Bryce: Ex-Business: An Ex-Club Romance

by Camilla Stevens

“Well, we don’t know the whole story, mind you,” her father says in an overly prissy manner. “But I suppose I should point out that your parents were acquaintances of ours, of a sort. More so of Cassie, Lola’s mom, than Sergio or me. They had money, which was always welcome in the era of cocaine.”

  I’ve been nibbling at the duck, which is pretty good, to help soak up some of the alcohol so I have a clear head. I nearly choke at that last line. “Coke?”

  “Oh, honey, everyone was doing it. Especially in finance.”

  “My dad? Did coke?”

  Alfie places his fingers before his mouth as though he’s made some horrid faux pas, but the look on his face is utterly bemused. “Oh dear, the poor boy doesn’t know,” he says, giving Sergio an obviously fake look of concern.

  “No, the poor boy doesn’t. But the poor boy is very interested to know more,” I say, leaning in closer in my enthusiasm. This is too good.

  “Well, I for one, didn’t understand the point of the white horse at the party—some thing for your parents’ anniversary. It had been done before, for Pete’s sake, and far better, mind you, with Bianca Jagger at Studio 54.”

  “If a man brings me a horse to a party, I expect certain things,” Sergio says in his slightly accented English. I turn to find him giving Alfie a suggestive look, which has both of them laughing again.

  “Your mother of course loved it, even though it was obviously some inside joke between your father and her. She didn’t even get on the dang thing! Which made it a bit of a disappointment, at least at first.”

  “So it was this horse at the party? That’s what made you think of my father thirty or forty years after the fact?”

  “Well, Cassie was there too, and as usual making a spectacle of herself.” Alfie purses his lips, but I can see the affectionate look on his face.

  “How?” Edie inquires with a wary expression, apparently not familiar with this part of the story yet.

  “Does Lady Godiva ring any bells?”

  “That was back when everything was still perky,” Sergio sasses.

  “Good grief, mom,” Edie mutters to herself with a sigh, closing her eyes in embarrassment.

  “I guess I could see how that might upset my mother,” I say, just picturing the reserved, perfectly put together woman I know—the same one who used to blush at my off-color jokes—as she watches such a spectacle.

  “Your mother?” Alfie exclaims. “Honey, she loved it! Then again, she had so much in her system at the time, she could have run her own pharmacy-slash-liquor store.”

  Once again I’m left shocked. “Are we talking about the same Alice Wilmington?”

  “Stop, Alfie, you are scaring the boy,” Sergio says with a grin.

  “Not scared, just,” I lift up my glass, “thoroughly enlightened. At least now I know what the next lunch Mom insists on having with me will be about.”

  “Bryce,” Edie scolds.

  “Edie,” I mimic giving her a bemused look.

  “What is this Edie business?” Alfie says with a pout turning to his daughter. “Don’t you like the name I gave you?”

  “Lola? L-O-L-A, Lola? The song is about a trans person, Dad. Do you not remember me coming home from school in tears after people teased me?”

  I make the mistake of laughing, earning me a glare from Edie.

  She turns back to her father. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not overly thrilled with Edie either.”

  “Lola is a gorgeous name,” Sergio scolds. “Sexy,” he lisps, giving me a pointed smile.

  “No complaints from me,” I say, giving Edie a grin.

  “Can we get back on topic? So obviously this horse, for some reason means something to your mother,” Edie says, giving me an inquiring look.

  “Honestly, I’m still a little stumped. I know she loved the horse but of all the things to name the company after, Lickety Split seems an odd choice. Especially for my Dad, who doesn’t have a sentimental bone in his body.”

  “I’m sorry, dear boy, did you say Lickety Split?” Alfie asks.

  “That was the name of the horse.”

  “Well, that is indeed amusing.”

  “How so?”

  Alfie looks across the table at Sergio and they both laugh in that way that is fast becoming exasperating.

  “I’m not as well versed in the female anatomy as some people, but that is quite the euphemism,” Alfie says, giving me a pointed look, then turning to Edie.

  Her nose wrinkles in disgust.

  My mouth slowly drops open. Of course it’s “quite the euphemism.” I can’t believe I, of all people, didn’t pick up on it sooner. Maybe, like any other mentally sane man, the idea of oral sex and my mother has the duck in my stomach threatening to waddle right back up my throat.

  “Just because that’s the name of her horse—from when she was a teenager I might add—doesn’t mean anything,” Edie says. “Horses have fun and quirky names. It was probably perfectly innocent.”

  “Yes, perhaps,” her father says. “Anyway, they never threw another party again after that night, at least not the kind that would potentially end up with Cassandra naked on a horse. So something definitely happened that night. And people were awfully hush-hush about the whole thing, even the horse bit, which, in all fairness, was nothing, considering some of Cassandra’s other notorious antics.”

  “Who in New York hasn’t seen the woman naked?” Sergio adds.

  “Thank you for that, Sergio,” Edie says with a frown.

  He laughs and playfully slaps her arm. “Sergio is sorry, Lola.”

  “Still, it does put things into place,” Alfie says, sticking out his bottom lip in thought. “One does wonder what happened at that party to turn Pierce and Alice into, well frankly, a bunch of dull people.”

  “No need to sugar coat it for my sake,” I say. “I think we all know what happened. My dad messed up and slept with Cassandra LeFleur that night.”

  Sergio and Alfie hum with amusement, no doubt thinking the same thing.

  Edie utters a hum of dismay.

  I just feel my jaw tighten with a mixture of resentment and satisfaction. “The next logical step is to confront the son of a bitch.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Edie

  I know Bryce hates his father, but the grin on his face is a bit much. I’m annoyed that my father and Sergio only seem to be encouraging it.

  Of course, we all jumped to the same conclusion he did. Even knowing what my mother was like, what she’s still like, I have the decency to be appalled.

  “Aren’t you even the least bit upset for your mother?”

  His smile fades and he has the tact to seem somewhat abashed. “All the better ammunition to hold against him. This could be the key to putting an end to this Cheval Blanc business.”

  “He’s going to deny it.”

  Bryce tilts his head to consider me. “You could go to your mother?”

  I instinctively grab my glass of wine at the prospect, but I don’t drink. The conversation has perked me up from the funk of the day but now, I’m groggy again.

  “That’s a conversation I’d rather not have.” Something about the idea of my adoptive mother and Bryce’s dad seems…incestuous for some reason. That’s too few degrees of separation for my taste.

  “She’ll no doubt be more forthcoming than my dad will be.”

  “Even if she did admit it, it’s not like there’s proof to hold against him.”

  “But it would be something. Don’t you want to fight for this?” he asks.

  “Yes, I do but…” I feel myself getting exhausted again. As if Dad and Sergio weren’t enough, now I have Bryce to add to the mix. I inadvertently yawn.

  “Oh, our marshmallow is tired,” Alfie says, giving me a sympathetic look.

  Although I’m annoyed by the use of that nickname, his words just make me even more ready to escape to my bed.

  It’s only Monday, for Pete’s sake.

  “Don’t worry, Mr. Har
tman, I’ll get your daughter home safely,” Bryce says with a broad grin, making Dad and Sergio chuckle.

  We make our goodbyes and then the two of us pile into the Uber ride that Bryce has called.

  “What fun it must have been growing up with them. And Cassandra? I’m jealous,” Bryce says.

  “I won’t even bother responding to that one. In fact, knowing you, you probably would have liked it. Thankfully there were no horses for Mom to ride around naked on.”

  “Especially those named after cunnilingus,” he says, shivering with revulsion.

  That manages to get a giggle out of me, despite everything.

  Bryce reaches out an arm to pull me in closer to his side. “So it looks like this was all my doing after all. If I apologize again, am I forgiven for today?”

  “I forgave you the second you hung up,” I say, tilting my head up to smile at him.

  “Does this mean I get to have a sleepover at your place? I can play the horse, you can play—”

  “Stop right there or you’re on your own tonight. In fact, let’s never mention what was discussed at dinner ever again.”

  “Deal,” he says breathing out a laugh.

  I settle back against him, feeling content once again. I’m not sure how up for sex I’m going to be considering how much of a toll the day has taken on me, but it will be nice sleeping next to Bryce.

  “The only thing I still can’t figure out is…why?” he comments.

  I lift my head to face him. “What do you mean?”

  “I get the connection of the dots. Me. My magazine. My dad using my mom’s beloved horse as some kind of a cute shell company. Also why Contempo Woman definitely wasn’t on the list of potential publications this company was talking to. He must resent having succumbed to Cassandra’s act of seduction. But why would he go to all this trouble?”

  “Didn’t you say he wanted you to join the family business?”

  “Not this badly. The amount he’s potentially forking out is absurd, even considering how much he’s worth.”

  I pull away at the tone in his voice. “Do you think he means to do something horrible? Like buy your magazine from Conniver and dissolve it?”

  I see Bryce’s jaw go taut, which tells me that’s exactly what he thinks.

  “Shit,” I whisper, realizing how vulnerable we both are to the whims of our corporate overlord. Suddenly, I’m wondering what he might have planned for Contempo Woman after all. Considering whatever happened at this party back in the day.

  Despite my reluctance over dinner, I am now eager to talk to Mom. No matter how much the details may turn me off, I need to know just how much Bryce’s dad regrets what happened between them.

  “I’ll talk to him tomorrow. I don’t care what damn meeting he’s in. Should be fun,” Bryce says with a humorless smile. “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I tell him what I know.”

  “I’m still trying to picture it,” I say. I, of course, only have the public image of his father to go on, but that paints a picture of a man who makes a Baptist minister look like a bohemian hippie.

  “Yeah,” Bryce says, his smile suddenly filling with humor. “I wonder if it was before or after the naked horse ride?”

  “Eww,” I groan, as the mental block I’ve put over that image disappears.

  “So, you never knew about all of this?” he asks.

  “Mom and Dad officially divorced when I was seven, once his grandmother died. I lived with him and Sergio for the most part, and they at least knew better than to regale me with stories of their wild past. The times I stayed with mom, I got enough of an earful about her past, but no, nothing about this. Though I don’t know why she’d bring it up. One, out of all the things I’ve heard about her, it’s hardly too scandalous. Two, she has no idea that I have ever had anything to do with any of the Wilmingtons.”

  “You mean you didn’t tell her about our one wild and wicked night back in business school when I completely rocked your world?”

  I breathe out a laugh and fall back against him. “I guess she’ll find out soon enough. I need to know just how interconnected this thing is.”

  I feel him exhale a boisterous laugh, and pull away to look at him questioningly.

  “I’m just picturing when our families finally meet one another. Again.”

  A sly smile comes to my lips. “Already meeting the parents I guess. And it’s only been a little over two weeks.”

  “Plus one year of living across the hall from one another. Seven of you secretly pining after me. One mind-blowing night. So really it’s—”

  I poke him in the side with a laugh. “Pining after you? You didn’t even register on my radar.”

  He scrutinizes me. “Truth. Did you purposely move in across from me?”

  “No.”

  “Truth.”

  “No,” I insist.

  He leans in closer, his expression completely challenging. “Truth. I promise to never tease you about it.”

  I stare at him a moment. “Okay, I may have specifically chosen the unit that was on your floor, but only because I didn’t want you to have any advantages with Kitty Edelman.”

  He nods somberly, then suddenly breaks out into a grin. “I knew it! You did have a thing for me. Lola Edie Hartman had a thing for the one that got away.”

  “Ass!” I say, punching him lightly. “You said you wouldn’t—”

  “Oh come on, Edie, you can’t honestly think I wouldn’t get at least one jab in. But okay, I promise to leave it alone from here on out.”

  I glare at him one final time, then fall back against him, hiding my amused smile.

  “Tomorrow’s the day I confront him,” he says above me, almost to himself. “I can’t wait.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Bryce

  I spent the night at Edie’s place.

  Any hope I’d had for a “horse ride” had to be saved for another night since she was out practically the moment we walked through the door. It must have been some day for her yesterday.

  She’s still asleep as I crawl out of bed earlier than usual. I want to get this business with my dad over with as soon as possible.

  “Hey, I’m getting an early start. Going to have a chat with my dad,” I whisper to Edie.

  She mumbles something and shifts in bed, going right back to sleep.

  I smile and head out, going across the hall to my place to shower and get dressed.

  It’s a little after eight o’clock by the time I head out the door. I nab a taxi and take it downtown to where the Wilmington offices are. On the way down, I call my brother.

  “Bryce?” He sounds like he’s been up for a few hours already. As if I needed any more motivation to avoid working for Wilmington Financial.

  “Hey, I was thinking of stopping by for a chat with Dad.”

  “Dad? Today?”

  “Yeah, could you notify them downstairs so I’m in the system?”

  “If you tell me what this is about.”

  “He’s already got you working as a guard dog?”

  “More like a very interested bystander. If there’s going to be a slaughter, I want a seat at the arena.”

  “I appreciate your faith in my abilities, big brother.”

  He laughs. “I wasn’t talking about you. We both know who to put our money on when it comes to you and Dad. I hope your little magazine provides decent health insurance.”

  “Can you get me in or not?” I ask, getting irritated.

  “I haven’t heard the magic words.”

  “Please.”

  “Fuck your manners. I want the four-one-one. Are you finally thinking of joining us?”

  “Far from it. But let me in and I’ll invite you to the circus that’s about to pitch a tent right in the middle of his corner office.”

  “Is that figurative in the fun sense or the perverted sense?”

  “Both. Trust me. Are you going to get me in or not?”

  He exhales loudly enough to mak
e it clear I’m putting him out and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Done. But this better be good. Remember, I’m the one who has to deal with him the rest of the day if he’s pissed off.”

  “That one’s on you for working for the old man. But today might be worth his wrath.”

  “It better be,” he says.

  I hang up and grin, already picturing Dad’s face when I reveal what I know, up to and including this shit with Cheval Blanc. The only problem is, which one to hit him with first, Cassandra or this magazine business?

  When I arrive at the building, I head toward the security desk in front of the bank of elevators that lead to the Wilmington floors. True to his word, Pierce has put me in the system so all I have to do is show ID and I’m through.

  I’m met with another obstacle once I reach his floor. It’s in the form of a receptionist who has no idea who I am. I can’t even remember the last time I was here, so that’s no wonder. She looks like she probably wasn’t even out of college by then.

  You’d think that Pierce would come to meet me himself, but I suppose that’s too much to ask.

  “Hey,” I say, throwing on my most charming grin. It’s enough to thaw a smile out of her. “I’m here to meet Pierce? Pierce Wilmington…the fourth, not the third.”

  The oh that forms on her lips indicates I’ve just uttered a “very important” name that now has her flustered. If she’s this bad when it comes to my brother, I can only imagine what it must be like with my father. I can practically see her hand shake as she gives me a wary look and picks up the phone.

  “Sandra? There’s someone here for Mr. Wilmington. A…” Her eyes flash in panic as she realizes she didn’t even bother to get my name. She visibly relaxes as something is said on the other end. “Okay, of course.”

  She hangs up and eyes me. “I assume you’re Bryce?”

  “The very one,” I say, still with the grin. I note how she didn’t mention the last name, which she probably didn’t get. That would have at least erased the suspicious look from her face.

  Pierce is a dick.

  Her smile is perfunctory. “If you could please have a seat. Mr. Wilmington’s secretary will be right out.”