by Calista Kyle
I let her lead me back in without much protest. “She already had a few words with me about that,” I said stopping just inside the ballroom.
“Really? What could she possibly say?” Candace asked
“Did you see who Ryan Marsden came with? I’m sure you must have.”
Candace looked at me confused. “Ryan Marsden is here? I didn’t even see him arrive.”
“He got here just a little over an hour ago.”
“Well, he didn’t come through the front, that’s for sure. I was there the whole time,” she said.
“He must have come in through another entrance, but that’s not the point. He arrived with Cara Galanis.”
“Holy shit.”
“I know!”
“What did your mother say? She must have been royally pissed.”
“Actually, that’s the funny thing. She didn’t have much to say. I mean she was about to chew me out about it, but Ryan was there, so she had to restrain herself. He actually told her that Cara was his date, and that even she couldn’t bar them from this party since he owns part of Titan!”
“That dude has balls,” Candace said awed. “It’s too bad he has terrible taste in women. I mean really? All that money, charm and good looks and the best he can do is Cara Galanis?”
I didn’t tell Candace about Ryan’s reason for bringing her. It seemed like something I should keep to myself. My eyes scanned the crowd automatically, searching for him. Even though I knew why he brought Cara, it still didn’t completely erase my irrational jealousy. It wasn’t only irrational, but unfounded. He wasn’t even mine to be jealous over.
I felt torn in two directions. I knew it could be so easy for me to fall for Ryan. He had everything a woman would want in a man, but that was the problem. He knew it and used it to his advantage to get any girl he wanted. Even though he would flirt with me, I knew there was nothing serious behind it, and I didn’t want to go making a fool of myself and risking my heart on someone who was obviously just looking to have a good time.
His laughter rang across the room and I snapped my head in his direction. As if confirming my thoughts, Ryan was standing next to the ice sculpture of Chère’s logo, with Cara right next to him. He was surrounded by a group of beautiful women, flirting with them and charming their socks off. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world, one hand casually draped in his pocket and the other hand holding a drink.
“He’s probably the type that goes for quantity over quality,” I remarked, snidely. I knew it sounded petty, but it wasn’t like he was around to hear me. “Come on, let’s go get a drink. I could use one right about now,” I added over my shoulder as I made my way to the bar.
Chapter 9: Ryan
Cara hadn’t let go of my arm since returning from my conversation with Mel. It seemed like she was afraid that Cora would throw her out without my presence there to protect her. So I stayed by her side. My conversation with Mel left me unsettled and judging by the way she was pounding back the drinks, there was something eating away at her too.
I observed her from a distance going to the bar for her third drink and watched as she wobbled unsteadily towards an empty chair. Her coworker Candace had left after the first drink so she wasn’t around to witness Mel’s downward spiral towards drunkenness. I braced myself to step in if the situation got too out of hand. Something about Mel made me want to watch over her and protect her, especially from her mother.
God, what a total and utter witch Cora Abelgard was. I never knew how lucky I was to have the parents I did until I met Mel. I wouldn’t have traded my childhood for all the money and prestige in the world. I may not have grown up rich and connected, but I was beginning to see that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, especially with parents like her.
It made me feel bad for Mel and what she’d had to endure her whole life. I could tell she didn’t appreciate my pity and I couldn’t blame her. In her situation I’d feel exactly the same way, which just made me admire her more. There was such a silent and enduring strength in that small frame.
“So like, there’s so many haters here tonight. I can’t even tell you how many dirty looks I’ve been getting all evening. I mean look over there at Maddy Hudson. She’s so jealous right now, I love it. She’s been talking shit about me on Twitter for, like, the past month. I just wish I could go over there and give her a piece of my mind. But you know I’m totally not even going to make a scene. I’m classy like that.”
I barely registered Cara’s voice and nodded my head absentmindedly. I learned early on that it was best just to tune her out whenever possible. Her voice was starting to grate on me.
Instead, I focused my attention across the ballroom. I tensed up when I saw Cora and another woman approach Mel. They both looked angry and annoyed. I was half tempted to make my way over there to find out what they were saying. Judging by the angry scowls on their faces, they were not pleased. Cora’s voice rose at just the same time as the music had died down a little so I was able to make out the words “disgrace” and “embarrassment”.
Once they were gone, I saw Mel’s shoulders slump as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. Thankfully no one else had noticed this little scene. I was sure the public humiliation would have made her feel worse. Mel quietly made her way out of the ballroom and I decided to follow her. I excused myself from Cara and exited the ballroom on Mel’s heels. She had turned towards the restrooms and went inside before I could approach her.
I paced around a small alcove just off the hallway that had a clear view of the restroom doors. When the doors finally opened a few minutes later, I could tell she’d been crying. Her eyes were puffy and red and her makeup was a little smudged. Mel didn’t notice me at first, but when I stood up from the leather bench, she startled and sucked in a gasp.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” I said.
“Ryan! What are you doing here? The men’s restrooms are down the hall.” I could tell she was still a little tipsy from the alcohol, although the set down from her mother and that other woman had sobered her up a little.
“I was waiting for you.”
“What? Why?” she asked, confusion clearly written on her face.
“Come away with me. This party is boring,” I said on a whim. I don’t know what made me say it, but once I did, realized it was the truth. The party had lost its appeal and I wasn’t eager to spend one more minute out there listening to Cara’s mindless babble. I knew she’d be all right without me now. No one would dare to approach her or try to throw her out. Besides, I found myself wanting to sweep Mel away from this place and to put the smile back on her face.
“You’re crazy!” she replied. “I can’t go, I’m working.”
“You’ve worked hard enough. Everyone has arrived, the drinks are flowing and everyone is schmoozing. You’ve done your part, let your mother and everyone else deal with the rest of the evening,” I said.
She looked at me consideringly, a spark of defiance and some other emotion lighting her eyes. “You know what? You’re right!” she said more forcefully. “Fuck it, I’m going to go. I do deserve a break. I’ve been stressed out about this damned party for weeks now.”
It sounded like she was trying to convince herself, but I didn’t say anything to contradict her. She finally looked up at me with a glint in her eye and struck her chin out as if daring me to stop her. I had to fight the smile that was tugging on my lips. She looked utterly adorable, like a fierce kitten, but I kept the thought to myself. Somehow I had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate that.
“Let’s go!” I said grabbing her hand and leading her out towards the back where my driver was waiting. Mel giggled the whole way there as if she was a naughty school girl cutting class for the first time.
“Thanks for taking me. I’ll probably catch hell for disappearing, but right now, I don’t really care about that,” she said once we were both seated in my car.
“My pleasure.”
“So, where a
re we going?”
I looked at my watch and saw that it was already past midnight. I hadn’t really eaten much and found that I was starving.
“Let’s go get some food,” I said. I directed my driver to head to Chinatown where I knew this great little spot with the most delicious beef noodle soup.
Even though it was well past midnight, the restaurant was packed with people, probably arriving after a night of partying and drinking. We were able to find a table squeezed all the way in the back. If the younger college aged crowd thought we looked odd in our suit and gown, they didn’t say anything.
We sat down and the waiter promptly took our orders without much fanfare. It helped that the restaurant only had five items on its menu and they all happened to be some variation of noodle soup. We both ordered the beef noodle soup and I poured out two cups of hot tea while we waited.
“This is too funny,” Mel said, breaking out into another giggle.
I cocked an eyebrow. “How so?”
“It’s just that fifteen minutes ago we were at some incredibly posh and exclusive party full of snooty people and now here we are at some little noodle house in Chinatown full college students and who knows who else. I mean look at us,” she said pointing out her evening gown and my tuxedo.
“I hadn’t thought about it like that,” I said shrugging my shoulders. “No one seems to be paying us any mind.”
“It’s great isn’t it?” she smiled. “God, I feel so much better now that I left the party, although I hate to leave Candace in the lurch like that. I’m sure she’ll be stuck with the brunt of the work now that I’ve ditched that taco stand.”
“Taco stand?”
“It’s a figure of speech.”
“I know that,” I chuckled. “I’ve just never heard someone under the age of 70 actually say it.”
Our noodles arrived quickly, cutting off what I was sure was a biting reply from her. I had to grin at the look of disappointment that turned to pleasure as the bowl was placed in front of her.
“Ooh, it looks so good,” she said breathing in the savory aroma of the steaming bowl of soup. “How did you know about this place?”
“A friend introduced it to me. I’d been craving a good bowl of noodle soup one night and we winded up here. It’s one of the things is miss most about living in Asia.”
“Lily told me you lived there for a while,” she began. “Where did you live and how did you like it?”
“It was…interesting,” I hedged. “I divided most of my time between Tokyo and Hong Kong. I mean for the most part it was great, but it just never felt like home, you know?”
“Yeah, I actually spent three weeks in China and I know exactly what you mean,” she said. Her face became sad and I wondered what had caused her sudden change in mood. She seemed to shake off her doldrums almost immediately and gave me a sheepish smile. “I went with my ex, Chad. We’d only been seeing each other for three days before he asked me to go with him. Crazy right?”
“It sounds like you were smitten,” I said.
“I’ll say. That’s my fatal flaw, at least according to Lily and all my other friends. I jump into things head first without thinking about the consequences,” she admitted.
I was surprised by her sudden burst of candidness and didn’t know what to say at first.
“Sounds like you’re a risk taker and enjoy life,” I ventured.
She snorted. “I guess you could say that. But that’s the old Mel. Oh by the way, didn’t you have a date tonight?” The abrupt change in subject left me momentarily speechless. I had wanted to ask her more about her past, but it seemed she had already moved on from that topic.
“Cara,” I answered. “She’s still at the party.”
“Now I feel bad that you ditched her for me,” she said before breaking out into another fit of giggles.
“You certainly don’t sound too broken up about it,” I answered drolly.
“No, really I am,” she said trying to sound serious, but the twitch of her lips gave her away.
“Well, don’t worry about Cara. She’s probably having the time of her life,” I said. “I’ll send my driver over later to bring her home.”
“Ok, now I don’t feel so bad,” she said.
We both lapsed into silence after that. Once we had finished our soup and I paid the bill, we headed back to my car. Mel stifled a yawn once she had settled herself against the seat and I took it as my cue to call an end to the evening. She’d probably been working around the clock leading up to the party and was bone tired.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” she said once we had pulled up to her building. She sat there looking at me under hooded eyes and slightly parted lips. For a moment, I thought she was going to lean over and kiss me, but then her demeanor suddenly changed again. She gave herself a tiny shake of the head and leaned back so that her head was nearly touching the side window. I was tempted to reach out and pull her in for a kiss regardless of if she wanted to or not, but then caught myself. I’d never been one to force my attentions on any woman.
I still couldn’t help the pang of regret I felt as she pulled away from me both physically and emotionally. I’d decided that I’d let Mel make the first move. She was obviously still working through some issues.
“It was my pleasure. I can tell you want to kiss me, but I’m not that easy,” I said trying to lighten the mood in the car.
She did a double take before realizing I was joking. “Real funny,” she said rolling her eyes at me before opening the door and stepping outside. I rolled down the window on her side and watched as she walked up to her building. At the last second, she turned back and smiled at me. “Thanks again for your help. I really mean it,” she said before waving at me and walking into her building.
***
Rob was pacing around my living room before he finally plopped onto a chair. He ran his hands through his hair and finally looked up at me.
“I can’t deal with my mother anymore, Ryan. It’s gotten out of hand. This whole wedding has put ideas in her head and now she’s trying to set me up with every single woman between the ages of 23-33 that she knows. I’ve half a mind to just run off to some deserted island and camp out there until this whole thing blows over,” he said.
“It can’t be that bad,” I said.
“Have you met my mother? I love her to death, but she’s got the subtlety of a jackhammer and is as persistent as a bad rash. Even moving to New York for a bit hasn’t dimmed her hopes. She says she’s coming to stay with me before the wedding and see how I’m ‘getting on‘,” he said, curling his fingers in air quotes.
“Have you talked to Roman about it?” I asked. I poured out two snifters of whisky and handed a glass to Rob before taking my own seat on the couch.
“Roman is the worst of all of them,” he scoffed, taking a deep gulp from his glass. “Talking to him is distressing. All he can do is talk about Lily and how wonderful she is and how lucky he is. I mean, granted Lily’s a great girl, but enough is enough already. I never thought I’d say this, but sometimes I miss the old Roman.”
“You can’t blame the man though. He’s in love. Probably for the first time in his life,” I said. “We should only be so lucky.”
“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve caught the bug too,” Rob groaned. “What happened to the Three Musketeers?”
I laughed at Rob’s reference to our younger days when we were young and single with the world at our fingertips, and the only thing on our minds was getting laid. I was finding myself moving away from that lifestyle more and more. It was exhausting and getting a little boring, and I couldn’t blame Roman for leaving it all behind. In fact, I found myself actually envying his and Lily’s relationship.
“Cheer up, buddy,” I said standing up and pouring myself a refill. “We’ve still got Roman’s bachelor party.”
Rob looked up at me, his interest piqued. “I’d forgotten about that. What have you planned?”
“We’re going to Vegas,” I s
aid.
“Good luck with that. Roman’s not about to jet off to Vegas for his bachelor party and leave Lily here.”
“She’s coming with us.”
“What?” he looked confused and a little put off by the suggestion.
“We’re all going to Vegas to celebrate, but don’t worry, the girls will be doing their own thing while we get Roman drunk and acting stupid. Like old times,” I laughed.
“I like the sound of that,” Rob agreed. He became thoughtful once again. “I don’t know though. Roman’s been working on the Cardiff deal and I’m sure he’d still have reservations about jetting off for a weekend to party.”
“Then we’ll have to kidnap him,” I said.
A mischievous gleam stole over Rob’s eye and he smiled at me. “I’m game.”
“I’ll have to talk to Mel about how she plans on getting Lily on board though. Last time I spoke with her about it she said Lily was even more reluctant to go.”
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Mel lately, eh?” Rob said, looking at me speculatively.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe.”
“I’d caution against trifling with her. You know she’s just come out of a relationship.”
“You seem to know a lot about her personal life,” I said.
He lounged back against the chair and crossed his legs at the ankle, the picture of nonchalance. “It’s no great secret that Chad Remington left her and bolted off to Dubai. Mel was crushed when that happened,” he said.
I remained silent, digesting Rob’s information. I’d known she had recently broken up, but it never occurred to me that she’d been torn up about it. She was always smiling and cheerful when I spoke to her, though a bit stressed out. Now that I considered it, it would explain her sudden black moods.
“What do you know about Chad Remington? The name sounds familiar,” I asked.
“Not much. Just your typical scion of a wealthy family. I’ve never heard anything bad about him.”
