Chapter 6

Aiden

Getting dressed up for events had never been something I appreciated when I was younger, but now that I could choose my own styles it wasn’t as terrible. Zep and I had decided that instead of going out to find something, we’d use my wealth and have the designers come to us. Doing so also meant that Zep could sleep in as long as possible and by the way he was curled up next to the sexy brunette when I peeked in on him he needed it.

I stood in the mirror while Frenchie, my mother’s recommended designer made a few adjustments on the tux. The man had done one suit for me in the past, and the thing had fit so perfectly that I hoped to have the same luck.

“Excuse me,” said a tiny voice as the girl from Zep’s bed entered the front room with wet hair and her head down. She was red-faced during her walk of shame, and because of that, I’d give her some credit. Most would stomp out unapologetically and half-dressed.

Zep entered the room shortly after, his hair still wet from his shower, and I could only assume the two had shared it.

“You’re looking good, friend,” said Zep as he plopped down in the closest chair that hadn’t been draped with garments.

“Thanks. We finally chose the right one. Now we’re making sure it fits me like a glove.”

“Are you sure we have to do the whole tux thing? Can’t I wear a tie and my boots?” Zep’s style had always been a bit edgier than the normal rich kid, but then again, my orphaned friend’s father was the same way, always wearing concert tees and ripped jeans with his biker boots.

“Yeah, you want to ask my mother that question? I’m sure she’ll give you an answer real fast.”

“Never mind, I’ll do it.” Zep leaned back and closed his eyes like he hadn’t gotten enough sleep.

“You’re dragging ass, this morning. She didn’t look like the type that usually wears you out.” The girl seemed to have a wholesome nature compared to others he brought home.

“She was a lunatic. She had me tie her up to the posts and then she wanted to be choked. I don’t mind holding a girl by the neck, but she begged me to make her pass out and then got upset when I declined.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. The last thing we need here is some girl dying from auto-erotic asphyxiation. Could you see the headlines? My mother would put us both in the ground before the police could get to us.” I shook my head. “She didn’t seem the type.”

“She was insatiable. I think I threw my hip out and I’m not even thirty. You just never know.”

“Maybe mother should make you settle down instead of me. Your sex life is way more fucked up than mine.” The guy always seemed to get the freaks, and I couldn’t tell if that made him the unluckiest man in the world or not.

“I know what I want. Hopefully, she brings her twin along for the ride this time.”

“You’re still hung up on Halle Blue?” I chuckled and felt a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me still. “Sorry, Frenchie.” The man shook his head and went back to pretending he wasn’t in the room and Zep continued the same.

“Wanting to fuck someone isn’t the same as being hung up, and besides, I want her sister to join us.”

“I believe they call that an infatuation,” I said, but Frenchie shook his head.

“I believe the correct term is obsession, Sir.”

Frenchie and I shared a laugh and Zep gave us both an obscene gesture before even trying to defend himself. “We have unfinished business, her and I.”

Before I could give him a good ribbing over it, my mother barged her way in. “Hello, darlings. Hello, Frenchie, dear.” She didn’t stop until she was standing in the middle of us with her hands clasped as if to say what’s next.

“You two have been busy boys.” She lifted a brow, but I kept a straight face. Zep knew better than to say a word, not until we knew of what we were being accused.

I gave her a blank look and tugged down on the cuffs as I bent my arms for Frenchie.

“Don’t even play like you have no idea what I’m talking about.” She folded her arms across her front, and I waited for her foot to start tapping. Surprisingly it didn’t, but she did continue. “I was at the club sipping my mid-morning tea when the towel girl came over to tell me how excited she is to be coming to the gala tonight and how she’d spent a month’s salary on her dress. You two really should have saved the poor girl the trouble. Anyone without an official invitation isn’t welcome.”

“Yes, mother, I know.” The cat was out of the bag, and the gala was just hours away. It wasn’t as if she could undo what was done. “That’s why I made my own official invites and handed them out to my friends, so they’d be able to attend.”

“You did what? I had those invites hand-scribed by the best calligrapher in town! They were even embossed.” She snapped at me as if I didn’t know who she’d used. “You can’t just send out cheap knock-offs and expect that to work.”

“I didn’t. I made sure that I had the same woman do mine, too. She did an excellent job as she did on the others with the calligraphy and the embossing.” I knew better than to even smile, but Zep was doing enough of that for the both of us.

“You have no respect what so ever. Here I am trying to throw you this party, and you can’t stand to let me handle it!”

I threw my hands out nearly hitting Frenchie in the chest. “You’re not respecting my wishes, Patricia.”

Her eyes met mine as she jerked her head around. “Don’t you call me that! I’m your mother!”

Frenchie stepped back and folded his arms as if waiting for us to finish and I spun around to tell Patricia what for. “If you want me to have a good time and to find someone I can warm up to then you have to invite more than those icy-frigid bitches from your elite society list. I need people who are warm and caring, who have more to offer than just money. And frankly, you’re lucky I’m going at all.”

“Well, as far as I’m concerned you’ve already sabotaged this party. There’s no chance of you finding someone who is decent and proper. And once the riff-raff starts piling in, the respectable few will leave.”

“Then it will be their loss.”

“I have a few of my old client’s kids coming, and I had hoped you’d be hospitable and welcoming. You know the Blue Twins. They’ll be here, and they are very important right now. See to it that you show them some special hospitality.”

“I am going to take care of them personally, Mrs. P. You can count on me.”

“You’re such a sweetheart, Zep.” She tousled his hair like she had when he was a boy, back when it used to make me a bit jealous, but now I wish he had taken my mother.

“Kiss ass,” I mumbled, earning a smirk from Zep as she headed to the door.

“You men be ready for the gala by six. I want you downstairs front and center to welcome your guests.” And then she was gone.

“See, she wants me to fuck them. Did you hear her? All that talk about showing them hospitality. That’s precisely what I plan to do.” Zep got up and crossed the room to stand beside me in the mirror.

Frenchie, who had gone back to work the minute my mother had left, was all done with me. While he worked with Zep, I called a few of my friends and made sure they were coming. The man promised to have us looking sharp by then.

After Frenchie left a girl showed up delivering our masks. I’d opted for the plague doctor look, while Zep preferred the hawk mask, and both of us looked like a pair of vicious birds.

She showed us how to put them on and then before she excused herself, I slipped her one of my last invitations to the ball, which lit her eyes. “Thanks,” she said, before leaving.

“Why did you do that?” asked Zep.

“I saw the way you looked at her, and she’s talented. Look at these masks. Wouldn’t she be a hotter fantasy than those dragon twins you’re after?” Anyone would be.

“No, man. I want those girls, and I want them before the night is over, so I’d appreciate any help you can give me.”

“You want me to recommend it?”

“Fuck, I don’t care, but if there is an opportunity, your help will be appreciated. Sadie always did like you. Halle told me so.” Sadie was the crazier of the two and downright scary.

I didn’t want to promise her shit and get her on my bad side. “I don’t know, man. Let’s play it all by ear and see how the night goes. I’m not getting stuck with those girls all night.

It was a party after all, not a punishment. But I was sure if things didn’t go as planned for me, my mother would make sure that in the end, it was both.