Authors: Anne Leigh
“I’ll get Dave on it.” Dave was our family lawyer.
No questions asked. I knew my family was wealthy. My dad’s company has ranked in the Top 5 Wealthiest Companies in the United States for 10 years running now. He was a respected businessman across the globe. He had very little time to spare, but he never failed to let me know that I was his son. I was important to him. Whatever he could give me, he would.
“Son, what do you want me to do once it’s bought?”
“Put it out of commission,” my voice was hard.
“Interesting,” he paused for a breath and asked, “Does this have anything to do with the fact that your girlfriend does not like being photographed?”
Shock made me unable to speak. How did he know?
He proceeded, “Just because we don’t talk about these things doesn’t mean I have no idea what’s going on. Ms. Kearnes keeps me updated. Your girlfriend’s a very pretty girl, by the way. Your mom and I would love to meet her,” his voice now held a teasing quality.
“Dad, you’ll meet her.” I muttered, “Yeah, the site keeps taking pictures of her and it’s really bugging her.”
“Son,” he started, “You must really like this girl.”
There was no point in hiding that fact, “I do.”
“I will buy this site for you. There’s no problem with that, but I want you to think about this. What if another site posts pictures of her? Or she gets on the news because you’re associated with her. What would you do then?”
I was at an impasse. My dad had valid points.
“What do you suggest, dad?”
“I think, son, you need to show to everyone that whatever stuff they post of her or of you, it doesn’t matter to you. Tackle this head on. Show them that you guys are young and free and happy. Trust me, news come and go. Eventually, they’ll leave you alone.”
How I wished for his words to come true.
Sedona
“My boy really likes you.” Xavier’s voice interrupted my blatant perusal of my extremely attractive boyfriend, who had just arrived. He waved his hand at me while he stopped to talk to a bunch of guys by the entrance of this restaurant.
It was our thing now. Thursday and Friday nights were ‘out with our friends’ night. There were times when I hung out with just the girls. At other times it was with Zander and his friends. Sometimes, both.
I smiled at Xavier, “It’s a good thing I really like your boy then.”
“Yeah,” he downed his second rum and Coke and said, “I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time.” His voice had a retrospective tone, “Enough to call his dad for a favor.”
“I’m glad.” Did he just say what he said? My head turned towards him, “Did you say he called his dad for a favor?”
He shook his head, avoiding my eyes, “Nah. Forget it. Not my place to say anything ‘bout it.”
He was not getting off that easy. He started it, he had to finish it.
Zander’s gaze caught mine across the restaurant and the look he gave me warmed me all over. It was always like that with him. He only had to look at me and I burned.
I edged closer to Xavier, “Come on what are you talking about?”
Xavier looked uncomfortable, but he must have sensed that I would not stop until he said something, “I can’t say -ok, you didn’t hear this from me.” He looked straight at me, searched my face, and continued, “Let’s just say, Zander never calls his dad for anything. But, he may have asked his dad to buy a pesky, little company called Chatty Pepper.”
Oh god. Did Zander really do that?
I’ve come to accept that his father was powerful. Zander never talked about his family’s power and wealth. He didn’t brag about it. My mind reeled with the knowledge that his father could actually buy out a company just because his son’s girlfriend didn’t like to be photographed.
I haven’t even met his parents.
Zander was now headed towards us. His eyes lit up, his lips touched my cheek, as soon as he reached me.
His hand held mine under the table. I had a feeling he wanted to do more, but he knew I was very uncomfortable with people taking pictures of us. So, he settled to holding my hand and kissing me minimally and very, very tamely in public.
I gazed at his profile as he talked to Xavier. His blue-green eyes were magnetic, his smile was electric. Everything about him oozed confidence and sensuality. I saw how beautiful girls blatantly approach him and hand him their numbers. He always politely said, “No, thank you.” The disappointment in those women’s eyes almost always turned to hatred or annoyance towards me for my presence at his side.
I hated being photographed because I liked my privacy. Those girls would not hesitate to be photographed with Zander or have their names be linked to his. I also hated being photographed because I didn’t want people to judge me or us, based on some random pictures. Lately, I was getting so tired of it all. Zander must have sensed all of these and wanted to make it stop.
I was his girlfriend, but I felt like the other woman. Always touching him, under the table. Kissing him, when I felt that no one was looking. Stealing glances at him, after checking if someone was going to take pictures.
When did I become so paranoid?
Zander’s hand held me tighter under the table.
“You ok, babe?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I grinned at him. He always asked if I was ok.
The server came in with our appetizers; chicken wings, spinach and artichoke dip, salmon tempura, and bruschetta. Zander took 2 slices of the bruschetta, topped them with tomato and cheese, and slowly placed them on my plate, just the way I liked it. These were the little things that he did for me.
He always put me first.
If I called him and he was in practice, he called me the first chance he got. He always tried to deflect those paparazzi-like people into taking pictures of him instead of me. Now, Xavier just revealed that Zander, who didn’t like to ask favors, asked his dad for something because of me.
It was time I took back what was mine.
My privacy
, questionable.
My life
, definitely.
I just knew exactly where to claim it.
Zander
This fraternity/sorority mixer was a doozy. I couldn’t figure out why I liked these things before. It was only because of my unfailing sense of responsibility and loyalty to my frat buddies and friends that I was even here. I saw Tanya running around earlier. She was the head of the planning committee. Her sorority was my fraternity’s sister organization. Tonight, fraternity and sorority members across Northern California campuses attended the party.
I would have rather spent the night with my girlfriend. She was probably having a better Friday night than I was. The only thing I was really looking forward to was the end of this mixer, when I could spend the night with Sedona. In three more hours.
I was on my way to the bar when Tanya caught my arm, “Hey handsome, you enjoying yourself?”
I raised an eyebrow, “I know you’re part of the committee for this event so if I said no, you’d probably smack me in the head.”
She laughed, “Yeah, yeah whatever. What do you think?” she glanced around the room.
“It’s pretty cool here. Great job , Tanya. You and your cronies are masters of these great parties. I know if it was up to my frat brothers, it would just be a bunch of keg stands lining up the room and they’d call it a party.”
The sorority sisters really did a great job with the place. The food was great and everyone looked like they were having fun.
She winked at me, “You’ll have a better time later, trust me,” Something caught her eye, “Alright, and off I go. My cronies are calling.”
That was odd. She must have been referring to me stopping by at their apartment later.
“Man, that girl is hot!” I heard my frat brother, Trace, say. The only girl who I was hot for was having fun with her friend, Nalee, at some bistro tonight.
I was in the process of ordering my drink when the bartender’s glance flickered to me and then went to beyond my shoulder. He looked dumbstruck.
How the hell was a guy supposed to get a drink around this joint?
I slowly followed his gaze, out of curiosity.
Disbelief swept through my mind when my gaze landed on the person who had been running around my thoughts the whole night.
She was dressed in some knee-length shimmery dress and she had some pointy, high-heeled shoes on. Her long, dark locks flowed around her shoulder and when she saw me, her eyes shone brighter.
I was already walking towards her.
She reached me first.
She was less than an arm’s length away when I noticed her eyes change from light purple to a darker hue. I was familiar with that look. That look screamed that she was about to do something naughty. It was usually reserved for the bedroom.
She didn’t give me time to react. She ran her hands through my dress shirt and slowly reached up the side of my neck. She then tipped her head, licked her lips, and pulled me in for a kiss.
I was lost in her mouth. She was ravaging me with her tongue. For a minute, I forgot where we were. Hoots and hollers pulled me out of my passion-filled haze.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a bunch of people taking pictures.
Oh shit, she was going to hate this.
I put my hands on her waist and was slowly pulling her to a more secluded area.
She stopped me, “Is my lip gloss ok?”
Her lips looked thoroughly kissed.
I nodded.
“Ok then. I want to meet your frat brothers.” She leaned onto me, her face glowed.
Her hand was still on my back. This was an odd thing for her. Normally, she didn’t touch me this much in public. She had never initiated a kiss in public either.
What the hell was going on?
I couldn’t help but ask, “Are you ok, babe?”
She looked at me as if I’d asked a really weird question, “Yes, I am. Why?”
We walked towards a small congregated group of my frat brothers.
“Nothing. It’s just that you’re not one for PDA.”
“PDA? Was that what I was doing?” her eyes were filled with mischief.
“You know it is,” I arched an eyebrow, “But, why?”
We were a few steps away from my group when she halted her steps and said, “I’m proud to have you as my boyfriend, Zander. I think that gives me the right to kiss you or hug you or hold you in public. It’s about time people get used to that.”
My mouth was still hanging open as she sauntered towards the group of guys who were now looking at me, waiting for introductions.
*****
For 2 days, Sedona was on some out-of-state medical mission tour with her nursing class. She was finally coming back today. I wanted to pick her up at the airport, but I had football practice. Nalee was free so she was picking Sedona up.
Her last text came in almost 3 hours ago. They were most likely on their way to their apartment by now.
We talked for almost 45 minutes last night. Well, the last 20 was filled with moans, grunts, and ohhs and ahhs. I was getting hot thinking about it. Not a good thing when you were getting ready to hit the field. Tonight, I would make sure there was more of that. She was meeting me and my friends around 8 at Crabby’s Hotdogs, Burgers, and More.