Chapter 10 - Callie
There is too much on my mind right now. I have to compartmentalize like never before. But my mind is running a million thoughts a second and I just can’t stop. How am I supposed to prepare a whole cake single handedly while trying to keep Declan out of my mind?
It’s bad enough that Sheila is so sick that I have to cater an entire charity fundraiser by myself, but knowing that Jake and Miranda are out there in the crowd of rich people makes my anxiety skyrocket. Miranda is responsible for ruining the life of someone very dear to me, and Jake seems to know something about it. As much as I hate to even consider the thought, it may do some good to try to talk to Jake. If he gets drunk enough, I’m certain he’ll spill the beans on how Miranda stole Declan’s money or what she ended up doing with the designs Declan drew up.
What am I doing? I can’t think about going on a reconnaissance mission. I have to cake to finish decorating. And then I have to make myself look presentable. With all of the professional photographers I caught a glimpse of outside, I have to make sure I roll out the cake looking as good as I possibly can.
Jake. If he helped Miranda fuck Declan over I have to know. Declan may be okay with rolling over and letting Miranda get away with her crimes, but I sure as hell am not. As soon as I get the chance, I’m going to make my way over to him and execute Plan A.
Ugh. Now, I have to mentally prepare myself. If he’s drunk, I’m sure the first thing Jake is going to want to do is try and touch me inappropriately. The sick freak. But hell, I’ll put up with some unwanted touching if it means I can get some dirt on him or more importantly, Miranda. Once I get that dirt, I can tell Declan about it and it’ll soften the blow of finding out that I am Miranda’s stepsister and have been for quite some time.
I should have already told him. On the boat. That was the perfect moment. He told me all about Miranda and how she fucked him over and I stayed quiet the entire time, save for some questions sprinkled here and there. I was so pissed at him before for hiding things from me and now I’m doing the exact same.
Between our ocean voyage and now, we did see each other a few times. And while those two dates we went on were great, it only made me feel shittier. He took me to a party where he tried to get back in with some people who worked in the same business he used to work in. Though he was focusing a lot on making new connections and rebuilding old ones, he always made sure that I wasn’t bored or felt alone. Once we left, he took me out on a cheesy date, that I appreciated wholeheartedly. He bought me some ice cream at a local place I had mentioned in passing I used to go as a kid. I don’t give him enough credit for paying attention when I speak. Even I forgot I had mentioned that place until he stopped the car right in front of it.
The day after that, he took me shopping for clothes. I told him I needed something to change into once I’m done with all of my catering duties at the charity event. Not only did he buy me a dress and a pair of shoes to go with it, but he took me to some real bougie places to buy me “anything I wanted”.
“Are you sure about that? Aren’t you hurting for money”, I asked him warily.
“Taking you out shopping won’t cause a big enough dent as keeping and maintaining a superyacht”, he answered, smiling the entire time.
I ended up with four bags from stores I never even thought of stepping into because of how expensive they looked from the outside. Declan is the best shopping partners. More often than not, I hear stories of women having to force their significant others to go shopping with them and the entire time they have to tolerate whining and complaining. But not once did Declan glance at his phone. He was eager to see me try out new clothes and asked me what it was I liked about certain things. Not in a judging or condescending manner, but genuinely interested in what sort of designs or styles I like. Maybe for future reference, once my birthday rolls around. Who could say, really? All I know is that it deepened my trust and admiration. He’s a good person.
A good person who deserves to have justice brought to him.
I finish decorating the cake and text my dad to let him know that it’s ready. He texts me back, telling me to wheel the cart with the cake on it once I hear the entire room applauding. Way to keep my anxiety through the roof. Here I was thinking that I’d just wheel the cake out and leave it next to the food tables.
Not a moment later, I hear the roar of the crowd waiting for a beautiful cake to be presented. The double doors open out and reveal the cake to the elites gathered for tonight’s event. A four level chocolate and mint cake with green frosting surrounding its base, Ferrero Rocher-type chocolates on the top forming a spiral shape, and chocolate dripping down each level. A true masterpiece of a cake, if I do say so myself. I don’t really know what I was going for as far as designing the cake, but the applause continued as I stood in front of it and shook my dad’s hand. The flashes from the photographers’ cameras were going off. It was blinding but I can’t say I wasn’t enjoying the feeling.
I smiled for the cameras the way I heard Tyra Banks once say it was right to-- with my eyes. I was showing teeth but I made sure that the joy was coming straight from my eyes. At least, that’s what I thought was doing, I suppose I won’t know until I see how the pictures came out.
What brought my fake smile to a real frown was seeing Jake in the crowd. Through the flashes of light and the sea of botox-enhanced faces, I saw him looking directly at my while licking his lips. It might be safe to assume that he’s already had too much to drink, but a few more shots should help.
“Jacob, is that all”, I ask trying not to move my lips to much for the cameras.
“If you could just cut three or so slices and leave the cake knife here, that’d be great.”
I do as he suggests and quickly grab a shopping back from the kitchen and run to the nearest bathroom. There, I change out of my sullied baker’s jacket, apron, and slack and into the gorgeous green dress Declan bought me. Before heading out, I quickly apply some makeup in case any photographers want to snap more pictures of me and in order to more easily seduce Jake into fucking up.
As soon as I step out into the hall, I notice people turning to look at me. Understandable. Suffice it to say, most people weren’t expecting the baker to come out looking like a ten out of ten in a sparkling green dress as if I was heading to the Met Gala. It’s like those old Maybelline commercials used to say… “She’s a headturner”.
One of the heads I turned was, of course, Jake’s.
Despite getting his attention, I’m stopped by my mother who grabs me by my shoulders and thanks me endlessly for helping Jacob impress his peers and friends with my cake. She smells very drunk. This gathering is starting to feel more like a college party than a fancy charity event. Most people I pass by reek of booze, but that may be intentional. People might be more susceptible to Jacob’s silver tongue when they’re drunk and may donate more money. I may be the most sober person here. And it’ll have to stay that way.
I’m able to pry my mother off of me without hurting her feelings and finally make my way towards Jake who has been staring me down since I arrived.
“It’s about time”, he slurs. “I was starting to wonder when you’d come see your dear older brother.”
“Geez, Jake. Just how drunk are you?”
“I’ve had a few drinks. Open bar. And my dad’s the host. Not like I have a limit”, he grumbles before spontaneously bursting out into laughter.
“Shhhh, quiet, quiet--”
“Don’t tell me to be quiet. My dad’s the boss”, Jake groans.
“I know that, he’s my dad, too. How about we go over to your room?”
“My room..?”
He seems to perk up at the mere mention of being alone with me, which terrifies me. I backtrack and then ask if him he’d rather dance with me.
“I can’t dance. I might throw up all over you.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Declan better appreciate what I’m doing for him.
Jake agrees without hesitation. He stumbles on his way up and lands right between my cleavage. We’re not even on the dance floor and I have to tolerate this shit. But unlike most times when Jake engages in this nonsense, he apologizes and seems genuinely. He must have not meant to trip on his own feet trying to get up from his chair.
Taking my hand, he escorts me excitedly to the dance floor where we slow dance along with some of the older guests.
“So Jake…”, I can’t start asking him about Declan outright. But engaging in smalltalk sounds like a fate worse than death if it’s with Jake. “Pretty fancy shindig your dad put together, huh?”
He closes his eyes and nods, I think trying to enjoy the slow music. I shake off his drunken stupidity and attempt to dig deeper.
“You’re probably used to these events. You’ve probably held some of these yourself, haven’t you?”
This time, he shakes his head. His eyes are still closed and it’s pissing me off. He’s responding but he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to what I’m saying. Like he’s falling asleep. To further drive this home, his hands start slipping from my lower back down to my ass.
“Watch those hands there, Jake”, I warn him.
“I’m watching them alright”, he mumbles, flashing a sleazy, boozy smile.
Alright. Time to stop beating around the bush for the sake of my own dignity. There are photographers here. The last thing I need is to have the image of Jake grabbing my ass plastered all over the local paper.
“Anyway, I’ve been wondering. What are you going to do once your dad retires? Do you have something to fall back on?”
“Pfft. I’ll just get all of his money. He retires, I get his money and it’s all good, it’s all good.”
He’s making less and less sense by the second. But he continues.
“And I got other money. I’m good no matter what. It’s all good.”
“Other money”, I ask. “What other money?”
Jake finally opens his eyes with some effort and looks at me with a bewildered, humored look.
“Why do you want to know this? It’s not your business.”
“But I’m your sister. I just want to know more about you”, I say in a girlish, innocent voice.
He seems to think about it, and finally answers. “It’s just something I have. I’m gonna sell it and it’s gonna give me money.”
“What’d you find?”
“A bus. A fast future bus. It’s fast and I’m gonna sell it.”
I genuinely can’t make heads or tales of what he’s saying now. He’s either too drunk to get any info out of, or he’s telling me exactly what I want to know. Could he be referring to a design for some sort of advanced public transportation Declan drew up? I remember him mentioning something about that, but there’s only one way to make sure.
“Wow, Jake. That’s really impressive. A… future bus. And you thought of it all by yourself?”
He nods goofily but then unknowingly corrects himself, shaking his head from left to right.
I pry further. “Miranda thought of it, didn’t she?”
He removes his hands from my buttocks and throws them up in an “I don’t know” shrug.
“Don’t know. But it’s money for me she said.”
That’s all I need to know. But some physical evidence could be useful to have.
“Jake, can I see the bus? It sounds really interesting.”
“Maybe. It’s in my room.”
Nothing good ever happens in his room. Maybe I can wait for him to pass out and do some searching myself. It’s bound to happen soon and there’s no reason for anybody at this event to start wandering the halls of the mansion.
“Let’s just dance to one more song.”
“No, no, I don’t want to dance no more”, Jake groans like an upset toddler. “Let’s go to my room. I’ll show you something good.”
An open invitation to his room. This is going to end with him exposing himself to me, I can feel it in my bones. He’s got to pass out soon. There’s no way he can be this intoxicated and awake. If he drank as much as I assume he drank, he’s got to be at least five glasses of hard liquor deep.
“Alright, let’s go.”
The two of us walk to his room, this time with me leading the way. Jake is dragging his feet the entire way to his room but has a smile on his face throughout. I hate his smile. For most of my life, a smile from him has been an omen of embarrassment and unwanted nudity. I can still recall the time he recorded me naked. Once he passes out, I might as well try to see if I can delete any footage he has of me from his phone.
“Here we are”, he announces trying to keep his eyes open. “Jakey’s room.”
He fiddles with the doorknob for a bit before my frustration gets the best of me and I open the door and walk into the room quickly, leaving Jake behind.
“So where is this bus of yours?”
I switch the lights on and dart my eyes from one corner of the room to the next, trying to locate his laptop. I see a bunch of video game systems, unopened video game cases, clothes strewn about, but no laptop. Jake falls face first on his bed and keeps one of his arms dangling down to the floor. He groans while he’s on the bed, but I do my best to ignore it and walk into his closet. Just more clothes. Things I’ve never seen him wear. This jerk has more money than he knows what to do with. It’s sickening.
“Here it is”, I hear him say.
Jake holds up a flashdrive up above his head with the hand he had dangling off the bed. A bright red flashdrive.
“Can I see it? Hold it, I mean.”
“NO”, he shouts. “I can’t give it to anyone!”
I shush him, though I’m certain nobody is around to hear his drunken tantrum. “Okay, okay. But what if you didn’t give it to me. I just want to borrow it. Giving is different from borrowing.”
After some silence, he places the flashdrive in his pocket. “No. I can’t give it to anyone. But.. maybe I could let you see what’s inside”
“Yes, that’d work.”
“For a price.”
“Pri… Price? Jake, you have all of the money in the world, what would you possibly charge for me to see what’s in that flashdrive?”
“Not money”, he sings playfully pointing at his chest as if they were mine.
“You want to see my tits? Didn’t you already get them on video a few years back?”
“Alright. No flashdrive.”
Goddamnit. I’d do anything for Declan but I definitely have my limits. Flashing my stepbrother is definitely up there as a limit.
“Isn’t there anything else I could do”, I ask him.
Without saying anything, he points to my crotch.
“Come on, Jake, something that doesn’t involve my body.”
He slowly shakes his head from side to side before stopping. It seems as though he’s finally fallen asleep.
“Jake? Jake… Jake!”
No response.
I didn’t come all this way for nothing, I’m getting that damn flashdrive. I walk over to Jake and get on my knees next to him. Without exercising much caution, I dig my hand into the pocket I saw him stash the flashdrive in. I’m able to grab a hold of it, but before I can successfully pull it out, Jake rises up like a vampire from his coffin and holds my wrist with both of his.
“What are you doing! STOP”, he cries out.
“You dropped it, I was just giving it back to you”, I pathetically claim.
“You’re lying! Just get out!”
“Alright, alright. Damn it, Jake. How about… instead of seeing me naked, we go on a date?”
“What are you talking about?’
“If we go on a date, would you let me see what’s on the flashdrive?”
He pauses and thankfully gives it some thought. I’m nervous to hear his answer, knowing I won’t be a fan of either one he chooses. If he doesn’t agree to a date, I’ll have to find another way to get his flashdrive and if he does, I have to be seen outside with the one person in this world I can very comfortably say I hate more than anyone else.
“Fine. If we go on a date… and I get a kiss.”
“It’s a deal.”
He didn’t specify that it had to be a kiss on the lips. That’s what I’ll work with for now. Jake mumbles something about Thursday, so I figure that’s when he’ll want me to come over for the date.
Before I can get another word in, Jake moves his hands down his pants and starts stroking himself, giving me the cue to exit the bedroom and head back to the party. I have a few days to think of a game plan. Kissing Jake isn’t the worst thing he could ask me to do but it’s not something I’d do voluntarily.
But for now, this will have to do. I’m not backing down now, I’m too close to helping Declan prove that Miranda stole his designs. I’m going to help him no matter what.
On the way back to the party, my mother stops me once again and asks me where I went.
“I saw you head somewhere with Jake. He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
Despite being near blackout drunk, having seen me walk with Jake seemed to have sobered her up.
“No. He was about to pass out, and I didn’t want him to embarrass himself in front of all of Dad’s friends.”
“That’s so sweet of you to do, honey, you-- wait… You just called him Dad!”
A slip of the tongue. With everything that’s been going through my head, I couldn’t think of Jacob’s name and just resorted to the best word to describe him.
“The fumes of your breath must be getting to me. I meant to say Jacob.”
“But you didn’t, you called him Dad. Oh, honey, I’m going to start crying.”
“PLEASE don’t”, I beg her. But it’s too late. She holds onto me and starts bawling, drawing some attention of the party guests. I rub my mom’s back to calm her down but it doesn’t seem to be of much help. I suppose I should be happy that she’s crying tears of joy.
Things could be worse. I may have to see Jake later this week but I’m one step closer to getting Declan some much needed justice, and I was able to make my mom cry tears of joy.
I’ll chalk tonight up as a success.