“Ahhhh” I said. “Arizona Snowbowl at last.”
Blake kissed me sweetly on the lips and gave my bottom a little pat. I thought for a moment that he wanted to start something, but then he walked over to the kitchen and began to check out the refrigerator. He saw that it was fully stocked as per our request sheet.
When I first told Blake about the trip that Donna and her new boyfriend had invited us to go on, he was less than enthusiastic. I knew that he instantly thought about the fact that he would be missing work stuff for a weekend. Blake didn’t work as long on the weekends, but he was typically up at four, workout done by five, shower, breakfast, and at his desk by five-thirty. There he would stay working until about noon. He would only occasionally (every thirty minutes at least) look at his phone or reply to an email, but he called this taking the rest of the day off.
Blake also did not like Donna all that much. I hadn’t told her this, but I could tell she pretty much had figured it out. Blake thought she acted like a rich snob. He hated snobs, especially rich ones, and he hated her because she was not nearly rich enough to even act like a rich snob. I had tried on multiple occasions to get him to give her a shot and try to see her more positive qualities, but so far, I hadn’t had much luck.
“I don’t exactly relish the idea of spending a weekend with Donna,” Blake said. “Can’t we just take a weekend getaway for the two of us somewhere? It could be romantic.”
That was a very sweet, tempting thought, but I hadn’t been skiing in forever, I wanted to meet Donna’s new man, and I wanted to have a fun weekend as a group, something else we hardly did anymore.
“Ok,” Blake said, finally giving in. “I’ll put my best face on.”
And to his credit, he really had. It was me who was starting to resent the trip. The car ride had been even longer than I remembered, we had to stop to change our tire twice, and the awkward silence between Blake, Roy, and Donna was so extreme, that I felt like I was talking nonstop.
I hoped it would get better on the slopes.
Trying to think, I couldn’t remember exactly who had suggested taking a single car up to the ski lodge. I’m pretty sure it had been either me or Blake. Actually… I had made the suggestion, and then Blake had offered his huge SUV that was capable of seating all of us and had four wheel drive capable of handling the snowy and curvy roads leading up to the resort.
The second we all met, and Roy introduced himself to us, I could feel tension between he and Blake. I wasn’t sure what it was and with all of us in the same car, I hadn’t really had the chance to ask him. But now that we were alone in our room just getting settled in, I figured it was a perfect time to pop that question.
“So, what’s with you and Roy?” I asked bluntly. I should have used a bit more tact, but I was too tired to reel it in.
Blake grabbed a bottle of cranberry juice out of the fridge and looked up at me. “What do you mean?”
“Come on,” I teased. “You and he had some weird look when you first met.”
Blake took a sip of his juice and then looked at me. “I thought he looked familiar, but I’m not sure where from. It’s still bugging me, though. I just can’t place him. I’m not sure if he felt it or not, but that’s why.”
“Ok,” I said. “Donna seems really smitten with him.”
“Yeah, I noticed that. I wonder how long before she gets sick of him and dumps him like yesterday’s trash?”
“Be nice,” I said.
“What? I’m just saying that she goes through guys, like people go through tissues. Actually, most people treat tissues way better.”
I hit him playfully on the arm. “You had better behave yourself,” I said.
“Oh, really? Why is that?”
“Because I’d hate to have to punish you,” I said.
“Is that a rule, teacher?” Blake teased. “I hope you don’t keep me after class…”
I laughed at his role playing. He was so juvenile and silly sometimes.
Blake pulled me close and kissed me. His lips were warm, soft, and I could feel his erection already budding through his tight jeans. Oh, he was ready.
“I’ll do whatever is necessary,” I said reaching down to massage his crotch. He was getting very hard now.
“Oh… I hope that isn’t a threat…” Blake replied. “I’ve been very naughty, but I just can’t help myself.”
My fingers found his zipper and slowly started to pull it down. I could feel his boner freeing itself, getting ready for the excitement that surrounded us.
“Hey, you guys ready?”
The voice came through the front door. I froze instantly, spinning around. I thought that someone had actually come through the door for a moment. I’d never been much of an exhibitionist when it came to sex, and I wasn’t about to start that now.
But we were still alone.
“Guys?”
The voice came again, from the other side of the door. Donna. Damn.
“Yeah,” I said. “What’s up?”
Blake laughed as he pointed to his dick. We both tried to stifle our laughter.
“We’re heading to the restaurant,” Donna said. “Are you guys ready?”
Blake and I looked at each other. He shrugged and started to zip his pants back up.
“Rain check,” he whispered.
I laughed. “Yes, we are. We’ll meet you down there in a minute.”
“Ok,” Donna called.
“Well, that sucks,” I said.
“Oh, we will get it later,” Blake replied. “Trust me.”
We got dressed for dinner and twenty minutes later we were down at the restaurant with Roy and Donna. Roy was wearing what was possibly the flashiest looking suit I’d ever seen. It was just a shade darker than hot pink, but still bordering on purple, depending on exactly how the light was hitting him. He was a guy who loved to be noticed. That sort of flamboyance would turn me off in a heartbeat. It was usually found in people with low self-esteem in my opinion.
The restaurant at the lodge we were staying in had incredible reviews. It was not the five-star dining experience that Blake was used to. But in reality he loved regular, casual dining restaurants. Anywhere he could get a good baked potato was his kind of place. I’d never seen a man who loved baked potatoes smothered in cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, and ranch dressing than this man did. It was cute to watch.
Soon, we were all seated and looking over the menus. I thought it would be a good time to get the ball rolling and start a dialogue between Blake and Roy. “Roy, Donna told me that you went to Harvard for a bit.”
Roy looked up from his menu and smiled. He had what was possibly the phoniest smile I’d ever seen, but I pretended not to notice. I was trying to be the bigger person and give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Yeah, I did for three semesters. Then I dropped out,” Roy said.
I expected him to continue, but he let it drop there. Ok… I continued to peruse the menu. So far Roy’s conversation skills had not impressed me.
“Why did you quit?” Blake asked.
I was surprised he had joined the conversation and he was keeping it going. Roy gave him a stern look for about half a second, and then the phony smile was back.
“Oh, it just wasn’t my scene. I realized that I could learn so much more on my own and to go into the type of work I wanted to, I didn’t actually need a degree for it.”
“So, you’ve always wanted to be a personal trainer? And start your own gym, right? Don’t you have to know a lot about exercise physiology, or nutrition science for that?”
Roy smiled. “You do, but that information is out there. Besides, people don’t want to hear all the same regurgitated stuff that they’ve heard from every other trainer. No, they want something that will help them. They want someone who has actually done it.”
I nodded and smiled. I could tell that Roy was getting annoyed at Blake’s line of questioning, but I could also see that Blake was amused by it. He was getting that gleam i
n his eye, the same one he usually got when he was playing around and teasing.
He smiled and laughed slightly. “I’ve heard you are growing a pretty interesting YouTube channel.”
Roy smiled again, that same one. It was the kind of smile that made you want to rip his face off for some reason.
“That’s right,” Roy said.
“Well, tell me,” Blake said. “I’m into fitness and always have been. I watch a lot of YouTubers and follow them, but one thing I notice is so many of them contradict themselves in their videos, mostly I assume because they eventually run out of stuff to say. You know? One month they’ll say this is wrong, do this and the next month they will say the opposite. What are your thoughts?”
Roy was practically glaring at Blake now. I wondered if Blake knew more about Roy than he’d let on, or at least seen his videos and was now grilling him about some of the content. Blake hated fake people even more than I did, and he was not at all shy about pointing them out or condemning their actions to their face. Blake wasn’t scared of confrontation in the least.
Roy paused and then took a deep breath. I could tell the questions were getting to him. Donna looked at me as if pleading with her eyes for me to tell Blake to quit. I didn’t know who she thought I was engaged to, but Blake did as he pleased.
“It’s important to go over everything for every type of viewer. There are merits to all methods of training and diet. It’s up to the individual to find what is really best for them.”
“Ah, ok,” Blake said. “Then what do they need your videos and coaching plans for? If they are just going to do their own thing…”
Roy looked at Donna and totally ignored Blake. “Order me a large chef’s salad, fat free ranch dressing. I’m going to grab a drink from the bar and stretch my legs.”
Roy walked away to the bar.
Blake could hardly hold his laughter down.
Donna was furious. “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you drunk? You don’t insult someone’s career like that.”
Blake shrugged. “If he can’t handle criticism, then having an online video channel is probably the wrong career choice for him.”
“You are unbelievable,” Donna said. “What if he started picking apart your business?”
“Let him,” Blake said. “I need some new jokes for the next cocktail party.”
I knew where Blake was coming from, and I sort of agreed with him that Roy was overreacting. There was something up between Blake and Roy. I could tell. There was a tension between them, but I couldn’t tell if Blake had figured out where he knew Roy from, and that’s why he was giving him the third degree. Or, if he was just trying to read him and didn’t appreciate his fakeness, like me.
“Ok, if it will make you feel better, I’ll go make nice,” Blake said rising from his seat. “A drink sounds like a great idea anyway.”
I agreed, especially since the wait staff seemed to be extra slow this evening.
As Blake walked away, I reached over and patted Donna’s hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what is up with Blake. He’s been a bit moody all day.”
“I imagine this is the last place he wanted to be this weekend with the last people,” Donna said.
“That’s not true.”
“Please, Tina. I know that Blake has never really liked me, and I don’t care much for him either. But I was hoping that Roy and he would at least hit it off, and this could be a fun time. With you guys getting married and starting your lives together, I feel like this might be one of the last times I get to hang out with my best friend. I’m afraid that we are going to lose touch or something.”
“What? Lose touch? Why would you think that?” I asked.
“Because, I’ve seen it happen before. My cousin Alice said the same thing happened to her when her best friend got married. And even my sister Angela said it happened to her. Things are going to change between us, whether you believe it or not.”
“I don’t see why they have to. Things might become more challenging. There will be other things going on that will pull on us, but I don’t think that anything necessarily has to be any different. We might just have to work harder to make our friendship a priority. I love you and that will never change. So, we will be fine. Stop worrying. Hell, I never knew you were that sensitive.”
Donna blushed. “I do have my moments, but don’t tell anyone.”
“What did you just say?”
I heard the voice shouting over my shoulder. I turned around and saw something horrible. Blake and Roy were in each other’s faces and they were ready to kill each other. The bartender and a bouncer were rushing towards them, but I could tell that things were about to erupt before they would get there.
Roy threw a hard punch at Blake, who sidestepped it and retaliated with a roundhouse right hand that connected with the side of Roy’s jaw.
Roy’s head flew back, and his body followed as he slammed against the bar.
Around them people were gasping and looking on in watchful horror. A few had their phones out, of course, to film this monumental occasion. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. These two men were in an actual fistfight. I’d never seen Blake in a fight before, even though I knew he could handle himself. He’d been studying martial arts since he was a small child.
Roy lunged back towards Blake and threw a combination of rights and lefts. Blake dodged and blocked them all before returning a leg sweep and knocking Roy to the floor. He was about to pounce on him with a knee drop when the bouncers arrived to break it up.
Blake began laughing and smiling as they escorted him out of the restaurant.
“What the hell?” Donna asked. “Did that just happen?”
“Yes, it did. I don’t believe it either,” I said.
“This is crazy. Should we go after them?”
I watched as Roy was escorted out of the restaurant as well. He looked over at us and shrugged his shoulders with a smile. Donna smiled as if she thought it was cute. I did not find it amusing at all. Roy must have said or done something to get Blake riled up. Blake was typically very in control of himself. There was little that I’d ever seen actually upset him.
“No,” I said. “Let’s just stay and finish dinner together.”
I figured that Blake would have enjoyed the time to cool off and he didn’t need me making a big deal out of all this.
Donna and I ate our dinner and had a great time talking and going over the future, our different plans and so forth. I was shocked to see that she had developed an interest in starting her own fashion line at some point.
“I’ve reached out to a friend of mine from high school,” Donna said. “She just finished design school and she is working for a great company in New York. We just recently started talking and I showed her some of my ideas. She loved them and is going to show them to her boss. I thought I’d start small and just see what happens.”
“Wow, that sounds fantastic,” I said. “I hope all of that goes well for you.”
Donna continued to tell me about the designs she was working on and some marketing ideas she had.
“How long have you been working on this?” I asked. “I can’t believe you haven’t told me before.”
“Well, I thought you and the others would laugh, but with Megan giving me that bit of validation, it feels pretty good. I have some confidence now to talk about what I’m doing.”
“Good. You should be proud of your creations.”
We finished dinner and said goodbye, each of us retiring to our rooms.
When I walked in the door, Blake was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a beer. He had a wide grin on his face.
“Hey, baby,” he said. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” I said. “Dinner was fine, but we missed you guys. What the hell happened?”
Blake laughed. “Well, Roy is an asshole. That is all you need to know.”
“Seriously? That’s the best you got? I’m afraid I’m going to need more details than that.”
“He is an associate of a business partner I had a few years ago. The guy turned out to be a total jerk and Roy helped him try to screw me over financially. He was trying to get me involved as a cover for some kind of Ponzi scheme he was implementing. I discovered it and cut ties with him. I think I only met Roy once during that whole thing, but that face stayed with me.”
“Are you serious? Wow, no wonder you hate his guts,” I said. “I feel like I need to tell Donna what type of a guy she is mixed up with.”
Blake shook his head. “Honestly, if he is doing all this stuff now, he probably is trying to go legit. He was younger then, a bit more naïve and he was charmed by an older man who was taking advantage of us all. I shouldn’t have let him get under my skin tonight.”
“What was it that drove you to blows?” I asked.
Blake sighed and looked at me. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he was being held back.
“Tell me,” I said. Now I had to know.
“He suggested that the four of us do some swapping. He wanted to sleep with you and told me that I could have Donna for the night.”
I felt like someone had just hit me in the gut. “What?”
“Yeah… that was when I pushed him, and we started fighting. I think he suggested it just to get me to lose my temper and make me look bad. It worked. I’m gonna have to make a huge donation to this place to keep from getting kicked out probably.”
“That jerk,” I said. “I have to tell Donna now.”
“Not now,” Blake said. “Let’s finish off the trip. No point in ruining the whole weekend, right? Besides, I know she will see through his garbage eventually. Right now, she is just having fun with the newness of it all. She’ll come around.”
I still couldn’t believe it. What was happening? Donna was dating perhaps the world’s biggest creep and I wasn’t immediately telling her about it. What kind of a friend was I being?
But would she believe me? Would she really believe what Blake or I was saying? She was too caught up in Roy’s charms. Blake was right; she’d figure it out eventually. There was no reason to ruin our friendship over it.
His Secrets Page 9
