Silk

by Heidi McLaughlin

  I wondered just how much he’d really be willing to do for her. Tonight, I would thank him for his help and then I would keep my eye on him. He might be Allie’s best friend, but he was probably my worst enemy. He was a guy. There was no way that he didn’t want to sleep with her.

  I mixed Allie’s signature drink and considered how little I knew about her life when she wasn’t with me. Now that I thought about it, it was kind of weird that I’d never met a single one of her friends. Even if I’d been reluctant at times, I’d brought her into my circle. They’d been completely accepting of her. In fact, at this point, they would probably pick her over me if push came to shove. Of course, except for Burke, no one knew the truth about her.

  With two drinks in my hands, I made my way back through the throng of people in my living room. I found her sitting on the couch with a plate full of desserts on her lap. That was my girl. I swear, the way she could put away desserts made me wonder if she didn’t have a second stomach or something. Carly and Jillian were sitting on either side of her and shoving presents in her face. Allie was laughing as she tried to balance it all without pitching her plate onto the floor.

  I sat the drink down on the coffee table in front of her and then reached for the plate. I set it beside her drink so that her hands were free to open her gifts. They were probably all from Carly, who was big on grand gestures. I didn’t think that Allie knew Jillian well enough to be swapping presents with her. At least, I hoped not.

  I leaned across the table and brushed a kiss across her cheek until my mouth hovered just over her ear. “Happy birthday, beautiful,” I said. I stood up to leave the girls and winked at Allie. I’d give her my gifts later.

  “Thanks for the drink,” she said, giggling.

  The gleam in her eyes confirmed that this party had been a good idea. As I turned to walk away, I overheard Jillian say, “This one’s from me, Alexis.” Apparently I was wrong. I shot a glance over my shoulder, and Jillian’s eyes burned a hole through me. Shit. It had been one night - one mistake - and she was still holding a grudge.

  I recognized Ethan standing over by the dining room table, but he was surrounded by people I’d never met. Thanking him could wait. Instead, I headed back to the kitchen where I knew Burke, Brian, Dirk, and Barnacle would be. They wouldn’t venture too far away from the makeshift bar, especially considering the crowd in the living room.

  My tattooed bar friends and Allie’s lawyer friends were like oil and water. You could throw us all together, and even if there wasn’t a chemical explosion, we’d never totally mix. I leaned up against the kitchen counter and listened to Burke tell us for the one millionth time about how great it was going to be when the band finally hit it big.

  We’d been hiding out in the kitchen for a while before Carly and Allie found us. There weren’t any empty chairs at my small kitchen table so Carly sat down on Burke’s lap. My mind went in the gutter for a moment when I remembered a morning not so long ago when I had sat in that very same chair with Allie on my lap. French toast, peanut butter, and syrup ... were a mind-blowing combination.

  Allie’s cheeks were flushed, as if she’d had more than just the one drink that I’d made her. That meant that she’d been sampling from the pitchers on the table in the dining room. Burke had been so insistent on them that he even mixed up the ‘panty-dropping’ concoction himself. Why he wanted them so much was a mystery to me since he probably got more regular action than anyone in the room.

  As Allie pressed into my side and listed a little on her feet, I silently cursed Burke. According to the clock on the microwave, it was 10:30. We’d only been here for two hours.

  “So what’s up with the shirt? Who’s ‘Chalky’?” Allie asked, stepping over in front of me. She ran her finger down the image of the man wearing a three-piece suit and carrying a rifle pointed at the ground. Her finger skimmed over the letters that spelled ‘Chalky’s Comin’ before wandering further to the left to where she knew a tattoo was hidden under the shirt. She’d never asked about the ink though I knew that she’d been tempted plenty of times. For a long time, I couldn’t stand for her to touch it, but I’d grown sort of used to it now. I’d come to the unlikely conclusion that no touch by Allie was a bad touch even when it hurt a little.

  “Chalky White. He’s only the baddest gangster on HBO right now,” I said.

  “Oh. I’ll watch it with you some time,” she said.

  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You should probably stick with the Bachelor and the Voice,” I teased. There was no way that she would like it. Everything I liked about it would be exactly why she would hate it.

  The guys at the table had overheard our conversation and were now discussing the cliffhanger episode at the end of the previous season. Trying to figure out who would be taken out next was like plotting strategy in a chess game. It was that awesome.

  “Life’s about compromise, boyfriend. I give a little and you give a little.” She leaned in and pressed up against me again. Her perfectly unaltered tits mashed into Chalky’s face. Lucky bastard.

  I smiled at the new label that she seemed to really like to hear. She sounded like a high school girl, but for some reason, I didn’t really mind. I looked over her shoulder at Burke. His eyebrow was cocked at me as he mouthed, “What the hell?”

  Carly sighed loudly and smacked Burke upside the head. “Do you remember when you used to look at me like that, you callous bastard?” she asked him.

  “Geez, Carl,” he said rubbing his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I look at you like that all the time. And I have lots of pet names for you. I am incredibly romantic.”

  “Undressing me with your eyes and referring to me as your ‘old lady’ is not romantic,” Carly said sullenly.

  Carly’s statement got the guys on the subject of slang terms for girlfriends. As they were throwing around words like ‘fleeze,’ ‘brick,’ and ‘baggins,’ Carly stood up. “I’ve had enough of these Neanderthals,” she announced to Allie. “Let’s go dance.”

  Music was blaring in the next room. Carly had made a playlist of all of Allie’s favorite music for the party. If I never heard another Maroon Five or Muse song again, I’d be all right with it. I pinched her on the ass and told her to go have fun. I’d follow behind her in a few minutes.

  When the girls were out of the room, Burke stalked over to me. “What the fuck, Adam? She’s calling you ‘Boyfriend’ now? Aren’t you about done with this charade?”

  I bristled. Burke had been in on my plan initially, but things had changed. He didn’t know it though. It’s not like we sat down over coffee to catch up every Monday.

  “Things are different now. I like her,” I said.

  “We all like her. That’s the problem. And this will not work out. You’ve made sure of that.”

  I glowered at him. “You’re one to talk. Look how many times you’ve fucked up, and Carly always takes your sorry ass back. Usually because I’m running interference for you, I might add. And I did not put that picture up on the Internet. Everything else is forgivable.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, but sometimes there are no take-backs.” Burke paused before going on, “Look, it’s not just about you anymore. Carly’s gonna have my balls when she finds out about what you’ve done and that I knew about it.”

  “Well, then I guess we just need to make sure they never find out.” I looked up just in time to see Ethan standing in the doorway. His eyes were narrowed on me, and his expression was hard and cold. I wish I knew how long he’d been standing there. This might be a real problem.

  Burke shoved himself off the counter and eyed Ethan. On his way out of the room, he purposefully brushed Ethan’s shoulder. “Holler, if you need back-up,” he said before he was gone.

  Ethan looked like he might go after him, but then leveled his gaze on me instead. “What exactly do they need to not find out? And is Alexis part of the they?”

  Maybe he hadn’t heard much of the conversa
tion after all. I thought fast. “They are Allie and Carly. And we don’t want them to find out that there was a bear spotted at Cayuga Lake recently. We are going camping next weekend.”

  “You are taking Alexis camping?” he snorted. “Does she know that?”

  It infuriated me that he was right. She didn’t know yet. I hadn’t asked her because, until a few days ago, I hadn’t been sure that I wanted her to go. And, to be honest, I didn’t know if she’d want to go. She didn’t seem like much of a camper.

  “No. And don’t tell her because I’m going to ask her later tonight. It’s a surprise,” I said.

  “Please tell me that her birthday present is a surprise camping trip?” He was practically doubled over, he was laughing so hard. “You don’t know Alexis at all, do you?”

  He was wrong. I knew her, and I could guarantee that I knew more about Alexis Harper than he did. I got tremendous satisfaction out of the fact that he never called her ‘Allie.’ It made me feel superior that he was relegated to her formal name.

  “I do know Allie,” I said emphasizing her name. “And I think she’ll do just fine. She’s tougher than you think. Besides, she’ll have me to curl up with if she gets scared.”

  “It gets cold up there at night,” I added with a smirk.

  His eyes narrowed. “Look, I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass. I helped you with tonight because I love Alexis, not because I wanted to help you. I don’t trust you. You aren’t good enough for her, and if you haven’t already done something to screw this up, you will. I’ve been protecting Alexis from herself for over six years. Protecting her from you is a whole lot easier. “

  He turned away from me, but got in one last jab. “I was here before you got here, and I’ll be here when she tosses your ass to the curb.” He was out of the room before I could respond.

  So much for thanking him. He’d be lucky now if I didn’t lay him flat before the night was over. I hated fucking attorneys and their need to always have the last word. I imagined what it would feel like to ram my fist into his head. I needed to calm down before I joined the rest of the party. I shook my shoulders out and unclenched my fists. I made myself a new drink and finished it. Then I made myself another.

  There’d been a shift in the music in the living room. Burke was singing. Even though I’d strictly forbidden it, he’d brought his damn karaoke machine. I made my way into the living room and returned to Allie’s side. As a result of Ethan’s admission, I wouldn’t be leaving it for the rest of the night.

  Burke had pushed my coffee table up against the wall to create a makeshift stage and was standing on it. He was pointing at a giggling Carly as he sang, “Don’t wanna live, all by myself any more ... hard to be sure, sometimes I feel so insecure ... And love so distant and obscure ... Remains the cure.” As soon as the song was over, he went right into ‘Baby Got Back.’

  After several hours of Burke hogging the mic, a lot of our guests started to bail. It was getting pretty late. Allie was manning the door and thanking everyone for coming. Carly was in the kitchen cleaning up some of the mess. The only people still really hanging around were my friends and Ethan.

  I made my way into the kitchen to put a stop to the cleaning. There wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait until tomorrow, and I had a cleaning service coming to take care of it all anyway. While we put away anything that needed to go in the refrigerator, Carly talked about what a good party it had been and how much she liked all of Allie’s work friends. When we were done in the kitchen, I made a beeline for my bedroom to get one of Allie’s presents.

  Returning to the living room, I stopped dead in my tracks and gaped at the sight on the couch. Ethan and Jillian were going at each other like a couple of rabbits. Though I hadn’t seen this coming, it was definitely a highlight of the night. If Jillian could keep Ethan distracted, then he would be less of a problem for me. I did feel a little sorry for her though. As pretty as she was, she had a way of hooking up with guys when all they wanted was someone else.

  Allie was leaning up against a wall in the dining room, talking to Brian and Barnacle. She looked at the long, oddly shaped package in my hand. “For me?” she asked innocently.

  I brushed off everything that Ethan had said earlier. “Yeah, sorry about my wrap job. I know it’s terrible.”

  She giggled at my handiwork and started tearing into the bottom end. After all the paper was removed, she stared at the hot pink fishing pole and then looked at me questioningly.

  “So, for the past couple of years, we’ve gone camping for Labor Day weekend. We cook out, do some fishing, drink a lot of beer, look for Sasquatch, you know, the usual camping stuff. We leave early on Friday morning and come back Monday evening. I want you to come with me,” I said.

  Her eyes lit up. “I thought you’d never ask.” When I just smiled at her, she giggled and finished, “No seriously ... I thought you’d never ask.”

  A light went on. She’d been waiting for me to ask. At some point, she must’ve heard us talking about it. I tried to remember when we’d talked about it in front of her, but came up blank. “Yeah, well, I was worried that it wouldn’t really be your scene. We stay in tents. There’s a community bathroom and shower ... but you know ... it’s a community bathroom. And, well ... you’re kind of a fixy.”

  Allie’s face fell a little. “So, no cabins? No electricity?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Nope. I mean, there are cabins, but there’s no way for us to get one this late before a holiday weekend,” I said. “But even the cabins don’t have electricity.”

  “And no cell service?” she asked, hopefully.

  “None at all,” I said.

  I watched her rebound. “I’m not a total ‘fixy.’ I can rough it. I used to camp with my dad as a kid all the time.”

  I didn’t really believe that she had ever roughed it as a kid. I’m sure her family stayed in luxury cabins. They probably had hot tubs and televisions. Her idea of roughing it was probably giving up filtered ice cubes in her soda. This was going to be a lot of fun.

  She rubbed her hands together. “Oh, my gosh. I can’t wait. Where are we going?”

  “Finger Lakes region. North of Ithaca on Cayuga Lake. It’s beautiful there. There’s a huge waterfall and great hiking.”

  “We’re in, too,” Ethan said.

  I whipped my head toward the voice. Apparently, Jillian wasn’t nearly distracting enough. They were standing directly behind me. They had disengaged their mouths from each other, but he still had his arm around her waist. I looked to Allie to see if she was having any reaction to this new coupling. She looked oblivious to it. But she’d described Ethan as a man-whore so she was probably used to it.

  “Awesome,” Barnacle said to Ethan. “The more the merrier.”

  I could not catch a break tonight.

  Allie looked at Barnacle. “Am I going to finally find out why they call you Barnacle?”

  “Let’s hope not,” he said, smiling at her wickedly.

  She looked genuinely excited. “Ummm, how do we get there?”

  I smiled at her. “Eleanor, of course. Burke and Carly will ride with us. The rest of the guys and their dates will take Barnacle’s van.”

  I pointed at Ethan and Jillian. “These two are on their own.”

  ***

  Finally, everyone was gone. Of course, Ethan, that jackass, had been the last to leave. If he hadn’t had Jillian attached to his side for the rest of the night, I might have wondered if he wasn’t waiting around to try and take Allie home. If that was the case, the guy was freaking hilarious ... and an idiot. She wasn’t going anywhere tonight. I finally had her all to myself, and I had every intention of making her live up to some of those promises she’d made earlier. But first I had one more item of business to attend to.

  “You don’t really think that a fishing pole is your birthday present, do you?” I asked as I presented the much smaller package. She was stretched out on my bed, looking exactly like she belonged here. It bo
th pleased and disturbed me.

  “The party was more than enough, Adam,” she said, rolling over on her side to face me.

  “Just one more little thing. Come on. It won’t hurt, I promise.” Though I thought it actually might hurt a little.

  She looked at me skeptically and then busted into a wide grin. “Oh, hell. You know I love presents,” she said snatching the present from my outstretched hand.

  She tore into the package and stared at the tiny brown LV box. Her mouth gaped open. “You shouldn’t have done this ... “ she said, trailing off.

  “Look at the size of the box, Allie. You know it can’t be much.”

  She untied the brown cord, opened the box, and looked at the contents in awe. The classic monogram keychain had set me back more than $300. But the keychain wasn’t even the point.

  “Is this what I think it is?” she asked, dangling it off her finger.

  “Yep. It’s a key to my apartment,” I said, like it wasn’t a big deal. And it wasn’t a big deal. It was a huge deal. In my book, this was a thing of monstrous proportions. I decided that she should know that. We didn’t share many firsts.

  I took the keychain off her finger and laid it across my palm. “Actually, this is big for me, Allie Cat. You’re the first to ever get one of these.” The smooth surface felt like vinyl. How could something so small be worth so much?

  “Really?” she asked. Her eyes were getting glassy.

  “Really. Until now, I’ve always valued my privacy more than I’ve valued the woman in my life. But you’re different, Allie. You’re worth taking a chance on. I’m trusting you with everything I have.” I wasn’t talking about the shit in my apartment, but I think she knew that.

  The waterworks were flowing now. She wiped her eyes and took it from me again. Then, with renewed energy, she bounced up and off the bed. “I have something for you, too.”

  I watched her walk across the room to retrieve the giant bag that she called a purse. I swear it was big enough that it probably had a mini fridge in it. It was a perfect match to the keychain though. Because I knew that she would appreciate that fact, the $300 was more than worth it.