Alicia
Well, I had to go and open my big mouth. I stood over my clothes for the weekend and scowled. The women I had agreed to impress would be wearing the top brands and I had clothes that were not the top brands. Not even really high brands. Since I waited tables full-time I really didn’t need too many fancy outfits. I was really comfortable in jeans and fitted t-shirts, which was what I’d packed. I added a frilly tank top my mom had given me, and the skirt I’d worn to the Boathouse with Ryan earlier in the week—they were the dressiest things I had. Whatever—it was too late to go shopping now. I shook my head and shoved everything into my suitcase.
I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. These other women had had debutante balls, had been raised with nannies and butlers, and had never had to work at a restaurant or any other place. I wanted to prove that I could fit in with them. But how did I plan to do that? I didn’t fit in with them. I wasn’t of their breed, and they knew it. They could always sniff out their own.
But, I reminded myself, I had also told Ryan that it would either work or it wouldn’t. And if it didn’t work I’d be able to cut and run, no problem…except I liked the guy. I wanted to spend the weekend with him and get to know him better. I zipped my bag. Ryan had already texted to say they were on their way. I needed to get my ass downstairs if I was going to be on time.
I wheeled my bag to the hall and locked my door. My apartment was small and modest, probably about the size of Tammy’s bathroom, and I didn’t want the awkwardness of ever showing them where I lived. I rolled my bag down the flight of stairs and walked out the front door to meet Ryan—in a limo.
I felt my eyes widen and I pasted a huge smile on my face to cover the surprise. The closest I’d come to riding in a limo was high school prom when we’d all pooled our cash together and rented a dressed up Lincoln Town Car. This was a legit stretch limo.
Ryan opened the back door and walked over. “Babe,” he said and kissed me on the lips. “You look beautiful. Are you still good with all of this?”
I had worn my favorite pair of jeans and a white sleeveless top. I’d also worn my good luck necklace, a small diamond my best friend had given me that I always wore when I felt like I needed a little extra grounding.
“I’m good. Nervous,” I admitted, “but good.”
“You’ll be great,” he said and kissed me again lightly. He nodded at the driver, who grabbed my suitcase and put it in the trunk. I slid into the limo and saw that the party had already gotten started without me. Tammy, Lori, and Reena sat on one end of the long bench; Roger, Justin, Dylan sat on the other. They all had cocktails and the entire limo smelled like booze. I took my place next to Reena and greeted everyone.
“It’s really great to see you again,” Reena said.
Tammy wrinkled her nose. “Did you just come from work?”
“No, I had today off. Why?” The look on her face immediately made me feel self-conscious; she looked completely disgusted.
“Oh, no reason, I just thought I smelled fish. And when I saw your outfit, I just figured you had come here straight from work.” She looked straight into my eyes and what I saw there was not kindness. Tammy looked like she kind of wanted me dead.
I wasn’t sure what to say—usually the people I hung out with at least pretended to like each other. We were civil. This woman was not civil.
“Tammy!” Lori said.
“What? You need another cocktail?” Tammy said to Lori in a voice dripping with sweetness.
“Hers is full, but I’ll take one,” I said, laughing. “Looks like I’ll need it.”
I was relieved when Reena laughed with me. At least I had one of the women in my corner. And maybe Lori, too, though she was hard to read.
“I hear a lot of waitresses are also alcoholics,” Tammy said as she mixed a martini for me. “Have you heard that, Reena?”
“I don’t think so.”
I looked to Ryan for help but he was engrossed in conversation with the guys. I was on my own.
“Hey, how about you give the new girl a break before you start being your usual bitchy self?” Lori said to Tammy.
“Who’s being bitchy?” Tammy asked. “I’m just taking an interest in our new friend here.” She handed the cocktail to me and sloshed enough of the martini on my hand to make it clear it was no accident. “Whoa, careful there, Alicia. You have held a martini glass before, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” I smiled. While I didn’t hang out with people like her, I had dealt with girls like Tammy my whole life. She was a bully and I had rubbed her the wrong way. As long as I could stay calm and not bite on what she was dishing out, I’d be okay. I just needed to remember I was getting paid good money to be here, far more than I’d make waiting tables the entire weekend, and I would be doing so at a swanky lodge with a handsome man. “Thank you for the drink, Tammy.”
During the six-hour drive to the lodge, the guys talked almost non-stop about their plans for the weekend. They also made plans for an upcoming scuba diving excursion they were taking to a ship wreck that supposedly only super-experienced divers were allowed to go on. Yep, little boys in men’s bodies. Tammy and Reena talked about the stores they wanted to visit while we were at the lodge. Reena was particularly excited to visit a boutique that had jewelry she loved.
Lori perked up at this. “What kind of stuff do they have there?” she asked.
“Everything,” Reena said. “You’ll love it. You’ll be able to get some really great ideas there.”
“Ideas for what?” I asked.
“I’m thinking about going back to school to become a fashion designer,” Lori explained. “I was an art major, and it’s just a few more classes. It’s my favorite thing to do, design stuff.”
“Maybe you could help out our new friend here,” Tammy said. “Design her some clothes that don’t look like she got them at Goodwill.”
“Seriously, stop being a bitch,” Lori said. “We were all new here once.”
“Who’s being a bitch? I’m just trying to help her belong with us.” Tammy smiled sweetly at me.
I sighed and sipped my martini. It looked like I had a long weekend ahead.
* * * * *
When the landscape turned to thick forest, Ryan caught my eye. He must have been able to see how miserable I was, because he clambered over to sit next to me. He pulled my head down to lean against his shoulder. It felt just right. “Hey,” he whispered.
“Hey.”
“Pretty quiet over here,” he said.
Tammy and Reena were leaning against each other, snoozing, and Lori had told me she was in the middle of an audiobook. She’d plugged herself into her iPod and not spoken to me since.
“Yeah,” I said. “We ran out of things to talk about, I guess.”
“You can talk to me.”
His voice sounded especially deep when I listened through his shoulder, and I snuggled closer to him. “What do you want me to say?”
“Tell me anything,” he said. “Tell me what you want to do when you grow up.”
I started to lean away from him. “What, waiting tables shouldn’t be my dream?”
“Chill out,” he said with a chuckle, pulling me back to his shoulder. “I just want to know what your dreams are. I can’t know if you don’t tell me.”
I snorted. “I’m living my dream.” Then I paused. I could be serious with him, and really share something. “Okay. I want to publish a book, and I want to make money from my writing. It probably sounds dumb, but, that’s what I want.”
“I didn’t know you were a writer,” he said. “Isn’t it hard to get published?”
“I already have an agent,” I said, almost defensively.
He kissed my forehead. “If anyone can do it, you can.”
I sighed, relaxing into him again. “How about you? What do you want?”
“I’ve got everything,” he laughed. “I just want to hang with the Diamond Club and make memories. These are my people, my life. I belong here, and I want everything to go smoothly.”
“What about your career?”
He was quiet for a minute, so I sat up to look at his face. He was watching the scenery go past in the fading light. “My career’s fine,” he finally said. “It’s a diversion. My family had a lot of money, see, after selling off my dad’s big business. I took my share and started my own business, Solas Enterprises. Now it’s just a game, really, to see it get bigger and bigger. I want it to do well. It looks good for me if it does well. But my passion is really with this club.”
I couldn’t understand exactly, not with super-bitch Tammy in the club, but I could see what he meant about putting his passion in people. My passion was my writing. Nothing else would get in the way of that.
We got to the lodge a little after ten p.m. I held my breath as we drove up the long, winding road that eventually turned into a driveway. Ryan had been right; the lodge was very private. There were no other buildings around and the lodge itself looked like a huge mansion. It must have been someone’s residence once upon a time. Now it just housed a small staff for cooking and cleaning.
Some of the lawn had been cleared, but the majority of the property was still a forest. It looked magical, like sprites or fairies would descend from the trees to start dancing at any second. I glanced at Lori and by her expression of awe, I could tell she agreed with me.
We went into the lodge and settled into our rooms. We were staying by couples, which meant I had an escape from Tammy if—when—I needed one. As soon as we got into our room, Ryan pulled me into his arms and kissed me. He grabbed my ass with both hands and drew me toward him. I could feel his erection pressing into my bikini line and I put my arms around him.
“How was the ride up for you?” he asked.
“It was fine,” I said. “I talked to the girls a bit, got to know them. Tammy doesn’t like me.”
“Tammy is really direct. She’s just going to take a little longer to warm up to you. But she will—what’s not to like about you?” Ryan kissed me again. I rubbed my hips against him and he groaned softly into my neck.
“We have to get downstairs,” I said playfully. “I don’t want to keep my new friends waiting.”
Ryan frowned and pulled away. “You’re right.” He looked at the clock. “We need to figure out what to do tonight. Of course,” he slapped my ass as he walked by, “I have some ideas…”
Back downstairs, everyone was seated except for Lori and Tammy, who came in a few minutes after Ryan and I sat down. Ryan asked everyone what they wanted to do during the evening.
“We could play poker,” Roger suggested.
“Ugh, boring!” Tammy said. “Let’s do something together tonight, since you boys will be off doing your own thing tomorrow.”
“We could play strip poker,” I suggested, glancing at Ryan, who smiled approvingly.
“Atta girl!” Justin said. “I’m in.”
“Strip poker?” Lori said. “I don’t think I’ve played that since I was in high school.”
“That’s because high school kids still think they need a reason to take their clothes off,” Tammy said. “I’m not playing that.”
“Oh, come on,” Reena said. “It’ll be fun. We can kick the guys’ asses.”
“And the loser,” I added, “has to jump naked into the lake we passed as we walked in.”
“Sold!” Roger declared. “All right, let’s get some drinks going and someone go find some cards.”
I smiled at Ryan. I knew I’d won over the guys with my idea, but definitely not Tammy. Reena and Lori seemed at least okay with the idea. A small part of me hoped Tammy would be the one in the lake at the end of the game.