The Deadfall

by Lilly Black

  About ten minutes later, just as Olivia was about to give Liana a quick tour of the lodge, the buzzer rang on her walkie letting her know someone was at the outer gate. Assuming it was June, she went ahead and set all three to open in sequence, and she and Liana waited on the porch until June's shiny blue minivan pulled up beside Liana's car.

  "What is this place? Fort Knox?" June complained as she stepped out of her vehicle with four boys, ages six to twelve, falling into a line behind her. The three older boys had their father's brown hair and blue eyes, but the youngest had green eyes and red hair like their mother. June's friends were all jealous of her full mane of gorgeous strawberry-blonde hair, and her freckled skin was milky pale and absolutely flawless. She had a willowy figure and a strange beauty about her even though she rarely wore makeup. It was something she could never see for herself. All she ever saw was orange hair and freckles, both of which made her feel like the ugly duckling of the group, but today, it was the furthest thing from her mind as Liana came rushing toward her.

  "Junie-bug!" she cried, throwing her arms around her old friend.

  "Oh, my goodness, LiLo! It's so good to see you!" June cooed back.

  Liana's maiden name was Lopez, and since she had silly nicknames for everyone, they started calling her LiLo back in middle school. Nicknames were her thing, along with being the group peacemaker, and any time June and Olivia were in the same room, they were going to need a peacemaker. Olivia had very little patience for June's judgmental attitude, and June had something to say about everything Olivia did.

  "June," Olivia said coldly.

  "Olivia," she replied as Liana helped carry in her bags. Once they were all inside, while the adults talked, the boys stood by quietly holding their suitcases, so quietly it creeped Olivia out, but she didn't let it show. It was too early to start an argument, and she wanted the boys to be able to enjoy their weekend here with Reid and Savannah. She understood that it was wrong to second guess how anyone else parented their children, but she was sure these kids were far too sheltered since their mother considered everything a sin.

  "Would you boys like something to drink or a snack?" she asked them.

  "They're fine. They had a snack in the car," June snapped. "Seriously, though. What is this place? Why all the security? Are you guys running a cult or something?"

  "I think they're doomsday preppers," Liana said with a wink.

  "You're both wrong. Well, sort of," Olivia said, then she went on to explain. She and Reid had always wanted to have a place in the mountains where they could farm and have lots of animals, and when Reid's grandmother passed away and left them an inheritance, they built their dream compound - five hundred acres with a natural spring on a mountaintop in West Virginia, including green cabins operating on renewable energy, stockpiles of food, water, and weapons, greenhouses, livestock, and a tall fence around the main complex. They weren't doomsday preppers, but they did believe that once the polar icecaps melted, sending millions of Americans inland, they needed to be on high and secure ground.

  "40% of the world's population lives within sixty miles of the ocean. We could end up with a huge number of refugees, depending upon how quickly the melting accelerates," Olivia said.

  "That's not going to happen. God is never going to destroy the world by water again. It's in the Bible," June said dismissively.

  "Well, we have a bunker under the lodge if he destroys it by fire," Olivia said with a crinkle of her nose just as she heard a buzz on her walkie. She looked down and smiled, entering the code to open the gates, then she turned to Liana. "Ready to hit the road?"

  "Which one of us is driving?" Liana asked.

  "None of us," Olivia said cryptically, and when she led them out front, a deep red Hummer limousine was coming up the drive.

  "Day-um!" Liana exclaimed, but all June had for Olivia was a disapproving glare. Though it wasn't clear exactly what she didn't approve of, she was sure spending the extra cash on this limo for the sake of their newly-divorced friend, Dani, who was meeting them in Pittsburgh, was somehow sinful.

  That was the purpose of this adventure. Dani, the fourth bestie in their group since Kindergarten, finally had the paperwork that made her divorce from her alcoholic, waste-of-flesh husband final, so they were all getting together for the first time in ten years to celebrate. And Liana was ready to get started. As Reid and Rey helped the chauffeur load their luggage into the back of the limo, she checked the mini bar to make sure they had some good vodka and Olivia's favorite dark rum.

  When they were ready to leave, Liana threw her arms around Rey. Olivia hugged Reid and Savannah tightly, and June went down the line of her boys oldest to youngest to remind them of the rules before leading a quick prayer for their safety and kissing each of them atop the head. They would be breaking the first of many rules before the Hummer made it off the Anders property as Savannah and Rey led them straight to the game room and introduced them to the Xbox.

  Dani

  It took over four hours to get from Olivia's compound in the mountains near Pipestem, West Virginia to the airport in Pittsburgh to meet Dani after her flight from Indianapolis, and though June and Liana had already been stuck in their cars driving from North Carolina and Georgia, they were all reenergized when they saw Dani coming out of the terminal looking like a million dollars. She always did. Since they were teenagers, Danielle Templeton had learned to do flawless makeup and never looked back. With caramel skin, long, straight, jet black hair, and a thin, perfect figure, Dani came off like a model or a New York socialite...until she opened her mouth to speak and her façade was betrayed by her upbringing in West Virginia.

  "Now, that's what I'm talking 'bout!" she shouted as she scoped out the long, red limo while her best friends in the world hung out the window, beckoning her to them. She got in, Liana mixed her a Jack and coke, and the party got started as the chauffeur drove them to downtown Pittsburgh where Olivia had booked the biggest suite on the highest floor of the tallest hotel. She wanted nothing but the best for Dani.

  They were going to be there for three nights, living like queens with in-room massages, spa appointments, and shopping during the day, and partying at night, including front row tickets to the band that had been Dani's favorite for twenty years - ParraJax. Dani knew about the concert, but she had no idea she was going to be seated in the sweat zone. That was a fun and expensive surprise they'd all pooled their money on, though June contributed very little since she had to hide what they were really doing from her husband. She was going to feel guilty about it the whole time, but Liana had always been good at talking her into things. Olivia was traditionally the leader of the group, but she just had no patience for June. June had even called her up once during the planning phase insisting that if they were going to engage in drinking and other debauchery, they should schedule a church visit on Sunday morning for balance.

  "This trip is not about you," Olivia had told her. "It's about Dani."

  Then as the limo passed the convention center in downtown Pittsburgh en route to the hotel, June got her chance to throw those words back in Olivia's face. On the roster outside, it said, "Comic Con featuring Aleksander Hellström."

  "Is that why you picked Pittsburgh?" Liana teased her.

  "I had no idea. I swear," Olivia said as she stared out the window at the sign. She wasn't the type to lust after famous people, but there had been a few men who had caught her eye over the years. Aleksander Hellström was one of them. The 36-year-old actor, who played a demon on the television adaptation of some comic book Olivia had never heard of before the show, was well over six feet tall, blonde, blue-eyed, Swedish, and absolutely beautiful...just like she liked them, and though no one would ever know she was starstruck, she was blushing on the inside at the idea of being in the same room with him. But it was just a fleeting fantasy. There was nothing Aleksander Hellström could offer her that would ever lure her away from Reid. Olivia was the only one in their quartet who was truly in love with the man she
married. Their relationship was so good, it was almost annoying.

  "We should see if we can get tickets," Liana suggested in response to the wistful look on Olivia's face, and that's when June jumped in.

  "Uh, I don't think so," she said glaring at Olivia. "This weekend isn't about you. It's all about Dani, remember?"

  "Psh! I get to go to a Jax Bonham show! I don't care if we spend the rest of our time digging ditches," Dani said. She was starstruck and didn't care who knew it. "If you want to go see him, Liv, I'm down with it."

  "Nah. It's okay," Olivia said. "I'll just pretend it's him when we get those in-room massages this afternoon."

  Him and Reid, she thought to herself. That was a fantasy she'd had for a long time, but it's something she could never admit to anyone because it made her feel like a slut. As open-minded as she was, she just couldn't get past it. It didn't matter anyway. It was the one thing Reid couldn't handle. Even though he knew no one else had ever been able to make Olivia's body do the things he could, the thought of seeing another man touch her tweaked his insecurity in wildly irrational ways.

  T Minus 2 Days

  Saturday

  Last night, the women had planned to take it easy, ordering a room service dinner and catching up with each other, but after a few drinks, Dani talked them into going downstairs to the hotel bar, which eventually led them to other bars where they partied until three out of four of them had pretty much guaranteed themselves hangovers in the morning.

  It was almost noon on Saturday before they finally rolled out of bed, and teetotaler June had already been up for hours. She had ordered everyone a room service breakfast around eleven before they switched to the lunch menu, reheating everything in the microwave for them, and as they ate, they slowly began to feel human again. Afterward, June wheeled the breakfast cart into the hallway, and Dani decided to use the downtime to bring up the reason she had asked them to start journaling their sex lives.

  "Did you all remember to bring your diaries?" she asked

  "Yes, for what it's worth," Liana grumbled, and the others nodded.

  "Can I have them?"

  "Before I hand over a book about my private love life, I'd like to know what you plan to do with it," June said.

  "I'm glad you asked because it's more than just what I told you on the phone. I'm actually doing a study and writing a book about how beliefs affect the sex lives of women in and outside of marriage," she explained.

  "What beliefs specifically?" June asked, suspicious that she might be the main case study.

  "Religious beliefs, slut shaming, all sorts of things really. It's not aimed at any particular thing. I have fifty women in my study, including you guys."

  "Well," Liana said as she pretended to put her hand inside her pocket and offer Dani absolutely nothing. "Here's mine."

  "You haven't had sex once in the past three months?" Olivia asked, feeling sorry for her.

  "She's not married," June said. "I think it's commendable."

  "And I think you're a tight ass," Olivia said. "In fact, I'll bet you five hundred dollars right now that I could flip to any page in your diary, and it will be straight up missionary sex, five minutes max, lights out."

  "You don't know anything about my private life!"

  "A thousand dollars," Olivia said.

  "My husband and I have a healthy, fantastic romantic life, and I have four children to prove it!"

  "Five thousand dollars."

  "Shut up, Olivia! I'm not a tramp. Whatever!" June cried, and when Olivia took in a breath to speak, Liana jumped between them, ever the diplomat.

  "Hey, at least you guys are getting it," she said. "Dani could have asked us to start keeping track five years ago, and mine would still be empty."

  "I told you in the beginning. Bob counts!" Dani teased.

  "Who's Bob?" June asked.

  "Her battery-operated boyfriend," Dani said with a wink.

  "Fine! I'll get the damn book," Liana relented, and despite the tension between Olivia and June, they all laughed. Then when Olivia retrieved hers from her room, three completely filled volumes, they laughed harder, even June.

  "I may have been a little more detailed than you needed me to be," Olivia admitted, but she explained that she hadn't done it to brag. She intended to convert that diary into an erotic novel once Dani was finished with it.

  "It's going to take me a damn month to read all this, but I'll be sure to return them. Anyone else want them back?"

  "As long as my name's not on it anywhere, you can keep mine," June said.

  "You can burn mine," Liana insisted.

  "Fuck that!" Olivia said. "We're going out tonight after the concert, and we're going to get both you and Dani laid."

  "Are you willing to bet five thousand dollars on that one?" Liana asked, and Olivia threw a sofa cushion at her as she rolled her eyes. No way was she taking that bet. Liana was ridiculously picky when it came to men, or at least that's what she would have her friends believe.

  Saturday Night

  Jax Bonham. Dani had been in love with the lead singer of ParraJax since she and her friends were teenagers. They were in their mid-thirties now, but unlike the other acts from their youth who were just reliving their glory days in bars and at music festivals, ParraJax had continued to put out good music and remained just as popular as they were when their first album went platinum. And Jax Bonham had held up really well too.

  On the stage right in front of them, he looked like a god - tall and lean with a muscular core and chest that everyone in the audience got to savor once it became too hot for his shirt. His upper arms were covered in tattoos as blue-black as his shoulder-length hair, which was wet with sweat from the hot lights above. His eyes were a brilliant shade of blue and his features well defined, and even at nearly forty-years-old, he was as beautiful as he had been in his twenties. And to Dani, he was perfect.

  Mesmerized, she watched him as everyone else in the world began to disappear until there was only Jax and his music, performing just for her, and on the last song, when they played the power balled, In My Arms, and he reached out to touch hands with the fans on the front row, he paused and locked fingers with her. Time froze as Dani felt herself drowning in a deep well of blue eyes that stared back, mirroring her own dreamy adulation, the words of the song coming out of his mouth by muscle memory alone, but as the woman beside her started grabbing at his hand for her turn, he had to let go. He gave her a smile and moved on, not even looking at the woman whose hand he now held as his eyes lingered on Dani, and from that moment, she was walking on air.

  When the limo picked them up after the show, she begged the others to have drinks in the bar at the Kemp Hotel where the band was staying, and though hanging out in another stuffy hotel bar on the off chance that Jax Bonham might stop by seemed like a long, boring exercise in futility, the others agreed to go for their friend's sake. Fortunately, when they arrived, they found that the Kemp's bar wasn't stuffy or boring. It was like a night club, and it was packed.

  With an obscene tip, Olivia managed to get them a table, and they were quickly ordering rounds of shots and hitting the dance floor. June, of course, refused to drink anything, but at least she was willing to go out and dance with them in a group until men started showing up and whisking her friends away from her. She acted disgusted by it, especially with Olivia because she was married, but in truth she was jealous. Men never asked her to dance. She thought it was because she was the plain one. In the company of Liana's hourglass figure, Dani's head-to-toe model-like perfection, and Olivia's gorgeous girl-next-door appeal, she still felt like a flat-chested teenager, but that wasn't the case at all. Even though she didn't wear much makeup or dress as sexy as the other women, June wasn't homely. It was the vibe she put off that kept men from approaching her. Her stance and expression said "move along, nothing to see here."

  When the others finally returned to their bored friend at the table, before she had a chance to intimate that they were acting li
ke sluts and Olivia had the chance to tell her where she could shove her prudery, the waitress showed up with an unsolicited round of drinks.

  "Did you order these?" Liana asked June, earning herself an incredulous stare.

  "They're from the gentleman in the corner," the waitress explained, pointing to a well-dressed man who sat surrounded by people in the large, elevated corner booth across the room. When Olivia made eye contact with him, he raised his glass to her and gave her what she interpreted as an arrogant smirk. She smiled and nodded to thank him then proceeded to ignore him.

  "What an ass," she said.

  "A man buys you a round of really overpriced drinks, and he's an...a-s-s," June said, dropping her voice as she spelled the last word as if she was afraid of some sort of cosmic punishment for cursing.

  "He's sitting over there like he's holding court, and I'll bet he thinks this round of drinks is going to make our panties drop, so yeah, he's an ass."

  "You did promise to get us both laid," Liana said.

  "What?" Olivia asked. "Do you think he's pretty?"

  "I think I've had too much to drink," she said with a giggle, and they quickly got lost in conversation and forgot all about the arrogant man in the corner booth until Olivia got up to go to the ladies' room and ran into him en route.

  "I didn't introduce myself earlier," he said, extending his hand. "I'm Jonathan Kemp, Jr."

  "Nice to meet you, Mr. Kemp. Olivia Anders," she said, shaking his hand loosely, hoping he'd get the idea that she could not be less interested.

  "You and your friends should join us. I own this hotel," he said awkwardly, his polished appearance dissolved by his need to advertise.

  "I thought you said you were Jonathan Kemp, Jr. Doesn't that mean your father is the Kemp in Kemp Hotels?" she asked. She normally wouldn't be so confrontational, but she was getting lit and he was getting on her nerves.

  "I'm his only heir. What's his is essentially mine."