Saorsa

by Kerry Heavens

  Louise: I’ll be a third wheel. Honestly, I’ll be fine, you go.

  Me: Nope, I’m not taking no for an answer. Get your butt on a train and meet me there at seven. I’m going to finish up here and go shower. I’ll see you soon.

  Louise: I feel a little bad, but it does sound great. LOL! I’ll see you soon. Love you.

  Me: Love you too.

  I decide it’s only fair to warn Michael about Louise, so I pull up a text to him.

  Me: Hey, Louise and Cami broke up and she sounds a little down. Would you mind if she joins us for dinner?

  Michael: That explains a few work related events today! Of course I don’t mind. We can reschedule if you need to be with her.

  Me: No, I think she’s in a good place, but she could just do with a night out, if you don’t mind the extra company.

  Michael: It will be my pleasure. Connor will think I’ve turned in to some kind of playboy.

  Me: LMAO! I’ll see you later.

  I stroll into the restaurant a few minutes early and spot Connor taking an order. He winks at me and nods to the back, letting me know to go on ahead. I find Michael staring into his beer so I clear my throat. He jumps and looks up seeming dazed.

  “Hey.” He smiles, getting to his feet and placing a fond and familiar kiss on my cheek.

  “You were miles away. Rough day?”

  “You could say that,” he says with a grimace.

  “Uh oh.” I take the seat opposite him and wait for him to sit down and tell me all about it.

  “Let’s just say, Cami is bad enough on a good day. I was beginning to think she had been possessed by the purest form of evil, but if Louise broke up with her that would explain everything.”

  I wince. “Damn, that must have been the day from hell.”

  “A day in hell would have been a welcome change to the day I’ve had. What happened between them?” He looks utterly shell shocked.

  “No idea. Hopefully she will feel up to filling us in when she gets here.” I reach over and place a reassuring hand over his. “It’s over now. You are safe with me.”

  He turns his hand over to hold mine and smiles. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  A throat clears beside us and I look up into the thunderous gaze of Rhys. Still wearing his to die for suit from earlier, he looks every bit the suave businessman with a wild edge, only now he looks deadly too.

  “Rhys,” I gasp, sounding far too guilty for my liking. I pull my hand away from Michael and straighten. I have nothing to hide, but this doesn’t look good. I can admit that. “What are you doing here?”

  Rhys doesn’t reply, he just looks at Michael and then back to me, with his jaw set tight.

  Reading the situation perfectly, Michael places his napkin on the table. “I’ll just give you two a few minutes,” he says, getting to his feet.

  Rhys continues to glare at me as Michael excuses himself to a safe distance. He lingers though, to make sure I’m okay, I can see him in my peripheral.

  Rhys sits beside me in the booth and I wait.

  “I thought I told you I won’t share you.”

  “You did,” I reply, simply.

  “And I know I told you to cancel your dinner tonight.”

  “And I told you Michael is just a friend.”

  “A ‘friend' who has had his lips on you,” Rhys spits, his hand smacking the table to mark his irritation.

  “What?” I scowl. I mean, I can’t exactly deny it, but no one knows about that little exception to our otherwise platonic relationship.

  “Cut the crap, Charlotte, I’ve seen the two of you kissing. Outside this very restaurant in fact.”

  “How?” It’s not the defense I probably should be mounting right now, but it’s something I want to know.

  “I have eyes, I saw him touch you.”

  “I mean how did you see? There was no one around.”

  Rhys scoffs. “Well at least you aren’t denying it. I was in my car with—” He shakes his head and then it dawns on me exactly who he had been with.

  “Lisa,” I supply. We had seen her that night and then I do remember a car speeding away.

  “It makes no difference. You lied to me.”

  “I haven’t lied to anyone. Michael is my friend. What you saw was us confirming that.”

  “Friends don’t kiss on the street.”

  “Maybe not,” I agree. “But we’d been out twice and felt nothing for each other. We decided we would be better as friends and then before we parted ways for the evening, we tested the water, to make perfectly sure there was no spark. And there wasn’t.”

  Rhys makes a sound of disbelief. “You don’t expect me to believe that do you?”

  I shake my head in disappointment. “Did you see anything more than a quick and distinctly cool kiss? Hmm?”

  “I saw all I needed to see.”

  “No, Rhys. You saw all you wanted to see,” I fire back. “Did you see him pull me into an alleyway and slam me against a wall, kissing me so deeply I forgot who I was?”

  Rhys tenses beside me and looks ready to kill. “No.”

  “No. You didn’t. That’s what happened when you kissed me, remember? Think about it. If there was anything between Michael and I, don’t you think that would have shown itself then? What happened when you kissed me was pure passion and desire and promise. I may have been trying to deny it then, but it was inevitable it would lead us here because neither of us could fight it for long. What happened when Michael kissed me was that we both felt nothing, chalked it up to a failed experiment and carried on our separate ways home.

  “We are just friends and that is all we will ever be. But he is my first new friend here and I’m not going to let you tell me I can’t see him, however much I want you.” I stiffen, knowing this could be make or break for us. I will not be dictated to. “So decide, Rhys. Do you trust me, or are you going to throw this away over a friendship you don’t like the idea of?”

  “Sorry I’m late…” Louise pants, quickly trailing off when she takes in the scene at the table. The looks she shoots me says everything at once. It says, ‘I thought we were meeting the American not the Scottish dreamboat’, as well as ‘Holy fucking shit, he looks good in a suit, Char!’ and a very obvious, ‘If you don’t want him I could think of a few uses for him’. I’m relieved to see her because she proves to Rhys this was not a date, however I pray he can’t read her as well as I can.

  Michael comes back over now that there is a neutral party at the table and offers me a supportive smile before turning to Louise. “Louise, right?” He grins. “Good to see you again.” He leans in to give her a polite kiss on the cheek in greeting and Louise reciprocates.

  “You too, Michael.”

  They both glance back at us in a moment of silence. Rhys has a decision to make. He stands and I reach across and take a long swig of Michael’s beer because I need something to get me through this.

  “We haven’t been properly introduced,” he says, his tone in another realm to the one he was using seconds ago and his entire demeanor more calm. “I’m Rhys, Charlotte’s boyfriend.”

  I choke on the beer.

  They all turn to look at me and I wipe at my mouth with the back of my hand.

  Rhys’ eyes hold a challenge. Daring me to tell them he’s wrong.

  Louise is WTF-ing with her eyes big time.

  Michael looks amused and has a vague look of I-told-you-so about him.

  He is first to accept the introduction. “Michael,” he says, shaking Rhys’ outstretched hand and smiling warmly. “Good to finally meet you, Rhys.”

  I could kiss him for that. Making sure Rhys knows I’ve been talking to Michael about him. Which I have. I text Michael every day. I’ve been telling him more than I’ve told Louise, but only because she has been caught up in her own stuff lately. Michael is completely up to date except for the boyfriend part, that was news to even me.

  “And you must be Louise?” Rhys asks, encouraging Loui
se out of her WTF-athon.

  “That’s me,” she replies and accepts the kiss to her cheek while glaring at me over his shoulder.

  Rhys catches sight of something, or someone across the restaurant and sighs. “I’m so sorry, I have to run. I’m meeting someone and they just arrived.” He turns to Louise and Michael. “It was good to meet, I hope I can stay for longer next time. Have a great dinner.” Then he turns to me, the thunder previously darkening his face now something lustier. He places a hand on the table and leans in to the booth and just before his lips meet mine, I recognize it for what it is: possessiveness. He kisses me deeply, indecently considering our surroundings, but he’s marking his territory so he clearly doesn’t care. He wants them to know that what he said is true. We are an item.

  He pulls back and smirks. “I’ll be back once my meeting finishes, kitten. I can see you home.” He winks, then stands and just like that, he leaves. We all watch him walk away in stunned silence and I turn in my seat to make sure I catch a glimpse of who he’s meeting. Not that I think it would be Lisa, but I just need to see it for myself.

  An older man approaches him and they shake hands warmly, Rhys receiving a pat on the shoulder in a fatherly gesture before they take their seats.

  I turn back, satisfied, and face the gaping faces of my friends.

  I roll my eyes. “Yes, yes, sit down will you. You’re both catching flies.”

  Michael hands Louise into the seat beside me and reclaims his own. Louise turns to face me and boxed in like this, I feel like I’m facing a firing squad.

  “Start talking,” she demands.

  “I don’t know where to start,” I admit.

  “Start with how you have a boyfriend and I’m just finding out about it now.”

  Michael almost laughs, but styles it out as a cough. I shoot him a look for not helping me.

  “Can we get some drinks first please?” I plead.

  Louise looks over her shoulder and calls out loudly to Connor who happens to be passing by, rushing to the kitchen because it’s really busy tonight. “Excuse me,” she bellows. “We’d like to order some drinks when you’re ready.”

  “Louise!” I admonish.

  “What? We need drinks so we can get you talking. I’m just speeding things up.”

  Connor turns toward the interruption to his kitchen mission, frowning and then smiles impishly when he realizes it’s our table that the pain in the ass is calling out from. Without missing a step, he reaches into his apron pocket and fishes out his pen and a small order pad and tosses it on the table.

  Louise pulls back and frowns at it, casting a disapproving look at Connor’s retreating back. “Rude!” she exclaims.

  “Oh relax would you. That’s Michael’s brother, remember? You met him when you were interfering in my love life,” I explain as Michael collects the pad and writes down his beer order and waits for ours.

  “Still,” she grumbles.

  “Don’t mind him, he has some manners hidden in there somewhere,” he chuckles. “What can I get you ladies?”

  “Martini, dirty,” I reply in a clipped tone. “Please.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll have the same,” Louise adds. “Now spill,” she demands as she turns her attention to me.

  “Louise, what has gotten into you?”

  “I just want to know how my best friend is at boyfriend level with someone and hasn’t told me.”

  “Like when I showed up here to meet your girlfriend?” I ask. “And if you must know, I just found out myself.”

  “What in the hell does that mean?”

  “It means we hadn’t really discussed it and now it seems like it’s official.”

  Louise’s eyes go wide. “Well why haven’t you discussed it?” Her frustration with me is reaching epic levels.

  I blush, I can feel it. “There hasn’t been much time for discussion.”

  “Ohhhh!” She leans in. “Tell us more.”

  I swear Cami must have rubbed off on her, because she is all over the place tonight.

  “There is nothing to tell.”

  “Bullshit!” she cries.

  Michael leans back, clearly enjoying our little volley.

  “Ugh. We went out last night, we had a very nice evening and I saw him briefly today where we had a conversation about exclusivity and such.”

  “So you did have time for a conversation.”

  “Yes, but I hadn’t realized it had resulted in a ‘we are boyfriend and girlfriend’ agreement.”

  “How can you have a conversation and not realize?” she asks.

  “It was more of an ‘I don’t want you seeing anyone else’ conversation,” I admit.

  “And how do you feel about it?” she urges.

  I think for a moment. Despite the surprise, I liked it, a lot.

  “Pretty good,” I reply. “He kind of surprised me just coming out with it like that. Aren’t men supposed to be skittish about commitment? Or have I just been off the scene too long?”

  Michael outright laughs. “I’m no expert by any means, but I think that stereotype is about twenty years out of date.”

  “Oh well. We basically agreed today that we weren’t going to see other people, so I guess that means we are an item, right? Him announcing it is what surprised me.”

  “If you want my opinion,” Michael offers. “That part was a pissing contest. He wanted to make sure I knew you were out of bounds.”

  I can feel my face fall. “Oh God. Do you think he only said it to warn you off? Maybe he didn’t really mean it.” The level of disappointment I feel really shocks me. I start to panic, I knew I shouldn’t have let him in.

  “No way, Charlotte. He meant it. He’s totally into you, that much is obvious. I just think he went all out and put a label on it tonight to stake his claim. You have nothing to worry about there I assure you.”

  “He did want me to cancel on you tonight. I think he’s a little possessive,” I tell him. “It’s kinda hot.”

  “That explains the anger when he found us holding hands.” Michael chuckles.

  “You two were holding hands?” Louise barks.

  “Yeah, all perfectly innocent,” I tell her. Then a thought occurs to me. “You don’t think he came here tonight to check up on me do you?”

  “Did you tell him where you were going?” Louise asks.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Let me go and put this drink order in and I’ll check the booking sheet to see when he made the booking.”

  Michael leaves us and I find myself under the intense scrutiny of my best friend.

  “So?” she demands.

  “So…?”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake, Charlotte. So, has he rocked your world? Did the earth move?” She makes a rolling motion with her hand to encourage me to give her information.

  “I had a lovely evening with him, that’s all there is to say.”

  “Oh my God,” she mutters in frustration. “I have had a really hard weekend. I am this close.” She indicates about a quarter inch with her thumb and finger. “To losing my shit with everyone and everything, so please, just give me something, anything. I just want to hear that someone’s life doesn’t suck as much as mine does right now. Okay?”

  I look at her feeling sympathy I know will piss her off.

  “Don’t look at me that way, just give me the goods.”

  I sigh, knowing this will go on until I do. “Yeah, the earth moved, okay?”

  She squeals. “Awesome.” She shakes my shoulder excitedly and I try not to groan at her enthusiasm. “So?”

  “So what? That’s all you’re getting.”

  She scoffs. “Yeah, sure it is.” Michael returns and she mutters before he sits down. “I’ll beat it out of you later.”

  “Well he made the reservation about a month ago, so I think this was purely coincidental.”

  I’m relieved to say the least. “Thank you.”

  “So he isn’t stalking you, which is good. But he’s
a little on the possessive side. Are we okay with this?” Michael asks hesitantly.

  “I think if you two were holding hands, it was fair for him to be a bit alpha about it,” Louise points out, turning to me. “Why were you two holding hands exactly?”

  “That might be kinda your fault,” I tell her.

  “My fault? I wasn’t even here.”

  “Michael had a really shitty day at work and I was telling him it was going to be okay.”

  “And that was my fault because…?”

  “Because Michael works with Cami, remember?”

  “Ohhhhhhhhhh,” she says, realization dawning.

  “Yeah, oh,” Michael deadpans. “Cami on her best day is almost more than I can take, but Cami post breakup is like Carrie, having a really bad day.”

  “Shit,” Louise says under her breath.

  “Let’s just say that I spent most of the day trying to convince a high-profile Hollywood client that ‘How about I shove my boot in your ass’, means something totally different in the UK than it does in the US. Now I have to take the client on myself, or we lose him.”

  “Sheesh. Sorry, I guess.” She sighs. “It was unavoidable.”

  “What happened?”

  Our drinks arrive and she takes a huge gulp of hers before she tells us anything.

  “You’ve met Cami, right?” she says flatly.

  “Yep,” Michael and I say in unenthusiastic unison.

  “Well then, do I really have to explain?”

  I laugh, clapping my hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry.”

  “Nah, don’t be. She’s hard fucking work, dirty as all hell and an absolute firecracker in bed. But hard fucking work.”

  Michael winces and puts his hands over his ears. “No thank you. Nope. Don’t need to hear that.”

  Louise laughs and rolls her eyes. “It had to come to an end eventually. There’s only so much a phenomenal tongue can make up for.”

  “Oh for the love of—” Michael shakes his head vigorously from side to side, perhaps trying to shake the mental images out.

  “So you’re okay about it? You seem a little bummed, but it sounds like you’ve made peace with it.”

  “I have, but I’ll still miss the orgasms.”