BLUE ICE (ICE SERIES) (2 page)

              ‘We’ve been best friends since boarding school. It just happens that he owns the company. And you?’

              ‘We’ve also been friends forever. I am a photographer.’

              ‘And you Katie?’ Spence was nice, and a good wing man to Marc, not that he needed it.

              ‘I work in advertising.’ I was being a little surly, but Spence was doing his best to make this awkward situation as comfortable as he could, so I smiled at him. I felt a pair of eyes on me, but I didn’t turn to meet the gaze, that would be weird, and this thing was already pretty awkward.

              Marc turned to me. ‘So who’s trying to forget the asshole?’

              ‘Michelle is. She’s the one with a weak spot for assholes.’

              ‘I am so sorry Michelle, can I call you Mich?’

              ‘You can call me anything you want Marc! And thanks for being sorry, no more assholes for me!’

The food was already on the table, so I was able to ignore the crazy scene I was living. My rib-eye was the only thing that needed my attention at that moment. The entire meal was all about Michelle and Marc flirting, trying to make us participate just so they could take breaks to smile at each other. Spence rolled his eyes at me, knowing exactly what our friends were doing. I never dared to look in Dylan’s direction, but I felt his gaze on me all the time. I thought maybe he was mad because of what I said earlier so I ignored him.

              Out of nowhere he broke his silence. ‘Why are you drinking soda?’

              ‘What?’

              ‘You heard me. Do you want me to order something for you? Red wine?’

              I was about to answer, but Michelle interrupted me, knowing my response would be less than friendly. ‘No, Dylan, Katie does not drink alcohol. She sticks to her regular Coke.’

He looked at me in that “you’re a freak” way, and then got back to his iPhone. I was used to this reaction every time people learned I don’t drink, or smoke, or mess around.
You’re so fucking boooring!
So, “hot blue eyes” was not impressed by me, not even a little.

After the longest two hours of my life, I knew they had no plans to leave our table anytime soon. Even dessert was a pain in the ass with that hot bastard judging my Stephan’s Heaven & Hell Cake. Feeling as fat as a pregnant lady I excused myself and went to the Ladies Room. I just needed a break from the Michelle’s “I am sexy, understanding and sweet” speech.

Getting into the washroom I stared at myself in the mirror. I was dying of boredom. Yes, they were hot guys, but the whole scene was a mess and that guy was making me very uncomfortable. I just wanted to go back to my bed and sleep for hours.

Just as I was getting back into the dining area, a firm hand took my arm. By the shock my skin felt I knew who it was. Don’t ask me why, but I knew it.

‘Katherine.’ Those blue eyes were making me nervous, the GQ walking cover was talking to me.

‘Yes…’

‘Would you dance with me?’

Before I could answer, his arm was around my waist and Tony Bennett’s “The Way You Look Tonight” started. I was sure that this was not the kind of restaurant where you dance, this was not Cabo for God’s sake, but he didn’t even give me a chance to reject him.
Are you dumb?!

If anyone had doubts about the existence of my heart, now it was making its appearance beating like a crazy machine.
Kate please even your breathing, calm yourself. Yes, he’s perfect, he smells divine and is as near as you can imagine, but he will think you are crazy if he can see how nervous you are.

In a vain effort to distract myself I tried to look away.
When the hell did that music start?
When I left the room no one was dancing; now the music and atmosphere had changed.
Oh no, he wouldn’t…Don’t flatter yourself girl, he’s just being kind.

He danced with me as if he had done it his entire life, our bodies fit perfectly. His hands were possessive, in a delicious kind of way, and he smelled like heaven. I could melt just smelling him.
Ok Katherine, pull yourself together. Describing him is not helping your already nervous self.

After what felt like an eternity the song ended, he took my hand to his mouth and kissed it.
Yeah, the cheesiest move in the book!
I smiled at him and turned around to our table, but before I could walk he pulled me to him. I could see something had changed in his face, but I wasn’t sure what.

‘Tell me what I have to do to make you stay, here, with me, tonight.’ His voice was measured and calmed, as if he was just asking what time it was.

‘You are kidding, right?’ I tried to convince myself he was playing with me. But he just shook his head.

Finally, the nervousness left my body. Now, I was shaking. I was furious.

‘Who the hell do you think you are? I don’t know which kind of women you are used to, but I am not dying to fuck you. So no, there’s no fucking way I am sleeping with you. Not tonight, not ever. And for your own sake, don’t ever touch me again.’ I yanked his hand that was still on my arm and left. I didn’t need to shout or fight; my speech was clear and loud by itself.

I couldn’t believe it. How dare he ask me something that personal in such a casual way. We had just met each other! He must have been used to always getting a yes for an answer. I knew he was a pretentious bastard from the beginning but this was way out of line. Other than my stupid body reactions while we were dancing, I never gave him any sign of wanting him. Of course I wanted him, but in a platonic –you’re perfectly hot- kind of way. Maybe he thought we were hookers! I would kill Michelle for making me accept their company.

As soon as we got to the table I called the waiter and asked for our check. There was no way I could stay there any longer. Michelle noticed something was wrong, but she was on the other side of the table so it was impossible to ask me. She just looked at me and started getting ready to escape.

I could feel his eyes on me, in fact I had felt them all night long, they didn’t leave me all the way to the table and now he was even more cynical about it. The check arrived, but before I could take it he gave the waiter his black American Express, all the time staring at me.

‘No way, we are not letting you pay.’ My voice was really bitchy, I was still too angry. I took my wallet, avoiding those blue eyes. But the waiter was already on his way.

‘It’s my pleasure, and girls,’ for the first time in minutes he put his eyes on someone other than me and spoke directly to Michelle. ‘My driver will get you to your hotel.’

I didn’t care that he was talking to Michelle. I would never let him know where we were staying.
Bossy bastard
. ‘Thank you, but no, our car is outside.’

Turning around to see the other guys, completely ignoring him, I smiled to them. ‘It was nice to meet you guys, but it’s getting late.’

Marc took Michelle’s hand and turned around to me. ‘Please girls, have lunch with us tomorrow. We’ll be busy in the morning but we can take a break to meet you at noon.’

‘Sorry Marc, we have plans and we’re leaving tomorrow.’ I hadn’t finished the sentence when Michelle looked at me in a –please, I really like him- way. I just nodded.

‘Kate and I will be shopping at the North Star Mall. If you can reach us there, we can make time for you.’

She knew there was no way I could say no to her when she had found someone she really liked. It was an unspoken rule between friends, even when it always represented a pain in my ass.

I stood up and started saying goodbye to the guys, ignoring Mr. Bastard the whole time. He was standing right next to me, waiting, and somehow making a statement. It felt like he was letting everyone know he was with me.
In his fucking dreams
, after that stupid lunch he was not seeing me ever again.

He put his hand on the small of my back, making me shiver, and whispered in my ear. ‘I’ll walk you out.’

‘No fucking way.’ I whispered back in the coolest, meanest way I could, but he was not intimidated by me, not at all.

Michelle walked behind us with Marc, and Spence tried to stay close to them. They knew better than to mess with Mr. Bastard; yes, that name suited him.

‘I am not giving up, Katherine.’

With just those words he kissed my cheek for longer than necessary and left me standing in the hotel’s lobby. Michelle walked to me and I waved at the other guys. We walked towards the exit and the whole time I could feel those blue eyes on my back. That was the weirdest, most intense encounter I had had in my life.
Katie, don’t turn around or I’ll cut you, I mean it
, with that threat to myself I left without turning back.

What the hell had just happened?
That was the only thing I could think while driving back to our hotel. I guessed I should have been flattered about receiving a proposition from such a handsome man, but I was furious. I was not used to be approached. Men were scared from a distance, but not this man, he was not scared, not intimidated; he even had the guts to look me in the eye and ask me to sleep with him. I knew this was not my forte at all, I spent the years that were supposed to be wasted flirting, studying my ass off. But the whole scene was wrong to me.

He probably wanted someone to spend the night with, and I was near. Maybe he was too tired to look for someone else so he decided to take what he thought was easy. I was just the flavor of the evening, and if he lived, as I supposed, in a Ben and Jerry’s universe, I was just one of many flavors. He was probably already with someone else.

‘Nice guys, huh?’ Michelle distracted me from my reverie. Apparently, I had been tapping the wheel since we got into the car.              

‘Two nice guys, one asshole.’

              ‘Yeah, what happened between Dylan and you? When you two came back I wasn’t sure if he had kissed you or if you had kicked him, maybe both.’

              ‘He’s a jackass, Chelle.’

              ‘What did he do to deserve such a beautiful adjective?’

I hesitated a little, but I was too angry to control myself. ‘He asked me if I wanted to sleep with him.’

              ‘Katie, was he mean to you? Did he ask you nicely or like you were a hooker?’

‘I didn’t know there was a nice way to treat a girl like a hooker, Chelle. He has this irrational sense of entitlement. He’s just so full of himself and he thought I was one more of his slutty girls.’

              ‘Sorry K, but he’s really handsome, maybe you should have said yes.’ She was being serious, staring at me, waiting for my reaction. 

              ‘Ok M, now you’re being stupid. Why on earth would I want to be one more bimbo on a handsome son of a bitch’s list?’

              ‘Because of the handsome part?’

              ‘Maybe when the apocalypse comes, I’ll look for him and beg for a second chance. Happy?’ I turned to face her just to see if she noticed how stupid her suggestion was. She just laughed at my anger.

              ‘You have to control your hate of guys like him. They are the only kind we know.’

              ‘I know but I hate them, and this one was a little more pretentious than the ones we know.’

Michelle and I grew up in New York on the Upper East Side; the crib of rich and pretentious men. Yes, most of them were wealthy and terribly handsome, but they were also interested in one of two things from girls like us: a nice trophy wife who they could show around, preferably one with no brain to avoid conflict; or a quick one night stand, again to avoid conflict. I decided when I was a little girl that I wanted more than that. So I studied like crazy and worked even harder just so I would never be dependent on any man other than my own dad. I also tried my best to be as different as I could from all the girls we knew, which made me the Wicked Witch of NY. And of course I avoided one night stands.
I was different, and trust me, no one likes different in that environment.

We were kind of silent during the ride. Chelle was texting Marc and I was dealing with my mind. That night was the only time when I would allow myself to think about him, tomorrow I would forget about the whole thing. This was the recipe for a no-feeling life, if you could convince yourself that something wasn’t happening, there was no way to feel anything about it; no good, no bad. And it was easier when that was true. Dylan didn’t like me, he was just bored and needed someone to fuck. It was a geographic situation; I was near, that was all. 

Chapter 2

I couldn’t sleep. The whole night I thought about me being different, me saying yes to this handsome man, him taking me to his room. What would have happened then?
Kate don’t you dare to think about him without clothes, there’s no way back from that.
My alarm went off and after getting ready, Michelle and I were on our way to do some more shopping before heading back to New York. As we walked to our car a huge, black man in a dark suit approached us.

‘Ms. Bianchi, my name is Joe, and I’m at your service ma’am.’

I didn’t know who this guy was, and I was really uncomfortable that he knew my name. ‘Sorry, this must be a mistake.’

‘Mr. Berkeley sent me ma’am, for security purposes.’

Berkeley, like in Dylan Berkeley…
‘Well Joe, as you can see we are big girls, so we can take care of ourselves. Thank you.’

‘Just following orders, ma’am. If you want I could call my boss.’

‘Yes! Make my day, call him and tell your boss to go and…’ Before I could finish my profanity, the big guy’s cell went off.

‘Yes sir, we are just leaving. Yes, all taken care of.’

              I wanted to fight. I wanted to kick someone, but big guy wasn’t my target. This poor man’s only sin was to work for a stupid asshole. Even if that jerk thought he had some kind of weird right over us, that didn’t mean I had to be mean to big guy. And the fact that Michelle was drooling to meet Marc again just made it that much more difficult to avoid the jackass, so I decided to let it go and planned something for later.