by A. E. Murphy
“Marie is a genius,” Amelia responds and Marie nods frantically. I sigh and continue driving.
“You really want to know why I’m a genius don’t you.” Marie teases for the millionth time since leaving Amelia at school. “You really wanna know why I need your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Whatever, come on.”
“You do realize I’m supposed to be at work,” I sigh and check my watch, it’s nine fifteen. “Shit.” I’m late.
She waves me off, “I called Maya whilst you were sorting out Amelia. She’s fine with it.”
“She’s not my boss, James is.”
She raises a brow and gives me a look that says, ‘are you stupid?’ “Let’s pretend you didn’t just say that.” Gray. “Are we nearly there yet?”
Groan.
“LORYN!” Marie shouts and insistently bangs on the door and shutters. Christ.
I call Loryn again and look up to the top window. I see the curtains twitch, I wave at the tired looking female who smiles at me as if I’m the greatest thing in the world, I expect that look to be wiped away when she realizes Marie is here. She holds up her finger as if to say ‘one minute’.
Marie bursts through the door, her hands gripping a scared looking Loryn by the shoulders. “I’m a fucking genius!”
Loryn looks at me before looking back at the bouncing female, “And why’s that?”
“See all this space?” Marie motions to the large empty store with her arms spread wide, she turns a few times. “I have a plan, a brilliant plan!”
“Go on,” Loryn laughs suddenly sharing the bouncing female’s excitement.
I sit on the window ledge whilst Marie starts drawing on the white wall in pencil.
“I want to turn this half of the store into a studio, add a wall here, a small room here for dressing rooms. Take out the kitchen and extend this half into a hair and beauty salon. We could do family shoots, couple shoots, sexy shoots, they can get their hair and makeup done and then come straight through to me. Or it can work as one or the other!” That is actually a really good idea.
“And how will we get the money for such a venture?” Loryn doesn’t look convinced. “I’m only getting seven and a half grand from my insurance company.” Shit.
“Already figured that part out,” Marie grins and winks at me. “Maya, her company makes makeup and shit. We could ask her for a loan to do up the store and ask her for her products. This could really work.” Considering Marie has never asked Maya for anything I can really see how serious she is about this. She hates asking for money, in fact, I don’t think she ever has asked for money. Maya would easily go for this. “I’ve already got really decent camera equipment, all we’d need is to add some furniture, props, a bed and shit, to the studio area. It would rock. This area can be a full hair and beauty salon. You could turn the apartment upstairs into private rooms for waxing. The possibilities are endless.”
I shut off for the rest, I fetch breakfast whilst the girls squeal and go over ideas and such. Loryn seems to be all for it, if it’s making her happy, I’m all for it too. They are in the middle of their scheming when suddenly Loryn’s hands fly to her mouth.
“I can’t, not until…” she shakes her head and says one word. “Dana.”
“We can, we’ll install some CCTV, inside and outside, keep it safe,” Marie says and throws her arms around Loryn’s shoulders. “We’ll track Dana down and get this sorted. It’ll take ages to get the building up to scratch, you’ll need sinks, shelves, the wall putting in, special lighting, air con, the list is ridiculously long. By the time anything even begins we could have this shit with Dana sorted.”
Loryn looks at me, “What do you think Lucas?”
I tug on her braid, “I think it’s a great idea. Marie is right. This Dana shit will be sorted by then.” I’ll make sure of it.
She looks between us both, “You really think this would work? Why would anybody come to this part of town though?”
That’s when I chip in with my sarcasm, “It’s a shame we don’t know any good looking movie stars to get the ball rolling when renovations are done.”
Marie screams and jumps and pulls out her phone, “JACOB STONE!” Poor man.
“I’m going to work guys,” I say to them both. “You can handle it from here right?”
Marie nods and steps outside, she’s still on the phone to Jacob. I walk over to Loryn and cup her face in my hands, she smiles when I suck her lower into my mouth.
“Don’t go,” she whispers and bites on my top lip. I wrap my arms around her waist and bury my face in her neck. “Still coming back for lunch?”
“Babe, it’s almost eleven. I’m late. I won’t get a lunch,” I inhale the sweet scent of cherries as I bury my face in her warm neck and cup her ass with my hands. She sighs and moves her arms to around my neck. “Unless you want to go upstairs. I have ten minutes.”
“I think we’ve proven you need a lot longer than ten minutes.”
“I could make an exception, this once,” I press my lips to hers again and smile wickedly.
She glances at the door, “Marie is right there.”
I press my hips into hers, my cock instantly hardens, she groans at the same time as me. “I really don’t give a damn.”
Suddenly I’m yanked back by my collar and being pushed towards the door, “Girls need girl time. You go do man shit.” And the door is slammed on my face. I flip Marie the bird through the window and climb into my car. Women.
James is waiting for me in his office, he smiles briefly with a nod when I walk in and continues with his phone call. Once he hangs up, he looks at me. I’m currently sitting on the large sofa facing the huge floor to ceiling window.
“You’re late and Maya’s vanished with Marie and this Loryn character. I’m wondering if this is linked seeing as my dear wife didn’t say anything other than, ‘Marie is a fucking genius.’” He loosens his tie. “What’s going on?”
I shrug, “Honestly… it’s a long ass story. What’s on the agenda for us today?”
“I happen to have been in contact with an old professor of mine, who is now retired, he has agreed to teach you.” Teach me what? “The business side of things. I don’t have time and this man is a genius. You start classes in two months or so. Until then, I’m unsure where to put you.”
“I’m happy being errand boy. Besides, I have a feeling I have a new project about to come my way.”
“Go on.”
So I tell him about Marie’s ‘fucking’ genius plan, and how I’ll probably get roped into overseeing the renovation side of things. Not that I mind.
“And you say Maya is putting money into this?”
I shrug, “I assume so.”
“Oh thank god, that means she’ll be gone more,” say what? I watch him run his hands through his hair. “She’s driving me fucking crazy.”
“What’s she done now?”
“That’s the problem, she’s being sweet, kind, attentive and giving me those looks again. You know?” Not really. “The ones where there’s that twinkle of mischief in her eyes that says, ‘I’m going to hurt you.’” He hits his head on the desk. “Why did I fucking retaliate with barbecue sauce in her shampoo bottle?”
I burst out laughing, “That must have been fun to watch.”
He cringes, “She used the shampoo on our daughter first. Evelyn still stinks of barbecue sauce and it’s been a week.”
“What did Maya do?” Poor Evelyn, I can’t help but laugh though. That’s funny shit.
He shrugs, “Nothing, she just laughed it off, patted me on the cheek and said, ‘nice try.’”
“Yeah, she’s going to get you good dude.” And I can’t wait to see it.
We work in silence, well, he works I just respond to emails and such that don’t contain big words for him. Man, I miss my hammer and saw. James is extremely focused, how are we related? We are nothing alike in the smarts department. It’s just odd, he’s
focused, intelligent, determined and strong willed in the business area, yet completely smitten with his wife and kid to the point where she walks all over him. Fortunately she doesn’t take him for granted and she’s as equally smitten with him, just less intense about it.
I’m not book smart, although I’m certainly not stupid. And I am no push over, especially not with a woman. Crystal used to try and walk all over me, she would fuck around with me. I never stood for it, I have never in my life let anyone push me around or make me out to be some kind of pussy. But I did grow up moving from home to home, and some of them homes like to use you as their personal cleaner. I remember more often than not I said, I’ll do my share of the work, I’ll tidy up my own shit and I’ll keep my room clean, I’ll also help with the dishes and laundry if needed… but every single day? Not a fucking chance. I still think that’s fair though. They should have been looking after me, not the other way around.
When the day has ended I’ve done nothing but give people tours of the building, lead people to the correct conference rooms, oversee a couple of deliveries of stationary equipment with the company’s name on them. Oh, I also got coffee at least twenty times for myself, Margie who is Maya’s Personal Assistant and Carlos who is James’ Personal Assistant and twiddled my thumbs for a while.
“You can leave now,” James says. I’ve only been here four hours. “Go. It’s fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, no problem. I’m out with the guys on Saturday night. You coming?”
I shrug, “May as well.”
“Good, I’ll tell mom to prepare for the kids.”
His mom Sylvia, she’s awesome. Seriously.
I pick up Amelia from school, she asks constantly about Marie’s genius idea. So I tell her she’s going to start taking pretty photos of people. This seems to quench her thirst for information luckily. We get home, and just like any other night, I play with her, feed her, cuddle her, and read to her before bed. Now it’s my relax time.
I check my phone first. No messages. Huh, not sure if I like that.
Lucas: What are you doing?
I wait, and wait, and wait… and wait. Before finally, after half an hour of checking my phone every two minutes my phone alerts me to a message.
Loryn: Nothing much, Marie just left with Maya. You?
Lucas: Nothing much.
Loryn: Have you got the kids?
Every single time she refers to the fact I have more than one child makes me wince. I play it safe.
Lucas: Yeah. So I can’t come see you :(
Loryn: Want me to come to you? Xoxox
Fuck, what do I say now?
Lucas: Not tonight. Come stay Saturday night? I’m out with the boys.
Loryn: You want me to wait at your home, whilst you go out?
That sounded so much better in my head. Before I can respond another message comes through.
Loryn: We can meet up. I’m going out with Maya, Marie and Summer.
Lucas: I really don’t like the idea of you going out. Especially with everything so fucked up right now.
Loryn: Do you have to swear all the time? I’m going out… you’re not my keeper.
I don’t respond, I’m unsure how to respond. She really hates swearing… that’s not what I’m ignoring though, I’m ignoring the fact she’s suddenly bonded with my friends and family which is going to make this really awkward when we end this. The idea for the store is great, I’m happy for her, I just… hell. I don’t know what the fuck is going on in my head right now. There are no fucking answers. I’m also ignoring the fact she’s adamant that she’s going out. I really, really need to find Dana.
Lucas: Call me if you get this. It’s important.
As expected, Dana doesn’t reply. She doesn’t reply for the next few days which only makes my attitude towards Loryn going out even worse.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Losing it Lucas
We hit a club, Kyle and Jeremy already on the hunt for females. James and I are sitting in a booth drinking expensive whiskey and watching the others dance. Why are we here again?
“Dude, when you said guys’ night I thought you meant beer, pizza, and football or maybe pool or some shit like that, why are we here?” I glance around at the buzz of women and males acting like fucking idiots. “This is shit.”
“I’m only here to keep an eye on Maya,” he says with a slight smile.
“What a way to show her you trust her.”
He rolls his eyes, “I’m looking out for her. Men are too grabby nowadays.”
“And how do you know she’s going to be here?”
He shakes his phone, I see a little green dot on a map blinking every second, “GPS on her phone. She’s inside already.”
“Does she know?” I laugh once in disbelief.
He nods, “Yeah, it was her idea, just in case anything were to happen.” Makes sense. “I can see you thinking.” He can see me thinking? That’s great logic.
“I’m wondering if that sort of thing is available where Loryn’s concerned. It’s a good idea with the hell she’s been through.”
“Ah, you like her,” he laughs and slaps me on the back. I roll my eyes and take a sip of my whiskey with a satisfied gasp afterwards. “She’s gorgeous.” Say what? I follow his eyes and see Maya on the dance floor with Loryn and Marie. Summer is probably at the bar. “Fuck… I’m going over there.” I grab his arm and shake my head. I doubt Maya will be happy at him being here.
My entire body is tingling, what the fuck is Loryn wearing? So tight, and revealing… shit.
“Your wife is a bad fucking influence on her.”
“Yep.”
As if our being in the same room suddenly forms a connection between us Loryn turns, revealing the front of her dress that shows more than I feel comfortable with. I gulp, raise my glass and give her a look that says, ‘I’m watching’. What shocks me even more is the fact she comes over with a huge smile on her face.
And then walks straight past me, she hasn’t even fucking seen me, that smile wasn’t for me. I turn, James turns. We watch as Loryn rushes into the arms of a waiting male. My vision goes red when they wrap their arms around each other.
“Calm it dude, you don’t know anything yet. I made this mistake once with Maya. Just wait.” So I wait.
They hug for a long fucking time, then Loryn reaches up with her hand and cups the side of his face, he’s about the same size as Loryn in heels. I wouldn’t say he was ugly but he’s hardly great looking. Why do I even care? Because I don’t share… yeah. That’s it.
I watch them talk in the corner for a few minutes, then she leans up, kisses his cheek, grabs his hand and pulls him onto the dance floor. James beckons the others back to the booth where we sit and watch. They already have their females and are currently sucking face. I’m sat with my brother watching the woman whose bed I’ve shared more than once start to dance with this asshole after introducing him to the girls. I clearly see indecision come off Marie when she meets him, thank you Marie. She doesn’t like him… you can tell by the way she keeps watching him and Loryn together. Who the fuck is this prick and what the fuck is going on?
Two more guys join the group, clearly that ass holes friends. I watch as one of them throws his arm around Loryn’s neck and leans in to whisper in her ear. She throws her head back and laughs. Then she turns to Maya and Marie, they exchange a few words. Maya shakes her head, Marie shakes her head and glares openly, Summer then comes over from wherever the fuck she’s been, oblivious to the tension and hops straight into the middle, declaring the need to dance by the look of it. Man, that woman is expressive with her arms. She looks like she’s trying to land a god damn airplane or something.
I pull out my phone.
Lucas: Where are you?
I watch as Loryn pulls her phone from her purse, looks at it, presses something and puts it back in her bag. What the fuck?
“I’m going over there,” I announce and practically shove Ky
le out of the way. His new girlfriend for the night doesn’t look impressed. James follows me, we try to be sneaky. Unfortunately Maya sees James with a beaming smile announces, “BABY!” before launching her drunken self on her man, and attaching her lips to his.
I watch Loryn tense and slowly unwind herself from male number two. She turns to face me, wide eyed and gulps, “Lucas. What are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same question.” I glance at the three guys who seem to be watching our exchange with amusement.
She points to them and says their names like I actually give a fuck, “We used to work together. A couple of years back. They’re part of the backstage crew sort of.”
Male number one who she disappeared to the corner with holds up his hand, “I’m in graphic design. These guys do all the tech shit like set up the scenery.” He holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you man.” I take his hand briefly and slide my arm around Loryn’s waist. Not possessive at all. Just so you know.
“What are you doing?” Loryn hisses in my ear when I tug her body against mine. “You’re embarrassing me.”
I squeeze her tighter and slam my lips against hers, not giving a shit who’s watching.
She doesn’t return the kiss, not even a little. She does push me away though, “Lucas!” she wipes her mouth on her arm and I notice an awkward silence has fallen over our group.
“What?”
“Would you stop?” she hisses and shoots an embarrassed smile to everyone. They don’t seem to notice, apart from male number one, who is openly glaring at me without giving a shit who sees.
