Save the Date (Modern Arrangements) (26 page)

On Christmas Eve I ended up at Viola and
Liam’s, I ended up staying over at their place instead of going home alone.

"What’s the matter Aidan-o, are you
sad because your fake fiancée isn’t here?" Maggie teased.

"That’s really not funny," I
retorted.

"Oh, please!" She rolled her
eyes. "So, how you going to convince Lilli to sleep with you?" she
giggled.

"What? Maggie…who…how—?"

She wrinkled up her face.

"Like I don’t overhear things going
on around here," she snorted.

"I think that you should stop
eavesdropping. Besides, you don’t know what you are talking about." I
huffed and went back to my laptop.

"Mmmhmm…" she said trying not
to laugh."You’re so uptight, it’s crazy. You used to be so playful."
Maggie pouted and left the room. I sighed and put my head in my hands.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lilli returned before New Year’s Eve,
mainly because Viola had planned a charity event for the family foundation she
ran. ‘Isobel’s Heart’ foundation was started by my grandmother before she died.
Grandma Olivia had taken over but soon my mother and Viola were handling things.
Now, it was just Viola.

Viola had taken Lilli with her to visit
some of the local places that the foundation supports; mostly orphanages for
children, including mentally and physically disabled children. There was also
the abused women and children’s center that Viola had brought into the
foundation years ago.

The New Year’s event was held to raise
money for each charity. There was going to be a ‘date’ auction, where men would
bid on single women to spend the evening with; a silent auction for items that
were donated, and then there was the ticket prices where a portion would go to
the foundation.

When Lilli met me downstairs in the
apartment for the New Year’s event I had to say that I was thankful that she
was no longer considered ‘single’ and therefore would not be a part of the
‘date’ auction. I may have sunk the entire Iverson fortune to keep her away
from another man, especially with the way she was dressed. In that floor length
midnight blue dress with a low v-neck that hugged her body until it reached her
mid thigh, there would have been a serious battle for her. She was stunning,
once again.

The event went as perfectly as Viola had
planned it and she had raised a great deal of money. What surprised me was the
extent of knowledge Lilli had about the foundation and the event. Viola saw my
perplexed expression when Lilli was pulled away by an organizer to discuss
something about the silent auction.

"Didn’t she tell you?" Viola
tilted her head slightly as she furrowed her brow.

"Tell me what?"

"Lilli has been working with me on
the event. She is quite quick that one." Viola smiled in Lilli’s
direction, "Ever since she visited the homes with me she has been eagerly
volunteering to help with things. She has been a lifesaver in some areas."
Viola was still smiling.

"Really? No, she hadn’t mentioned
anything besides spending some time with you." I rubbed the back of my
head realizing that I really didn’t know much about her day at all.

"Hmm…" Viola eyed me.

"What?" I blurted at the tone
she had.

"I just figured that you would know
what your future wife does during her day," she eyed me skeptically.

"She doesn’t have to report back to
me about her every second." I took a drink of my champagne.

Viola laughed.

"Oh, Aidan, that is not what I
meant." She continued to giggle. "I mean that you are coming off,
right now, as knowing nothing about her. That’s not good, especially if you are
going to be together for four years…or longer, perhaps." She smiled slyly.

"Longer, perhaps?" I smiled at
her and shook my head. "Don’t get any ideas just yet Aunt Viola. We aren’t
even married yet."

She smiled wide again.

"Sometimes a woman can see things
that a man cannot." She said with a wink as she walked towards Lilli.

The next week went by quickly and Lilli
was swamped with Viola, going through all of the final wedding details. I could
tell that she had just about had enough. I would watch her eyes light up when
Viola would call but then her face would fall and contort into disgust when she
would realize she was calling about the wedding plans. I found it humorous,
her, not so much.

Saturday arrived and James was being all
‘hush hush’ about the plans for the evening. I had made him swear that there
wouldn’t be any hookers, mainly because I found them disgusting, but also
because I didn’t know if I could control myself with all the pent up sexual
frustration I harbored.

When I got up Saturday morning Viola was
already clearing out the apartment and rearranging for the brunch. Phoebe was
also flitting around helping Vi. I grabbed some coffee and Phoebe shooed me
back upstairs to get dressed and ‘get the hell out’, as she put it.

Once dressed, I worked on my laptop for
awhile before James called me. Around ten James informed me to be ready in
thirty minutes still keeping our plans a secret. At ten-twenty I headed
downstairs.

"What are you still doing
here?" Phoebe scolded. "The ladies will be arriving in half an
hour." Her hands were on her hips.

"I’m on my way out now," I
rolled my eyes. "Viola," she turned around with a large smile. I held
a small box out to her. "This is for Lilli."

She smiled. "Is this the—?"

"Yeah." I kissed her cheek.

"Good boy," she said proudly.
"You’re leaving now?" I nodded. "Okay, Lilli is in the
kitchen."

I walked into the kitchen and saw Lilli
standing at the counter. She was wearing a blue and white striped dress that
flared out from her waist, a large dark blue belt and her sleeves covered to
just above her elbows.

"Um…I’m going to head out
now."

She turned around quickly.

"Oh," she laughed lightly,
"You scared me." She smiled. "Okay, have fun. Be careful with
the naked ladies…you don’t know what they might have!" She teased and
laughed.

"Ha ha," I rolled my eyes.
"I distinctly made James swear that there would be no hookers."

"Hmmm…well then…" she turned
toward a bag that was on the counter and turned back to me with a huge wad of
cash, "Here you go."

"What the hell is this?" I
exclaimed, wide-eyed, as I took the wad and looked at it closer.

"It’s a bunch of ones," she
giggled. "Have a lap dance on me!" She laughed harder as she patted my
back and started to walk around me. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"You are insane." I laughed.
She looked at me confused. "What guy has a fiancée buy them a lap
dance?"

"More than you know," she
winked. "Have a good time," she smiled.

I kissed her cheek. There was that
electric pulse at the touch of her skin.

"Bye," I looked at her, her
eyes seeming to glaze over.

Oh, she felt it too. She has to.

James picked me up in a limo and I shook
my head as I got in.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I laughed. He
smiled large.

"We are doing this in style
brother! Next stop Oscar."

We picked up Oscar, Liam, Dixon, Marcus and
a few other friends. James broke out the beers in the limousine as we headed to
our first destination: the strip club. Dixon’s face was lit up and he fist
pounded James. Oscar shook his head and laughed while Liam seemed nervous.

"You okay, old man?" James
teased.

"I’m fine, boy. It’s just been a
long time since I’ve stepped into a strip club." Everyone laughed.

At the strip club everyone let loose,
including, much to my surprise, Liam. Following his fourth drink he was on his
second lap dance.

"This is the groom!" Dixon
shouted and pointed to me. I covered my face as I saw three half-dressed girls
head my direction.

Oh God!

One stood behind me and ran her hands
down my chest, her breasts rubbing against my back. The next stood in front of
me holding onto my shirt and pulling me close to her as she ground into me
seductively. The third danced slowly and seductively with the second girl,
giving the girl-on-girl effect. I knew I was going to burst at any moment. I
had to close my eyes and take repeated deep breaths to calm down.

"What’s the matter Aid-man, you
feeling a little frustrated?" Dixon boasted from under his lap dancer.

"Shut up, Dixon." Though I
didn’t really want him to shut up, his teasing was distracting me pretty well.
"I’m going to kill you for this."

"Oh, no, little man!" He
laughed loudly. "Thank your future wife! That one is on her!" he
howled and I snapped my eyes open to look at him.

"W-What?" I choked.

I could hear James and Liam in
hysterics.

"Lilli was very specific on what to
have set up for you." Dixon burst into a fit of laughter again.

"You told her we were coming here
but you didn’t tell me?" I shot my eyes over to James.

"It was your surprise, not
hers." He shrugged and went back to watching Liam hand money over to a
dancer.

"Why the hell are you not throwing
dollars or getting this treatment?" I motioned to the full action that I
was receiving, now knowing it was courtesy of my fiancée.

He shook his head.

"I’ll just watch," he smiled.
"Elora wouldn’t appreciate it if I came home tonight smelling like another
woman." He smirked. "Besides watching Liam is priceless!"

"Oh, hush it, boy!" Liam
joked.

"I’m so telling Aunt Viola about
this," James teased.

"Please," Liam rolled his
eyes. "Go ahead, it might get her all hot and bothered." Liam smiled
at us slyly.

"W-what?" I yelled.
"Liam!"

"What?" he shrugged.
"Your Aunt likes when other women flirt with me…it’s sort of like
foreplay. Like at the New Year’s event when—"

"Stop!" James and I yelled at
the same time.

"Oh no, please continue!"
Dixon shouted out with a large smile.

"I am not going to listen to this
about my sweet and
innocent
aunt," I teasingly scowled at Liam.

"Innocent?" He snorted and
started laughing.

"Okay, seriously, stop!" James
begged as he buried his face in his empty hand.

Liam just smirked at us as he ordered
another drink.

Four hours later, we headed to a local
sports bar for a late lunch and some beers. Most of us were a little buzzed and
opted for water or coffee at this point. We sat around watching sports on the
large screen TV’s.  After we finished eating we headed up to a private room
James had secured at a local casino type place.

We sat around for five hours playing
blackjack, poker and a few other card games. It was roughly eight-thirty in the
evening when I received a picture message from Maggie.

I almost shot beer out of my nose from
the message. Everyone looked up at me.

"Who would be opposed to crashing a
bachelorette party?" I smirked and every single one of their eyes lit up
like it was Christmas.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At eleven in the morning people started
to arrive for brunch. Viola had had a cater come and set up early, along with
table set up and decorating. I had been up since six this morning so I could
help and of course Phoebe was adamant about helping me get dressed.

Once Aidan had left, his Aunt Anne
arrived with Elora and her mother. Then came a slew of people I barely
remembered from Elora and James’ wedding. I plastered on my smile and greeted
everyone as they entered.

Mimosas were served along with hor
d’oevres for about an hour before we all sat down and to a light lunch of soup,
salad and finger sandwiches. As dessert, cookies and small cakes were set out
and served with tea. The brunch had gone smoothly, except for Aidan’s Aunt
Anne. She was something else, very blunt and even downright rude.

She had called Celia a bargirl and was
so happy for me that Aidan had gotten me out of ‘that lifestyle’. She went on
to interrogate me about my future plans and if we had started trying to get
pregnant yet. She was not my favorite person. Elora shot me an apologetic look
from across the table. She obviously understood my pain right now. I smiled and
winked at her, causing her to giggle and earning her a disappointed look from
Aunt Anne and her own mother.

I hadn’t realized that I would have to
open all of the presents while everyone was there. It took me two hours to open
the gifts, show them and thank people. I was exhausted when Viola handed me one
more, small package.

"This one is from Aidan,"
Viola smiled as she stood next to Maggie. Maggie had been sitting with me and
helping me with all the gifts.

"Aidan?" I questioned. She
nodded. I opened the gift and found a necklace with a large pendent on it. It
was very pretty, but I wasn’t sure what it was.