Take Me (30 page)

There was a flurry of activity as Alyssa stepped up next to him. People loved getting pictures of Jay and Alyssa together. Alyssa was a journalist that had been assigned to cover the Brooklyn Heat, and her and Jay had fallen in love while she was writing about the team. He’d proposed to her at one of their games, and since then, America had been enthralled with their romance.

Chad watched the two of them posing. It was so natural, so right. They were smiling, looking very much in love. He glanced behind him and saw Kenley standing against the side of the building. She looked a little lose and uncomfortable.

“Anyone want to get pictures of me and my girlfriend?” he asked. He pulled Kenley toward him. And then he realized he had the perfect opportunity to get what he wanted. So as people started snapping pictures, Chad pulled Kenley into his arms and kissed her.

***

Kenley hardly had time to react to the kiss before it was over. All she knew was that suddenly her knees were weak and her heart was racing. Chad’s lips were warm and soft, and she wanted him so badly she could hardly take it. But then, just like that, it was over.

She forced a smile on her face as she posed for the cameras, thankful that Chad was holding her close. She didn’t trust herself to stay standing up. What the hell was wrong with her? The guy was a total jerk. Just because he was hot didn’t mean he should be having this effect on her, making her get all swoony like some crazy high schooler.

“What was the point of that?” she asked as Chad led her into the restaurant. He was still holding her close, and warmth was spreading through her body. “None of those people were paparazzi.”

“No, but they all have facebook and twitter,” he said. “Those pictures will be all over the internet before we’re done with our appetizers.”

“Good,” she said, not sure if she really meant it. It was a little unsettling, thinking about her picture being all over the internet. She didn’t even like when other people tagged her on facebook without her permission.

The four of them sat down, and when the waiter came over, Chad ordered a bottle of wine for the table.

“So Kenley,” Alyssa said as she spread her napkin across her lap “What do you do?”

“Well,” Kenley said, choosing her words carefully. “I’m kind of in between jobs right now.” She felt embarrassed saying it, but Alyssa’s face was warm and kind.

“Ugh, the economy’s just the worst right now,” Alyssa said and sighed. “I’m halfway expecting to get laid off sometime this month, or at least take a huge pay cut.”

“What do you do?” Kenley asked, impressed that Alyssa worked. If she were engaged to a man that made as much money as Jay Havens, she wasn’t sure she’d be psyched to be going off to some stupid desk job every morning.

“I work on a website,” Alyssa said. “Writing articles, that kind of thing. But journalism, even web journalism, is on the decline. And so cutbacks are pretty much inevitable.”

“Well, it’s best not to worry about it until it happens,” Kenley said. “And if it does, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I bet you’re a great writer.”

Alyssa smiled at her, then took her sip of her water. “Chad, are you sure you want to keep this one as a fake girlfriend?” she said. “She seems pretty amazing.”

The waiter appeared again to ask if they’d like some appetizers. As Alyssa and Jay ordered their appetizers, suddenly, under the table, Kenley felt Chad’s hand on her leg. She took in a sharp breath. His hand began stroking, moving further up her thigh, pushing the bottom of her dress up. His fingertips went higher and higher, sending waves of longing through her skin. After a few seconds, she felt a wetness in her panties, and knew she wouldn’t be able to take Chad’s touch for much longer. She shifted on her chair, trying to move away, but she couldn’t. She was mesmerized, and besides, there was really nowhere to go.

“Appetizer?” the waiter asked.

“We’re going to share some mozzarella sticks,” Chad said. His voice sounded cheerful. Underneath the table, he moved her dress up a little further.

Kenley nodded her agreement, not trusting herself to speak. She loved the fact that Chad was ordering for the both of them, that he was acting like they were a couple.

He was still stroking her thigh, moving his hand higher and higher under her skirt, the whole time talking to Jay and Alyssa like it wasn’t affecting him at all.

Her phone rang from inside her bag.

“Excuse me,” she said when she saw it was Melissa. “It’s my sister, it might be an emergency.” She knew it wasn’t, but she needed to get away from Chad and his fingers. It was making her too light-headed.

“Hi,” she said when she answered, moving away from the table and down the hallway toward the restrooms.

“Kenley!” Melissa yelled. “Did you know that your picture is on twitter? It’s all over the place!”

“Already?” Wow, that was fast. They obviously weren’t kidding when they talked about the twenty-four hour news cycle. Not that her and Chad were important news. But still.

“Yes!” she said. “You look fab by the way, did Chad buy you that dress?”

“No.” She was in the bathroom now, and she reached into her purse and pulled out her lip gloss. She relined her lips, took a few deep breaths, and then readjusted the bottom of her dress. Now that she was away from Chad, all she wanted was for his hands to be back on her skin.

“He didn’t? Then where’d you get it?”

“He had it waiting for me.”

“So he
did
buy it for you.”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, no, he didn’t buy it for me, I don’t get to keep it or anything.” But as she was saying the words, she realized she didn’t know if they were true or not. What was Chad really going to do with a bunch of women’s clothing? She should at least get to keep some of it.

“So are you having fun?” Melissa asked.

“Kind of,” she said, and realized she meant it. So far, this whole thing hadn’t been that bad. She was a few hours into it, and she’d spent her time soaking in a long hot bath and then being taken out to dinner with some nice people . Granted, her picture was apparently on twitter. But who really cared about that? According to Melissa, Kenley looked fabulous in those twitter pics. The only real problem she was having was how she felt when she was around Chad. She really did need to get a handle on that.

“This is so exciting!” Melissa said. “You are so famous. I need to call Mom.”

“No!” Kenley said. Her lip gloss fell into the sink and she reached in and pulled it out. Gross.

“Why not? I need to tell someone about this.”

“Are you crazy? You can’t tell anyone.”

“Not even mom?”

“Especially
not mom.”

One of the stall doors opened and a girl came out and began washing her hands at the sink. Damn. Kenley hadn’t stopped to think that maybe someone else would be in the bathroom, listening to her conversation. She racked her brain, trying to remember if she’d mentioned Chad by name or had given anything away. She smiled at the girl nervously, waiting for her to recognize Kenley from the pictures on the internet.

But the girl gave her a brief smile back and then walked out of the bathroom, the way you’d do with any stranger. Huh. Kenley was surprised to find that she was a little disappointed. Not that she expected to be famous already or anything. But it was kind of cool how the fans outside had reacted to Alyssa. It was like she was some kind of celebrity or something, like she --

“Hello!” Melissa yelled. “Are you even
listening
to me?”

“Yes,” Kenley lied. “You said you wanted to tell Mom.”

“Yes. And then I said that she’s been really worried about you.”

“Look,” Kenley said. “Just tell her that I’m fine, that I’m still in Florida and that I’ll be home soon.” She tossed her lip gloss into the garbage. The sink looked clean, but still – who knew what kind of invisible germs were lurking around in there.

“But Mom’s going to see the pictures of you on the internet!” Melissa said. “You can’t hide this from her.”

Shit. Melissa was right. Kenley’s mother was one of those “cool moms” who kept up with the latest technology even though she was almost sixty. She had a twitter, a facebook page, a linked in account, and even a tumblr, which she used to post recipes and stories from her bowling league.

“Shit,” Kenley said. “Look, just tell her that I’m dating Chad. Then in a few days when this is all over, I’ll call her and tell her we broke up.”

“You can’t lie to Mom!”

“It’s not a
lie,”
Kenley said. “I’ll tell her the truth eventually.”

“And until then you expect me to cover for you?”

“Melissa,” Kenley said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve covered for you a million times.”

“Name one.”

“The time you wrote three bad checks because you quit your job and didn’t have time to get another one, and you almost got arrested.”

“Name two.”

“I have to go, Melissa.”

“Wait!” Melissa said. Her voice lowered. “Be careful, okay?”

“Okay.”

Kenley hung up the phone and walked out of the bathroom. Only two more days, she told herself, and then she would be a hundred thousand dollars richer. She was halfway back to the table when she stopped in her tracks. Because across the room, getting up and moving toward her, was her ex-boyfriend, Jeremy.

***

Kenley felt her heart speed up and her face get hot. She couldn’t believe that Jeremy was here. Of course, he frequented the city a lot, because he worked in marketing and was always taking clients out for fancy dinners. It was one of the things that had annoyed her about him when they were together -- he was hardly ever home for dinner.

But what the
fuck
was he doing at this restaurant? It was Times Square! Who took clients to a restaurant in Times Square? That was a little hokey, even for Jeremy.

“Kenley!” Jeremy said when he reached her. He leaned in and kissed her on both cheeks. The scent of his cologne assaulted her nostrils, and Kenley suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her. Which was ridiculous. She’d hardly thought of Jeremy over the past few days, which just went to show how much their break-up really had just been about her ego being bruised.

When they were together, Kenley would have the thought that she should break up with Jeremy at least once a week, mostly because she had started to realize that they had nothing in common. Jeremy was what Melissa called a flatliner – the kind of guy who never really got upset about anything, the kind of guy who didn’t get all emotional and worked up, the kind of guy who didn’t really have anything dark and broody in his past. Jeremy’s upbringing had been ridiculously normal, with super nice parents and a big back yard with a pool.

It wasn’t that Jeremy was boring -- it was more that he and Kenley just didn’t really connect. After they’d been together for a year, they didn’t have much to talk about. It was like they’d told all their stories, and so there was nothing left.

Sometimes Kenley got the feeling that Jeremy thought maybe he was a little too good for her. She suspected that he thought she was too emotional, that he wanted a girl like the ones he’d dated in high school and college. The kind of girls who were Polo sweaters and pearls and had smooth blonde hair and perfect orthodontic work.

When the break-up finally came, it had been a total surprise. Not because Kenley had never thought about it, but because she’d had no indication that Jeremy
had.
There had been no warnings, and even though
Kenley
had thought Jeremy thought he might better suited with someone else, he had never once given any indication that he was thinking the same thing.

He’d ended it one night at his apartment, telling her that it just didn’t feel the same, that the two of them had nothing to talk about anymore. She’d panicked and said that she thought they should work on it, that it was normal to go through a period like this when you’d been together as long as they had. But his mind had been made up, and later Kenley had cringed when she thought about how she’d tried to get him to stay with her, especially since she’d been the one who’d wanted to break up with him in the first place.

“Jeremy!” Kenley said, pretending to be happy to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“Clients.” He looked back toward the table, where two middle-aged men were sipping beers and chatting. “They wanted to see Times Square.” He rolled his eyes like he couldn’t believe how corny the whole thing was.

“Well, at least you get to have a night in the city.” She kept the smile pasted on her fact, hoping he was buying it.

“How have you been?” he asked, looking at her with sympathy in his eyes. He reached over and squeezed her arm. “I heard you went to Florida.” His tone conveyed that he thought he knew exactly why she’d gone -- to get over him.

“Yeah,” she said. “I, um, got laid off and so I used some of my severance for a vacation. I figured I’d need it before starting to look for a new job!” She kept her tone bright, hoping she was making it clear that her trip was a normal I-needed-to-get-away-and-relax-after-getting-laid-off kind of trip that had nothing to do with him. It was humiliating to get laid off, but it was even more humiliating to have your ex-boyfriend thinking that you’d gone halfway across the country because you were desperate to get over him.

And okay, her break-up
had
been a little bit of the reason she’d gone on the trip.

But not the
whole
reason. And who had told him she’d gone to Florida, anyway? Kenley racked her brain, trying to figure out which one of their mutual friends she was going to have to kill.

“That’s great,” Jeremy said, sounding like he still believed the trip was all about him. “I’m sure it was nice to get away. Listen, this might not be the best time to tell you this, but I didn’t want to do it in a facebook message.” He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at her nervously. “I’ve been seeing someone.”

Kenley’s mouth dropped open. He’d been
seeing
someone? They’d only been broken up for a little over a week. And now he’d been
seeing someone?
“Since when?”