by C. C. Piper
“It does and it doesn’t. It’s familiar, but I hadn’t actually planned to be back so soon.”
“No?”
“No.” She stared at her hands. They were beautiful. She had long delicate fingers with buffed fingernails unadorned with polish. On her right hand was a gold pinky ring. The thin metal had been crafted into an infinity sign. I’d never seen another piece of jewelry like it. “Luckily, most of my credits transferred over to SU. I should still be able to graduate on time.”
“That’s good. Why are you back early?”
She scowled, pursing her lips. Somehow, I found this appealing, too. Sheesh. “My situation abruptly changed.”
Staring at her lips, I didn’t pay much attention to what I was saying. “What changed?”
Alaina continued to avert her gaze when the waiter showed up with our appetizers. I waited for her to continue once he left, but she started nibbling on a mini quiche instead. I was just about to change the subject when she spoke up again.
“I discovered that my roommate and my boyfriend were engaging in some extracurricular activities they didn’t want me to know about.”
Oh. “That sucks.”
“Yes, it does.”
I wished Andy had mentioned this. I felt like an insensitive prick for bringing up such a loaded topic. Fortunately, the server chose then to reappear with our drinks. I took a fair-sized swig of mine.
“It’s going to be okay, though,” she said, visibly bucking up as she took a sip of her chardonnay. “Now that I’m a student here, I’m allowed to compete for the Washington Venture Graduate Fund. If I win, I’ll have the startup money I’ll need.”
“What sort of startup are you looking to get into?”
“My own. I want to design handbags and sell them online. I have several designs prepared already, but I need the raw materials to make it happen.”
Her face lit up when she spoke about her future business. Her hazel eyes brightened and she smiled, gesticulating animatedly.
“Your parents going to invest?” Bryant and Caroline Williams were worth hundreds of millions at least. But the storm cloud that materialized over Alaina’s head told me I’d said the wrong thing. Again.
“I don’t want them to,” she bit out, her tone so sharp I sat back in the bench seat. “Sorry,” she said next, shaking her head as her expression turned sullen. “I’m probably being oversensitive about this. But that was the whole point of me going to London in the first place. I wanted to live my life without having to hear how I was messing everything up.”
I remained quiet for a minute, absorbing what she’d said. While I’d been around the Williams household plenty while growing up, once I was away to college and then law school down in California, my visits had largely ceased. With the exception of the Christmas holidays, I hadn’t been around as much as I’d once been and wasn’t sure what Alaina was referring to. Over the years I’d always thought of her as close to her parents, especially her dad.
“I don’t think you’ll mess anything up. You’ve always been more than capable, buttercup. I’m sure you’ll win that contest, hands down.”
“You think I’m more than capable?” She seemed stunned by this. She didn’t even nail me to the wall for using her nickname.
“Of course. Haven’t you always had straight-As?”
“So have you,” she countered.
“No, I haven’t. Not even close.”
I could see the moment she registered why that was true. My parents had died when I was her age. It’d been the summer between my junior and senior years of my undergrad, and instead of deferring, I’d gone ahead and pushed through. Or tried to.
I hadn’t been in the best frame of mind that year and nearly flunked out. I’d damaged my GPA significantly, so much so that my academic advisor had to speak to the registrar at my law school in order for me to be accepted. I’d hated that I’d been let into the program because they’d made an exception for me out of pity. I looked away from Alaina so I wouldn’t have to witness the same pity in her eyes.
Losing my mom and dad seven years ago and then my girlfriend two years back had shown me just how cruel the universe could be. It had proven to me that I needed to keep a certain amount of distance between myself and others.
Other than Andy, I wasn’t as close to anyone as I’d been to those three people. Those three dead people. Their deaths had taught me the lesson that sometimes it was better to be alone. So other than the occasional fling or one-night stand, that was exactly how I’d stayed.
Alone.
Not that I wanted to discuss any such thing with Alaina right now. We were more than due for a change of subject.
“I had an interesting client come in the other day,” I said in the most chipper tone I could as I swallowed more Scotch. “Most of the people I deal with need a business contract completed or something similar. This dude, though, wanted to sue because he bought some bad Viagra.”
Alaina had just taken a drink of her chardonnay which meant she sprayed it out of her mouth like a fountain when she snorted out loud. I handed her my napkin, clapping her on the back. The skin of her face and neck had deepened into a shade resembling sunburn, and a chuckle escaped me before I could stop it.
“Trying to make me choke to death?” she asked, once she could speak.
“Not purposely.”
Alaina took another sip, this time swallowing it successfully. “Okay. You’re definitely going to have to explain about Viagra man.”
“He claims that because the pill didn’t work, his business partner left him.”
She stared at me with an expression that was half-incredulous, half-filled with hilarity. “Seriously? Does he work in porn or something?”
“Actually, yes.”
She snorted again. “Yet he was still unable to raise his flag?”
Now, I snorted. “That’s one way to put it. He’s in his thirties and has been uh…starring in these roles for years now. His producers wanted him to do several of these movies in one day, so he needed some extra assistance. He ordered some Viagra and took it, but it only lasted for the duration of one go around when he thought it was supposed to keep him going for four hours straight.”
“I thought the warnings say if it lasts more than four hours to go to the hospital.”
“They do. But apparently, he interpreted that to mean he’d be able to maintain his…state for that long.”
Her smile stretched from ear to ear. “Are you taking his case?”
“Not a chance.”
“Is it because you don’t want to talk about boners in the courtroom?” She was already snickering when she said it.
I wasn’t the type of person to get embarrassed by frank topics of discussion. I’d brought this up because I thought it’d be amusing and make her turn all flushed and bashful, but her saying the word “boners” nearly did me in. I found it so hilarious that I howled for a good thirty seconds. It took substantial effort, but finally, I regained some control.
And would you look at that. We’re both out of drinks. I flagged down a couple of refills.
“It’s because he can’t show ill intent. If Viagra had made false claims, I might go after them, but since he merely misunderstood what effect the drug would have, he doesn’t have much of a case.”
“Sounds like he doesn’t have much of a lot of things,” she muttered, and I chuckled again. Alaina was so much wittier than I remembered. But then kids are rarely considered witty by their sibling’s teenaged friends.
We continued to discuss light subjects, and feeling nice and floaty, I asked her to dance with me. I intentionally chose a song that was fast and raucous so I wouldn’t touch her much as we jumped and shimmied around each other like a couple of lunatics. We goofed off the entire time – and once, Alaina would’ve landed on her sublime ass if I hadn’t caught her – before leaving the dance floor when the tempo of the music became slower.
Comprehending that I needed to sober up, I ordered us so
me waters, but Alaina asked for another glass of wine. I didn’t object even though I should have, because later when I went to take her home, she passed out in my Escalade. Like, passed out. I should’ve paid closer attention to how hammered she was getting, but I hadn’t.
Dammit.
I pulled into the circle drive of her family’s massive estate and weighed up my options. I knew this house like the back of my hand since I’d spent so much time here with Andy. But I didn’t think either of her parents would appreciate me dragging her unconscious form to her room. I could sneak her in, but if I was caught with her in this condition, the Williams’ good opinion of me would likely go down the crapper.
Since my best friend’s family was all I had left, I couldn’t chance that.
I glanced over at Alaina. I’d buckled her into my passenger seat, but she’d slumped over, still out. Ripping myself a new one for getting into such a situation to begin with, I put my vehicle into drive and rolled back onto the road. I’d have to take her home with me. I had to assume responsibility for her.
Normally, my townhouse would be off-limits because Andy lived in the one adjacent to mine. He also didn’t respect my privacy much. When he ran out of coffee, he’d just bang on my door and insist on using my Keurig, even if it was the crack of dawn on a Sunday. He’d woken me out of a sound sleep at two in the morning, too, asking for a beer or a shot of whiskey or a sandwich. The dude had shitty boundaries, yet I put up with it because he was my best bud.
Fortunately for me, he’d gone to Olympia to learn about some recent changes made to the real estate laws, which was his area of expertise. The state capital was only about an hour away from Seattle, but the conference would last all weekend. Thank God he decided to stay overnight.
Upon arriving at my townhouse, I attempted to get Alaina to her feet. She stood but instantly wavered, mumbling something about an auger and a headboard. Isn’t an auger some sort of farm implement? What did it have to do with a bed? Her incoherence only highlighted just how drunk she was.
Once I had her inside, I led her to my overstuffed couch, trying to get her to drink some water. She hadn’t had anything but wine tonight, and I needed to make sure she was properly hydrated. We got as far as two swallows before she went out like a light again.
Fantastic.
Carrying her in my arms, I carefully made my way upstairs to my bedroom. Yanking the covers back with one hand, I situated her on my bed. She laid there, her long blond waves fanned out across my pillow, her skimpy red dress taunting me from my mattress. Not trusting myself to remove that dress, I compromised by slipping off her heels instead, then pulled my sheet over that rocking body of hers.
God, she was way too sexy for her own good.
I allowed myself to memorize everything about her, then backed away. My inner Neanderthal screamed that I should glide into bed beside her, but that way lay only madness. And if Andy ever found out, possible castration. I couldn’t be that close to her in a horizontal position without doing something I’d regret, so I had to take myself out of the equation.
My townhouse was a modern two-story with plenty of square footage. Still, even though my abode technically had three bedrooms, I’d turned one into a gym and the other into an office/library. I never had guests over from out of town because the only person I hung with on the regular was Andy, and we lived right next to each other.
Now, I regretted this. If I’d had a guest room, I could be bunking down there now rather than looking at a night on my couch.
Oh, well.
I went back downstairs to my kitchen and downed a big glass of filtered water from the door of my fridge. Then, too tired for a shower, I brushed my teeth and switched my flat screen onto some old coverage of a Seattle Seahawks game. As the football players went into a huddle on the field, I rested my head on the arm of my couch and drifted off to sleep.
5
Alaina
I woke with an agonizing headache in an environment I didn’t recognize. As my heart attempted to leap from my ribcage, I sat up, trying to reassert some logic. Okay, how did I get here?
I didn’t remember.
Shit.
I’d never been a wild child or a girl prone to waking up in some stranger’s bed. In fact, I’d never been in anyone’s bed but my own. I’d been a studious good girl all throughout my youth, and since my dad was overprotective and my mom always seemed determined to find fault with what I did, I tried hard not to disappoint them. Staying a virgin had been part of that, too.
Now, I’d gone and thrown all my principles away, and I didn’t even remember the grand event. Who had I been with last night? I forced my brain to work despite the constant clanging of a church bell in my skull. I’d gone to a nightclub on a blind date, only to discover that my blind date was…
Oh. My. Lord.
Mason.
Somehow, the questionnaire I’d filled out had calculated my perfect match as Mason King, and we’d had quite the night. I searched my memories for evidence of what had transpired. There’d been drinking and talking and laughing. And more drinking. Then, we’d danced. After that, there might’ve been more drinking. But it was just white wine. Chardonnay, for heaven’s sake. I didn’t usually drink at all, but I’d decided to throw caution to the wind last night.
Now, look what I’d done.
I scrutinised the room – Mason’s room – for clues, but it hadn’t provided any. The bed was a king-sized sleigh bed made of some dark wood like cherry or mahogany, I couldn’t tell which. There was what appeared to be a wide window on one side of the room with the draperies pulled shut. There were end tables and lamps on both sides, as well as an enormous wooden dresser with a series of picture frames scattered across the top.
Taking a deep breath, I made myself peer down. I could smell his scent, that aroma of spicy aftershave and cotton. I realized it wasn’t coming from me as much as it was the pillow I’d been laying on. I thrust my nose into it again, soaking it up. It was amazing, and even in my less than stellar condition, I wanted more. But what if I’d already had it?
I was still wearing my red party dress. I peeked down past my neckline and into my cleavage. My bra was still fastened. Had he put it back on or never taken it off to begin with? I pulled up my skirts and saw my panties right where I’d left them. Had Mason had done the dirty with me then put all my clothes back on? Or had we not had sex last night? Was my virtue preserved, after all?
Maybe. If it was, I should have felt relieved, but instead I felt let down. But I thought I’d feel more let down to discover we’d had sex and I just couldn’t remember it.
That made it official. I was a mess and a disaster.
Truly, I couldn’t know for sure unless I asked him, and I wasn’t ready to do that. I jumped to my feet and instantly the pain in my head doubled. Or tripled. What was the appropriate measurement for how terrible it felt to have a hangover? And why was I thinking so hard when my head hurt this bad? I must be a glutton for punishment.
I peeked through his drapes to see the sun coming up at the horizon. Dawn was breaking over the Cascade Mountain Range, and I squinted my eyes shut. I loved seeing those mountains, but right now, looking at anything made my skull feel like it was fractured open. My stomach gurgled threateningly, and I raced into his master bathroom. I barely made it to the commode before I puked my guts up.
Now my humiliation was complete.
My only saving grace was that Mason hadn’t borne witness to it. I saw my heels and matching purse – one I’d designed – at the foot of his bed and snatched them up.
It was time to go.
My cell still had some juice, so I called for a taxi. I crept downstairs to spot Mason on his leather couch, stretched out across it facedown with one leg hanging off the edge. He’d stripped down to a pair of navy boxer briefs, and almost against my will I found my gaze drawn to the defined musculature of his calves, biceps and back.
He was snoring, which meant he must have been totally out. I
felt grateful for this. At least I didn’t have to toss him any desperate apologies. Not yet anyway. Now, to flee the scene of the crime. Or the possible deflowering. My possible deflowering. Even if there’d been no crime or deflowering involved.
Ugh, these guesses were too difficult to make with a headache this splitting and a stomach this upset.
When the cab arrived, I craned my neck to make sure no one was watching. My brother lived in the townhouse next door, so I didn’t want to take any chances. After the taxi motored off, I was tempted to sing Hallelujah but didn’t in deference to my aching temples. Once we were several blocks away, I released a long exhale I hadn’t fully realized I’d been holding.
I’d have to face up to whatever I’d done with Mason eventually, but for now, I was relieved to have been granted a reprieve.
Six weeks later, I stood in front of the mirrored doors of my childhood closet, getting dressed up yet again. This time, however, it wasn’t for a date but to attend the Washington Venture Graduate Fund’s dinner gala.
I’d worked hard to put together a cohesive essay about my plans, and though writing wasn’t my forte, I felt good about how it turned out. The worst part was how much pressure I felt to win. This was my ticket to a promising career after obtaining my degree. This would mean that I’d risen above all my mother’s criticism and all the negativity I’d recently experienced to come out victorious.
I wanted that.
I needed that.
I also needed to speak to Mason, but I’d been ducking him for the past month and a half. At first, my excuse was that I wanted to find some subtle way to ask about what’d happened once we’d left the nightclub. Then, as the days and weeks pushed on, I told myself I was too busy preparing for tonight.
But now that this night was upon me, I knew the truth. I hadn’t spoken to Mason because I was ashamed of myself. I didn’t want to know the truth because I feared what it might be. If I’d given my virginity to him while smashed beyond all recognition, I’d never be able to look him in the eye again.