Intrigue (6 page)

Rafe teased me, “Are you done with your examination?”

He startled me out of my revelry, “Who takes their shirt off just to do sit-ups?”

Rafe replied in his cheeky manner, “Well, I thought I might have to give you a dress rehearsal since I will be running around the pool party in swim trunks. I figured if you had a preview you would be less likely to offend Thrace with your blatant eye rape of me at his party.”

“Generous. Always looking out for your fellow man. Since I am definitely not going to give you a preview, I’m just going to have to trust that you will behave yourself. You gonna actually do sit-ups or was that just an excuse to impress me with your manly form?”

“Both. Sit-ups, it is. I will keep doing them until you have to leave, so make sure you keep count while you are gawking at me.”

Just to be spiteful, I sat on his feet facing the opposite direction, so I would be absolutely sure not to gawk at him. He laughed as he came up the first time and whispered into my ear, “Chicken.”

“I prefer to call it prudence,” I replied as I kept count.

In retaliation, he made sure his hands touched my shoulders or ran down my arms,
and
he blew gently on my neck every time he came up for the sit-up. The chess match that we were playing was definitely disturbing my senses. He had just hit 214, when I announced that it was time for me to go. I wished him good luck with Thrace as I bolted out the door without looking back.

As soon as I finished my run and took my shower, Thrace was on the phone asking me to pick up the usual barbeque provisions and set up his house while he was sparring Rafe. I agreed and he stopped by to drop off money and a grocery list. I felt guilty as I gazed upon my adoring boyfriend that was thanking me so sweetly for doing his errands for him. I felt like the housewife that secretly lusts after the pool boy. Situations like this were why I still was bitter that Clio’s parents moved her to Cleveland. I really needed to call my plane friend this weekend to unburden my soul. Instead, I ran to the grocery store to pick up the food. Then, I called Jazz and Key to have them meet me at Thrace’s house at noon to help set up. We managed to get everything together in record time in a way that would minimize any evidence that a party had taken place. Jazz and Key had become pros at collecting things like plastic tablecloths and sheets that could be draped over anything that had the potential of being in harms way. We also moved any knick-knacks that could get broken in the wake of a party. Jazz kept up a running discussion of her work out with Rafe the whole time we were setting up.

“Calli, that boy has even more evasion skills than you do. I think I got out the minimum of important details. He lives with his dad in one of those high-rise condos downtown. No idea about what happened to his Mom, or even what his relationship is like with his dad. I only found out that his dad was in the Air Force and is retired now.”

Key jumped in with the most important question, “What about girlfriends—past, present, future.”

Jazz put on her most devious grin, “Well, we all know that I’m his future boo. There is no present girlfriend. But I might have to actually develop patience cause his last girlfriend died in an accident, and he’s not looking for that kind of hurt again.”

Key seemed shocked as she said, “That’s horrible! What kind of accident?”

Jazz looked very solemn as she said, “Car accident. He wouldn’t talk about it other than to say that she was his best friend, and he had no current plans to ever replace her. I think that is why he seems so happy to be in Detroit. It’s a fresh start for him here.”

“Yeah, you don’t hear too many stories about people moving to Detroit for a fresh start. It’s kinda like going to Vegas in search of true love. In either case, I don’t like the odds. However, sending a bunch of singles to Vegas each week in search of true love would make an excellent reality show,” I observed.

Both Key and Jazz laughed. Key replied, “I’d watch it! But in the mate department, I’ll set my sights on someone with less drama than Rafe. I invited the hottie basketball player here for a try out on my turf.”

I cocked my head to one side as I inquired, “What does your Suitor Checklist include?”

Key answered as if reading off it. “Is he nice to my friends, does he know how to handle himself in public, what are his vices, what are his expectations of a girl he’s dating or is he just tryin to hook-up, what does he look like with his shirt off. You know all the basics that a girl has to consider before pursuing her prey.”

Jazz piped in, “Chica, you crack me up.”

Key seemed confused, “What? You practically helped me develop the list. Too many girls just throw themselves at guys with little or no understanding of whether the guy will be worth it. I do my research. It makes me much more likely to pick The Keepers and avoid the Players and Losers. I’m not saying Rafe will be either one of those, but he sounds like too much work. And for me, I would always be wondering if he was constantly comparing me to his dead girlfriend. It’s too much pressure to live up to someone that he will
always
have on a pedestal. And let’s face it, I’m the type of girl that does not share her pedestal!”

Jazz pondered Key’s remark. “I am always up for a challenge. But you’re right. If it’s too much work, I might want to hedge my bets and pursue at least one more hottie. Did you say Mr. Basketball was bringin any of his friends along?”

Key and I marveled at how practical Jazz was. Key announced, “Yeah, I think he is bringin a couple of his wingmen.”

Jazz shook her head and said, “Well, looks like I got all my bases covered,” just as we heard cars pull into the driveway.

Thrace and Rafe headed in the front door already decked out in their swim trunks, t-shirts, and sandals. They both were in a good mood as they called out their greetings to us.

Thrace gave me a hug and said, “Place looks ready to go. You girls should prep party houses professionally. Thank you. Since Rafe kicked my eyas in sparring, he has to be in charge of the grill and give me a shot at beating him in Mortal Kombat, later.”

I looked at Rafe and remarked, “Wow. We need to make sure we bet with you a lot in the future.”

Rafe laughed and said, “Yeah, I don’t know exactly how that worked. Thrace has a real future as a used car salesman. He can talk anyone into anything.”

Thrace smiled and said, “On that note, I need to steal Calli away for a second,” as he pulled me into the den without waiting to hear any snarky replies.

He let go of my hand and went to a drawer that usually contained DVDs and pulled out what looked like a small ring box. He handed it to me and said, “Let the games begin.”

I opened the box and found a little folded white piece of paper that said, “Step 1: Holding hands.”

I looked up at him and gave him my most endearing smile as I said, “I don’t know Sparky, are you sure you’re ready for this? It’s a big step.”

His heated gaze locked with mine. He ran both his hands down my arms lightly trailing one finger so he would give me goose bumps. When he reached my hands, he entwined them in his as he leaned forward to gently rub his scruff against my neck. He whispered in my ear, “I’m hoping we can move on from this one rather quickly.”

I shivered as I said, “I think that can be arranged, but I think we best get a move on cause I think I hear your first guests arriving and I haven’t changed yet.”

Thrace sighed deeply, “Please tell me you’re not wearing that bikini you wore this week. I think it might kill me, and it would definitely make me want to kill anyone that I caught staring at you.”

I gave him a frown of disapproval, but I told him that the bikini was locked safely away back at my house. There was no way I would wear it in front of a large group of people. I was still shy about wearing any bathing suit in a crowd. Luckily, I had a Tankini bathing suit by Betsey Johnson that worked perfectly for these occasions. I quickly grabbed my suit and shorts from Thrace’s room and headed to the bathroom to change. When Jazz and Key emerged from the guest bedroom, they were both clad in bikini tops and shorts. I filled them in on Step 1 as we headed down the stairs.

By the time we got to the pool about 10 people had already arrived, and Thrace was in full mingle mode as the perfect host. He talked to everyone. He introduced everyone to Rafe, who had already attracted followers--one of which was Jazz who was trying to mark her territory. I headed into the kitchen to start getting the food and drink out before the natives got restless. I put the meat on a tray and took it out for Rafe to get started with his duties.

He thanked me with a knowing look as his eyes followed me back into the house where I finished prepping the rest of the goodies. Thrace seemed to have attracted his own followers as well. I tended to worry about his fidelity because I had yet to cave and he always loved female attention. I made my way towards him to fend off one of the more blatant ex-girlfriends that seemed to have Thrace in verbal handcuffs. Siena was one of those people that you couldn’t get out of a conversation in less than ten minutes. Apparently, my boy needed a rescue, so I merely walked over and said, “Excuse me, Thrace. Rafe needs you over at the grill. The food is about ready.” I linked my hand in his and smiled sweetly at Siena. She, however, glared at me with pure malice. To this day, I still swear that she was the one that created a blog under my name called Virgin Ice Queens Anonymous.

There was a lull in my duties, so Jazz, Key, and I did some sun bathing. We linked our chairs, grabbed our water, and shoed the guys away. We got the scoop from Key about how her potential suitor was scoring on her checklist. Key thought he was doing fairly well. Pretty soon the heat started getting to us, so we eased our way into the pool. None of us wanted to have to deal with getting our hair wet, so we stayed at the shallow end. But to no avail, we were soon in a splashing war with the guys as the whole pool erupted in torrents of water from everywhere. Thrace managed to tackle and dunk me. We wrestled around for a bit before he got the better of me, swept me up into his arms, and spun me around into submission. We laughed then he dropped me back in. We goofed off for a while longer before Thrace and I got out to dry off. Luckily, I brought my bag down, so I could comb out my hair straight so it didn’t dry all funky. Then, we shared a lounger with Thrace to dry off. He put his hand on top of mine and laced them together. I noticed Rafe didn’t join in the battle. He still had a small group around him—one of which much to my amusement was Siena.

The bulk of the day was relaxed and mellow. But then day turned into night and the relaxed afternoon turned into a more wicked evening. And as often happened with Thrace, my lovely mellow Dr. Jekyll turned into a moody Mr. Hyde. It was like liquor gave people a personality transplant. They were much louder, more outrageous, more bubbly, or more of a moody flocker in Thrace’s case. Unfortunately, he somehow thought all my introvert characteristics would just float away if I drank more, so he felt the need to strongly encourage me to drink in these situations.

Here was the quick version of what has been repeated at least once a month with slight variations for the last three months: Thrace started drinking, and I refrained because I was the designated driver. Thrace tried to tease me into having just one drink, and I said no. Thrace backed off for a little while. Then, Thrace tried to guilt me into having just one, and I said no. Thrace backed off for a little while. Finally, Thrace started acting like a complete tool, and I tried to either take care of him or get him home while he generally called me an Ice Queen. I ignored his behavior and dropped him off. He apologized the next day. Under those circumstances, you could understand how alcohol had really never held that great of an appeal for me.

Several drinking games started up. Several dares were issued and various girls and guys ended up making eyases of themselves. I approached Rafe and asked if he could do a little more grilling. He said he was at my service and followed me inside the house to grab some more hot dogs and brauts. He quietly asked, “Is everything ok, Calli?” I looked out at the pool and saw Thrace playing quarters with his friends and just shook my head, “It’s fine now, but my guess is in about an hour my Dr. Jekyll will depart and Mr. Hyde will arrive.”

Rafe sighed as we started arranging things on the platter, “I best be gone before that happens, or I will have a hard time restraining myself from jumping in.”

I looked at him with a guarded expression, “It’s not that bad, and the last thing I need is a fight. Jazz and Key always have my back, and Thrace will see them as a lot less threatening.”

Rafe scanned the party and located both Jazz and Key cozied up with two of the basketball players in the living room. “It looks like they are currently occupied.”

I looked over at them and smiled, “Doesn’t matter. When I need them, they are always there for me. Better still, when I don’t need them, they don’t bother butting in.”

“Sounds like a little bit of a complicated game to learn. I guess more times than not you aren’t in need of a rescue, but guys tend to want to jump in and save you whether you need it or not.”

“Exactly. You learn very quickly grasshopper. It used to drive me crazy when Thrace and I first started dating. I would tell him about things that didn’t go as planned, and he always would try to lecture me on how to fix it when I really just wanted to vent. Fixing things is so part of the male mind that he just couldn’t help himself. So, I finally have him trained—I think.”

We had all the food prepped and headed outside to the grill again. Rafe looked around at his future classmates and said, “Yeah. It looks like this crew definitely needs food in them before they head out.”

I looked at him prepping the grill and replied, “Don’t worry, there is a mandatory DD for every car here. Your future classmates might seem a little crazy right now, but they are not that stupid. We take care of our own.”