I Do (Not)

by T L Dasha

  As I reached my car, and climbed into the driver’s seat, my phone began to buzz in my pocket. I looked at the caller id, and answered with a begrudging click.

  “Father.”

  “Where have you been?”

  “I was assisting one of my employees. I’m on my way back now.”

  “How about instead of coming back, you meet me downtown.”

  “If this is about our discussion earlier, I’d rather not continue that conversation today.”

  “Of course not. Head to Sakura Bar. Don’t be late.”

  He hung up before I could protest. I frowned outwardly as I pulled back onto the bridge, and headed toward downtown. The valet took my car, and I approached the restaurant. It was a hip, up and coming, Japanese fusion restaurant, with traditional decoration mixed with sleek and modern furniture. I approached a black marble bar lined with red running lights and white leather barstools. I didn’t see father anywhere, but it was fairly dark inside. Some silly gimmick to create atmosphere.

  “Is this seat taken?” A voice called from behind me, before helping herself to a stool beside me.

  “Miss Dresden. Fancy seeing you here.”

  “I told you that you can call me Maria.” She was dressed in a silky black dress that hugged every curve of her body, complimenting long dark hair that fell loosely over her shoulders. She looked very different from the professional appearance she had sported at the conference.

  “My apologies. Good to see you again, Miss Maria.”

  “So formal!” She laughed. Though I’m not sure what exactly the joke was.

  “I guess I can safely assume my father isn’t going to be here at all, is he?”

  “Nope. You just get me for the night. Disappointed?”

  Only that he’s so very predictable.

  “Of course not. I’d much rather spend my evening with a lovely lady.” I removed my coat and sat down beside her, waving for the bartender. There was no reasonable way to get out of this now, and it was within my family’s best interest to at least entertain her. “Cocktail of choice?”

  “Sex on the beach.” She gave me a devilish grin. I nodded to the bartender, who began mixing her drink.

  “I’ll take bourbon. Neat.”

  “So what’s all this business about us being betrothed?” Maria came right out with the big question. She was bold.

  “My father has a tendency to get ridiculous whims sometimes. I’m sorry he put you up to this.”

  “Don’t be. I’ve always thought you were cute, but I was always too intimidated to approach you myself.” She looked at me with those large green eyes, “Are you seeing anyone right now?”

  Ha! How much time do you have? Though to say Conner and I were seeing each other wasn’t true either. I shook my head.

  “Unless you count consultants, I don’t think so.”

  “I hear that.” She took a sip of her colorful cocktail. I downed my bourbon and indicated for another. “It’s not easy to find time to date when you have an entire empire to run. Takes a special person to understand that.”

  The night wore on, and by the fourth glass of bourbon, I was almost starting to relax. Maria was charming, sophisticated, yet sharp and self-aware. I was surprised to say I almost enjoyed her company. I felt loose as she took me by the hand, and dragged me onto the dance floor. She moved her body against me with a seductive rhythm, and let her arms fall over my shoulders pulling me closer to her. Years of ballroom training allowed me to handle the dance on pure instinct. After a feat of athleticism, I found myself loosening my tie to let off heat.

  “Let me help you with that!” Maria yelled over the music.

  “With what?” I yelled back, my voice lost in the noise pollution.

  “With this!” She grabbed my tie like a leash, and she pulled me down, locking her lips onto mine. She held me there for an extended second, slipping her tongue between my lips briefly on release.

  “I need to leave.” I immediately stepped away from her, pushing my way off the dance floor.

  “Wait, we’re just getting started!” She grabbed my hand, but I yanked it away. “Don’t be like this! I thought we were having fun.”

  Maria followed me to the sidewalk. I didn’t look at her. She was right. She was being perfectly reasonable. With the music, the drinks, the dancing-- How else could she have read the situation? She wasn’t the problem. I was the problem.

  My head was still a fog of bourbon, but even then I knew it didn’t feel right. I couldn’t do that to Conner. Whether our marriage was real or not, if I made that promise to him, I was going to keep it…

  How ridiculous. It should have been easy to continue going through the motions, but instead I was breaking appearances for a man who I didn’t even understand. Who my father would never approve of. Who every tabloid would call a scandal. A man who would be ruined by my name.

  But still, I couldn’t force myself to entertain Maria. Not tonight. Not in this state.

  “Aaron, wait. What’s wrong?” She grabbed my hand again, forcing my attention back to her.

  “Nothing. I’m sorry. You’ve done nothing wrong. I just… I have to go.”

  The hotel was only blocks away, so I had a driver in short order. He dropped me off at my apartment, and I maneuvered into my glass elevator, ignoring the San Francisco skyline as it made itself prominent in the background. I pushed through the doors as they released me to my high rise, and collapsed on the couch, sinking into the black leather like a comforting embrace. I left the lights low, casting dull shadows over every blown glass sculpture on every geometric designer pedestal. A masterpiece arranged by an entire team of interior decorators and artists. It was all so pretentious.

  This whole affair was pretentious. Forcing us together based on nothing but our parent’s wealth. What relationship of any worth came from such nonsense? I shook my head.

  On paper, Maria Dresden was a perfect match for me. Her family’s company had even designed a number of the furnishings in my own apartment. The centerpieces, the sculptures, the cabinets, the coffee table-- all of it bore the Dresden insignia. And each piece was as elegant as she was. Fitting for my home. Fitting for a Craig.

  I picked up the centerpiece on my coffee table, examining every sleek twist in the glass. And I tossed it into the waist bin.

  The night stretched on entirely too long. Not even the finest satin sheets could sooth my troubled thoughts. I found myself at my desk half an hour earlier than usual. Work was always the easiest cure for my inner melodrama. But I wasn’t allotted peace for long.

  “Good morning, Aaron.” I looked up to see Maria Dresden standing in the door to my office, dressed in black, fitted business attire with a large handbag on her shoulder and a coat hanging over her arm.

  “Good morning.” I nodded, notably relieved that I could get this incident resolved so early in my day. “I’d like to apologize for last night.”

  “No need.” She shook her head. “I understand.”

  How could she possibly. She approached my desk, and set the coat across the mahogany.

  “Also, you left in such a hurry, you forgot this. I thought you might want it back.” She dared me to react, with a nefarious glint in her eye. Her expressions were beginning to remind me entirely too much of my brother.

  “Yes, thank you. I hadn’t even noticed I had lost it.” I looked at the pinstriped cloth on my desk, slowly processing in my mind its significance.

  “I figured you wouldn’t want to lose this either.” She tossed me a platinum ring, and I watched as it bounced and spun to a stop in front of me. I looked up at her, wide-eyed and uncertain. She couldn’t possibly know anything. Remain calm. “So whose ring is that? A girlfriend’s? Or were you going to propose to me last night? It fit me perfectly, so I didn’t want to rule out any possibilities.”

  I glanced at her fingers as they rested defiantly on her hips. Her hands were small. Yet broad. Nothing like mine. How could the ring have possibly fit her perfectly? I pic
ked it up and absentmindedly tried to slip it on my finger. It was just a tinge too small. I bit my lower lip. This must be Conner’s ring. How did I get his ring?

  No. If Trevor was the one who found mine, and he replaced it with Conner’s… That would mean…

  “Are you alright in there?” Maria’s voice penetrated my ears, forcing my attention back to her. She seemed so unimportant right now, I could barely bring myself to focus on her. “If you already have a girlfriend, it’s okay. I’m not a homewrecker.”

  I shook my head.

  “No, this is… something different. It’s just a piece from one of our new partners. I must have still had it in my coat pocket from Vegas. Pure coincidence that it would fit you.”

  “Oh, then can I have it? It’s a beautiful ring. I love the simplicity of the design.”

  “I still need this one.” I wanted so badly for her to stop prying. I wasn’t in the right mind to keep coming up with lies. “Look, I’ll get you a different piece from them that’s more suited to you. This isn’t a finished piece.”

  “Fine, fine. I can see that it’s important to you.” She wore a crooked smile. “But if you don’t have a secret lover…” She leaned over my desk, supporting herself on one hand, while she allowed the other to cup my cheek. She delicately let her lips brush over mine, this time without the forcefulness of the night before. “I’ll settle for a second date.”

  “O-of course.” I forced a response, immediately regretting it as it left my lips.

  “Got you a little speechless, do I?” She smiled and headed to the door. “Maybe our family duties won’t be so bad. I’ll see you later, Aaron.”

  I let my face fall into my hands. One frustration after the next. Why can’t romantic relationships be more like business relationships? At least the negotiations would have quantifiable tender. I suppose the Craig name was a quantifiable tender. As was Dresden. We were like a set of building blocks haphazardly shoved together so everyone else could live freely on the foundation. Have to keep appearances.

  I ran my fingers through my hair, pushing dark brown strands out of my face, then relaxed into my chair. My eyes fell back on the ring that had been haunting me for so long. Conner’s ring. Not mine.

  I stood up with a start, and pushed out of my office, heading toward the lobby. If Trevor was the one who traded our rings, then I needed to get to Conner before he did. Or before he got to my father. Either way, I needed control of this situation. Sitting around and stewing in my own confusion wasn’t getting me anywhere. I approached the reception desk.

  “Conner, can I speak with you?”

  The chair swiveled around, and a small, round blond woman was in his place. Our weekend desk clerk, was it? What was her name? Cindy? Sarah? Something with an ‘S’ sound. I shook my head and nonchalantly stole a glance at her name plate.

  “I’m sorry, Sidney, have you seen Conner?”

  “Why yes, Mr. Craig. He’s taking a sick day. I got called about an hour ago to fill in for the day.”

  An hour ago? His shift would have started two hours ago. He didn’t appear sick yesterday. Sick of my family’s tug-o-war, maybe, but not physically ill. Perhaps there were some sort of venomous insects that lived in Oakland apartments.

  “I see. Did he say what was wrong? I really needed him today.”

  “I couldn’t tell you. It was Mr. Trevor Craig who called in for him.”

  Of all people…What have you done, Trevor?

  “Did he call from a hospital?”

  “I couldn’t say, sir. He just said that someone needed to fill in for Jake, so here I am. I can phone his room if you’d like.”

  “If you could. Thank you, Sidney.”

  “Of course, sir.” She dialed for his room, and waited patiently through each ring. Her lack of urgency only made me more anxious. After several seconds, she hung up the phone. “I’m sorry, sir, he’s not answering. He may have gone out.”

  “That’ll be all then. Thank you for the assistance, Sidney.”

  I turned and paced back to my office. As soon as I was out of sight from public eyes, I pulled out my phone and pulled up Trevor’s number on my contact list. I held the phone to my ear, only to hear it go straight to voicemail. He must have turned his phone off. Growing exasperated, I switched over to Conner’s number and hit call. One ring, two, voicemail. He hung up on me? He wouldn’t.

  I called again, but this time his number also went straight to voicemail.

  I pitched my phone straight down into the waste bin by my desk with angry force. What is going on here?

  Chapter 8

  Jake Conner

  It’s dark. Why are my eyes so heavy? I used every ounce of will in my body to force my eyelids to lift. A decorated ceiling slowly came into focus. A pattern of black and white diamonds dispersed over every square foot of our VIP room. I know whose room this is.

  I turned my head to see Trevor sitting on a chair beside the bed. His bed. I was laying in his bed. He was slouched over, resting his elbows on his knees, his brown hair disheveled, and dressed in a nicely tailored, burgundy dress shirt with black slacks. I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat felt dry and hoarse. As if by telepathic request, he stood up and grabbed me a glass of water. I pulled myself into seated position and downed it eagerly.

  “You’re awake.” Trevor sat back down in his chair. “Gave me a bit of a scare down there!”

  “What happened? Why am I in your bedroom?” I looked down at my clothing, only to see I was also wearing one of his dress shirts and little else. “Did you undress me?!”

  “What? No. Of course not. That was the nurse. She needed something to dress you in while your clothing is being cleaned, so I offered her one of my shirts. I might be a bit of a deviant, but I’m not going to sneak a peek at a man’s unmentionables without his full and eager pleading.” He gave me a sideways grin. I rolled my eyes.

  “Such a gentleman.”

  “Your sarcasm is noted,” Trevor laughed, leaning back into his chair. “Anyway, as for what you’re doing here, I was heading down to the lobby to grab a quick breakfast and maybe torture my brother a bit, when I get out of the elevator and the first thing I see is you fainting at the sight of my presence. Not entirely unexpected, admittedly, but it was earlier in the day than I was prepared for. I rushed over to catch you before you hit the ground-- which I succeeded at, by the way-- but… I may or may not have also spilled some of my coffee on you in the process.”

  “Aw, that was one of my favorite shirts!”

  “Aren’t you focusing on the wrong thing here?”

  “Hardly.” I puffed up my cheeks. “So then what happened?”

  “Well, naturally, I made sure the new coat I had just bought you hadn’t been ruined like the old one, first and foremost. It didn’t.”

  “Yay, I guess.”

  “Yay, indeed.” He nodded. “And then I picked you up princess style, brought you back to my room, and called the nurse. She came up, did whatever things that nurse type people do, then gave me this piece of paper.”

  He handed me a medical sheet of hand scrawled findings, and I read over each line.

  “Did you read this?”

  “No, but the nurse told me you needed food and bed rest. I’m not looking to snoop on whether my brother gave you an STD or something.” Trevor seemed to find his own jokes far more amusing than I could at the moment.’Stress and malnutrition’? Now that they mentioned it, I guess I hadn’t been eating much-- well, anything at all really. And I was stressed. Though I’ve never been so overwhelmed that I fainted before. I guess I’ve also never accidentally gotten married before either.

  An STD might have been an improvement.

  I quickly folded the paper in half and set it aside. As I fought to collect myself, Trevor set a plate with finger sandwiches and a bowl of fresh cut fruit beside me.

  “I wasn’t sure what kind of food you were into, but I wanted to make sure you had something when you woke up. I can call room service
if you’re vegan or gluten free or whatever.”

  “No, this is fine.” That was unexpectedly sweet. I nibbled on the sandwich. Turkey, cheese, some kind of fancy sauce that probably ended with the word aioli. I can’t say whether it was amazing, or if I was just so hungry that anything would have been. I suppose I had been doing a poor job of taking care of myself this week.

  Then it dawned on me:

  “How long have I been out? Who’s covering my shift?!” The panic in my voice seemed ridiculous even by my standards, but I couldn’t seem to dispel it. Trevor glanced at a dazzling watch on his wrist.

  “Looks like… about four hours or so. Not that bad, all things considered. I called in for you, so you’re covered.”

  I let out a sigh of relief.

  “Did you tell Aaron?”

  Trevor shook his head.

  “He’s got enough on his plate right now. Speaking of…”

  I immediately regretted even mentioning him. Trevor continued.

  “So what’s the deal with you and my brother? Do you want to tell me what happened?”

  “Not really. I mean, I don’t even remember what happened. I thought you were saying I had married YOU when you tossed me the ring.”

  “Damn. Well, that was a missed opportunity. Although I would have been more upset if you had gone on thinking a night in my bed could be that forgettable.”

  I closed my eyes for a moment and shook my head.

  “It’s impossible to even have a conversation with you sometimes.”

  “Sorry, force of habit.” He laughed, swatting the air as if to knock away his words.

  “Anyways, it was some weird mistake. I was there for my sister’s wedding, you know? It was supposed to be a happy occasion. And it should have been. Anna and Greg are the best couple I’ve ever met, so much so that they almost give me hope. But there’s still something about weddings that just… take me to a dark place.”