PENNY

 

The Lord of the Alcohol intoxicated my veins

 

His movements were swift, calculated, and controlled as he maneuvered behind the bar, pouring liquor like a pro. Sitting on the patio, I tried not to stare. Impossible. My eyes kept going back to his sexy self instead of the front door where Dex would be entering soon. Too bad I couldn’t lock the door and hide away inside the Lopa forever. I shook my head as I glared down to the sizeable diamond ring on my left finger. A token of his love he’d called it. More like a prison. A reminder of my betrothal. Theo was right about it being a rock. My hand felt heavy and weighted down with all the secrets.

I stared at the same sentence I read over and over for the past hour. The report I had been working on needed to be handed into my father at the end of today, but I couldn’t focus. Having Theo here had my body on edge. Grabbing the paper and my coffee, I headed into the back office to try to get some work done.

You can never let Theo know any of it.

I wanted to spill my guts to Theo, but I had big reasons not to. My mind wandered back to the day I met with my father at his office.

The day after Theo and I made love. The evil games my father and Dex played that day would never be forgotten by me.

“Knock, knock, here comes the cock.” Dex’s idea of a joke made my insides churn. Such crass humor, and most times I pretended not to hear him. He pushed his way inside the tiny office as I finished off the report.

“Hi,” I quipped.

“Ready?” His tall, burly frame overpowered the office, and I rose from the chair.

“Let me grab my things, I’ll meet you out front.”

“Sure. I see Theo is enjoying himself behind the bar.”

My hair fell over my shoulders as I glanced up to him. “Yes, he is.” Leave.

I wanted to banish the name Theo from his vocabulary, never to be uttered again.

I always needed a moment to collect myself before spending time with Dex. We were having dinner with his mother, who I adored, and again my thoughts drifted to Theo. I learned a great deal about him once I found out they were brothers. In some weird way it made me feel connected to Theo to hear her tell stories about their childhood. She loved her boys, so I had questioned her endlessly under the guise of wanting to know about Dex. Clearly she didn’t realize what an asshole her other child had become, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her.

“Alright, I’ll be out front. Hurry up.”

My spine stiffened at his rudeness. I nodded at his words and grabbed the report in my hand. One quick stop to my father’s high-rise office and I could hand deliver the update on his newest acquisition.

As I grabbed my briefcase off the floor, Theo stepped into the office. His dark eyes lit up when they landed on me. His hair was longer than I remembered and his beard looked fuller. “Penny, I won’t be in tomorrow. But, I can come back the next day. How close are you to finding someone?”

Shit. I hoped he wouldn’t ask me that question. Truth of the matter? I hadn’t even looked. Didn't plan on it. I missed him, and as selfish as it made me, I wanted him here. “I’m sure I’ll find someone soon,” I lied. “I know how much you hate hard work.”

“Yeah, nothing's been hard in quite some time.”

“There’s a million fish in the sea,” I said, avoiding his eyes. Why did he have to mention being hard? “Hopefully you’ll reel in a nice one.”

“I’ll try. Saw Dex, that’s fun.” He shook his head and a few long strands of black hair fell into his eyes.

“Theo…”

“Don’t bother.” He turned to leave as I stepped closer.

“I didn’t know he was your brother,” I whispered as he slammed the office door.

Horrible. I wanted to rush into Theo’s waiting arms, kiss him and make it all better, and tell him all about the nightmare I’d been living. That couldn’t happen, though.

Pushing Theo out of my mind, I gathered my things and quickly walked out the front doors to see Dex standing by his BMW. He opened the door, and I slid into the passenger seat.

“I don’t like the idea of Theo working here,” he said as he slammed the door, barely giving me enough time to get all of my body parts inside.

When he hopped in the driver’s side, I hesitated briefly before answering, “Would you rather bartend instead of him? I needed someone.”

His laugh was loud and sharp as it echoed off the leather interior of his little sports car. Cringing, chills skated over my body. His laugh irritated me, he reminded me of a hyena. I hated him, and hanging out with him made the hatred intensify, if that’s possible.

“Just please drive,” I whispered as he stuck the key into the ignition firing the car to life.

 

***

 

“Here are the reports you asked for,” I said, handing the crisp white papers over to my father’s pudgy fingers.

“Thank you, Penelope. Where are you two lovebirds off to this evening?”

Really? I tried to hold back the bile making its way up my throat as I narrowed my eyes onto him. How could he sit there and act as if this situation wasn’t forced on me?

“We’re heading to dinner with my mother. At my club,” Dex answered, smiling a toothy grin.

Oh yes, “the club.” We would be dining at the illustrious country club Dex was a member of and never let anyone forget it. My eyeballs mentally rolled themselves at the prestigious club with loads of important people as members. He’d told me all about it, endlessly, and if I heard about it one more time I might scream.

As we left my father’s office and headed off downtown toward the country club by the water, I sat back and gazed out to the stars twinkling in the sky. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could do this.

Pulling up to the ritzy club, with its wealth hanging in the form of garlands wrapped around the columns made my head ache. We stepped in unison up the steps to the entrance; together, as a death march to our faux engagement. This wasn’t my future.

“Dex, Penny, hello,” June, Theo’s mother, called out to us.

“Hi, June.” I swiped at the watery remnants of my fallen reminder of what I lost as it slid down my cheek.

June hugged Dex, then me, and her warm smile held me captive. Her smile, an older form of Lucy’s, made tears well in my eyes.

The past few weeks I did well keeping my feelings at bay, but seeing Theo again today didn’t help at all. The way his anger pulsed through his body was something I wasn’t prepared for.

Not that I blamed him. Left completely in the dark about everything, his reaction was tame, considering.

Dex led us into the lobby packed with people dressed in casual dinnerware, and I smiled to the bubbly blonde behind the hostess stand as did Dex. My eyes drifted to June’s as I pretended not to notice how Dex ogled her a beat too long. If I cared, it might have offended me.

Dim light surrounded the restaurant inside the country club as the hostess led us between tables full of happy guests. Resentment filled me at the way they laughed at their wanted company. We weaved through booths filled with giggling children, and uppity businessmen, until we came to a table neatly lined with enough cutlery to house a nation.

Dex pulled out a plush padded chair for me to sit, and I played the part by thanking him, sitting on the green cushion, allowing him to scoot me in, and then do the same for his mother.

Without thought, I grabbed at the black linen napkin and placed it in my lap as I glanced around taking in my new lifestyle. This was not me. This would never be me. Country club dinners and a man who didn’t love me were not going to be my future.

I had a plan.

If forced into a loveless marriage, well, then he would endure annoying Penny, the anti perfect fiancée. I had slowly started to plant the seed that this man didn’t know me any better than I knew him. Maybe he would decide he didn’t want me in the process. Not to mention, it was fun needling him and watching his reaction. Dex had expectations of his future wife and how the world viewed his marriage. Well, I took great pleasure in ruining his fantasy.

Two could play this game.

I smiled, picking up the embossed menu. “Why don’t they have chicken wings on this menu?” I asked. “I could go for some messy wings right about now. The kind where you lick the sauce from your fingers.”

“I don’t think chicken wings are really what the diners here are looking for,” Dex said.

“No?” I placed the menu down and propped my elbows on the table, resting my face in my hands. “Well maybe I need to talk to the chef and tell him chicken wings can be fancy too.” My eyes widened as if I had the best idea in the world. “They can give them special little wet naps that look like money to wipe their hands on.”

Dex stared at me with a look of horror on his face.

June cleared her throat, interrupting our stare off. “Penny, have you given any more thought to what we talked about last week?” she asked.

“I think a fall wedding would be lovely,” I told her. She’d only asked Dex and I about fifty times to pick a date before finally giving up and then trying to commit us to a season. I leaned closer to Dex. “What do you think about hay bales for the guests to sit on?”

“Hay bales?” Dex scoffed. “Penny, our guests will not want to sit on a hay bale.”

“Well it could be casual. Jeans and flannel. We could really play up the Fall weather. Maybe have some carved pumpkin centerpieces with our initials.”

Dex adjusted his tie. “No fucking way.”

“Dex,” his mother admonished him.

“Well who is the bride here?” I asked. “That's what I want, and the bride gets what she wants. Right, June?”

His mother lifted her crystal glass and took a sip of water before responding, “Well, we can come back to this later.”

I nodded my head and went back to studying the menu. For as many nights the last few weeks I sat in this same spot studying the contents, I could probably recite the menu from memory.

“Penny,” June said, softly. I lowered the menu, staring into her eyes, eyes so similar to Theo’s, and tried not to cry. “We’ll work something out. I’m just so excited to have you for a daughter-in-law.”

I reached across the table, my ring catching the light of the overhanging chandelier and clasped onto June’s hand. “I want that more than anything.” My words held nothing but sincerity. Problem was, I wanted her for my mother-in-law. I even dreamed of this very same scenario. But the groom was never Dex. I smiled and she nodded her head.

When I removed my hand, she smoothed her blonde hair and picked up her menu.

The waiter came and went, the food came and went as well. Boring. Bland. I tried to block it all out.

This is my life.

Fuck, I’m marrying the wrong brother.