An Arrangement of Love (11 page)

I could never do it. Him and her are both nuts.

“Oh yeah, tell your boss thanks.” Troy set the remote control on the table, stood up, and stretched. “The guard job is real easy and pays a lot. I’ll be off your couch by next month.”

“I’m glad the job worked out. When did you start?” I asked.

“You’ve been so busy you hadn’t noticed, but I went down there Monday and started working Tuesday,” he said.

“That’s awesome.”

Too bad I may not have a job this week.
Chase told me I could move into another company and still receive the same salary. I planned on taking him up on that offer, once I gathered up enough courage to face him on Monday. I twisted my copper ring. My heart sped up as I mulled over the various scenarios—sitting alone in his office to discuss my transfer, calling him on the phone, an email, or maybe I could somehow get Lucy to ask him to transfer me. I shook my head.

God no. She’s part of the whole freaking arrangement.

It was in that moment when I realized that everyone sat in silence. Vivian drank her sludge and studied the carpet as if she’d never seen it before. Troy continued to stand like an idiot as he watched the television.

“You both going on a run?” Troy said, finally disrupting the quiet.

“No.” I lay back down on the couch.

“Yes.” Vivian finished her crappy drink.

“I’m going to take a shower and go play some ball down at the college courts.” Troy headed to the kitchen. I noticed Vivian checking out my brother’s behind as he left.

“Eww.” I lowered my lips into a frown.

She blushed. “Just be ready to run with me in ten minutes.”

I dragged the blanket over my head and hoped that would make her leave me alone.

“Drink your protein shake, too. I took your advice and added some basil to it.”

“I doubt basil will help,” I barked back. “And if I remember correctly I said the only thing that could help your protein shake was pouring it down the drain.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I said your spaghetti needed basil.”

“Well regardless, drink and get dressed.”

“I don’t want to,” I whined.

“Come on, Jasmine. You know how you get when you don’t work out.”

I exhaled. Last night’s panic attack flashed into my head. I’d battled with depression and anxiety since I was young. Benny took me to lots of doctors. None of them worked. They too quickly prescribed drugs that weighed me down and kept my mind foggy. My last high school counselor was the one who’d helped me gain control of my attacks. She’d studied alternative medicine and ordered me to focus on eating nutritious meals, exercising daily, surrounding myself with positive things, and even simpler ideas like making sure I went outside and got at least three hours of Vitamin D from the sun. I’d been skeptical, but all of it helped.

And each day without the shackles of anxiety was a blessed day of salvation. Once I entered college I started meditating and trying to keep my mind in the as much as possible, instead of entertaining sad thoughts of my past or worrying about my future. Any slip off my regimen shoved me right back into a depressing world where a dark cloud hovered over me and threatened to swallow me whole. Sleepless nights, unending tears, and the constant feeling of danger lurking around the corner would return. And with all that I had to deal with this upcoming week, the least I could do was take control of my emotions.

“Are you drinking that shake?” Vivian yelled like some hardcore boot camp sergeant.

“I hate you,” I grumbled.

Chapter 11

F
or the fifth
time during the run, vomit threatened to rise in my throat. It singed my esophagus, but never revealed itself to the other runners in the park. Apparently, hangovers and exercise didn’t complement each other. To make matters worse, Vivian decided to describe her hot and passionate evening with my brother throughout the whole run.

“Please stop saying that,” I whined and held my stomach as we ran through Rower’s Way.

“It was just so big,” Vivian giggled. “And thick.”

“Ick! I absolutely don’t want to know that about my brother.”

“We’re both adults. You’re just being a big baby.”

“You’re being insensitive to my stomach. You’re an only child. You can’t truly appreciate how horrific this is.”

“Fine. I won’t say anything else.” She pouted. “Your best friend takes on the biggest penis of her life and you force her to keep her journey inside.”

“Write it in your journal.”

“I don’t have one.”

“Well, now’s the time to get it.”

“Party pooper.”

I ignored her and focused on the run. A cool wind rushed by and chilled my sweaty skin. The leaves and branches on the trees swayed and bobbed. No clouds lurked anywhere. Just a clear blue sky hovered over us. Even better, guys in tight, colored body suits zoomed by on shiny bicycles. On my right, couples lounged together on benches or cuddled on blankets in the grass. Further ahead, a kite contest was happening. Crowds of parents helped their kids hold onto colorful kites that glittered in the sky. Everybody enjoyed themselves around me and I relished in their delight for life, drinking in as much as I could like an emotional vampire.

To keep me out of depression, I attempted to surround myself with as much positivity as possible and Rower’s Way Park was one of the best places to do it. The area was massive and boasted a ten mile dirt path, big lake, baseball fields, doggy park, playground, obstacle course, and even a skateboard area. It was the type of park I wished I’d lived next to as a kid. The parks in South End only possessed broken playground equipment and were full of loitering drug dealers or crazy bums that lay on park benches, fondling their groins.

“You’re getting faster,” Vivian said. “Soon I won’t be able to maintain my pace with you.”

“Stop trying to suck up. I’m not talking to you.” I returned my mind to my run.

Sweat drenched my neck and hair. My thighs, waist, and arms burned. I was addicted to that burning sensation. It made me feel powerful, as if I could conquer anything ahead of me. I inhaled the soothing fragrance of nature—freshly cut grass and blooming flowers.

“I’m glad I came out here,” I admitted.

“You always say that after we run for twenty minutes.”

“Even your nasty talk didn’t ruin it.” I wiped some of the sweat on my forehead as we rounded the pathway. “I can’t believe you hooked up.”

“I blame you.”

“Me?” I scrunched up my face in confusion.

“If you had come home like you were supposed to, then we wouldn’t have sat there smoking and drinking all the ‘Congratulations’ champagne we bought you.”

“Oh.” I rolled my eyes and laughed between panting. “Well, that makes perfect sense. I do apologize for forcing you to hump my innocent brother.”

“Innocent, my ass.”

“And now what will you do?” I darted to the side as two kids on bikes rushed by. Neither one of them were paying attention to where they were going.

“What do you mean what are we going to do?” Vivian slowed her pace until I got back on her side. “It’s not like anything will change.”

“It won’t?”

“No.” She turned to me. “You think it will?”

“Will it?”

An exasperated growl left her lips. “Stop answering my questions with questions.”

“You seem to have it all figured out.” I slammed my feet against the dirt path as we approached a small hill I’d coined The Mountain of Pain and Torture. “I assume lots will change. It’s already awkward being around both of you.”

“It’s because we’ve seen each other naked. We’ll be fine by tonight.”

“Will you?”

“I swear if you do that again, I’m going to trip you.” She pointed at my feet.

I chuckled, but widened the distance between us as I trekked up the hill. She’d tripped me once when I mocked Noc’s poem he dedicated to her, called
Roses are Blonde
.

“Things will go right back to the way they were with Troy and me,” she declared.

“Okay. Nothing will be different,” I agreed. “You’ve just given each other earsplitting orgasms. Now Troy and you will return to normalcy.”

“Yep. Nothing will change. Troy is just having fun. He’ll be with someone else next week.”

“Will he?” I laughed and sped up so she couldn’t catch and trip me.

Dust rose behind me, or at least that’s what I liked to think when I raced at a fast speed. I approached the mid-point of the hill, the part where some days I quickened my pace like an Olympic runner and other days I collapsed to the ground, panting and whimpering at the pain in my chest.
What will it be today?
My stomach twisted, but this time no bile rose.
You can do it.
I switched into a sprinting mode and traveled up the hill faster than I’d ever done before. Conversation ceased between Vivian and I as we both mentally pushed ourselves to make it to the top without stopping. A rush of wind smashed against my skin. Pain ripped through my thighs. I tightened my hands into fists and concentrated on just the steps ahead of me.
Fuck me! Fuck me!
If I looked at the top I would collapse in defeat, so I focused on the ground in front of me.
You can do it!

Once I approached the top of the hill, I screamed like a mad woman. Onlookers tossed me awkward stares. A few of them laughed. It was only a hill, after all, and not some huge hiking mountain. Panting, I placed my hands on my hips and marched around so my legs wouldn’t cramp. Vivian arrived minutes later and offered a weak hoot.

“It’s about time. I thought I was going to have to come down there and carry you up.” I bent over and stretched my legs. “You ran at the speed of a turtle.”

“It must have been all that huge cock last night.”

“Oh god. Stop!” I gripped my stomach. “You’re so cruel. I wish you had a brother so I could sleep with him and take out my revenge on you. I’ll have to find a hot cousin of yours.”

“Fat chance. All of my cousins are ugly.”

“We’ll see about that.” I lowered myself to the ground. The grass tickled my legs. “I’m going to your next family reunion.”

Bob Marley’s tune “Three Little Birds” filled the air.
Vivian’s phone.
She wrenched it out of her bra. Like me, she kept her belongings in a Ziploc bag and had stuffed it in her sports bra.

“Damn it. That’s Noc.” She stuffed the bag back into her bra. “Did he ask about me last night when you went to Drunken Lyrics?”

“Umm...no. I didn’t see him.” I avoided her weird expression and scooted away. Suddenly, I really needed to stretch my legs some more.

“Did he perform?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I went there, but I ended up leaving.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “You’re acting real weird right now. What happened?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I touched my toes and looked at my knees.

“Try me.”

“I went to the Lan–”

Vivian shrieked. “No way! That place is like a hundred dollars each dish. You can totally have a five hundred dollar bill at the end of the night. Was your sexy cooking hottie Gabe there?”

“Yes.” I sighed. “He cooked for us.”

“Us?” She raised her arms over her head.

“Chase and I.”

She ended her stretching as her mouth dropped open. “You’re right. I don’t believe you. Chase fucking Stone? No way.”

“That’s not even the craziest part of last night.”

“Chase Stone took you on a date?” She covered her cheeks with her hands. “What about his fiancée? Oh shit, is that’s why she texted you?”

“I have no idea why she texted me, and according to Chase they have an arrangement where he can have sex with other women. Three women, in fact.” I held up three fingers. “It’s like they’re all in a relationship together.”

“So they’re like the Amish but with no religion?”

I laughed. “I honestly don’t think Amish men do more than one wife. It’s another group.”

“Who cares?” She waved my comment away. “So he wants you to be his new wife?”

“Well, they’re not all married, but yeah. He wants me to join his harem.” I continued my stretching. I explained the whole conversation to Vivian, from him spotting me at the Garden Party to him opening the executive assistant position to lure me in.

“What did you say to him?” she asked. “Are you going to do it?”

“No! Of course not.” I held out my hands. “Wait a minute. You would say no, right?”

She tilted her head as if in thought. “If it was a regular Tom, Dick, or Larry from nowhere with no job, then I would say no. But this is a freaking billionaire. I would probably say maybe and try it.”

“Just because he’s rich?” I raised my eyebrows. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s just like dating someone without a serious commitment.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“Not really. He doesn’t allow his women to date other men.”

“Oh, well, then he’s insane.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay.” She crossed her legs. “So after dinner what happened?”

“He brought me to Drunken Lyrics where Troy and you were not at, by the way.”

An old guy watched us while he walked his shaggy dog up the hill. A tiny bell rang around the dog’s neck as he wagged his tail. The man’s eyes lingered toward our cleavage.
At least pretend like you’re not looking.
I scowled at him. He looked away and rushed in the other direction.

“Pervert,” Vivian muttered once the guy and dog left. “So Chase dropped you off?”

“No, he came in with me. We danced. He bought drinks.”

“And?” She blew out air. “You’re killing me.”

I lay on my back and rolled over to my stomach to hide my face. “He finger-banged me in the back of the club.”

“What?! You’re joking, right?” She crawled over to me and shook my arms. “A famous billionaire fingers you in a public and crowded club last night and you wait until
now
to tell me. So then what happened?”

“When I . . . climaxed I excused myself, ran out the back, took a cab home, and hid under my blankets the rest of the night.”

“You ran away?”

“Yes.” I peeked at her through my fingers. “What do you even say after a guy you don’t know that well fingers you? Thanks so much? Good job with your fingers?”