Twisted (41 page)

"If you say so."

“You better flip that frown around.  I’ve got to get my old Abby
back before we walk into that restaurant.”

“Ally.  What’s going on?”

“You’ll be fine.  You’re ready for this."  She turned
into the parking lot across the road from Riley's Pub, a local bar and grill
that we frequented in the summer months.

"Ready for what Ally?" I asked, hesitant and weary.

"You'll see.  Maybe if you didn't lay into me, I
would've told you.  Now you’ll just have to wait and see for yourself."

"Ally," I growled.

"So I may have invited a few old friends out for
dinner.  Promise not to freak out."

I rubbed my forehead as the anxiety set it.  The red returned
to my cheeks.  I absolutely hated the sound of that, but I had to suck it up. 
What was the worst that could happen: I might have a good time?  "I'm
gonna trust you on this one.  I can't believe I'm saying this."

"It's about damn time.  Come on, they're waiting for us."

ALIAH
WALKED BY MY side, grinning from ear to ear.  What had her so giddy?  She was
up to something.  The street was packed with traffic.  So when the cars came to
a halt to wait for the nearby stop light, we made a run between the bumper to
bumper vehicles.  A young gentleman saw us coming and waited, holding the wooden
double doors open for us.  His girlfriend rolled her eyes at him, none too
pleased.

It was wing night, which was always a good excuse for people
to come to the bar.  For that reason, it was crawling with locals.  Two couples
and a group of six stood ahead of us waiting for a table.  After scanning over
the bar area, I flashed my eyes at Aliah.

"Don't worry.  I got reservations."

"So do I," I said sarcastically.

Aliah kept smiling at me, waiting for my reaction… for
something.  It made me more and more anxious by the minute.  "Why don't we
get a drink at the bar first," she suggested, avoiding my narrowed eyes.

Without waiting for an answer, she dragged me through the
bustling crowd to the bar.  I was tempted to turn away the drink, but I decided
to give Aliah a break tonight.  Any time away from Edwin had to be better than
being cooped up in the house with him.

"So where are they?" I asked.  My eyes anxiously
skimmed across the room hoping to find a familiar face.

"Drink first," she insisted.

My growing unease stirred my stomach, as the cute bartender
mixed my drink.  The entire time, Aliah fought to wipe the smirk off her face. 
I took a sip of my drink.  It tasted strong, but fruity.  I took another gulp,
as Aliah paid the bartender and left him a good tip.

"So, are you gonna tell me who's doing dinner with us or
what?"

She took a sip from her sour drink and flashed me a devious
smile.  The death threat I issued with my eyes must have been enough because she
answered me by nodding toward a private table at the opposite end of the room. 
My eyes flashed over the booths and stopped at the one with two guys sitting
across from each other.  Squinting didn’t help much, the booth was so dimly lit. 
I couldn’t make out who it was.

Carefully studying the man facing my direction, I stared long
and hard, until he glanced up and his sparkling eyes met mine.  My head jolted
back and I slouched a bit to hide behind the nearest person.

"Aliah, I am going to kill you.  That better not be who
I think it is."

"It is!" she cheered.  Aliah stared back at the
booth, giving me the impression that he wasn’t looking anymore.

Hesitant, I peeked over my shoulder to take another look. 
The instant my eyes adjusted to the lighting, he looked up again and caught my
sneaky glance.  "Oh shit, he saw me!"

I turned away quickly, then slowly looked back to see if he
was still looking.  He was, and so was his friend.  I smiled softly, my cheeks
raging red.  Spencer stood up from the bench seat and waved for us to come
over.

Aliah's mouth was forced into a perma-grin.  "Go
on," Aliah said, shoving me in his direction.

I mumbled profanities, but Aliah couldn't hear me over the upbeat
music and the sociable crowd.  "Tell me this isn't a double date,” I pleaded. 
“You've got a boyfriend and I’ve been single for all of one week.  Eddie would have
your head if he knew about this."

"Take it easy.  It’s not a date.   We’re just out as
friends.  I owed him one."

“You know what Edwin thinks about that,” I said.

As we reached the table, Spencer made direct eye contact with
me again.  The lights glimmered in his icy eyes and he smiled, his lips
mysterious and sexy.  He stood up again to greet us, and flagged a hand at his
friend.

"Abigail, you might remember Dex.  You've met
before," Spencer said, his English accent as sexy as ever.

"Of course I do.  How are you?"

Dark and handsome, Dexter reached out his hand for a shake
and then pulled me in for a hug, knocking me to my knees on the bench seat.  "I'm
great.  How've you been?" he asked, planting a kiss on my cheek with his
pale pink lips.

"Honestly, I've had better days,” I admitted, “but I'll
try not to be too much of a downer."  I dropped my rear onto the seat next
to him, trying to act calm and casual.  It was difficult under Spencer’s
penetrating stare.

"I wasn’t expecting company.  What a pleasant surprise,”
Aliah said, devouring Dex’s shiny dark hair and soft blue eyes.  “Abigail, aren't
you gonna introduce me?”  She remained at my side, her facial expressions quickly
changing from sweet to perturbed.

"What, you haven't met?  Didn't you set this up?" I
asked her.

She bent over and whispered in my ear.  "No.  He really
is a pleasant surprise."

I rolled my eyes and smiled at Dexter, who was watching me
intently.  "Dexter Allbright meet Aliah Brooklin."

"It's Dr. Dexter Allbright now," he gloated.

"Oh, that's right.  You were just finishing your last
exam at med school when we last saw each other.  Where are you working
now?"

"I've actually been at the Regional Health Centre for
the last year.  I specialize in urgent care in the emerg."

"Do you mind?" Aliah interrupted, clearing her
throat.

I looked back to her and she was still standing at my side. 
Her eyes were darting at me to move out of her way.  I doubt it was the
smartest move for me, especially with seductive Spencer undressing me with his
eyes, but I gave in anyway.  I flashed a glance at Spencer, who raised his eye
brows and smugly shrugged his shoulders at me.

"Ugh," I whined, as I slid out of the booth to let
Aliah in.

"You don't have to worry Abby.  I won't try
anything," Spencer said, the words just rolling off of his sexy tongue.

I hesitantly sat next to him.  He reached his arm over the
seat behind me and leaned in close, startling my nerves.

"Okay I lied.  I may try something, but you're free to
do as you like," he whispered in my ear, tickling my eardrums with his
smooth, sexy voice.

It didn't matter what he was saying because his charming
accent was already seducing me.  "You can try to chase me, but it's
pointless," I teased with a whisper, trying to be cool about it.

Aliah was intently listening to one of Dexter's hospital
horror stories, absorbed in his blue eyes and soft spiked hair.  As I peered
over my shoulder, a cheery waitress appeared at the end of the table with a
mysterious drink for me.

"What’s this?" I asked Spencer.

"I may have ordered you a drink.  It's your
favourite," he replied.

"No, it used to be my favourite," I corrected.

"I can return it if you don't like it."

"I'll have it," Aliah hollered across the table,
reaching for my drink.

I put my hand firmly on the glass and gave Aliah an evil eye. 
"Thank you for the drink.  It may not be my favourite anymore, but I still
like it a lot."  Another raging blush heated my cheeks.

Spencer smirked, hearing exactly what he wanted to hear.  "So
you're saying I have a chance?"

I shoved him playfully and played the ignorant.  "So if
Aliah's never met Dexter, then how did you set this whole thing up?"

"That was all Spencer," Aliah boomed.

I looked into his eyes to read what he was thinking, but came
up empty.

"What?  Don't look at me.  It's your friend over there
who doesn't know how to obey the law."

"Aliah?"  I glared at her, waiting for an answer.

"He may have caught me driving a little faster than I
should have been, on my way home from work tonight,” she said.  She batted her
eyelashes at him and he chuckled.  "He didn't have to pull me over, but he
had ulterior motives.  See, no ticket."

I looked over to Dexter who was listening attentively.  "Don't
they call that unlawful coercion or something like that?" I asked him.

"Certainly bad judgment," Dexter said, smirking.

"It's actually called police discretion,” Spencer asserted. 
“In other words: what I say goes.  Lucky for Aliah I'm a flexible guy."

I broke out laughing.  "Listen to you," I said,
smiling.

"Oh but I am," he insisted, smooth and charming.

"Since when were you a
flexible guy
?" I
asked, arching an eyebrow.

Dexter laughed at him.  "She's got you there."

"Wait one minute,” Spencer hollered at Dexter.  “I
changed our plans in a flash tonight, didn’t I?”  Then he turned his accent on
me.  “I’d say that's a perfect example of my new found flexibility."

"Oh, so you weren't talking like flexibility in the
bedroom then," Aliah teased.

Dexter snickered and I scowled at Ally for moving the
conversation to the bedroom.  Though Spencer did have mad skill in that
department, it was the last thing I wanted to think of now.  Lucky for Aliah,
the waitress interrupted my cruel plotting against her, when she placed the
bread and salads on our table.

"The soup will be right up sir," she said, her smiling
eyes lustily locked on Spencer.

I sensed Spencer flagging his arm behind me, even though my
drink was far from empty.  Textbook Spencer: trying to get me drunk so I’d
loosen up.  Not this time.  One more drink and I was done.

As I suspected, when Spencer's soup arrived so did another fruity
drink.  It went down smooth, just like the next mysterious drink that arrived
when I finished off my meal.  It tasted like heaven.  I couldn’t turn it away.

"What’s in these anyway?" I asked, slurping out of
my straw to drink up the last drop.  I was starting to feel a little woozy;
then a lot woozy.

"It's rum,” Spencer said.  “And he wasn't going easy on
the shots."

"My brain’s on fire," I said, rubbing my temples.  "If
it’s possible, I feel even worse than I did before.”

"Well, it’s been fun, but I think this is where I call
it a night," Dexter said.  “I've got an early morning ahead of me."

“Yeah, I’m gonna bounce too,” Aliah said, standing with
Dexter.

"Aliah, would you mind taking him home?" Spencer asked. 
“I’ll take care of this one.”

“For sure.  Let’s go,” Aliah said to Dexter, totally ignoring
me.

"Oh, no you don’t.  This is all a part of your elaborate
plan,” I babbled incoherently, pointing a wobbly finger, eyes narrowed at
Spencer.  “But it's not going to work!”  Dizzily, I stood from my seat and staggered
after Aliah.

Spencer grabbed my arm to catch me from falling.  "She's
drunk," he announced, as if everyone in the vicinity hadn’t already
noticed.  He helped me toward the door.

I stuck out my bottom lip in a pout.  Transforming my eyes
into a scowl, I turned them on Aliah, who got stopped up at the doorway.  “You
did this,” I said to her.

"You know what?" Aliah said pointing a finger at me. 
"Screw you.  Let's go Doc."  Aliah spun away from me and slammed
through the double doors.  Dexter saluted us as he followed behind her.

"I have no idea what just happened here, but I'm glad
that it did," Spencer said.

"Great!"  My arms flailed like a crazy lady,
causing the other patrons to back up and stare.  "Why is this always
happening to me?" I hollered.

Spencer, just as confused as the other patrons, grabbed firmly
onto my elbow and yanked me through the entrance like a criminal.  “What is
wrong with you?”

I tore my arm away from him, fists bunched at my sides, a
mean stare locked on him.  I didn’t say anything.

"Come on.  I'm taking you home,” Spencer ordered, his
icy blue eyes penetrating the hard barrier I was trying to erect.  “You've
obviously had too much to drink."

I considered hailing a cab but, before I could even formulate
a sentence, a warning drop of rain splashed on my head.

"Take it... my arm," Spencer insisted, as I
stumbled onto the sidewalk toward the road.