Complicated Ties (The Ties Trilogy (A Contemporary Erotic Romance Novel)) (8 page)

As I returned to my house as Alice was in the kitchen making coffee, and the television was playing some re-run of Oprah. I heard Lisha come in looking for me,

“Oops, I forgot you were still here...sorry love..”, Lisha smiled as she sat down on the sofa and changed channel.

“It’s ok...I’m not that unforgettable..oh that puppy is stable now and feeding properly”, I could see Lisha looked like she needed a drink, heading for my bar I remembered that I had a bottle of Cristal in the fridge.

“I’m just going to phone my dad, I think I’ll crash here tonight if you don’t mind...”, she said with one of those smiles that you couldn’t say no to.

“Sure, you're always welcome to stay here so quit asking me all the time Lisha, see if he’ll pop to yours and walk Nelly, you know how he loves that dog to pieces..I swear he had bacon hidden in his pocket, she always following him around with her tail wagging...oh just a quick one, you hungry?”, I could tell I had asked an obvious question as Lisha had  pulled a Chinese menu off the coffee table and was waving it in the air like a mad woman.

“Well that's a silly question to ask isn’t it...hungry?, now that’s funny Mad.”, her face beaming stupidly at me.

When I had come back to the sofa, Lisha had finished her conversation with her Dad and was placing the phone back in its cradle. Sitting down next to her I poured the champagne into glasses and handed her the drink,

“Would your Dad like anything from Ma’s Restaurant?”, asking as Lisha was bringing the glass to her mouth.

“I think so, I’ll just give him a text and see what he fancies to eat”, Lisha said as she took out her phone and began to send her Dad a message. A  few moments later, a melodious tune notified her that her Dad had sent one back.

“Kung Pao calamari, with special fried rice”, oh I’ll have Sweet and Sour Chicken..”Lisha said drinking her champagne, the bubbles having their desired effect.

After a brief conversation with Ma’s House, we continued to drink the Cristal.

“Here’s to big opportunities...”,

“Yeah big opportunities and ‘big’ men”, I laughed at her comment.

The food had been ordered and another bottle of Cristal had been opened, the ornate ice bucket keeping it chilled.

“This kinda reminds me of that party we went to, you know the one Connor’s house party when I awoke in a Dumpster with a hamburger as a pillow”, Lisa laughed at my comment.

“You mean the one where the guy dressed as Spiderman disappeared upstairs with you”, Lisha pulled out her phone and ran her thumb across the screen. I knew what she was doing, she must of still had the photographs from the night I wanted to forget.

“Look, it's the aforementioned Spiderman with his tongue down your throat”, Lisha laughed as she continued to show me more and more embarrassing pictures.

“Please..stop...oh god, what was his name...you know..”, I tried to rack my brains in an attempt to remember who the tongue belonged to.

“God knows...all I remember he had his hand on your ass half the night, you could totally see his boner”, she couldn’t contain her laughter any longer and in between a mouthful of champagne, spat it all over the coffee table.

We had some wild times back in college, always awaking on someone’s couch with other peoples my comment.

“You mean the one where the guy dressed as Spiderman disappeared upstairs with you”, Lisha pulled out her phone and ran her thumb across the screen. I knew what she was doing, she must of still had the photographs from the night I wanted to forget.

“Look, it's the aforementioned Spiderman with his tongue down your throat”, Lisha laughed as she continued to show me more and more embarrassing pictures.

“Please..stop...oh god, what was his name...you know..”, I tried to rack my brains in an attempt to remember who the tongue belonged to.

“God knows...all I remember he had his hand on your ass half the night, you could totally see his boner”, she couldn’t contain her laughter any longer and in between a mouthful of champagne, spat it all over the coffee table.

We had some wild times back in college, always awaking on someone’s couch with other peoples heads on my shoulders.

“What about that time in San Francisco when you ‘borrowed’ Dale’s car and decided it would be a good idea to go ‘clubbing’”, I cringed at the thought.

“Well it was a good idea at the time Lish, and you can’t say we didn’t have a good time, especially you with those two guys from New York, you know the ones who looked like they were hung like hamsters.”, Lisha laughed at me remembering that night very well.

“And where did we wake up?, we woke up on Pier 39 with everyone staring at you”,

“Just because I was missing my underwear, and everyone could see my ass”, we both started to laugh with my glass hitting the floor, the champagne beginning to soak into the rug.

“That poor man, the one with his wife, his face was a picture..”, Lisha looked at me and laughed.

“God I forgot about Dale.”, my mind travelling back to one summer in college.

The week began with me finishing school and I was on the quad reading a copy of Cosmo under a tree ,when a man dressed in shorts and a tee-shirt walked past me.

“Hi”, he said sitting down next to me.

“Hi?” replying to him while my head was buried in the magazine.

“I’m Dale, and you are?”

“I’m Maddie..and what can I do  for you Dale?” I asked, putting the magazine onto the grass.

“I was wondering if I could get to know you a little, I’m in your English class”, I tried to remember him but the class was always full of people and I didn’t recall Dale being there.

“Oh yeah.I know you”, I lied hoping he would buy it and get lost.

“So, this getting to know you thing” he asked hoping I would say yes

“What about it Dale?”, my patience beginning to wear thin.

“Fancy going to San Francisco this weekend,you know do a few clubs?” I could see that the shorts he was wearing were minus his underwear and I could spot the outline of his manhood.

“Can’t this weekend, I’m catching up with my friends”, I picked up Cosmo and started to read it again.

“Well if you change your mind, heres my number..call me ok?”

“Sure Dale”, he handed me a scrap of paper with his number scrawled on it. Dale stood up and walked towards the main building.
‘What a cheek!’,
the thought of him taking me out didn’t interest me, what interested me was that if he had a car, I and Lisha could go to San Francisco.
‘I could always lead him on’,
the thought made me chuckle.

Lisha met me later that day on the rec, a sprawling sports field with a practice game being played.

“Lisha,” I waived at her madly as she walked towards where I was seated.

“Mad...How’s it going?”, she asked as she sat down.

“Just admiring the boys on the field.. What you have been up to then?”, Lisha had pulled out her sunglasses and started to watch the football game.

“School work and partying, and meeting hot guys...what about you, any guys this week then?”, I laughed at her question.

“No guys although some guy tried to ask me out today..some douche called Dale”,

“Not Dale Weathers, always in a tee shirt and no underwear combo”, I looked at her with a puzzled look in my face.

“Well from the look on your face it is Dale Winters..let me guess, he wanted to do the San Francisco run with you”,

“Yep, don’t say he’s tried it with you then?” I asked shifting myself to the left as someone moved past me to get to their seat.

“Did the San Francisco run with him, wasn’t worth the effort, he spent half the night with his brains in his dick ogling other women. Although he was good in bed”, I couldn’t believe Lisha went with him.

“Lisha, you didn’t did you?”,

“Yep and the good thing is that I can get you the keys to his car”, I knew what Lisha wanted to do on Saturday.

“Well I could borrow his car on the promise of having sex with him”, Lisha nodded in approvement.

“Well that’s settled then Mad...San Francisco here we come, lock up your men because I’m coming!”, Lisha’s enthusiasm showed in her face.

Those were happy days and I was glad that Lisha and I had remained friends.

“Did you ever keep in contact with Dale?” I asked as Lisha had poured me another drink.

“Nah...last time I heard he had got married to some woman and was living in Reno, probably with a shit load of kids”.

“Well here’s to Dale and his kids!”, I laughed as I raised my glass.

“Dale and his kids!”, she chinked her glass against mine.

Lisha turned to me and placed her glass on the table, the alcohol starting to affect her, and I knew that she was going to get a little soppy with me.

“You know something Maddie, I always enjoy stopping here, drinking copious amounts of alcohol”, Lisha said as she picked her glass up again.

“Yeah I know Lish, a little drunk are we?”,

“Only a little, you're my best friend Maddie White”, I always hated it when she used my full name but in the circumstances it was appropriate.

“Yeah Lisha Flowers, do me a favor would you, check on Maizie and the pups, just to see if they're ok.”,

“I’ll go check on Maizie then and see what the pup is up to...oh mind you don’t spill any champagne on the carpet...it is going to be mine soon”, I laughed at her comment

“I’m not the one who’s half tipsy”, Lisha walked out and headed towards where Maizie and the puppies were. I could hear her talk to Maizie, with her barking softly in reply.

I loved Lisha to bits, and always had, even when she was half gone on champagne.

Oscar peered his head from behind a door and bounded over to where I sat, his white tail threatening to overturn the porcelain vases that stood next to the sofa, without any hesitation he plonked himself next to me and fell asleep.

My laptop was on the bookshelf across from me, I pulled myself up and picked the battered Packard Bell up and sat back down. I had to check my emails, to see if I was still ‘popular’.

The laptop whirred into life and the Windows logo appeared on my screen with its familiar ‘ping’, I ran my finger across the trackpad and opened outlook, the familiar ‘you have 3 new messages’ appeared in front of me.

The first message opened, it was from Dr Van Beek, the chief veterinarian surgeon at East Hills.

To: [email protected]

From:[email protected]

Subject: CHARITY BALL  I.F.A.W

Hi Maddie, Wondering if you would like to show your face at The I.F.A.W shindig at The Four Seasons, Monday at 8pm.

It’s black tie and you can bring someone!

Oh, I’ll probably give you a bell next week

Van Beek DVM

I closed the email and opened the second one, an image of  a penis greeted me. I had to stifle a laugh as I read it

TO:[email protected]

FROM:
[email protected]

Have you had the problem of completely satisfying your lover? Well ManXtender will add inches to your penis. Guaranteed results! Only $79.99 for 6 months supply of the best penis enlargement pills anywhere in the world.

CLICK HERE to order your pills and get a free bottle of SuperMax,the delay that you need if you ‘cum’ too soon.

I quickly closed the email, the third was along the same line. Lisha came down the hall and into the front room, I closed the laptop and picked up my glass and drained the last of the liquid that lay at the bottom of it.

“The puppy seems to be doing ok, and drinking well...Maizie’s still her usual crazy self”, Lisha poured more champagne into her glass and what was left into mine.

“Trying to get me drunk then?”, I asked looking at the now full glass, the bubbles coming to the surface and popping.

“Me...get you drunk? ...Nah, you do that all by yourself”, her usual grin on her face.

“It appears you’ve reached there already Lisha”.

“Funny.. Mad”, she smiled, as left eye was starting to go.

“How do you fancy getting your Gladrags on and ‘accompanying’ me to a charity ball at the Four Seasons?”

“Ooh that sound posh, wonder if there's going to be any eligible bachelors?” I knew Lisha, and any man that was worth his weight would snap her up.

“What do you think of me setting up my own charity...I don't know something along the lines of protecting children against abusive relationships?”, I said, Lisha had always known of what happened to me, the man who did what he did when I was a child.