by Allie Hayden
“Would you want it to?”
Jesse strolls across the living room and opens the front door. And there, in the thick of the darkness, is him. Tousled black hair, the poutiest of looks, and shoulders that could surround a Saint Bernard. He pushes his hair to the side and looks at us.
“Happy Birthday, Molly.”
10
Carlyle
I chuckle as I watch Molly’s jaw slowly fall open.
“Earth to Molly…” I wave a hand in front of her face. “Anyone there?”
She swats my hand away. “What’re you doing here?”
There’s a bottle of wine inside my jacket, and I pull it out and show it to her. “What does it look like? I’m here to celebrate a very special day.”
“Okay, come in. Quick.”
Molly grabs me and pulls me inside. There were a few cars in the driveway, so there might be more people in the house than just us. The lights are mostly turned off and there’s just a small lamp lighting up the room. Jesse’s got a girl beside him and he gives me a nod, acknowledging me. He makes eye contact with me.
“Hey man, thanks for coming. Hope the drive wasn’t too bad. Meet our friend Jane.”
“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard good things.” Jane dances in front of Molly to shake my hand.
“Oh, you have, have you? What kind of good things?” I flash a look at Molly.
Jane looks back and forth between me and Molly and takes the hint. “Ummm…Why don’t we leave you guys alone? It’s getting late, and I think we’re going to call it a night. Nice meeting you, Carlyle, see you in the morning, Molly.”
Jane grabs Jesse’s hand and he yells over the banister, “See ya, Carlyle,” before disappearing into the darkness.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” I say to her once we’re completely alone.
The way her expression goes completely doe-eyed is adorable. She’s so cute standing in front of me. It literally looks like I was the last person she expected to see.
She takes a minute to search for the right words. “I guess I didn’t expect you to be here.”
“Were you hoping I wouldn’t be?”
“No, of course not. I didn’t think you had time.”
Molly looks around as if there could be somebody behind us. She puts a finger over her lips and grabs my hand. I follow her into the kitchen, which is deeper into the house.
She whispers, “My friends are here. Besides Jesse and Jane, no one knows about us.”
“Oh—Jane knows about us too? That’s news to me.”
She looks around once more then grabs my arm. This time she takes me outside into the yard. It sounds like the ocean is right up against the backyard deck by how close we are to it. The waves are quieter than normal today. They hit the shore with a slower pace. The smell of salt water lingers in the air.
There’s a firepit in the middle of the deck with patio furniture placed around it. The embers emit waves of smoke into the air. They must’ve had this fire on not too long ago.
I turn back to Molly, who’s loosened up a bit now that we’re outside. She stretches her arms overhead but shivers when a chilly breeze hits us. I take off my jacket and put it over her shoulders.
Molly looks down and turns her back. “Aside from Jane, I haven’t told anyone else. Only my immediate family.”
“It’s okay.” I grab her arm and turn her around. “I had to tell my mom too.”
It’s getting late and I check my watch. There’s still time to celebrate her birthday. If it weren’t so last minute, I would have brought more than just wine. But I was hoping we could just spend some time together. We sit in silence for a bit just staring off into the distance.
“You know, I brought some birthday wine. Care to have a glass with me?”
There’s a bashful look on her face as she contemplates whether it’d be a good idea or not. But she comes to her senses and we get the fire back up together. We throw a couple logs into the pit, and Molly skillfully rips up some newspaper and burns it with a lighter. The paper goes up in flames and so do the logs.
As the fire starts to spread around the metal cage, I work in silence while Molly sneaks into the house. After a few moments alone with just the crackling of the fire, she emerges with the bottle of wine I brought. The light of the fire is plenty for us to see by. I help her uncork the wine and pour us each a glass.
“Before we take a taste, I want to have a toast. To the birthday girl, may you grow wiser, but never wrinkly.”
She giggles and clinks her glass against mine and drinks. I watch her face as it goes from curious to delighted.
“Thank you, Carlyle, for coming and the wine. It’s all very nice of you. How did you find me here?”
“Xander. He told me. I kind of wish you’d told me, though. I would’ve come out to see you.”
She shrugs but bunches into a ball. “I guess I didn’t want to bother you.”
I wrap my arms around her. “You’d never bother me.”
In my arms she fits so perfectly. It’s like her body was made to contour along mine. We’ve never slept in the same bed, but I know holding her feels so amazing.
“Is this one of your family’s properties?” I ask, pointing at the house.
“Actually, it’s Jane’s. They let me use it for the weekend. Nice of them, huh?”
“Are you two really close? Normally, people don’t go around just lending houses away.”
“I’ve known Jane since university. We took sociology together.”
“Oh, okay. Sociology major?”
“No, actually. I was a finance major. My dad made me take it because I was being indecisive. At least I know how to do my taxes now. Xander hasn’t been harassing you too much, has he? You guys seem so much busier lately.”
I look ahead at the ocean and think about all the things happening in my life right now. There are a few good things, but also a few bad. Molly is definitely one of the good things.
“Things are going surprisingly well on my side when it comes to Xander. He’s taking a liking toward me, I think. Maybe you should’ve asked me to do this sooner,” I joke.
Molly sighs. “I know we’ll have to eventually come clean about all of this. I guess we’ll need a contingency plan. I mean, when the time comes, I’ll hopefully have something figured out. Maybe I’ll take a trip to Barcelona or somewhere in Maui, maybe I can—”
I put my finger over her mouth and brush my thumb up against her soft bottom lip.
“Are you staying the night?” She tilts her head.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“You should.”
Molly leans her head on my shoulder. Her bare skin has a cool tinge when I go to rub her arm. Heading inside sounds like a good idea. We slide quietly into the house. Molly guides me across the hardwood floor to the top of the stairs to her room at the end of the hall.
The door closes behind us with a thud, and I think we might wake up the other people. But Molly takes grabs my hand and leads me over to the balcony. The doors are open, letting in the mild night breeze. It’s getting much warmer outside.
We stop in the moonlight.
I’m not sure if it’s the ambience, or the few sips of wine, or my extreme curiosity about her. There’s something about Molly that makes me want to understand her better. We’re in this mess together, and for reasons I’ll never understand, she needs to keep this engagement between us a secret. She doesn’t want to tell her dad, so I have to respect her wishes.
She runs her hands up my chest.
Molly and I are face-to-face, and the magnetic force between us does the rest. Her lips fit perfectly in between mine. Her mouth is sweet and tastes like nectar. She takes the lead and passionately kisses me, running her hands through my hair. My animal instincts kick in, and I can’t be the follower anymore. My rough hands roam her body. I grab her thighs and lift her up effortlessly. Her legs dangle around my arms. We continue to make out. My member gets harder. She lets out a moan
and grabs the back of my neck, forcing me to engulf her.
“Celebrate your birthday, indeed.” I look into her eyes when we have a moment away.
I carry her toward the bed, laying her down and trailing kisses along her jawline.
“Carlyle…”
I fight the urge to go completely ballistic.
“Take me,” she begs.
“I’ve been waiting all night for this,” I say hungrily.
I undress her, pulling her dress off over her arms. I shimmy my pants off and reach for my wallet. There’s a condom in it. Molly stops me from ripping the top away.
“Wait. I want to feel all of you.”
I place my forehead over hers and close my eyes. “Are you healthy?”
She nods and looks at me with her sweet eyes, which seem to be begging for my entrance. She lifts her legs up and grabs my hips, and I push myself inside of her.
I would have never imagined this night in a million years. There was always an innocence to our friendship. Never rushed, never primal. It was always civil and relaxed. What I’m feeling is odd. A beating in my chest, a wanting to protect this person.
What the hell changed in the past ten years? I’m different.
I let myself unload on her chest, and then lay down beside her. We are both out of breath. The open window lets in a nice breeze that cools the sweat off my body, and I clean her up. She closes her eyes and looks like she’s about to drift off. Her breathing evens out. She’s probably off to neverland.
I brush her hair to the side so I can see her face more clearly.
Am I falling in love with this girl?
Do I have a choice?
11
Molly
What happened last night?
The silk sheets graze my naked body. There’s a slight tingle in the front of my skull, and I brush the hair from my face trying to piece everything together from last night. My friends are waiting downstairs for me, the loud ruckus of their chatter coming through the door.
I could really use is a shower right now.
I roll over and force myself out of bed. As I’m walking by, there’s a sticky note on the dresser mirror that stops me before the bathroom.
I hope you had a memorable night, Molly.
Sorry I couldn’t see you in the morning.
I’ll make it up to you.
—Carlyle
Now I remember.
Carlyle came over. Man, he has the dimples of a Greek god. That’s why I was naked when I woke up. Reminiscing on what we did last night makes me perspire for more. I hate how he does this to me. It was never supposed to come to this, I’m not supposed to be thinking about him. This is a business arrangement, and that’s all it’s going to be.
I’m not going to fall in love with him, I won’t.
Besides, it would go against the whole “I want freedom” bit.
I wanted out, not in. Getting closer to Carlyle puts me deeper in the game. If I’m not careful, I could get sucked in and do the opposite of what I’m trying to achieve.
I almost forget that my main objective is supposed to be getting ready to face my friends downstairs. I wonder if they heard anything after they went to bed, especially when he snuck in. A part of me still can’t believe he came here to see me for my birthday. How ridiculous.
The thoughts of last night are all of Carlyle’s body and how it felt next to mine. He has a way with his hands that roam my whole body. My heart swells up when I’m with him. I try to draw up pictures of cats, dogs, anything that might take a moment away from me remembering.
Stop it, Molly, jeez. You’re becoming obsessive.
I close my eyes and bite my finger, hoping to pacify the thoughts of him pleasuring me. I finish up quickly and get dressed. Downstairs in the kitchen, my friends are all gathered around the kitchen island making conversation.
“There's the birthday girl!” Cherry yells when she sees me coming down the stairs.
Nick laughs. “Did you get a birthday present? Sounds like you had a surprise guest last night. Bob, was it? Or George?”
My face goes bright red. I thought they’d all passed out early, but I guess I wasn’t minding my noise at all.
“Yeah, we all heard you last night, Molly. Glad to know you had such a pleasurable birthday.”
Cherry smacks Nick on the back of the head.
From the looks of it, everyone is gearing up to head home. They’ve all got their backpacks and are running around gathering their things. Jane is riding back with me and Jesse because she lives close by.
They’ll eventually stop running out of teases about my illegal boyfriend. I’m ready for it. There’s no way they’re getting information out of me.
Luckily, Cherry has plenty of gossip to dish to fill the last moments of my birthday getaway.
We all have brunch plans and we all decide to go home.
Spring seems like it’s already here, and I’m another year older. This is the twenty-seventh time I’ve seen the trees grow leaves from being bare. It’s a time for rebirth and new things. Getting older means more responsibility, which is something I know I should get better in. Now that I had a hard stop on my “engagement,” I know I have until August to decide to get on a path.
Jane drives both Jesse and I home. He shafts me to the back seat when I fairly called shotgun. He claims my birthday doesn’t last two days, it’s only one. I try not to notice the chemistry those two have from the back seat. They practically can’t keep their hands off each other.
When Jane pulls up in front of our house, I hug her goodbye and Jesse and I carry our luggage to the front door. The scent of fresh coffee fills the hallway as soon as we walk in. It smells like everyone is having a late breakfast today. From the kitchen, I hear voices, and the smell of Cassandra’s famous waffles wafts through the air.
We follow our noses into the kitchen.
Sitting at the dining table with his tablet, is Xander. As per usual, he’s dressed up in a suit and tie. At this point, I just assume he’s always in business casual at all times, so I wouldn’t know if he’s going out today. In front of him, eyeballing her phone and just as focused, is Cassandra. They both have breakfast plates still on the table, remnants of waffles and small bits of fruit all that’s left over.
“Morning.” Xander clears his throat when he sees me. “Nice of you two to finally make it home. Breakfast?” He swipes his screen and then looks at Cassandra, who gets up.
Jesse stops her. “No need, Cass. I should be getting somewhere. Just make some for Molly.”
I look at him in shock. “You just got home. I thought we were gonna hang out.”
“That’s fine, Jesse.” Xander waves him off. “Have fun doing whatever, or whomever, for that matter.”
I give Jesse the stink eye before he grabs his keys and walks out the back door. Knowing Jesse, he probably made breakfast plans with Jane behind my back while I wasn’t looking. Things tend to always get tense when it’s just Xander around. He’s always talking about business and numbers and forecasts. Jesse usually helps lighten the mood around here.
Lately, I’ve been noticing that Xander has been more on edge lately.
“Hey, Xander—did you tip off Carlyle to where I was this weekend?”
He gives me a confused look. “Yeah, I did. Did you not want your fiancé to see you on your birthday?”
“Did he ask you about it, or…?”
“He asked, Molly. If that’s what you’re fishing for. He knew it was your birthday, and he asked why you didn’t tell him.”
The butterflies viciously kick in. Carlyle went out of his way to surprise me. He must’ve had a conversation with my brother and my birthday happened to come up. It was a sweet surprise. I bite my lip.
“And…?” Xander waits. “How’d it go, then? Did you have a good time?”
“It was fine. He got along well with my friends.”
“Speaking of your birthday, I got you something.” He grabs a rectangular box from undernea
th the table. “I think you’ll like this a lot.”
The gift is wrapped in colorful paper and tied with a giant bow. He most likely paid someone to do the wrapping for him. It’s just a little too perfect. I can tell it’s a book after tearing off the left corner edge. When ripping off the rest of the paper, I can tell it’s a signed copy of Shades of Mystery by Dianne Grossman.
One of my favorite books.
The first page has a signed autograph from Dianne herself:
Molly, I hear you’re a big fan.
This is one of my faves too.
Luv, Dianne
Instant love. I’m in the clouds. This has to be by far one of the best presents I’ve ever received. From stories I’ve heard in the media, Dianne didn’t get out too much. She’s known for being kind of a recluse.
I hug the book to my chest. “When did you see her? I mean, how did you see her? I don’t think she sees anybody.”
Xander folds his arms over his chest. “Admittedly, it was difficult to hunt her down. But we have our connections. I know how special your birthday is, so I wanted to make it extra special.”
“I can’t wait to reread this! Thanks, Xander.”
Cassandra comes swooping in out of nowhere with a small plate of waffles and fruit. “I’ll be right back with some orange juice.” She winks.
As she waltzes away, my gaze follows her. When I turn back to look at my food, Xander has taken my plate and my fork.
“Hey, what’s the deal?”
“I was hoping that you could help me with something, dear sister.”
“Okay, what’s up?”
“I know you don’t like listening to family business affairs. But things have been getting really interesting lately.”
“Okay?” I lean over closer to the waffles. The smell of warm crispy batter hits my nostrils, and my mouth is watering.
“Because the Cartiers are such a big name, the partnership between our families is suddenly the topic of all mainstream media. They all have speculations on where the partnership is coming from. But don’t worry, Molly. We still have our deal, and I won’t let anything get out. We’ll be holding a joint charity event soon to clear up any rumors and announce a new project.”