by Sienna Ciles
The Navy deal was pushed through finally, and I returned victorious to my office. But I wasn’t alone.
"Who's there?" I called. I caught a whiff of expensive aftershave and hand-rolled cigarettes. "Darin?"
"Man, it's like you've got super powers," Darin said.
From the location of his voice, I could tell my best friend lounged in my office chair, and I was pretty sure his feet were on my desk. Darin Freeman was my best friend and had been ever since we’d met in boarding school. There's nothing like being dumped on a foreign campus and left for years to teach you to forge strong friendships.
I knocked his feet off my desk and held out my hand for him to shake. "Guess I better talk to security about the lowlife nobodies they're letting in these days."
"I'm sure you can sense what finger I'm holding up right now," Darin said.
"The same one I flashed at you after you stuck me with the bill at the Ritz?" I asked.
"Like you can't afford it," Darin said.
The Freemans were a wealthy family, but not when compared to my father's billions. It went unsaid that I paid for almost everything. In return Darin always had my back, even when my sight had started to fail at the age of twenty-two.
Darin had spent years helping me adjust to sightlessness. He'd helped me count an infinite amount of steps, guided me through crowded clubs, and watched as I went blind. Now the world was just different shaded blobs but Darin was still there to help me.
"So, let me guess, you've got us lunch reservations," I said. "Must be nice inheriting money instead of a corporation."
"Oh, sure. It's really fun just watching my bank account sink lower and lower every year while your coffers get fatter," Darin said.
"You could get a job," I reminded him.
Darin leapt out my office chair as if he'd been stung. "That's insane. Freemans don't work. And we don't just do lunch. I have something better planned for you."
I groaned. "I've got meetings all day, Darin. I can't be parachuting over the city."
"Yeah, that was fun," Darin recalled with a warm chuckle. "Jasper was as white as a sheet when we landed. I thought I was going to have drive home!"
Poor Jasper hated Darin for all the daredevil thoughts he put in my head. "So what is it this time?" I asked, unable to resist.
"Wait, hold on, I gotta take this," Darin said. He loped over the corner of my office and whispered into his phone.
I sat down and put one ear piece in so I could hear my emails. Over the monotone voice of the computer, I heard Darin whispering lewd suggestions to some girl. He was deep into an affair with some mystery woman that he still refused to tell me about. I was dying of curiosity but did not want to hear any more ideas he had for what to lick off her milky skin.
Sometimes I wished losing my eyesight hadn't made me more attuned to sounds.
"Listening in, you dirty old man?" Darin called when he was done.
"I wish I could erase all of that from my memory, especially the part about martini olives. No more dirty martinis for me. Thanks," I said.
Darin laughed. "Fine. It's your turn then. Tell me you've got some hot office flirtations going on."
"Have you seen my office and my colleagues?" I asked.
Darin laughed again. "Come on, man. I know you can't literally have a wandering eye but there has to be some woman that's caught your interest lately."
"Yeah, maybe, but I'm still with Rachel," I said.
"Yeah? Maybe? Tell me more!" Darin charged over and perched on the corner of my desk. "I know you're still with Rachel, don't get me started on that, but I just want to hear that my wingman is still alive and well in there."
Darin believed that my libido was a direct indication of how I was doing. All through school he'd measured my mental state by how many women he saw turn my head.
Before my sight faded, I had definitely enjoyed the fairer sex. Rachel was a stunning, runway-worthy woman but I’d enjoyed flirting with every beautiful woman I saw. Darin often took advantage by picking up the women once I'd mentioned Rachel and moved on unscathed.
"Scoping out women is a little different these days," I reminded my friend.
"So how does it work now?" Darin asked.
I laughed. He'd caught me. "Fine. I met a woman this morning with the most melodic voice."
"She sounded hot, huh?" Darin asked.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I felt her soft voice and she smelled of lilac." I sighed.
"We gotta celebrate. Rooftop rum before the race?" Darin asked.
"Celebrate? Celebrate what?"
Darin smacked me on the shoulder. "Celebrate the fact that you aren't a dull husk of a man. This is the first time in forever that I've heard you show some interest in a woman. That's great news!"
"I'm still with Rachel," I reminded him.
Darin groaned. "Ugh. Enough talk of your dead-end relationship. Let's just get to the race."
"What race?" I asked Darin.
Before I could argue, Darin announced to my assistant that I would be out of the office for the next four hours. He dragged me out to the private elevator and before I could turn back, I was in Darin's Ferrari and he was pressing hard on the gas.
"This is kidnapping," I told him.
"This is just what you need. Youngest billionaire CEO of your company. Tabloid darling. And now star of your very own made-for-television drama."
"That news piece was your doing," I snapped.
"And now you have a reputation to keep up." Darin squealed around a corner. "You don't have to steer in a drag race, just keep the wheel steady. I'll be your co-pilot and I bet you a hundred thousand dollars you'll be all over social media before you hit the finish line."
It was easy to see even for me that Darin wanted to share my spotlight. After all his patience and unwavering friendship, I didn't want to deny him anything.
Besides, I wasn't going to let my encroaching blindness take all the fun out of my life. And I'd always wanted to drive one of those narrow, rocket-like drag cars.
The hands-free phone in Darin's car buzzed and Rachel's voice interrupted our race plans. "Hey, D. Where are you?"
"Where are you?" I asked, confused.
"Brenden? Is that you?" Rachel asked.
"I told her I was picking you up," Darin said quickly. "Hurry up, honey, I've got your boy all signed up for the next race."
"I, um, just wanted to say good luck?" Rachel hesitated. "Oops, they just called me. I'm at the spa. Bye!"
"Glad she's so worried for my safety," I muttered.
Darin cleared his throat. "Don't get me started about you and Rachel. That's a whole conversation for another day. A day when we don't have some high-octane fun right in front of us!"
I wished I could see the raceway. Darin led me around like I was his kid brother but I had no choice. I couldn't see and the wrong step could get me run over. Still, it was fun and the roar of the drag racers made my ears ring.
Even down two senses, I could tell something was going on that Darin didn't want to tell me. And I had a bad feeling it was something I would have seen if my eyes still worked. Despite the thrills of the afternoon, that thought left a pall on my day.
If I could still see, would I like the way my life looked?
Continue reading Blind Faith on Amazon
Also by Sienna Ciles
The Christmas Gamble
Hard for Her
Lost and Found
Taught
Accidentally His
One Night with Him
About Sienna Ciles
Sienna Ciles has more stories in her head than she has time to write them. After finally settling down with her family in Jupiter, Florida, she decided to finally take a leap and begin publishing her books. Her new website will soon be available at SiennaCiles.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/siennaciles/
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