When Fate Isn't Enough

by Isabelle Richards

  He moves from the bed to the floor in front of me. “Oh, Lil. You have nothing—”

  I hold my hand up and shake my head. “Em gave me the ‘Lily is wonderful’ speech. You don’t have to go there. I’m fine, really.”

  He takes the sweater from my hands, causing me to look at him. “You’re not, I can tell,” he says. “You’re wonderful. Never in my life have I been as happy as I am when I’m with you. Never.”

  He leans down to kiss me, but he pulls away before we get carried away. “You’ll be in good company tonight. Liam and James never made it a secret that they disliked Brooke, and they’re very excited to meet you.”

  Suddenly, the evening’s looking up.

  Chapter Five

  We catch a cab to the pub to meet Liam and James. The cab is a stick shift! I’ve never seen that before. Sticks are virtually obsolete in the US, but Gavin says almost every car in the UK is a stick.

  Gavin’s about to tell me how he met Liam and James when Max calls Gavin’s phone and asks for me.

  “Max!” It’s so good to hear his voice. I’ve only been gone a few days, but I miss him. We’d grown so close in the short time we lived together.

  “Hey, Slugger. How’s it hanging?”

  I fiddle with my cross necklace. “Well, no one has tried to kill me since I’ve gotten here. So I’d say that is a plus.”

  “Give ‘em time. I’m sure you’ll end up knee deep in some shit soon enough,” he says with a laugh.

  “That is why I love you, Max. You’re a beacon of positivity and optimism.” The cab enters a roundabout and my life flashes before my eyes. It appears yielding is a US concept. I almost drop the phone when I grab the door handle.

  “I only have a few minutes,” he says bringing me back to our conversation. “I wanted to call because I’m going out on assignment, and I wanted to let you know you won’t be able to reach me. Not sure how long I’ll be out of pocket.”

  “Oh…” Max is a great FBI agent, but I wish he didn’t do undercover work. Because he’s exceptional at his job, he lands the big cases. “Big” being the nice way of saying dangerous.

  “Stop that right now,” he shouts at me. “No worrying. I’ll be perfectly fine. Got it?”

  “I know. Promise you’ll be safe?”

  The voices in the background on his end get louder. “I’m always safe, slugger. They’re calling me in, I’ve got to run. I’ll call you when I get back. Greene’ll check on the condo and water the plants. Hugs and sloppy kisses!”

  He’s gone before I get a chance to say good-bye. I turn to tell Gavin what’s going on.

  He scoots closer to me in the cab and puts his arm around me. “I heard. You okay?”

  I swallow down the lump forming in my throat. “Yeah,” I say with a nod. “I just worry. I hate that I can’t know where he’s going or even check in with him. Radio silence is the worst.” I stare at the phone in my hands, hoping it will ring again.

  Gavin takes his phone back and caresses my fingers. “He’s very good at what he does. You know Max, he can talk his way out of anything. If he ever got in a jam, he’d find a way out. He comes off like a slacker, but he’s careful and methodical.”

  The taxi pulls up to the pub, saving me from having to come up with something to say.

  The bar is called the Cheshire Cheese. I love the names of places in London. Unlike the Lamb and Flag, the Cheshire Cheese is modern but still uniquely British. While it can’t brag that it has been slinging drinks for hundreds of years, it’s a pretty great place to play darts, or arrows as they call it here.

  Gavin steers us through the crowd, looking for his friends. Out of nowhere, a giant man punches Gavin in the gut.

  “Gotcha,” the giant yells.

  Gavin stumbles. I stand there in complete shock. At first I think Gavin is crying because he’s so red and tears are coming down his face. As he stands up straight, I see that he is laughing.

  Gavin points at the giant. “You bastard!” he shouts. “You got me. I didn’t see that coming. You’re lucky I didn’t ralph all over you.” He gives the man a hug as he catches his breath. “Lily, this is my best mate, Liam Moynihan. Liam, this is Lily.”

  I put my hand out to shake his, but Liam throws me over his shoulder and spins me around a few times. I get a hard slap to my backside

  “Hey now,” Gavin says. “Hands to yourself, Moynihan.”

  “All in good fun.” Liam sets me back down. “Lily, it’s good to meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too,” I reply as I straighten my vest “Although you’ve just smacked my ass, so I feel like we know each other so well already. For the record, I prefer the spinning/ass slap combo to the sock in the gut.”

  “Oh, Gavin here had that coming,” Liam says with a laugh.

  I raise my eyebrow and motion for him to continue. “You can’t just leave it at that. Come on, details!”

  “You see, it all started back when we were eleven,” Liam says as he slings his arm around my shoulders. “We were fishing, and I bet Gavin he couldn’t eat a whole jar full of worms. If he did, he got to sock me in the gut, and if he didn’t, I got to sock him. We’ve never been able to agree if he finished the whole jar or not. Since then, we’ve been throwing punches back and forth. The goal is to get him when he doesn’t know it’s coming.”

  I stare at Gavin for a minute. “So you agreed to eat a whole jar of worms so you could punch Liam in the stomach? Knowing that if you missed even one worm, you would have a belly full of worms and still get punched?”

  “We were eleven. That’s what lads do when they’re eleven,” Gavin says, defending his honor.

  “And this has continued for - eighteen years?” I shake my head at them. “Boys are dumb. If you’re going to eat worms, you at least have to get some cash out of it. I once ate a grasshopper for five bucks, a pack of gum, and the right to cut in line at the diving board for a whole summer. Who would have thought that between moneybags and me, I would be the more enterprising one?” I nod my head in the direction of the bar. “Come on, Liam. Buy me a drink while Gavin pulls himself together. He still looks a little green.”

  Liam turns toward Gavin and says, “Oh, I like this one. She’s feisty!”

  Gavin yells back, “You haven’t seen anything yet. Wait till she gets some tequila in her.”

  On the way to the bar, I get slapped on the ass again while Gavin is talking to someone, so I know it isn’t him. I catch the guy’s hand and twist his arm up behind his back. Thank you, Max.

  “Uncle! Uncle! I’m sorry. I’m James, Gavin’s friend. I didn’t mean anything. I was just trying to wind him up.”

  James is about six feet tall, and he has light brown hair and coffee-colored eyes. But he looks like a deer in headlights right now.

  I give him the evil eye and let him go. “I was under the impression you Brits were supposed to be gentlemen.”

  “Who gave you that idea?” Liam asks, barely able to get the words out because he’s laughing so hard.

  “Well, James, Gavin missed the whole thing. So your mission crashed and burned.” I glare at him.

  He smirks. “I got to slap your ass, so I’m not really sure I agree with you.”

  I try not to laugh. “Quick. He’s looking this way. Dip me and plant a big kiss right on my cheek.”

  Before I know it, I’m dipped back, and he looks as if he’s going kiss me for real.

  He leans in and whispers, “Three, two, one.”

  Gavin comes up behind James, grabs him by the scruff of the neck, and says “Wallace, don’t even think about it.”

  James, Liam, and I crack up. As James places me back on my feet, Gavin realizes what’s going on. He throws his hands up and storms back to our table. He has a big smile though, so I know he’s taking it in jest.

  Liam and I get drinks for us and head to the table. He somehow talks me into doing an Irish Car Bomb.

  Gavin orders some fish and chips for me. “We need to get some grease
in this one, or we’ll be carrying her out of here.”

  “Oh no, boys,” I reply. “I plan to beat the pants off you all at darts. I won’t be getting carried away tonight!”

  “That sounds like a challenge,” Liam says.

  I adore James and Liam. They’re pranksters, and hanging out with them is a laugh a minute. The best part is seeing Gavin with them. He’s always so composed and mature, but the three of them act like teenagers together. Apparently, Gavin is human after all.

  The three men couldn’t be more different. Liam is a professional rugby player, which suits him to a T. James is an energy trader, which I don’t entirely understand. But he’s clearly crazy smart. Gavin runs the family business, a defense technology company. The three met in boarding school when they were six years old and have been the best of friends since.

  I keep my promise and cream Liam and James at darts. Gavin and I are neck and neck the whole night. I keep hoping that if he drinks enough, I’ll gain an advantage, but unfortunately he does better a few shots in.

  Right before the tie-breaking game, I ask,

  “What are we playing for, Oxford?”

  “Oxford?” James and Liam repeat in unison.

  Gavin ignores them. “What do you want?”

  I raise my eyebrows. “You know what I want.”

  He glares at me. “Don’t go there, Lil.”

  Liam jumps up and down, like a toddler. “Oh! Oh! What does she want?”

  I stick my bottom lip out and pout. “Fine.” I stomp my foot like a spoiled teenager. I look at Liam. “Your friend can be such a stick in the mud.”

  “I know,” Liam says with a sympathetic look. He puts his arm around my shoulders. “You need to ditch the blighter and find yourself a real man.” He touches my chin, directing me to face him. “Oh, look at that. You found one.”

  Gavin kicks the back of Liam’s knee, causing his knee to buckle. With a few Irish Car Bombs in him, Liam loses his balance and falls on his ass, almost taking me down with him. “I said hands to yourself, Moynihan.”

  James helps Liam to his feet. “You might want to listen to him, mate. He’s sensitive about this one.”

  Liam holds his hand out to Gavin. “Good ol’ Gavin knows I’m just having a laugh. Right, mate?”

  Gavin moves to shake Liam’s hand and Liam punches him in the gut. “That’s two!” Gavin falls into James and somehow the three end up on the floor laughing.

  “Boys!” I shout, getting their attention. “I believe I was making a bet.”

  “What’s your flutter?” James asks.

  “My what?”

  “Your wager?” he replies.

  I put my hands on my hips. “If I win, nothing but embarrassing Gavin stories for the rest of the night.”

  Gavin gets to his feet, then helps James up. “What do I get when I win? We both know I’m going to win,” he boasts.

  “Oh, the arrogance! Has he always been such a cocky bastard?” I ask Liam and James. They’re both laughing hysterically.

  “If I win, you have to promise to stop being naughty,” Gavin says.

  Liam elbows Gavin in the ribs. “I think you’ve got it backward there, mate. You’re supposed to try to get her to be naughty.”

  “She knows what I’m talking about,” he says, glaring at me.

  I put my hands on my hips and glare back. “Oh, it’s on. Let’s play.”

  We have a heated match with intense trash talking going back and forth. I end up winning, but barely.

  “Gavin, I think you’ve finally met your match. She’s more competitive than you. I didn’t think that was possible,” James says as he and Liam laugh at us.

  I order another round of drinks. “All right, boys. Spill it. I want to hear every embarrassing story.”

  “Oh, I’ve got one,” Liam says. “When we were twelve or thirteen, we were meeting some girls at the pond near my house. Gavin decided to be clever and take out his parents’ car. A Rolls Royce, of course. Gavin wasn’t even tall enough to see over the steering wheel. Well, he forgot to put the car in park, and it rolled right into the pond.”

  My hand covers my mouth. “Gavin! Oh my god! Your parents must have been furious.”

  “Mason got it all cleaned up before they got back from holiday. They never knew,” James explains.

  “So were the girls impressed?” I ask.

  Liam rolls his eyes. “Of course they were. It’s Gavin. He could trip and fall, and bust up his mug, and girls would rush over to kiss his boo-boo. He’s always been a snatch magnet.”

  I shake my head. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I respond.

  “This one is better,” James says. “Right around that same time, we got into my parents’ liquor cabinet. We were all legless, and Gavin had a huge football match the next morning. He showed up, still pissed I think, and threw up on two players from the other team. The bastard still scored three goals!”

  I motion for the bartender to send over another round. “Guys, no more ‘Gavin can do no wrong’ stories. Only embarrassing ones! I know he can walk on water, and quite frankly, I’m sick of hearing about it.”

  James tilts his beer bottle toward me. “Try growing up with it.”

  “I can’t imagine. I’m impressed you’re all still friends. The golden boy thing gets so old, doesn’t it?”

  Gavin just sits back, drinking his scotch, his lip slightly curled. I can’t tell if he’s slightly amused or slightly annoyed. Maybe a little of both.

  Liam does a short drum roll on the table. “Got it! What about the time Gavin and O—”

  James slams his drink on the table, causing me to jump. “No,” he says firmly. “You know not to mention her name in my presence. I’m hitting the head.” He gets up and sulks away.

  “What was that about?” I ask.

  “James and O were sweethearts,” Liam explains. “She broke his heart. She still does on occasion. We used to call her ‘she who shall not be named’ before those wizard books came out. Now everyone says it, so it isn’t so clever anymore. What’s up with her, Gavin? Tell me quick before James gets back.”

  My ears perk up, anxious to see what he has to say about this. “O and I are done,” Gavin says coldly.

  “She finally pushed you too far, huh? It was bound to happen. That woman is pure poison. I just wish James could get her out of his system.”

  Liam tips back his beer.

  James heads toward our table, and Liam changes the subject. “We need one last drink to our reigning darts champion. I’ll go get another round. No wimping out, lass. It’s another car bomb for you.”

  We do one more shot and head out to find a taxi.

  “Damn, it’s brass monkeys,” Liam says as he rubs his hands together.

  I slip my gloves on. “Brass monkey? As in the Beastie Boys song?” I ask.

  “No, as in it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey,” he replies. Before I can respond he throws me over his shoulder again. “Lily and I are headed home. You two have a good night. What? Don’t look at me like that. I’m carrying her like a caveman, and I’ve slapped her ass. Oops, did it again,” he quips as he slaps my ass. “In some cultures, we’re married now.”

  “Liam. Enough,” Gavin says. He isn’t messing around.

  “Nope, Gavin, I like this one. I’m keeping her to myself.”

  “I’ll call your mum,” Gavin responds.

  Liam promptly puts me down and kisses my hand. “Looks like we’re divorced. Gavin played the mum card. She thinks I’m in Australia for the month, and that’s how I’d like it to stay. It was nice while it lasted, Lily.”

  “What’d you do to piss off your mum?” James asks.

  A sinister grin creeps across Liam’s face. “I did a bang and dash with one of the nurses on Da's staff. From what my sister tells me, the girl comes in crying about her broken heart every day. Mum’s cheesed off.”

  “You wanker,” Gavin says. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to dip your pe
n in the company ink?”

  A cab pulls up and Liam walks toward it. “It’s Da’s office, not mine. And my pen was in dire need of ink at the time. Mum’ll get over it in time. Get home safe!” He hops in a cab and drives off.

  “He’s like a tornado,” I say. “He blows in, upturns everything, and leaves you wondering what the hell just happened.”

  “That’s Liam.” James chuckles as another taxi pulls up. “Lily, it was great meeting you. I’m giddy this bloke has someone to put him in his place for a change. Hope to see you both soon. Cheers.”

  Gavin and I hop in the next cab. I’m ready to be off my feet. While I look fantastic, these boots are killing me.

  Leaning my head on Gavin’s shoulder, I say, “They’re so much fun. I can see how you’ve stayed friends for so long.”

  “You passed all their tests with flying colors.”

  “What tests?” I ask.

  “Oh, they were pushing you to see if you’d snap, and you handled them beautifully. You gave it as good as you got. I knew they would love you.”

  I smirk. “I can hold my own.” I’m not proud, but I can’t help but wonder how Brooke faired with their tests.

  We’re quiet for the rest of the ride. We’re still jet lagged, and we probably drank a little too much. By the time we get back to Gavin’s, I’m barely conscious and I just want to sleep. I strip down and get right into bed.

  “Lily, you can’t do that.”

  “Hmmm?” I groan, half asleep.

  “Lil, I cannot sleep next to you naked. I won’t get any sleep and will probably maul you. You’re testing what little resolve I have.”

  I know I should get up and put clothes on, but exhaustion has taken over. The warm soft bed has captured me and I have no desire to move.

  “Lily!”

  I continue to ignore him, assuming he’ll give up and get into bed. After a few minutes, I hear him walk away and slam the door.