False Pretenses

by Tressie Lockwood

  Piper came into view and then a woman she didn’t recognize. “I told you I would call you,” Piper said to the woman, who had dark hair cropped so close to her head, she seemed more like a soft-featured man than a woman. Her figure, almost as slender as Piper’s was unmistakably female, though, with large breasts and curvy hips.

  The woman frowned and drew Piper close, so close that their chests touched. Alyssa expected Piper to jerk away, but she stayed in the embrace and lowered her lashes like a woman in the throes of desire.

  “Why wouldn’t I try to see you?” the woman complained. “I hate that you haven’t told them about me yet. It’s been three years, Piper. I think it’s time, and I got my dad to agree to let me come down here. Please, just—”

  “No. Look, I love you, but I’m not ready.”

  Alyssa didn’t realize she’d gasped until the two women turned in her direction. All the blood drained from Piper’s face, and she rocked so much on her feet, her girlfriend had to steady her. Alyssa took a step back.

  “Um, sorry, I think I have the wrong room.” She yanked the door shut with too much force and spun on her heel. In seconds, she arrived back at her seat and dropped into it, panting.

  Lydia frowned in concern. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  Alyssa forced a smile. “I’m fine, thanks.” She scrambled for an excuse while trying to make sense of what she’d just witnessed. “Oh, Nathan is going to join us for lunch, so I need to order him something.”

  Lydia clapped her hands. “Good! We can show him what we bought. Leo gets worn out too quickly, so I have to make Nathan endure it.” She laughed. “He’s a good son. He doesn’t complain.”

  Alyssa laughed. “So you know what you’re doing.”

  The older woman winked. “Of course. Men are here to serve us, darling. Never forget that.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  They continued to chat after Alyssa put in Nathan’s order with the waiter, and just before he arrived, Piper returned to the table alone. She sat down, more subdued than Alyssa had seen her since they met, and the younger woman refused to meet her gaze. With her hands in her lap, Piper’s shoulders remained high and stiff. The moment her brother arrived, the tension in them grew still more. Alyssa guessed she waited on pins and needles for Alyssa to blow her cover.

  If I was the bitch she thinks I am, I’d have her. Maybe now she’ll get off my back when she realizes I don’t give a damn about her secrets.

  “Mom, Piper,” Nathan greeted his family and then leaned over to kiss Alyssa. She offered him her cheek, but a click of his tongue in chastisement made her raise her chin, and he kissed her lips. He took the seat next to her and scooted closer to Alyssa’s side, as if he weren’t near enough. She did her best not to fidget, but Nathan seemed at ease, damn the man. “So, ladies, how did the shopping go?”

  Lydia launched into a play-by-play of everywhere they’d gone and everything they’d said while there. Between sips of wine, she rifled through bags to pull out items to show her son. Alyssa wondered how she could go on with so few breaths at her age. All the while, Nathan’s expression of polite interest never changed. On impulse, Alyssa laid a hand on his thigh, and the muscles tautened under her touch. She jerked away, but Nathan caught her fingers and placed them back on his leg. He peered down at her, causing her heartbeat to increase.

  “Okay?” he whispered.

  “Of course,” she murmured back.

  Across the table, Piper knocked over a glass of water, and a waiter materialized from nowhere to mop up the mess. Nathan studied his sister in silence. Her hands fluttered all the more, and the same server saved the replacement glass from her destruction just in time.

  “Is there something bothering you, Piper?” Nathan queried.

  “Why should it be?” she croaked and then cleared her throat. “I’m fine. Worry about your girlfriend.”

  Nathan looked from his sister to Alyssa and back again. Alyssa rolled her eyes and shrugged.

  “They think I don’t know, but the two of them haven’t been getting along all morning,” Lydia said. “I’m trying to stay positive, but I don’t like the negativity. It’s not good for Dad.”

  All conversation came to a halt. Guilt tightened the muscles in Alyssa’s chest. She’d thought Lydia’s constant chatter the result of just her personality, but from her words, she realized she worried about her husband.

  “I’m sorry, Mom.” Piper’s sincerity shone clear in her watery gaze. That they each felt the pain of Leo’s sickness no matter the happy face they put on brought home to Alyssa that she didn’t belong among them, least of all at a time like this. She considered informing Nathan when they were alone that she would fly home tomorrow. He could say she’d had an emergency.

  “I’m not very hungry,” Lydia announced.

  The food arrived, and with the assistance of a couple servers was soon in place on the table. Nathan pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “I’m afraid we won’t be able to stay. This should cover everything.” He tossed a few bills on the table, and Alyssa guessed it amounted to much more than the charge plus a generous tip.

  The waiter’s brows rose. “I apologize, Mr. Corde. Was there something you weren’t satisfied with in our service or the food?”

  “Not at all. A family matter.”

  “Of course, sir. Shall we box this up?”

  Nathan rose. “That won’t be necessary.”

  Alyssa shook her head. “Oh hell no, we can’t just waste food like this. Please, box it all. We can eat it later if we get hungry, or for dinner. Thanks.”

  All three Cordes looked at her like she’d lost her mind. Alyssa crossed her arms and stared back. Amusement brightened Nathan’s eyes, and he ran a hand down her arm. “You heard the woman. Please box everything.”

  As they left the restaurant, Alyssa expected backlash from Piper but got nothing. The woman took the seat opposite her in the limo and stared out the window. Alyssa sat at Nathan’s side, and he grasped her hand in his, lacing his fingers with hers. His mother took the seat beside Piper, and soon they arrived at the mansion.

  When the car door opened at the chauffeur’s guidance, she started to get out, but Nathan held her back. She glanced up at him, but he said nothing while his mother and sister vacated the vehicle. When they had gone inside, he waved the driver away.

  “Give us a moment, Felix.”

  The man nodded and shut the door. Wary, Alyssa faced Nathan. “What’s up?”

  He hesitated and then patted her hand. Something told her she wouldn’t like what was coming.

  “We don’t…usually box food we don’t eat.”

  She tilted her head to the side, studying him. “And what? Oh, did I embarrass you?”

  “Not embarrass exactly. You don’t know how we do things.”

  Alyssa looked away from him and tugged her hand free of his. She raised it to gesture while she spoke, thought better of the words she intended, and tapped a finger across her lips.

  “I don’t know how you do things?” For the life of her, she couldn’t get a grip on the rising anger. “So in other words, you waste food on a regular basis, untouched food, food that was slaved over in a hot kitchen for you, food that could have gone to someone else who would appreciate it, but instead, they had to be ousted because your family showed up unannounced at a restaurant where they require reservations.”

  Nathan drew back as if she’d slapped him. The displeasure radiated off of him. “It’s not a situation we need to argue about, Alyssa. We just need to come to an agreement that—”

  “Oh, an agreement!”

  His eyebrows snapped together over darkened eyes. “Alyssa.”

  “Don’t Alyssa me.” He had no idea of the many nights she had to do with ramen and green beans because she couldn’t afford meat when money got tight. That wasn’t his fault, but the man knew nothing of suffering, and she wouldn’t sit here and be made to feel ashamed of asking for a box.

  He sighed, a long-suffe
ring sound that pissed her off all the more.

  “I’m not angry. Nor am I scolding you as if you’d made a mistake. I respect who you are and your experiences.”

  “Yeah, I’ll just bet you do.”

  He grabbed for her hand, but she moved it out of reach. Not to be put off, he slid a palm over her belly, and she could have cussed out her own flesh at the reaction of his touch. Short of fleeing the car, she sat stuck.

  “Contrary to your assumptions, we do not make a habit of wasting food.”

  “But you don’t eat leftovers. I don’t even know why we’re sitting here having this discussion. It’s pointless. Okay, I won’t ask for anything to be boxed again. Happy?”

  He stroked her cheek, and his face softened. “How about we offer the food to the staff? Will that make you happy?”

  As if he’s really my man and needs to make me happy. “Okay. That sounds good.”

  “Great. Shall we go inside?”

  He opened the door and gestured for her to precede him into the house. Alyssa wondered what else she’d have to learn about rich people and how their worlds did not mesh before the end of her foray into fantasyland ended.

  Chapter Six

  “Our turn,” Nathan announced and stood to pull Alyssa from her seat. She followed him to the middle of the floor and glanced over to his dad and mom, sitting side by side, with Piper sitting nearby in a recliner, bare feet drawn up to her chest. Alyssa could not believe they were playing charades, but she had to admit it was fun. Leo didn’t participate, but enjoyed laughing at their antics. Alyssa, who didn’t get out to social gatherings that much where she might have learned better skills at these types of games, sucked royal ass at it and despised whoever had suggested the entertainment. Then again, it might have been Nathan, and she glared at him. She speculated on whether he’d suggested the game because he thought it was something she as a middle-class woman would enjoy. On another thought, the three Cordes were decent at picking up each other’s clues, while she missed most.

  “You can do this, honey,” he encouraged her. “Just remember tugging of the ear means ‘sounds like.’ If I hold up fingers, it indicates the number of words, or if we’re down to a single word, number of syllables.”

  She grumbled at him, “I remember that part.”

  “I can’t believe you haven’t played this more than once in your life, darling,” Lydia said, making her feel worse.

  Alyssa stabbed an accusing finger toward her pretend boyfriend. “Nathan’s acting stinks. I need a better partner, that’s all.”

  “You will pay for that remark, woman.”

  “Gag,” was Piper’s single comment.

  Nathan took the hat from his father’s hands. “It’s your turn to act it out, Alyssa, so make it good.”

  The game continued, and Alyssa found out it wasn’t Nathan’s impressions of scenes and words that presented the problem. They soon had to admit defeat, and Lydia, gracious hostess that she was, offered the best player to pair with Alyssa for the next round—Piper. Nathan’s younger sister popped up from her chair and strode with purpose over to Alyssa. She all but dragged her toward the door, calling over her shoulder, “Quick strategy session,” and the others, including Leo, burst out laughing.

  The second the door clicked closed behind them, Piper dropped her hold on Alyssa’s arm. The woman’s entire visage transformed into one of dislike and suspicion. “What are you waiting for?”

  “Excuse me?”

  Piper lowered her voice. “You heard me. What are you waiting for? We both know what you saw back at the restaurant, so why haven’t you told my family? I thought that’s why you kept Nathan talking in the car after Mom and I got out, but he didn’t say anything to me or act like he knew my secret.”

  Alyssa rocked back on her heels and folded her arms over her chest. “It must have killed you waiting for us to come inside, huh?”

  “Don’t play games with me, bitch.”

  Alyssa laughed. “Go ahead. Please get in my face. I dare you.”

  Piper seemed to think better of stepping to Alyssa, and she took a couple steps in retreat. “I get it. You want to hold it over my head a while, waiting for the right time, when it benefits you the most.”

  “Wow, is this how you all are? Trusting no one, assuming the worst?” Alyssa shook her head and turned toward the living room, her hand on the knob. “I don’t give two figs about what you do with your personal life. If you haven’t come out to your family, that’s your problem. If you think I’m lying and that I’m just waiting for the right time, I don’t give a crap about that either. Stay in the hall sulking like an infant if you want to. I’m going in.”

  Alyssa put on a smile and rubbed her hands together as if she had the greatest plan in the world to overthrow Nathan and his mom. “Ready, you two? You’re going down. Just want you to know this.”

  Nathan cast her a curious glance, but then smiled in return. “Not on your life, baby. You’re beautiful, but I have to show you who has the upper hand.”

  “Aw, that’s the sweetest thing to say,” Lydia purred.

  “My boy,” Leo echoed.

  Alyssa rolled her eyes. “How was that sweet? The man wants to control me. You don’t know who you’re dealing with, Mr. Nathan Corde.”

  A challenge reflected in the hazel eyes locked with hers. “I’m beginning to find out, and I think I will continue.”

  The game progressed, and a short while later, Alyssa whooped in triumph. “See, I told you! We schooled you, Nathan and Lydia.”

  “Yes, you did school us, dear,” Lydia admitted.

  Alyssa burst out laughing at the woman’s use of slang. Nathan conceded defeat with less aplomb. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he nabbed her before she could scurry away. He captured her chin and lowered his head as if to kiss her, when Lydia cried out.

  “Leo, are you okay?” The terror in those high-pitched words tore across Alyssa’s chest. Nathan released her and spun on his heel to his father.

  “Dad?”

  All three Cordes bent over Leo, who had paled more than he already was. His hands shook with violence, and he seemed to have trouble catching his breath. Nathan’s gaze bore into hers. “Get Aziz now!”

  Alyssa nodded and fled the room, shouting for the butler. As Nathan carried his father to the car, Aziz screeched to a halt at the front of the house. Alyssa realized Felix did not live in the house like the other two did, nor did the cook and the assistant maid who helped Talia during the day. Aziz would drive.

  Alyssa hung back as the others piled into the car, and Nathan took her hand after he’d buckled his father inside. “Get in,” he commanded. She didn’t protest when his grip tightened to the point of pain. The set of his jaw, the pallor of his own skin, and the way he never looked at her but didn’t take his gaze off his father displayed his fear. He loved his dad, and this situation bore heavy on him.

  She settled in at his side as they whisked to the hospital. Lydia barked sharp orders into her cell phone while holding Leo’s hand. By the time they drew into the driveway at the emergency entrance, orderlies were wheeling a gurney toward them, and a man who must have been a doctor by his authoritative presence stood nearby.

  The next hour dragged by with the family in the waiting room and Lydia in with Leo. Nathan paced, and Piper sat with feet drawn up, shivering in her chair. The blank expression in her eyes told Alyssa she didn’t realize she’d left the house without her shoes. Alyssa stood and walked over to the triage station. “Any way we can get some of those socks with the nonskid stuff on the bottom?”

  The nurse opened her mouth as if to say no. Alyssa interrupted. “The Cordes are so worried about their dad, Piper forgot her shoes.”

  “The Cordes, oh yes, of course.”

  Alyssa bit down on the bitterness and thanked the woman for the socks. She handed them to Piper, who sat staring at them in her hand. Nathan stooped in front of her and drew them onto her feet. Piper muttered her thanks to her brother, a
nd Alyssa returned to her chair. Time crawled by. Nathan returned to her side and cupped her face between two hands before resting his forehead against hers. “Thank you for being here.”

  “You don’t need me,” she whispered back and struggled with the ache caused from seeing his pain. “You’re surrounded by your family, and that’s what’s important. It might be best if Aziz takes me back to your house.”

  “Stay…please.”

  He gave no elaboration, and she nodded in silence. They sat side by side waiting, and at last, Lydia appeared, looking haggard. The change in the stylish woman worried Alyssa all the more. “He’s out of the woods for now. They say we can see him, but not too long. They’re moving him to the ICU, and I’m staying the night.”

  Nathan drew his mother into his arms, and she allowed herself a quick cry before forcing a smile. Alyssa didn’t know how she did it. This time when Nathan tried bringing her along, she dug her heels in and remained in the waiting room until they returned. Just as Lydia indicated, the visit lasted no more than a few moments. Then they were on their way back to the mansion. The silent interior of the car weighed down, and Alyssa hopped out of the vehicle the second it came to a complete stop. She checked her watch and noted the late hour. A glance at Nathan showed he wasn’t ready to sleep.

  “Good night,” Piper murmured and headed up to the stairs. If her brother’s response reached her ears, Alyssa would have been surprised. She took his arm and tugged him in the direction of the kitchen.

  “This way,” she told him. He hesitated, a questioning expression spreading over his face. “Comfort food.”

  They strode into the kitchen, which Alyssa had so far only glimpsed in passing. The room expanded bigger than her apartment. Nathan dropped into a chair and leaned back in it. The faraway look in his eyes told her he moved on automatic.

  Shoving aside the fact that she was a guest, Alyssa raided the refrigerator. As she expected, a chocolate cake sat on one shelf with a single slice missing. Good. She wouldn’t need to feel bad about cutting into a brand-new one. After she’d arranged a piece for her and a piece for Nathan in bowls, she discovered vanilla ice cream in the freezer and heaped two spoonfuls for each of them into the dishes.