Protected by the HERO (47 page)

“Did you really need a driver to take us to brunch?” I asked Susan, who was occupied with her reflection in the compact mirror she held.

“Of course! I didn’t have time to do my makeup and from what I was told by a lovely police officer one time, doing your makeup and driving makes you a hazard on the road.” I couldn’t help but to giggle at the sincerity of her tone. I was happy at that moment that I decided to go out with her. I decided that I would tell her about my encounter with the man at the bar.

Some odd minutes later I found that we were pulling up to the restaurant, one that looked expensive.

“You do realize I am not one of your rich friends right?” I asked as we climbed out of the car and headed towards the entrance.

“Don’t you worry that pretty cheap little head of yours. Father owns this place so I, and anyone I bring, eats on the house,” she said as she greeted the hostess at the entrance. Well, I thought, if that were the case then we should come to this place more often.

I walked behind Susan as the hostess of the restaurant led us to our seats, menus in hand. She brought us to an intimate little table and handed us our menus.

“Drinks ladies? Ms. Rose, the usual for you?” she said with a smile as she pulled out a small pad and pen.

“Yes, of course the usual for me,” Susan said face deep into her menu. “Mia?” she added absently as she continued to scan the food items.

“Orange juice and water please.” I looked up at the woman flashing a smile of apology for Susan’s stuck-up rich girl behavior.

“Right away, one Roscato and one orange juice and water. The waiter will be right back with your drinks and to take your order.” I waited till the hostess exited. I tilted my head at Susan just then, tapping the back of her menu.

“Your usual is a red wine?” I asked her as she brought her menu down below her eye level.

“Well yeah,” she said confused at my question. I dismissed the subject entirely deciding that would be a conversation for another day.

“So I have something to tell you,” I said with a coy smile as I leaned in to the center of the table.

“Before you tell me anything answer me this: why haven’t you RSVP’d to my party?” she said in a stern tone. She placed her menu down on the table and crossed her arms.

I blinked several times in attempt to recall the invitation. After several moments passed, I’d failed even remotely to know what she was talking about. I sighed and admitted defeat.

“I’m sorry; please do remind me of what party you are referring to?” I said in my most proper tone as I picked up my menu and tried to decipher the fancy foreign language that described the food.

“What am I going to do with you Mia? My engagement party!” Susan exclaimed with a huff.

Oh. The ‘I’m engaged for the tenth time but have never actually gone through with marrying the guy’ party. It was my understanding at this point of our friendship that Susan Rose loves the idea of marriage. She loves the gifts, showing off the ring, the attention but has never actually gone through with the commitment. By some stroke of ‘bad fortune’ the engagement was always called off and well, Susan Rose moved on, usually about four months later.

“I already told you I was going, why do I need to RSVP formally?” I responded irritated. Was she just trying to waste my time?

“To get an accurate count for catering. Come on you know how these things go Mia.” The waiter arrived with our drinks. Susan was right, I should know how it went by now, especially after having attended the last several engagement parties.

“Fine,” I said before ordering the least scary sounding thing on the menu. After Susan ordered her food as well, I took a sip of my drink and cleared my throat.

“As I was saying earlier I have something to tell you,” I said with clear excitement in my tone as I recalled the memory.

“Well shoot.” Susan said with a bright smile.

“I met a guy,” I said feeling a bit embarrassed for saying it in such a teenage manner.

“Mia Angela Jackson, it is about time, I needed the details like yesterday.” Susan’s smile widened and this time was the one to lean into the table.

“Well, it’s kind of weird,” I started. “I met him at a bar and we talked for hours. He was a total gentleman Susan. He’s handsome, tall dark and mysterious, all proper and well-mannered, too.”

“Sounds pretty romantic to me, what’s the weird part?” she asked as her grin downgraded to a smile, which discouraged me to tell her.

“Well, I never got his name…I don’t actually know who he is.” I said quietly, fiddling with the napkin in front of me. The statement wiped the smile off of Susan Rose’s face and she blinked at me in confusion.

“You’ve got to be joking,” she said as she snatched the napkin I was fiddling with from my clutches.

“I’m not!” I whined as I grabbed her wine and took a large gulp. I regretted telling her.

“Goodness Mia! Well what does he look like? Be specific.” Susan visibly tried to calm herself and returned her drink to her side of the table.

“He’s tall, has dark brown hair, was wearing a good black suit and nice tie, silk I think, has hazel eyes, and was wearing a fancy gold watch. The works.”

Mia stared at me blank faced. “Do you know how many guys look like that in this city?” She was right; it was idiotic of me to think I would find out who this man was. The realization depressed me almost instantly.

“You’re right, I mean I only got to meet him because his Porsche broke down,” I said as I sunk my face into my hands.

“His Porsche broke down?” Mia said, immediately piqued by my comment. “When was this, at what bar?”

“Last night and at Renny’s, the shitty little bar a block over from my place,” I said, looking up at her wondering the reason for her sudden shift in mood.

“Mia!” Susan exclaimed, a little too loud, and grabbed both sides of my cheeks raising them from my hands to face her. Her light brown eyes sparkled.

“I know who your mystery guy is.”

*****

“You’re shitting me,” I said as I placed my hands over hers that were still planted firmly on my cheeks.

“I am not shitting you,” she said, releasing my cheeks finally. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her slender arms. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to eye me.

“His name is Derek Hunt. He’s a billionaire, highly respected in the business world. Sean knows him Mia, they’re childhood friends.” Sean was Mia’s fiancé, well for now.

I stared at Susan intently, like she was going to say ‘just kidding,’ but she didn’t. She was serious.

“Derek called Sean last night saying he was stuck at some crappy bar because his Porsche broke down. Oh my god Mia do you know what this means?” 

At that point I was too stunned to process what Susan was saying. To think that my mystery guy was connected to my friend through her fiancé and that he was a billionaire. Yeah he was dressed really nice but a
billionaire
? That was way above the type of man that I was used to.

“Mia, come back,” Susan said, snapping her fingers in my face to bring me back to earth.

“Huh?” I was clearly too deep into my thoughts.

“I said do you know what this means?” she said trying to hide the irritation in her voice. “You can see him again! He’s coming to the engagement party.” I wasn’t sure if at the moment I was mentally prepared to see him again. Especially considering he somehow knew me but I had no clue who he was. Well, other than the fact that he was filthy rich.

The waiter brought out our food but I had lost my appetite, Susan on the other hand began instantly to dig in. I felt an even stronger need to go to that engagement party just then. It was three days away which gave me ample time to prepare myself mentally for the second encounter. I would use the opportunity to question this Derek Hunt about how it was he knew me.

It was such a stroke of luck. I was glad I had gone to brunch with Susan. 

***

The night of Susan’s engagement party had finally arrived and I was more nervous than ever. I sat on my bed staring out the window as the sun disappeared behind the skyscrapers. Clothes lay sprawled all over the bed and covering most of the floor. I scolded myself for not picking an outfit earlier. I sat there looking down at the piles of clothes that I had rejected as my outfit for tonight.

I sighed and retreated back into my closet. In reality, it wasn’t the outfit that was bothering me; it was who I was going to see. Derek Hunt, also known as Mr. Tall, Dark and Well-mannered, was going to be at this party. This would be our second meeting and I would be completely sober this time, well maybe. I may need a drink or two to get rid of these nerves. Actually I think I needed the drink now.

I shuffled to my kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine, the one sip traveled smoothly down my throat and began to relax my body as it entered my system. Okay, now I was more relaxed. I walked back into my room with my glass of wine and revisited my closet.

***

With one hour left to get to the party and five hours in total spent choosing an outfit and make up, I was ready. I settled for a form-fitting strapless navy blue dress with simple black heels and pulled my hair back into a tight bun. I spent another 15 minutes questioning whether I looked as good as I felt.

In a matter of minutes I was on the road on the way to the venue where the party was to be held. The brightly lit venue was coming into view and I gripped the wheel feeling my palms begin to sweat as I pulled into the driveway. The door gently opened and a hand reached inside to help out of the car. I took it gratefully and stepped out one foot at a time before lifting myself up. I gave my keys to the valet before I walked up the short flight of dimly lit stairs to the large double doors.

This was it. I was going to see Derek Hunt, my tall dark and mysterious man. I didn’t know how this second meeting would go. I wasn’t sure what I’d say or even how I would act. I did know that despite the nerves and the anxiety, I wanted to see him again.

I opened one of the doors and was met with a lively night scene. People were laughing, drinking and dancing to their hearts content under bright lights that gave everything a golden tint. First order of business was to find Susan Rose, who I couldn’t spot immediately because there were so many people in the room. It seemed that Susan’s engagement parties were getting bigger and bigger.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder that caused me to jump ten feet straight into the air. I clutched my heart as I turned around to identify the culprit. It was just the woman I was looking for, Susan.

“Mia thank you for coming!” she yelled over the music as she embraced me in a hug.

“No problem!” I yelled back as I returned her hug. We pulled apart and stared at each other for a moment before she gave me a mischievous smile.

“He’s here,” she mouthed to me as she took my hand and led me away from the mass of lively individuals in the room. We were now in a quiet hallway, alone.

“Where is he?” I asked her in a quiet voice.

“He’s with Sean outside, they should be coming back in soon,” she said looking over her shoulder towards the door. She looked at me with a stern look on her usual smiling face and grabbed my shoulders. She was going to give me a pep talk, I could just feel it.

“Don’t even say anything to me Susan,” I said, halting whatever motivational speech she was about to spew out.

“I just wanted to say good luck!” she whined, dropping her hands from my shoulders.

“I don’t need it.”

“Well someone’s confident! That’s good, he loves confident women.” She once again grabbed my hand and led me back into the party.

Susan mistook my statement of not needing the good luck. I wasn’t sure what the deal was with Derek; the spark I felt that first night may have just been the liquor, although I would have liked to think that wasn’t the case and we had a genuine connection. But I really didn’t know. On top of that I couldn’t deny the fact that it was strange that he knew me. Why did we happen to meet that night? Why hadn’t he contacted me before or after the bar? These were questions that I was determined to get answers to.

I walked over to the bar and ordered a drink. I turned to scan the room, watching people dance and converse among themselves. A few moments went by and I began to lose hope of finding him in the sea of moving bodies. I took the last sip of my drink and inhaled deep.

I went to go find Susan, who was dragged away by an acquaintance, as I did I was suddenly frozen in my tracks. Through the mass of people I spotted the man I had come here to see. He was holding onto the shoulder of Susan’s fiancé as they laughed together, a horde of women surrounding them.

I urged my feet to move forward in his direction but I was frozen to the spot. I clasped my hands together nervously fidgeting by the bar. Go. GO. I yelled for my body to move from its unmoving position. Then, I turned away from Derek and his friends laughing it up with a bunch of horny women. What was I expecting? He is an attractive man; of course women would be surrounding him.

“I am going to do this,” I said to myself as I took in a deep breath.

“Yes you will,” I heard a familiar voice say as a hand grabbed mine and suddenly dragged me through the crowd like Moses parting the red sea. It took me a moment to realize that Susan Rose was taking over this operation and was literally dragging me to my fate.