Chapter 10
James
“Wildest night in a whole year.” James threw himself across the couch by the large bay window overlooking the busy avenue crowded with cars and lined with pedestrians. But that was several stories below. Up there, in Ian’s high-rise condo that had more square feet than most starter homes, the noise pollution was non-existent, and the sunlight streamed without obstruction from the building across the street. James had dropped by to let his friend borrow something, but stayed for a drink and to shoot the heavenly breeze. Because when Ian commented that James seemed to be in a fantastic mood, it was only natural for James to agree.
Ian sat in a chair on the other side of the coffee table. He had tossed aside his jacket before sitting, something James should have replicated before wrinkling his against his friend’s couch. Don’t care. That’s what dry cleaning is for. James, like Ian, had finished most of his business by lunch that day. Ian was settling in for an afternoon at home and a dinner with his girlfriend. James combatted the crazier corners of his imagination that regaled him with promises of tropical getaways and diamond earrings for the woman he loved most. Such were their natures. James could always count on Ian to indulge him. Likewise, Ian would act as the voice of reason when James inevitably plowed full steam ahead into his ideas.
“Seriously. Wildest night.” James cupped his hands behind his head and gazed at the sunlit ceiling. Ian’s cat, which had a Gaelic name James could never hope to pronounce, hopped onto the back of the couch and dangled its fuzzy tail above James’s head. “I’d tell you some of the shit we did to each other, but it’d push your TMI boundaries.” He said that with a giant grin.
“Highly doubt she did anything to you that Kathryn’s never done to me,” Ian muttered. He was, after all, the man dating a professional Domme. James and Gwen may have switched when the moment suited them, but Gwen would never call herself a Domme.
“Don’t be sure about that.” James reveled in the memories from two nights ago. Two blissful nights of making love to his partner, catching up after a year’s worth of frustration and angst. We really hit a breakthrough. I’m not sure why, and I’m not sure how, but I’ll be damned if we go back to where we were before. James hadn’t been this happy since he realized he was in love with Gwen. How long ago had that been? How much had he come to rely on Gwen’s love to feel complete?
“Then, you’re right. I’m good with losing out on a few details.” Ian clicked his tongue and summoned his cat to his side. First, though, the frisky feline had to hop off the couch. Instead of leaping over James or going around him, the little kitty bounded off his diaphragm and plopped onto the carpet. “You didn’t have any problems walking in here, but you’re a stronger man than I when it comes to certain things.”
“I’m lucky that my prostate doesn’t hide.” Nope. It sure didn’t. James’s grin grew even larger to think about it.
“Yup. TMI, man.”
“You know what I should do?” James said, changing subjects. “I need to throw a party for Gwenny. Her birthday isn’t too far away. I could totally throw her the birthday bash of the century. Still time left to rent the best venue on the block. I’ll invite everyone she’s ever had a pleasant conversation with. And her parents, I suppose.”
“Leaves your parents out.”
James didn’t need reminding of his father’s existence. “No. My father is definitely not invited. Maybe my mother. She likes Gwen.”
Ian considered that statement before saying, “But your mother isn’t the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, right? Not like my mother would.”
No, not every boy had a mother like Ian’s, who made it her personal mission in life to drink every drop of gossip and get in her son’s face about every little thing, from who he dated to what business move he was thinking of making next. It was no secret that Ian’s mother adored Kathryn and urged her to marry Ian as soon as possible. Of course, Kathryn was an heiress – possibly the wealthiest and most highly regarded heiress in the whole city. What well-to-do mother wouldn’t want her son marrying someone like Kathryn? If the Meranges could have swung it, no doubt they would shove James in Kathryn’s direction.
“You’re right. My mom has almost noooo say in anything.” James failed to see what difference that made to his happiness in the moment. “Not the point. What I need right now is help party planning.”
Ian picked up his cat the moment a key hit the lock to his front door. He turned his head in mild interest before looking back in James’s direction. Perfect timing, Kathryn. She entered her boyfriend’s condo using her copy of his key. A bag from the healthy grocer’s down the street hung from one arm while she balanced a bottle of wine in another. Never mind. My father would hate her. She doesn’t command servants to carry her groceries for her.
“Hey.” Kathryn closed and locked the door behind her. The cat perked up on Ian’s chest and stared at her until she agreed to come over and stroke its back. Her eyes never left James lying prostrate on the couch. “Sorry. Didn’t know you had company, babe.”
Ian shrugged, as if to say, “It’s James. Does he count as company? Huh.”
“Apparently,” Ian began, pinning his cat back down to his abdomen, “James and Gwen are on the mend.”
“According to you?” she asked James. Her nude-colored heels carried her to the counter by the kitchen. The shopping bag hit the black marble countertops, and her purse landed on the nearest stool. When Ian said he was having dinner with Kathryn that night, James was not expecting them to cook. But, also according to Ian, Kathryn had been on a healthy cooking and eating kick for the past… year? Two years? Since realizing she had someone she wanted to grow old with?
Damn. That was beautiful. Good thing James had one of those people, too.
“We’ve had, uh, a good week so far.”
Kathryn rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress her snort of laughter when she caught that cheeky grin on James’s face. “She finally pegged you again, huh?”
James laughed. Ian turned his head so quickly that he almost snapped his neck off his body – the cat certainly did not appreciate the jostling experience it now suffered. “We don’t take kindly to that kind of talk ‘round here,” Ian said, utilizing the kind of speech they often heard on TV, yet using his everyday upper-class accent. “Not when it gives you ideas.”
“Pshaw.” Kathryn began putting groceries away in the fridge and cupboards.
“Things are definitely looking up in Casa de Merange,” James said. “Which reminds me. I’m going to throw Gwen a big birthday bash, and you must come, Kathryn. I’m telling you this now before I forget you’re one of her best friends. Because she can’t invite you to a party if she doesn’t know it’s happening.”
“A surprise party? For Gwen?” Kathryn shut the refrigerator with a laugh. “You’re telling me about it in the hopes I spill the beans, aren’t you?”
“No, that would be detrimental to the surprise.” James sat up with a new thought. “Unless you tell her a fake story. Oh! You could tell her that I told you I wanted to fly her to Hawaii for her birthday. Then the real surprise could be…”
“A Hawaiian-themed party at the airport,” Ian said. “That would go over really well. You should do that. Make sure Kathryn’s roped into it, yup.”
“Honestly,” she said, “propose to her. That would put a shock in everyone’s system.”
She was still laughing, though both James and Ian were silent. The cat yawned, stretched across Ian’s chest, and hopped down to fuck off to the library on the other side of the condo. Ian didn’t move. James pretended he still had breath in his lungs.
“What?” Kathryn held out her hands, one holding a loaf of freshly made garlic bread, and the other a jar of $10 spaghetti sauce. “I wasn’t serious. Sheesh.” She placed both the bread and the jar on the island counter. Bags rustled. She tossed her hair over her shoulders. “Don’t worry, buddy,” she said to James, “Gwen’s made it quite clear she would kill you if you ever do a public proposal.”
Ian hid his cough of shock with a guffaw. James, meanwhile, simply sat up on the couch and inhaled a deep breath. Might as well tell her too. Except Gwen would find out about it, and if there was one thing James and Gwen swore to one another, it was to not tell anyone their big secret.
Too bad James had told Cassandra.
“Well…”
James had barely figured out what he wanted to say when his phone rang. The chimes of his ringtone made Ian jerk in his seat and Kathryn roll her eyes at the interruption. James grabbed his phone and hoped it was an honest-to-God emergency.
He quickly rescinded that hope when he saw Cassandra’s name on the incoming calls list.
“Sorry.” He got up from the couch and followed the cat into the library. Ian and Kathryn gave him space. James didn’t bother to shut the door all the way. Not when the cat glared at him from its bed by the window.
He took the call and held his phone up to his head.
“Yes?” Please don’t be about Patrick… please don’t be about Patrick.
It wasn’t
“James,” Cassandra said with her airy voice. It sent a shiver down his spine. A shiver of dread. “You need to head to your family’s home right now. My mother left five minutes ago, muttering that she was going to meet Gwen there.”
James furrowed his brows. “Excuse me? Why in the world is your mother going to meet Gwen at my family’s house?” That didn’t make any sense. Hell, Gwen going to meet Sarah Welsh anywhere didn’t make sense! Why would Gwen do something like that without informing her partner?
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Cassandra continued, “but my mother was rather pleased with herself, and we both know that might mean trouble.”
James hung up one minute later. He shot out of the library with the words, “I’ve gotta go,” on his lips. Ian followd him to the front door without saying anything.
“Don’t tell Kathryn.” Those were James’s parting words before he left. He didn’t stick around long enough to hear if Ian clung to his word.