Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (4 page)

"What’s so funny?" Tiny blonde
narrowed her eyes.

Lilli shook her head and pointed at me.

"Aidan?" The girl looked over
to me with a smile and headed in my direction.

"Yeah. Phoebe?"

She nodded and stuck out her hand.

"Can I get you guys anything before
you go to a table?" Lilli appeared.

"I’m good, what about you?"
Phoebe looked from Lilli to me.

"No, I think I’m good, too."

Lilli smiled an incredible smile and
went back down the bar. My eyes were still attached to her ass, it took
everything in me  to look away before my date noticed.

"So you know Lilli?"

"Yeah, sort of. I’m friends with
Dixon—obviously—so I’ve met and hung out with Lilli a couple of times through
him."

She smiled at me in a weird way. Then
she led us to a black table with a rounded red booth. Dance music started to
kick into full gear but Phoebe didn’t want to dance.  Instead, she insisted on
talking.

"So, why did someone as attractive
as you agree to a blind date?"

"I could ask you the same
thing," I turned her question around on her.

"Hmm…you could but I asked
first," she argued.

"Touché. Let’s just say I’m having
a hard time meeting the right girl." I answered as honestly as I could
without telling her too much. Taking my drink, I was mid gulp when she
responded.

"So, it’s hard for you to find
someone who will marry you, huh?" She giggled when some of my bourbon shot
out of my mouth and nose. "Ewww," she screeched.

"He told you about it?"

Phoebe was already nodding and laughing.

"And you still agreed to meet
me?" I raised my eyebrow as I wiped my face on a paper napkin.

"Oh, how could I not come and see this
situation in person? It’s just too good to pass up." She laughed again.
"Besides I get to visit Lilli for the night," she motioned over to Lilli,
waving when Lilli looked over. Lilli smiled and flipped her off. Phoebe giggled.

"So, this is not something—"

"Oh, there is no way I am marrying
you or having your babies," she smiled. "No matter how hot our children
would be," she nudged me with her elbow. I laughed.

Phoebe and I talked. While, she was
really cool, there was nothing more than friendship building between us. After
an hour of hanging at the table, we moved to the bar. Phoebe and Lilli went
back and forth with stories about Dixon. Turns out they all had gone to the
same high school and the girls came to New York together for college.

"Oh hey, how’s your dad?"
Lilli’s face dropped.

"He’s good." She answered
quickly.

"Lilli?" Phoebe used a warning
tone.

"He’s fine. He’s healthy and that’s
what matters." Phoebe was about to speak again but Lilli put a finger up
and went down to help some people.

"Damn girl is so stubborn!" Phoebe
huffed.

Finishing a text to Oz and James to come
meet me at the bar, I figured they could help me scan the bar. Especially since
Phoebe and I were not going to be getting together.  I knew it was a desperate act.
But I only have ten months. And while that seems like a lot of time to most
people, for me it was ticking away quickly.

Dixon bound up to the bar in a pair of
black jeans and long sleeve white shirt.

"How are things going?" Dixon
smiled.

I smacked his arm.

"Thanks for disclosing my
ridiculous life to strangers, asshole," I laughed.

"Hey, I can’t help it if the evil
elf is an interrogation specialist. She wanted details, and she gets what she
wants," he chuckled.

"It’s true." Phoebe shrugged,
unashamed.

Oz and James came strolling in about
thirty minutes later. James, in one of his dark suites and blue ties, raised
his eyebrow at me and shifted his gaze to Phoebe then back to me. I shook my
head. He tried not to laugh and I flipped him my middle finger.

"What do you guys want?" Dixon
yelled over the music.

"Beer us!" Oscar yelled.

Phoebe turned around surprised by the
voice so close behind her. She scowled at him for yelling over her but Oz’s
face fell into a trance as he looked down on teeny, tiny Phoebe.

"Can you not yell at the back of my
fucking head?" Phoebe shouted and turned back to the bar.

Oscar leaned down to the side of her
head and whispered. She turned and smiled widely.

No way! I come to meet someone and my
best friend ends up with her!
Rolling my eyes, I
couldn’t look at them any longer.

"Well, there are a lot of hot
ladies here tonight, just pick one." James spread his arms out like a game
show model.

"Yeah, because a random wife is the
safe choice," my voice saturated with sarcasm.

"Hey," Oscar called over to
me, "I’ve got your next date with Jackie set up." He grinned.

"Okay," I sighed. "Give
me the details tomorrow."

After a quick nod, he took Phoebe to the
dance floor.

"Looks like Oscar stole your date."
Lilli leaned against the bar wiping up spills.

"Shut up." I tried to be mad,
but laughter took ahold of me.

Her face split into a bright as sunshine
smile.  The way her dark eyes glittered with humor took my breath away for a
moment. I wanted to keep her laughing, even if it was at my expense.

"What’s so funny?" Dixon asked
as he leaned over my shoulder.

"Your roommate thinks she’s a
comedian." I wore a fake scowl. She feigned innocence.

Dixon was about to speak but his
attention was caught by a tall, leggy blonde who, for the first time, was not
behind the bar with Lilli.

"Hey, Dixon," Celia smiled and
leaned onto the bar to talk to Lilli. Dixon groaned as Celia leaned over the
bar, pushing her ass out. Her ass was nice, but I knew who’s ass was better—Lilli’s.
Shaking off the thoughts of Lilli, I focused on what I needed to do.

At the end of the night James
disappeared, probably with a random girl. Oscar was driving my date home.
You’re
welcome, Oscar
. And Celia asked Dixon to drive her home, much to his shock.
I ended up sitting at the bar talking to Lilli until closing.

She surprised me when she asked me about
my life.  "So, what’s it like running such a large company at your age? 
That’s a lot of responsibility."

"It’s hard. I mean every day I have
to think about the fact that what I do makes a difference to over 5000
employees, not including our affiliates." I sighed taking a drink of
water. Saying it out loud made the inheritance
conditions
a heavier
burden to bear.

"I wish I could say I understand,
but I’m afraid I don’t. Though, I can imagine it would be difficult."

I looked at her after she said that. It
wasn’t the usual response. Most people just said they could understand, even if
they couldn’t.

"You’re in school, right?"

She nodded.

"That means you work late hours and
then you head to classes during the day.  That’s a lot of responsibility."

"Well, I was working part time and
going to school full-time," she paused for a moment, "but that didn’t
work out. So now, college is part-time and work is full-time." She smiled,
but it was obviously forced.

"What’s your major?"

"Literature and Journalism,"
she blushed.  The way she half closed her eyes and pursed her lips was
adorable. "Don’t make fun of me." She gave me a fake stern look. I
put my hands up in surrender.

Clearly ready to change the subject, she
switched topics.

"So your parents were actually...?"
She let her words drift off and her brow furrowed. Her hand that was wiping
down the bar slowed.

"Murdered? Yeah, I was ten" I
said quietly.

"Wow, that…sucks." Her face
reddened, embarrassed by her comment.

I shrugged.

"You’re right. It did suck." I
smiled sadly. She bit her lip. "It also brought me closer to my aunt and
uncle. I was lucky considering."

Nodding, her hands moved, deftly
stacking glasses.

"Is it a requirement, as a
bartender, to be a makeshift therapist or something?" I found it way too
easy to talk to her.

She laughed, loudly.

"Not that I am aware of. Besides, I
don’t usually get to do a lot of talking while I work. The music gets pretty
loud in here." She said over her shoulder.

"So, what about your parents?"

"Oh, my parents aren’t that
interesting." Shaking her head, she wiped her hands on a towel.

"Come on," I coaxed, waving my
hand for her to tell me.

"My father is a retired lobster
fisherman in Winter Harbor where I basically grew up."

"What about your mother?"

"Ah, the cougar." She grinned.
"After two failed marriages, my mother is now living in Canada with a
hockey player. Sarah designs jewelry, lives off of the alimony from her second
husband and supports her boy toys career." She turned, eyes on me. "Told
you…boring." She smirked. Before I could say anything, she sat up on the
bar and yelled.

"Bill, I’m taking off now!" Lilli
swung her legs over the bar, grabbed her bag and hopped to her feet.

"See ya tomorrow night!" A
muffled voice came from somewhere in the empty club.

Turning, she looked at me.

"So, loser, you ready to get out of
here?" Her smile was so infectious, one dimple appearing on her right
cheek.

"Loser? Why am I a loser?" I slipped
from the barstool.

"Well let’s see, you came here for
a blind date—that you let Dixon set you up on—your blind date basically did her
own thing for the night, left with your friend and then the rest of your
friends ditched you. What would call that?" She raised her eyebrow and
gave me that one dimpled smile.

"You’re right. I’m a loser," I
laughed.

"Told you." She placed her
hand to her forehead, her fingers in the shape of an L.

When we got outside, she pulled a
sweatshirt out of her bag and slipped it over her head. The way her back had
arched to get the shirt on, I instantly thought about taking that sweatshirt,
along with the rest of her clothing, off. Her long, dark hair looked even
softer as she pulled it from the collar.

"Well, goodnight Aidan and better
luck on your next date." With a smile, she left me on the sidewalk in
front of the club, walking down the street.

"You’re walking?" Looking
around at the darkness, I thought about what could be waiting in an alley for
her.

She looked back.

"I do it every night,
dad
,"
she chuckled. "I grab the bus down the block," she kept walking.
"Night!"

I found my car and climbed behind the
wheel. I sat for less than a minute before I darted out of the parking space
and headed in the direction she was walking. There's no way I'm letting her
walk the dark street or sit at a bus stop this late.

Scanning the sidewalk, I spotted a
figure stumbling in the shadows between streetlamps.  It was Lilli, but
something, or someone, else too.  A shadow draped over her back, arms
encircling her shoulders.  She stumbled again, causing her to drop something.

My heart raced, blood pounded in my
ears.  Lilli was being attacked. Brining my car to a screeching halt, it would
be until later I realized I pulled onto the curb.

Jumping from the car, not bothering to
shut the door, I hurried to Lilli.  Grasping the back of a long dark trench
coat, I yanked the figure off Lilli.

"Leave him alone!"  Lilli's
protest stopped me from tossing her attacker to the ground.

"Aidan, what the hell are you
doing?" She reached for the man, grabbing his arm and pulling him to a
bench.  In the yellow light bathing the bus stop, I could see her attacker. 
His weathered face, dingy worn clothes, he was an old man – probably homeless. Lilli
spun back to me.

"What are you doing?"
Confusion wrinkled her forehead.

"I’m sorry, I thought that he
was…that you were…" She caught on to my thoughts.

"Oh. No, no." She brushed by
me and bent to pick up a scarf from the ground. "This is Crazy Joe. He
usually lies here on the bench, but he must have found a way to get booze
tonight. I found him down the street on the curb." Walking back to the
bench, she smiled and laid his scarf over him. "I couldn’t leave him on
the ground, so I was helping him to the bench."

Taking three steps closer to her, she
turned, leaning against the bench.

"But thanks," She lightly
punched my shoulder. The moment she touched me a wave of heat rushed from my
shoulder to my toes and back up through my body. She seemed to feel it too, but
quickly recovered. "You’re my hero!" Placing one hand to her forehead
and the other over her heart, she faked a swoon. "I'll be fine, you can
head home."