Easy Love

by Kristen Proby

  Lila examines me thoughtfully, then nods. “The color matches your eyes, which I kind of hate you for, because I can’t wear green, and it shows off your boobs. Excellent choice.”

  “Right on.” Lila is gorgeous, as usual, in a one-shoulder little black dress and strappy silver heels. Her black hair is also down, straight and sleek. Makeup put together.

  She’s always put together.

  “You look awesome,” I say, and offer her a fist to bump.

  “We’re hot bitches,” she agrees, just as the front door opens and Charly yells, “We’re here!”

  “It was a good idea to meet here,” Gabby says, and holds a bottle of liquor up. “We’ll have shots before we leave.”

  “Why do I feel like I’m back in college?” Van asks and hugs Lila tight, still careful of her shoulder. “Hi, sugar.”

  “Hello, friend.”

  “You all look amazing,” I announce and find shot glasses. Charly pours us each a shot of Patron.

  “Should Van be drinking with pain meds?” Gabby asks.

  “I haven’t taken a pain med in a week,” she says with a roll of the eyes. “But maybe I should try it. It could be fun.”

  “Hey, Karen used to swirl her meds in her martini for a reason on Will & Grace,” Lila reminds us.

  “Bingo,” Van agrees with a laugh, and we all take a shot, then another.

  “Are we ready to go?” I ask. “We have a reservation at Café Amalie in fifteen minutes.”

  “Let’s go wreak havoc on the streets of New Orleans, ladies,” Charly says, and leads us out the door and to the sidewalk. “Lila, honey, those shoes are gonna be a bitch when you’re drunk and walking through the Quarter.”

  “Told you,” I say and smirk.

  “They’re pretty,” Lila says.

  “Oh, they are that,” Charly agrees. “Trust me, I know good shoes. But you’ll need to be careful.”

  “I’ll hold onto you,” I tell Lila, and loop my arm through hers.

  “Oh, good, we’ll both be on our asses,” she laughs.

  “Are you saying I’m clumsy?”

  “Yes,” they all say at once, making me laugh. The walk to Café Amalie is short, and we’re seated quickly.

  “Ladies,” hot waiter Joe says, as he approaches the table. “Welcome.”

  “Hi, Joe,” I say with a smile. “Ladies, this is Joe.”

  “Well, hello, Joe,” Charly says, blatantly looking Joe up and down. “You’re delicious.”

  “As is the food,” Joe says without missing a beat, and I mentally high-five him.

  “You’re going to get along with us just fine,” Gabby says with a laugh.

  “What can I bring you to drink?” he asks, and lays his hand on my shoulder.

  His very big, very firm hand.

  “Lemon drop?” he asks with a wink.

  “I really love you, Joe.” He laughs and takes all of our drink orders, and when he’s gone, Charly lets out a low whistle.

  “Dear, sweet God, the things I could teach that man.”

  “I don’t know, I think Joe looks like he already knows his way around a woman,” Lila says, and watches Joe unabashedly at the bar.

  “He’s good with his hands,” I agree.

  “He touched your shoulder,” Van reminds me with a grin.

  “Exactly. And that woke my girl parts up, so there you have it.”

  Joe delivers our drinks, and Gabby keeps craning her neck to see the iron entrance.

  “Who are you looking for?” I ask.

  “Cindy is going to join us, but she didn’t know if she’d be able to make it here, or if she’d meet up with us later for dancing.”

  “So, who is this Cindy?” I ask and glance toward the bar, just in time to see a woman walking away toward the rest room. I’d swear it was Hilary from work, but she’s gone before I can tell for sure. “I remember you mentioned her before.”

  “She’s been a friend of mine for a long time,” Gabby says, and smiles at Joe as he sets her mojito in front of her. “You’ll like her. She’s fun.”

  “Are you having dinner tonight, ladies?” Joe asks.

  “Maybe just appetizers?” Charly asks.

  “I don’t know, we’re going to be drinking. A lot,” I remind her. I glance back toward the bar, hoping to see the woman again, but she’s not there. I must have been mistaken.

  “May I suggest then that you put something on your stomachs?” Joe asks seriously.

  “I’m starving, so yes,” Lila says, and orders her entrée. The rest of us follow suit, then clink glasses when Joe leaves. “These drinks are strong!”

  “I know. I’m only allowed to have one,” I reply. Dinner is full of laughs, awesome food, and lots of flirting with Joe, who takes it all in stride. When it’s time to leave, night has fallen over New Orleans. The air has cooled comfortably, and the walk over to Bourbon Street is lovely. We find a fun club with a DJ, claim a large table, and settle in for a night of dancing and laughter.

  And lots of drinks.

  “To good friends and shenanigans!” Charly announces, as we all hold our drinks in the air and take a sip. “Let’s dance!”

  Gabby and Lila join her, just as a beautiful young woman approaches the table. Gabby hugs her, tosses her purse on the chair next to mine, and pulls her with them to the floor.

  “That must be Cindy,” I say to Van, as we watch the girls dance on the mostly empty dance floor.

  “Yep,” Van says with a nod. “She’s a nice girl. Kind of slutty, but nice.”

  That makes me smirk, just as I’ve taken a drink of my lemon drop, and I clamp my hand over my mouth so I don’t spew it everywhere. “Van!”

  “It’s true,” she says with a laugh. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Me too. How are you feeling? Really?”

  “Much better.” She smiles, and when I would question her further, she shakes her head. “Let’s not talk about it tonight, okay? Let’s just have fun.”

  “Okay,” I agree. She deserves this fun night. “Although, now that I have you alone, can we talk business for a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  “I have the PI looking into some things, but he still hasn’t gotten back to me. I’m a bit concerned about Mr. Rudolph.”

  “Why? Has something happened?”

  “It’s all circumstantial,” I reply with frustration and sip my drink. “I discovered that all of the transfers were made at about the same time of day. Less than an hour before he typically leaves for the day. And Van? He leaves super early, like around 1:30, almost every day. I do the majority of the work he should be doing. What’s up with that?”

  “I should have told you, and it didn’t occur to me,” Savannah says. “His daughter is very sick. She’s been in the Children’s Hospital for a while, and that’s where he goes every afternoon.”

  “Oh, that’s horrible.”

  “He’s a nice man. He’s been with our company for longer than a decade.”

  “But, if his daughter is so sick, he has medical bills to pay. This doesn’t make him look any more innocent.”

  But Savannah shakes her head adamantly. “No, we have excellent insurance, and anything they don’t cover, Eli is picking up. We take care of our own, Kate. Mr. Rudolph’s daughter is getting excellent care, and he has no out of pocket expenses for it. It wouldn’t make sense for him to skim money. He’s still making the same salary, despite needing to be gone so much.”

  “Geez, remind me to work for you guys from now on,” I say with some surprise. “That’s very generous.”

  “If you’re loyal to your employees, they’ll be loyal to you. That’s what Daddy always used to say.”

  “Makes sense,” I reply, and chew my lip as I think over this new information. It still doesn’t add up.

  “Oh, hello, Kate.”

  I glance up in surprise to find Hilary standing by our table, a wide grin on her face. She’s looking between me and Van, and I cringe inwardly.

&n
bsp; Crap. How am I going to play this off?

  “Hi, Hilary. Do you know Savannah?”

  “Of course. Hello, Ms. Boudreaux.”

  “When we’re not in the office, I’m Savannah,” she replies, and smiles at Hilary.

  “Van and I went to college together,” I say, hoping that Hilary won’t ask any questions, and wondering just how long she was standing nearby, listening to our conversation.

  “I see. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, right?”

  I tilt my head, but before I can say anything further, the others return from the dance floor.

  “Hi, I’m Lila.” Lila holds her hand out to Hilary, who shakes it and continues to smile.

  “Hilary.”

  Introductions are made, and Hilary is invited to join us, and rather than decline, like I was hoping she’d do, she takes a seat and settles in across from me.

  Darn it.

  Another round of drinks is delivered, and suddenly a tall, handsome man is standing next to Charly, inviting her to dance.

  “Darling, I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream. Trust me, you don’t want a piece of this.” She pats him on the cheek and the man walks away, a look of pure confusion on his face.

  “I wonder if he’s confused because he got shot down, or if he’s never listened to Taylor Swift before?” I ask.

  “To Taylor Swift,” Gabby says, holding her glass high. “For giving us fantastic one-liners for years.”

  “The girl writes some great ones,” Lila agrees. “Oh! Fun drinking game. Every time someone uses a Taylor line in conversation, we take a drink.”

  “You’re on!” Gabby says.

  “This is so fun!” Cindy agrees, and we all drink in honor of the daydream line.

  “Let’s dance some more,” Gabby says.

  “Everything will be alright if we just keep dancing like we’re twenty-two,” Cindy says, we all drink, and then hit the dance floor while Pitbull and Ke$ha sing about Timber.

  Charly and Van stay behind and are approached several times by cute men, and when the men leave after being shot down, they drink.

  I wonder what lyrics they just used.

  When we’re all back at the table, our minds a little fuzzier, Hilary sits back in her seat and nudges her head to the side, indicating that I should look. “Three o’clock,” she says.

  “Which one? The bald one?” I ask.

  “Fuck no, the one with the tattoo sleeve,” she replies.

  “Ah, I see him. Is that Mr. Starbucks?” I ask. “Louis?”

  “Yes.” She grins when Louis cocks his brow at her and shrugs a shoulder like, you wanna? “Looks like I’m getting lucky tonight, ladies.”

  “Lucky bitch,” Gabby says with a frown, just as a waitress sets a basket of peanuts right in front of me, which Van quickly picks up and places at the other end of the table.

  “You don’t like peanuts?” Gabby asks.

  “I’m allergic,” I reply and shrug.

  “Remember that time in college when you accidentally ate some and your face got all swollen? It was horrific,” Van says with a dramatic shiver.

  “Okay, back to me,” Gabby says impatiently. “Do you know how long it’s been since I got laid? Years.”

  “Good Lord,” Lila says in sympathy. “Honey, we can fix that. Like, right now.”

  “Oops! I’m out! Thanks for the drinks, guys.” Hilary jumps up and scrambles over to Louis, who has just stood and paid his own tab, then they leave together with his tongue down her throat.

  “She seems kind of fun,” Charly says thoughtfully and sips her drink.

  “I don’t like her,” Lila says with a shake of the head.

  “Why?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. Just something about her.”

  “Anyway, back to me,” Gabby says primly. “I haven’t gotten laid in forever.”

  Just as the words leave her mouth, a shorter man, in his mid-thirties approaches her, leans in and says, “Why don’t you let me help you out with that, sugar?”

  Gabby blinks at him for a moment, then says, “I knew you were trouble when you walked in.”

  “Huh?” he asks in confusion as we all laugh, raise our glasses in salute, and drink.

  “That means no,” Van says helpfully, and the guy saunters away, shaking his head.

  “Come on, Gabby,” Lila says, “Why you gotta be so mean?”

  More drinks.

  “That was creepy,” Gabby says.

  “It’s okay, I’m not getting laid either,” Charly says. “It’s been longer than a minute.”

  “You could always call Ryan,” Van says with a smug smile. “He’d do you in a hot second.”

  “We are never, ever getting back together. Like, ever,” Charly says, and we all laugh and drink.

  Damn, these drinks are good. And strong. Am I still drinking lemon drops? I don’t even know.

  Maybe.

  “But he was good in the sack,” Charly clarifies. “And he did this thing with his tongue—”

  “Stop,” Eli says as he walks up to the table. “I don’t need to know what any man does to you with his tongue.”

  “Why are you here?” Van demands. “It’s girls’ night out. Only girls.”

  “Ah, shake it off, Vanny,” Gabby says, prompting us all to drink. “Declan’s right behind him.”

  “Hi, Eli,” Cindy says from next to me. She’s been very quiet all evening, listening, laughing, and now that Eli’s here, she’s chatty?

  I look between her and Eli, and frown.

  “Have you fucked her?” I ask, probably way too loudly, but once I’m this drunk, I can’t stop the words.

  Damn words.

  Cindy blinks rapidly, but Eli doesn’t react at all. No frown. No denial.

  Nada.

  “Did you just say fuck?” Savannah asks in surprise.

  “Yeah. I know, it’s new. Eli’s been teaching me.”

  “He’s teaching you to say fuck?” Lila asks. “That’s cool. Way to go, Eli.”

  He’s watching me with hot eyes, but he’s not giving anything away. He won’t answer me.

  Which, of course, means yes.

  I turn my blurry gaze back to young, perky, skinny, perfect-skinned Cindy. “Was loving him like red?” I ask, and we all drink.

  “It was fire-engine red,” she confirms, and I kind of want to smack the hell out of her.

  “Uh,” Lila says, but Declan interrupts.

  “Why are you all using Taylor Swift lyrics?”

  “New drinking game,” I say. “If we use the lyrics in conversation, we drink.”

  “We’ve been using a lot of them,” Gabby says sloppily. “It’s fun.”

  “Do you guys want a drink?” I ask them and signal for the waitress. “You should play.”

  “No, we’re your drivers,” Eli says. His jaw ticks, just a bit, and I think maybe he’s mad at me, but I don’t care.

  I didn’t fuck Cindy.

  “No drinks for them,” Van says to the waitress. “But another round for us.”

  “So, does that mean you’re not ready to go home?” Declan asks with a laugh.

  “Are you guys going all the way back to the inn tonight?” I ask Van and Gabby.

  “No, we’re staying at Mama’s. She’s at the inn with Sam and the guests.”

  “Cool.”

  “Eli, will you please give me a ride home?” Cindy asks, and bats her eyes at the man who’s been spending every night in my bed, but before I can curl my hand into a claw and tear her fake-eyelashed eyes out, Declan speaks up.

  “I get that honor, cher.”

  Eli is watching me.

  Eli is watching me.

  I grin and stand, make sure I’m steady on my feet, and say, “Excuse me.”

  “Where are you going?” Eli asks.

  “Over there. Alone.”

  I nod decisively, walk to the bar, and get there just in time. My feet are slow. I’m glad I didn’t wear heels.

 
“Hi there,” the tall man next to me says. He’s hot. Both of him.

  “Hi.”

  “Having a good time?” he asks.

  “Yes.” I blink, and then exclaim, “I know you!”

  “You do?”

  “Yes! You were on the plane with Lila yesterday. Asher?”

  “That’s right.” He shakes my hand and grins. “Is Lila with you this evening?”

  “Yep. She’s my BFF. We drink together. One time, in college, we made out, but it was no biggie.”

  “Okay,” he laughs.

  “You didn’t ask her for her number,” I accuse him, and poke my finger in his chest. He looks down at it.

  “You just assaulted an officer.”

  “I did?” Oh, crap.

  “Yes. I might have to arrest you.”

  “With handcuffs?”

  “Would you like me to arrest you with handcuffs?”

  “Hell to the yes!”

  “Kate?” Eli’s voice is cold and hard, and I’m sure he looks all scary and stuff.

  “I’m talking to the hot Asher,” I inform him. “I assaulted him, and he’s a cop, and he’s going to put me in handcuffs.”

  “No, I don’t believe he will.”

  Asher laughs. “There’s nothing going on here, man.”

  “Come see Lila!” I take his hand and lead him past Eli, who I glare at, because…Cindy, and am surprised to find that Gabby, Van, Charly, and slutty Cindy are all gone. “Where did everyone go?”

  “Declan took them home,” Lila says, and then her eyes go wide when she sees Asher. “Hi.”

  “We meet again,” Asher says with a smile. He’s super handsome, with dark hair and blue eyes and a great smile that’s just a little crooked. Total hottie. I give her a thumbs up behind his back and sit down.

  Eli joins me, lays his arm across the back of my chair and leans in to say in my ear, “We will talk later.”

  “About you fucking that young harlot?”

  His eyes narrow. Yep, totally pissed.

  “Among other things.”

  “Whatever,” I say, and wave him off as if it doesn’t matter. “You’re not mine, Eli. Fuck whomever you please. There, there’s a girl giving you the googly eyes right over there.”