by Nicole Casey
“Darling, this is an important matter. Will you please join us downstairs? The limo is waiting. We have reservations,” my father explained.
“If it was so important, why didn’t you make an appointment?” I demanded but as I spoke, my stomach protested again.
“It is rather last minute, I’m afraid. Will you please join us, Asha?”
I couldn’t bring myself to refuse, not because I didn’t want to but because I was starving.
Anyway, what was one more dinner with my parents? It wasn’t anything I hadn’t endured a thousand times in the past.
No, I’d become the dutiful daughter they’d always wanted, the heir to their kingdom, honors graduate and working at JRP just as they had always expected.
“Asha?”
“Give me fifteen minutes,” I told him.
I wasn’t dressed for a five-star dining experience but then again, neither were my parents.
My dad’s suit was looking almost rumpled, despite the wrinkle-free material of his flawless black jacket. Mom looked like she’d also been on the go all day, her perfectly coiffed chignon betraying a stray hair or two.
This dinner must have really been last minute. I wonder whom we’re meeting.
I didn’t bother to ask. It wouldn’t make a difference. For whatever reason, they wanted me there and there I was.
Dad tried to make some idle small talk about the state of the economy but I was looking out the tinted windows of the limo, my mind still on the work that needed to be done.
Budget is on par…for now. As long as they don’t go overboard with those cheesy marketing campaigns, we’ll be—
“ASHA!”
I whipped my head toward my mother and arched a well-shaped eyebrow.
“What?” I demanded indignantly. I was slightly embarrassed that I hadn’t been paying attention.
“Your father asked you a question.”
I hadn’t even noticed. Plastering a mirthless smile on my face, I looked at Dad expectantly.
“What was that, Dad?”
He cleared his throat and cast Mom a nervous look, causing my eyes to narrow. I despised their private looks now. I knew that could only mean more contriving, plotting, scheming.
“I was just asking if…” he coughed again and I waited, my back tensing. “I was wondering if you were seeing anyone.”
At first, I thought I’d misunderstood him but the almost pink hue on his face told me that I’d heard perfectly fine.
Is this a joke?
“Seeing anyone.” I said it like a statement, the words bitter on my tongue. How could he ask me something like that?
I had steered completely clear of men my entire adult life. After what had happened in my teens, I was wary of relationships and borderline terrified of having sex again, lest I find myself in the same position I had been before.
Of course, I was a woman now, not a scared teenager and I had needs just like any other healthy women in her twenties.
So when I did enjoy the company of men, it was in short bouts and almost always incognito. Never did I bring home a boyfriend or consider a future. What if my parents found out and tried to sabotage it? What if the press got involved?
I wasn’t a normal woman, not by a long shot. No other female my age had these concerns, I was sure.
But that was my life now.
The company was my future…even if I was filled with a panging sadness when I thought of all I’d lost.
Don’t even go there, I warned myself and forced my eyes back toward my parents warily.
“Yes,” Mother said. “Seeing someone. Do you have a boyfriend?”
I turned my eyes toward her, my mouth pinching at the corners.
“Wouldn’t you know something like that?” I asked tightly. “Or have you finally stopped having those PIs follow me around?”
Mom balked at the mention. She obviously didn’t realize that I’d been aware of the trail I’d had on me when I was attending Colombia.
“Honey, it’s just a question. We know you wouldn’t come running to us if you were involved with someone,” Dad interjected quickly. “And we’re not looking to cause any trouble in your personal life.”
A sting of resentment pierced through me but I checked my temper.
That would be a first, wouldn’t it? What if I told you I was pregnant?
Where was all this anger coming from suddenly? I’d dealt with all these feelings already. I’d come to terms with what had happened…hadn’t I?
“Oh this is ridiculous, James,” Mother barked. “I told you she wouldn’t tell us anything.”
“I’m not seeing anyone,” I intoned, sensing Collette’s propensity for drama arising. I didn’t want to promote that kind of behavior. I’d long ago learned that it was much easier to just concede their points and be done with it. I’d need an emotional army to deal with them otherwise.
The limo was slowing to pull into a lot off Santa Monica Boulevard. I didn’t know the place but as we established, my social calendar wasn’t exactly full. It looked expensive enough, not that I thought my parents would dine anywhere that wasn’t trendy and overpriced.
The car stopped and Dad leaned forward toward me.
“I don’t want you to feel blindsided,” he told me quickly. “But this meeting is about you.”
The door opened and the driver waited for us to step onto the red carpet leading to the establishment. Mom seemed grateful to escape the car but I made no move nor did Dad.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded. “What about me?”
“We’re meeting with Morris Sphinx tonight. Do you know who he is?”
I scoffed lightly.
“You’ve been trying to get Sphinx and Sons into our portfolio for a hundred years,” I replied. “Did you succeed?”
“We’re finally making steps toward a negotiation,” Dad explained. Why wouldn’t my shoulders relax?
Anticipation mounted in my gut as Dad stared at me, presumably getting his thoughts together.
“Okay…” I said, waiting. “And?”
“Morris has always been reluctant to get on board with JRP. He’s somewhat of a paranoid sort, even with all his lawyers.”
“What’s he worried about?”
“He’s worried that Sphinx will get swallowed in the conglomerate if he lets me buy into the company.”
He’s not paranoid—he’s right.
Even in the relatively short time I’d been with the company, I knew that my father was capable of doing exactly that—buying and stripping a company to his benefit. Why would Sphinx be any different?
Except I knew what the difference was—we didn’t have a pharmaceutical company in our portfolio. And Sphinx was not small potatoes.
“I’ve given him my constant assurances that nothing like that would happen,” Dad continued, almost tripping over the words as if he noted my sour expression. “That we honor our businesses and—”
“You don’t need to sell me, Dad,” I sighed dryly. “I know what’s going on.”
He paused and eyed me. Did I see a glimmer of exasperated respect in his eyes?
“Morris seems to have come up with a solution that will placate him.”
“Which is?”
Again, an unfamiliar look of embarrassment clouded my father’s eyes.
“He…he has suggested that you marry one of his sons.”
I blinked, the words not taking full effect for several seconds.
“Are you coming?” Mom growled at us from outside the car but I couldn’t pull my eyes away from my father who had flushed crimson.
“Y-you want to marry me off like some sort of medieval princess?” I choked, finally registering what he’d said. “What the hell?”
Dad shook his head quickly, the glint of salt catching in the dull sunlight that filtered into the vehicle through the open door.
“It’s not as bad as that,” he rushed on. “And I’m telling you now so that you know what to expect when we
walk in there.”
“He’s here WITH his son?” My usually composed tone was reaching a fever pitch of dismayed anxiety. “You don’t call this blindsiding?”
“Oh James!” Mother snapped irritably, overhearing my protests. “I told you to wait until we were in the restaurant. She wouldn’t make a scene there.”
Hatefully, I glowered at her now, a dozen retorts ready to fire from my lips but my dad, put his hand on mine.
“Asha,” he said quietly. “I have always given you a choice.”
Gooseflesh slithered down my body in a blanket of cold as I stared at him.
“I could never and would never force you to marry anyone anymore than I would force you to do anything else. Everything in life is a decision, a choice.”
I sat, silently, knowing that once again, I was somehow going to be swayed to his will.
“In ten years, you have shown no interest in anything but the business,” he went on in a low tone. “I have to believe that’s because you care about our company as much as your mother and I do.”
Is that what he really believes? That I have no life because I’m so invested in JRP?
Never mind that I was afraid to go out and explore life as a woman. Never mind that I threw myself into work to forget my past, my lost child.
“I have never done anything that I thought would harm you. When I tell you something, I think it’s the best thing for you.”
For the company, you mean, I wanted to say but I didn’t. I knew he would argue that I was part of the company. It was always the same argument.
“Adare Sphinx is a good man. He’s smart, handsome and the heir to his father’s fortune. I’ve done my due diligence on him and there is nothing remotely shady about him. Not even a drunken frat party to speak of.”
My eyes narrowed as I listened.
If he was such a good guy, why wasn’t he already married? Everyone had something dark and sordid in their past…didn’t they?
“What do you want me to say?” I finally managed to bark. “That I’m cool with this arranged marriage?”
“It’s not an arranged marriage!” Dad protested but I didn’t know how he could claim it to be anything else.
To my chagrin, my mother pushed her way back into the limo and slammed the door closed with so fury, it reverberated the car.
“This is what happens when you baby her, James!” Collette yipped. “She’s entitled.”
I scowled but before I could retort, my mother was on me.
“What is the problem, exactly, Princess? He’s not low-class enough for you? He doesn’t offend your parents enough?”
I froze at the insult.
“You’re not a teenager anymore, Asha, and it’s time you started acting like a woman and stop moping around. You’re not getting any younger and since you don’t have any prospects of marriage—”
“Who says I want to get married?” I roared.
“Oh that’s right,” Mother replied caustically. “You’d rather be alone, right?”
My eyes flashed defiantly.
“Your father and I thought that maybe you’d want to try doing things right for once in your life, maybe finding a decent man and having children—ones who won’t be outcasts among their peers. We’re offering you an opportunity now and you’re fighting because you’re immature and you think you’re proving some point to us. But if you refuse, this will only hurt you. We will survive without Sphinx and Sons. You’ll be the heir to JRP. And then what? Where will the company go after that?”
A knot of despair formed in my gut.
She’s right. What good is the company if I’m not passing it along to anyone?
For years, I’d mourned the loss of my child, even though I knew he was alive and cared for somewhere.
And all I’d ever thought of since was holding a tiny life I’d created in my arms again, one who wouldn’t be taken from me, one who would love me forever.
God, I hated myself for considering this. Would I marry a stranger on the word of my parents only to secure the future of JRP?
No, that wasn’t it at all. I would marry a stranger on the word of my parents because I wanted to secure the future of my future children.
“You don’t have to make any decisions right now,” Dad offered, perhaps reading the uncertainty in my eyes. “Why don’t you meet Adare first and see how you feel about him?”
I nodded slowly, begrudgingly but I knew that as long as Adare Sphinx didn’t come off as a serial killer, I was going to bend to my parents’ will again.
How could I not when they wrapped it up in such a neat, little package?
“Asha?”
“Okay,” I muttered, reaching for the door handle. “I’ll meet him.”
3
Rustin
It was difficult to say if I was drunk or if the vibe of the party was making me high. Maybe it was the aroma of pot wafting through the games’ room which was affecting my senses.
Whatever it was, I was grateful for the temporary reprieve in the mental turmoil I’d been enduring since learning about Adare’s impending engagement.
Nothing had been formally announced but I knew it was coming.
My brother would get married and have a kid. The future of Sphinx and Sons would be sealed. There was nothing I could do but stew about it.
It wasn’t like I could find a bride whose family could offer the same thing that Asha Preston could.
But why did he pick Adare to marry her instead of me?
It was probably a stupid question. After all, my history with women wasn’t exactly romantic. I was the playboy, the untamable stud. If anyone was qualified to marry, it was Adare, not me.
Even if I was better for the company.
I looked around for the source of the weed, not that it much mattered to me. My parties were always a free-for-all—not that we were a bunch of hard-partying teenagers. Mostly a drinking and toking crowd.
My eyes rested on a woman who wasn’t a regular but there was something elusively familiar about her.
With a face like that, I should remember where I know her from.
True, gorgeous women were commonplace in my circles. They were all soft-skinned, bronzed, with curves in all the right places, not unlike this black-haired goddess but right off the bat, I could see she was different from the other California girls.
Without realizing it, I had moved from the couch where I had been sandwiched between Carlie and her cousin but neither of them seemed to have noticed me moving.
My gaze was locked on the smoky grey of this woman’s eyes as she bore a combination of annoyance and disinterest on her face.
She was certainly dressed well enough to be part of the elite Malibu circle of people who called themselves my friends, even if I could barely name half of them. Everything from her short, stylish black dress to the simple diamond choker around her neck screamed money but the lack of excessive make-up on her naturally beautiful face made me wonder if maybe she was a newcomer to society.
She didn’t wear the painted smile of an up and coming actress nor did she attempt to mingle like the average gold-digger. No, she radiated a certain aloofness, like she did not want to be there and yet I could easily see she wasn’t someone who was apt to be dragged around without consent.
Who was she? What was she doing at my party?
It was plain to see that whatever had led her there was no longer capturing her attention. She was getting ready to leave, even though the night was still young.
Before I could approach her, however, a hand touched my arm gently and I was looking into Geneva’s dark eyes.
“Hey,” she chirped. “Have you seen Jude?”
I blinked and looked around the crowded room, shaking my head.
“Not since you guys got here. My guess is that he’s out by the pool on his guitar.”
Geneva chuckled and nodded.
“That’s a good thought. We’re going to have to get going. I promised the nanny we’d be home earl
y tonight.”
“Lucky nanny,” I chuckled and Geneva grunted.
“Don’t start with me. I feel guilty enough that I have to use her.”
I eyed my friend’s wife.
“Why?” I asked. “You and Jude are on the road constantly with your tours. The twins aren’t going to raise themselves.”
Geneva shrugged again.
“I’m taking a little break now,” she sighed. “They’re growing up so fast and I feel like I’m missing it all, you know?”
I didn’t. I couldn’t relate in the slightest but the wistfulness on Geneva’s face spoke volumes.
I wonder if I’ll ever know what she’s talking about.
“Well you’ve certainly earned a break,” I replied easily. “You guys have been going nonstop.”
I gave her a wan smile but my eyes shot over her head to take in the woman who had wandered out of the room by this point.
“Who are you looking at?”
Embarrassed, I shook my head.
“No one. I thought I saw my brother.”
I didn’t know why I was lying but something inside me made me want to keep this woman a secret, even from Geneva.
“I thought I saw him with some hottie in the theater a little earlier.”
“A hottie?” I repeated, the word foreign on my lips when used in conjunction with my brother. I don’t know if I was having a harder time envisioning my brother flirting with someone or with the dated terminology.
Geneva’s from Louisiana. They’re a few years behind the times, I remembered.
“Anyway, just a heads up, you might be seeing more of me in the coming months,” Geneva chuckled, leaning in to give me a quick peck on the cheek. “That’s just in case I don’t see you before I leave.”
“All right,” I replied, nodding as she brushed by me to find her husband. Instantly, I bolted in the direction of the black-haired woman.
I found her in surprisingly short order near the downstairs bar. I wasted no time ambling up to her, my most charming smile on my face but as I neared, she looked at me and frowned.
