by Parker Wren
“Well why wouldn’t Manuel ask you directly to do that?” Dom asked.
This was something I had spent many evenings thinking about. “Oh, he will. He’s playing some kind of game with me. I don’t know what it is, if this is a test of my abilities…but I don’t care right now. Eventually I’ll figure it out. For now, we stall Manuel with these printed-out accounts, and we’ll keep talking to Henry. Find out anything we can. If he’s innocent, we find proof.”
“Can we prove a negative?” Dom asked.
I smiled. “Good point,” I said. “Look, before I do something illegal like hacking into someone’s email, I just want to make sure I don’t have any other option.”
“Okay,” Dom said.
“Okay,” I said.
Dom was quiet again.
That evening, I poached salmon, and Dom cooked up risotto. We both chipped in to make a salad. We ate dinner in silence with the deck doors open, listening to the waves.
CHAPTER 15
I was curled up in bed, and my mom was reading to me. I looked up at her face. She smiled at me. Her face started to contort, and she was in pain. She was screaming. She was being pulled away from me. “Mummy!” I yelled. I watched her face melt off. I screamed. I realized it was a dream, but I couldn’t wake myself up. I was now in my bed, sinister figures approaching me. I tried screaming again, but my voice caught in my throat. I was paralyzed. I couldn’t move.
“Ariel? Ariel?” I felt hands gently moving my shoulders.
I sat up quickly and saw the outline of Dom’s face next to mine. I sunk back in my pillow and sighed.
“Sorry I woke you up,” I said.
“It’s nothing,” he replied. “I’m a pretty heavy sleeper, as you have probably figured out, but I had to pee so I was already awake when I heard you call out.”
He was still sitting on my bed, but I didn’t mind.
“Do you have nightmares a lot?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I hate them. I hate that you aren’t in control of your thoughts. You are completely and totally vulnerable when you have a nightmare.”
“Yeah, and I know that must be hard for someone like you,” Dom said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling myself up to sit.
Without asking, Dom slid in the bed next to me. I scooted towards the wall to give him room. He put his arm under my head and pulled the blanket over both of us as I rested my head on his chest. I closed my eyes as he gently stroked my arm with his fingertips.
“Well,” he said, “it’s no secret that you keep yourself guarded.” His face was in my hair, and his words were muffled. “You’re a tough person, but it’s okay to be vulnerable sometimes.”
“I know that,” I whispered.
I felt Dom’s fingertips on my cheek, his thumb near my mouth. I looked up at him.
“Thanks for waking me up,” I said.
“No problem,” he said quietly and leaned toward my face. He hovered about an inch away, waiting to see my reaction. I didn’t move. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking, other than why not?
He kissed me, softly at first. It felt good. He tasted like mint toothpaste. As we kissed, he pulled his body closer to mine, reaching under the covers and pulling my leg over his hip. I turned to face him with my entire being—my hair messily covering the pillow. Our kiss heated. He dragged his hand from my leg to my neck, slid it back down over my shirt, and then he grabbed at me hungrily. I didn’t mind.
Dom climbed on top of me, kissed my neck, then peeled off his shirt and threw it on the floor.
“Wait,” I said, “wait.”
“What?” he said, hovering over me, shirtless. “You don’t want to do this?”
I bit my lip. “I do,” I said. “But won’t it make things… complicated?”
He shrugged and gave me his mischievous grin. “I don’t think so. But that’s your call, babe.”
I looked at his body and up at his face. There was no denying he was beautiful. And a really good kisser. He could still be my friend—a friend that I did things with.
“Screw it,” I said, and I barely saw his grin reappear before his mouth was on mine again. The weight of his body on mine gave me gravity, made me feel overtaken, helpless, happily out of control, yet—somehow—in complete control all the same. I pulled my fingers through this salt-thick hair, let him kiss my neck and descend lower. He pulled off my shirt and grabbed me aggressively as I leaned my head back. “God” was all he said, his face muffled in my chest.
I didn’t want anything to stop, but I also knew that I had to tell him something. I whispered in his hear. “I don’t want to do everything,” I said. I offered no explanation.
He paused from kissing my body and looked up. “Well, can we have fun in other ways?” he asked, his crooked grin questioning my resolve as he slid his hand down my hips, just under the edge of my underwear.
“Yeah,” I said, barely able to think before my head was on my pillow again, his mouth tracing its way to my stomach and beyond.
Later that night I watched him breathe next to me, and I traced my fingers down his bare back. I nestled up to his warm body and slept.
---
The next morning, I woke up feeling more refreshed than I had in a long time. Dom was already awake and eating a bowl of cereal when I came downstairs. I was clad in just a long shirt and underwear.
He raised his eyebrows at my outfit. “Wow,” he said.
I shrugged. “You’ve seen most all of it now anyway, haven’t you?”
“Not quite yet. You shot me down, remember?” he said as he swallowed his last bite and rinsed the bowl before placing it in the dishwasher.
“Oh please,” I said, starting to boil a pot of coffee. “Shot you down? Quite the opposite, Casanova. Ever heard of taking things slowly?”
Dom looked genuinely perplexed. “Um, no,” he said. “You’re my first.”
“Aw,” I said sarcastically, “I’m so flattered. I’m reverse-virgining you.”
After I made my coffee, I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl. We sat facing each other at the table, he drinking his OJ while I scarfed down the banana.
“You’re really good at that,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“Eating that banana,” he smirked.
I shoved the last piece of fruit in my mouth and threw the peel at him.
“Oh, I’m just kidding around,” he said.
I got up to pour myself some coffee. “Well, then you should try to actually be funny next time,” I deadpanned.
“Oooh. Burn,” Dom said.
We smiled at each other.
“So, do you want to talk about this?” Dom asked as I poured my coffee into a mug.
“If you want to,” I said, adding cream and sugar. I tried to hide my surprise that Dom wanted to talk about our encounter. He seemed like the kind of guy for whom sex was just another part of life, like flossing your teeth.
“Last night was fun,” Dom said. I couldn’t read his emotion.
I brought the coffee over to the table and sat down, enjoying my time making him wait but still confused about his intentions.
“It was,” I said.
“Um,” he said, “are you okay with everything? Like…”
“Well, that depends,” I said, my patience waning. “Look,” I said, “I enjoyed it. Isn’t that all that matters? I think you and I both know that we are better off as friends. I’m not naïve enough to think that every hot guy who I have a connection with should be my boyfriend. You and I would totally crash and burn as a real couple.”
Dom looked slightly dejected. Is it possible that he actually could want more? Or was it just that he didn’t know what it felt like to be rejected?
“Yeah,” he said. “No, I totally agree.”
“But…” I continued, hoping to say something to make him feel better, though I still wasn’t quite clear as to why.
“But?” he asked.
“But, if I’m bei
ng completely honest with you, the chemistry with you surprised me. I mean…”
“Yeah,” he said, the grin returning to his face, “I know what you mean.”
I felt a nervous bundle of embarrassment in my stomach just thinking about it.
“I guess the question is, what do we do going forward?” I asked.
“Can’t we just keep doing what we are doing?” he said.
I looked out the window. I couldn’t help it: He came back into my mind. An image of Grayson, his hand in his pockets, standing on the deck and gazing at the water.
I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know how well I trust myself to stop us from going there next time. And no matter how well-intentioned we want this thing to be, I feel like it would inevitably get complicated.”
Dom didn’t say anything. He just nodded. I had to fill the silence, so I continued explaining.
“Look. Please don’t take offense. You’re gorgeous, obviously, and I have a great time with you. It’s just—well—I don’t think it would be good for the job, and we should try our best to remain friends, you know…” And because I can’t stop thinking about Grayson.
“You’re probably right,” Dom conceded. He suddenly perked up at a new idea. “Can we still make out?”
“To be determined,” I said, sipping my coffee, yet I slipped a smile behind the mug.
CHAPTER 16
Soon after we finished breakfast and dressed, Henry and Brit arrived.
“Short trip in Boston, then?” Dom asked.
“Yeah,” Brit replied. “It wasn’t that exciting of a trip. I couldn’t wait to get back to the beach.” She went upstairs to change while Henry brought in their suitcases.
“You know, Ariel,” Henry said, “I know Brit would love to hang out with you. What if you girls were to go shopping or something today?
“Oh, I know!” Brit said, shouting down the stairs. “Let’s go get our nails done! I know a great place right around the corner.”
“That’s sounds great,” I said. I felt bad that I hadn’t previously suggested that Brit and I hadn’t had any one-on-one alone time, so I was glad for the idea.
“Do you guys want to meet up at the yacht club later?” Henry asked. “We can grab dinner. Depending on the time, we could go take a trip on the yacht.”
“Well, if you insist, mister Richie pants,” Dom said.
---
I dressed in a flower print dress with my long hair held up by a small flower clip. Brit was also in a dress; bright yellow and very flattering. She and I drove over to the nail salon and placed our feet in the bowls provided by the nail technician.
“Oh, you cut your nails too short, miss,” said the woman working on my feet.
“Sorry.” I blushed. “I don’t really do my toes.”
“Ah, yes, will try to salvage them.”
“Um, thanks. I guess.”
Brit and I lay back in our chairs and talked. We went over her experiences growing up. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, she became involved in nonprofit work.
Just one year after college, her father passed away from cancer. Brit went back to live with her mom for some time.
“I can’t even think about him. If I do, I tear up,” she said. I felt liquid unwillingly build in the back of my eyes as she spoke of her father. How had I not known that about Brit? She started to cry but wiped the tears from her eyes. “And he wasn’t a great man really, you know? He would yell, and he didn’t treat my mom nicely, even after they were divorced. We all walked on eggshells when we were around him. But I loved him. You know? And so…”
“I do know,” I said, and we sat in silence.
“Brit,” I finally said after a moment and turned to her. “My dad died when I was eighteen. He was different than your dad. I thought he was nearly perfect, but even if he wasn’t, he was still my hero. All of our dads are our heroes. And it’s okay to have mixed emotions about that, especially when they didn’t live up to expectations. Heroes should protect us. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they are gone. And we love them anyway.”
Brit was now wiping tears from her eyes. “Wow, you have a really good way with words, don’t you,”
I squeezed her hands. “I just understand. That’s all.”
“I know,” she said, and she squeezed my hand back. “This makes us kindred spirits, you and I,” she said.
I nodded quickly, and gave her a side hug, as best I could over the distance between the chairs.
We moved onto happier topics. After Brit had taken time off proceeding her father’s passing, she went back to work, and that’s when she became more involved in charity work. Her bubbly, charismatic personality attracted donors. She was working on the night that she met Henry at a charity gala.
“I just couldn’t believe it when I laid eyes on him,” she said. “Those blue eyes, wide smile… I knew—then and there—he was the love of my life.
“That’s great, “I said. “You clearly care a lot about him.”
“How about you?” Brit asked, putting a hand on my knee. “How are things with you and Dom?”
My stomach knotted up since it was the kind of conversation I was hoping to avoid. “They are good,” I said. “We are keeping things casual.”
Brit shook her head. “I see the way he looks at you, though. He’s crazy about you.”
Was she right? I didn’t know what to say, so I decided to change the subject. “What about you? Tell me about you and Henry. Currently, anyway. I know all about the googly eyes you guys have for each other.” We smiled. “But you know. The important stuff.”
Brit sighed. “Well, we have our issues just like any other couples. I want to get married now, but he’s hesitant. I’m messy, but he’s a bit of a neat freak. I think our biggest argument now is what we are going to do about his work.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. This was my opportunity to get more information from Brit. I was hoping she would tell me everything she knew about Henry and his father.
“Henry really doesn’t want to work for his father any longer. Which I can accept. He has a great consulting job lined up in a few months. But he wants to start a new company with friends—be an entrepreneur, if you will. I think it’s too risky. I told him he should build his skills under his dad or another company and then go off on his own. But he’s determined.”
“So you want him to stay to work with his dad or do consulting?”
“Yeah. We fight about that sometimes. I just don’t have a lot of money, you know. My mom—I love her, but we never had much growing up. I don’t make much either. But I love this life with Henry. I want to make sure we set up a good future for ourselves and for our children and not take a risk on a big business. Normally, I would say why not, but Henry’s dad has threatened to cut off any other support if he goes off on his own.”
I had to bite my tongue to make sure I didn’t tell her that she didn’t need to have a lot of money in life to be independent and happy, and her reliance on Henry for a rich lifestyle was a little self-centered to say the least. But I was also being judgmental and had to remind myself that everyone had their own life perspectives.
“So how does Henry feel about it?” I asked.
“He won’t listen to me,” she said, her voice strained. “He says he’s finally found a way out of his father’s influence. He just has to do a few more things and then his dad will let him go.”
I knew this was my opportunity to press for more information.
“What kind of things?” I asked. Like launder money?
“Oh, stupid work stuff. He never tells me anything,” Brit said, rolling her eyes.
I decided to test the edge of the water with what I could ask.
“Has he said anything about his dad’s company going through financial troubles?”
Brit gave me a look of horror. “What? No! Definitely not. Why? Have you heard anything?” Her curiosity was certainly piqued.
I hate
lying. I hate lying. How did I get myself in this position? “No, of course not,” I said as I carefully examined my perfectly painted bright pink toenails. “You just hear about stuff like that happening these days. I was just curious if that was playing a role in any of Henry’s decisions.” Besides, saying anything I had heard would be gossip. I certainly didn’t know anything about Henry’s father’s company first-hand.
Not long after our pedicure, the rest of the guys met us so we could head over to the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that Grayson had arrived. He had returned from his trip a day earlier than I expected.
The men were all dressed handsomely. Wearing white pants with a soft coral green top, Henry looked like he belonged to the Club. Dom was dressed in khakis and a striped white shirt, which was an improvement from his typical wrinkled look. Grayson, also in khakis, had on a dark blue button-downed shirt that made him look even more attractive than usual.
“Just one night in New York?” I asked Grayson. I couldn’t help it—I always planned on playing coy, but then things kept pouring out of my mouth the moment I saw him.
“Yeah,” he said. “I flew.” He paused. “Plus, I couldn’t leave you alone too long, could I?” He winked at me and then went over to talk to Dom and Henry.
Did he just say what I thought he said? My chest was fluttering. I was so focused on what Grayson had said that I barely noticed Dom approach me, a big grin on his face.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, and gave me a big kiss on the mouth—in front of everyone.
I could feel the warm blush rising from my neck. I smiled at Dom but planted my gaze firmly on the ground. I felt ashamed having known that Grayson saw Dom kiss me like that.
“Looks like it’s a good thing we went away for a little bit, eh?” said Henry, giving Dom a slap on the back and leading the ladies towards the building.
The yacht club itself was beautiful. A large, Cape Cod-style mansion provided ample porches, stairs that led from the porch to the sand, and a long meandering dock that led into the pure blue water. Sailboats dotted the ocean landscape.
Henry opened the door for us, and we entered the luxurious building. After giving the maître d’ Henry’s name, we were shown to our table.