by Sasha White
“What makes them throw themselves at you?” he shot back.
“My good looks and roguish charm.” Karl laughed. They both knew women loved the way he looked. And they both knew that he was rarely charming.
“For this woman, it was the chance to live a fantasy.”
They both watched as Samair and the redheaded dancer, Joey Kent, stood and the two left together almost immediately after Samair rejoined the group.
“God bless women who want to live out their fantasies,” Karl said softly.
Val clapped him on the shoulder before turning back to his desk but didn’t say anything.
A few months earlier Karl had met a special woman who’d also been bent on living out a fantasy or two. Things with Katie hadn’t turned out the way Karl had hoped, and even though he never said much about it, Val knew his friend had been disappointed.
“You gonna to see her again?” Karl asked.
“Probably.” Definitely.
He tilted his chair back and studied the guy in front of him. “What?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, man.” Karl shook his head slowly. “You’re too close to hitting the mark and owning the club free and clear. Getting distracted right now is not a good thing.”
“She’s not a distraction. She’s entertainment.”
“Uh huh.”
Determination filled him. “Trust me on this, Karl. Nothing will distract me from keeping this club out of Vera’s reach. It’s always been mine, and it will always be mine.”
“It’s not yours until you make the final payment and the bank loan is paid. Damn it, Val! I told you it was stupid not to go after her for more in the divorce. She cheated on you, and you let her get away with it.”
“I didn’t let her get away with it. I left her.” Why didn’t Karl understand that when it came to Vera, her cheating had hurt him way more than her money could ever heal him?
He’d grown up fast and hard, and he’d mistaken Vera’s honeyed words and warm body for a warm heart and finally, a home.
During the year they were married Val never accepted a dime from his rich wife, and when he walked out the door of their house for the last time, he’d taken nothing with him but the clothes on his back, his precious Harley, and the keys to the club. “I only wanted what I’d gone into the marriage with. The rest wasn’t worth anything to me.”
“I’ll never understand how you got suckered by her.” Karl shook his head and dropped into the chair in front of the desk.
It was simple really. He’d wanted her, he’d loved her, then he’d trusted her.
He’d been stupid.
“If you don’t clear the mortgage by the deadline, the bank will foreclose.”
“I know that,” Val snapped. He scrubbed a hand over his face and blew out a big breath. “Sorry, man. Just talking about it makes my skin crawl.”
“I know, buddy. I wish I could help you out more, but—”
“You’ve done all you can.” He waved his hand sharply, cutting Karl off. “And I promise you, your investment is safe.”
“I don’t give a damn about the money.”
“Just the same, it’s safe. I’ve given Vera enough. She can use all the influence her family has if she wants, but I will not forfeit this club.”
6
Samair woke slowly, the knowledge that she wasn’t alone in the bed creeping into her consciousness. She rolled away from the warm body she’d been cuddled against and landed on the floor. On her ass. Hard.
“Ouch!” She pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and glared at the figure still sound asleep in the bed. Some things never changed, Joey always had been a heavy sleeper. And a bed hog.
Samair stumbled to her feet and headed for the bathroom. After a long warm shower, with a quick blast of cold at the end, she felt awake. Almost.
She was just pulling on her dress pants from the night before, sans underwear once again, in the middle of the small studio apartment when Joey’s eyes popped open and she jumped out of bed, instantly awake.
“I hate you,” Samair muttered.
“I love you, too.”
Joey grinned as she made quick work of making the bed. “Still not a morning person, eh?”
“It’s dark out. Mornings are not supposed to be dark.”
Since the club hadn’t stopped playing music until after two in the morning and Joey wouldn’t leave while she could still dance, they’d only gotten home only a few hours ago. The good thing about that was that they’d fallen straight into bed with nothing more than muttered goodnights.
Joey laughed softly as she made her own way to the bathroom. “It’s almost October, what do you expect?”
“It’s not winter yet!”
“Will be soon,” Joey sing-songed over the sound of the shower turning on. Samair knew she was right, too. The days were getting shorter, and the nights longer. At least in Vancouver they didn’t get tons of snow all winter long like the rest of Canada.
As Samair passed the open door to the bathroom Joey stuck her head out from the shower. “Put the kettle on, would you? And be prepared to spill your guts when I get out.”
She’d known Joey would only give her so much time before she’d start demanding to know why she’d suddenly re-appeared.
The cab ride home the night before had been full of hushed giggles and light flirting as only friends who had once been lovers could achieve. There’d been no inquisition, only open acceptance. They’d been best friends for the four years of college, but had drifted apart physically over the years since. Yet, Joey’s open welcome the night before made it crystal clear to Samair that they had a friendship that wasn’t affected by things like distance.
So, she’d tell her friend everything.
She went into the kitchen, filled the shiny kettle with water and set it on the stove. Then she filled the glass she’d pulled from the cupboard with Diet Coke and leaned against the counter top. She stared unseeingly at the small studio apartment, the night before coming back to her in a rush.
* * *
She leaned against the wall just inside her apartment, her fingers gripping the leather backpack she always carried with her, and gaped at the scene playing out.
Kevin’s begging echoed through the room and cut through the roaring in her head. “Yes, Mistress… More please… Yes… I’m yours.”
For a full minute Samair stared. Her clean-cut boyfriend was naked and bent over the back of the living room couch as her roommate, Lisa, flexed her hips and shafted him with a big black strap-on.
Finally she summoned enough breath to speak. “Well, this explains a lot,” she said loud enough to be heard over the sound of bodies slapping together.
Kevin’s head jerked up in surprise and he tried to straighten from his position bent over the back over the sofa. The fact that his hands were cuffed behind his back, and that Lisa kept him pinned there with her hips, made his efforts futile.
“Samair! You’re home early!”
“I quit my job.” Well, wasn’t that a good comeback?
She stiffened her knees and straightened away from the wall. Ignoring the malicious glint in Lisa’s eyes, she spoke as casually as she could manage.
“You knew the whole time why our sex life sucked, didn’t you?”
Lisa rested a possessive hand on Kevin’s lower back and shrugged her delicate shoulders. “I knew what Kevin really needed, and I knew you’d never give it to him. I didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t.”
“Well, now you can ‘give it to him’ all the time. I’m done with you both.”
* * *
Samair gave her head a shake. It was over and done with. In the space of a couple of hours, she’d managed to toss away everything she’d worked for over the last few years. Shit, she didn’t even have clean clothes to wear!
Or a place to live.
She could probably stay with Joey for a while, but it was a really tiny apartment. Basically one room, with only a breakfast bar sep
arating the kitchen from the main area, and a curtain separating the bedroom from it. The curtain was open right now and Joey could see the already made-up bed and clothes on the floor from where she stood leaning on the bar. At least the bathroom had a door on it.
Not that it mattered since Joey hadn’t closed it and Samair could hear her off-key singing clearly.
One thing she knew for sure, she wasn’t going back. She’d pick up some of her stuff from old apartment, enough to get by, but that was it. Even though the apartment was in her name, she’d let Lisa have it and Kevin.
Her mind was made up; it was time for a life change. She’d be okay to stay with Joey for a short time while she figured out what the next step was, but the place was way too small for a visit much longer than that.
Mind you, since it was so small, the rent should be reasonable. She could probably get herself a place just like it. It would have everything she needed. Of course, she needed to find a new job first.
She banged her forehead lightly against the kitchen counter top. Fucked, fucked, I’m fucked.
“Stop that before you hurt yourself,” Joey strode from the bathroom to the bed area, naked. “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”
Samair ignored her question and asked her own as she watched her friend pull a pair of yoga pants on over a pair of nylon short shorts. A heavy sweatshirt then covered her sparkly Lycra sports bra. “You still teaching?”
“Five classes a day, five days a week. I’m a professional now.” She grinned. “But I’m not teaching today. I heard about an open call for dancers in a video shoot, so I’m going to audition.”
“Shit, you dance at the club. You’ve been a professional for years. You’ll ace the audition.”
“It’s a bar. It’s not the same thing.”
“You had to audition to be a dancer there, though, right?”
“Yes”
“Then it’s a job. You’re a professional. Not everyone can do that, stop selling yourself short.”
“And you stop avoiding me,” Joey said as she moved around the counter and poured the hot water for her tea. “You’re going to spill your guts to me right now. I don’t have time to fuck around.”
Samair sighed. “To sum everything up, I’ve finally decided to stop pretending to be someone I’m not. To stop pretending I’m happy with a mediocre job, and a mediocre boyfriend.”
“And what brought on this epiphany?”
The fact that Joey didn’t ask Samair what she’d meant didn’t escape her notice.
“My boss pissed me off and I walked out on my job only to get home early enough to find Kevin getting fucked up the ass by my so called friend with a strap-on.”
Joey’s jaw dropped, then she started to howl with laughter. “Oh my God! You’re kidding!”
“Nope.”
Joey laughed until tears leaked from her eyes. Taking deep breaths she eyed Samair closely. When she could talk without giggling she spoke. “Are you okay? I mean, how much did you love this guy?”
Samair smiled, seeing the humor in it all now that the shock had worn off. “I’m fine. I mean… I was shocked, angry even…but strangely, not hurt. After I told them what I thought of them I walked around for a bit, and I realized that I actually didn’t really care about any of the stuff that had happened. I’d pretty much reacted to it the way I thought I should, but really, I didn’t care.” She shook her head slowly. “I haven’t cared about anything for a while now.”
“Oh sweetie,” Joey reached out and grabbed her hand, linking their fingers together. As if she could read Samair’s mind she scolded Samair gently. “Just because you’re not heartbroken over those idiots doesn’t mean you don’t care. It just means that they didn’t surprise you. That deep down, you never expected anything more from them than what you got. Unfortunately, with your family, you’ve learned to expect less than true honesty from people.”
“I expect true honesty from you.”
“That’s because you and I are soul sisters, babe.” Joey winked at her over her mug of tea. “You know me as well as I know you.”
Joey was right. They’d seen each other for the first time in close to three years last night and it had felt like no time at all. It didn’t matter that she’d basically ditched Joey to focus on building a life she really hadn’t wanted, they knew each other’s hearts and secrets. They really were soul sisters.
“What did your boss do to piss you off? You’ve been working there since I met you. I thought you loved Bethany.”
“I do love Beth. Unfortunately for me, she got pregnant. Rosa, the owner, has been running the shop while Beth is on maternity leave, and she’s a stuck-up bitch who doesn’t know anything about fashion.”
Joey laughed. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“She just reminded me too much of my mom. Nothing I ever did was good enough. She pushed a button and I went off.” Samair smiled. “It sure felt good to tell her to fuck off, though.”
“For the sake of your sanity, you gotta do that every now and then.” She shrugged. “So what’s the plan now?”
“I’ve no idea. Can I stay with you for a while?”
The look Joey gave her made it clear she was an idiot for even asking. She set down her tea and wrapped Samair in a quick hug before slipping into her shoes and grabbing her gym bag.
“My laptop’s in that corner cabinet and an extra set of apartment keys are in the mug with the pens and pencils. Take them. I’ll be back around three, see you then!” And she was gone.
7
A car horn honked and brought Samair up short with one foot off the curb.
Shit, she better pay more attention or she was going to get run over. Between the dreary rain and the three hours of going through the job databank at the employment office, and she was in a bit of a mental fog. Glancing around, she spotted a Starbucks across the street and headed straight for it.
She carried a steaming mug of coffee to a small table near the window and had just sat down when her phone rang.
When she saw the caller ID she was tempted to ignore it. Instead, she swallowed a sigh and flipped open the phone. “Hi, Cherish, what’s up?”
“Samair, are you okay?” Her sister’s words were rushed, her voice worried. Cherish was only two years older than her, but she’d always acted like a second mother.
“Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I called Rosa’s and she said she’d fired you. What happened?”
“I didn’t get fired. I quit.” Samair glanced around the coffee shop, a few people were talking on phones, and with the rain outside the place was so busy her conversation wouldn’t bother anyone. She might as well get it over with. She was going to have to deal with her family sooner or later. “And you may as well know I broke up with Kevin, and I’m moving out of the apartment, too, so tell Mom and Brett if they want to get a hold of me my cell’s the only way right now.”
“You’re moving too? What’s going on, where are you going to live? Are you having a nervous breakdown?”
“No. I’m fine, everything is fine.” She swirled the stir stick in her coffee. “It’s just time for a change.”
“A change?”
A heavy sigh echoed in Samair’s ear and she closed her eyes. Here it comes.
“What could you possibly want to change? You have a great job, a boyfriend, and a nice apartment in a very nice neighborhood. You have everything you could want, Samair.”
“No, I had everything you could want. Everything Mom wanted us to have. But it wasn’t what I wanted.”
There was a moment of silence at Samair’s words. That Samair had been different from her siblings wasn’t a secret. Cherish was the smart, perfect one. Their younger brother, Brett, was the athletic, charming one. And Samair, the middle child, was the chubby, flaky one.
Cherish pushed forward. “Todd can probably get you a job in his office as an—”
“I don’t want to work for your husband.”
More silence. She could almost see Cherish sitting at her perfect kitchen table in her perfect house, shaking her head in bewilderment.
“I’m doing what I want to do, Cherish. I’m twenty-eight years old. Don’t you think it’s about time?”
“Where are you moving to? What are you going to do about a job? Samair, have you thought any of this through?”
Samair knew from experience the conversation was only going to go downhill from there. “I’m staying with Joey, and I’ll find a job. There are plenty of clothing stores out there.” So what if most were chain stores that wouldn’t allow her any freedom to alter the clothes for the clients?
To be honest, she was sick and tired of letting other people tell her what she could and couldn’t do. The ultimate would be to open her own store, but she couldn’t even afford to rent an apartment, let alone open a business.
As she looked out the window Samair listened with half an ear to her sister babble on about what Mom would think, and why would she want to work in a clothing store when she had a college education. “You might be a bit flaky, but you’re such a smart girl, Samair. You could do so much better than working as a salesgirl in some retail outlet.”
Tired of banging her head against a brick wall, Samair brought the conversation to a close. “I have to go now, Cherish. Tell Mom I’ll call her in a couple of days. And don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Samair stared at the people around her. Everyone doing their own thing, minding their own business. No one had heard Cherish’s harangue, but it was embarrassing just the same. It had been years since she’d been lectured like that. There’d been no lectures because she’d been a complete wuss. She’d stayed at a job when her new boss walked all over her, and she’d ignored the lack of chemistry with her boyfriend just because she thought she should be in a relationship.
Why she’d done that she didn’t know.
Yes, actually, she did know. She’d never really wanted a relationship, but after college, and getting a solid job—because it had been a good solid job when Bethany was running the boutique—a boyfriend was like the next step.
