Tempt the Hookup

by Natasha Madison

  “Red sauce, please,” he says and goes to sit down at a table. Maria looks at me.

  “Questa deve essera la madre.” This must be the mother. She smiles at me. “Bella scelta.” Good choice. She turns and winks at Luca. “Sit.” She points at the chair, and I go sit next to Aiden. “Giovanni, vieni a precdere il pane.” Come and get the bread, she motions to him, walking back into the kitchen.

  “It smells amazing,” I say, looking down at the table with the checkered red and white tablecloth. “Do you come here often?”

  “At least a couple of times a week,” he says. “Even if it’s for lunch. Noah introduced me to this place. It’s the real deal,” he says, smiling as he sits next to me and in front of Aiden.

  “I didn’t know you spoke Italian,” I tell him.

  “Nine years of Italian school every single Saturday morning,” he tells me, and I smile at him. Fuck, his stock just went up higher.

  Chapter Eleven

  Luca

  “That was so good,” Eliahn says while she puts her fork down. We didn’t have a chance to order anything. Giovanni came out with some fresh bread, some freshly cut parmigiana slices, fresh salami cut perfectly, and some sopressta all brought in from Italy.

  We didn’t even make a dent in the platter when Giovanni came back out with fresh spaghetti for Aiden, and some lasagna for both of us even though we didn’t order it. Next, he came out with fresh chicken cutlets and salad. “You need to tell him to stop bringing food,” she says when he brings out the plate of mussels.

  “It would be insulting,” I tell her quietly. “We’ll just take the leftovers home.” But when a plate of meatballs come out, I have to take out the white flag and call it a day. “Giovanni, please, no more.”

  “It’sa Maria,” he says with his hands, and then smiling at Eliahn. “It’s a good, signorina.”

  “It is better than good. It’s the best food I’ve ever tasted.” Eliahn smiles at him, and I know that she has him wrapped around her finger.

  “I want to come back tomorrow,” Aiden says with his mouth full of tomato sauce. “Can we come back tomorrow?”

  “I think we will be warming up the leftovers tomorrow,” Eliahn says.

  “How about we come here on Friday after school? You can sleep over at my house,” I ask him as he nods at me. “What do you say, Eliahn? Friday night dinner?”

  She smiles, tilting her head to the side. “I would love to, but I’m having drinks with Troy.” She takes a bite of pasta.

  I stop chewing, and the food suddenly turns in my stomach. “Troy?” I ask her. That’s a guy’s name, isn’t it? Like it’s not short for a girl’s name, right? Maybe it’s short for Troya or Tanya.

  “He’s my co-worker,” she says to me and smiles at Giovanni when he comes to take her plate away.

  “Maria is bringing dessert,” he says, and Eliahn’s eyes come to me as she tries to shake her head no.

  “Luca, if I eat one more bite, I’m going to be sick,” she whispers when he leaves.

  “Giovanni, can we take it to go?” I ask him. “Aiden has to get home because he has school tomorrow.” I smile at him, and he just nods at me. I turn back around. “So you’re going out on Friday?” My leg starts to bounce with nerves.

  “Yeah,” she says, leaning back in her chair. “It’s been forever since I’ve been out. Time to cut loose,” she says, and I suddenly have the urge to block her from going to work. I can pay her to be a stay-at-home mom.

  “Is it the whole office?” I ask her, tapping my finger on the table. “Is it an office outing or just a couple of co-workers?” My lawyer questions come out as I try not to ask the obvious questions.

  “No, it’s just Troy and me; we share the same cubicle,” she says, smiling.

  I force a smile on my face, but my teeth are clenched together. “That’s nice.”

  “He’s so nice,” she says and is about to say something else when Giovanni comes back out with four takeout bags.

  Giovanni brings the bill where he only charged a plate of spaghetti. I shake my head and top him off with an extra three hundred to take care of all the food I’m going home with.

  “Do you want to ride with Mommy or me?” I ask Aiden when we finally make it outside.

  “Mommy,” Aiden says, and I smile at him when he leans into her and yawns, rubbing his eye.

  “Okay, squirt,” I lean down and kiss his head, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow for school.”

  “See you tomorrow.” I smile at Eliahn as she turns to walk to her car, and I follow her.

  “You think he’s going to fall asleep before you get home?” I ask her when she shuts the back door after buckling him in.

  “It’s a fifty-fifty chance.” She laughs.

  “Okay, if he’s asleep when you get home, wait for me, and I’ll carry him in,” I tell her, and she just stops to look at me.

  “It’s fine,” she says, and I just look at her.

  “Eliahn, just wait for me,” I tell her, and she just nods and gets in the car. We arrive home at the same time, thanks to my running to the car and blowing the red light. “Is he sleeping?” I shout over at her when she gets out of the car.

  “Yeah!” she yells, so I walk over to her car. “He was out the minute I sat down in the car. I’ll go open the door,” she says and walks ahead of me while I lean down and unbuckle him from his seat. I grab him as carefully as I can, his head falling on my shoulder as he moans. I walk into the house and go upstairs where Eliahn waits next to his bed. “Just put him down,” she whispers, pointing at the bed. I hold his back and bend down to lay him on his back. She takes off his shoes and pants. He turns around, and she covers him.

  “I’ll have him take a bath tomorrow morning,” she tells me as we walk out of his room.

  “Tonight was fun,” I tell her as we walk down the stairs together.

  “It really was,” she tells me. “I have to admit I never thought I would see the day when we would be sitting at a table eating dinner together.” She looks down and then up at me. “With our son.”

  “Me either.” I put my hands in my back pockets. “We should have a family dinner night every week.”

  “Yeah.” She looks down. “That sounds like a plan.” She doesn’t make eye contact, and I have to wonder if it’s because of this Troy guy.

  “It’s a thought,” I say to her and turn to walk out of the house, but stop and turn back around. “I had the best time tonight.” I smile at her as I grab the handle. “Thank you for coming to meet us.” I turn and close the door. Walking over to my car, I grab the takeout bag and place it in the fridge.

  The next day, after dropping Aiden off, I walk into the office with the four bags and dump them in the staff room with a note to help yourself. I walk to my office, and Lauren smiles at me. “Is Noah in?” I ask, and she nods. I walk down to his office and walk inside since the door is open.

  “Oh my God,” he says when he sees me. “Dude, I saw the Instagram live video.”

  “What?” I ask, not remembering.

  “It was crazy. That hashtag is still trending.” He takes out his phone and opens up the Instagram app. “I think it’s going to go viral.” He has a huge smile on his face as he turns the phone around, and I see myself on the screen when I was in the hospital, and my face was swollen. The drool is pouring out of my mouth like a leaky faucet. “Look, imagine you end up on Ellen. You owe me.” He looks down, laughing at the video.

  I put my hands in my pockets and glare at him. “I owe you?” I say with my teeth clenched. “It took four EpiPens to get the swelling to go down. Four fucking stabs to my leg.”

  He rolls his eyes. “How was I supposed to know that you were allergic to collagen?” The sound of the video can still be heard, and I recognize Nick’s voice.

  “They made me leave the room so I can answer some questions. Hey, Noah. His lips were the size of a fist. Holy fuck, there are three thousand people on here. For those of you joining in, my friend decided to put
a woman’s face cream on and had an allergic reaction. I’ll post a picture of his face in the comments.”

  “I’m going to sue him,” I tell Noah, and he laughs at me. “He posted that without my consent.”

  “Even if he asked for your consent, you couldn’t see.” He continues to laugh. “Let me ask you a serious question.” He looks at me, and I really think he is going to ask me a serious question. “When your eye started swelling shut, did you just see black? Or did you see some light?”

  “Fuck you, Noah,” I say, turning to walk out. “I’m going to have Lauren put a curse on you.” Looking over my shoulder, I smirk at him, and he stops laughing right away. “Fuck with donkey kong.” I point at him.

  “Don’t you fucking start with that donkey kong bullshit. Last time was fucking hell. I walked around looking over my shoulder for a fucking month waiting for something to come and bite me in the ass.” Lauren may be sweet and nice, and she may be married to his best friend, and they may be in-laws, but once she sets her wrath on you, watch out. I mean, just ask her husband. He ended up in the ER with swollen balls.

  “Have a nice day.” I smile at him and walk away while he yells my name.

  I walk back into my office, and one of my clients comes in for a surprise meeting and new lawsuit, which takes over most of my morning. And by the time I finally walk out of my office, it’s way past eight o’clock. I pick up the phone and call Eliahn.

  “Hey,” I say softly, “I just got out of work. Is he sleeping?” I ask, and she almost grunts.

  “He called you earlier, but Lauren said you were in a meeting,” she says. I can’t pinpoint what’s bothering her, but I have a feeling it’s something.

  “Yeah, I had a case that fell into my lap,” I tell her, getting into my car. “But the good news is that I’m due in court in the morning, and then I have the afternoon free, so I’m going to pick him up from school and take him to the park.”

  “That sounds great.” Her voice starts to get soft. “He’ll love it.”

  “I hope so,” I tell her, and we hang up before I even get home. The call was to the point and not at all friendly. Did I piss her off? Maybe it’s because I was in a meeting, but I told Lauren to call her and let her know.

  The next morning when I walk over, she is still standoffish, and I don’t know if I should bring it up or not. “This is his overnight bag.” She hands me the little backpack. “Everything that he needs should be in there. If not, I’m sure you will be fine.” She smiles, but it’s a weird, forced one.

  “Perfect.” I smile down at Aiden. “Kiss Mommy goodbye,” I tell him like I do every single morning. “Have fun tonight.” I try to say it with meaning, but I hope she has a horrible fucking time. I hope that he’s an asshole, and I hope she doesn’t fucking come home with him. “Text us when you get up tomorrow.”

  “Will do,” she says. “I’ll call him later to say good night,” she says, and I turn and walk down the steps to the car. The day goes by at a snail’s pace; court is pushed back till eleven, but we let out at one so that is good. Even at the park with Aiden, time goes slow, and I keep looking at my phone as the minutes tick by and then the hours. Eliahn calls at around eight, and I can tell by her voice that she is having a good time, which makes me hate it even more.

  She doesn’t even ask how our day was or what we did; she just asked Aiden. I put him to bed shortly after the phone call, or better yet, he falls asleep watching television, but it’s Friday. I carry him to bed, and I’m not lying when I say I wait up for her. I pace the house almost the whole night, and at three a.m., I finally give up, turning off the lights and heading to bed. My stomach is twisted in knots, but it’s not my place. She isn’t mine, I tell myself, but it just tastes like acid in my mouth.

  Chapter Twelve

  Eliahn

  “This spa is the top of the line,” Troy says as he opens the door to this spa, and I swear the sound of waterfalls hit me right away.

  “Good afternoon,” the lady behind the wooden desk greets us. “My name is Greta; welcome to Serenity Spa.” Her voice is so calming you are almost put in a trance.

  “It’s so great to be here,” Troy says from beside me. “We have an appointment at one for Troy and Eliahn.”

  “What?” I look over at him, surprised.

  “Consider this my welcoming gift.” He knocks my shoulder with his playfully.

  “I have you both down for The Rejuvenation Experience.” She smiles at me. “It’s a five and a half hour treatment, but you will be leaving here very, very relaxed.”

  “I have no doubt,” Troy says as she hands us each a board with a questionnaire on it.

  “What are we having done?” I ask while I fill out the questionnaire with all of my personal information.

  “The Relaxing Body Wrap, Rebalancing Massage, Regenerating Facial Therapy, Anti-Aging Eye Treatment, full wax treatment, Classic Manicure.” She smiles at me, and I smile back. This is going to be heaven, or at least one would think, and it almost is heaven. Almost.

  After I finish filling out the information sheet, she hands me a key to a locker and tells me to go right into the women’s room where the lockers are at. From there, I am to exit to the common area where I will be called by name. I take the key from her and wave goodbye to Troy. “See you on the flip side.”

  I undress, looking down, thinking the wax is coming at the perfect time. I slip on the plush white robe that is hanging in the locker. Looking around, I see a sign on the wall that no cell phones are allowed past this point. It also asks that you either power down or turn the ringer off to allow a more pleasant experience. So I turn mine off and lock the locker, walking into the common area. There are a couple of people already sitting down when I walk into the room.

  Another woman sitting behind the wooden desk greets me as soon as I walk in the room with a note that says ‘sign in here.’

  I walk up to her and smile. “I’m Eliahn Coco,” I say quietly. She tells me it won’t be much longer and to help myself to some water. I walk to the two water dispensers and see one with cucumbers and the other with berries. Pouring myself half a glass, I walk over and sit down on one of the available chairs. Not long after, Troy comes out and signs in with the girl.

  Four workers come through the beaded curtain that must lead to the back room. One of the smaller girls calls out my name, butchering it. I smile at her, getting up and then correcting her. “It’s Eliahn.”

  “My name is Genevieve.” She smiles at me. “Follow me.” She turns, and we walk back through the beaded curtain down the white hallway. Doors line the hallway on each side with a picture of a stream, another one on the beach, and one of a dock leading to a lake with the sunset in the background. Soft sounds of the waves crashing play in the background.

  Once she gets to her door, she turns and opens it up for me. The lighting in the room is dim, and the sound of soft piano playing in the background fills the room.

  A massage table sits in the middle of the room with a brown blanket. “You aren’t allergic to anything?” she asks me while she reads my answers from the questionnaire, and I just shake my head. “We are going to start with your facial first, so if you want to get under the blanket, I have an off-the-shoulder wraparound robe here for you to put on.” She walks over to the table and brings me back a folded towel. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” She smiles as she walks out. I take the robe off and wrap the new robe on. Once I Velcro myself in, the elastic at the top keeps it from falling.

  I slip under the sheet, lying down and closing my eyes. The sound of soft music and water is now playing. She knocks softly on the door. “You can come in,” I tell her, and she walks back in.

  “Shall we get started?” she asks me, and I just nod. For the next five hours, I am pampered like I’ve never been pampered before in my life. She has hands like an angel. The massage is so good I fall asleep, and I would still be sleeping if she didn’t have to ask me to turn over.

  “Okay, we
are going to do the bikini wax,” she says. “What type would you like?” she asks me, going over to the machine in the corner.

  “The regular one,” I answer. I am not sure if this is a trick question or not.

  “Are we doing a touch-up or a full wax?” she asks me while she uses a wooden stick to stir the wax. “Do you want a Brazilian wax, Bermuda triangle, or desert island?”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I ask her, not sure what the fuck she is asking me.

  “Right now, what do you have?” she asks me, and I just look at her, not even sure. “May I see?” She points at my vagina. She moves the sheet to the side, and I swear I see horror on her face.

  “Were you going for au naturel?” She fake smiles at me, and I think I will die. Okay, granted I haven’t waxed in a while, but it is well groomed down there, or is it not?

  “What about a landing strip? Would you like that?” I just nod, not thinking. “Would you like it to go all the way up?” She motions with her finger.

  “All the way up where?” All I want is a bikini wax.

  “To the anus part?” she says, still smiling, and I don’t even know if it’s peer pressure or not, but I just say yes, which should have been the first clue shit is about to go down.

  She comes over with the cart of wax and white strips. She grabs the baby powder and puts it on both sides, rubbing it in. She then turns to stir the wax, taking a bit out on her wooden stick and smooths it at the bikini area, the heat of the wax stinging a bit.

  “Ouch,” I say to her, and she just picks up a white strip, puts it down on the wax, and with her hand, she presses down on it a couple of times before ripping it off. “Holy mother of fuck,” I hiss out. And she places her hand on top of it to somehow stop the pain from radiating through me.

  “Yes, I can tell it’s been a while,” she says, going back to the wax and stirring it again with a new stick. Then she comes back to do another little strip. “One, two.” And I wait for three, but the bitch pulls it on two.