Kiss in the Dark (12 page)

There was silence for a moment. Then Steph said, “Well, good! I can’t take your inconsiderate rudeness anymore, Boston. Get your stuff out by noon! I’ll tell my new roommate she can move in at one. That’ll give me time to clean up any mess you leave.”

“I’ll be out as soon as I can, Steph,” Boston said.

The line went dead. Boston felt tears welling in her eyes. As miserable and mean as Steph was, Boston actually felt bad about it all.

“That chick’s a psycho,” Vance said, pouring more juice into his glass.

“We’ll have you moved out by noon, Boston,” Danielle said. “Don’t worry.”

“I am so sorry, Danielle,” Boston said. “I am so sorry that you have to put up with all this because of me. I’ll never be able to repay you. I am so sorry!”

Danielle shrugged and smiled. “I’m just glad we’re finally going to be roommates. And I can’t wait until Steph’s completely out of the picture.”

“We’ll get up first thing in the morning and get your stuff out of there,” Vance said, stripping his shirt off over his head. “You can stay here again tonight, and then you won’t even have to sleep there again.”

“I can’t,” Boston said.

Boston gasped as Vance reached out, taking her chin firmly in one strong hand.

“Yes, you can…and you will,” he demanded. “If you’re worried about appearances, I can throw an air mattress on the floor at my place. The previous owners are supposed to be out by five p.m. today.”

Boston was breathless! Vance’s gorgeous face was so close to her she could feel his breath on her lips.

“So,” he said. Nodding toward Danielle’s bedroom he continued, “Run in there and see if Danielle has some leopard-skin underwear you can borrow…and just get on with your day. Your days in hell with that psycho chick are almost at an end.” He smiled, patted her soundly on one cheek, and moved past her.

Boston buried her face in her hands for a moment. She wanted to weep—to sob! Vance was right; she felt as if Stephanie Crittendon had been administering poisonous injections to her soul! She could see it now, the necessity of escape, of not waiting another week to move out. She wondered in that moment how she would make it another day!

But she couldn’t cry, not at only six in the morning and certainly not in front of Vance Nathaniel. Shaking her head and willing her tears to remain in her eyes, she looked up.

“Do you want to shower first?” she asked Danielle.

“No,” Danielle said. “You go ahead.” In the next moment, she was in Danielle’s loving embrace. “I’ll make us some breakfast.” Danielle released her, smiling. “Then we’ll sit down and have a nice quiet moment or two before we head out for the rat race.”

Danielle shrugged. “I can’t imagine she really will. But if she does…I can’t imagine Vance will put up with much from her. Dempsey either for that matter.”

“So Dempsey’s free to come over tonight?” Boston asked.

Danielle’s face immediately brightened. “Yeah! He said he didn’t have anything else going on…so he’ll be here!”

Boston smiled. Already she felt better, simply because Danielle was so obviously excited in anticipating an evening in Dempsey’s company. For a moment, she thought the room brightened. She figured it must be the fact that the sun had risen just a little, spilling light in through the front window.

As Boston passed the front bathroom on the way to the one in Danielle’s bedroom, she smiled. She could hear the water running as Vance showered—could hear his low voice singing an Elvis song. She giggled. Though Vance did a mean Elvis impersonation, it struck her as funny, his singing in the shower.

She sighed. Life would be a bit brighter once she was moved—once Steph could no longer infuse the poisons of hatefulness, cruelty, envy, and angst into Boston’s mind and soul.

As she stepped into the shower—as the warm water instantly began to soothe her rattled nerves—a vision of Vance talking trash to Steph through the cell phone entered her mind. She smiled and tried to scold herself for taking delight in Vance’s implying to Steph that something was going on between him and Boston.

“Logan West,” Boston spoke aloud then. “Tomorrow I get to see Logan.” Closing her eyes, she pulled visions of Logan West to the forefront of her mind—tried to force images of Vance Nathaniel to the corners of her mind—tried and failed.

Chapter Six

“So she asked this guy from work out for tonight…and he said yes,” Boston explained. “It’s as simple as that! You cannot believe how relieved I was to get home and find her note.” Boston frowned, thoughtful. “When’s the last time she missed a Friday night soiree?”

“Like, never,” Danielle said.

“It’s all my fault, you know,” Dempsey said. He finished pouring his root beer from the can into the glass of ice on the table before explaining. “After all, I’m the one who met her first. That job at Shea’s Café was the worst one I ever had…and Stephanie Crittendon is a big part of the reason.”

“You guys,” Kara began, “I’m sorry…but I just have to say this. There’s a whole different atmosphere here tonight without Steph. I know it’s mean, but I was always waiting for something awful to happen whenever she was here. It seems like she was always mad about something or at somebody.”

“I know,” Boston said, guilt expanding so rapidly in her chest she thought she might explode. “I’m so sorry, you guys. I should’ve developed some backbone a long time ago.”

“Hey, baby,” Dempsey said, putting a strong arm around Boston’s shoulders and hugging her with reassurance. “First of all, it wasn’t your fault. We all thought maybe we could soften her up a little. You just have more compassion and endurance than the rest of us.” Dempsey released Boston and picked up his glass of foaming root beer. “If I’d have been the one living with her, I would have beat the…the snot out of her by now.”

“Me too,” Danielle agreed.

Boston smiled as she saw Dempsey wink at Danielle in agreement. Danielle’s cheeks pinked up, and Boston wished the two of them would pull their heads out of the sand and each see the other one liked them.

“How’s work going, Max?” Halle asked, heaping chili on the hot dog in a bun on her plate.

Max, Kara’s should-be fiancé, was a tall, slender, quiet young man. He sort of reminded Boston of a friendly old scarecrow, only more handsome.

Max ran fingers through his tousled blond hair and said, “It’s all right. I feel a little cooped up being in an office all day. But…it’s good. I like the work. It keeps my mind busy.”

“Well, I may as well tell you guys,” Halle began, sprinkling grated cheese over her chili dog. “I didn’t get that job with Winfield and Roux.” Halle sighed with obvious disappointment.

“Sorry, Halle,” Danielle said.

Halle shrugged. “It’s okay. But sometimes…sometimes I just wish life was as easy as it was when we were all working at the North Pole. You know?”

Dempsey laughed. “Easy for you maybe…but my self-esteem took a big hit that summer.” He shook his head, chuckling at the memory.

“Oh, but you made such a cute elf,” Kara teased.

“Yeah. You did,” Max said, fighting back a smile. “I’ve seen photos.”

“Dude!” Dempsey countered. “It takes a real man to dress up in green knickers, red and white striped socks, curly pointed shoes, and an elf cap and still pull off manly man.”

Everyone laughed, and Max nodded. “You’re right about that, man. You’re right about that.”

“What’s so funny?”

Everyone turned and looked at Vance. He stood before them, fresh out of the shower, wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist, wet hair, and an innocent expression of curiosity.

When no one responded to his question, he rubbed his hands together and said, “Ooo! The chili dogs are ready?”

“Vance!” Danielle immediately scolded. “Sheesh! Can you at least put on a bathrobe?”

Boston smiled when Vance, Dempsey, and Max simultaneously exclaimed, “A bathrobe?” The men looked at each other as if Danielle had suggested the most asinine thing she possibly could have suggested.

“Heck no!” Dempsey exclaimed. The girls giggled as Dempsey proceeded to strip off his shirt. “I ain’t ashamed of my perfectly sculpted torso.” He flexed and everyone laughed.

“How about you, Max?” Dempsey asked.

Max, who was normally quite reserved, stripped off his shirt, saying, “I don’t even own a bathrobe, dude!”

Kara was so astonished by Max’s brazen act of displaying a well-toned physique that she gasped, blushed, and placed her hands over her eyes.

“Wait a minute,” Dempsey said, looking to Vance. “You’re still all wet.” Dempsey looked to Max. “We need some water, dude. He’s showing us up.”

Instantly, Dempsey and Max raced to the sink. Dempsey turned on the faucet and began splashing water at his chest. Max, always the thinker, grabbed the spray bottle Danielle used to mist her ferns from on top of the fridge.

Halle crossed her legs and, through her laughter, begged, “Stop! Stop you guys!” Halle had a bladder the size of baby toad, and the sight of her only caused Boston to laugh harder.

Danielle was overcome with such complete gut-busting that she’d sat down on the floor, wiping tears from her eyes as she tried to control her laughter. Even Kara, who was normally the most guarded of Boston’s friends, was laughing so hard she appeared to be in pain.

And then—just when Boston didn’t think she could laugh any harder—Vance said something to Dempsey and Max. They smiled, and in the next moment, all three men began to march in place in unison, singing the opening verse of “Macho Man.”

Danielle was immediately on her feet. “Stop! Stop!” she begged breathlessly. Racing forward, she clamped a hand over Dempsey’s mouth. Dempsey, however, simply shook his head, liberating his face from her grasp. His arms encircled Danielle’s waist as he continued to march in rhythm and sing.

Halle was literally rolling on the floor, and tears of mirth were streaming down Kara’s face.

“Stop!” Danielle begged, barely able to draw breath. “I can’t breathe! I’ll be sick! I swear it!” she panted between gasps for air.

Vance began to chuckle and broke into his own laughter, and the singing stopped, replaced by the deep resonance of masculine chuckles.

“Oh my heck!” Danielle breathed. “I haven’t laughed that hard in years! I swear I haven’t!”

Boston at last drew a deep breath—sighed with blessed relief—even as sporadic giggles continued to escape her throat. Never, never had they had this much fun when Steph was present—never! Stephanie wouldn’t have approved of the guys being so silly—let alone so scantily clad. But it was all in good fun, and Boston was all the more thankful that Steph wasn’t there.

Boston watched as Vance and Max wiped the moisture of mirth from their eyes. Vance was hysterical! After all, hadn’t the whole hilarious scene been orchestrated by him? She liked that he’d unearthed Max’s playful nature—that because of the whole incident, Danielle had ended up in Dempsey’s arms for a time. Her heart swelled as she looked at him—but she quickly reminded herself of the date she had scheduled with Logan West the next day. Furthermore, Vance was Danielle’s brother—Danielle’s ridiculously ripped, lethally gorgeous brother maybe—but brother nonetheless. Boston knew nesting on the thought of “what if” where romance with Vance Nathaniel was concerned was out of the question—even if he had shown any kind of interest in her, which he hadn’t.

“Look out!” Halle giggled, pushing past Vance and heading for the bathroom.

“Go put some clothes on, Vance,” Danielle scolded, tousling his wet hair and smiling at him. “I’m sure you haven’t eaten all day. Come get a chili dog.”