by J. A. Huss
“Oh, sister. You should’ve come to me! I could’ve seriously helped you out in that department.”
“No, thank you,” I say. “I’m so not taking sex advice from the girl who lets men stick it in her butt.”
Kate glances around, suddenly serious. “Shhh, for fuck’s sake. You of all people should know better than to blab at home. Our parents are paranoid freaks. What if my dad has a camera in here?”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “My dad would kill Five if he knew he took my virginity. And I don’t even care if your dad hears this. There’s no way Ford Aston would have that conversation with my father.”
“Hmmm,” Kate says. “So what you two really need is a do-over, right?”
I just chew on my fingernail as I think about our first time. He was sixteen, I was fifteen, and that was the last time I ever saw Five Aston before an hour ago.
“I can help you,” she says. “But I’m gonna need all the details of the first time in order to do that.”
“Fuck you.” I laugh.
“Not the sordid ones. Ick. He’s my little brother. The romancey ones.” She stops to think about this for a moment. “He did romance you, right? I mean, I don’t want to picture too much or anything, but I know my brother. He did anything and everything to make you happy all growing up. He’s the dumbest, sappiest dude with you. And only you,” she adds, hammering that home.
Which I appreciate. Because let’s be honest, Rory. You’re insecure right now and you need all her BFF big-sisterly advice you can get.
“So tell me,” Kate says. “How did that night start?”
SIX YEARS AGO
After months of planning and waiting, Five is coming home today.
I have imagined his homecoming every way possible. How we will rush into each other’s arms. His eyes will find mine—staring deeply into them, like he can see right into my soul—and then we’ll kiss. It will be the most perfect, passionate kiss ever. Better than anything I’ve ever seen in a movie or read in a book. It might even be filled with longing and lust.
I kick my covers off and swing my legs out of bed. It’s already almost eight and Five’s plane gets in at noon, so including drive time from the airport, I only have five good hours to get ready.
The sun is shining—how could it not when the love of my life is coming home?—so I throw the curtains open and take in the—
Hey. Why is Kate here?
Outside my window, on the other side of the massive side yard, is an older silver BMW I recognize as the one Ford gave Kate for her last birthday.
But that’s not Kate getting out of the car. It’s Five.
How can it be Five? His plane hasn’t even landed yet.
I open the window to yell out at him, but he’s so quick. He’s practically running into my dad’s shop.
Five Aston came home early and didn’t even call me. Did he get in this morning? No, that can’t be. There’s only two non-stop flights a day from London. And today’s first flight won’t get in until later.
Which means he got home last night.
What the hell?
I grab yesterday’s jeans off the floor, tug them up my legs, and then rush outside barefoot.
It takes me a few minutes to cross the gravel driveway because gravel and bare feet don’t really go together. And by the time I’m about to open the door, Five swings it open, jumping back in surprise when he sees me.
“Rory,” he says.
“When did you get home? How come you didn’t tell me? And why are you out here sneaking around in the shop?”
“Jesus,” he says, smiling that winning Five smile at me. “How about a ‘hello’ first, Princess? Or an ‘I’ve missed you?’ Or better yet,” he says, placing his hands on my hips and tugging me close, “a kiss.”
A kiss. Yes. This is it, Rory! Your big moment with Five is here!
My hands go up to his face out of instinct. I place them on either side of his perfectly square jaw, and lean up on my tiptoes.
Our lips touch and there’s that spark. Exactly the way I remember it the first time he kissed me on Christmas just before he left for Oxford.
He pulls back, his hand slipping under my pink nightie top and hooking into my belt loops.
“Princess,” he says. “God, I’m so glad to see you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home last night?”
“I just got in.”
“Liar!” I say. “There’s only two flights a day. I have been stalking this stuff for eighteen months!”
“It was a…” He stumbles for words. “A private jet.”
“Wow,” I say. To call me stunned would be an understatement. “When did your dad get a private jet? He always said they were pretentious.”
“It wasn’t his,” Five says, and then quickly adds, “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m finally here.” He tugs me close, so our hips touch, flashing that grin at me that makes me forget about the entire world and just melt.
“You’re here,” I sigh, leaning my cheek up against his chest. “I can’t believe it.” I love his smell. I’ve missed it so much, I might start crying. And then… “Why are you here?” I lean back a little so I can look him in the eyes. “I mean, at the shop?”
He looks around for a few seconds, like he might be about to lie.
“Five? What’s going on?”
“I was just thinking… you know.” He shoots me a grin.
“What?”
“You know. Maybe we could use the old apartment to have some… alone time.” He waggles his eyebrows at me. “If you get my meaning.”
Yes! I want to do a great big fist pump. I’m gonna have sex today! With the love of my life!
And then I frown. “Hmmm… I don’t know.”
“What? You’re gonna deny me, Princess? Well, don’t blame me for trying—”
“No!” I say. “No, no, no, no, no! I’m in. One hundred percent. It’s just… I have always pictured it in my bedroom, ya know? On my princess bed. Surrounded by my princess stuff. But the shop apartment is fine. Better than fine. It’s perfect. Come on, let’s go!”
PRESENT DAY
“You did not,” Kate says, breaking her rapt attention away from my story, “do it for the first time in my father’s creepy old shop apartment on your farm.”
“We did,” I say, making a face. “And it was all wrong. I felt like a child, ya know?” I shake my head, trying to shake that memory away at the same time. I don’t like to think about it. “It was nothing like I imagined in my head.”
“Hmmm,” Kate says. “Well, yeah, that sucks.”
“We didn’t do it again, either. He had to leave early, remember? And he never came back. So I’m stuck with that one horrible first and only time with him in my memory.”
“Girlfriend, you need to make a new memory pronto. He’s back now.”
“Yeah, but I don’t care what he says, he’s not back for me. He’s up to something. Just like he was up to something that day we did it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… I don’t think he was up in the shop planning for our first time. I think he was doing something else up there.”
“Like what?”
I have thought about that morning for years trying to make sense of it. But I have no clue. So I just shrug. “Dunno. It was just weird how he showed up on that private jet and then left after only a week.”
“Hmmm,” Kate says again. I can practically see her mind spinning. “That was my grandfather’s jet. He was here from Hong Kong that summer. But now that I know all the details, you’re right. My baby brother was definitely up to something.”
“Yup,” I say. “And whatever it is, we need to find out.”
Just then, Oliver comes through the screen door. “Rory!” he calls.
“In here,” I say back.
Oliver—so tall now, so much like my dad—appears in the kitchen doorway. “Did you see Five?
“Yes,” I say.
“Did he make you happy?”
“Why?” Kate asks.
“Oh,” Oliver says, fake-polishing his nails on his t-shirt, “just cause I told him I was pissed off about how he left things with you, ya know. And I made him make it up to you.”
I squint my eyes at him. “Make it up—are you telling me he put on that caveman act because you put him up to it?” I’m fuming again.
I might be sweet Princess Rory most of the time, but I have a bombshell of a temper when I get angry.
“Where did you guys go?” Kate asks, placing a hand on my shoulder. It’s a signal for me to calm down.
“Out to the farm. Five needed something from the shop apartment.”
Kate and I exchange a look. Mmmmhmmm, that look says. We’re on to him.
“What did he need?” Kate asks. It’s her dangerous voice. The voice she reserves for the collegiate debate finals each year.
Oliver looks uncomfortable, but I can’t tell if it’s because he knows what Five was doing and doesn’t want to say, or it’s just Kate’s growl. “I’m not sure. I just know I went inside to get—” He stops short.
“What?” Kate demands. “What did you go inside to get?”
Oliver looks to the left, his tell for lying.
“Don’t even think about lying, Ollie,” I say, doing my best to make my words all serious and menacing like Kate can.
“I wasn’t. I just needed to get him something. And I can’t tell you what because it’s a surprise. For you, Rory.”
“Liar!” Kate says. “You better tell the truth or else I’ll—”
But then my phone dings a weird chime. I look at it, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing.
“Who’s that?” Kate asks, leaning in to get a look at my screen.
“It’s…” I laugh. “It’s a Love Note. From Five.”
And it says…
01001001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 means ‘I love you’ in nerd.
I might melt.
“Oh, my God,” Kate says through her laugh as she grabs my hand to look at the screen. “My brother has no game at all. That is the stupidest love note ever.”
“Yeah,” I say, hugging the phone to my chest. “But it’s my stupid love note.”
And Five Aston is living in Crazytown if he thinks I’m gonna let him get away again. I don’t care what he’s doing here, he’s not leaving until he sets things straight with our happily ever after and I get the truth out of him.
Chapter Six - Five
I listen because I have no choice.
I nod my head and smile. I drink with them. I laugh with them. I eat with them.
I blend in.
Because that’s what I do.
When a guy gets into Oxford mid-year at fifteen it’s easy to think he’s something special. And when your last name is Aston you grow up with certain expectations. You will be accepted, you will be invited to things, you will be included.
And I was. I’m not complaining about how I was treated at Oxford.
But everyone who’s anyone at Oxford is an Aston. They are all old-money geniuses.
I’d heard about the infamous drinking societies. Who hasn’t? But I was fifteen. So I was ignored.
It didn’t last. By second year it became very clear that people expected things of me. When I opted out of their offers because of my age that first year, they gave me a pass. But that didn’t last either because you can legally drink at private functions if you’re sixteen and being served by an adult. By the end of second year—right around the time I was thinking about going home to Colorado for the summer to see Rory—everything changed.
And it all started with Jack Joseph.
“So…” Jack says. The night is old and the tent is filled with people now. Mostly older couples dancing and laughing. There’s a string quartet playing and the drinks are generously flowing. “What do you say to the offer, Aston?”
Our eyes meet. His are dull blue. I hate his accent. It’s so pretentiously British. “I’m not staying in the US, Jack. I’m on my way to Mars, actually.”
He bellows out a laugh so loud, several couples look over at us. “Mars,” he chortles. “Good one, Aston.”
“I’m dead fucking serious. I’ve been offered a position over in China with a private corporation. We’re sending more robots to Mars.”
“There are no real private space organizations in China, Aston. Stop bullshitting. They’re all under the thumb of the government.”
I shrug. “What do I care? It’s a fucking job, right?”
Jack takes this personally, I can tell. “We told you why you should care.”
“But you didn’t tell me why I should join.”
“No?” Jack asks. “Country?”
“We’re not even from the same country, Jack. So why don’t you stop all the circle talk and just get to the point?”
“It’s a way of life, Aston. The upper echelon rules the world and you’re part of it, whether you like it not. You’re expected to rise to the occasion.”
“Is that the kind of bullshit your father filled your head with growing up? Because mine wasn’t like that. He’s an outsider, Jack. And I’m a chip right off his block.”
“Yeah,” he sneers. “I’ve heard a lot about your father.” He shakes his head. “Don’t make the same mistake he did, Aston. Don’t waste your life making TV shows and looking over your shoulder.”
I stand and button my coat. “I told you three years ago my answer was no and nothing has changed. I’m not a joiner, Jack. Maybe you need something like this”—I wave my hand in the direction of the party tent—“to make you feel… special. But I’ve been special my whole life and there’s nothing I want less.”
“A Chinese Mars mission will just put you in the hands of other men,” Jack calls out as I walk away. “Come on, Aston. Grow the fuck up.”
I don’t bother answering. I find my way out of the party, then the house, then the property, and when I get back in my rental car, I’m on autopilot.
Start it up. Get out of this neighborhood. Find the freeway. Head north.
Jack Joseph has no idea who I am. Or my father, if he really thinks Ford Aston considered for a second taking up with the likes of him and his cronies. Jack sees my money. The seven companies I’ve sold over the past several years. My successful apps, my software, my robots from school and beyond.
But it’s only half the picture. The public picture.
The private one is altogether different.
I am going to China, but it’s got nothing to do with robots and I’m only going because I can’t find a way out. Why the hell would I go live in China when everything I love is here? Everything I want is here.
I’ve been gone long enough. I need to come home. And this trip was exactly what I needed to clarify my goals.
But… these people. They’re serious about what they do. And just getting this invitation is enough to put me on their radar.
China might not be a bad place to disappear. And I’m thinking disappearing might be the way to go. Get these pretentious fuckers off my back a little longer. I have no doubt they’re playing a long game with me, but I can buy myself some time, at least.
The late-night traffic in Denver wanes as I reach the outer limits of the city. And by the time I’m cruising up towards Fort Collins, it’s practically nonexistent.
That’s when Rory comes to mind.
She makes me smile. I didn’t plan on seeing her yet. Not this summer. Not until I had my shit together. Plus, she’s got another year at Princeton. She deserves to make the most of that year and not be tied to a guy who lives and breathes secrets. I can give her that one gift. Because next year, if she accepts my offer, her life will be radically different.
The boring boyfriend is no threat. I’m not worried about him. I’ve already decided to stay the weekend, so I’ve got two whole days before I have to make a decision about what comes next. Two whol
e days to spend with my princess. Two whole days to make her remember why she loves me. Two whole days to enjoy her before I have to let her go for another year.
I’m gonna make the most of those days.
My house is dark when I pull into the driveway and for a second, I wonder if I should just go over to Sparrow’s house and see if Rory is staying there. I know Kate is at Sparrow’s. She texted me earlier. And Rory won’t be out at the farm, not when everyone else is gone. That place is kinda creepy if there’s not a dozen people milling around to keep it lively. It’s in the middle of nowhere. A river on one side and miles between the neighbors.
So she might be at Sparrow’s. But… Oliver will definitely be at Sparrow’s house and I can do without all his questions.
I get out of the car and walk up the front stoop. Thinking of Rory leaves an ache in my chest that will just grow stronger the longer this goes on. We’re so close, yet so far apart at the same time.
Tomorrow, Five. Tonight, you have another job to do.
The flash drive with the code has been burning a hole in my pocket all day. And even though picking it up was an afterthought once I landed in Denver, it was a good move. Because the code on this drive is the most perfect string of numbers, letters, and symbols I’ve ever had the pleasure of creating.
I open the door and get a whiff of something sweet. Like Kate was baking cookies earlier. I flick on the foyer light and…
“Well, hello there, handsome.”
Rory Shrike is sprawled out on the steps wearing nothing but… whip cream and strawberries.
I cock an eyebrow as I grin. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for my man to come home so I can give him dessert.” She’s purring her words, Marilyn Monroe style.
My mouth drops open. I’m not sure if I’m surprised, amused, or turned on. All three, I think.
Rory stands, allowing me to get a good look at her. All her sexy parts are covered in dollops of whip cream. And on top of each crested peak are thin slices of strawberries. Her nipples, her pussy, and there’s even a little bit of cream on her nose. But that last one has no strawberry and I don’t think it was on purpose.
