“We all do but Phineas is more in demand on the greens than we are. We go for fun. He goes to network. He’s closed multiple business deals in the clubhouse after trouncing someo. He’s a damn good golfer but he’s an even better businessman.
“You respect him a lot.”
“He’s my best friend, sunshine. When I was studying for the bar, he was the one who sat up with me all night calling out question after question after question. He didn’t let me rest. He kept saying, Beni, this certification won’t get itself. When I was fourteen, we were hiking a trail, and 1 fell and sprained my ankle. He’s the one who piggybacked me all the way back down the trail. When I was seventeen and my girlfriend dropped me two weeks before prom because the hockey captain asked her instead and she’d rather be a jock’s girlfriend than a nerd’s, Phineas was the one who held me when I cried and promised he’d find me someone better.”
“Did he?”
“He did. Lost my virginity on prom night to a very lovely girl I dated right through college.”
“What happened to her?”
“She had a job offer in Vancouver working for a law firm there. She took it. She met someone there and we broke it off amicably. She’s got three little ones now. They were in town about six months ago and we had dinner together.”
“You stayed friends?”
“Definitely. Why wouldn’t we? We were sad when it ended but we didn’t hate each other. It just didn’t work with the
We both got lonely and moved on.”
“You value your relationships, don’t you Beni?” ance
“I really do.” He said with a shrug and then his smile drew really wide as he watched Suki get her first glimpse of the club ahead of them, “what is your deal with her?”
“We met in kindergarten. We both were trying to sing louder than the other and I lost.”
“Imagine!” he laughed at the story. seven,
“She’s usually the loudest person in the room and I used to think it was because she loved the attention but then in grade six or
I learned she’s loud because she hates the quiet. Quiet usually meant someone was getting hurt in her house. Quiet meant she could hear the whimpers or the crying. Turning the television up loud hid the noise.” At Beni’s confused gaze, she shrugged, “her father is an abusive prick who cheated on her mother every other weekend, depending on how much alcohol he consumed. There were women who came into their home and walked right past her and her mom on the sofa and would have sex with her father in her parents’ bedroom. Her mother would say nothing. For a long time, Suki blamed the women and called them whores instead of blaming her dad.”
“He’s still alive?”
“Yes. They’re still married actually. Suki says he doesn’t ne her mother anymore and the cheating is never inside their house anymore, but they stayed together. It’s the most toxic relationship I’ve ever seen. Suki is loud and boisterous and often the center of attention, but it’s the quiet Suki where all the emotions, the real ones are hidden. Like,” she watched as Suki was dancing crazily to music while she was walking, “she met this guy online and thought he’d be the one she wanted to give her virginity to. It took her a full year before she was ready to meet him face to face and when she got there a few weeks back, his ex-girlfriend lived next door. It took her three weeks to sleep with him and when they were finally getting it on, the ex was banging on the wall between their houses.”
“Did Suki beat the fuck out of her?”
“No. That’s what I mean. She went quiet. She waited until he went to work. She booked her flight. She walked out. She came home. She blocked him on every platform. She didn’t give him tears. She didn’t give him a show. She didn’t do an of this,” she waved at her friend. “She went quiet. Quiet Suki is the most dangerously emotional Suki because it means she’s done.”
“If the girl was the one banging on the wall though -“
“She gave him three weeks to get the woman to back off and he would excuse her behavior and act like Suki was the one with the problem. He didn’t tell the girl off for banging on the wall but laughed it off as a joke.”
“Oh.” Beni nodded appreciatively. “So, what you’re saying ne is if Suki goes quiet, it’s when we should all be worried.”
“It’s the calm before the storm. She hasn’t spoken a word to her father in eight years. Not a single word. She visits her mother. She has dinner there twice a month. She says nothing to the man. He will ask her questions, and she’ll pretend not to hear, It’s the most uncomfortable silence in the world when Suki is silent.” She shook her head, “Kyst used to complain she is too loud. Her noise is everything I need right now because it means everything is going to be okay. Quiet is like doomsday.”
They stepped into the open area and immediately her ears were assaulted by the eclectic mix from the DJ.
Beni shouted at her, “you wanted noise! Here’s the noise!”
Her eyes though were fixed across the crowded club towards two men casually leaning against the bar with drinks in hand and laughing loudly at something the bartender said. Their eyes swung to hers at the same moment and her heart fluttered excitedly. She watched them both openly ogle her in the dress she was wearing and watched them both stand up straight, exchange glances with one another nod and then head right for her.
Suki’s screech in her ear echoed her thoughts, “they look like they want to fuck you right out here in the open!”
Beni’s hot laugh was in her car sending shivers down her spine, but her eyes were trained on the two men charging towards her like she was first prize in a very competitive game.
Adil reached her first, his leanness allowing him to squeeze the crowd as opposed to Phineas who made the crowd part for him.
“Holy fuck, baby girl, you look delectable. I helped you pack up your closet and this dress was not in it.” He took her by the hand and spun her in a slow circle, and he licked his lips lasciviously. “Those legs are going to haunt my dreams tonight.”
She blushed at his bold flattery, and her cheeks were lely a bright red when he leaned closer and pressed a warm, . kiss to her cheek, almost to her ear.
“The only way those legs would look better,” a comment from behind Adil was loud above the noise, “is if they were over my shoulders.”
“Jesus Phineas!” Adil choked out as he looked over his shoulder at Phineas’ naughty grin.
She blinked, feeling it was in slow motion, as Phineas held his hand out, “come here, sweetheart.” There was a command to his tone which made her spine stiffen and her knees press together.
She felt Beni’s hand on her low back pushing her towards
Phineas and she knew she should be confused by it yet somehow it felt right. She took Phineas’ hand, and he pulled her straight to him, flush against his lean frame.
“I hear you want to experiment kissing different lips,” he drawled in her car, the hand not holding hers was on her waist holding her flush to him, “if I catch you kissing any other man but the three of us in this dress, you may end up over my knee instead of sitting on it.”
She swallowed the concrete lump in her throat as a visual image of him spanking her bare ass while Adil and Beni watched on made her weak. Her fingers clutched his and she nodded at the unspoken order. Then the devil in her, perhaps Suki’s influence, rose up and she asked quietly, “and if I take the dress off?”
His hand slid from her waist to hip; his long fingers curled around her ass cheek and squeezed it earning a squeak from h throat. He flicked an amused glance at Adil and Beni, “I think my sweetheart here is looking to push some boundaries and test limits.” He growled in her ear again, “if this dress comes off in the vicinity of any man, it will be one of us, am I clear sweetheart?”
“Yes.” She shuddered as a need she’d never felt for any man aside from Kyst coursed through her and dampened the underwear Suki tried to talk her out of wearing.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.