Four Weeks Till Forever

by Nadia Lee

  Mark chuckled. Her father was an ultra-conservative in India and disapproved of his daughter’s career. That was probably why she had to disavow her family name. “You’re a bad girl.”

  “I know. I surely deserve a spanking.” In another woman it would have been a blatant come-on, but Zhara was a lesbian…another fact that might send her father into cardiac arrest if it ever came out. “So why are you drinking here alone? Where’s your new girlfriend?”

  “She…” Mark scowled into his once again empty glass. “She dumped me.”

  Zhara drew back with a look of humorous amazement. “No! Really? But how can… I mean, you are Mark Pryce.”

  “I guess she’s immune to all that.” More than immune. She was repulsed by so many things about him.

  “Are you sure she’s into men? I cannot imagine any red-blooded heterosexual woman not wanting you. You’re gorgeous.”

  He chuckled humorlessly. “Now you’re trying to flatter me out of the funk.”

  “Perhaps I am. Is it working?”

  “Not really.”

  “Ah.” Her shoulders drooped. “Well, what happened?”

  “She doesn’t want me. She thinks I’m the kind of guy who can’t commit, and she thinks I’m going to ruin her life.”

  “There is some basis for this,” Zhara said carefully. “I mean… She’s only going to last three months with you.”

  “I’ve been watching her for close to a year now. The more I get to know her the more I want her.”

  She raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows. “Words I never thought to hear from you. Now I must hear more about this perfect woman.”

  “Well…she’s great.” Mark sighed and signaled for another drink. “She’s beautiful, sexy, smart, dedicated, loyal, funny, stubborn, determined… She clawed her way out of a really bad situation—a really shitty childhood—and made something amazing of herself.”

  “She sounds incredible. Is she for real?”

  “She is. I wouldn’t change a thing about her.”

  “Are you in love with her?” Zhara asked, her eyes curious.

  The bartender placed a new drink in front of him, and Mark took another long swig of the whiskey. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

  “You sure? It sounds like love to me.”

  He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. She thinks I’m a player. My father’s son and all that, and so much more.”

  Zhara’s expression softened. “You are your father’s son, but that doesn’t mean you are him.”

  “But what if I screw up? What if I make her unhappy or can’t love her the way she deserves to be loved?” He slammed the glass down, sloshing the liquor. “If she changes for the worse because of me…I don’t think I could stomach that.” He didn’t want to do to Hilary what his father had done to his mother.

  “My friend, the fact that you’re worried about it at all tells me you won’t spoil this soup. Some people will delude themselves and think they’re hot stuff when they’re really just…idiots. You have seen this?”

  He nodded.

  “But they are not the people who care and want to do the right thing and worry about making mistakes. I think you’ll make this paragon of womanhood very happy. You just have to convince her to take a chance on you if she’s that skittish. But I have a feeling she will. What woman could resist you if you put your mind to it?”

  He laughed. Somehow, Zhara’s faith in him was pumping his confidence back up to its normal level. And she was right of course. He should take a chance. “You’re so damn good for my ego.” He hugged her.

  Hugging him back, she planted a kiss on his cheek. “What are platonic friends for?”

  * * *

  Tossing his keys in a metal bowl he’d bought at an art auction a while back, Iain rolled his shoulders. It had been one long and less than successful family gathering. At least the cousins had stuck around even if Dane and Mark had bailed. Their mother had looked stony the entire time, and Iain was pretty sure it had something to do with Mark’s date. Mom should’ve let them be. Mark’s love life was his own, and he was old enough to know who he wanted to date.

  Iain popped a beer can and sat back on his couch. It was late…but not too late to go out for a little clubbing. He clicked on the TV for an exciting round of channel surfing while he decided. Some music show was displaying a scantily dressed singer wriggling like her ass was on fire. Unfortunately, the wriggle was off beat.

  His phone rang, and he picked it up. An unknown number. Huh.

  “Iain Pryce,” he answered.

  “Iain, thank god,” came a familiar voice. “It’s Zhara.”

  “Hey. I had no idea you were in town. I would’ve made plans to hang out with you instead of watching a really bad singer trying to be a cheap stripper on TV.”

  “Can you come to Z?” She sounded harried and somewhat frazzled.

  He frowned. “You there right now?”

  “Yes, with a very drunk Mark. I don’t think he can walk.”

  “I…too…walk!” came his younger brother’s slurred voice.

  Ah, jeez. “Okay. Give me fifteen minutes.”

  By the time he got there, Mark was slumped at the counter with Zhara watching him with her arms crossed. She looked stunning, like some exotic Indian goddess incarnate. Of course if he told her that, she’d laugh at him, which made her fun to hang out with. “What the hell?” Iain asked. “Mark never drinks more than he can handle.”

  “Apparently there is a woman he’s in love with.” She shook her head, and her loose brown-black curls bounced around her shoulders. “Can you believe it? Mark Pryce, finally fallen.”

  Iain shrugged. “It’s about time I guess.”

  “You are still single.”

  “I’m old and set in my ways.” Iain poked his brother. “Yo. Can you get up?”

  Mark didn’t move. “’Course.”

  “Guess that’s a no.” Iain paid Mark’s tab, then cleared a small space around the stool, bent down and carefully eased his brother into a fireman’s carry. Mark made a vague sound of protest, but didn’t resist.

  Iain carried him out to the parking lot and dumped him in the passenger seat of his car. “Thanks for watching out for him, Zhara.”

  “No worries. Ring me sometime when you get a chance. We should hang out.”

  “Yeah, we should.” He watched her disappear back into the club and felt a lopsided smile tug at his mouth. What a woman. Of course she wouldn’t have been good enough for their mother either. Ceinlys seemed determined to marry them off to heiresses from only the most impeccable families…as if they needed the money. Besides, marrying within a few select families could have unintended consequences. Look at what had happened to the European royals.

  He drove to Mark’s penthouse and fished the keys out of his younger brother’s pocket. He dragged Mark toward the master bedroom, but his brother stirred and said, very clearly, “No.”

  “What do you mean, no? You need to get some sleep.”

  Mark gestured at the couch.

  “You’ll be more comfortable in bed.”

  “Couch.”

  Shrugging, Iain dumped his brother where he wanted. “You gonna be okay by yourself?”

  “Ung,” Mark grunted, his face half-buried in sofa cushions.

  “That really inspires confidence.” Iain went to the bar and poured himself a finger of Laphroaig. His younger brother had really good stuff. Why hadn’t he just stayed home and raided his own bar?

  “Gimme.” Mark extended a hand.

  “Are you kidding? You’re already too drunk.”

  Mark flexed his fingers.

  “I feel like a bad influence.” Iain handed Mark a glass of water. “There. If you finish that, I’ll give you more.”

  Mark drank all of it and extended the hand again.

  “Fine. Don’t blame me if you feel like shit tomorrow.” Iain gave him the bottle of whiskey. Watching his brother drink, Iain shook his head and walked away to the balcony before
pulling out his phone. “Mom?”

  “Iain. Do you know what time it is?” she said, her voice heavy with sleep.

  “Yeah, I know. It’s about Mark.”

  “What about him?” She sounded sharper now, more awake.

  “He got badly drunk. I brought him home safe and sound, but somebody should check up on him tomorrow.”

  Ceinlys sighed impatiently. “I see.”

  “Mom, don’t be so hard on him.”

  “I’m not. I’m disappointed. That’s all.”

  “You know… He’s been drinking because of Hilary.”

  “What did she do?” Ceinlys asked sharply.

  “She left him.”

  A short pause. “Is that what he told you?”

  “That’s what his drinking buddy told me. Mark’s a grown man. You shouldn’t try to run his love life, trying to break up his relationship.” He didn’t need to have the whole scenario explained to know his mother had had a hand in the mess.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be this complicated.” She sighed. “He wasn’t supposed to care.”

  “I think he really loves her.”

  “But why her, Iain?” She sounded confused, like somebody had told her the sky was actually green. “She’s not even all that pretty. I don’t understand what the attraction is.”

  “Well… Can anyone really understand what’s in someone else’s heart? He likes her. Isn’t that enough?”

  “He think he wants her now, but… They’re going to end up hurting each other. There simply isn’t enough to hold them together.”

  Iain dug his fingers into the back of his neck.

  “She’s older than he is,” Ceinlys continued. “Not that well educated. He’ll lose interest soon enough, and regret he ever tried to convince anybody he really cared for her.”

  “If he changes his mind, I’m sure he’ll leave her.” But Iain had a feeling Mark wouldn’t. This wasn’t just another of his infatuations. He knew his brother, and could tell that he hadn’t approached Hilary on impulse, or just to avoid getting set up with Katarina, no matter what he said.

  “No, he won’t.” Words tumbled out quickly over the phone line. “He’ll stay out of some misplaced sense of pride. He’ll stay because he’s told everyone she was different…that she was somehow special. But he’ll be miserable, and he’ll stray. When she finds out—and she will inevitably find out—she’ll be hurt, then angry…then miserable and desperate. She’ll try to change him, until one day she realizes she can’t. Then they’ll both be old, and remain together simply because that’s what they know and are comfortable with.” Ceinlys sniffled.

  “Mom…”

  “I don’t want any of you to be unhappy. I want all of you to have the kind of contentment your father and I never had.”

  “Mark isn’t just Dad’s son,” Iain said quietly. “He’s your son too.”

  He heard tears on the other side. “Of course he’s my son. All of you are mine.”

  Iain rubbed his chest, that particular spot that never really stopped aching. “Have faith, Mom.”

  Chapter Twenty

  On Sunday afternoon, Hilary sat in Jo’s condo and went through a list of rental possibilities while Jo commented. “I don’t know. That’s a convenient location, but the buildings are pretty shitty. Amandine’s assistant used to live in the neighborhood.”

  “But it’s really cheap,” Hilary said. “And available immediately.”

  “True.” Jo cradled her chin in her palm. “What’s the deal here, though? You seemed okay with living with your aunt. What’s this urgency with looking for a new place?”

  “I can’t do it anymore. I just… I don’t think it’s good for me to be there. It’s so full of my past. It ties me to it.”

  Hilary had already gone through and crossed out most of the listings since the disastrous Fourth of July. Mark thankfully hadn’t tried to call her. But then he probably saw no reason to fake an interest in her when she knew what was really going on. For all she knew he was now in bed with Bebe, doing the same things he’d done with her.

  She took a deep breath. She needed to stop or she’d get sick and start crying again. Jo had been out until Saturday evening and missed most of the tears, thankfully.

  So yes, Hilary had been stupid…again. She’d made herself believe…and hope. But no more. Mark didn’t deserve another bit of her mental energy. She had to harden her heart and move on if she wanted to survive this.

  “You okay? You seem really odd ever since you went to that family party with Mark. Was anybody there nasty to you or something?” Jo asked.

  “Nasty? No. It was more like…instructive. I was able to see how things are quite clearly.” She needed to cut all ties with her past if she wanted to move on. If she hadn’t been living with her aunt, would Bebe have been able to find her again so easily?

  The only thing Hilary refused to do was leave the city. L.A. was her home, and she wasn’t going to flee her friends or her job. She was going to do whatever she could to hold onto those—sometimes, they were all that kept her sane. And she needed them now more than ever before to remind herself she was not like Bebe or her mom or aunt.

  “How about this one?” Jo said, pointing at a complex about thirty minutes away from the OWM headquarters. “This isn’t too expensive, and it’s been newly renovated. And they seem okay with pets, in case you want to get one.”

  Hilary snorted. “You think I’m going to be a cat lady?”

  “Or a dog, but dogs are pretty high maintenance. You have to walk them and stuff.”

  “Working for Gavin keeps me plenty busy. I don’t think I need to add more to my life.”

  Jo frowned, then sighed, then opened her mouth, then closed it. Hilary scrawled GP for “good possibility” across the apartment listing and said, “What? Just say it.”

  Jo sighed again. “Mark called me.”

  Hilary tensed. “What did he want?”

  “He wanted to know where you were, so…I said you were staying with me.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wonder why he bothered. It can’t be to send me bribes.” Tim had always brought gifts to smooth things over when he’d screwed up. Her mother had forgiven him for the price of a cheap box of chocolates, but Hilary wouldn’t bend for something that ridiculous. Nothing would change her mind, not even the most ostentatious yacht in the world. She would never be with a guy who could jeopardize her financial security and independence.

  “He sounded pretty bad. Come on. I can sense this weird vibe from you. And him too. It was so palpable I could feel it over the phone.”

  Hilary closed her laptop. “Ceinlys threatened to get me fired.”

  “What?” Josephine laughed her signature “what an idiot” laugh. “Gavin would never fire you. And he doesn’t even like her.”

  “That’s not the point. She found out that I lied on my job application.”

  That wiped out the mirth from Jo’s face. “You did?”

  “Yeah. It asked if I had ever done any drugs, and I said no.”

  “And this is a problem because…?”

  “I was, uh, a little wild when I was younger. And there were a few times when I did some ecstasy with Bebe when we were out clubbing.”

  “Well, yeah, okay. But you aren’t doing it now, are you?”

  “Oh, hell no. I haven’t touched anything like that for years.” Hilary had lost the stomach for it after her mom died of overdose.

  “See? He’s not going to get rid of you over something that happened like forever ago. I bet the statute of limitations has run out.”

  “He wouldn’t want to, but he’d have to. You remember about seven months ago, he fired three people from the firm?”

  Jo frowned slightly. “I think I heard something about that.”

  “They lied on their application. So he fired them, even though they were really good at their jobs. He said the firm won’t tolerate people who can’t be honest.”
<
br />   “Oh shit.”

  “Ceinlys promised to locate them and have them sue for wrongful termination and discrimination if he didn’t fire me. He wouldn’t be able to win the lawsuit, and it would cost him lots of money and bad publicity. He’d have to let me go.”

  “God. She’s such a bitch. But how did she find out? You didn’t get busted or anything, did you?”

  “Of course not. If I had, it would’ve shown up during the background check. Bebe spilled the beans.”

  Jo slapped the tabletop. “I knew she was trouble!”

  “Well, yeah.” Hilary took a deep breath. Suddenly she couldn’t keep it inside anymore. “And that’s not all.”

  “What else did she do?”

  “You remember that whole thing with Walt’s fiancée?”

  “The ‘News at 11’ incident? Kind of hard to forget.”

  “Yeah, well, that wasn’t his fiancée. It was an actress Bebe hired. She promised to film it and put it on YouTube for exposure, and the actress went for it. She faked the whole thing.”

  “Oh. My. God!”

  “I know. And I was so furious and nasty to Walt.” Hilary buried her face in her hands. “I owe him an apology.” And the heirloom bracelet. She’d called him a few times, but he hadn’t answered. Either he was unavailable or just really pissed off at her. Probably both. It wouldn’t surprise her if he tried to sue her like she’d dared him to. She’d messed everything up.

  “Do you want me to kill her? Because I will. For free!”

  “Don’t. I should thank her in a way.”

  “How?”

  “She helped me see how stupid I was about Mark.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He knew.”

  “What?”

  “He knew everything about my mom, aunt, Tim and Bebe and Freddie. She went to his restaurant and told him everything. Apparently this happened in his private office, and knowing Bebe, I can only imagine what she offered him in addition to the story.”

  “Eww,” Jo said, scrunching her face.