Chapter 3: The party where we met

After getting fired, my life sort of hit a rut until Friday later that week. Instead of going out and coming to terms with the fact that I now had a less than stable income meaning I would actually have to look at the prices on the menu, Reed decided to come over with some that seafood pasta and gelato take, along with a red bottle of wine.

We stayed up that night watching ‘The Secrets of the Palace’ ; one of those television shows inspired by the real-life events of the royal family of Albion, and all their scandals. We just sat on the couch cuddling until we fell asleep and when I woke up in the morning, breakfast was freshly made and places on the kitchen table next to my favourite coffee and a hand written sticky note right ontop of my stack of dry panackes.

“Had to run, early meeting -I’ll call you tonight…

Love Reed”

I giggled like an idiot. So stupid. Most of my days were filled with calling Reed, taking up more requests for work from my off-duty client base, and shopping. I mean I had to find something nice to wear to the party –  I had to find a new job ASAP, and networking was the best way to do it in this town.

I picked up a pastel yellow floor length backless dress with a thigh high slit to the slide and white floral embroidered sling back heels from Harolds, and anxiously waited on the steps of my apartment building for my escort.

“Well don’t you look sexy” Alex smirked. He was standing on the last step, looking up at me with those damn pretty green eyes and if I wasn’t getting laid by a man equally as charming I would have folded right there. I smiled gently and placed my hand into his extended one as he led me down the steps and into his Escalade, driven by one of his father’s employees.

Alex opened a bottle of champagne, pouring one glass for himself and half a glass for me and handing it to me. I gladly accepted mine and took a chug to which he laughed. Maybe alcohol will calm my nerves.

“I thought Taylor was coming to get me” I said.

“Change of plans, she’s running late. Had a little mishap with one of her real estate clients’ wives – she and the husband came knocking and Taylor couldn’t dodge them” he laughed “Now they’re in her living room arguing while she’s getting ready” he finished.

“Oh my god” I sighed. Taylor sure did live for drama.

“I hope its okay that you’re with me” he said softly, leaning against my shoulder.

“Of course, it’s okay” I smiled at him “Why wouldn’t be okay?” I asked.

His stare on my lingered and his eyes switched between my own and my lips, before kissing the edge of my shoulder and sitting back up smiling at me. Not cheekily, just disappointedly. At least I would like to think, but I may be over analysing if we’re being honest. I smiled back at him softly and took a small sip of my drink.

“Hey, I have something to ask you something…” he said after taking a sip from his glass.

“What is it?” I asked inquisitively, right before I heard something vibrating in the diamond clutch bag I had carried with me.

“Hey Reed” I answered smiling.

“Hey sweetheart, are you at the party already?” he asked.

“On my way actually, great timing by the way” I smiled.

“I wanted to catch you before you get there, I know you won’t answer your phone once you start mingling with people” he said.

“True, tonight is pretty important – I’ve been nervous all day” I confessed.

“Don’t be baby, you’ll do great. You know how to leave a great first impression” he said.

“I sure hope so” I said taking the last sip on champagne from the glass “But just in case, everyone is going to be there taking turns making sure I don’t like throw up or something from all this anxiety” I said and he laughed softly.

“Well, that’s great baby. I know you’re in good hands, most of the time. Just tell Taylor not to get your drunk before you get there – you’re a real lightweight” he laughed.

“Well luckily she’s not with me right now so her chances at doing that are virtually impossible, thank god” I commented.

“Oh, so who are you going with?” he questioned.

“Alex” I said and the line suddenly went eerily silent. I head a soft scoff next to me as Alex chugged what was left of his drink.

“Just stay safe okay” Reed finally said.

“Okay...” I confusedly agreed.

“Okay sweetheart, call me when you get there. I love you” he said. I blinked and sat there in shock for what felt like an eternity. Then finally drew my breath.

“I love you too” I confessed. We had never said that to each other before, and right now seemed like an odd time to do it. Something was wrong, it felt tainted with all this unwanted tension and odd behaviour by the man talking to me through the phone and other on his second glass next to me, which I swiftly grabbed out of his hand and poured its contents into the ice bucket.

I could feel Reed smiling on the other end of the phone. I, on the other hand, was more expressionless. My lips curled towards the ends and curled upwards a bit, but I wasn’t beaming like I feel like I should have been.

“Bye Sweetheart” he said and hung up.

I put my phone in my bag, currently in my lap, before looking up and turning to Alex. While my face held a vague non-emotion, his had no emotion. None whatsoever. He just stared at me before shaking his head and laughing.

“And now” I asked inquisitively.

“Nothing…it’s just” He began “Why him?” he questioned rolling his head against the seat to look over at me.

“Why not him, Alex?” I asked, my brows furrowed and my annoyance with him growing more and more as we sat in his car.

“He’s just so…pretentious” he began, and not it was my turn to scoff.

“You’ve never even met him, Alex” I said plainly.

“I can tell he’s pretentious just from the way he laughs.” He said “It’s the same way all those pretentious dicks at our country club laugh. It’s a classic old money laugh.” He said and this time I laughed. “I’m serious Maya, the one where golf courses and  beach houses where built off the backs of black market labour” he said.

“Well, Reed isn’t like that” I said. “Plus why are you telling me all this, it’s not like we’re engaged or something” I asked, annoyed. He remained silent.

“There’s no real reason for you to get so worked up over someone you’ve never met Alex. Reed makes me happy. That’s it. So unless you have some actual reason why a guy whose basically the invisible man to you is so bad for me then I don’t want to hear it” I retorted and looked down. To be quite frank his disapproval was making me more sad than angry, but I was still pissed off at him.

“Listen. I’m sorry” he said lifting his head and looking at me “It’s just that I’m from his world, Private Equity circles are very small.”  he said looking at my softly “ I may not know the guy but I certainly know enough about him to tell you to keep your guard up, Maya. He’s not one to treat his relationships…respectfully.” He said placing his finger under my chin and making me stare at him.

“People Talk baby. And from my experience, that many people can’t be lying.” He said.

“I’ll take my chances, Alex. Thanks for the warning though” I said softly. I was finally happy and some asshole who didn’t want me wasn’t going to ruin this for me. We had sorted out our issues, we were good. More than good, so why is he doing this, why is he being like this? I can’t afford to get all worked up before this party and he knows that. Jackass!

I removed my face from his grasp. And we both sat back in silence. What should have been a thirty minute ride to Shorecrest felt like a lifetime. I casually stared out of my window, thinking about anything else but this. Trying to memorise what I would say and how I would act, all while feeling Alex casually look over at me every five minutes from my peripheral.

Suddenly, bright florescent street lights made their impression on the windows and knocked me out of the thoughts. Stores with expensive organic food products and boutiques with 1 exclusive size per item came into view as we rode down the street. Houses made of wood, with hydrangea and peony embellished gardens came and went from view as and the smell of the ocean crept in from the small crack in the driver’s window. We were in Shorecrest.

Giant green 50s light posts came into view and kept cascading down a long drive was that led us to giant black gates of one of the most exclusive properties in all of Metro Heights – Wu Manor.  A giant mansion, among three, that sat on top of the highest points in Shorecrest, where lavish parties for diplomats, royals and only 2 percent of the socialite group of Metro Heights was invited and only 0.05 percent of colleagues, partners and “others” were lucky to be invited and tonight I was one of them. Here only the rich of the rich rub elbows, and those who wanted to talk to the rich could potentially look at those elbows. This was my time. This city is cut throat and may seem more than a little dramatic, but honestly, if I want to make it here, I need to work.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome honoured guests” Jordan smiled as he opened my door, offering me his hand.  I smiled back, took it and stepped out onto the chevron pattern limestone driveway.  

“Well don’t we look fetching” he said spinning me around and looking at me up and down.

“Take it easy there Jordan” Alex said as he emerged from the other side of the car. His expression stiffened as Jordan pulled me into his side by my waist, teasingly.

“Oh, come on, we look so good together, don’t we?” he cheekily prodded at Alex.

“Absolutely fucking fabulous, can we do inside now?” he said as he strode past us, annoyed, and walking up the grand marble steps up to the large open door way. We both watched him stride past some of the most glamourous people in the city, bumping into some and not giving a damn. Well, he made a great first impression.

Jordan looked back at me with a look that was both amused and confused, and all my face displayed was anxiety and nervousness. I did not need this tonight. A cranky pouty Alex is normally a drunk Alex and a drunk Alex is an overly confident and ass of an Alex. Chance are, even subconsciously, he would ruin this for me if he felt like going on an inebriated rampage.

“What’s up with him?” Jordan asked, amused.

“Don’t even get me started” I sighed.

“You two got into it, huh?” he continued prodding.

“Not really, more like he got angry that I’m in a relationship that he doesn’t approve of” I said while rolling my eyes and hooking arms with Jordan as we began ascending the staircase. Jordan chuckled.

“So, you guys are still at it?” he asked lowly as we passed the upper echelon of socialites drinking champagne and various coloured and probably spiked cocktails on the way up.

“Not me, just him” I sighed, exacerbated.

“Well, we all know how we can get when it comes to you” he said, “I’ll look after him” Jordan softly said as we finally reached the door.

“Thank you so much” I exhaled, hugging him. I just felt so relieved that someone was going to keep him in check. Again, important night and important time. This jackass was not going to ruin this for me.

“So then guess its my turn” Emma smiled, magically turning up behind up and offering up her arm for me to hold.

“She’s all yours” Jordan smiled and followed Alex into the crowd, following him down the line staff held silver trays adorned with bubbling drinks.

“Let’s go and meet some interesting people” Emma gleamed. And meet interesting people we did. Emma and Taylor took turns introducing me to Real estate investors, lawyers and PR marketing firm officials who all aimlessly engaged in strict but polite conversations with us. The population was 50/50, meaning the likelihood of having an elderly wealthy man try to entice me with a better life was slim, which was good, but then the other half consisted of career driven and focused company leading women who didn’t have time to really hear about anything even remotely related to what we had to say, so the whole charming thing wouldn’t work. They knew why were there and they could see right through us but some were nice enough to give us their contacts or tell us to call their offices to arrange a lunch date because they found me charming which in the end I was more than grateful for.

I proceeded to make my way through the party engaging in conversations of my own, introducing myself to people who were less than pleased to meet me and after finding out my profession, where far more amused then they were interested. That goes for those I met before as well, and while what I did was not considered Taboo amongst the world’s ever revolving door of marketing advancements, in Metro City it was like basically telling a bunch of restauranteurs that my favourite meal was spaghetti-o’s.

“French 75 please” I kindly asked the Bar tender to prepare as a I stand own on a Wine coloured velvet bar stool and leaned against the dark oak counter and sighed. The night was going okay so far. Honestly it could be worse, but then again, as far as I am aware and as far as Jordan made me aware, this is the best that any person without a status has done at one of these parties, yet again he might just be saying that to be nice.

The bar tender put my drink on the counter and suddenly an aroma of wood and oud filled the air, an arm brushed past mine as a tall blonde figure sat down next to me. Looking over at him, he was dressed in a well-crafted dark black suit, with an expensive cotton blend black unbuttoned dress shirt to match. Silver watch on the right wrist and just under it, silver monogrammed cuff links peaking from under this blazer sleeve.

“Whiskey Neat” he said plainly, resting his arms on the counter as well. He sat in silence, only looking at me once through his peripheral and continued to pretend as if I did not exist. Rich bastard. It’s not like I can’t do that, but unfortunately my parents raised me to be polite.

“Hello” I said turning to him.

“Hi” he said gruffly and short. Looks like my parents should have raised me to be mute.

“How are you?” I tried to continue.

“Fine – tired but fine” he said and took a sip of his drink as soon as it hit the counter-top.

“This thing is getting rather tedious” I said you said turning around to sit with your back leaning against the bar while he looked behind his back observing the herd of money hungry predators and trust fund filled prey. At least how he said he saw it. The rich getting ‘taken advantage of’ because of their upper hand in the economy, and while I wanted to mention the wage gap, the constant inflation in almost everything and the insecurity of an impending recession, I figured I better not. I don’t know whether it was the gin or my anxiety, but he seemed very intriguing. Not only was he very good-looking but the way he spoke was so…familiar but a stricter version of familiar – a more grown up version of familiar.

“Look at all of them” he said still looking over his shoulder. “All out for blood” he said as he took another sip.

“So, you presume everyone here is out for your money?” I smiled amused, looking over at him.

“I don’t presume, I know” he said turning himself around and leaning against the bar. “The dresses, the primming, the meaningless conversation…it’s routine. It’s kiss-ass soup. Give me a ring steak. Make me a bride Brulee” he said. His perspective certainly was very…intellectual…must be the whisky.

“I get so tired of these things” he sighed.

“Then why come?” I asked him.

“Societal expectations. My family is fairly well known and if one of us doesn’t show up to these things, we all get slighted at certain other events, meaning our standing slowly starts to sink” he said plainly.

“Oh” I simply said.

“The downside to these stupid things is now its been opened up to the middle class. Socialites and Working professionals who try to come and network, shoving their unimpressive resumes in your face” he said as he chugged the last of this drink. I stayed silent. There was nothing that I could possibly even say. Considering what he already thought of me without getting to know me, staying quiet was the best option.

“What are you here for” he question, looking in my direction without even turning his head, eyebrows raised.

“Blood” you said. Taking the last sip from your drink, placing it on the counter, I slid off the seat and onto my feet. As I began walking away, I heard a loud sigh from behind me.

“Wait” he said and I heard the thud of the small thick whisky glass being placed onto the counter. “I’m sorry” he said as he over took me and stood there staring down at me. “I apologise” he said.

“I didn’t mean…well no I meant it but not to you” he said.

“To me? I’m nothing special and you barely know me” I laughed unamused.

“Yes but you are also fairly attractive. And I enjoy talking to attractive people. “ He smiled. “There’s something deliciously hedonistic about it” he continued and I just laughed. You’ve got to be joking.

“Well, I can’t fulfil your fantasies in any way, I’m an attractive, newly unemployed marketer so maybe holding this conversation off and finding myself biting into a nice old “Give me a ring steak” is something I should be working on right now so if you’ll excuse me” I said.

He stepped in front of as I tried to walk past him, blocking my way. I stared up at him and he looked down at me with a gentle look, smiling ever so slightly and yet behind that was the most silent look of suppressed lust I had ever seen. He exhaled heavily, inching closer to my face.

“Forgive me…please.” He whispered, emerald green eyes with light specs of gold boring into mine, ones that looked too familiar. A short breathe escaped my mouth and a tiny okay managed to make its way out as well. He smiled and he seemed to return back to normal.

“So, marketer you said?” he began. Leading me back to the bar stools.

“Yes, Business by degree, social media by trade” I sighed, lip tightened into a straight line.

“Sounds quite interesting” he said as his voice raised slightly with intrigue.

“Not really, most people basically look at me like I told them I believe in astrology when I talk about it” and to that he laughed softly.

“Well, I would like to hear more about it, considering how I treated you earlier” he said. His shift in emotions had my head spinning but I took him up on his offer and began telling him about what I do in great detail while he kept ordering drinks and caviar covered hors-d’oeuvres for us.

We continued talking more that night and believe it or not we actually had a more than decent conversation. We even shared some laughs. And that’s when I decided that the evening was not so bad after all. Maybe this was the connection I needed. We continued on, losing track of time and getting immersed in our talks when Jordan came striding in, calmly, asked for a jug of ice filled water from the bar tender and then proceeded to walk away once he got a hold of it.

“Sobering up already?” I laughed and he sighed.

“It’s not for me, it’s for Alex” he said.

“What?” the man and I said in unison. We both looked at each other confused then back at Jordan.

“What’s going on” I asked concerned.

“He had way too much to drink is almost close to blacking on the floor of my parents guest bathroom” he said pinching his brows in between his fingers. “So now I got to go fix it before he decided to come down here and embarrass himself” he said turning and walking away. As I was about to get up and follow him, the man beside me had already ran after Jordan, all the way up the cascading staircase and past my line on vision. I could barely hear the footsteps above and suddenly I heard the soft slam of a bedroom door.

Where the hell was he going? Maybe a friend of Alex’s that I hadn’t met? Is that why he ran out of here so quickly? I don’t have time for this. I gulped down the last of my drink before taking a deep breath heading back into the party.

I was chatting with the long reigning heiress of the “Langum Real-estate” dynasty, standing in front of the staircase, along with some other socialites wanting to catch her eye and potentially gain access to her real-estate fortune through her son, an eligible attractive young man who his mother consistently and against his wishes tried to arrange meetings and potential marriages for. I wasn’t necessarily here for that. I wouldn’t be opposed if I was single, but I just wanted to get to know and if her to know that I could help her expand her empire.

After what felt like ages, bout was around the range of 30-45 minutes, Alex, Jordan and the Blonde man all came down the stairs, walking right past me and making their way outside. I excused myself politely to Ms. Langum, and chased after them.

“Guys what’s going on?” I softly shouted from behind them.

“Nothing just leaving” the blonde man said, as he asked one of the valet attendants to fetch his car.

“Why” I asked and from the bottom of the step he looked back at me, while Alex just stared at the floor and sighed. A black jaguar reminiscent sports car pulled up and both he and Alex proceeded to get in.

“Alex where are you going?” I asked him confused. What on earth is going on and why is he just leaving me here? What happened up there?

“Alex!” I shouted for him but even that suddenly fell on deaf ears as the car downs began to come down from their vertical angle and close with both men inside. Jordan held onto my hand as I got irritated looks from some onlookers who were outside, talking and drinking.

“It’s okay, just let him go, I’ll take you home okay” Jordan said softly and I looked at him, brows knitted in confusion but I just nodded. The car then sped off and they were gone and we just stood there.

“Jordan, what was that all about and why did Alex leave with that guy, who was that?” I continued to ask, baffled but also worried. I know I shouldn’t be and Alex is an adult but honestly, outside our friend group – I’m not really familiar with Alex’s life so it just felt weird letting him go with an absolute stranger. Now it was Jordan’s turn to look confused.

“That was Alex’s brother, Liam” he said.

“Alex’s brother?” you questioned.

“Yep, his older brother. Newly appointed CEO to BrightSky Incorporated. Heir to the Harrington fortune. Didn’t you know?” Jordan asked.

“No, I didn’t” I answered honestly.

“What exactly did you guys talk about all night and how did his name not come up?” he said and I shrugged. The conversation started flowing so naturally after a while that I almost forgot to ask the most basic questions. Now I know why he looked so familiar. I just sighed, completely defeated. My one intimate networking connection and  it happened to be my ex-flings brother, what are the fucking odds. I guess Jordan saw the exasperated look and on my face and took pity on me.

“Come on let’s take you home” he said and told one of the attendants to get his car, right after texting his mother saying he would be right back.

“What about Taylor and Emma?” I asked and suddenly his phone pinged.

“Already sent them a message” he smiled “And they say “get home safe” and “Alex is a dead man”” he laughed softly. I smiled, relieved and got into the Sleek black 4 door SUV, with Jordan in the driver’s seat, taking me home.

Well that a successful night this had been.