Chapter Five
“What do you call these rooms again? They’re amazing!” Julia Swaggert, founder of Party Planning Plus, pressed her forehead on the glass of the enclosure and looked out over The Sky Launch’s empty dance floor.
“Bubble rooms,” I answered behind her, pleased that Julia seemed impressed with The Sky Launch. Our meeting had begun at eleven, and now, forty-five minutes later she was still engaged and interested in my proposals for a partnership.
“And when they’re occupied—” I flipped the light switch on that indicated a room was in use.
Julia’s face lit up as the room glowed red. “Ha-ha. Awesome. Can people see inside them?”
“Unfortunately, yes. We’d have too many legal issues if we were to install one-way mirrors in them. But when it’s dark on the floor, you can’t see very much inside them. Mostly silhouettes.”
“Hot.”
I liked Julia. Instantly. She was fun and enthusiastic but also had a smart head on her shoulders. I could tell why she came highly recommended in the event planning world. She was definitely someone who could boost The Sky Launch’s business, and my excitement grew about the possibilities as I showed her around the club.
“This is totally perfect for Bachelorette parties, as you suggested.” She wrote a couple notes down on her tablet with her stylus and turned back to face me. “Actually, I can think of a few types of events that might be interested in this venue. If you can come up with some pricing packages—” She tapped her pen across her cheek, leaving her sentence for me to finish.
“Sure thing.” Damn, did that sound too eager? I really wanted to make this deal, to prove that I could do all the things I’d said I could when I applied for the promotion. And, to be honest, I wanted Hudson to be proud of me.
I wasn’t taking notes on paper, but I was mentally. “Do you have some things you’d like to see in particular as part of the packages?”
She nodded energetically, her dull brown curls sweeping her shoulders as she did. “A dollar amount at the bar is a must. Perhaps a selection of appetizers. Few pre-brides will be expecting dinner when they’re clubbing, so light on the food and heavy on the drinks.”
That had been pretty much what I’d been thinking. “Would add-ons be of interest? Like male waiters or a penis-shaped cake?”
She laughed. “I think you know what you’re doing.”
A bleep bleep came from Julia’s purse. “Ah, that’s my partner,” she said, digging inside. “He was overseeing arrangements for an event we have later and said he’d join me here if he got free.” She retrieved her phone and read the screen. “Yay, he’s here. Mind if he comes up?”
“Not at all. The front doors are locked, though, since we’re not open during the day. I’ll have to walk down and let him in.”
“I’ll come with you.” She followed me as I exited the bubble room. “I want to get his feedback from the moment he enters. See if he loves it as much as I do. I can’t believe I had no idea this place existed!”
We walked back down the stairs and through the club, Julia commenting on different features of the club as we passed them.
She nodded to the bar on the lower level as we passed. “I’m so glad there’s a bar on each floor.”
“There are two bars on this floor: the main one and a smaller side one that we only operate on the weekends. Food is only served upstairs. So the first floor is tailored for drinking and dancing while the upstairs level with the bubble rooms and lounging areas is geared more toward socializing.”
“Nice. And you can rent out the entire club for events?”
“Of course.”
“Can you put together some packaging for that? I know some corporations that might like this for holiday parties and such.” She pointed to a counter near the front of the club. “And what’s this? An information desk?”
“That’s the coat check.” Or a fabulous place to make out, I thought, remembering how Hudson and I had spent some time in there one evening before my shift. “Oh, whoops! That’s not supposed to be there.” I grabbed a serving tray that had been left on the coatroom counter.
“I’ll put this away while you let him in.”
I skipped back up the ramp to the front bar to deposit the tray behind the counter then headed back.
As I returned, I heard Julia gushing about The Sky Launch to her partner, whose back was to me. “It’s an amazing club, baby. A total gem.”
Baby, huh? Partner must mean more than just in business.
“Plus we’d be hooked up to Pierce Industries, and that’s a major bonus for us. We have to score this deal. I can already think of two couples this place would appeal to.” Julia’s tone echoed the excitement I felt about our impending venture. “The Fredericks for one.”
Julia spotted me walking toward them. “Here she is. Alayna Withers, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend and partner at Party Planners Plus—”
Her partner turned around to face me, and I nearly choked as Julia finished her introduction.
“Paul Kresh.”
My heart stopped. Literally stopped for the space of two beats. Paul Kresh, the man I’d stalked and terrorized. God, oh god. He had a restraining order out on me. I couldn’t be within one hundred feet of him and there he was, standing a yard in front of me, his features frozen in a state of shock that had to mirror mine.
F*ck.
There went my affiliation with Party Planners Plus.
Julia carried on, unaware of anything odd between her boyfriend—that’s what she’d called him, anyway—and me. “Paul, this is Alayna, the…Wait.”
She paused and I worried she’d figured it out, that she’d pieced together his expression and my name. If she knew about me, that was.
But when she spoke again, her words were harmless. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know your title.” She laughed, and I blinked at the oddness of the sound in contrast to the panic that was rushing through my veins.
David and I had come up with my official title only the day before, but I was so stunned by Paul’s arrival and Julia’s obliviousness that it took me a second to respond. “Um, Events and Promotional Manager.”
I didn’t know if I should shake his hand or run. If I should act like an old friend or as if we’d never met.
Paul made the decision for me. Smiling stiffly, he held his hand out. “Pleasure to meet you.” His tone was steady. Not sure and commanding and unflinching like Hudson’s, but unfazed nonetheless.
I took his hand, my fingers wrapping limply around his. “No, the pleasure’s mine.” That’s what you say to new business affiliates when you meet them, right? Because nothing I could think of sounded correct or harmless. Did it sound like I was flirting? Because I was not. Was. Not. There wasn’t any interest in my body for him except to be far, far away.
I pulled my hand away first, unwilling to touch him longer than necessary.
“Paul, you’ve got to see this place. Can we repeat the tour?” She looked at me, wide eyed and expectant.
Hell, no. That’s what I wanted to say. What I should say. But I was numb and no response came at all.
Again, Paul came to the rescue. “Actually, honey, we’ve really got to get going.”
She took his wrist in her hand and twisted it to look at his watch. “Yeah, you’re right. We have a thing tonight. Last minute details and all. Mind if I use the little girl’s room before we take off?”
She blinked at me twice before I realized that the question was for me.
“Not at all, it’s back at the top of the ramp, to—”
She cut me off. “I remember.”
I watched as Julia climbed the ramp and disappeared around the corner. Then I found my voice. Words fell like the sweat dripping down the back of my neck. “Paul, I had no idea, I swear. I didn’t have a clue that Julia was your partner or that you worked at Party Planners Plus or that you’d be here today or ever. I would have canceled if your name was anywhere attached to the business website, and how the hell would I ever know that you’d become an event planner anyway? Because when I knew you, you were an accountant in that stupid firm on Forty-Seventh—”
“Stop, Alayna.” He let out a huff of air as he ran his hands through his hair. “I know you didn’t plan this. There’s no way you would have known.” I wasn’t sure if he was acknowledging my innocence in our meeting or reassuring himself. “I’m still an unofficial partner. I’ve been doing Julia’s accounting and we only recently decided…”
His hand dropped to his side. “Anyway, that’s not important. The important thing is—”
“That we absolutely don’t work together. I know.” As I said it, my heart sank, the ideas I’d had for teaming up with Julia rupturing like a popped balloon. “The restraining order was for five years, and I think there’s two years or so left.”
“A little less than two years,” he corrected. “But that doesn’t matter. We have to work together anyway.”
“What?” I think I actually jerked in surprise.
His hand went back to his dark blond hair, brushing through it like he always did when he’d been stressed or exasperated. “I can’t ruin this deal for Julia. She’s hired new people recently and she’s trying to expand the business. It’s a good time for her, but she needs connections like this club. Connections with people like Hudson Pierce.”
“But I can’t be anywhere near you, let alone working with you.” Hudson’s name in the air made me even more uncomfortable with being alone with Paul Kresh. I didn’t like Hudson being connected to my past mistakes. I was in serious violation of a restraining order that I’d already violated once. My hands balled at my sides, my fingernails digging into my skin at the thought of what would happen if the cops found out.
As if reading my mind, Paul said, “I’m not going to report you. You didn’t know. And going forward I’m not going to say a damn word.” His eyes narrowed. “Unless you f*cking show up on my doorstep, or in my office—”
“I’m not!” I clasped my hands together and put them to my lips, calming myself before speaking again. I counted to ten in wicked speed. “I’m not like that anymore. I’m better. I got counseling. I haven’t even thought about you since…” Since the night before when I’d told Hudson about him. “Well, I’m better. And I’m with someone.”
I was so much better. There was a time where I would have been dizzy and heartsick over even the slightest thought of Paul Kresh. Now he was nothing but a mistake. A problem I couldn’t wait to go away.
“Good. That’s good to hear. I’m glad you’re better.” Paul looked me over. “And I believe you. You look better. I don’t know…healthy or something.”
“Thank you.” Getting emotionally and physically better had improved my physical being. I’d gained weight—mostly muscle—and my skin tone had improved.
Paul seemed to be taking those changes in and my stomach clenched with the urge to throw up.
He must have caught himself, because he suddenly turned away, gazing up the ramp where Julia had gone. “Look, Julia knows nothing about you or Melissa or that I was engaged before.”
“Nice. Secretive relationships for the win,” I said sarcastically.
He ignored my remark. “We’ll simply have to agree to keep all the past under wraps. Not a word that we’ve ever met before today. We can do that. I know you can.” His tone was caustic, as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. “You were always good at acting like things were just fine.”
I fought the urge to kick him in the shins. “Paul, this is a bad idea. A really bad idea for me.”
He stepped toward me, a finger pointed in my direction. “You owe me. You owe me this at least. Don’t you think?”
F*ck. He had me there. Didn’t I owe him a whole shit load? Sure he’d been a dick at every opportunity, but that didn’t excuse the way I’d invaded his life. And paying him back, cleaning the slate—it sounded awfully appealing.
Against every warning siren blaring in my head, I said the words I hoped I didn’t live to regret. “All right.” I swallowed and said it again. “All right. I’ll pretend we just met.”
“Fine. You’ll be working mostly with Julia anyway. We won’t see each other. It shouldn’t be an issue.”
I put my hand over my churning stomach and nodded weakly.
“Alayna, hey!” The female voice came from the opposite direction of where Julia had gone.
I squinted toward the sound and found Celia making her way toward us. Really? Could this day get any more complicated? Or filled with people I wasn’t supposed to be with?
“What—what are you doing here?” My voice was dazed.
“You never called me for coffee and I didn’t have your number so I stopped by.”
I hadn’t called her because Hudson and I had agreed not to see her without each other. I certainly hadn’t expected her to show up out of the blue. And, how had she gotten in anyway? I frowned. The door had been locked and should have stayed locked after Julia let Paul in. Maybe they hadn’t shut the door hard enough.
“How did you know I was here?” Was my head muddled or was her appearance as baffling as Paul’s?
“Jordan told me.”
Of course. Her endless connections to Hudson’s life. Why was I even surprised anymore?
“Is something wrong?” Concern laced Celia’s question.
“No…I…well.” My head hurt, my stomach hurt, my mouth was dry and I felt shaky. “Everything’s fine.”
I followed Celia’s questioning glance to Paul. Oh, yeah. F*cking Paul. “Celia this is a potential business associate, Paul Kresh.” I turned to Paul, unable to look him in the eye. “This is a friend of my boyfriend’s, Celia Werner.”
Paul’s brow rose. “As in, Warren Werner?”
“Uh-huh.” Celia straightened at the mention of her father’s name, ready to be the show pony that she was raised to be.
Paul broke into a smile. “We did an event for your mother once. I didn’t actually talk to you, but I saw you around.”
“What company did you say you worked for?”
“Party Planners Plus. My girlfriend is the owner and I recently joined on board as her partner.” Paul’s eyes traveled toward the ramp. “Here she is now.” He turned his focus to his girlfriend. “Julia, this is Celia Werner. You remember when we did that event for Madge Werner.”
Julia’s eyes brightened. “Totally. It was at the MoMA last spring.”
“Ah, that was you? How nice to meet you. It turned out lovely, no matter what my mother said.”
Julia and Paul exchanged a glance that said there must have been a story behind the matter. Frankly, though I would usually be curious about the gossip regarding Celia’s mother, at the moment I couldn’t care less. There were too many conflicting pieces of my life trying to meet up in one place—Celia, Paul, trying to land my first great business deal for the club—once again, I felt the urge to throw up.
“I hope you don’t mind, but as Paul said, we’ve got to be running.” Julia smiled brightly. “It was so awesome to meet you.”
I did my best to recapture the enthusiasm I’d had earlier when it was just Julia and me. “You, too. I’ll draw up those packages and get back to you by tomorrow.”
“Perfect!”
Paul seemed ready to leave without saying anything to me until Julia cast him a stern look. “Yes, we look forward to working with you. A joint venture would be beneficial to both of us.”
I read his subtext, the reminder that I should go along with his ridiculous plan to pretend we were strangers. “I certainly hope so,” I said, my face plastered into a businesslike grin.
I held my breath until the door shut behind Julia and the unwelcome ghost of my past. Then I let it out in one slow exhalation.
“What in the hell was that about?”
One stressor gone, the other still stood by me. At least I couldn’t get arrested for speaking to Celia.
I headed up the ramp toward the main part of the club, hoping to somehow escape my anxiety attack.
“Laynie?” Celia pressed, following after me.
I shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You could cut the tension with a knife.”
I opened my mouth to deny it but what was the point? “Was it that obvious?”
“Yeah. It was. Wanna talk about it?”
I stopped walking and paused.
“Ooh, there’s hesitation.” Her eyes twinkled with the anticipation of gossip. “Let’s talk about it. But not here. Over coffee.”
I rubbed my fingers over my brows, trying to alleviate the throbbing behind my eyes. “All right.” I didn’t have the energy to argue or make up an excuse. Besides, I needed a drink, and since it was too early for liquor, coffee would make a fine replacement.
“Great! I’m sure you need to lock up. I’ll head to the coffee shop next door and get us a table.”
Fifteen minutes later, Celia and I were seated at my favorite cafe in Columbus Circle. I’d already downed a third of my iced double espresso and was realizing that maybe caffeine was exactly the opposite of what I needed because now my shakiness had increased to full-on jitters.
Celia had so far filled the conversation with easy topics that I was able to respond to with only one- or two-word sentences. Meanwhile, my head spun, unable to concentrate on any one thing for any length of time. The one thing I was sure of was that I shouldn’t be having coffee with Celia Werner. Should. Not.
“So who was the guy?”
I rocked back and forth in my chair. “No one. A client.”
“That’s a lie and you know it. There was all that weird vibe stuff going on.”
Her eyes bore in to me, but I was unwilling to give anything except a one-shouldered shrug. What would I tell her, anyway? Hudson didn’t even want me talking to her, let alone telling her big important things. And if I did explain about Paul, what if she told Hudson?
Shit, shit, shit. Hudson.
I had the distinct feeling that he would not approve of my working with Paul Kresh. And it wasn’t like it was something I could necessarily hide. Hudson did own the club, after all. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck.
Unaware of the turmoil in my mind, Celia tried another method of getting the dirt. “I mean, I get it. He’s yummy, as in I wouldn’t mind having him in my bed for a night or twelve.”
I chortled. “Good luck with that. His business partner is also his girlfriend.” Of course, Paul had been engaged when he hooked up with me. “On second thought, you probably still have a chance.”
“Obviously you speak from experience.”
No shit, Sherlock. I was about as experienced as you could get when it came to Paul Kresh. I knew his habits, his patterns, his workout schedule. Details of his life I’d committed so deeply to memory that they were impossible to forget. Keeping it all bottled up wasn’t helping. I’d learned to cope through talking. I needed to talk.
“Tell me. You know you want to.”
Celia was right. I did want to tell her. So I did.
Hudson had told Celia a few things about my past, but I wasn’t entirely sure what so I told her everything. When I finished she was silent and wide-eyed for several seconds.
“Damn,” she said finally.
“Right?”
“Like, ugh. I don’t even know what to say.” She took a deep breath and straightened from her leaned-in position. “Does Hudson know?”
“He knows about the restraining order, of course. He told you about that, didn’t he?”
She nodded. “He mentioned something about it.”
I tried not to be embarrassed that he’d shared that with Celia. I’d already guessed she knew that much. It made sense why he’d told her. She was in on the scam we’d tried to pull on Sophia and it was important that Celia knew all the details, I supposed.
Whatever. It didn’t matter what Hudson had said or why, because now I’d told it all to Celia myself. “But he doesn’t know I met with Paul today. I didn’t know I was meeting with him until he showed up. Now I don’t know what to do.”
I sipped at the straw of my iced espresso that was mostly water by that point. “The obvious answer is to not work with him. That’s what I have to do. And Paul can say whatever he wants, but I can’t put myself and The Sky Launch in that kind of jeopardy.”
“There you go! You got it worked out.” Celia’s eyes narrowed as if she were considering. “Except…”
I had a whole bunch of “excepts” running through my mind. Except working with Paul would be good for the club. Except I owed him. Except he might get mad and cause me trouble if I didn’t go on board with his scheme. Except I really wanted Hudson to think I could do good things with his club.
I wondered what Celia’s “except” was. “Except what?”
“Party Planners Plus is getting a really good name around town. It’s impossible to please my mother and she was almost happy with what they did at the MoMA. That’s saying a lot. They’d do great things for the club.” She took a sip of her nonfat latte. “And Hudson would be proud.”
“Are you reading my mind?”
She smiled. “I’m just thinking logically.” She set her drink down and seemed to go into planning mode. “Would you have to work with Paul hands-on?”
“No, I think I could go strictly through Julia.”
“You could make that a stipulation to signing a contract with them.”
“But Hudson would freak! My brother would freak!” I said it before I remembered that I’d cut Brian out of my life. “Not that I’m speaking to my brother, but he worked his ass off to get me out of the whole Paul debacle.”
Celia didn’t bat an eye. “Don’t tell him. Don’t tell either of them.”
“How can I hide Paul from Hudson? He owns the club!”
“Your contact is going to be with the girlfriend, right? If Hudson happens to see the paperwork—which is unlikely—it will say Party Planners Plus. If I remember correctly, Paul’s not even really an owner. It’s legally all in Julia’s name.”
“Right, right. That’s right.” I was impressed. Celia was actually good at this scheming stuff. “But since that’s the case, maybe I should tell Hudson.”
“You can tell him, but if I know Hudson—and I do—there’s no way he’ll let you keep that contract. He’s too protective of things he considers his. And in this case, that’s not only The Sky Launch, it’s you.”
My feminist side wanted to get pissy at being considered a man’s object, but the in love side—the more dominant side, at the moment—blushed in agreement. “I know. It was worth a shot though.”
“So you have two options: forget the contract or forget telling Hudson.”
I didn’t like either choice. But I wanted that contract. Badly. So badly I could taste it. And feeling like it was a way to pay back Paul made the decision all the richer. “I won’t tell him. I’ll work with Party Planners and Hudson will never be the wiser.”
“Then I won’t tell him either.” She put her hand up and dangled her last finger. “Pinky swear.”
Her promise made me feel better. Made me feel like I had someone on my side. Made the lie seem less likely to explode in my face. “Thank you. Talking to you really helps me figure things out.”
“Of course it does.” She smiled in that way where she knew she was adorable and made no apology for it. “Hey, why didn’t you call me this morning anyway?”
I took another sip of my watered-down drink while I decided if I should tell her the truth or make up an excuse. After I’d been honest about everything else, I settled on the truth. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to see you. Hudson wasn’t happy when he found out we chatted yesterday.”
“Hmm. I imagine he didn’t.” She rubbed her lips together, and I wondered briefly how she kept her gloss looking so fresh all the time. “Well, tell you what,” she said after a minute. “We don’t have to tell him about this either. I didn’t tell Jordan I was going to go find you so I’m sure he wouldn’t say anything. You could just not say anything either.”
The thought had crossed my mind, but only fleetingly. “I’m not sure if I’m good with keeping it from him.” The list of things I wasn’t telling Hudson was getting much longer than I felt was acceptable. My past with David, working with Paul, now seeing Celia behind his back. I looked at my watch. It was only a little after one. Was that too early to have a beer?
“Sure, I get that. I’m not trying to encourage keeping secrets or anything, but he’s so weird where you’re concerned. Protective or something. The last time I talked to you, he was pissed for days. He thinks I’m going to turn you against him or something.” She rolled her eyes. “But it’s up to you. Just let me know so I’m on the same page.”
“Okay.” But I planned on telling Hudson about Celia. We were supposed to be working on honesty and the weight from two secrets was heavy enough without adding a third one.