by Chloe Hawk
I walked into the room. The long dark oak table inside was set beautifully with delicate china and shiny silver tableware. The tablecloths were white and immaculate, the centerpieces a dramatic mix of blue and orange tulips. The table was only set for twelve, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Less people meant less people I’d have to interact with. Of course, that also meant there would be more of a chance for people to focus on me.
My parents friends, The Yassos, were standing over by the window of the room, wineglasses in hand. Mr. Yasso was wearing an expensively-cut suit, while Mrs. Yasso had on a chic-looking navy blue lace sheath dress that hit right at the ankle. I tried to slip back out of the room before they saw me, but before I could, Mrs. Yasso saw me and made her way over.
“Grace!” she said. “How nice to see you!”
I saw her eyes flick down to my dress, and a slight look of disapproval crossed her face as she took in the plunging neckline of my black cocktail dress. If I thought I’d been self-conscious about it back in my room, I was even more self-conscious about it now.
“Nice to see you, too,” I said.
“It’s nice to see you’re keeping some of the weight off,” she said. Then she leaned in close to me, and I smelled her breath, a mix of nicotine and wine. “You should try that Crossfit. It helped me get in the best shape of my life.”
“Good idea,” I lied. “Have you seen my father by any chance?”
“He went to the catering office with Renee,” she said. “Some kind of mix up with the prime rib. Personally, I never thought they should have had the wedding in Clifton, but of course it wouldn’t do for your father to have his wedding somewhere other than here, what with him being a local celebrity and all.” Her voice was laced with bitter jealousy.
“Yes, well, I better go make sure everything’s okay.” I pushed by her and out of the room. A little ways down the hall was a sign that pointed me toward the catering and event planning department, and I followed the corridor until I found the office.
I could hear Renee’s voice coming from inside, raised and angry, and so I stopped for a second, lingering outside the door.
If there was a problem with dinner, Renee was probably causing a scene. I’d seen her do it a million times – read everyone the riot act and make people who were just trying to do their jobs completely uncomfortable.
If that’s what she was doing this time, I didn’t want to be a part of it. It was bad enough I’d had to deal with it growing up, whenever we were shopping in a store or Renee thought she was getting bad service in a restaurant.
“…just deal with it,” I heard her saying as I came to a stop outside the office.
“I don’t want to just deal with it,” a male voice said.
Cage.
He must have gone looking for my parents, too. I frowned, wondering why he was taking his mom’s side -- usually he hated when his mom berated some poor salesperson or waitress, even going so far as to go up to them later and apologize for the way his mother was acting.
“She needs to stay with you,” I heard him say now, his voice deep and stern.
My stomach did a flip. Was he talking about me staying in his room?
“She can’t,” Renee said. “She can’t stay with us, Cage. There’s just no place for her in my house.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Cage said. “She can sleep on the futon or in the downstairs guest room.”
“The guest room has been turned into an office,” Renee said. “And I can’t possibly ask Ava to have Grace sleep on the futon in that room with her. Ava is a very light sleeper.”
“Forget it,” Cage said. “I’ll just get Grace her own room.”
“The hotel is completely sold out,” Renee said.
“Dan,” Cage said, apparently decided to appeal to my father. “Are you okay with this?”
Up until this point, I’d had no idea that my dad was even in the room. Which was typical of him – whenever Renee was around, she was the one in charge. It had always been that way.
“I’m sure we can work something out,” my dad said.
“No, we can’t work something out,” Cage said. “She can’t stay in my room. I want her out.”
“Then you shouldn’t have agreed to let her stay there,” Renee said. “She’s twenty-one years old, Cage, she should be able to get her own hotel room.”
“You know that’s not fair,” Cage said. “She’s trying to get through school. And in case you missed it, Mom, school is pretty fucking expensive when you have no family support whatsoever.”
I swallowed, not sure how he knew I was trying to get through school. Had my father mentioned it to him? Had Cage asked about me? I’d heard things about him, of course, about the streaming video service he’d started after college, about all the cool original programming they were coming up with – the most recent being a drama about two young men who had been recruited to join the terrorist group ARCAN. It had been how Cage had made all his money.
And then of course, there was Cage’s social life, which was splashed on the cover of every tabloid, especially when he’d been dating Cari Caldwell, a hot new up-and-coming country music star everyone was interested in.
But to think Cage knew what I was doing, that he might have asked about me … it made weird warmth radiate through my body.
“Don’t swear at me, Cage,” Renee said. “You’ve really overstepped your bounds this time.”
“Dan,” Cage said. “Are you going to grow some balls finally? Are you going to stand up and say this is unacceptable, not letting your daughter stay in her own goddamn house?” He was yelling now, and a couple of hotel guests gave a curious glance into the catering office as they passed by.
“Well – “ my dad started, but Renee caught him off.
“Cage, that is enough!” she said. “You do not come here and start talking to me and your stepfather that way. If you have a problem with the way we’ve chosen to raise our children, well, then, that is your problem. We are the parents. We will do as we see fit. And if you don’t want Grace in your room, then you can tell her to leave and find her own place to stay.”
“She has nowhere to go!” Cage said.
“That’s not my problem and it’s not yours,” Renee said.
“I’m sure Grace will figure it out,” my dad said. “She always does. She’s a fighter, my Grace.”
I felt that familiar pang I got whenever my dad talked like that. She’s a fighter, my Grace. I didn’t feel like a fighter. I felt like a complete fuck up.
“She’s fighting because you two are trying to fucking drown her!” Cage said. He was really mad now, his voice getting even louder, the emotion obvious. “Even after her mom died, you two were just –”
“That is enough!” Renee said, her voice just as raised as her son’s. “You need to calm down, Cage, and you need to calm down now. You will not come to my wedding and attack me. And if you can’t learn to control your behavior and your temper, then I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“I’m already gone,” Cage said.
And then there he was, in the hallway, his eyes locking on mine before I had to chance to get out of there.
He looked surprised to see me for a second, but the thing I was most expecting to see on his face – pity for overhearing my whole entire family basically trash me -- never came.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hey.”
He sighed and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Let’s get out of here.”
“What?”
“Let’s leave.”
“You mean, like… leave the hotel?”
“Yes.”
“And not go to the rehearsal dinner?”
“Yes.”
“We can’t.”
“Why not?” Cage challenged. He shook his head. “They don’t give a shit that we’re here, Grace. They want to show me off as a prop, as proof that they were somehow good parents because I’m successful. And
they won’t even let you stay in their house. They don’t care about celebrating their love, or whatever other bullshit they’re trying to shovel at us. All my mom cares about is impressing her friends, and all your dad cares about is keeping the peace.”
“But it’s their wedding.” Even though I knew he was right, leaving their rehearsal dinner seemed like a strong statement, one we couldn’t take back.
“I’m leaving.” He shrugged, like the choice was easy. And maybe for him, it was. He had everything -- money, a career, a life in New York and LA, away from all these people and all the memories that had been created in this town. Me, I had nothing. A crappy dead-end job. Half of an associate’s degree. And no family except my dad and Renee.
And Cage, a voice whispered in my head.
He’s your family now, too.
But of course, he wasn’t.
Family didn’t leave you with nothing and not speak to you for years. Family didn’t not show up when your mom died. Family didn’t act like you didn’t exist.
I hesitated.
Don’t you want to do something bad for once?
I would have fucked the shit out of you.
“Okay,” I said finally. “Let’s get out of here.”
**
Ten minutes later we were in Cage’s car, heading away from the hotel.
Cage held onto the steering wheel tightly, guiding the car over the twisting and turning hills of the back roads that wound through Clifton.
We drove in silence. I wasn’t sure where we were going, and I didn’t want to ask too many questions. I was afraid that if I did he would take me back to the hotel. And as much as I wasn’t sure being with him was the right thing, I also didn’t want to be away from him.
Cage had only been back in my life for a couple of hours, and I was already feeling more excited and alive than I had in months.
A couple of minutes later, Cage pulled into the front entrance The University of Clifton. He followed the visitor circle around to the back, toward the athletic center. The campus was deserted at this time of night, with most kids out at frat parties or in the library.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “Please tell me you’re not taking me to a frat party.” If I ‘d wanted to see Cage get drunk and hit on college girls, I could just close my eyes and remember what he was like in high school.
“I cannot believe you think so little of me,” he scoffed. But he didn’t sound like he cared. He almost sounded like he liked it.
He pulled the car to a stop, swinging it around and parking in front of the athletic center, which housed all the gymnasiums and coaches’ offices. It was a large brick building that towered high into the sky. The building and everything near it, including the parking lot, was shiny and new, right down to the bright strips of paint that delineating the parking spots.
The center had been built with money that had been donated by some rich alumni the first year after my father had gotten the school their first national championship.
Cage turned off the car and got out.
I hesitated.
Where were we going? There was nothing going on in the athletic center at this time of night. The administration would be gone for the day, and even practices would have ended by now.
I stepped out of the car, the smell of freshly cut grass from the athletic fields hitting my nose.
“Where are we going?” I asked Cage as we walked toward the side door of the building.
“It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t.” I struggled to catch up with him. His strides were long and loose, casual, and I couldn’t keep up with him in the shoes I was wearing.
“You’ll like this one.”
“How do you know?”
“Trust me.”
I almost laughed out loud.
When we got to the side of the building, Cage slipped around the corner so that we were in the back, by the loading dock. Then he pulled something out of his pocket.
A key.
He inserted it into one of the back doors of the building, one that was marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
“Where did you get that key?” I asked him.
“Your dad gave it to me.”
“When?”
“A long time ago.”
“And you still have it?”
He shrugged. “Thought I might need it someday.”
He pushed the door open, and I followed him inside.
At first, I was disoriented, not knowing exactly where we were. I knew the athletic center like the back of my hand—I’d spent countless hours here with my dad. After my mom died, I’d set up camp here for two weeks, doing my schoolwork in his office and having crying jags in the bathroom where no one could hear me.
But I’d always entered the athletic center through the man door, which is why I didn’t know where we were at first. Then the scent of chlorine hit my nose, and I realized we were at the pool.
The lights were off, but the pool was lit, blue light filtering through the ripples on the surface of the water.
“We’re not supposed to be in here.”
Cage rolled his eyes. “Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Being uptight.”
I followed him to the bleachers, where we sat down and stared out at the water. He didn’t say anything for a few moments. He put his head in his hands, rubbing his temples, like maybe he was starting to get a headache. I wondered if he was staring to have second thoughts about leaving the rehearsal dinner, about giving our parents such a big fuck you.
His leg was pushed up against mine, and all I could think about was how good it felt being this close to him.
Then, finally, he spoke.
“Truth or dare?” he asked, turning to look at me with a wicked grin.
“What?”
“Truth or dare.”
We’d played truth or dare constantly growing up. We always picked dare. When we were younger, truths were stupid – neither of us had any secrets the other one would be interested in. Cage was an open book – if I wanted to know what he was doing, all I had to do was listen to the rumor mill in our neighborhood or at school. And if he even cared about what I was doing – which he didn’t – he was going to be sorely disappointed, because I pretty much had nothing going on. Certainly nothing worthy of a juicy truth.
“I’m not playing tru—”
“Grace,” he said, his voice steely. “True. Or. Dare.”
“Dare,” I said, the words out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“I dare you to go swimming with me.”
“I don’t have a bathing suit.”
“Neither do I.”
My heart began thumping in my chest, the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
I would have fucked the shit out of you.
But if he wanted to fuck me so badly, then why hadn’t he done it in the elevator when he’d had the chance? Why had he stopped when he realized I was a virgin? Why had he been trying to make it so that I wouldn’t have to stay in his room?
He was obviously toying with me. I knew he was toying with me – he loved to tease. I’d seen him once, when our parents were at an away game for the weekend. I was supposed to be spending the night with a friend, but I’d forgotten something, and when I came home, Cage was with a girl.
She was laying on the couch, naked, her legs spread. Cage’s mouth was on her pussy, and she was going crazy, begging him to stop teasing her, moaning loudly about how good it felt, pleading with him to just make her cum.
Cage loved to tease. And he was teasing me right now.
He stood up, grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the bleachers.
He wrapped his arms around my waist, then tilted his head to the side and looked at me. “You scared?” he breathed.
I shook my head. “No.”
“You sure?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak
. The air felt charged with electricity, crackling and burning bright.
Cage brought his mouth to my ear and whispered, “Turn around.”
I turned around, and instantly his hands were on the back of my neck. Goosebumps broke out on my skin as he gathered my hair up in one hand and begin unzipping my dress with the other. He did it excruciatingly slowly.
When he was done, he pushed his body into my back, then kissed the back of my neck. My body burst into flames.
“Turn back around. I want to see you.”
I turned back around and he grabbed the sleeves of my dress, pulling them down slowly until I was naked from the waist up. I had on a black demi push-up bra, the kind of thing that was soft and silky and made my breasts look proud and firm as they spilled over the top of the cups.
“Shit, little sister,” he said as he slid his finger down my cleavage. “When did you get so fucking sexy?”
No one had ever called me sexy before. No one had ever looked at me the way he was looking at me, like I was a present that needed to be unwrapped, like I was a delicious treat he was planning on consuming.
It made heat flood my body, made me wet between my legs.
He slid his hands down my sides, his touch searing my skin. He grabbed my dress and pulled it down over my hips, over my thighs and ankles until it was a pool on the floor. I stepped out of it, leaving me in just my bra and thong.
No one had ever seen me this naked, and I had the urge to cover myself. I’d always been self-conscious about my body. Yes, I’d lost weight recently, but I was never going to have the kind of body you saw on magazine covers, or even the kind you could see on random girls at the gym. I didn’t have the kind of body Cage was used to seeing on the women he hooked up with, and it made me want to cover myself.
I went to cross my arms over my chest, but he pulled them down and pinned them at my sides.
“No,” he growled. “I want to look at you.”
He released me and waited a beat, until he satisfied I wasn’t going to try to cover myself again.
“Unbutton my shirt,” he commanded.
I reached out and began unbuttoning his shirt, admiring the way the collar hit his tan skin, the tiny bit of stubble that was beginning to break out on his jaw.