by Linn, A. J.
“You got it, buddy.” As he wipes down the bar, he leans in, speaking in a low voice then nods his head in the direction of the other end of the bar. “Look who’s here tonight, boss.” I glance over and see my ex-girlfriend and former assistant, Danielle, who I haven’t seen for about two years, sitting there. She is smiling over at us, knowing full well that we’re talking about her.
Christ, she looks incredibly sexy. She always did. Her hair is lighter now, sun-streaked, I would imagine, and much longer. Her skin-tight crisp white dress looks fantastic against her toned, long bronzed legs.
Too bad she was a cheating whore when we were together. That’s almost a year of my life that I’ll never get back…what a waste.
“Everyone knows that she isn’t to be let into the club, correct?” I look away from the cheating whore and take a drink, turning my attention back to Jared. “Who is working the door tonight?”
“Uh, that would be Reggie.” Jared quickly pours me another drink while trying to reason with me over her being here, but more trying to save Reggie’s ass. “It’s been two years, and I think Reggie figured it wouldn’t hurt to let her in. Besides, you were supposed to be on a date.”
“That is hardly the point, Jared. She was banned long ago. I don’t want her in here whoring up my customers.” Irritated, I get up from the bar stool and start walking towards the door.
“Reggie, I need to have a word with you.” I motion for him to join me away from the entrance of the club, away from the earshot of entering customers. “Why the fuck did you let Danielle in?” He glances quickly in her direction as she sits at the bar.
“Aww, boss, c’mon. It’s been a long time since you two were together. I really didn’t think you’d care.” He steps back near the door, unhooking the velvet rope that sits at the entrance to allow in one of my members. “Good evening, Mr. Cassidy.” Reggie greets him with a nod as he passes by, and making his way towards me, he extends his hand in my direction.
“Bruce, good to see you again.” I reach for his hand and give him a firm handshake. “Let Jared know that your first round is on me tonight. Enjoy your evening.” He thanks me and hurries over to the bar.
This is one of my more interesting customers. He and his wife, Marcy, have a little role-playing game that they play. He shows up first, then she follows after a few moments, always in some odd get-up that includes a different colored wig and some sort of costume-like leather outfit. Very different from what the other members here wear when they come in. But that is what you get when you run an adult club. Most of my members have some sort of fetish…some sort of interesting kinky side. I like that the Cassidys keep it fresh. They have been married for twenty-five years now. I think that must be the trick to a lasting marriage: bad wigs and hot sex.
I then direct my attention back to Reggie. “Alright, I don’t need a scene tonight. It’s much too busy in here for that.” I turn and head back toward the bar. “Never again, Reggie. Understood?” I sit back down on the stool, shaking my head as I look at Jared. “If it happens again, let me know. Whether I’m here or not, she is not to be let in again. Got it?” I throw back my drink and get up to leave. “I think I’d better leave before I say or do something that I might regret. I’ll be upstairs.”
I leave the club and make my way through the lobby to the elevator. As I wait, lost in thought…disgust…whatever you’d like to call it, from seeing her face in my club, I am suddenly caught off guard by a gentle touch on my arm.
“Donovan, I get the feeling that you’re not happy to see me here,” it says. Yes, “it”. That is how I have referred to her over the last two years. She rarely came up in conversation, but when she did, she was always referred to as “it”.
I turn and respond with a nasty smirk across my face. “No, I’m always happy to see the woman who slept with most of Malibu while we were together. It’s always a pleasure to see you, Dani.” I turn and face the elevator again, hoping that the doors open soon so that I can make my escape.
“Oh, don’t be like that Donovan. It wasn’t like that and you know it.” The doors finally open and I quickly step inside.
“I really don’t care, Dani. Now, would you kindly leave my hotel before I have security throw you out?”
Fuck, but I did care. Although I was well over her, I thought that she might have been “the one”. She was my first love, I guess you could say. Before her, it was all one-night stands, threesomes, foursomes and endless drunken nights in my club doing things that you only read about in books. Sure, there were a few short relationships sprinkled in here and there, but it was Danielle that changed things for me. I changed almost everything about myself. I was, for the first time in my life, a one-woman man. What a fucking idiot.
Never again, I promised myself back then, after she broke my heart. But after returning to my old ways for the past two years, I did realize that I do still want a real relationship. One just like the Cassidys have. Minus the weird wigs.
“I know you care, Donovan. Why don’t you let me have another chance? Let me fix what I messed up.” She follows me into the elevator and before I can throw her out, the doors close. The scent of that fucking perfume of hers now fills the air. Not fair. She always knew how much I loved that scent.
Before I know it, she is pressed hard against me, her incredible almond-shaped chocolate-brown eyes staring up at me, pleading for another chance. Glaring down at her, I push her away and take a step back. “Let it go, Dani. There’s no fixing anything. You broke my fucking hear…” I quickly stop myself before completing that sentence. I won’t give her the satisfaction of hearing the words.
“Your heart…I know, Donovan, and I’m sorry. I messed up and I need you to forgive me, please.” She moves closer again, too close.
“I am not doing this Dani. You’re just embarrassing yourself at this point.” Christ, she smells good, and she still looks as beautiful as I remember. “I forgive you, alright?”
The elevator doors to my floor open, leaving us standing at the entrance to my penthouse. As I look into her eyes, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes, something comes over me. Memories of all the good times we had together flash in my mind. Memories of what a sweet girl she was, back then. Or maybe, just maybe, I drank too much.
I pull her against me, lifting her off her feet as I press my lips hard against hers, whisking her out of the elevator and into the foyer. Her hands move up to my face as she passionately returns the kiss. I remember these lips. These soft, full lips that used to kiss me with such fiery intensity. I scoop her up and carry over her to the sofa setting her down, my body eagerly following as I climb on top of her, forcing her to lie back, our lips never leaving one another’s…
My hand finds its way to her thigh and begins to move slowly up her side as she tears my shirt open and slides it down my arms. Feeling every contour of her body only fuels my lust, and I begin to pop open the buttons down the side of her dress—one by one.
As my erection grows and our kisses become more heated, I realize suddenly who is beneath me. In my alcohol induced haze, I forgot for one brief moment and got carried away. What the fuck am I doing with the cheating whore? Getting laid after a way too long dry spell, that’s what. “Just go with it asshole,” I tell myself. “Just go with it…”
As she mutters my name in-between heavy breaths, she blathers out of her lying, cheating, whorish mouth, “Donovan, I missed you so much.”
Suddenly, I jump off of her like I was about to contract the plague. The plague of the cheating ex. “No…NO! You need to leave, Dani.” I take her by her arm, pulling her from my couch and lead her to the elevator.
“But Donovan. I thought…” she whines as she fumbles with the buttons on the side of her dress.
“You thought wrong. This is never going to happen, got it?” I press the button for the elevator and pray that it comes quickly.
“You’re just drunk. Stop being like this and let’s finish what we came here to do.” She pleads, begs, and
whines some more.
“You finished anything and everything that we would ever do together a long time ago.” The doors open, and I take her by her arm again, helping her inside. “And you’re right. I am a little drunk, or this would have never happened.” As the elevator doors begin to close, cutting off her response, I give her a wink and a sarcastic farewell. “Please, remain a stranger this time. Ciao, Dani.”
So, I turned down sex with the cheating whore, but at least I still have my dignity intact. And yes, it is time for yet another cold shower. But this is more of a victory shower. Getting laid will never be worth having to deal with that. Danielle is now just another bad memory from my past. Another hard lesson learned. But this lesson I will gladly take.
Now, time for that shower.
Chapter Seven
~ The Wedding, part one ~
I wake up the next morning with a slight hangover, visions of stupidity dance in my foggy head. Sadly, last night haunts me with the scent of the cheating whore’s perfume still polluting the air of my penthouse. I’m not too sure that even a good fumigating will rid my place of this scent, but I call for maid service hoping for a miracle.
Wanting to spare my nose from any further punishment, I dress quickly in gray slacks and a black button-down shirt and leave my polluted penthouse. I take the elevator down to the lobby and head straight for the reception area. I see that I have a voicemail on my cell and listen to it as I walk. There is a message from Lizzy, my hairstylist, and it’s bad news. At least this small emergency will divert my attention from last night. I know…I’m a fucking idiot. Moving on.
It’s a quiet Wednesday morning, as Wednesdays usually are. Most tourists come for a long weekend, so that leaves the middle of the week on the slower side. I see the girls, Lily, Sarabeth and Dawn, gathered at the check-in desk, no doubt talking about my head chef, Lily’s upcoming wedding, which takes place here this Saturday.
Lily has been working for me for about seven years now. She moved here with her family from the U.K. when she was a teenager, settling for many years in Florida. She eventually decided to go out on her own, and after completing culinary school, she moved here to Malibu and came to work for me at La Fuga. She and I have spent many nights staying up late drinking at The Underground, telling stories. And trust me when I say, she has some pretty good ones. I am sad to report that most of them involve her fiancé, Christopher, and their sex life. But, I digress. I have some bad news to deliver.
“Doesn’t anybody ever work around here anymore?” I try to use my angry boss tone, but the girls know me all too well, and we all begin to laugh at what an ass I can be sometimes.
“Lily, how is everything coming along for Saturday?” She lights up as she tries to answer, but all of the girls chime in, explaining just how everything is coming along down to the very last detail. Every last excruciating detail. Lily’s barely getting a word in edgewise. I glance her way, rolling my eyes at the others blathering on and on.
“Thank you, girls. And now that I know everything down to the color of all of the bridesmaids’ panties, I can breathe a sigh of relief.” I shake my head as I laugh. Yes, I tease them, but they are really a great group of girls and we have a lot of fun together. “Lily, come with me for a moment will you? As for the rest of you, get back to work.” I can hear the girls giggling as they sarcastically respond with “Yes sir.”
I lead Lily through the lobby and down the corridor to my office. As we pass through the reception area that leads to my office, I am quickly reminded that my assistant, Patrice, has the week off. “Do you want coffee, Lily?”
“No thanks, Donovan. I’m good.” We enter my office and as I take a seat behind my desk, she sits in the chair just in front of it. “What did you need to see me about?”
“I didn’t want to mention this in front of the girls, but we have a slight problem. Lizzy broke her leg yesterday, so she won’t be available to do hair and make-up for your wedding.” And, as expected, she begins to tear up. “Can’t you girls just do each others’ hair and makeup?” I ask, like the clueless wonder I am when it comes to weddings.
“No Donovan, we can’t. Oh my god, this is a disaster! There’s no way we’ll ever find anyone else in three days!” She is actually in full-blown tears at this point. I hand her a box of Kleenex and am now extremely thankful that I didn’t ask the others to come along, or there would be three girls in here losing it right now. They don’t make enough tissue for this sort of thing.
“No, this is a small bump in the road, Lily. Do you know of someone or shall I make some calls?” She doesn’t answer, instead she continues to shake her head and cry.
“I’ll take that as a no.” Christ. What is it with women and their hair? How hard can this be? Put it up, slap on some make-up and get your ass down the aisle.
But I can see by Lily’s reaction that there won’t be any moving on. So, being the great friend/boss that I am, I make a call to Kacie, my hotel manager and good friend Matt’s wife, to ask her if she knows of anyone. She gives me the name and number of her stylist, Mauricio, explaining that he is usually booked well in advance and may not be available on such short notice. I thank her and hang up, quickly calling the number, hoping for a miracle. Meanwhile Lily is still crying. Bloody hell.
“Thank you for calling Mauricio’s. This is Mauricio speaking.” The voice on the other end of the phone is a lispy feminine sort of voice.
“Hello Mauricio, my name is Donovan Hart. I got your number from Kacie Reynolds, a client of yours. I have a slight emergency and I wonder if you might be able to help.” I hear loud music and talking in the background and I seem to be “on hold” yet he never seems to fill me in on that. “Hello?” I become impatient as a few moments pass, no response from him yet. I am now thrumming my fingers on the desk and would have hung up by now, but this is for Lily. So I wait.
“Did you say Donovan Hart?” He seems excited to hear my name. I am rather well known in the community, but I didn’t know that included hairstylists…
“I did. Is this a bad time?” Thankfully Lily is now somewhat calmed down and listening in.
“For you, Mr. Hart? No. What can I do for you?”
“I realize that this is a long shot, but an employee of mine is getting married this coming Saturday, and the stylist we had booked unfortunately broke her leg. So, as you see…” He cuts off my sentence and shouts across the room to whom I can only guess is the receptionist.
“Crystal, when you’re done eating your lunch, clear all of my appointments for Saturday…That’s what I said…Just do it!” Now I can barely hear. The voices have become muffled. There is shouting, and I hear something about him being booked with clients all day. Followed by more shouting.
“Mr. Hart, just say when and where and I’ll be there.” I nod at Lily, and she immediately rises from her chair and begins to do some sort of crazy happy dance. I am extremely sorry that I had to witness that. Damn.
“Thank you, Mauricio. You have no idea how happy you’ve just made the bride.” And Lily uncharacteristically shouts “Thank you!” in the background, and I motion for her to sit down as I put my finger to my lips to shush her. “If you could be at La Fuga around eleven, that would be great.”
“That I can do, Mr. Hart. How many girls?”
“There are four,” I reply quickly.
“Will they need make-up, sir?” he replies eagerly.
“Oh, yes. I forgot about that actually.” Lily gives me a disapproving stare. I hold up my hand and mouth, “Calm the fuck down, will you?”
“I’ve got it covered. Tell your bride-to-be not to worry. Mauricio is on it.”
“Thank you again. And on top of whatever your usual fee is, I am going to comp you a room here at the hotel for you and a guest for the night. It’s the least that I can do.”
“Really? Well, thanks Mr. Hart. We’ll see you Saturday then.” We exchange goodbyes then hang up, and I quickly yet carefully turn my attention back to Lily.
&nbs
p; “See, it all worked out. Are you going to make it?” I ask, laughing as I try to lighten up the now-resolved near-nightmare.
“Yes. Thanks Donovan.” After letting out a huge sigh of relief, she gets up and practically leaps across the desk, giving me a tight hug in thanks. “You saved my wedding. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“I just made a call, but you are very welcome.” As she pulls away, I stand and cross the room, walking towards the door and motioning for her to follow. “How about a drink, Lily? I think after that, we both could use one.” Not to mention, after last night. Fuck, don’t even think about that…Redirect.
“Donovan, it’s eleven o’clock in the morning,” she smiles, winks and adds, “But it’s happy hour somewhere, right?”
“That it is, Lily. How about Mimosas then?” I put my hand on the small of her back as we walk to the hotel restaurant.
The past couple of days have been filled with non-stop preparations for the big day, which is tomorrow. The courtyard that sits in back of the La Fuga will serve as the ceremony site and is almost ready. Pink roses and violets adorn almost every square inch of the area. White chairs have been delivered and set up. A tall white arch also covered with flowers and tiny white lights now sits in the courtyard where the brick walkway meets at the end.
My father put this entire courtyard in with his own hands, and he built it to curve around the fountain that is nestled in the middle of the garden. He also put that fountain in himself when my parents first bought the hotel so many years ago. He did this all for the love of his life, my mother. Sadly the only thing my father does since her death is tend to that garden. I wish I could do something to change that, but he has always been a stubborn man, and after losing her…well, he died right along with her. He has been here all week nevertheless, making sure that the garden is perfect for Lily’s big day.