by R. J. Dillon
“Hey man,” Gavin said as he walked in the door.
“Hey,” Carter said, jumping off the couch. “You’re running late. What do you need me to do?” He was already dressed and ready to go.
“I need to take a shower. Can you call the restaurant and verify our reservations?” Gavin requested as he rushed to his room, shedding clothes on the way there.
“Will do. Anything else?” Carter asked.
“The limo should be here in about twenty minutes. If I’m not ready when it gets here, can you send it over to pick up Aubrey? He can swing back here and get us so we don’t lose any time.”
“Got it,” Carter said. He raced to the phone and started doing what Gavin had asked of him. Carter and Gavin were best friends and roommates at the University of Pennsylvania, both marketing majors.
After Carter confirmed their dinner reservation, he went to the window to see if the limo had arrived. It hadn’t. Gavin walked into the living room with wet hair and only underwear on.
“What are you doing? Get dressed. You’ve got about ten minutes to spare,” Carter said as he looked at his watch.
Gavin smiled and scurried off to his room. Moments later, he emerged wearing a gray Italian suit, complimented with a light blue dress shirt, silk tie, and black Italian leather dress shoes.
“You look great,” Carter said, helping Gavin with his tie.
“So do you, my friend,” Gavin said, patting him on the shoulder.
“Did you send the roses?” asked Carter.
“Of course,” said Gavin, looking out the window. The limo pulled up just as he was looking out.
“Are you ready?” Carter said, raising his eyebrows.
“Absolutely,” Gavin beamed.
They grabbed their keys, locked the door on their way out, and went to the car. The limo drove to Aubrey’s apartment, where she and a friend, Mariah, were waiting. When they got in, Gavin pulled Aubrey close and kissed her deeply.
“I missed you,” he said, smiling. He hadn’t seen her all week.
“I missed you, too,” she said, looking into his eyes.
Aubrey Freeman was a woman of medium height, long brunette hair, and fair skin. She had attended school with an academic scholarship. She had plans of attending law school once they graduated, which would be in a couple of weeks. Aubrey was from Cascade, Iowa, a small town populated by a little less than two thousand people. Her family was one of the wealthiest of the residents, however she always craved for more. Law school was a step in the right direction, but not quite enough. Mariah was Aubrey’s best friend, and Carter’s date for the night. All they knew was Gavin had something special planned for the group.
They arrived at Positano Coast, and were shown to a table in the Positano room. After enjoying their meals and a couple of glasses of wine, they were moved to the relaxing atmosphere of the Sopra Lounge.
“Is everyone excited about graduation? I can’t wait,” said Carter.
“I would be, but I’ll only get the summer off since I’m going straight to law school,” said Aubrey, taking a drink. “I can’t get excited for another three or four years.”
Gavin took Aubrey by the hand, “Maybe you can get excited about something else.”
“Like what?” she asked.
Mariah and Carter looked at each other. Carter knew exactly what was going on.
“I don’t know. Maybe about becoming Mrs. Gavin Carlisle,” he smiled. “Will you marry me?” Gavin slipped a two karat princess cut diamond ring on her finger.
“Is that what this was really about? This wasn’t about graduation?” she asked, surprised, covering her mouth with her other hand. She was shocked. Mariah and Carter had huge grins on their faces.
“I love you, Aubrey. Please say yes,” Gavin said.
She kissed him several times, saying, “Yes, yes, and yes. I will marry you.”
People around them began to clap and cheer from the excitement. Gavin and the others drank and laughed for a few more hours.
Mariah invited Carter to be with her for the rest of the evening, while Gavin and Aubrey returned to his apartment. As soon as they walked in the door, Gavin grabbed and kissed her passionately. They had never slept together. It was her wish to save herself until marriage. Tonight, he hoped she would make an exception.
“Gavin, you know my desires. I’m excited to become your wife, but I ask that you wait,” she said.
“I know,” he pouted.
“We’ll be together soon enough. You know I love you,” she said, kissing him tenderly.
“Yes. Will you stay tonight, or would you like me to have the driver take you home?” he asked.
“I’ll stay. No funny stuff,” she smirked.
He lifted her hand to his lips. “I promise,” he said.
Gavin called his parents to let them know that Aubrey had accepted his proposal. They were so excited for the couple, and thought Aubrey was a wonderful young woman. The following week was finals week, so the group spent all weekend studying for their exams. They had all of their meals delivered so they wouldn’t be interrupted for an extended period of time.
All of them had exams at the beginning of the week, but Gavin was the only one with finals on Thursday and Friday. He had one each day. On Friday, his final was scheduled for two hours, but he had managed to finish it in one. He was excited about this because he missed Aubrey, and hadn’t seen her all week. When he got home, he planned to take a shower, but instead heard deep breathing, moaning and grunting coming from Carter’s room. ‘Must be Mariah,’ he thought. He started towards his room, when he heard a familiar voice. Gavin stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned around and walked towards Carter’s room. He quietly pushed the door open, stunned by what he saw. He couldn’t move as the woman riding on top of Carter continued to grind into him, smiling with each movement she made. Carter was handcuffed to the bed and had his eyes closed. The woman was wearing a patent leather bustier, a chain link collar, and was holding a set of cat of nine tails. When Carter opened his eyes, he saw Gavin standing there, motionless.
“Gavin,” Carter said.
The woman stopped and turned around, still breathing hard. “What are you doing home so early?” she asked breathily, shocked to see him.
“I believe the question is what are you doing here, with him?” Gavin asked, as anger began to rise within him. Carter pounded his fists in the bed.
“Damn, Gavin. This wasn’t supposed to happen,” said Carter.
“What wasn’t supposed to happen was you screwing my fiancée whom I assumed was a virgin the last couple of years. How long has this been going on?” Gavin asked angrily.
“Does that really matter right now?” Aubrey asked.
“How long?” he yelled.
“About a year,” Carter answered.
“You knew I was going to ask her to marry me. Instead of saying ‘Hey friend, you might want to think twice about that,’ you let me embarrass the hell out of myself last week,” he clinched his jaw. Looking at Aubrey he said, “And you. Were you ever going to make love to me, or was this your plan all along? Bag the guy with all the money, and screw his best friend on the side. Were you afraid that my lovemaking wouldn’t be kinky enough for you? Of course, how would you know? Every time I tried, you shut me down. Now I know it’s because you were too busy screwing him,” he said, pointing to Carter. “Were you just going to keep this up when we got married? What excuse would you have come up with then?” he asked.
Aubrey lifted herself off Carter and sat on his side. Carter covered himself with his sheets.
“This was going to be the last time,” she said. “I really love you.”
“You don’t know what love is. You’ve been lying to me this entire time. Both of you. How could I have been so blind. I should have seen this. All those times you would come here and wait for me, rather than letting me come get you,” he snarled.
“We can work through this, Gavin. I know we can. I’m sorry,” Aubrey pleaded.
“Get your clothes on, and get out,” he shouted. “Now!”
Aubrey got up, pulled on her jeans and shirt, and tried to get Gavin to change his mind.
“Please, Gavin. I need you,” she said.
“You just need my money,” Gavin replied. “You’ve never wanted me. All this time you just used me. Get out. Don’t call me, don’t try to stop by. I never want to see you again.”
She walked past him in the doorway, turning around for one last attempt. Gavin didn’t look at her. She continued through the living room, stopping only to take off the ring he had given her and sitting it on an end table.
Gavin looked at Carter and said, “You two deserve each other. You should leave, too.”
“Gavin, I’m sorry. I didn’t plan this. It just happened,” Carter said.
“Just get out, Carter. Just go.”
When they were gone, Gavin sat quietly on the couch in the living area, hurt and alone.
* * *
“After we graduated, I never saw or spoke to Aubrey again. Carter saw her a couple of times, but it turns out her plan was as I suspected. She wanted to marry me for my money, while continuing to have sex with Carter. When she lost me, she no longer needed him. I was depressed for a while, so much that my parents thought I might commit suicide. Work and culinary school kept me busy. When I discovered that women were highly attracted to me, I used it to my advantage. Carter didn’t fare so well. He started gambling, and primarily slept with prostitutes. I’ve never liked Carter working for us. I disagreed with my father when he wanted to hire him. He said Carter was the best candidate for the job, and that I had to put my personal feelings aside, that it was business. That decision put a lot of stress on my relationship with Adrian. Since it was a business decision, I kept our relationship strictly professional. It drove my mother crazy. That changed a few months ago when you told me what he did for me.”
Faith was stunned. She didn’t know what to say about all of this.
“I knew Carter was in a bad place. I’ve noticed a change in him over the last year,” he said. He took a deep breath, turned to Faith with tears in his eyes, and continued, “I’m so sorry, Faith. I tried to protect you.”
Faith shook her head as she moved closer to him. She cupped his face with her hands. “Don’t you dare try to take the blame for what happened to me. Carter did this. Not you. He wins if you blame yourself.” She pulled him close, kissed him tenderly and hugged him. They held their embrace, sitting in silence for a few moments.
“I always thought you and Carter were such good friends,” Faith said, breaking the silence.
“I had to keep the peace, so I tolerated him. I made him agree to never date, or attempt to date, anyone that I was interested in. The agreement was easy to maintain as long as our taste in women was different. A woman like yourself is not his cup of tea. He likes his women to be a little more loose. That’s putting it nicely. We fought about that agreement when you started. He somehow believed that he might have a chance with you. Knowing things weren’t quite right with his intentions, I warned him to stay away from you. To be honest, one of the things we fought about was whose intentions toward you were better,” he said looking at her.
Faith smiled as she gently stroked his hair. Gavin rubbed her cheek.
“Did he,” he struggled to ask. He closed his eyes and frowned. “Did he - ”
“No,” Faith interrupted. “You came in before he could. I’m fortunate you were there.”
“I was only there because I forgot my phone. I had to come back for it. What if - ”
“Shh,” she said, now caressing his face. “You were there, Gavin. That’s all that matters. It’s going to take me some time to get over this, but not nearly as long as it would have taken had you not stopped Carter when you did. I’m going to be okay. Being here with you now means a lot to me.”
Gavin hugged her close. “I’m glad you’re here. You’ll have to bear with me for a little while,” he said pulling away slightly to look at her. “I might be a bit overprotective of you for a few weeks. I ask for forgiveness in advance.”
“Forgiven,” she smiled.
Pulling her in again he said, “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you. I’m a wreck right now.”
So much had just happened. Faith finally knew why Gavin was so angry with Carter, and with good reason. Gavin laid back on the couch, while she rested gently on his chest with his arms wrapped around her. She could think of no other place she’d rather be during this difficult time.
“I’m sorry that you were hurt by two people you thought you could trust the most,” she said, stroking his arm. “I hope you know I would never hurt you like that.”
He kissed her head. “I know you wouldn’t.”
Shortly thereafter, Faith fell asleep. Her body was still trying to recover from the stress of the attempted rape. Gavin knew the worst was over, but the matter of whether or not she would press charges remained. Until then, Carter was a free man, and could very well be a flight risk. His biggest concern was that Faith would be merciful. He wanted Carter to pay, even if it was only an attempt. Not wanting to think about it anymore, he reached for the remote and turned on the television to preoccupy his mind, keeping the volume low.
At the beginning of the week, Faith seemed to be getting better. She wasn’t sleeping as much, and her soreness had subsided. They shared some fun, relaxing days together. Since Gavin was a gourmet cook, he agreed to give Faith a lesson each day.
One particular day, Gavin had to go get groceries for dinner, and Faith opted to not to go. It gave her more time to explore in his house while he was gone. She found his collection of jazz CD’s hidden in a huge cabinet along a wall in the living room. There had to have been at least five hundred discs stored in there. She randomly pulled out a disc and popped it in the Bose player. As she listened, she continued to study the collection. Gavin walked in to his favorite artist.
“You found my music,” he said, taking the groceries to the kitchen.
“You have so much,” she said. “Do you have a favorite?”
“You’re listening to him. Charlie Parker. John Coltrane is pretty high on my list, too,” he answered, putting things away.
“Do you have all of their music?” she asked, still looking, in awe of his set.
“No. I’m missing the Savoy sessions from Parker. I know I can easily get them, but I always have something else to do,” he said.
“This is nice. I like it,” she commented as she listened.
“Feel free to add whatever you like to your iPod. I know you take that thing everywhere.” Gavin had an opportunity to take a look at what Faith listened to while she was sleeping one day. She had quite the range of music stored on it, from country to alternative pop and rock.
“It’s convenient. I’m all about what’s easy,” she smiled as she walked to the kitchen. “What are we making tonight?”
“Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe. It’s a pasta dish, extremely simple, and extremely delicious. You’re going to love it. We’ll get into more difficult dishes later. I don’t want to spend all of my time in the kitchen. I want to spend it with you,” he smiled.
“You are spending it with me,” she beamed. “What do we do first?”
Faith boiled the pasta and the rabe. He explained to her that broccoli rabe is not related to broccoli at all, but to the cabbage and turnip families, and is bitter in taste. They sautéed some onions in olive oil, adding garlic and chili pepper. Once ready, they drained the pasta and rabe, and added it to the sauté pan with half a cup of reserved cooking liquid, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. It was tossed well, and ready to serve. Gavin turned the stove to a lower setting, and Faith set the table. He pulled out two glasses for wine.
They lit two candles and enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the dining room.
“Another tasty meal,” smiled Faith. “Keep feeding me like this and I won’t go home.”
“That would
n’t bother me one bit,” he grinned.
“Awkward moment,” she blushed.
“You know I’m not one to hold back how I feel. I’ve enjoyed waking up and seeing you every morning,” he said, taking a sip of his wine.
“I have, too,” she said.
“You’ve enjoyed waking up and seeing yourself every morning?” he joked.
“Smart ass,” she laughed, throwing a napkin at him.
He dodged the napkin. “I couldn’t resist.”
She grinned, “I’ve enjoyed being with you, too.”
Gavin stood and walked to her end of the table, helping her up. Light jazz continued to play in the background as they ate.
“Dance with me,” he said, leading her to an open area in the living room.
Faith stood and put one hand in Gavin’s, resting the other on his shoulder. They glided all around the space.
“I should have known that you dance, too,” she said. “Very well, in fact. Is there anything you do poorly?” she asked as they kept moving and looking at each other.
“No. I do everything very well,” he said flirtatiously. He wanted to kiss her, but knew it was too soon. He chose to kiss her cheek instead.
Faith rested her head on his chest and enjoyed this moment. After they danced, they both got comfortable, ate snacks, and talked until they were too tired to talk anymore. They fell asleep in each other’s arms on the couch. Later in the night, Gavin woke up, and carried Faith to her room. He watched her sleep for a few moments. Tomorrow she would have to make a big decision. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then retired to his bedroom for the night.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As they approached the end of the week, Gavin took some time to talk to Faith about whether or not she wanted to press charges against Carter. She was sitting in the living room reading through a magazine as he cleaned up after lunch. It had been his turn to clean up, and he had just finished.