There were a ton of chairs that were obviously part of the coffee shop's furniture set that were lined up in front of the stage. In addition, after a few rows, they had used a bunch of unmatched metal folding chairs. I recognized them as the ones that James kept in his apartment in his own little studio.
Immediately, I heard James' voice. It was the same authoritative tone that he used when I heard him doing business over the phone. “It's still not working, Ryan. Fucking get this thing fixed, and fast. We have two hours until this show starts and if you've got to bring in your little sister's karaoke set to get a working mic, you do it.”
I saw him tapping a mic as he yelled. There were a couple other people up on the stage, frantically running wires or adjusting lights. He hadn't seen me yet, so I thought I'd go up and get his attention. Someone else got my attention first.
“Hey there!” Anne said, her eyes lighting up as she saw me. I remembered those intense eyes from the last time I had seen her, two weeks ago.
“Oh, Anne!” I said, definitely sounding excited. “I like what you've done with your hair.” Two weeks ago, when I had last seen her, her short hair had been jet black with a streak of red through it. Now, her hair was still that jet black, but instead of the red streak, the tips of her hair were dyed a shimmering green. It was beautiful.
“Oh, thanks!” she said, pulling a strand of hair from in front of her face behind her ear.
She looked a little nervous, and I suddenly remembered that during our conversation from the other day, she had implied that she was a lesbian. I was definitely flattered that she found me attractive, but I had never done anything with a girl, and I didn't think that I would start now that I was with James.
“Sorry I missed your show the other night,” I said.
She smiled. “Don't worry about it. I know that you guys with Coleman Corp have to fly back and forth between here and California a lot. I looked for you, but was kind of glad that you didn't see it. It wasn't my best performance.”
I smiled back, feeling very relaxed around her. “I'm sure it was fine, but I would love to see one of your concerts some time.” I made a point of grabbing a new flyer from the stand next to the counter. If James and I would be seeing more of each other, I'd find myself out here more and more, especially when school was out.
She smiled and opened her mouth to talk again, but her gaze lifted up to someone behind me. “Mr. Coleman,” she said.
I turned around and saw James there. His gaze swept over my body, and I watched the pupils of those green eyes dilate. He was close enough that he could just lean down and give me a kiss, and for a moment, I thought he was going to.
He looked like he was considering it, then shook his head and broke eye contact. “I see you've met Ms. Dean, my loveliest employee.”
Anne rolled her eyes. “Look at all this sexual harassment I have to deal with, Allie. It's a wonder Mr. Coleman doesn't call me 'Toots' and make me light his cigarettes for him.”
James shrugged. “All the other girls down at the office are okay with it, though I have different demeaning names for each of them. I guess the difference is that I actually like you, Ms. Dean.”
She fanned herself with her menu. “Be still my heart. Are you just here to bug me, or do you want some coffee?”
“I was actually just wondering if you'd take Allie to my apartment real quick so that she can drop her bag off.”
I turned back to him and glared. He wasn't going to take me back himself? It had already been two weeks since we had last had sex, and I was looking forward to a little tension relief, followed by me asking him about Audrey. “What?”
Anne interjected. “Oh, she's staying with you?” she asked. She sounded a little disappointed.
I whirled around and looked at James. I felt like James must have when Nicole was quizzing us the other night. Had he already said anything?
“Actually, Allie is my stepsister,” James said, making the decision for us. I wasn't one hundred percent sure it was the decision I wanted, but it would work.
“Oh,” Anne said very simply. I turned back to her and smiled.
“So can you take her over there? I'll have Ryan cover the register until you get back. He's worthless at setting up a sound system anyway,” James said, looking back at the stage and shaking his head.
“Sure thing,” she said, then reached under the counter to grab her jacket and purse. She skipped around the counter and went to the door. “Coming?”
I looked back at James, biting my lip again. He gestured to the door. “Go,” he said. “We're going to party after the concert and then I'll be yours for the rest of the weekend.” It sounded innocent enough, like something a big brother would say to his visiting sister, but I knew what it really meant. The “I'll be yours” made me shiver with want.
I nodded. “Okay.” He nodded and moved back toward the stage, yelling at people as he walked. Poor Ryan, I thought.
Anne was waiting by the open door, ushering me out. I smiled and walked out.
Chapter Four
I immediately shoved my hands in my pockets as soon as I was out the door. I regretted not wearing more clothes.
“I like those boots,” Anne said immediately. They were a pair of brown boots that extended up my calf, and probably the only thing that was keeping my extremities from freezing right off.
“Thanks,” I said. I looked up and down her body, looking for something to compliment other than her hair. “I like your jacket.”
“Thanks,” she said back to me. We walked in silence for a few more moments before she said, “So, he's your brother.”
“Yep. Well, my stepbrother anyway,” I said.
“So that must be why he's not your type,” she said.
She was clearly fishing for some kind of response. “There's more to it than that.”
She perked up a little bit. “Really?”
Oops, that might have been the wrong thing to say, I thought. “Yeah, really. He was a real jerk to me when we lived together as kids,” I clarified.
“Oh.” A silence hung in the air for another minute. “I'm sensing that this conversation is making you uncomfortable. Mind if I tell a joke?”
It was the last thing I expected. “Sure, go ahead.”
She smiled. “What do you call a lesbian dinosaur?”
I laughed, already thinking the joke was funny. “I don't know, Anne, what do you call a lesbian dinosaur?”
“A lickalotapuss!” She began to laugh at her own joke.
I couldn't help but laugh too, even though I wasn't sure what dinosaur she was supposed to be referencing. “I am not a lickalotapuss,” I said after my laugh ended.
“Figures,” Anne said, still laughing. “How about a Bi-rannosaurus Rex?”
I laughed at that one even harder. “I don't know, I've never met the right lickalotapuss.” I remembered the offer I had in high school to join in on a threesome with a couple. I totally would have for the girl, but the guy was kind of a creep so I backed out at the last minute.
“Well, I guess I can deal with thinking of you as a Bi-curious-rannosaurus Rex,” she said.
“Listen, Anne, I-”
“No, don't sweat it. I just figured that if you were going to be coming around the coffee shop a lot more often that I should make a move now rather than pining away. Trust me when I say that I appreciate your honesty.” She looked up at me with those intense eyes, and I could tell that she was a completely honest person herself. “I'd love to just hang out with you some time, if you're going to be in town more often.”
I nodded, somehow feeling completely at ease with her. “Give me your number.” If I was going to be with James, I would need a friend here in Boston, and I had a feeling that Anne was just the girl for the job.
***
When we got to James' apartment building, the doorman nodded to Anne. Either he knew her or James had called ahead. Up at the apartment, Anne pulled out a key to James' apartment and unlocked the door.
“I didn't see James give that to you,” I said.
She shrugged. “Several of us have keys to his place. Apparently, he's not too worried about theft.”
“Yeah, but surely any CEO is going to be worried about theft, right?”
Anne gestured upward, up to the corner of the room behind the TV. A small webcam pointed down to take in the whole room. Right in the center of the camera's field of view was the couch.
The couch where I just happened to play with myself a couple weeks ago.
It was hardly a breach of privacy, I was in his home. But I still felt a little violated. And this was just the camera I could see. Who knew how many other cameras he had?
Had he recorded us having sex?
Had he watched me playing with myself?
Did it turn him on?
Anne must have noticed me thinking about these things, so she snapped her fingers. “Hey, I doubt he has a camera in the shower to check out his sister, so you don't have to worry about that.”
I shot her a brief smile. “You're right. I'm still surprised that he is so lax about security, though. A person could copy the contents of a hard drive before he could stop them. They'd get caught but it'd be too late to stop the information from getting into the wrong hands.”
Anne shrugged again. “It sounds like you're putting too much thought into it. Regardless, I've never snooped around, but I've never seen a desktop or laptop computer here.”
I tried to think back. I definitely saw him working on one right before he told me I had to go last time, but where had it been the rest of the time? With him?
It wasn't really important. “I guess I'll just drop my bag here in the living room and we can go.”
“You're probably going to want to put it in the guest room. Once the after-party begins, people are going to be all over the place here.”
“The after party is going to be here?” I remembered him saying something about an after party but I didn't remember him saying anything about it being here. That of course meant that people would be here until the early hours of the morning, and there would be no sneaking off for a midnight tryst. I sighed loudly just thinking about how sexually frustrated I was going to be by the end of the night.
“Yeah. Here, I'll show you to the guest room.” She led the way into the apartment. I really wanted to put my stuff in the master bedroom, but I guess I had to play the game while Anne was here. We stepped in and I noticed how sparsely it was furnished. I laughed. “Where do you think the camera is in here?”
She laughed. “There doesn't seem to be any place to hide it. I'd help you tear the room apart to find it, but I do have to get back to work eventually.”
I nodded, then dropped my bag and we headed back for the coffee shop.
Chapter Five
When we arrived back at the coffee shop, I heard a mic check being performed. Apparently, the sound system problem was fixed. It had taken us a little more than an hour to get there and back and the place was already starting to fill up.
“I gotta get back behind the counter, but it was really nice talking to you,” Anne said.
“You, too!” I said. I watched as she got back to the register, helping the guy with the orders that were coming in.
James was apparently satisfied with the way the sound system was working now. I saw him sitting on a stool, quietly plucking at the strings of his guitar and making some fine tuning adjustments. After a few moments, he looked up and saw me. He smiled, then put his guitar down and walked over toward me.
The way he advanced on me reminded me of when he had in his office, in his house, and then again in my dorm room. He wanted me, and nothing was going to stop him. A few feet from me, and just as I began to close my eyes, he spoke up. “Allie, I need your help to get something out of the back store room.”
It wasn't a request. It was a demand. I nodded, and he walked around the counter of the coffee shop to the back area. I walked with him into a closet that smelled deeply like some rich coffee.
As soon as I was inside, he closed the door behind him. Immediately, he had his hands around my neck, pulling me in for a deep kiss. I felt myself surrender to him, my knees already going weak as he kissed me. He ran his hands up my sides, pulling my jacket up as he did so. As soon as his hands felt skin, he looked down. I knew what he was curious about. I unzipped my jacket slowly, revealing that there was nothing but a halter top on underneath. I felt his nails dig into my sides as he leaned his face down to my ear.
“You have no idea how unfair it is that I can't take advantage of this,” he said.
I slapped his chest playfully. “Unfair? Unfair is making me wait for you like this.”
He put his finger to his lips. “No lock on the door. We can't do this here.”
I slapped his chest again. “Then why'd you bring me in here!?” I had a wry smile on my face so he knew I wasn't really mad.
He smiled back. “Because it was unfair of you to keep teasing me.” Before I could respond, he leaned back in and gave me another smoldering kiss. He leaned back and pulled away, then turned toward a high shelf. He handed me two bottles of Irish whiskey. “Carry these up to Anne and tell her to hide them for now.”
I nodded, then turned around to open the door. He spoke up one last time. “Oh, and Allie?”
I turned and looked at him.
“If you keep teasing me for the rest of the night, then I'll have to punish you later.”
I began to get wet just thinking about what kind of “punishment” he could have waiting for me.
***
I walked out of the closet just as another familiar face was walking into the shop. James' secretary from his office, Lauren, was walking in from the cold. As soon as she saw me, she averted her eyes, quickly hurrying toward the register. I knew why, of course. She was the only other person who knew that James and I had fucked. Fortunately for me, she was under a non-disclosure agreement, forced under the power of law not to reveal anything she heard or saw.
Like Audrey, another person forced to keep secrets for James, I thought.
I walked up to Anne, still behind the counter, and showed her the bottles. She seemed to know to put them away discretely without me saying anything, then gave me a wink. Lauren was in line and looked up, and I gave a little wave. She gave an awkward little wave back. Just then, James came out of the same store room that she had just seen me come out of, carrying two more bottles of whiskey. Lauren quickly put her hand back down and looked at the floor.
Poor girl, I thought. She thinks she's witnessing something super fucked up, and she can't say a thing. I didn't even know if she knew that we weren't really brother and sister.
I walked back around. The coffee shop was filling up fast, so I knew I had to claim a seat quickly. James had been tuning his guitar on the left side of the stage and was already plugged into an amp, so I knew that he'd be over there. Luckily, there was one on the far left in the third row, and I snatched it up. The concert wasn't set to start for another 30 minutes or so, so I pulled out my phone and began to look over myFace.
Suddenly, I received an email from Tessa.
Did you talk to him yet?
I knew she was just looking out for me, but I also knew that I could look out for myself. Well, most of the time anyway. James had saved me from a guy named Dennis who didn't know that “no means no” just the other day. Still, I'd be fine for now. I emailed her back.
Not yet. His concert is going to start in a few minutes, then there's a party back at his place.
Tessa replied back almost immediately.
Hold onto your drink all night.
Now that was an eye-roll inducing statement. Did she think that James had roofied Audrey now? That was pretty unfair. I emailed her back as quickly as I could.
I'll let you know how it went.
Then I turned off my phone. I didn't need to hear any more from her after that. By this point, James was back on stage, tuning his guitar again. I expected
him to occasionally look down at me, but he was completely engrossed in that guitar.
It kind of reminded me of the single-mindedness with which he pursued his business. Oblivious to the world around him, he made deals for the simple joy of making them. Now, he was oblivious once again to the world happening around him, concentrating only on the problem in front of him. I could tell he was enjoying it, that he took joy in making his guitar sound perfect. I felt like it gave me an insight into his soul.
A guy walked out on stage. I had seen him before, working on the sound system. What was his name? Ryan. He looked more confident now than he had been when James was yelling at him about his little sister's karaoke machine. His short hair was a sandy blonde, he had bolts in his ears, and I could see tattoos on his body. He looked like the embodiment of a bad boy rocker. It seemed a little strange, but he was holding a large reusable grocery bag.
He stepped to the mic, then looked at James. James nodded at him. Ryan smiled and grabbed the mic. “Who's ready for Lefty and the Sharks?”
A cheer came up from the crowd. It was hardly a huge crowd, maybe sixty or seventy people, but they filled this half of the coffee shop to the brim. However, a few of them were quite enthusiastic, sending a few hoots and hollers up to the band.
A drummer sat down at his set, and another guy had a bass guitar. Ryan didn't have a guitar, but I guessed he was going to be doing the singing tonight.
“Now, I know that you all know that I don't have a liquor license, so I can't sell you any alcohol. However...” He bent down and pulled a bottle of whiskey from the bag that he had brought on stage. “That doesn't mean that I can't give away some to my friends. With the purchase of a coffee, of course.”
Another cheer came from the crowd. He bent down and handed the bottle to someone in the first row. I saw Anne pull out the two bottles of whiskey from behind the counter and some disposable plastic shot glasses. I was pretty sure that it was just as illegal for him to give the alcohol away as it was to sell it, but then again, I'm sure James could buy his way out of any trouble here. Maybe he had even cleared it with the cops first. James was the type who would have all his bases covered like that.
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