by Scott, S. L.
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll be with the guys.”
“If you’re sure?”
I suck in a deep breath and let my heart reply, “Wholeheartedly. Now go get ’em.”
A smile graces those lips I want to kiss again, but I refrain. Weatherly nods and then walks toward the house. When she looks back, sadness has staked its place in those beautiful eyes. I’d love to take away her pain, but as I look around, I understand what she meant by feeling free with me. I don’t fit in this world, but more than anything, I don’t think Weatherly does either.
30
Weatherly
I’m not scared to face my father despite how heavy my feet feel as I tread down the hall.
“Weathhherrrleeee.” The slur of my name cautions me when I round the corner. Bob Sanders, of Sanders & Beck, my dad’s partner and Lloyd’s dad, throws his arms open for me. Scotch sloshes in the crystal highball, causing him to look down at the pristine wood floors he’s ruining. “It’s good to see you again.”
I’ve known him my whole life, but history doesn’t make me fonder of him. I try to avoid him, walking around him, but the hall is only so wide. “I’m here to speak with my dad.”
“No hug for your dear old friend?”
“He’s waiting.”
“He’ll understand.” I’m grabbed and pulled tight into his arms. My shoulder jabs his chest, but I wish it were my knee to his groin. “You’ve grown up.” His putrid breath hits my nostrils, and I pull away, but not in time to avoid his hand cupping my ass. Pushing off, I say, “Don’t touch me like that.”
His head jerks back. “A hug. Fine.” His hands go up in surrender. “Girls these days are—”
“Like father, like son. Assholes these days—”
He grabs my arm and yanks me closer. Anger takes hold of his mood. “Listen, little girl—”
“Everything okay?” Stascia asks, coming out of the bathroom.
I pull back, stunned by his behavior as my arm screams through the pain he caused.
Bob backs away. “Fine. Just fine.” Then his sleazy side comes out again. “It’s been a long time, Stascia.”
“Not long enough.” She eyes him as I walk toward her.
Wrapping my arm around hers, I whisper, “What just happened?”
She looks back over his shoulder and rubs my arm. “He’s gone. You all right?”
“He just . . .” When we stop, I stare back down the hall. “He grabbed me.”
“I saw. He’s such a creep. He managed to cop a feel of side boob in front of my parents at our Christmas party, and they were completely oblivious.”
Standing in front of my dad’s office, I say, “He’s sneaky and disgusting like his son.”
She nods and then notices where we are. “Going in?”
“Yeah.” I glance at her. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it.” Her smile is confident.
“You sound like Dare.”
“He’s a good guy.”
“He is.”
She takes a few steps toward the backyard, but stops and turns back. “Do you want me to wait?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll keep an eye on Bob.” She winks. Before she disappears around the corner, she adds, “I’ll also have a drink ready for you.”
“You’re the best.” I don’t need to gain strength by taking deep breaths or building myself up inside. I’m already strong. Bold. I knock but don’t wait for him to allow me in. I open the doors. All the lights are off except for the green banker’s lamp on his desk. I glance at the books at the top of the bookcase out of habit, and then say, “Hello.”
“Sit down.” My father doesn’t look away from the computer screen. I sit on the edge of the chair and wait for the acknowledgment I deserve. The building silence brings tension along with it or maybe I brought that defensiveness inside with me.
He finally looks up, and when he does, I don’t see my dad. I see a man who’s ready to cross-examine me. All business. No kindness is found in his eyes or body language.
It saddens me that this is how it’s going to be, but I can play his game.
“Did you think about the position at the firm?” he asks.
“I didn’t need to. I won’t work under Lloyd.”
Disappointment comes in a frustrated sigh. “This is about your boyfriend being jealous of Lloyd. Making you turn away from the biggest opportunity of your life for his gain. Don’t be blind, Weatherly. That guy is using you.” Rubbing his fingers together, he adds, “It all comes down to money and getting a hold of your trust fund.”
“You don’t know him to judge him. You didn’t have the manners to shake his hand, so you have no right to talk about him.”
Rubbing his temples, he then slaps his hands down on the desk. “This is exactly what I didn’t want for you. A man is controlling you—”
“So it’s okay if you do it, but not anyone else?” I realize what I said too late. “Dare does not control me like you and Lloyd do. He loves me for me. He wants me to do what makes me happy.”
“He’s an intruder to our lives. What kind of name is Dare Marquis anyway?”
“He sings in a band.” Why would I say that like it’s not true, like it’s a stage name?
“A band? I didn’t think it could get worse. What are you doing, Weatherly? Having a bout of insanity?”
I sit there taken aback by his accusation. Lowering my voice, I say, “I won’t defend my relationship or my sanity.”
“Because you can’t. Dump the loser and take the job. You start on Monday.”
“No. I don’t. I won’t compromise my values for a paycheck.” Standing, I’m about to go off on him, but even I know not to argue with someone who will never truly listen. It’s a losing battle with him. I walk to the door, but before I open it, and with my back to him, I say, “I’ll find work elsewhere.”
“You’ll find a place as well.” I whip my attention back to him. “That apartment is corporate housing. It was loosely justifiable when you were interning and then spent the last year preparing for the exams so you could work for Sanders & Beck. It’s not anymore. You just kissed everything goodbye and for what?”
I finally realize that this was never about me. This is about someone doing his dirty deeds, his bidding, and not saying a word. He can have Lloyd, but he won’t have me. Lifting my chin, I reply, “Love.”
“Love will leave you pregnant and alone while he travels the road and sleeps with groupies.”
“That’s Lloyd you’re describing. He fucked around on me for seven years, and I looked the other way. Dare wouldn’t hurt me. He’d end it first.”
“So that makes him noble?”
“No. It makes him human.” I leave because the pain I feel inside is starting to pulse through my veins.
My father’s voice travels down the hall behind me. “You have until Saturday to be out of that apartment.”
He doesn’t have to worry. I’m already gone.
31
Dare
A waiter passes by, and I say, “You should try the canapés.”
Lennox orders a beer and then asks, “What’s a canapé?”
Sipping whiskey, English still has his sunglasses on, though the house shadows us from the sunset. He pats Lennox on the back, and says, “A canapé is a bite-sized appetizer, mate.”
Romeo circles round. It’s hard to keep us rowdies apart. “Why don’t they just call it an appetizer then?”
English shrugs. “The French have fancy words for everything.”
“Yeah, the whole fucking language is fancy,” Len strikes back with a laugh.
“Valid point,” English laughs through the words. “Can we talk about Dare’s badass girlfriend? I’d say it was a fair match even without the punch.”
Picking lint off his blue suit, Romeo says, “The dude is like six foot to her five two, five three.”
Stascia says, “Lloyd’s a pu
ssy, so Weatherly definitely could have taken him.”
We’re all laughing as they move closer together.
“Oh fuck,” Romeo says, laughing. “She’s right on.” If she’s hot, he’ll talk. “I was saying the same thing.” Romeo smirks, and Stascia is already falling under his spell.
I see Weatherly’s other friend and her ex nearby. Checking my phone, we don’t have much time before we need to go. I look at the house, but there’s no sign of her yet.
English and Lennox finish their drinks while Romeo finally scores Stascia’s phone number. This girl is so out of his league, but I don’t butt in. I do make the mistake of making eye contact with the Queen Bitch herself. She’s been snubbing her nose to us since we showed up.
But she’s on a mission. Flipping her hair behind her shoulders while squaring them, she comes over. “It’s Dare? As in truth or dare?”
From the first impression I got of her at Shep’s and from how she treats Weatherly, I knew it was only a matter of time until she inserted herself where she doesn’t belong—Weatherly’s and my relationship.
“Yep.”
“You know Weatherly is one of my best friends, yet she never mentioned you.”
Stascia moves in front of her. “Stop, April. Don’t make a scene.”
“Me? I think we’re well aware of who’s making the scene here.” She pushes around her and comes at me. “You show up calling our friend your girlfriend and acting like that holds some power with our crew. It doesn’t.”
I check my pockets and then hold up empty hands. “Lookie there. I’m all out of fucks to give.”
English taps me on the shoulder. “Let’s go. We have a show, and this bullshit is messing with my vibe.”
“No fucking joke.” I should probably come up with some great comeback, but she’s not worth my time. Weatherly needs to watch her back. I left mine unprotected, and she fires her first real shot, “Save us the trouble, Dare, and leave Weatherly alone. You got what you wanted, so move along to another victim.”
When I stop, Lennox speaks under his breath, “Let it go, man.”
Unfortunately, I can’t when it comes to my girl. I turn around and cross my arms over my chest. I shouldn’t indulge this bitch princess, but I need to know what she’s talking about. “What is it I got exactly?”
“Her virginity.”
Weatherly’s?
Thinking back on our first time, I start to wonder if I treated her right. Did I hurt her? Did I take it slow or fuck her? Fuuuck! I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Fucking hell!” Lloyd throws his glass into the grass and stomps it into the pieces.
April whips her attention to him. “Shut up, Lloyd!”
“I’ve waited fucking years, and he gets her in two weeks? It’s not fucking fair.”
I’m tempted to correct him to one week, but my ego doesn’t need the glory, and the woman standing in the nearest doorway distracts me.
Weatherly.
April pounces like she’s cornered her prey. “You didn’t know?” Cackling like a badly-voiced Disney villain, she adds, “Someone had to do it, but I expected someone with a little more class.” She slow claps. “Well done. Bravo. You bagged a Beck.” The snark is gone and anger surfaces. “Now run along, back to the east side, and leave my friend alone.”
Stascia yells, “That’s enough, April. Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting Weatherly on purpose? She’s not even here to defend herself or him.”
Still feeling sick that I might have failed her, I glance over her shoulder to see my girlfriend has been listening to everything.
“Why would I care about them?” April asks. “They’re not like us, Stascia.” She sets her eyes on Romeo. “Or are you wanting to slum it with him now?” April’s been so careful to keep her voice down, to be the innocent among the mostly older guests. Lloyd, on the other hand, storms inside.
Coming to stand between Romeo and me, Stascia says, “I’ll choose them any day over being associated with you.”
April points at a group of people on the other side of the pool. “Well, maybe your parents would like to hear how you blew their financial advisor last year.”
Romeo steps in. “If they were consenting adults, we have no right to judge.” He gives Stascia a wink.
“Fucking hell, Romeo.” I turn to the source of contention, and say, “Look April, you can throw all the trash talk you want my way, but why are you hurting the two women you call best friends?”
“They don’t have my back. They don’t care about me or what’s going on in my life.” She finally breaks, her voice rising. “It’s always about them. Always.”
Stascia sighs and goes to her. “We do care. You’ve just always been so closed off.”
She pushes her away, and screams, “You don’t, or you would have noticed that I’ve been in love with Lloyd for years.”
A gasp draws their attention to the woman who needed to hear how they truly feel about her. With a trembling voice, Weatherly asks, “That’s why you slept with him?” April spins around to see Weatherly standing there, defeated. “That was you at the party . . . under him, wasn’t it?”
There’s a tilt up of her chin and righteousness to her tone as if she’s owed a debt. “So what? You weren’t satisfying his needs.”
“Satisfying his needs . . .” Her lips purse like she just tasted a lemon, and then the pain returns. “It wasn’t the first time either.” I’m tempted to step in, but something tells me she’ll need me more after than now. She needs to hear this chick and the betrayal. The truth is hard to hear, but it will give her something solid to move forward on.
“You don’t care about him like I do.”
“I don’t care about him at all.”
April walks toward her with tentative steps. “I tried to tell you a million times, but—”
“But you didn’t. Instead, you stabbed me in the back.” Her expression softens when she sees me. Her steps sure. That’s my girl right there. Bold.
“You can’t be serious,” April says, raising her voice. “You’re choosing them over me?”
“No. You made that choice when you screwed me over.”
Exasperated, April throws her arms out. “I’ve defended your fat ass for years, but you’re willing to throw me away on a dive bar, second-rate singer.”
Weatherly startles and stills with her back to that hateful bitch. What the fuck? Who says that about their best friend? April.
I step in. “With friends like you, who needs enemies, you backstabbing—”
“It’s time to go, Dare.” Lennox grabs my arm.
Security runs from the house, waving their batons. “You need to leave this property immediately.”
With balls of fucking steel, April carries on, “Everything you’ve worked so hard for will be gone. Are your parents and friends going to take my side or his? You know the answer. Are you willing to walk away from everything and everyone in your life for that guy?” Through my anger, I stare at the house behind them while her insults shoot right through me. “He’s a loser . . . Are you going to support him . . . Poor . . . east side . . .”
I walked these grounds with my mom and remember thinking it was the closest to a castle I’d ever seen. The people who lived here must be so happy, just as it made my mom happy to see the architecture. But the people here are evil. However, they’re from Weatherly’s world, and even though I can see how different she is to them, what if I do drag her down? She’s become bold and strong and can clearly hold her own with these people, but why should she have to? Is that what I bring to her table? Conflict with her friends and family? Fuck.
I thought only two things triggered my anger. Talk about my mom and the band in a bad light. But it’s now three. Insulting Weatherly.
I need to walk away to preserve my mom’s memory. I need to walk away and allow Weatherly to stand on her own . . . something she can do. She deserves the world—not through a fat bank account but through connections and the life
she’s earned. And I’m not sure I can give her that.
“Dare?” Weatherly calls after me and then runs to my side as I head for the car. I don’t look at her or say a word. I can’t. “Why are you leaving?” She clings onto my arm. “Please don’t go.”
I’m struggling to leave this woman. I want her, but I want no part of these people. “I won’t be their prey or token entertainment.”
“You’re not. To me, you’re not.”
I detour to the side of the house and search for Lennox’s car parked on the long driveway but don’t see it. She catches up to me again with tears welled in her eyes. “Please stay, or better yet, I’ll come with you.”
“That’s how it’s always going to be. Don’t you see, Weatherly?”
“Pepper. Call me Pepper or babe.”
“Don’t you get it?” I hate raising my voice to her, but nothing else is getting through that beautiful brain of hers. “This is beneath you. I am beneath you.”
“You’re not. Not at all.”
“Fuck,” I shout, my anger getting the best of me. I reach the front lawn, and the car is still nowhere to be seen. Whipping around, I yell, “Go back to your party, Weatherly.”
She sucks in a harsh breath, holding it as my words. Her bold turns timid as the words seep into her soul. Her lips part and tears well. She’s so fucking beautiful in her anguish. We stare at each other, but this is the one time I can’t give in.
April is right. Her mom. Everyone. She deserves better than what I can give her. “Love doesn’t pay the bills, Weatherly. It’s only been a few weeks. Are you willing to sacrifice your whole life for a . . .” I hate myself for doing this, for even thinking it. It’s a lie through and through, but I push her away, hoping it’s in her best interest. “We’ve had fun—”
“Fun?” She backs away, anger turning her pretty blues from sky to fire. “What are you saying? That I didn’t mean anything to you?”
“Weeks, Weatherly.”
“I don’t need years to know what I feel.” The tears don’t fall, but she’s fighting every emotion running through her head. Her eyes are wild with worry. I hate it. It’s never something I wanted to cause her, but it beats the pain and disappointment she’ll feel if she stays with me. It’s only a whisper, but she says, “You told me we had all the time in the world. And you called me an optimist.”