by S. E. Lund
"Alexa's coming," Luke said, his voice firm.
"But Felicia will be so upset…"
"Alexa and I are seeing each other exclusively," Luke said, raising his eyebrows at me, pulling me even more tightly against him. "I wouldn't want to go without her. Felicia and I are friends, nothing else."
Mrs. Marshall harrumphed. She visibly pouted, her back stiff like she was preparing to do battle.
"But I—"
"Mother," Luke said, his voice acid. "I'm seeing Alexa. I'm not interested in Felicia. We're just friends."
"So, you invited Alicia, did you?" she asked, peering at me closely, assessing me from head to foot.
"Alexa," Luke corrected.
Mrs. Marshall glanced at me. "I imagine you'll look quite scandalous in a bikini, with that figure. For heaven's sake, don't wear one or we'll probably have to provide you with bodyguards to protect you from the young hounds who will be there and defibrillators for the older men."
I felt immediately naked and exposed at that, and wished I could pull down my skirt's hem a bit and maybe pull together the neck of my dress to hide my cleavage. I hated when people commented on my too-full curves.
"Mother," Luke said, frowning. "How can you be so crass?"
"Well, it's the truth," Mrs. Marshall said, eyeing me disapprovingly. "She's quite the full-figured girl."
"She's not full-figured," Luke said and raised his eyebrows at me. "She's beautiful." Luke regarded me with clear approval in his eyes, which made me feel a little bit better. He must hate his adoptive mother so much that he was starting to defend me against her, when only a few moments earlier I could swear he hated me.
"Well, whatever you say, darling," Mrs. Marshall said and sighed. "But I know Felicia will be very disappointed that you'll be bringing Alana and won't spend time with her."
"It's Alexa, Mother. Besides, Felicia understands," Luke said dryly. "It's you and Mrs. Blake who don't."
She gave me one last glance from head to toe. "Well, I must be off and circulate."
At that, Mrs. Marshall turned away, giving us an acid smile before she left.
Luke turned to me, his eyes meeting mine, a softer expression in them than he had earlier.
"I'm sorry about that. My adoptive mother's a bit of a witch."
"A bit?" I laughed nervously, surprised that he was so open about it. "She's certainly forthright in expressing her views on things."
"You always know where you stand with Mrs. M," John said with a grin.
"I need another drink," Luke said and exhaled. He glanced at me. “Can I get you another one as well?”
I nodded. “I better have something non-alcoholic. I have to study tomorrow for my comp."
"Comprehensive exam?"
I nodded. "Yes. I start doing thesis work as soon as I finish."
"What's your thesis area?"
"Globalization."
Luke nodded and then pointed to the bar. "I'll be right back. John, what can I get for you?"
"Whatever you're having."
"Probably should be hemlock, but I'll have a beer instead." Luke said and left me standing with John.
I turned to him, feeling like the three of us had just survived a battle. "So, I take it Luke and his adoptive mother don't quite see eye to eye."
"That's the understatement of the millennium. She wants him to marry Felicia Blake and he most definitely doesn't want to. Well, she really wanted him to marry this woman called Jenna, but that’s a whole other story.”
"This is the 21st Century," I said. "People find their own partners when they get married."
"I know that and Luke knows that, but apparently, Mrs. M didn’t get the memo. She’s not one to take no for an answer though. I see sabers at dawn in Luke's future."
"Really?" I said. "I'm surprised that there'd be such a big fight over who Luke marries."
"Old money wants to keep it all in the right families, and Felicia comes from only the very oldest money. We're talking cousins of the founding families of Manhattan's banking class. They do things differently than the rest of us."
"I wouldn't know," I said with a shrug. "I come from good old working class stock. Dad was a pilot in the Air Force."
John shrugged. "That's pretty decent stock."
"We're definitely lower middle class, but only just. My dad happens to be skilled with hand-eye coordination and cool under pressure. My grandfather worked on the docks. My other grandfather worked on the railroad as an engineer."
John nodded. "Good red-blooded American working class. Nothing to be ashamed of."
"I'm not," I said with a smile. "I'm really proud, actually."
"What are you proud of?" Luke asked when he joined us, a couple of beers in one hand and a bottle of 7-Up for me. I took it from him and the three of us clinked bottles.
"She's proud of her working-class family background," John said.
"Oh, yeah?" Luke said and turned to me. "How did you get into Columbia? Scholarship?"
I nodded. "Scholarship all the way. My father's working but his income isn't enough to really help with tuition to a good college."
"Columbia's great. You're doing an MA so that means you have brains as well as beauty."
"Your adoptive mother didn’t seem to think I'm very attractive."
"She's just jealous," Luke said and leaned closer. "She's measuring you up against Felicia Blake, and realizes that there's no competition."
Luke smiled, his eyes playful.
I didn't know what to think of him. He knew I wasn’t an escort, and that I was a grad student. I wasn't going to sleep with him so why was he being so nice?
Then, for the next hour, we circulated, John in tow, and the three of us met and talked to various family friends and business associates. Luke introduced me as his girlfriend and luckily, no one seemed interested in asking me anything in detail.
Then, Luke stopped up suddenly and held out his arm to stop John.
"Oh, crap," he said. "Look who showed up."
I glanced over and saw an incredibly handsome man with dark hair walk into the ballroom from the main entrance. On his arm was a woman my age, tall, slim and very elegant looking.
"Who's that?" I asked, wondering why Luke would be so alarmed.
"Heckle and Jeckle,” John said with a sour face. "Heckle is Felicia's brother Harrison. He's a big wheel on Wall Street. He's taking over from his father at the helm of this big investment banking company. He really likes Luke for Felicia's husband and is one of our investors. Jeckle is his girlfriend, one of the recent debutantes of the rich and famous named Jessica. We don't like her much."
"If Harrison's here, Felicia and her mother won't be far behind them." Luke took a long swig of his beer like he was trying to get courage up to face them.
"You don't like him?" I asked, noting how Luke stood straighter like he was steeling himself for battle.
"He's friends with Eric," Luke said. "In fact, he introduced Eric to Dana. He's also involved in the acquisition so I have to walk a very fine line with him."
"Should I leave?" I asked, thinking a quick exit would be best.
Luke shook his head. "Nope. He has to get the message that Felicia and I are not a couple and are never going to be one."
"I just hope he doesn't do anything to hurt the deal," John said, making a face. "I didn't think the Blakes were coming tonight."
"Neither did I," Luke replied, his brow furrowed. "My mother's doing. She takes every opportunity she can to push Felicia and I together."
"Attention," John said and cleared his throat. "Here he comes."
Luke stood a little straighter and I could tell he wasn't looking forward to speaking with Harrison and his girlfriend.
"Well hello there, stranger," Harrison said as he reached us. "Luke. John."
"Hello, Harrison," Luke said dryly. "How are you? Nice to see you again, Jessica."
"Harrison," John said. "Jess. Great to see you, as always."
She gave Luke a cutesy
smile and nodded at John. "You, too."
"Who do we have here?" Harrison asked, giving me the once-over.
"This is Alexa," Luke said and pulled me against him. "She's a good friend from Columbia."
"Oh, really?" Harrison said and eyed me. "Columbia? What are you studying?"
"Political Science."
"Hmm," Harrison said and glanced from me to Luke and back. "Have you seen Felicia and my mother? They should be here already."
"No, we haven't," Luke said. "I didn’t realize you were coming tonight."
"We were a late invite," Harrison said, smiling icily. "For some reason, we were left off the invitation list, but your mother assured us it was an oversight and wasn't intentional."
"I'm sure," Luke said.
I was shocked at the level of tension between Luke and Harrison. Both men smiled at each other but I could tell they disliked each other intensely. Harrison glanced over me like I was some kind of eyesore.
"You haven't spoken about Alexa before," Harrison said.
"She's a friend from college who I've been seeing for a while. We have a lot in common."
"Oh, yes? Such as? I'm really curious that we haven’t heard any hint about some girlfriend from your mother."
"You wouldn't. I like to keep my private life private."
"From your own mother?"
Luke shrugged. "She has her own ideas about my future. I have mine."
"Apparently," Harrison said. "Is your family from New York?" he asked me, his eyebrows raised.
"No," I said. "We're from Oregon."
"Oregon?" he said with a blatant look of disgust. "Who's from Oregon? How did you end up in Manhattan?"
I shrugged. "I got a scholarship to Columbia and NYU as well as several other colleges. I wanted to live in Manhattan. Columbia won out."
"Hmm," he said and glanced away like I was some bug he wanted to crush under his foot. "Well, we better mingle. Great to see you again, Luke. John."
He said nothing else to me, pulling his girlfriend along with him. I noted that she said nothing at all. She did, however, smile at me many times but every one of them seemed totally condescending.
"Wow, some great friends you have," I said tartly. "Am I wrong or was he really rude to me in an offhanded way?"
"He was really rude to you. He's a blue blood and thinks anyone who isn't of his kin are the dregs of society. I mean, who is from Oregon?" Luke said with a sardonic laugh. Then he turned to me, his expression curious. "So, you're from Oregon? How did your people end up there?"
"My people are still in Oregon." I shrugged. "My people came from Ireland to New York during the potato famine and then made the trek over to the West Coast during the gold rush days. They stayed. My great grandfather worked on the railway and then my grandfather after him. My father wanted to be a pilot and so he joined the Air Force back in the day."
"Salt of the earth," Luke said and held up his beer bottle. I tapped it with my bottle of 7-Up.
"The best."
"No, seriously," Luke said. "I mean it. I admire anyone who has a dream and follows it. Especially people who start from scratch or have some huge talent or smarts. Obviously, your father had some serious flying skills to make it into the Air Force as a fighter pilot. You're obviously really smart to get a scholarship to Columbia and be working on an MA in Political Science."
"And you excelled in selling comic books from a young age."
Luke laughed, genuinely pleased. "I can sell more than comic books, I hope. I’ve got a business I hope to sell to a big buyer next week."
God, he was so cute and handsome at the same time, with a hunk of a body and a boyish grin. Those blue eyes…
It was too bad he was a cheater on top of it.
"You could sell oil to the Saudis," John replied.
"Hopefully, I can sell Chatter to our investors."
"You will." John held up his bottle of beer. "I have faith in your mad skills, Luke. If you can't sell Chatter, no one can."
Luke shrugged, smiling like he was embarrassed at the praise. "I do my best."
"If you'll excuse me, I have to make a trip to the washroom," I said, deciding to take a break and freshen up.
"Okay," Luke said, but he grabbed my arm. "As long as you're not running off in order to escape my family, especially not when Felicia Blake is on her way…"
"No, honestly," I said and smiled. "I really do have to use the ladies.”
He nodded. "We'll be here."
Then I left the two of them and made my way to the washrooms, which were located at the far corner of the ballroom. I went inside the ladies and got in line to wait for my turn when Luke's sister walked in, her hand on her belly.
"Oh, hi," she said and came right over. "How are you holding up? Our family events aren't all that fun. A lot of stuffed shirts and silver-spoons, if you ask me."
I laughed, surprised that she seemed so honest. "Well, it does seem to be the cream of the Wall Street crop, from what Luke tells me."
"Bankers and more bankers. You'd think we had no imagination. I mean, who other than Neumann grows up and wants to be a banker?"
I laughed at her Seinfeld reference. "It sounds a bit dry, but that's maybe just me."
"No, it's dry. Believe me, it's dry. I've grown up surrounded by men talking banking and finance all my life. Dryer than the Sahara."
I smiled and looked at her very prominent belly, unable to resist. "So, congratulations. You must be very excited. When are you due?"
"Oh, thank you. We're over the moon. I'm due in about eight weeks. I've heard they let first time mothers go ten days past their due dates, so it could be almost nine weeks. I hope not. God, it's getting harder and harder to sleep at night."
"I've heard it's preparation for when you have sleepless nights after the baby's born," I said.
"Well, I'll be ready, if that's the case. I practically sleep sitting up. Luke's really excited about becoming an uncle. It's funny – he never said anything about you. When did you two meet? Are you seeing each other exclusively? Luke seemed to suggest it, but that's so unlike him. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. We're all so happy to see him finally find someone more permanent after everything."
After everything… she must have meant his breakup with his fiancée.
"We don’t know each other really well," I said, feeling bad about lying, but I didn't want to tell her the truth, of course. "He's not the type to be exclusive."
"You got that right. At least, not anymore. Not since last year." I nodded, trying to appear more in the know than I really was.
"Luke never brings anyone to these functions anymore, so I'm surprised he did tonight. He must really like you – or he really hates you and wants to torture you with our highly un-entertaining family."
She gave this delightfully sarcastic laugh, her eyes twinkling. I felt like she was the kind of person I'd like to be friends with. I felt bad that her husband was cheating on her. I could see how Luke would want to punch Eric in the face. Dana was delightful and bubbly.
"You and Luke are twins, right?"
She nodded. "Yes, we were inseparable when we were kids, until we both discovered that we were supposed to hate each other. Until our parents died, we had no idea. They let us be best friends but our adoptive parents didn’t. So, we stopped playing together at that point and went our own ways, but we're really close still. Now more than ever."
The stall opened and so I offered it to her. "You go. I'm sure you need it more than me."
"Oh, thank you!" she said and squeezed my arm. "The baby seems to like sleeping on my bladder so I'm always in and out of the bathroom." She went into the stall and I waited for the next one to open. Being in the stall didn't seem to stop her chatty ways and she kept talking to me over her very loud stream of pee.
"So, what has Luke told you about his past?" she asked.
"Not much," I said, wondering if she'd shed more light on the mystery surrounding the breakup. "What should he have told me?" T
he stall next to hers opened and so I took it and sat down myself.
"He didn’t tell you about his ex?"
“You mean his fiancée?”
“Yes. You know they were childhood sweethearts, and he only found out a week before the wedding that she was cheating on him with her ex. You were at Columbia with him. He was dating her that whole time."
“I’d read it was him who cheated on her,” I said, growing. By the look on her face, I concluded it was a sore spot.
“No, that was the cover story. He let that story out to protect her reputation. I mean, when a woman cheats, it’s like the worst thing. When a man does, at least everyone already expects it. He was being gallant, taking the fall.”
I took that in, totally surprised at the news.
Luke took the fall? It was his ex who cheated?
I had to re-evaluate everything I thought about him.
“He seems really closed up about his past relationships,” I said quickly, trying to cover my mistake. “I can see why he wouldn't want to talk about it. This happened a year ago, right?”
“Yes,” Dana said and I heard her flush. "He's still recovering. He and Felicia went out a few times, but he wasn't into her. So when I saw you with him, I though he was finally over it. You must have met him after they split."
"Yeah, that must be it," I said, trying to come up with a story on the fly. "We did only meet before the end of the semester last year."
"What was he doing at Columbia? He graduated before that," she asked.
"I thought he was taking classes, but I guess he was visiting someone? We met at the pub."
"Well, I hope he's finally over everything. Being with you tonight is a good sign. We were all really surprised to see him with someone tonight. I mean, you're the first other than Felicia since they broke up. It was really nasty."
"He never said a thing," I said, feeling like I'd have to really wing it. "We hadn’t seen each other for a while and then just bumped into each other, so… When I asked about whether he was seeing anyone, he said no. He never filled me in on the details."
"He really turned sour on marriage after the breakup, as you can imagine. It was hard for him to be betrayed like that considering they were together since high school. She'd been fucking this guy all through their relationship but he didn’t want to get married so she stuck with Luke, who did."