Ryan
I was nervous about allowing Reena to take Alicia around the house by herself, but I didn’t want to do anything differently with Alicia than I did with any other date. Reena was drunk, though, and Reena and I had a past.
We’d only dated because my stepmom and her stepmom had practically thrown us together at some kind of fundraiser. She was pretty and everything, but we didn’t have that spark. So we broke up pretty amicably, and then she’d started dating Dylan about a year after. Amicable break-up or not, Reena was my last choice to give Alicia a tour around the house, but when they came back into the game room, Alicia smiled at me and winked. What a relief.
“So, Ryan, I think we all absolutely love your girlfriend,” Reena proclaimed. Loudly. “Don’t we, everyone?”
“Reena…” Dylan walked to his girlfriend and put his arm around her trying to shush her.
“That’s awesome, guys, really,” Alicia said.
She really was the absolute best; even Reena didn’t fluster her.
“I’m really glad that you invited me out with you today,” she continued. “I haven’t met any of Ryan’s friends before today, and you are all really fun to hang around with. I hope I can do it again sometime.”
“You should tell her about the club!” Reena yelled out.
Dylan glared at her and clamped a hand over her mouth. “Shut the fuck up, shut up right now!”
But it was too late. I felt my stomach drop and looked at Reena, who was smiling triumphantly at me despite Dylan’s hand over her mouth. Dylan looked at me with apologetic eyes.
“So sorry, man. She’s loaded. I’m going to take her upstairs and put her in one of the rooms.”
“That’s cool,” I sighed.
“You have to do me first,” Reena said to him. “You know I like it when you get all authoritative on my ass.”
We were all quiet for a moment as Reena let Dylan tug her up the stairs, and then Alicia busted out with laughter, which made the rest of us laugh, too. When we finally calmed down, Alicia pointed at me. “What club?”
I felt a rushing in my ears. Roger and Justin looked at me like they’d rather be anywhere but there; the other girls watched me with wide eyes, wondering what I’d say.
“It’s nothing,” I said wearily. “Reena is drunk and doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Who needs another drink? We all know Reena doesn’t,” I laughed, trying to dissipate the tension in the room.
“It must be something because she mentioned it upstairs, too,” Alicia persisted. “And I’ll take another Captain, please.”
“It’s seriously nothing, just a golf thing. A group we’re all a part of.” I used the cover story we’d come up with in case anyone—girlfriends in particular—asked.
“Oh, cool. I like golfing; we should go.” Alicia suggested, settling on the couch between Lori and Tammy.
I brought Alicia her drink, then went to Roger and Justin.
“Dude,” Roger said.
“Seriously,” Justin nodded. “Dylan needs to control his woman. That was ridiculous.”
“It’s no big deal,” I said, trying to convince myself as much as them. “Alicia’s half drunk. By tomorrow morning she’ll have forgotten all about it.”
“You better hope so,” Roger said. “Watch, the first thing she’ll ask you tomorrow morning after, Where’s the coffee? is Can we go golfing at your club today?”
Justin laughed, then stopped when I glared at him.
“That won’t happen. She’s cool.”
We jammed out to the music for a while longer and then watched a movie. Dylan and Reena didn’t return to the party, which was fine with me. Everyone had had a lot of sun and a lot of booze, so couple by couple we began to wrap up the night.
“You’ve already seen my bedroom,” I said to Alicia when we were the last ones downstairs. “What did you think?”
“I think it’s a bedroom suited for a king and a queen,” she said, tilting slightly into my arms.
I caught her and held her close. She kissed my neck and my body responded immediately. I lifted her chin with my finger and kissed her top lip, then her bottom lip, then I pressed my lips firmly to hers and slid my tongue into her mouth. I could hear her breath quicken. I kissed her harder.
“Take me to your giant bed, Ryan,” she whispered.
We walked upstairs, sometimes kissing, sometimes walking, and eventually made it into my room. She knew her way around; she and Reena must have spent most of their tour time in this room—surprise, surprise. God only knew what Reena had told her.
I pulled back the covers on the bed and took off everything but my boxers. I watched Alicia undress slowly, removing her dress and setting it on the chair by the bed. She crawled into bed wearing just her matching bra and panties.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I told her, snuggling into her neck. How many times had I told her that today? Countless, I was sure. I had it bad for this girl.
“And you are sneaky,” she said coyly.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want to have sex with me tonight?”
“Oh, yes…”
“Then I need you to answer one question for me,” she purred.
The money, I thought. When I offered her the money I had no idea I’d actually end up sleeping with her. She was either going to ask me for more money, or ask for me to not pay her at all. It didn’t really matter to me either way; the day had been worth every penny.
“I can answer any question you ask, beautiful,” I said sincerely.
“I know that line you fed me about golf is total bullshit. Tell me the truth. Tell me about the club.”