GRIND

by Stephanie Brother

  "Okay, okay," I finally caved. "I don't really know what's going on between us, to be honest. All I know is that the sex? Oh my God, it was on fire!"

  Sage's eyes bulged, and her eyebrows shot straight up into her hairline practically as she pulled her hair back away from her face. "Really?"

  I quickly nodded. "Oh yes, really. The man is a professional with his, well, everything." I sighed and leaned up against the wall, still looking at her. "Geez, Sage. I've never felt this way before."

  My sister giggled and turned to face me. "It's good to see that you had a proper distraction from the bar exam."

  My mouth popped open. "The bar! Oh my God, I completely forgot about the results! How did that even happen?"

  But Sage was already leaving the room, turning to look over her shoulder at me one more time. "Mm-mm. You've got it bad, girl."

  The small evening bag was clutched tightly in my hand, as if I were afraid someone was going to steal it out right from underneath my nose. I was so glad I made sure to put on extra deodorant for the night, the way my underarms were sweating.

  It's silly to be so nervous. Snap out of it!

  I tried to tell myself it was just from helping Mom and wanting to make sure she had everything she needed, not wanting to let her down, but I knew the real truth. I was so excited to see Liam again that my stomach was full of butterflies.

  Smoothing over my black dress one last time, I slipped past the back doors where we had everything set up and into the main ballroom, which was easily half-packed.

  Everyone here was dressed to the nines. I guess high-society types will do that, and somehow I even felt a little underdressed for the occasion. Was I supposed to be wearing a floor-length ball gown or something? I looked down at the sheath dress that hugged my curves in the most flattering way I could manage, trying not to frown.

  I wasn't here to schmooze it up with everyone else. I was her to help Mom out and to get a nice long look at Liam dressed up. As sexy as he was wearing a simple polo and Dockers, I could only imagine the kind of impression he left when wearing a suit and tie…

  And when I caught that dirty blonde mane of his towering over nearly everyone else around him, my breath caught in my throat and my cheeks flushed of their own accord. Was there ever going to come a time when he didn't have that kind of effect on me?

  I quietly made my way over to where he was standing, but found it difficult to break into the semi-circle that had quite literally cornered him by one of the more expensive bottles on display for the evening.

  My heart started to sink when I realized that everyone around him, the ones that were packed in tighter than a can of sardines, was female. And most notably rich, to boot.

  One of the older women was the pure embodiment of a cougar. She pushed her real mink fur back on her exposed pale shoulders and very obviously stuck out her large chest in Liam's direction. With that much skin on display you'd think she was closer to my age, mid-late twenties, but no. I wouldn't have been surprised if she was older than my mom. Just with the kind of money to make her face look younger. And she wasn't the only one.

  "It's such a shame you don't play anymore, Liam. You were so good at it! Those arms!" another woman piped up, actually placing her bony hand covered in glittering rings on Liam's thick bicep. There was a giggle that sounded through all of the women as she winked up at him. Liam, ever the gentleman, carried on as if all of this was totally normal. I frowned, not exactly digging the gaggle of women doting on him.

  "Too true! You know, Liam, I've been thinking about taking up some tennis lessons myself. I don't suppose you teach, do you?" the woman with the fur asked, positively purring at him.

  Liam's icy blue eyes scanned the crowd ever so slightly until they rested on mine, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he gave me a warm smile, sticking his hand up to wave. There was a moment there were all of the women looked confused, looking amongst themselves to see who he was personally waving to. When they all craned their necks and saw me standing in the back, I received cold indifference from nearly every last one of them.

  But that didn't bother me once Liam politely pushed past them, his eyes only on me. "Excuse me, ladies. Thank you."

  The way he looked down at me, taking in every inch of me, made me flush with pride. Clearly he liked what he saw. And as he had finally cleared the way from all of the cougars prowling around him, I got to take a good look at him too.

  His deep blue suit was perfectly tailored to fit his tall, buff frame, and brought out the blue in his eyes beautifully. He was sheer perfection, heaven on earth standing right in front of me.

  Very subtly, he reached out and took my hand in his and bowed, kissing the top of it and holding it there for a moment while he looked at me with a grin. "Absolutely gorgeous."

  A small, shy smile cut across my face, and the butterflies seemed to take flight in my stomach. "Thank you. You clean up nicely yourself."

  Liam leaned in just briefly, whispering, "I can't tell you how delectable you look in that dress. Like the perfect kind of dessert."

  I tried to keep my cool but my legs already felt like jelly at the mere thought of his intentions. It was hard to decide whether his skills with words or his fingers were better.

  "Smile you two! You're on my Instagram story!" my sister's slightly slurring voice yelled out over us before she joined us, holding up her phone a foot from our slightly startled faces. We smiled just in time for her to hold the button down.

  She planted a fat kiss on my cheek and waggled her eyebrows at Liam, who looked utterly confused, before taking off again, heading back over to Mom and Randy.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that we were getting more stares than I cared for. Particularly from the cougar club. "You're quite the ladies’ man here."

  Liam snorted and brushed it off completely, taking a glass of wine from one of the many trays circling the room. "This is a nice little shindig your mother put on. I don't usually do parties."

  "That makes two of us," I answered honestly, also pulling a glass of white wine from off the tray. "But I promised Mom I'd help out. So here I am."

  "Yes, here you are," Liam repeated slowly, with added emphasis as he let his eyes rove over me again.

  Just as I was about to lean in and tell him where I'd rather be, someone tapped Liam on the shoulder. He turned and shook hands with some older man who easily escorted him away, as if I hadn't just been wrapped up in conversation with him. He shot me an apologetic look over his shoulder before letting the man lead him over to another group.

  Huffing to myself, I decided to go freshen up in the restroom, and downed my wine in a few easy gulps. It was clear that tonight was not the night for hoarding all of Liam’s time. Maybe there'd be plenty of that later on, if I had my way.

  The dress was a bit of a struggle to push up over my hips, but I was just thankful for a clean public restroom stall. I did my business and tried to quickly shimmy my stockings back up without knocking into a side wall.

  "I know. I make it a personal goal of mine to see him at least once a month. If I went more then I'm sure my husband would figure it out." Two women were talking loudly outside the stalls as I fixed my dress.

  "God, those strong hands… he really knows how to go over and beyond his work if you know what I mean!" the other one added.

  They both giggled. "That's exactly why my husband can't find out. He's seen Liam before… It would only be a matter of time before my spa membership was stripped, I'm telling you! Phil gets so jealous."

  I froze on the spot. Were they talking about Liam?

  Slamming the handle down, I flushed and hurried over to the sink, washing my hands and drying them with one of the fancy towels before quickly heading out after the two women. I halted and skidded in my heels, dashing behind one of the wide circular beams, when I saw one of the women place her arm around his. He gladly took it and the two of them headed out the ballroom outdoor exit without a single message.

  The
y were back inside after about ten minutes or so, which my brain so lovingly reminded me was all he needed to get any kind of good job done…

  Trying to grab his attention as they re-emerged, I couldn't help but overhear the woman strolling over to the same woman in the bathroom, a smile on her face.

  "Oh believe me, he loved his gift. I think it's safe to say he got a big… kick in the pants out of it. Trust me, it was big!"

  Now, I wasn't one to jump to conclusions, but all of this seemed pretty logical to me. Biting back the tears that threatened to spill over, I grit my teeth together and stalked across the room and right out the ballroom. This stupid, stupid place! My stupid brain telling me that having sex and getting tangled up with Liam was a good idea! I shook my head.

  No, I was out of here.

  A good couple of cheap wine glasses later, I was in my favorite comfy pajamas, hunched over my laptop and staring at the winning photos of all of Liam's tournaments and matches from his professional tennis days. I sipped my last glass, clicking on another link.

  Liam Satterwhite—estimated net worth—all the zeroes were crazy to see printed out like that. After slowly shutting my computer, I sat back and stared straight ahead.

  This whole thing had basically just been whatever to him. I was like a sex toy—a great bang for the weekend until he could see women he actually liked. That had to be what he was thinking, and I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

  LIAM

  I twirled the cowboy hat around in my hand, smiling. Owen was one hell of a gift-giver for only being seven years old. "Please tell him thank you for me, Mrs. Darlington. I never thought I'd see a hat that was too big for even my giant head."

  The hat nearly ate half my head as I tried it on again, both me and Owen's mom, Gwen Darlington, laughing.

  After she gave me a brief hug, Mrs. Darlington headed back into the gathering, and I set the huge hat down on the wine servers’ tip table. There was nothing like receiving a belated Christmas present from my favorite kid. Owen's parents were both regulars at Spa Unico, so I saw him all the time when I was working. He was a sweet kid, so I always let him hang out with me in between appointments.

  I straightened my tie and jacket, scanning the main ballroom for any sign of Aly in that devilishly sexy black dress she was wearing. Damn, she could have come in a potato sack and I would've wanted to steal her away and fuck her underneath one of the round tables that dotted the outskirts of the room.

  Trying to avoid the gaze of several of the women who kept gawking at me, I kept to myself as I looked for her. But by the time I ended up where I started, disappointment pulsed through me. Where was Aly, anyway? Dad and Kay were still entertaining, and even Sage was hovering over a table, writing something down on a clipboard.

  I was surprised she would just walk out like that without telling me she was leaving, but who was I to ask her to do that on my behalf?

  Spinning around, I tried not to seem as disappointed as I felt, wondering where Aly was. I had some big plans for later. The goal was to finally take her to my place and show her around. I wasn't big on showing off or anything, but I wanted Aly to see the tournaments and classics I'd won with all of my trophies and awards.

  It may have been difficult trying to accept that maybe I'd never go around the circuit again, but it was still a huge part of my life, and despite whatever was happening between me and Aly, I wanted to share those things with her.

  Several of the older women that cornered me earlier kept looking at me, wiggling their fingers in my direction, but I ignored them. Wasn't she just here?

  Since Kay was supposed to be sleeping over at Dad's place and she wouldn't be suspicious about Aly leaving with me, I had already cleaned up back at my place just in case.

  Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick text asking her where she ran off to, figuring she'd text me right back. I slipped out of the ballroom and grabbed my keys from my pocket, deciding to go ahead and have the car waiting for her. She couldn't have gone very far.

  Being the cheeseball I was now turning into on her behalf, I turned on the radio and sent her another text.

  Hey beautiful. I was thinking about some ice cream. You in?

  Another few minutes passed by, and Aly hadn't even read either of my texts. Shrugging, I called her, waiting for her to pick up on the other end. I let it ring in my ear, frowning as I ended the call, wondering why the hell she wasn't picking up.

  Turning the radio up a little louder, I told myself to get over it and chill out. If Aly was busy elsewhere inside, I'd look like a damn idiot pestering her like this.

  I debated on whether I should just look for Sage or Kay and ask where Aly was, when Jackson pounded on my window, motioning for me to roll it down.

  "What's up?"

  "You mind helping me and Dad close down the food? It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes between the three of us, and I'm dying to get off my feet. I think Sage and Aly left, so it's just us now," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

  On one hand I had no problem helping out, and I knew he was right, if we all pitched in, it would go by quicker. But I knew that my time with Aly was slipping away between my fingers, and if I missed her call or text, I wouldn't be seeing her tonight, especially if she had already left. And why did she leave without at least saying 'bye?'

  I didn't want to come on too strongly with her, and in my own head, I didn't want to feel obsessive. Maybe I overwhelmed her with everything this weekend, from the sauna on. And maybe I should just let it go and give her some space.

  "Yeah, okay."

  It wasn't as though I had anything better to do, it seemed.

  Chapter 13

  ALY

  * * *

  I was only a few steps away from raking out my emergency pint of Ben & Jerry's, going back and forth between whether I was just being melodramatic about the whole thing or not. It sucked to admit that Liam had been pretty much leading me on this whole time, when really I wasn't the only action he was seeing, and perhaps I really shouldn't have been surprised.

  After all, he was easily the most attractive man I'd ever met, so it wasn't hard to believe that other women felt the same way. It just hurt to know that he was so… intimate with me, and that in the end, it didn't really mean much of anything to him. I'd been failing myself the whole time.

  Even my sister noticed how glum I felt, and while I was hanging around Mom's back office, Sage even tapped me on the shoulder, looking concerned. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or do I have to pry it out of you?"

  I sighed. How pathetic would I sound if I complained about how much awesome sex I had over the weekend, only to find out that it didn't matter? "I don't really want to talk about it, Sage. Sorry."

  I knew she wasn't going to give up that easily, but she at least gave me some space, going back over to her desk to make a few more phone calls for the day. When I overheard her talking with Mom on the phone about the distribution checkup Sage was scheduling for the week, my heart lifted an inch or two.

  "This is probably going to sound a little crazy, but can I join you on your little trip this week? You're going up to northern Sonoma County, right? To check up on the wineries up there? I could… use a little more diversion. Still haven't got those results back, and all that, you know?" I asked, chalking it up to my apprehension while still awaiting the bar results.

  Sage had her fingers on the desk, looking me over as if she could see right through me. My little sister knew me way too well. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what's got you all bothered… Not. But, since I am the best little sister anyone has ever had in the entire history of the world, yes, you can come along. It's going to be boring —"

  I shook my head. "I don't even care. I will sit there and watch you check off your little boxes on the clipboard all week long, it doesn't even matter. Whatever I can do to get my mind off… things."

  This made Sage raise her dark brown eyes, but she shrugged anyway. "Whatever you say, sis. I'll go ahead and call Mo
m back and let her know you're coming along. I love you and everything, but I still want my own room at the hotel."

  I laughed, already starting to feel a little bit better.

  It was a pretty good distraction, at least for the week. Our first date at the sleek hotel had me and Sage both sitting poolside and enjoying the complimentary bottles of wine that Mom’s sommelier friend, Darren, provided us. And I did manage to keep myself busy, helping Sage whenever I could, and even getting halfway through my book I was working on…

  But that didn't stop the texts. The phone calls. All the guilt that was eating up inside of me. I was intentionally ignoring all of Liam's attempts to talk to me, unsure of how I would handle myself if I were to actually talk to him. The sound of his voice alone was enough to make me weak in the knees, and I didn't want that when I was trying to let everything that happened last week go already.

  One of the last nights of our trip in upper wine country, I finally caved in and listened to Liam's voicemail messages, my eyes tearing up.

  "Hey… Listen, I'm really sorry. I know I've been blowing up your phone, probably sounding like some crazy stalker. This will be the last message, I promise. I had a lot of fun with you, Aly. And you… Well, you’re really special. I get it if you don't want to see me again, even though I don't really get it I guess, but whatever. I'll respect whatever you want to do. Just know that I had the best time of my life with you, and I certainly don't regret one minute of it." Dial tone.

  A sob built up in the back of my throat, threatening to escape. It felt like pure torture not immediately calling him back and confessing how much I already missed him.

  Was I being a bitch by simply ignoring him like this? I thought I was trying to put myself first… But now, listening to the desperation in Liam's voice, I was having second thoughts. It was easy to tell myself that Liam didn't give a damn about me or my feelings, that I was just another piece of ass to him, but there was a true sincerity in his words over the phone. And if he really felt that way, why did he keep trying to call me? He could just walk into any old place and probably scoop up the hottest woman in it, no problem. So why me?