by Tasha Fawkes
I'd had a nice evening, so why was I so surprised? I knew what it was, but I didn't want to admit it. Ben had gotten me thinking with those prying questions of his. He had merely asked them, not said anything when I answered, but the look on his face said it all. I knew my parents pretty much ran my life, and one of these days, I swear I would stand up to them but good. But at the moment, I had another, greater concern on my mind. Quite unexpected and none too pleasing… I realized that I was developing growing feelings for him.
When I was around Ben, I felt like I had permission to drop the veneer of perfection, at least in private. He seemed almost amused by me at times, which I found annoying but perhaps understandable. Was I really a snob? Yes, I had to admit that I was. I'd grown up pampered, spoiled, and given everything my little heart desired. I never gave a thought, at least not much anyway, to people who had to work, had to worry about bills, rent payments, and like Ben, paying for school.
Everything had been handed to me on a silver platter but that wasn't my fault, was it? I wasn't going to apologize to anybody for growing up rich. But I could stand to eat a piece of humble pie once in a while, couldn't I?
"Hello, did you hear me?"
I jarred myself or my thoughts and glanced at Courtney, sitting on my couch, flipping through the latest issue of Vogue, eyebrow raised in question as a smile lifted the corner of her lips.
"Thinking about your boyfriend?" she teased.
"He's not my boyfriend," I mumbled.
"Really? Are you sure about that? After you just spent the last fifteen minutes talking about your dinner at Delmonico's?"
Was I that obvious? I didn't want to be. "He's just arm candy," I said. "And it was your idea, remember?"
"Sure," Courtney said with a grin. "I just didn't expect you to fall for him."
"What makes you think I'm falling for him?"
"Come on girlfriend, you don't have to put on airs with me. By the way, how come I haven't seen any pictures of you guys posted on Facebook? You don't think that your parents will eventually get around to looking at your social media?"
I made a face. "If my mom ever figured out how to look me up on Facebook, you could knock me over with a feather." I snarked.
"Don't underestimate them," Courtney said, flipping another page and pretending to read for a moment before looking up. "Let's go out tonight. All of us. Invite your arm candy so that we can meet him, too."
At first, I hesitated, but then figured why not? Going out with my friends tonight might snap me out of my funk, and showing off Ben might make any feel like I was retaining control. Then again, when exactly had I begun to lose it?
I shrugged. "Okay, I'll call him. Let's meet up at Twenty-Eight Club it nine o'clock. Sound like a plan?"
"Nine o'clock?" Courtney gasped. "You know that the real party doesn't begin until eleven!"
I barely got it out without her laughing. "It's a weeknight, Courtney. Ben has to work tomorrow. As a matter of fact, he may not even nibble at the invitation." Courtney waved a hand along my body.
"Then why don't you just offer to sweeten the pot?"
Everyone was inside, but I was waiting on the sidewalk in front of the club, watching for Ben, who said he would be arriving in a taxi. The street outside the club was crowded, taxis dropping off and picking up fares. Even outside with the door closed, the steady thrum of the music blasting from inside floated over the sound of traffic just outside, prompting nearly every visitor to raise their voice to be heard above the cacophony. When the door opened, I felt the steady whomp whomp of the music in my bones. The sound of laughter, and on occasion, the overly enthusiastic blaring of the DJ seemed to literally vibrate the sidewalk beneath my heels. The club was one of my favorites, always offering amusement. Tonight was not coming close to my expectations.
After Courtney had called "the gang", as I called them, my three closest friends: Brittany, Alicia, and Connie, we had all agreed to meet at the club at nine o'clock sharp. It was Ladies' Night, the drinks were cheap, the music loud, and of course, plenty of opportunity for pickups, which my friends often indulged in – me included. When I'd shown up with Courtney, sans Ben, they had teased me, implying that I'd made him up. I played it cool, glanced at Courtney to back me up, which she did, swearing that Ben was real, but I began to grow irritated anyway. They disappeared inside while I told them I'd wait for Ben outside.
I glanced at my watch again, frowning. He was more than late. I had told him to show up at nine o'clock sharp and here it was going on nine-thirty.
Before the gang had disappeared inside the club and the revelry going on inside, I grew even more perturbed at the gentle teasing I received, mainly from Connie. I didn't like to be teased. Was he going to stand me up? Leave me standing out here alone, waiting forever while inside, my friends snickered among each other?
"Shut up." I told myself. I wasn't being fair. Not to my friends, and not to Ben. While I didn't know Connie and Alicia as well as I knew Courtney, and certainly didn't confide in them to the same degree, we usually had fun together. We often joined in on wine tastings, shopping, or to the spa treatments and getaways. Then again, I knew better than to open up completely with them. Courtney was the only one to whom I would ever even consider revealing my true and honest feelings. Well, as much as I admitted to having them, at least. Sometimes, even with Courtney, I kept parts of myself hidden; my feelings, my opinions… my desperation…
"He's not coming?"
A voice shouted in my ear over the traffic, the horns, and the music blaring from inside when the door opened. I turned to find Courtney standing next to me. "He's coming!" I shouted back, hoping it was true. I gestured at the nearly bumper to bumper traffic on the street, wrinkling my nose against the strong odor of gasoline, exhaust, and the occasional whiff of overly strong perfume worn by ladies desperate to attract attention. "He probably just got held up."
"Come on inside, Karen," she shouted back.
She tugged on my arm but I resisted. "I'll give him five more minutes," I said. "And if he doesn't show up then, I'll—"
"Hey!"
I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to find Ben standing close by, his cheeks flushed, huffing with exertion. He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "Had the taxi dropped me off a couple blocks away. Sorry I'm late!"
His smiling excuse caused a burst of irritation to blossom. Not only had he kept me waiting, a rare occurrence that I let anyone get away with, but in addition, I was embarrassed. Right in front of Courtney and indirectly in front of my friends, he had embarrassed me. That he probably hadn't meant to was beside the point. The bitch in me roiled.
"You're over half an hour late!" I exclaimed, not meaning my words come out as accusing nor harsh as they did. Still, I needed him to know that I wasn't pleased. Surely, he knew better than to keep a lady waiting, didn't he? He looked startled and for a moment, I felt bad for calling him out like that. But it was true, wasn't it? He had kept me waiting.
"I had some work that I had to get done before I could leave the office," he shrugged, glancing at his watch. "I think I have time for maybe one drink, and then I'd better skedaddle." He grinned. "Got to get up with the worms tomorrow."
"Skedaddle?" Courtney grinned.
What was he trying to do? Sound like a country bumpkin? No, shut up, I scolded myself. That's not fair. Nor accurate. He might be from Oklahoma, but he was no bumpkin. I sighed and gestured from Ben to Courtney. "Ben, I'd like you to meet my friend, Courtney. Courtney, this is my… this is my friend, Ben."
To my dismay and not a little annoyance, I saw Courtney giving Ben a good look over. More like an inspection, with her gaze lingering on his wide chest and then his crotch before darting those ice blue contact lenses of hers back toward his face.
"Very pleased to meet you, Ben." She cooed, extending her hand.
My eyebrows went up as I watched Ben gently clasp her hand, turn it palm down, and lifted quickly to his lips to breeze a brief kiss on the back of h
er hand. An eyebrow went up and I frowned. What the hell was he up to? A snub for my comment of seconds ago? Well, if he wanted to play that game, he had chosen the wrong opponent.
"Nice to meet you too, Courtney," he said, giving her the same inspection that she'd given him.
All of a sudden, and quite to my dismay, the ugly green monster reared inside me. He was mine! It didn't matter that this was just a farce, that Ben and I were not dating, that he wasn't my boyfriend, or that we were nothing more than co-conspirators in a plan to temporarily get my parents off my back. He had no right to be flirting with anyone, and not with Courtney, who had been the one to suggest all of this in the first place.
And I didn't really care what Ben did, so why the surge of jealousy? I shook my head and gestured toward the club. "Shall we go inside and have some fun before you have to run home to bed?"
He gave me a look. I know I sounded snarky, but at this point, I couldn't help it. I had planned for this evening to be a distraction, to show him off to my friends, not to be kept waiting, not to feel like I was competing for his attention. When Courtney immediately looped her arm through his and proceeded to walk toward the club door, those very feelings amplified.
"Courtney!" I called after her, frowning. She merely turned to glance at me over her shoulder and winked. Maybe she thought it was funny, but I sure as hell didn't.
And as the evening wore on, my mood grew darker. Of course, my friends thought that Ben was to die for, and mercilessly and quite blatantly fawned at him, whether he was looking or not. Connie even had the audacity to rub her tits against his arm, pretending that she'd bumped into him on accident. She ignored my frown. I saw Ben's gaze latch onto those tits and wanted to blurt that they weren't real. Mine were real. Oh man, you're losing it…
By the expression on his face, I gather that he found the attention from my friends rather amusing. And I found myself growing increasingly irritated and put out. In order to maintain his attention on me, I asked him to go to the bar and get us each a drink. While he was gone, Courtney turned to me and shouted over the music.
"You didn't tell me he had such a fine ass!"
What to say to that? Before I could come up with an adequate reply, he returned with a Cosmopolitan for me, and what looked like some type of bubbly substance for him.
I gave him an eyebrow and he shrugged with a grin.
"Tonic water. I've got to work in the morning, remember?"
Courtney glanced at me, then at Ben. I saw my girlfriends exchanging quick glances as well. The dark emotions roiled again, angry with them but taking it out on Ben. "What is this?" I asked loudly, lifting the glass. I knew what it was, but I didn't want it.
"A Cosmo," he said.
He stood so close I felt his shoulder rubbing against mine. "I asked you for a Paloma," I shouted back. I gestured with the Cosmopolitan toward Courtney. "Want this?"
Courtney glanced at me, nodded, and reached for the glass as I turned back to Ben. "Can you go get me a Paloma? It's tequila, grapefruit, and club soda." For the first time since he'd arrived at the club, he frowned.
"I know what a Paloma is, Karen," he said with a tight smile. He had to raise his voice again to be heard over the music. "And you didn't specify what kind of drink you wanted. I assumed, since you had a Cosmo at your parents' house, that it was your drink of choice."
I lifted an eyebrow, more for my friends' sake than his. "Then you should've asked. I like a lot of different drinks."
He stared at me a moment, his expression bland, and then slid a hand into his pocket. I glanced down as well. I knew he wasn't reaching for his wallet, but for a second I felt bad. Drinks weren't cheap, even on Ladies' Night, and he probably wasn't carrying a lot of cash on him. At the same time, I couldn't exactly hand him money, could I? I leaned up close to him and shouted in his ear. "I'll take care of it later, okay?"
He shrugged and moved off to the bar, wading through the crowd planted in front of it. As he disappeared, I turned to my friends with a smile.
"What do you think?"
"Dreamy," Courtney replied, ruby red lips wrapped around a straw as her eyes remained riveted on Ben's disappearing figure.
"He's cute," Connie agreed, giving me in assessing gaze. "Where did you find him?"
I laughed, my throat growing hoarse from having to shout over the thumping music. "Believe it or not… well, I better keep that to myself for now. But he sure is hot, isn't it?"
"You sleep with him yet?" Connie asked, gazing toward the bar with an appraising look.
I nodded, also casting a glance toward the bar. He was returning with the Paloma in one hand, his glass of tonic water in the other. "You bet I have, and he's supremely gifted."
Just as he returned, the girls laughed, and as he handed me the Paloma, I murmured my thanks, though I doubt he heard it. We stood awkwardly for several moments, then one by one, my friends moved off to dance. Only Courtney remained with me.
"Want to dance?" he asked.
I glanced up at him, surprised. He wanted to dance? I had never even imagined that he could dance, except for maybe a square dance or something just as corny. Then I realized he wasn't looking at me. Wasn't asking me. He was looking at Courtney. Before I could protest, Courtney spoke up.
"I'd love to," she said
"No!" I shouted an instant later. "He can't dance with you," I said, turning to Courtney with a warning frown. What the hell was she doing? I saw the grin on her face. She was playing around. Typical Courtney, but I sure didn't appreciate it at the moment. I glanced up at Ben, but he was just watching us, that almost amused expression on his face, barely turning up the corners of his mouth and producing a small dimple in his left cheek that I had never noticed before.
He was playing me! He knew I was upset, and more than a tad jealous, and he was pushing my buttons! How dare… a wave of something tore through me. I wasn't sure if it was my temper or what, but surrounded by the base shaking the floor, the lights, and the blasting music, I had begun to feel a bit overheated and a little claustrophobic. Then again, maybe it was just Ben's proximity. Dammit! How dare he piss me off? How dare he play games… but wait. Why did I care? I didn't like him that way… did I? I couldn't develop feelings for him. I grunted a definitely unladylike grunt and swore under my breath. Impossible. No. That wasn't part of the plan.
"Actually, I'm getting a headache." I lifted my voice to explain to both of them. I turned to Courtney. "Would you mind if I just went home? You can tell the girls later that I bowed out, okay?"
"Sure thing." She shrugged, then gave me a wink. "Perhaps you should just go home and go to bed, take some aspirin or something."
Her emphasis on the word something didn't fool me a bit. I looked up at Ben. "Would you mind taking me home?"
Again he looked at me without much expression. I couldn't even begin to fathom what he was thinking. To be honest with myself, I had to admit that I was beginning to feel a little bit hot and bothered. My friends had deemed him good-looking, perhaps even expressed a bit of jealousy that I had caught him and they hadn't. And I hadn't lied about his skills in bed. Maybe, as a reward for him showing up so that I could show him off, I would give him a little treat.
"Sure," he said, gesturing toward the front door, but not before offering a nod and wave goodbye to Courtney, who merely watched us with amusement.
By the time we got outside, the hot and humid air, the rush of traffic, the scent of gas fumes, exhaust, and asphalt really did make me feel a little queasy. I stood close to Ben as he hailed a taxi. We climbed inside and I sat close to him, leaning my head on his shoulder. He stiffened, but didn't respond.
By the time we got back to my apartment, I really was feeling a bit woozy. I hadn't even drunk half of my Paloma, but whatever the reason, I did have the beginnings of a headache. He stepped out, opened the door, and waited. I climbed out and leaned against him, waiting for him to close the cab door and walk me to the front door. He didn't.
Maybe he needed
a little hint. I turned toward him, my breasts rubbing against his chest as I wrapped my arms around him and placed my chin on his chest. "Would you like to walk me upstairs? Come inside for little nightcap?"
He shook his head. I stared with dismay, then annoyance. What the hell? "Why not?" I asked, truly surprised. I lowered my voice. "You do understand what I'm offering, don't you?"
He set me gently away from him and replied, his voice low so that no passersby or the cab driver could hear. What he said next was unmistakable.
"Even if this relationship between us is fake, Karen, it doesn't give you the right to treat me like a piece of shit in front of your friends." He turned to climb back into the cab but paused long enough to look back over his shoulder. "Goodnight."
With that, he slammed the door shut and the cab squealed away from the curb, leaving me standing there with my mouth hanging open, my emotions in a turmoil.
Shit.
Chapter 12
Ben
I guess it was too late to wonder if I had just made a big mistake, especially since I hadn't talked to Karen in two days. I didn't particularly care if she was angry with me for calling her out for the way she had treated me at the club. What did she think I was? A boy toy? Arm candy? A tool? I don't care what her friends thought of me, or her for that matter. She should've known better. Treating me like a piece of crap in front of her friends was unacceptable.
I knew that when she and I were alone, Karen turned pretty darned human. It was when she was around other people that I saw most of her negative behaviors coming out. Maybe she was so used to it she couldn't help herself. Maybe she didn't care. But she wasn't going to treat me like that, no way in hell.
For that reason, I was a bit surprised that she sounded so calm and pleasant when I called her up this morning. It was Sunday, my day off, and my parents had invited me over for dinner. We tried to have a Sunday dinner at least once a month, depending on my work schedule. On a whim, I asked if I could bring someone along. That was a first since they'd arrived in the region, and to say my mother was pleased would be an understatement. At the same time, I knew that introducing Karen to my parents was risky. I should not have just walked away from Karen on the sidewalk the other evening, but by the time I got home, I'd calmed down. She was difficult, no doubt about it. Maybe she had reasons for being so difficult, of which I was sure after meeting her parents. It wasn't that I was expecting to change her, not really. I didn't want her to mold into something I wanted her to be.
