Whatever happened in that bar had been the definition of horrible, and I felt completely at fault.

His eyes were still firmly shut, and I could feel his even breathing under my cheek. Slowly, very slowly, I snuck out of his arm and out of the bed. I slipped on the closest clothes I could find, meaning a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt that had to be Jonny's by how big it felt against my frame. Picking up my cell phone and grabbing some shoes, I slid out the door, leaving Toews to sleep off the night he had just had.

For the first time, I was alone. I hadn't gotten a moment to myself the entire time we'd been in the Bahamas. In a way, I felt like it was needed. I got myself a table by the pool and ordered a bit of breakfast while I looked at the ocean. It was gorgeous. All of it was gorgeous. I had pushed everything from my mind, Sara's wedding I only had five days to plan, the bar fight last night, everything.

I was completely lost in my own thoughts when my breakfast was set in front of me. I jumped almost out of my skin as the plate hit the table. Thanking the waiter, I began to dig into my meal like it was the last one I'd ever eat. I didn't realize how hungry I was until those warm eggs hit my mouth. The food was distracting me from my surroundings so much that I jumped again at the sound of a voice.

"Slow down. I don't want to have to give you mouth to mouth."

Looking up at Sara I let my eyebrow rise slightly. As I looked at her, Erin and Christine took seats at the table that I formerly sat at alone. Putting my fork down, I noticed the bags that rested until all my friends eyes. "You guys look like hell," I commented, taking a sip of my coffee.

"None of us got any sleep," Christine sighed, rubbing her eyes and ordering her own coffee. "Corey had to go and bail Patrick and Jonathan out of jail."

"He had to...what?!"

"Bailey, did you think they could get into a bar fight and not get punished for it?" Christine questioned. She had a point, and one that I hadn't thought about.

"Have you seen Jonny's face? I think that's punishment enough." I said, not looking up form my food as I pushed it around my plate like a child. "It looks awful."

"Kaner looks worse," Sara offered up. "He had to get his nose fixed last night, and apparently has a boxer's fracture in his knuckle."

"Oh. I'm sorry." I felt my mood sinking like a ship. I didn't want to look up. I didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Oh please. He's fine, Bailey. Stop freaking out. We have a wedding to plan," Erin spoke up this time. "All of the boys are going to be passed out for the next few hours. Sharpie hasn't moved since he fell asleep last night. Neither has Corey from what Christine's said. I'm sure you left Jonny still in bed, and Kaner is knocked out by his pain meds right now. We can enjoy the morning and start planning this wedding." I looked up to see Erin smiling back at me. I didn't notice that there was a bag next to her. As she picked it up, I noticed it was nearly everything that I would usually use to plan a wedding. Holding it out to me, she grinned even wider. "And we all know that we can't do this without you."

I heard someone sigh from next to me. "Can we do this by the pool? I need a tan?" And with that, I had a bikini thrown in my face and was practically carried to the pool

-x-

Time passed so quickly as we all sat by the pool discussing wedding things that I didn't even notice as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. In the few hours we were by the pool, we had gotten more done than I usually do in a week of wedding planning. Then again, the system we had was pretty simple. Sara would throw out her opinion, and it was usually so vague that we could expand in it a million different ways and just ask her opinion once we all agreed. Most of the time she was fine with our ideas, though she shot down the idea of white roses as well as having the wedding on the pier. She wanted the wedding to be on the sandy beach in her bare feet, and I was personally okay with that.

"Okay, okay. Well, you need a cake," Christine suggested while rubbing a bit more sunscreen into her skin.

"You do!" Erin sat up in her chair, a smile on her face. "Can I pick it out? Please?!" Erin loved sweets. It was something she had always had a passion for. Baking them, tasting them, everything. "Hell, I'll even bake it if you want!"

Sara chuckled at our friend and nodded. "It's all yours, Erin. Is there anything else you guys need?" Sitting up, I noticed Sara shift funny in her chair.

"Cute little belly you've got there," I teased, grinning as I wrote down the cake details on my detailed list of the million things we've talked about throughout the morning.

"Bite me," Sara quipped, standing up before she tossed her sunglasses on her chair and dove straight into the pool. I watched her curiously. Sara having a little bit of a stomach wasn't unusual. When she was stressed it tended to happen, though she always went back down to her petite figure soon enough.

As my pen scratched along the paper, I heard noises of people moving around me. I figured that Erin and Christine were just joining Sara in the pool, but when a shadow casted itself over my book, I knew that wasn't the case. Glancing up, I saw Jonny's battered face looking down at me. The sight of the bruises and scrapes made me want to cry, but the smile he wore made me want to throw myself at him.

"Feeling better honey?" I questioned, teasing him a bit with a grin on my face.

"Well, my face feels like I was hit by a bat, but other than that, I'm doing fantastic," he answered. Sliding and arm under me, Jonny lifted me from the lounge chair I had been sitting on. He sat himself down where I had been and placed me directly on his lap. Giving him a kiss, I slowly closed the book that I had been writing in. "What are you working on?" His fingers tapped the book quickly.

"Wedding things," I answered with a smirk. I glanced around at our friends before placing my head on his shoulder. Even though our skin touching one another was causing us to sweat even worse, I couldn't detach myself from him. I wanted to keep Jonny safe, and if that meant I had to keep him glued to my side, I would do it for the rest of our life. Erin and Corey were discussing something that I couldn't make out, but by the excitement written all over Erin's face, I could tell she was excited. Christine and Sharpie wasted no time swallowing each other tongues, while Kaner and Sara were having another serious conversation in the pool. "What are they always talking about?" I questioned, watching curiously.

"God only knows. Kaner had a pretty rough night from what I heard." Jonny's cuts and bruises seemed like nothing compared to Kaner. His arm was in a cast, that he was keeping out of the water, while a guard framed his nose. "I feel bad for him."

"I feel bad for both of you. It's all our...my fault that you two got..."

My words were quickly cut off by a kiss. A soft, yet completely passionate kiss. When he pulled away, I opened my lips to speak again. Not a words came from my lips before his met them again before he wove a hand into my hair and pulled me close.

"Don't you dare say that this was your fault." His forehead was pressed against mine as his eyes stared farther into my soul than any man every had. "They had it coming. If you think we look pretty bad, you should see the other guys."

I ran my thumb against his cheek as he spoke, wanting nothing more than to blame myself for all of last night's actions. He wouldn't let me. Jonny would never let me put that type of blame on myself, and I was okay with that. "So you won, huh?"

Laughing, Jonny nodded, his forehead still against mine. "And I didn't even have to fight dirty."