AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her makeup is a little streaked on her cheek. Her wine glass in front of her is nearly empty. “Thanks for keeping her company. Victoria?” I can see she’s winding up. Her eyes narrow in my direction. I lean back into Wes. “Get me a cloth napkin, two glasses of water, and a strong cup of coffee, black. Do not stop for anyone.”
He nods and quickly leaves. I sit down beside her, trying to assess the situation further. “Tori. Are you alright?”
“Do I remotely look alright? Jesus. He left me here.” She slams her handbag on the table. “Can you believe that? His whore calls and he’s off after writing a big check. He told me I’m a big enough girl to get myself home and he’ll meet me there later, if I’m good.”
“I’m sorry about that. It’s not kind, what he did.”
“And then, there’s you.” She tries to smooth the hair away from her face.
“Me? What about me?”
“I saw your speech. You always could take charge of a room. Your co-chair, as you called her, she’s pretty.”
“Yes. She is. What are you getting at?”
“I saw you. I. Saw. You.”
It all starts to click. The texts came in the middle of my kiss with Dylan. There were no physical witnesses, but I never considered behind the darkened glass. “What did you see?”
“Not the Eli I know. Hidden hands and tongues. She’s a little young for you, isn’t she?”
“Leave it be, Victoria,” I growl.
“There. See. I knew it. Your eyes don’t lie. Does the rest of you?”
“Dylan has nothing to do with this. You’ve had too much to drink. Wes is going to bring you some water and a coffee to sip on. Once you’re sober enough, I’m going to put you in a cab and send you home.”
“Home? Alone? Not a chance in hell. I’m going to stay.”
“No. You’re not. Not like this.”
“Make me a better offer. I would go home with you though.”
“You can’t come home with me. No. That’s not how this is going to work.”
“I know how much you hate scenes and confrontations. Please don’t force us into one. Dance with me.” I’ve been so busy playing damage control I didn’t notice the music had gone from dinner appropriate to after party. “Things haven’t changed that much, have they? You can do one dance. I know they’re still your favorite. If you do one dance with me, I’ll go quietly. I promise.”
Ironically, U2’s “One” is playing in the background. I don’t want her to ruin Dylan’s night. I don’t want her to cause a scenethat inevitably I’ll have to explain. I’m hoping Tori will keep her promise and one dance will guarantee she’ll leave quietly.
Dylan
I love the small battle scar of lipstick across my face at Eli’s doing, but he’s right. It won’t do for tonight. Later however, I just might have to put it on so he can smear it off anywhere he wants. I can still feel the pulse of his fingers on my thigh under my dress. His sign for a flyby isn’t too far behind. After what he just gave me, it can’t be. I’d say we have a window of about thirty minutes very soon.
The thought of that excites me to no end. I hope for Eli it will take away some of the anxiety he’s feeling. I wish I understood why he cares so much if she’s here. I guess the point is that he does and it’s not for me to understand why. As I’m about to pull the door open, I hear U2 faint in the background. It’s perfect. We can get a dance in, then with a whisper from whomever cracks first, we can sneak off quickly to have a small secret to carry the rest of the night.
I walk back in the ballroom down the short staircase. By the second stair I see it. In the center of the room, silver sways in my line of vision. Everything comes to a halt in that one second when I realize another woman’s hand is in the hand that just touched nearly inside me. Her head is resting on the shoulder that belongs to me. Eli’s other hand is in the small of her back. Dancing.They’redancing.
I can clearly see a familiarity with them. He knows how to hold her. They move like one. People don’t stop and stare when they’re near each other. Tori. It has to be Tori. His wife. They fit. Theystillfit. Every insecurity I’ve had is playing like a movieright before my eyes. I stumble down one more stair before running literally into Wes.
He’s at the bar. He looks at me then follows my line of sight. His eyes scrunch up tight, muttering one word, “Fuck.”
“Yeah. Perfect word.”
“Viper. It’s not what you think.”
“Or it’sexactlywhat I think. Dicks before chicks, right?”
I can feel Wes quickly behind me, as I want to get closer so Eli can see I’m watching him. The closer I get, the sicker I feel. I’ve never seen him intimate with anyone before. I’ve thought about it, but seeing it is way different. Standing there, looking at her in his arms, is worse than if I would have caught them in bed. I wonder if he understands that?
