by Parker Wren
“What’s wrong?” he asked, grabbing my arm as I stood up from the couch and folded up the throw blanket.
“I just need to go to bed,” I said, trying to push away the thoughts that were intruding in my mind like a swarm of moths.
“I’m sorry,” Grayson said. “I probably said the wrong thing.”
“No, you’re fine,” I said. I bit my lip and forced myself to look down at him. “You’re fine. You’re more than fine. I loved talking to you. Always know that.”
I pulled my arm away from his grip and went upstairs to curl up in bed. I put in headphones and blasted rock music in my ears. I fell asleep within seconds.
CHAPTER 18
“Bank documents are meaningless. You need to get on the computer and email. No more excuses.”
This was the text that both Dom and I woke up to the next morning.
Dom closed his eyes and groaned. “God, he is so annoying.”
I sighed. I wanted nothing more than to put this behind me. To leave this house, to never spy on these people again. My friends. Well, they wouldn’t be my friends if they knew what I was doing. Maybe we could explain it to them?
Ha. Wishful thinking.
Still, I pitched the idea to Dom. I knew it was crazy, suggesting that we tell them, but I did it anyway. His face contorted in fear. “No,” he said. “I know this is hard, but we cannot, under any circumstances, blow our cover. Do you realize what that means? They will ruin our lives. Trust me. It’s hard to say how harsh they would be, but it’s not worth the risk. They seem nice, but you don’t want to piss off this kind of crowd. Just a little longer, okay? We try to prove Henry’s innocence. That’s what this is about.”
I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet, but Dom’s plan sounded like the most viable option we had.
When we came downstairs, we discovered Grayson was reading out on the deck and Brit was grabbing her purse from the table. “I’m headed out to Edgartown to do some shopping.”
“Do you want me to come?” I asked, hoping the answer was no.
Fortunately, Brit and I were thinking the same thing. “Oh no, that’s okay,” she said. “I just want to pick up a few things here and there.”
After drinking my coffee, I turned to Dom while Henry was in the shower. “Okay,” I said, “so how do we get into his computer?”
“It’s password protected,” he said. “He’ll let you use it sometimes, but he’s really skittish about it.”
“Not a problem,” I said. I ran upstairs and grabbed one of my old laptops from my bag, one with some old experimental data that I should have destroyed a while ago anyway, and removed my external hard drive that had backed up the important files.
“What are you doing?” Dom asked me after I came downstairs with the computer.
“Improvising,” I said.
I pretended to be working on my old laptop when Henry came down. He was just wearing a towel around his waist. He had no shirt on, and I was trying to not let my eyes wander to his broad chest and angled hips.
“So what are you guys up to today?” Henry asked, drying his hair with another towel.
“I have to work, unfortunately,” I said, trying not to let my eyes divert to Henry.
Stop looking so cute, I thought to myself. I had never felt particularly attracted to Henry, but in this moment, I could see what Brit saw in him.
Dom, reliable fake boyfriend as always, came to my rescue. “Put on some clothes, man,” he said. “No one here wants to see that.”
“Oh, you love it,” Henry teased. “I am offending Ariel?” He turned to me. “Are you offended by?”
I smiled. “Hey, equal opportunity. I have no problem appreciating the male form. Balances out all the bikinis I see running around these beaches.”
“See?” Henry said. “Ariel likes it.”
Just then, I knocked my coffee cop over. It spilled its entire amount on the keyboard of my laptop and all over my hands, arms, and clothes.
I felt my face go white, which wasn’t difficult to do from the pain of the coffee on my hands. “Oh my God,” I said.
Both Dom and Henry rushed over. “Are you okay? Are you burned? Let’s clean you up. Is there any way to fix this? Can we soak it in rice?”
I tried to sound hysterical. “I don’t have time for this. I have to finish this paper today. My coauthor will kill me if I’m late. We have a conference deadline today and—”
Henry put his hand on my shoulder. “Ariel, calm down,” he said. “Did you save your work?”
“Yeah,” I said, “I saved it on the cloud.”
Henry smiled. “See? Not all hope is lost. You’re welcome to use the desktop in the office, although it’s really slow, so that’s probably not the best idea. Or I’m sure Dom or Grayson can lend you their computers.”
“Grayson’s computer is from like 1999,” I said.
“Hey! I heard that!” Grayson shouted from the deck. “Stop spilling coffee on your computer, you klutz!”
“Yeah, too bad I didn’t spill it on you instead!” I shouted.
“Dom, what about your computer?”
I knew Dom would have my back. “It’s—ah—otherwise occupied.” He said.
“With what?” Henry pressed.
“I’m downloading a bunch of porn.”
Henry threw up his hands, which given the state of his towel around his waist, made things even worse for my wondering eye.
“Henry, I hate to ask this,” I said, “but can I use your laptop? Please? I promise I’ll be quick.”
Henry paused, but then agreed. “Okay,” he said, “Brit and I have two different profiles. I should really set up a guest profile. Here, I’ll just log you onto mine. What do you need? The internet?”
“Yeah, that’s all I need,” I said with a smile. “Thank you Henry. I owe you big time.”
I worked on Henry’s computer for a few hours, aware that he occasionally would walk behind me to see what I was doing. I waited until he decided to go down for the beach before digging into the files.
“You should go with him,” I told Dom.
“Why?” Dom asked.
“I don’t know, wouldn’t it seem odd if you were here trying to help me with your work?”
“Fine,” Dom grumbled. “You’re so bossy sometimes.”
“I’m not bossy. I just know what I’m doing.”
Dom didn’t reply. He changed into his bathing suit but didn’t bother to put on a top. He strutted by me, and I couldn’t help but give a small laugh. He nodded and winked before heading outside to join Henry and Grayson at the beach.
I had to be quick. I pulled a thumb drive out of my side pocket. I started with the email; fortunately, Henry was already logged on. I copied huge swaths of emails and any folders he had. I went to the computer settings and unchecked “hidden” folders.
Bingo. On Henry’s desktop, ten hidden folders appeared. Without opening them, I copied and pasted them onto the thumb drive.
I changed back his hidden folders setting and went into his browsers. I checked the common emails that most people use; he had a couple email accounts where the passwords were saved, and I downloaded those emails too. I searched for an excel sheets and extra documents that may have been hidden in a unique location of the computer. Finally, based on the Swiss bank information provided from the other statements, I went to those websites with a hope and a wish that I could access the accounts. I easily got into Henry’s bank account. I took screenshots and saved them to the thumb drive. For the Swiss account, I wasn’t so lucky. A phone verification was needed, and the last thing I wanted was a text to appear on Henry’s phone. Damnit. If only I had Henry’s phone with me, too.
The boys were coming back in from the beach. I scrambled to delete the evidence of what I had done—the cookies and search history, from the moment I began my search. I continued covering my tracks, frantically deleting any evidence detectable by amateur computer user—which I could only hope Henry was—just as Henry came
up behind me. He was dressed in a dark cotton t-shirt and khaki pants.
As Henry came up behind me, the screen showed statistical software with a Microsoft word document pushing through the bottom right of the screen.
“How’s the work going?” he asked, leaning behind me. It made me uncomfortable. This surprised me. Henry never made me uncomfortable.
“Great,” I said with a forced smile. I closed the files, shut his laptop, and handed it back to him. “Thanks again. I really appreciate it.”
To my dismay, Henry smiled, then walked over to the couch to open his laptop. “I just have a couple of emails to catch up on,” he said. My throat was in my stomach. I tried to keep myself distracted by talking with Dom and Grayson, who had decided that we should go out once Brit was back from Edgartown.
“What do you think, Ariel?” Dom asked.
I was too distracted. “About what?”
“Going out tonight. Oak Bluffs.”
I smiled, trying not to think of Henry and wondering if my suspicions were founded. “Sounds great,” I said
Henry was still typing on his laptop as Dom and I headed upstairs.
“Any luck?” Dom asked quietly.
I showed him the thumb drive.
Dom stopped me in the stairwell and grabbed my hand that held the thumb drive. He squeezed it. “Well done, you,” he whispered.
I smiled. “We’ll see,” I said. “Let’s try to find something on this to prove Henry’s innocence. I’ll certainly feel like a less shitty person after what I just did.”
“We’ll look at these soon,” Dom said. “Once we have a chance.”
“Did I tell you that I think Henry suspects something?” I whispered. “He took his computer right off of me. I think he might know I was digging around.”
Dom laughed. “No, don’t worry about that,” he said. “Henry’s always buying new gadgets. He’s probably checking to see why his Do Everyone Robot 2.0 hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Ha. That was a lame joke.”
“It wasn’t that bad. Made you laugh, didn’t it?”
CHAPTER 19
Brit was surprisingly tired when she returned home from Edgartown, carrying bags full of clothes and various housewares.
“But we don’t even own a house yet,” Henry complained.
“What’s so wrong with planning early?” Brit snapped.
“Is everything okay?” I asked gently as Brit went to the master bedroom.
She yawned. “Yeah, I’m just tired,” I said. “But I heard you guys want to go out, so I’m up for it.”
That night I pulled on a slim fitting silver dress and stilettos (while throwing flip flops in my bag for later; beauty was never worth a blister) and dried my hair straight. I used smoky makeup to bring out my dark eyes and a slight red lip. I looked good. I felt confident.
As I walked downstairs, Dom commented, “you are probably just a little overdressed for a bar. But that’s okay. I think everyone will manage, as long as you don’t give the bartender a heart attack.”
The men were dressed up nicely too, their cologne overtaking the vehicle, the scents of manliness at battle until it smelled like a coughing fit waiting to happen. Henry had agreed to be the designated driver for the evening.
“Okay. We have lots of options,” Dom said, pulling up his phone. “Lookout, 20byNine, Sandbar—”
“I say we just pick whatever is closest to where we park and go from there?” Henry replied.
“Sure,” shrugged Grayson. “Works for me.”
“We have to come back to Oak Bluffs during the day,” I said, speaking to no one in particular as we parked the car and started walking. “Look at the gingerbread houses. Eat ice cream. Ride the merry-go-round, if that’s still here.” I was smiling just thinking about it.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I heard Grayson say.
I looked behind me. My arms crossed over my chest as I smiled.
----
The night started off with shots for everyone—well, except for Henry, who seemed to have to leave to speak on his phone quite a bit anyway.
It was all downhill from there.
We laughed, we talked, and we kept drinking. Even though my head was starting to feel a bit fuzzy, I was hyperaware of Grayson’s presence. When he was next to me, when he smiled and laughed at my jokes. when I could have sworn that our legs touched yet neither of us moved away.
We made a stop at a final bar, which started playing music, and encouraged everyone to get on the dance floor.
“Wooo hooo! Come on, let’s dance!” screamed Brit. My inhibitions had been lost about three vodka tonics ago, so I went on the dance floor with her.
Dom came up behind me to start dancing. He wasn’t bad; I let his hips move in motion with mine. Henry, being a good sober sport, grabbed Brit and starting making out with her on the dance floor. Grayson sat at the table, not moving.
Being bold, I grabbed Grayson’s arm, and pulled him over to the dance floor. “Come on!” I screamed, and he fought, but weakly.
Reluctantly, he walked over. I saw a group of cute girls in the corner, and brought Grayson over.
“Any chance you guys could dance with my amazing friend here?”
The girls smiled, and one girl in particular grabbed his hand and started dancing behind him. I couldn’t tell if Grayson was enjoying it or he was bored, but either way, I felt like a good friend in that moment.
I returned to Dom, who was dancing with Brit at that point. Henry was back outside on his phone. It looked like Henry was yelling, but everything was getting too blurry for me to see.
My breath caught in my throat before I even realized that Grayson had come up behind me. He didn’t say anything; just put his hands on my hips and we moved to the music. He flipped me around, and we started dancing face to face. His hips kept up with mine, and I slowly realized that he was a good dancer. He smiled, and in that moment, I wanted nothing more than for him to kiss me, even though I knew it would never happen. Instead, he dropped his hands to my hips and twirled me around. My back wasa to him again, and I tried not to think about what it would feel like to press myself closer to him.
Suddenly, Dom grabbed me. He dipped me and gave me a kiss on the lips—a kiss I was neither expecting nor enjoying. Grayson immediately walked away and started dancing with the other girl he had been dancing with. I watched him, and I watched the way he interacted with her. I felt the ugly bile of jealously build in my throat.
“How you doin’, babe?” Dom asked, stumbling as he tried to dance with me. He leaned so far into me that he fell over, landing on his side laughing.
“I think you are really wasted,” I said. I knew I shouldn’t be so mad at Dom. It was my fault for having feelings for Grayson, and it wasn’t Dom’s fault that I didn’t feel that way towards him. Or that he had drank way too much.
I went over and grabbed Henry, who was now dancing with Brit.
“Hey,” I said. “Dom is really sick. I feel like he might not be conscious or maintain his stomach contents for much longer. Do you mind taking him home?”
“Sure,” said Henry. “What about you and Grayson? You coming with us?”
“It’s okay,” I said, “I’ll wait for Grayson. We can get a taxi. He looks like he’s having fun,” I said, raising my eyebrows as I motioned over to him and the girl dancing.
Henry shook his head. “Alright,” he said. “If you’re sure.”
I waited until Dom, Henry, and Brit had left in the car before I stood angrily at the edge of the dance floor. Finally, a reasonably drunk man in his 40s came up to me and asked if I wanted a drink. I politely declined, but he insisted.
“Come on, baby,” he said. “Just one dance.”
Grayson came up behind the man.
“She said no.” I had never heard Grayson’s voice sounds so harsh.
“Oh, okay,” the guy said, putting his hands up to suggest that he meant no harm. “I didn’t realize that you have a boyfriend.” He w
alked away, beer in hand.
“I don’t,” I mumbled, ever so softly, under my breath.
The girl was clinging next to Grayson. “So you’re leaving?” she said, clearly disappointed.
“Yes,” Grayson replied.
“Can I get your number?”
“I don’t think it’s such a good idea,” Grayson said, with kindness in his voice. “Here,” he said, and he gave her a big hug. “You’re a sweetheart. I hope you see you around.”
I tried to suppress my jealous feelings. After all, he was just being kind.
“So, did they ditch us?” Grayson asked as we walked out of the bar.
“Well, I kind of told them to go,” I said, walking close to Grayson as we went out in the parking lot.
“Why?” he asked.
I shrugged and looked down to the ground.
“You seemed to be having fun with that girl.”
Grayson rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. You could have easily came and gotten me.”
I shrugged, my liquid courage bubbling up to my throat. “Maybe I wanted to talk to you. Alone?”
“About what?” Grayson asked, concern in his voice.
I groaned. “Am I really so unobvious? I suck at this.” I could feel the rational part of my brain screaming at me, Stop, Ariel! But the drunk side said, You know you want to. Don’t stop.
Grayson shook his head. “Okay, I’m totally lost. You are really going to have to just pretend I’m in third grade and have no idea what you’re talking about. Is everything okay?”
“God, don’t you get it?” I said.
“Get what?” Grayson replied, an incredulous look on his face.
I paused. The small, logical part of my brain was being pushed out by the impulsive wave of inhibition.
“I’m attracted to you, okay? Now I’ve said it. Now you know.” I balanced on my heels, turning my ankles ever so slightly. Up and down, up and down. Something to distract me while I waited.
Grayson took a step back and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Okay,” he said with a big sigh.
There was silence.
I felt like I had been punched in the gut.
“What?” I pressed in an annoyed voice, the filtered light in my head pushing through the words. “What does ‘okay’ mean?”