The men said cheers and the women cooed at his sweetness, glasses clinking.
"And where’s Allie?" he said, eyes hunting.
I blushed. What was he possibly going to say about me? I couldn’t imagine it could be anything good. I tried to slide into the kitchen, but some fat man who had drank too much of my dad’s whiskey stopped me and jubilantly pushed me back into the room with a red-faced grin.
"There she is," James said, pointing at me with his glass as I stumbled into the middle of the room. I smiled nervously as every face turned to look at me. "And Allie," he said, his eyes taking in my black dress for the first time. "And Allie," he repeated. He stared in silence for what felt like an eternity. I watched as his eyes dilated, his mouth opened slightly, and I swear I saw his tongue dart out of his mouth to his lips for the briefest of moments.
Did I just make Mr. Cool and Steady lose his train of thought?
But he regained his poise and finished. "Well, without her I wouldn’t be where I am today either. So thanks, family. I guess what I’m saying is that this party should be for you, not me. Cheers."
"Cheers!"
As James drank from his whiskey his eyes found mine again. I looked away, unable to hold his gaze. I left the room.
I needed a drink.
***
I grabbed a glass of champagne from the bar and downed it, then had the barman pour me another. My dad had really gone all out for the cocktail party. There were two servers wandering around with trays of drinks, a third with hors d'ouvres, and a fourth pouring in my dad’s study which he had converted into a bar for the evening.
I was watching the foamy champagne fill the fluted glass when I spotted James heading straight towards me. There was no running off this time. I smiled sarcastically. "I always knew you were a mama’s boy."
He grinned. Everything really was just a game for him. One he had every expectation of winning. "Have I ever denied it?" His eyes gazed on my cleavage before finding their way back up to my face. "I see my mom wasn’t exaggerating about you and your New York change."
I feigned disinterest in his opinion. "I didn’t change because of New York. I just found a way to finally be myself out there. Certain people made that impossible for me here. You know?"
"Don’t be bitter," he chided. "Bitter isn’t sexy, and you don’t want to ruin this whole little black dress thing you have going on, do you?"
Was he complimenting me, or making fun of me? God, I hated him. "Whatever," I said. "Did you want something or did you just come over here to gloat about another magazine cover?"
He laughed. "I almost forgot you were such an angry person. Now that I’m standing in front of you, though, I can’t imagine how I could have."
"And here I was thinking a billion dollars might have made you a little bit less of an asshole. Foolish, foolish me."
He grinned, obviously enjoying himself. "You’ve got to be the only person I know who thinks money can make someone less of an ass."
"Certain cases are hopeless."
"Absolutely hopeless." He sipped his whiskey, and his eyes roamed over me again. "Maybe I need to get to New York more often, if the girls all look like you do."
He caught me off guard with that. I grabbed my champagne and took a sip, searching for something to say back to him. Thankfully, my phone rang and I didn’t have to. I didn’t bother excusing myself, I just answered it.
"Hey, are you ready?" It was Tessa.
I stared up at James. "Yeah, I’m ready. Just let me grab a coat. Are you out front?"
"You know it, girl."
"Okay. Kisses." I hung up the phone.
"Let me guess, Tessa?" James said, as if her name had a sour taste or something. He had never cared much for her, but I wasn’t sure why. Tessa said she had never even spoken to him, so she was as clueless as I was. "Where are you two off to tonight?"
"I’m sorry, did I give you the impression that it was any of your business?" I downed my champagne and with another sarcastic smile said goodbye. "Enjoy your little party, James."
I didn’t turn around to look, but just in case he was watching me, I walked away with all the sway my hips could handle.
"Be careful," he shouted after me.
Chapter Five
The Statesman Bar and Lanes was an even nastier dive than I remembered. If they made any money, which with the prices they charged you had to wonder, then none of it was being invested back into the place. Paint peeled off the walls. The lights that hung over the booths and pool tables were thick with dust-caked grease. The bathrooms... it was better just to hold it.
But if the setting wasn’t picturesque, the night held other charms. Like walking in and having the likes of Dennis Kamp, Jaime Marshall and Kevin Fisher all slobbering over my legs and cleavage when I took off my coat. They were some of the cutest boys to go through Bloomfield High, and not one of them had given me the time of day.
But it looked like they had plenty of time to share tonight. Even when Jaime and Kevin were standing with pretty girlfriends who didn’t seem to like the fact their boyfriends’ jaws were on the floor.
Did it make me a terrible person that their grazing eyes made me feel so good about myself? I decided I didn’t care. I had suffered enough at the hands of these people to enjoy myself a bit. I deserved a little bit of fun.
There were other alumni around, even guys and girls in James’s class or even older. But so far, I hadn’t spotted many of our own classmates.
"No queen bee?" I said as Tessa walked over with a pitcher of tap beer and a stack of plastic cups.
"Audrey Lipman?" Tessa said. She flashed a wicked grin as she served our beer. "Oh, man. You didn’t hear."
"What? Cheers," I said, pushing my plastic cup into hers and sipping at the skunky beer.
Tessa made me wait as she drank half her cup in three big swallows. "She’s pregnant."
"She’s what!"
Tessa nodded, topping off her beer. "Yeah, she’s huge. Like—huge. I think she’s due next month."
I counted the months off in my head. "But... that means she was pregnant already at the end of the school year."
"Yeah. And it gets better."
"It’s not Parker’s," I guessed.
"Nope."
"Shut up."
"Some guy from Fairport, I guess. I’ve never seen him.” She shrugged and added more beer to her cup. “Parker’s not having anything to do with it. Few months ago he made this huge scene at Morgan’s, called her a slut in front of the entire grocery line. The old ladies were scandalized."
I imagined Audrey being humiliated in the line, but I couldn't get any pleasure from it. Usually, her downfall would have made me wet myself with joy, but picturing her pregnant when it happened... "That actually makes me kind of sad."
Tessa practically spit out her beer on me. "Since when did you have any love for Audrey? The girl would have literally crucified you if she could have gotten away with it."
"Yeah, but it’s different if she’s pregnant."
"I think she’s an idiot. She should have had it taken care of. She’s going to ruin her life for a kid nobody wants."
My jaw dropped. "You’re horrible! It’s not going to ruin her life," I said. "She’s going to have a beautiful little baby."
"Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot you were baby crazy."
"I’m not baby crazy."
"You definitely are. And speak of the devil," Tessa tilted her head towards the door behind me. "Classy girl, coming to this shit hole with a belly like that."
"Stop it," I said, turning around to look. Audrey was big, but the belly suited her. In fact, she looked beautiful, her face full of color and happiness. I was jealous. "She looks great."
"So she gets knocked up by some scumbag she hardly knows and now you’re her number one fan?"
I rolled my eyes. "You’re mean."
"Uh oh, looks like she’s spotted you. Incoming in 3. 2. 1."
"Allison Masters? Oh. My. God."
I turned around, steeling myself. Maybe Tessa was right and I was being naive. "Hi, Audrey," I said, pulling my hair behind my ear.
"You look amazing!"
I almost choked on my beer. "Uhm, thank you."
"You’re in New York now, right?"
"Yeah." I gave Tessa a look out of the corner of my eye but she just shrugged.
"You look like a New Yorker! It looks like it was a good change for you. You really look fantastic."
"And so do you. You’re glowing!" I said, unable to stop her friendliness from infecting me.
She ran her hands over her big belly. I don’t think I had ever seen her smile so sincerely and kindly before. "Thank you. Say thank you, Little Eva," she said to her belly.
"What a pretty name," I said. I couldn't stop myself from asking. "How many weeks are you?"
"Thirty-two on Monday,"she answered before someone called her name and she looked away and waved. "I’m so glad things are going well for you. You look great! Bye, Tessa."
She walked away.
Tessa rolled her eyes. "What. The. Fuck. Was. That."
"Shut up and have your bouncer boyfriend fetch us more beer."
***
After midnight, and after several more pitchers of their nasty beer, things had become a bit more lively around the Statesman. The place had filled in with Bloomfield high alums from the last ten years, and among them I had spotted all three of my ex-boyfriends.
So far none of them had the audacity to stop and say hello, which suited me just fine. Every one of them were total jerks and none of our relationships ended well. If you could call them relationships.
But the beautiful Dennis Kamp had continued making eyes at me all night, and now that I was feeling a little drunk, the idea of a hot make out session was sounding very appealing.
"I wonder if he’s just loading up his spank bank with fresh images or he’s actually going to come say hello at some point," Tessa said. She was very drunk, and her boyfriend had already taken her keys and told the bar to cut her off. She was still up on two feet, though.
"You’ve got a way with words," I told her.
"Come on," she said, grabbing my hand and putting her fingers through mine. She started walking towards Dennis, who had spotted us bee-lining it towards him and turned himself to receive us. He smiled.
"Tessa. Allison, good to see you," he said. "You girls look great."
"You mean she looks great," Tessa said, holding up my hand. "I wanted to let you know that your telepathy isn’t working. You’ll need to use words."
I blushed, embarrassed.
"I need to use the bathroom. You watch her for me," Tessa said, and handed me off to Dennis.
I smiled shyly. "Sorry, she’s drunk."
But Dennis took it in stride, his eyes glancing down at my cleavage every few seconds. "It’s cool. So I hear James has hit the big time."
I had already answered about a million questions about my stepbrother tonight. I had no desire to answer any more of them. "Yeah. Can we talk about something else, though?"
"Sorry," Dennis said. "It’s just he was sort of a legend for us, and he’s the only billionaire I know."
"He’s not a billionaire yet. At least not in liquid assets," I pointed out, though any sane valuation of his company put him at well over the billionaire mark.
Dennis laughed. "He’s close enough for me. Is he here?"
"Who, James? Here at the Statesman you mean? No."
"Good," he said, his eye scanning the room. "You know, I had a little bit of a crush on you when you were a freshman, but I didn’t have the balls to ask you out."
I blushed and smiled. "Well you should have just said something. I would have said yes."
"That’s not why I didn’t ask," he said, laughing. "Your brother made it clear to all of us just what would happen if we tried anything with you. You were off limits. Especially after what he did to that Tim Volker kid."
"He didn’t do anything to Tim Volker," I said, remembering that day.
I was a freshman at my locker and Tim, who was a creep with a date rapist reputation even in high school, had stopped me and asked me out. I was too nervous to say no and tried to talk my way around him, but whenever I tried to leave he blocked me from going, or grabbed my arm and pushed me back against my locker.
Then out of nowhere James was there, like a guardian angel answering my prayers. He slammed Tim back against the wall of lockers and just stared him down until Tim raised his hands, apologized, and walked away.
Tim never spoke to me again after that.
It was one of the few truly nice things James ever did. And in typical James fashion, when I went to thank him for it later, he acted like a jerk. He said he had no idea what I was talking about and told me to stop stalking him around school. His friends were all around, and their laughs had followed me all the way down the hall as I ran away.
"He just threw Tim against the lockers," I said with a shrug. “It was nothing.”
Dennis shook his head. "No. Like a week later he literally beat him bloody at a party. Don’t you remember he had stitches over his eyebrow for like a month?"
I didn’t, but then I had barely seen Tim again after that day at the lockers. "I didn’t know that."
"Yeah, well. Needless to say no one was eager to see if Tim was a special case or a warning to the rest of us."
I realized more than ever how much I didn’t understand my stepbrother. He was a jerk, but then, out of nowhere, he could transform into a knight in shining armor and ride in to save the day.
It was like the day he left for college. I had gone to his room to confront him, to try to make him realize how he had ruined my life. I walked into his room, ready to bitch him out. Without letting me say anything, he grabbed me, hugged me, and told me that he "wasn’t into tearful goodbyes"—a line that to this day I have trouble believing actually came out of that cruel, smirking mouth.
"Allie?" Dennis said. "You all right?"
"Sorry," I said, returning to planet earth. "I think I just need to get some air."
"Do you want to have a smoke?"
"Sure. But shouldn’t we wait for Tessa?"
Dennis smiled. "She’ll find us."
I let him walk me outside, stopping to grab my coat on the way. It was freezing, and I could see my breath make a blue cloud under the parking lot lights. I stopped when he walked off into the cars. "Where are you going?" I called out.
"I left my smokes in my car. Come on, we can smoke there so we don’t freeze."
I pursed my lips. It seemed obvious enough what he was trying and I wasn’t adverse to the idea of feeling his full lips on mine. But something bothered me and I hesitated.
"Or I can go grab them and we can smoke out here," he offered lamely.
"No, lets go to your car."
But once I got sat down in the passenger seat, Dennis made it clear he had no intentions of lighting up. His hand knocked my coat open and reached for my bare thigh, sliding up under my skirt before I could even yell at him to stop. "Hey!"
"What?" he said, grinning. He leaned in and kissed me, but I pulled away. "What’s the matter?"
"Nothing," I said, pushing his hand out from under my skirt. "Just take it easy. It’s not a race."
His eyes darkened. I had embarrassed him. "All right," he said, leaning back in his seat. He turned on the car to fire up the heater, then reached in his breast pocket for his cigarettes. He offered me one.
I tried to smooth his ruffled feathers back down. "Can I just smoke some of yours?"
"Sure," he said. He lit up and took a drag, then passed it to me. I took a much smaller drag and passed it back, coughing. "Not a regular smoker?"
"No. Only when I drink."
He took another few drags, staring ahead. I reached out and touched his face, turning him to face me. I hoped he wouldn’t be mad at me for asking him to slow down.
But he smiled as I stroked his cheek, then leaned in, slowly this time,
and kissed me.
I tried to kiss him back, but when I opened my mouth he pushed his tongue in, aggressive and rough all over again. I pushed him off of me, my skin crawling this time. "Maybe this was a bad idea," I said.
"What’s your problem?"
"Nothing," I said, all those silent alarms a girl learns to program when she grows up sounding off in my head. "Why don’t we go hang out inside a little longer, where it’s warm?"
But he was angry now. He took a hard drag off of his cigarette and flicked it out of his cracked window. Before I could turn for the door handle he had already turned around and grabbed for me again, his hand back on my bare thigh and the other pulling me towards him.
"Knock it off, Dennis!" I shouted, swatting at him. But he just grabbed my arm and pulled it down into his crotch, forcing me to feel his hard on.
"Come on, I know you want it," he smirked.
"Dennis! Stop it!"
Dennis’s door opened, the cold air rushing inside—and with the wintry air two big arms in a navy peacoat. The gloved hands seized him and pulled him hard from the car. I saw the look of absolute shock on his face just before he was dragged out of his seat and onto the wet muddy parking lot ground.
James leaned down into the open door, his eye smoldering. "Get out, Allie."
I obeyed, mindless in my shock, and scrambled out of the car. I nearly fell over on my high heels. I pulled my coat tight around me and started to circle the car.
"Stay," James said, giving me another look before turning his attention to Dennis, who was getting back on to his feet.
"What the fuck, James? These are brand new clothes," Dennis said.
James took a threatening step towards Dennis. My heart pounded, I was afraid for Dennis and what James was going to do to him. He was a jerk but he didn’t deserve to get beat up, and anyway everything was my fault.
"I could have sworn I made this clear years ago," James said.
"She wanted to come out here!" Dennis shouted, gesturing wildly at me.
"Maybe, maybe not. But this isn’t about her. It’s about you, Dennis."
A Baby for My Billionaire Stepbrother Page 3
