They left to find the nearest men’s room while the rest of them waited and waited and waited, so long it was almost as if the women knew they were torturing them by dragging it out. They’d be thrilled to hear later that they’d done that without knowing it.

“Kara is going to kill me dead for this,” Dan said.

“But what a way to go,” Paul said, grinning.

“We are going to rescue them, aren’t we?” Shane asked, sounding nervous. “I was hoping Katie might actually marry me at some point.”

“Let me tell you something about revenge, young grasshopper,” Mac said, his hand on his younger cousin’s shoulder. “It doesn’t count until they suffer a fraction as much as they made us suffer.”

“But, um, Katie’s gonna be pissed, and I was hoping to get laid like a lot this week.”

“Dude!” Owen’s roar carried across the beach, resulting in silence from the women.

Uh-oh.

“What was that?” Maddie asked.

“Sounded like Owen,” Laura said. “Owen? Are you out there?”

Mac put his hand over Owen’s mouth and glared at him.

“I swear to God,” Stephanie said, “if they’re spying on us, I’m going to neuter Grant.”

“Okay, I’m out,” Grant said.

Mac grabbed his arm before he could bail. “No one’s out. We’re all in this to the finish now.”

“She said the word neuter,” Grant hissed at his brother.

“All talk,” Mac said, releasing his brother. “Stay strong.”

Wary now, the women got out of the water and walked up the beach to discover their clothes were gone.

“Those sons of bitches!” Tiffany’s howl could be heard for miles.

“What?” Katie asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Our clothes are gone.”

The screaming started in earnest at that point.

“Adam McCarthy!” Abby yelled. “Bring me my clothes, or I’ll divorce you.”

Adam whimpered and tried to pull free of Mac’s iron grip.

“Stay strong,” Mac said to his brother. “She’d never actually divorce you.”

“I’m not so sure,” Adam muttered.

“Can we get a group rate on divorce?” Stephanie asked.

“How could they do this?” Katie asked, sounding slightly hysterical. “What’ll we do?”

“Dan Torrington!” Kara’s voice echoed through the night. “Bring me my clothes, or you’ll never see your favorite parts of me again! Ever!”

“I’m out.” Dan took Kara’s dress off the pile and headed for the beach.

“Don’t look at my wife.” Blaine grabbed Tiffany’s dress and followed Dan. “I’ll fucking shoot anyone who looks at her.”

“Oh come on, you guys,” Mac said as the others followed Dan and Blaine, intending to rescue their women.

“Mac McCarthy, if you can hear me, you’d better get over here right now with my dress, or you’re never, ever, ever having sex again. Ever!”