“Yeah, I got it last spring. Wasn’t sure if I’d ever wear it.” I didn’t usually go for bikinis. It was a lot of skin to show. But… I wanted my own suit on tonight. And the guys would all be there. For once, I kind of wanted to show off.
“Wearing it tonight?” There was a guarded note in his voice, and I glanced over to meet his gaze. He wasn’t looking at me, but at the suit and then over at the roses.
Oh.
“Not for them,” I told him. “I’d be wearing it for you guys…and because I want to.”
Archie sat up and raked a hand through his hair. “Do me a favor?”
“What?” I leaned against the dresser.
“Don’t let any dude corner you tonight, and yeah, I know you’re coming with Frenchy,” he said, raising his hand as if to ward off my argument. “But just stay out where we can see you.”
“And if Ian or Jake or…”
“They’re fine,” Archie said, but the faint twist of his mouth decried that statement. “I’d still rather you only disappeared at my place to make out with me, but I know the guys aren’t going to hurt you. I don’t know Frenchy, and I don’t know Mr. Thorns over there.”
Mister Thorns? I bit my lip. “Archie, Mathieu and I…”
He grimaced, bracing for it. “I’m taking him because I asked him before—all of this. I do like him. He’s a great guy…”
His eyes darkened.
“But,” I stressed crossing over to join him on the bed. “I also told him I wouldn’t be seeing him after tonight. I like him—a lot. But not like I like you guys and…”
“Seriously?” Relief swamped his features. He looped his arms around me and dragged me in for a kiss. When he finally let me up for air, my heart was pounding, and I had to smile at the way he searched my face.
“Seriously. But he’s still the new guy right now and…”
“You never abandon the new guy,” Archie murmured, wonder in his tone. “You never abandoned me.”
I had. I’d done it over the summer. “That’s not totally true. I wanted to tell you last night, but you didn’t want me to talk about him.”
“Yeah, next time just hit me in the head and tell me to shut the fuck up.” Archie laughed. “Fuck that’s a relief. We can call off the plan now.”
Wait… “What?”
His expression shifted, his lips compressing.
“What plan, Archie?” Irritation scraped through the fog of desire, and I pulled away a little to study him. “What were you guys going to do?”
Shoulders drooping, he caught my hands and plucked the suit out of them. “Don’t get mad.”
“Yeah, it’s a little late for that. What were you guys planning?”
“Not so much planning as we were going to set him up with a couple of girls that we know are… let’s say more into free love.”
My stomach bottomed out, and I shook my head. Tugging my hands out of his, I shoved off the bed. “You wanted to set him up, so I’d see him making out with someone else.”
“Yeah, we’re assholes. But we didn’t want you seeing him, and if he went for the bait, then he sure as shit didn’t need to be seeing you.” He pushed the covers back and slid off to follow me. “Frankie…”
“Don’t,” I told him and shook my head. “That—that’s a shitty thing to do.”
“Protect you? I think not.” He blew out a breath. “Frankie, I wasn’t going to shove some girl on his dick. I was just going to give him the opportunity.”
“Make sure I saw it?” I raised my eyebrows. “Make sure I knew that, once again, I wasn’t good enough?”
“No,” he said. “No, it’s—fuck. He’s not good enough.”
“You don’t even know him.” Ice shivered up my spine. “I can’t believe you guys. All of you? This is what you were all planning after I told you how making me untouchable felt?”
“It’s what I was planning because I’m going to choose you first no matter what,” Archie said. “Like I said, if the guy had the opportunity and he took it, it was on him…”
“It doesn’t matter if I get hurt in the process?”
He sighed. “Of course that matters… c’mon, Frankie…”
“No, I think you need to go home. I have to finish getting ready for work and this goes a lot better if I’m not crying while I do it.”
“Frankie…” But when he tried to take my arm, I pulled it away.
“Archie, just go.”
“I don’t want to leave it like this.”
“Well, we don’t always get what we want.” God knew, I didn’t want to leave it like this, but right now… The ache in the pit of my stomach expanded. My lips still tingled from where he’d kissed me, and I was painfully aware of every place on my body he’d touched. “I need a bit.”
“Frankie, I’m sorry,” he said, exhaling.
“You’re sorry, I know,” I corrected him. “You’re sorry it pisses me off, but you’re not sorry about the plan.”
The plan.
Him. Jake. Coop. God… and Ian.
So much for actually hearing me. “Please, just go.”
“Fine, but I’m not out. I still want to see you. I’m still crazy about you, and I meant every word I said last night. I don’t want to see you with other guys.” He scooped up the bracelet he’d given me the night before from the dresser and fastened on my wrist while I stared at him. “This? This still means something.”
He pressed his thumb against my palm, but when he leaned in, I turned my face away. That hurt almost as much as their plans.
With a sigh, he let me go and then grabbed his keys, phone, and wallet. After stuffing them in his pockets, he said, “I’ll see you tonight.”
It sounded more like a request than an order, but I just shrugged. I had no idea whether I’d be up for going to the party or not. Not after…
“I’ll come and pick you up myself,” Archie said from the doorway. “I’ll even give Frenchy a ride, but I want you there, Frankie.”
A dozen responses danced across my tongue, but I settled for, “I have to go to work. I’ll see how I feel afterward.”
I’d been looking forward to the party. I’d… yeah, I couldn’t think about this right now. Archie’s stricken expression haunted me long after I shut the kitchen door behind him and leaned against it fighting tears. How had the night into the morning taken such a dramatic one-eighty? My phone buzzed away on the dresser when I got back to the bedroom.
When I glanced at it, messages from Jake and Coop were on the screen. It changed to show Ian’s pic as the phone began to ring. Disappointment swam through me and I sent the call to voicemail.
How did they all know me so well and then plan something like that?
Just… how?
I swiped away the tears and got my room picked up and the bed remade. Then I stared at the roses by the window. What were they planning to do to the poor guy who’d sent me those?
I had to go to the party. I couldn’t runaway this time. I promised to take Mathieu but Mister Thorns as Archie put it was also planning on being there. Those roses had been a delight this week.
Mind made up, I got my suit together with shorts and the hairband I’d need for that night, then I dragged my hair up and clipped it.
The messages were still waiting for me unread, but I switched over to the message with my mom.
Nothing in the last couple of days.
The trouble was, the people I usually talked to about my problems were the same people I was having the problem with.
Fuck, I need more friends.
Sniffing, I closed my eyes and forced deep breaths. I could do this. Swallowing the pain, I packed it away. Tears weren’t going to get me anywhere and a miserable waitress didn’t make good tips.
Eight hours of shift in front of me.
Then the party.
Another deep breath.
Tiddles meowed at me, his green eyes knowing, and I smiled at him. “I know, I like them, too, but they shouldn’t have been
planning to do that.”
The cat bumped his head against my hand, and I scratched his chin.
“I’ll see you later, baby.” After the party, I’d come back and eat a gallon of ice cream. I’d pick up some from work and bring it home.
I’d more than earned it.
Work was a nightmare, but I pushed through—even when all four of them showed up for lunch. For once, I just traded with Zabra and had her take the table. I didn’t want to talk to them right now and if they couldn’t respect it, then I’d handle it a different way.
They lingered, and while none of them made a scene or tried to call me over, I could feel the weight of their stares. The one time I glanced at the table from the back, Ian was glaring at Archie and Jake. Coop, though, just shook his head, but whatever he said to them didn’t seem to be making it better.
“Everything okay?” Marsha asked me, probably because I was hiding in the back instead of out front where I usually was.
“Yes. No.” I lifted my shoulders. “I don’t know.”
The older woman gave me a gentle smile. “Come take a break—a real one.”
Guilty at being busted for hiding, I trailed after her to her office.
“Sit down. I’ll be right back.” When she returned, she had a couple of cokes and she handed me one with a straw. “Caffeine usually helps, and your eyes are red.”
They were? Shit. I’d been determined not to cry.
“I’m sorry, Marsha. I just have a lot on my mind.”
“I’m guessing at least some of that is sitting out there on fourteen?”
Ducking my head, I took a sip of the coke rather than answer.
“That’s what I thought. Those guys come in here often enough. I know you’re all friends, so what’s going on?” Marsha gave me a kind, but firm look. “It’s none of my business, but sometimes venting can help. I’m an ear—and a vault.”
“It’s—I’m just mad at them. It’s not something they did, but what they were planning to do.”
“Okay, what were they planning to do?”
As much as I hated to admit it, I really needed to talk to someone, and she coaxed most of it out of me—including the fact I was dating all of them. I edited some of the details—specifically, the sex-based ones. Marsha listened without comment and her expression remained sympathetic.
“Well, I’m with you. That was a pretty crappy thing to plan,” she said. “But… he told you what they were planning it. That has to count for something.”
“He only told me because I told him that Mathieu and I wouldn’t be dating after this. If I hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t have, and then—they’d have set it up and…”
“And if the boy—because they are all boys—went for it, you would have been humiliated even if you weren’t planning on seeing him anymore.”
I nodded slowly. “Maybe not as much as I would have been when they started planning this.”
“You mean before they asked you out.” It wasn’t a question. Leaning back in her chair, Marsha tapped her fingers. “Those four don’t mind you seeing anyone else among them, just no one outside of them.”
With a shrug, I said, “I think so. But now I have to wonder—if they were willing to sabotage me to make sure I wouldn’t see someone not them, what happens when they decide I shouldn’t be seeing anyone else in the group? Does it tear apart a friendship we’ve had forever?”
The more I put that into words, the more I realized we were right back where I’d been at the beginning of the year. Only, now, I knew how they felt, but I was still alone.
“Sweetie,” Marsha said, covering my hand. “Three things. First, you can’t take responsibility for the choices of others. You value your friendships; you value them as people. This is never a bad thing. They can respect that and show their respect, or you don’t need to bother with them at all. They were right—if the guy had gone for it, he didn’t deserve you. If they do shit like this, they don’t deserve you either.”
My gut knotted. I’d missed them over the summer, even when I’d been fuming at them. We’d all been making plans and now…
“Second, relationships are complicated, and guys are kind of stupid.”
I almost laughed at her bland delivery.
“It sounds like they meant well, but they were also selfish. It’s a learning curve… Punishing them is a good idea. Not talking to them drives it home, but don’t hold onto it so much it hurts you. Set boundaries, with them and with yourself. Make it clear, then… if they do it again, it’s a pattern of behavior, and you’ll know whether they’re worth it or not. But the most important thing—value yourself. They don’t define you. You do.”
Biting my lip, I nodded. Some of the knots in my gut loosened even if I didn’t feel that much better.
“Third, go ahead and take off early. Go home, take a nap, eat something and then make a decision about the party. If it were me? I’d go. I’d show them I am capable of having a good time with or without them. They want to be in your life, then they have to get their shit together.”
Marsha stood up, then held out a hand. “Come here.”
“What?” I asked as I rose and then suddenly found myself engulfed in a hug.
“You need a mom hug. Just so happens, I’m available.”
The hug was nice, and when I leaned my head against her shoulder, she smoothed a hand over my hair.
“You’re a sharp kid, Frankie. You’re going places. This feels impossible right now, but it gets better. Just give yourself some time to process the initial shock. Maybe it’s not as bad as you thought.”
I laughed some but the hug actually did help. My mom never did this. I’d gotten a hug from Ian’s mom once that was a lot like this. Finally, when I pulled back a little Marsha let me go.
“I was going to ask for tomorrow off…”
“Done,” Marsha told me. “I meant it, you go on home. We’ll finish your tables and collect your tips.”
“I don’t like leaving you in a lurch.”
“We’ll be fine,” she said sternly. “Now go on, go home. If you do decide to go to the party, knock their socks off. Make them realize what they’re missing.”
The fact I’d said I was dating all four hadn’t seemed to faze her or her advice.
“Are they still out there?” If they saw me leaving, I’d end up having to deal with them right now.
“Hang on…” She left me in the office. A minute later, she returned and said, “Yes, they are. So, this is what you’re going to do…”
What I did was leave the store through the back entrance while Marsha and Zabra ran interference out front. My car was bracketed by Jake’s SUV and Archie’s car. I made it out to my car without getting caught. On the drive home, I splurged on a burger, fries, and a shake. I hadn’t eaten breakfast. I hadn’t even thought about it.
At home, I made it up the stairs and into my apartment without being intercepted. It was still early.
The messages waited for me unread, and I stared at the red number on the corner indicating how many. There were some voicemails, too. Since I’d just seen all four of them, I knew they were fine, so it wasn’t a tonsils situation, but I still looked…
One of the calls was from Mathieu.
I pressed play on his message after I finished my food.
“Francesca,” he said, a hint of a smile in his voice. “I apologize for the last minute nature, but I would like to beg off going to the party tonight. Last evening, when I was at a community event, I met someone. She was very sweet and there is a chance to see her again this evening but not at the party. Please forgive me for leaving you dateless. I thought it might also be easier for you. I will see you on Monday. Au revoir.”
When the message ended, I fell back on the bed and laughed until I almost cried. It was ironic and sad in the same breath. Putting my phone in do not disturb, I curled over onto my side and stuck my head under a pillow. The cats leapt up on the bed one at a time. I didn’t know how I did it, but I ma
naged to sleep.
I woke a few hours later, eyes sore and chest aching, but a little clearer. It was almost five. I had a couple of hours before the party. The cats purred around me but leapt eagerly when I padded out to the kitchen to feed them. In the bathroom, I studied my appearance. My hair was disheveled and rumpled, but I didn’t feel like showering, so I settled for straightening it.
In the bedroom, I eyed the suit from that morning and ran my fingers against the hickeys on my neck.
But the most important thing—value yourself. They don’t define you. You do.
Marsha’s words ran through my head.
I bought the bathing suit because I liked how I looked in it. Decision made, I stripped and changed. My borrowed clothes from Archie sat atop the same laundry that also hid Jake’s boxers.
This was about me. Not them.
Once I had the suit on, I pulled on a pair of shorts to cover the bottom. The top would be fine. The skies had cleared, and the temperatures had cooled, but it was hardly cold. Besides, Archie’s pool was heated.
Shoes on, I grabbed my phone and looked at all the messages. Tabbing over to the group one we shared, I sent a message.
I’m going to Archie’s now. I know it’s early, but we should talk. Hopefully, I’ll see you there.
Shoving my phone in my pocket with my wallet, I looked at Tiddles who stared at me blissfully from my pillow. “Good idea? Bad idea?”
The cat just gave me a bland look.
Yeah.
I didn’t know, either.
Coop wasn’t waiting at my car. Hopefully that meant he was already at Archie’s or at least with them. A part of me considered going to check his apartment, but I discarded it. Chicken, maybe, but I wanted to talk to all four of them at the same time. Not individually.
We needed to clear this air.
I needed it cleared.
The drive to Archie’s went by too fast, even if my nerves ramped the whole way there. Thankfully, I knew the gate code though Jeremy would have buzzed me in if I rang it. I pulled up the drive and parked off to the side. There would be more cars here tonight, and chances were I’d be stuck once they began arriving.
Hopefully, I’d still want to be stuck there.
Fingers crossed.
Rules and Roses: Untouchable Book One Page 35