Maximum Dare

by Fewings, Vanessa

“You encouraged me to join the firm.”

  “I didn’t expect you to become a workaholic.”

  “Lives are literally in my hands.”

  “That’s lovely, dear. Keep smiling.”

  “I have to make a call.”

  “It’ll look strange if we don’t join them right away.”

  My fingers tapped off a quick text to Daisy: “Homage Restaurant.”

  Cresilla had been dragged into this debacle as well, it seemed. She was as much a victim of her parents’ meddling as I was.

  Introductions were made: Gregory and Clementine were Cresilla’s parents and they lived in Norfolk on a farm. They were the tweed and Chanel wearing kind, inclined to sit up straight and offer everyone haughty glances.

  “So how did you all meet?” I held a chair out for my mother to sit in.

  “We host a function for the National Heritage,” explained Clementine. “Your mother made a donation to the last event.”

  “She can be generous like that.” I narrowed my eyes on Mum and took the seat next to Cresilla. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said, shaking her hand.

  She blushed. “I hear you’re the big brother of Nick Banham.”

  “Ah, yes. He’s the talented one.” I reached for my napkin.

  The one who stole the spotlight—for which I was always grateful.

  “And you’re an attorney?” asked Gregory.

  “Yes, I live and work in São Paulo.”

  “Is it terribly hot there?” asked Cresilla.

  “Well, as we’re all running around naked, we don’t really feel the heat. Those Brazilian jungles are quite something.”

  My attempt at humor was met with weak laughter.

  Pain shot into my side where Mum’s elbow was currently being pressed.

  Our waiter interjected with the timing of a guru who knows just what to say. He took our orders. Wine was summoned and tasted and agreed upon. I checked my watch. We’d only been here ten minutes.

  “How often do you visit London?” asked Cresilla.

  It would be easy to become enamored by her beauty, but beyond that I sensed an underlying coldness, a level of self-control that was undoubtedly due to a finishing school where they stripped students of all personality.

  I feigned interest. “I visit London every few months.”

  “And what do you do, Cresilla?” Mum asked.

  “I help Mummy out with her charity events.”

  “Oh, that’s divine.” My mother had cranked up her aristocratic accent.

  I took several gulps of wine, receiving a look of disapproval from Gregory. I took another sip for medicinal purposes, hoping to dull the ache of boredom until Daisy arrived.

  I’d have to make some excuse and leave with her. I’d apologize to my mother later. Maybe take her to lunch at her favorite bistro. Or buy her some flowers. Then block her phone number for a week.

  “I assume you’re a football fan?” asked Gregory.

  “Yes, we’re all fans,” I said. “Nick will be playing for Manchester United this season.”

  “We heard,” said Gregory. “You must be proud.”

  “We’re thrilled for him,” I said.

  “We’re all very sporty, too,” said Cresilla. “We love to ski in the winter. Do you ski?”

  “I hate the cold.” I shivered dramatically.

  Pain shot into my leg as something sharp connected with my shin. I gave Mum a wide-eyed crazy smile and she withdrew the heel of her Louboutin from what felt like my ankle bone.

  “Oh, my goodness,” said Clementine, glancing over my shoulder.

  “She looks…familiar,” said Mum, staring in the same direction.

  Turning in my seat, I took in the girl at the concierge desk. She was wearing a purple wig and clown makeup.

  The girl seemed to be making a beeline towards us.

  “Oh, my God,” muttered Clementine.

  Daisy, why are you dressed like a clown?

  “Hi.” She widened her eyes at me. “I didn’t know there would be others…”

  “You look…lovely,” I said, gesturing to her dress.

  “Who is she?” Gregory muttered, and then motioned frantically to our waiter.

  I pushed to my feet. “Daisy, this is definitely a new look for you…”

  “I did try to warn you,” she said, glancing at Cresilla.

  Daisy’s gaze swung back to me. She could see we wouldn’t be eating alone tonight. A stunning blonde would be joining us.

  Her confused look made my gut wrench in discomfort. I wished I’d texted her with a warning. Still, Daisy looked cute in an artsy just-out-of-Notting-Hill kind of way.

  “You remember Daisy, Mum.”

  “How could I forget,” sneered Gillian.

  The concierge approached Daisy. “Excuse me, miss?”

  I waved a hand. “I know her, it’s fine.”

  He sidled up to me. “Sir, this is most unusual.”

  “I tried to wash it off,” explained Daisy. “I thought it would be just us having dinner, Max. You and me. Privately. In your hotel room.”

  Cresilla sucked in a dramatic breath. “Call security.”

  “What is she talking about?” asked Clementine, in a scandalized tone.

  “People are looking at us,” snapped Cresilla.

  “This is my friend, Daisy.” I glared at Cresilla. “I invited her.”

  Daisy turned to me with a hurt look. I hadn’t introduced her as my girlfriend.

  “Join us,” I insisted.

  She pivoted, hurrying toward the restaurant’s exit.

  Gillian had invested an enormous amount of time and money into the Turnip Toff investment—all on my behalf.

  Still, my loyalty lay with Daisy.

  I flew after her, following the confused stares of people who’d clearly seen the clown girl. I caught a glimpse of her purple wig heading out the hotel’s front door.

  I dashed outside into the chill of the evening air.

  She was standing on the edge of the curb. When I caught up, I recognized the Uber app on her phone.

  “Cancel it,” I said.

  “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “I have to go, Max. Don’t make this more difficult than it already is.”

  “You caught me by surprise, that’s all. With your…” I pointed to her wig.

  “I wasn’t planning on turning up here like this. The models were hogging the makeup remover. One thing you don’t prepare for is having half a ton of waterproof clown makeup smothered all over you.”

  “I always have some in my glove compartment,” I joked. “But that’s just me.”

  She didn’t laugh. “I figured I’d take it off in your room.”

  “Okay, I take it back,” I said with a smile. “This dare really is the most hazardous one so far.”

  “Why did you invite me to dinner with a beautiful woman? It doesn’t take a genius to see why I wasn’t even told.”

  “I didn’t know she’d be here.”

  “So, you do find her beautiful, then?”

  Oh, shit, I’d walked into that one.

  “You know what I was thinking when I saw you, Daisy?”

  She threw up her hands. “Go on, then, tell me.”

  “That you were still the most beautiful woman in the room.”

  Her eyes teared up. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because you’ve lied before.”

  “When?”

  “That’s the kind of woman your mum wants you to marry. I can’t compete with those upper crust types. It’s not who I am.”

  “I’m not asking you to compete with anyone.”

  “You could have warned me.”

  “I started to…”

  “You’ve been lying all this time.”

  “How?”

  “The invite to the Dare Club. It came from you.”

  My shoulders slumped as I realized how all of this
must look, now with the added complication of another woman being thrown into the mix.

  Her lips trembled. “Did you switch out the invite to Bar Ibiza in Soho with one for The Dare Club?”

  “Listen, I—”

  “You replaced it, didn’t you?” Hurt shimmered in her eyes. “Then signed me up for the club online?”

  “It’s not how it looks.”

  She stepped back. “You think I’m boring. You want to change me. You want me to be like Morgan or that woman in there. I was never going to be good enough for you.”

  “No, that’s not it at all.”

  “Did you actually think I would sit down with your mum while she paraded a perfect woman in front of you so you could compare me with her?”

  “Daisy, please, come inside so we can talk.”

  “Why should I?”

  There was nothing I could add at the moment that wouldn’t hurt her more. When I’d first met her, I’d seen how hesitant she was to have fun. Nick had hinted that she needed to be more outgoing, and on our first meeting she’d appeared shy and reticent. I hadn’t wanted her to miss out on the best life had to offer. I’d wanted her to come out of her shell.

  And I’d thought maybe, just maybe, Nick might want Daisy back if he saw her playful side…if he saw her trying new things and being more adventurous.

  But I hadn’t counted on falling for her myself.

  Daisy looked away and gave a nod of defeat.

  “Don’t go like this,” I said, my heart aching.

  She was already walking away. I watched as she climbed into the back of an Uber, a Ford Escort, and slammed the door shut.

  I drew in a sharp breath of regret. Of all the people in her life, it had been me who’d let her down the most. I’d put myself forward as her knight in shining armor and all the while I was the one who was destined to destroy her.

  A whiff of Gucci hit me at the same time I saw Mum hurrying toward me.

  “Well, that was strange.” She was out of breath.

  I glared at her. “I can’t believe you treated Daisy like that.”

  “She was dressed like a clown! At the Waldorf!”

  “She’s a member of a Dare Club. They help people find courage to stretch out of their comfort zone.”

  “Coming here was a dare?”

  “No, Mum,” I snapped. “She modeled that dress in a fashion show for a children’s charity. They made her up like that, obviously.”

  Her eyes widened in horror. “She was your someone special who you invited tonight?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can’t be serious?”

  “Daisy and I have been dating. I really like her.”

  “That strange little girl?”

  “She’s a beautiful woman. And your youngest son was an idiot for letting her go.”

  “You haven’t stopped to ask yourself why he left her.”

  “Yes, Mum, and the conclusion is that my brother is an ass who became besotted with another woman who has no soul. He deserves someone a lot better. In fact, I suggest you introduce him to Cresilla and her Carrot Tops.”

  “Turnip Toffs. I went to all this trouble for you, Max.”

  “I didn’t ask you to. And you know what? Those Turnip Toffs can fuck right off.” It felt good to say it.

  She gasped. “We’re talking royal connections.”

  “Listen to me, Mum…when I marry it will be for love.” I raised my hands in the air to make my point. “For love!”

  My heart was breaking for the one I’d lost too soon.

  “Where are you going?” she asked, as I stormed off towards Drury Lane.

  “To take a walk and get some fresh air.”

  I needed to think…needed to decide if Daisy would be better off without any of us in her life. She deserved better.

  A woman like Daisy deserved the goddamned world.

  After last night, creepy clowns were going to be a trigger for me forever. Every time I thought about turning up at the Waldorf Hotel in clown makeup, only to be confronted by Max and his dinner guests, hives appeared on my neck.

  Max’s mum was probably permanently scandalized.

  I was actually happy to be back at work, here amongst the zoned-out shoppers and my moody co-workers. One person who never changed her attitude was my friend and colleague Amber. She worked in the same department, and if anyone could shake me out of this post-traumatic nightmare, it was her.

  I’d spent the last hour moving items from one end of the gown department to the other—mainly because shoppers had this annoying habit of picking a dress off a hanger and, half-way to the changing room, deciding they didn’t want the dress after all. Thankfully, most of the customers had thinned out since we were closing soon.

  My feet were sore from walking around the vast showroom for eight hours straight. I was glad we only had fifteen minutes to go before I could go home and watch some mindless TV.

  But sometimes, working at a major retail store could be kind of fun…when my heart wasn’t breaking—mainly because I got to hang out with Amber.

  I found her in one of the back rooms, looking miserable as hell, sorting through returns—a job we hated, therefore, we took turns doing the dark deed. Basically, the only way you could tell if an item could go back on sale after a buyer had returned it was to sniff the damn thing—no kidding.

  I watched as Amber sniffed the armpits of a Victoria Beckham gown. It would of course be dry-cleaned to remove the lipstick stain on the collar, but if it was worn it couldn’t be sold as new.

  “Want some help?” I asked, with a please-don’t-say-yes expression on my face.

  “Almost done.”

  “We deserve danger pay.”

  “I know.” She slid the gown down the rack, and then turned to me, giving me a look I’d gotten used to over the last few weeks. “How are you, Daisy?”

  “Fine.” I forced a smile.

  “A few of us are going out after work for fish and chips. Come join us.”

  “No, thank you.” I wasn’t ready to be social.

  “Are you getting out at all?”

  “Yes.” I rested my hands on my hips. “I joined a Dare Club.”

  Because some trickster bastard had signed me up—the man I missed, the man I hated and yet adored all at the same time.

  Seeing her confused expression, I added, “It’s a club where a bunch of us get together and do things we wouldn’t normally do. You know, to shake us out of our comfort zone.”

  “How did you find out about it?”

  “A frenemy.”

  Amber raised her eyebrows. “That was nice of her.”

  “It was a him.” I pretended my emotions weren’t scrambled. “Nick’s older brother. The invite came from him.”

  “That wasn’t weird?”

  “No.” It was the way he’d done it that was weird.

  “What sort of things do you have to do?”

  “Hang off buildings. That kind of stuff.” I grinned at her. “It’s liberating.”

  “Oh, my God, seriously?”

  “The guy who runs it is super cool. It’s about pushing yourself beyond what you believe you’re capable of doing.” Might need a lifetime membership at this point.

  “Good for you.”

  “As long as it’s not flying, I’m fine.”

  “Right, well, if they try to make you do that, tell them to F-off.”

  “I doubt it’s in the budget.”

  “I have a mannequin I have to slip this on.” Amber picked a dress off a hanger. “Come with me and tell me everything.”

  “Is that Versace?” I reeled at its beauty.

  She ran her hand over the silk. “Even with fifty percent off it would still cost me six months of my salary.”

  “I’ve got a girlie crush on a dress in the window,” I admitted.

  “I’ve been drooling over those shoes, too.” She pointed to the high heels. “I feel like I knew them in another life.”

  She made me laug
h. “Isn’t it funny that we both work in a store where we can’t afford to buy anything?”

  Amber beamed at me. “We can afford a cupcake from the café.”

  “True.”

  She pulled the strappy shoes out of the box and held them up. “Love at first sight.”

  We headed out onto the showroom floor.

  I helped Amber redress a mannequin with the Versace gown. She took her time to fluff out the skirt.

  On the other side of the divider was the dress I coveted, in the same display I always stopped to stare at after work.

  A memory of me and Max at the Victoria and Albert Museum flashed into my mind—him knowing they had a shop window display that would wow me. Even though he’d hurt me, he’d done so many wonderful things, too.

  Don’t think about it.

  He’d tried to change me. I was never going to be good enough for his family. Our romance had been a mistake.

  The showroom window entrance was hidden behind a fake wall.

  The handle turned and I entered the display. Beyond polished glass, pedestrians streamed back and forth along the pavement, all of them in too much of a hurry to look my way.

  As though I were paying homage to a rare artifact, I held my breath in awe. Up close, the gold braiding and twinkling crystals on the bodice reflected the light with shards of color—blues, pinks and muted greens.

  The ballerina pumps on the mannequin went perfectly with the style of the evening gown, a sheer skirt over a mini, the delicate material falling like water.

  My fingers tingled as I touched it.

  I pretended this was all part of my job should some pedestrian look my way. I trailed my fingertips over the shining crystals. Then, moving closer, I traced the edge of the bustier, admiring its beauty.

  A camera flashed, blinding me, and my foot slipped off the stand.

  I grabbed the mannequin’s arm to steady myself, and it came off in my hand.

  I stood there staring down at the dismembered arm I was holding, trying to feign to the gathering crowd that this was all part of my window-dressing routine.

  I attempted to reinsert the arm into the shoulder socket.

  It wouldn’t go.

  Another shove made the mannequin rock unsteadily. I let out a howl, reaching for it as it tipped over. I lost my balance as I grabbed it and landed on my back with my legs splayed, the thing lodged between my thighs like it was shagging me.