Fool's Gold (Contemporary Romance) (13 page)

B
ETA 
spent most of the afternoon sitting with her, and Victoria was sad to see him leave. Trent hadn’t even called. She sipped from her giant hospital mug of water and eyed the divider. Stella was snoring again, and blessedly silent. Beta had chatted with her a while and exercised more patience than Victoria knew he possessed, but even he had gotten tired of the casual belligerence.

Victoria snagged her phone from her bedside table and dialed her mom.

“I take it you’re still alive?” Her mother didn’t bother with a proper greeting.

“No, this is the nurse calling to notify the next of kin.” Victoria tried to put more mirth in it than she felt. Her mother’s silence told her that her joke fell flat. “Anyway, I thought I’d let you know that I’m getting out tomorrow.”

“Well, that’s good. You seen much of that Tanner boy?”

“Yeah, Beta spent most of the day here.” Victoria shifted the phone to her left ear and sipped more of the water. “You don’t need to meddle in my life, mom.”

“I’m your mother. I’m supposed to ask these questions. You still seeing your New York banker?”

“Yeah.” She hadn’t told her mom about catching Trent with the other girl, and she wasn’t sure that she was ever going to.

“So how’s he? He been up there, too? Or is it just you and Beta?”

“Trent’s fine. He’s busy with work, so I haven’t seen him much.”

Her mother snorted. “Any man that can’t make the time for you when you’re hurting ain’t worth the time he wants when you’re well. I thought I taught you better than to put up with a man like that.”

“What exactly did you teach me, mom? To fuck around with any guy that looks like he has money?”

“Well, it looks to me like you learned that lesson at least.”

“That’s just hateful.”

“It’s true, Victoria. If nothing else, learn from my mistakes. Just because a man has money today, doesn’t mean he will tomorrow. And I mean that both literally and figuratively.”

Victoria was surprised her mom even knew what “figuratively” meant. She knew her mom was trying to make a point about Trent, but he worked in one of the most lucrative professions in the richest city on the planet. And his family had money.

“Thanks for the advice, Mom.”

“Uh huh, you should...”

Victoria looked up, realizing that someone had just knocked on her door. Trent stood in the entryway.

“Who’s on the phone?” His face darkened.

Victoria held the phone away from her mouth. “My mom. Hang on a sec.” She put the phone back to her ear. “Hey, Mom, I have a visitor. I need to let you go, okay?”

“What? Who is it?”

“It’s Trent. Talk to you later.” She hung up without waiting for a response.

“How’s your mother?” Trent sat in the chair Beta normally occupied, but he didn’t drag it over beside the bed.

“She’s okay.” She was going to tell him more about the conversation, but Stella started coughing.

Then she started talking. “Why hello, handsome. Did you come to see me?”

Trent edged away. Stella’s cackle chased him even as he ducked closer to Victoria’s bed. He leaned over the bed and gave her a peck on the forehead. “I’m going to get out of here, okay?”

Her gut reaction was to ask him to stay. She didn’t want to face the afternoon alone. But part of her knew he wasn’t staying. There would be some excuse or another. A meeting or an important deal or something equally meaningless.

She forced herself to smile. “Have a good afternoon.”

Trent slipped out, leaving her there with Stella. Victoria lay back on the bed and tried to ignore the sounds coming from beside her. 

I
T 
was close to 7:00 when Beta strolled up the sidewalk in front of his sister’s brownstone. He rapped on the door and waited. When she’d IMed him at lunch, Christine had promised she’d be home, but she hadn’t responded to any of the texts he’d sent on the train after he’d left work. After a minute or two of standing around on the sidewalk, he tried the knob. The front door opened into a small entryway. He felt ridiculous for standing in the cold. Another door lay in front of him and a callbox on the left.

He mashed the button for Christine’s apartment and waited again. After another minute or two, he went back outside and looked up at her apartment. He was pretty sure it was the right place. It checked out with Google Maps.

“Hey Christine, are you home?” he yelled at the building.

A pink-haired head poked over the edge of the roof. A cloud of smoke followed it. “Beta?”

It was Christine alright. No one else would have hair that color or that spiked.

“Are you going to let me in, or what?”

“Sorry.” She disappeared. A moment later, the inner door buzzed.

Beta ran for it, jerking it open before it could lock again. He made his way up the stairwell until he reached the third floor. A yell came from the floor above him: “Beta, up here!”

Christine was sitting in a lawn chair on the roof, some tattooed guy in a chair across from her. They both had winter coats and fat cigars.

The guy took a long drag on his cigar and waved. “I’m Eli.”

Beta looked around for a place to sit. He settled for a cinderblock, then pulled his jacket tighter. “You guys just up here for a smoke?”

“Yeah, the landlady gets pissed when we stink up the building.” Christine blew out a gray cloud. “How’s it going, little brother? Been a while since I heard from you.”

“I’ve been staying busy. I got a job in the city.”

“Congrats. I talked to Victoria and she said you were in town to see her. I was thinking... while you’re here, could you look at my computer?”

Again? Was it not possible for his sister to see him without asking for something. Beta sighed. “I guess. So where is Victoria? I thought she’d be off work.”

“Nope. Restaurant business isn’t nine to five. Girl’s gotta work if she wants to get paid.”

“Word,” Eli said.

Christine took a long drag on her cigar. “Sorry, Beta, I’m a terrible hostess. Do you want a smoke?” She held up a box and lifted the lid.

“No, thanks.”

“You have a place to stay yet? Victoria’s in my spare room, but you can crash on the couch if she won’t let you share her bed.”

“I’ve got a place, thanks. You want to show me your computer?”

“Sure. Give me a minute.” Christine took a few long drags on her cigar, then ground it out on the cinderblock between her and Eli. She stood and gathered her chair. “Alright, I’m ready.”

The laptop was sitting open on the sofa, already logged into Windows. Beta flopped down beside it and set to work. Eli went into Christine’s room and closed the door. Probably to shoot up, Beta figured. Christine went to the kitchenette.

“Care for a drink?” She asked. “I’ve got wine, beer and...” She shook a carton and peered inside. “The milk’s bad, sorry.”

“I’m good.” He already had the malware cleaner running. If Christine would just run it herself, or stop using inferior web browsers, he wouldn’t need to clean up her system for her.

Christine came over and sat down beside him.

“I like your hair,” Beta said.

Christine grinned. “Thanks. I changed it back from blue a few weeks ago.”

“Should have gone straight red and not pink. More Christmasy.”

Her grin turned to a laugh. “Maybe I should go hunter green and hang ornaments from it? That would make for a hell of a show.”

Beta wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but part of him wanted to see her with a Christmas tree for a head. “If you do that show, I’ll come watch, I promise. As long as it’s close.”

He listened to Christine talk about life on the road, the clubs she’d played in and which towns had the best crowds. He didn’t have any frame of reference for a lifestyle like that, so it wasn’t very interesting. It made him wonder if that’s how other people felt when he talked about programming or EVE or computers.

The malware cleaner finished, so he set the anti-virus to do a deep scan. “Once this is done, you should be good.” Beta handed the laptop to his sister.

“Thanks, Beta.” She smiled, and for an instant he caught a glimpse of what other men must see. She could charm the birds down from the heavens when she felt like it.

“So who’s this Eli guy?”

“He’s my drummer. He’s been with us since the spring.”

Which meant Beta should have met him in Omaha, but he didn’t remember him. Those band guys all blended together. Denim and leather, piercings and tattoos. It was the story of Christine’s life.

“You guys serious or anything?” He glanced toward the still closed bedroom.

Christine smiled innocently. “Maybe. Maybe not. Who’s asking, my little brother or my concerned mother?”

“Definitely brother.”

“We’re getting there. He’s not in there getting high, if that’s what you’re wondering. He was coming down with a migraine.”

“Oh.” Beta felt foolish for thinking ill of him. “Well, I’m glad to hear you’ve found someone.” He gathered his jacket, but stayed on the couch, giving Christine an opportunity to talk if she wanted to say anything else, or to give her an out if she wanted that, instead.

Her silence indicated the later. “I need to get back home,” Beta said. “I have to work in the morning and it’s an hour back to SoHo.”

“Don’t be a stranger. Your girl can’t complain if you’re here to visit me, you know.”

He shrugged. A few weeks ago he would have leaped at the chance to even be near Victoria, but he was coming to the conclusion that if she wanted to see him, she’d let him know. “We’ll see.” He rose and slipped into his jacket. “Take care, Christine. Let me know when you play in town again.”

“I will.” She walked with him to the door, then closed it behind him.

Beta walked back to the subway station in better spirits than he had expected. Even missing out on Victoria hadn’t been too bad, and it was good to catch up with Christine. And if she’d finally found Mr. Right, then he was happy for her.

B
ETA
 had his feet up on his desk and code open on his screen. The job was barely a week old and they were already loading him up with tasks. It was wonderful. The fact that he’d only heard from Victoria once in the week and a half since she had been out of the hospital was not so wonderful.

He tapped at the keyboard, moving some logic higher up in the function he was fixing. Someone knocked at the door. Jerome and Sol stood in the hallway, shoulder to shoulder. Jerome grinned. “Beta dude, how’s it going?”

“Good.” Beta took his feet off the desk and sat up straighter. He set the keyboard on the desk in front of the center of his three monitors.

“Psh, don’t put on airs for us, Benjamin. If you work better with your feet elevated, so be it.” Sol came in and sat in one of the empty chairs opposite Beta’s desk. “How are you feeling?”

Beta stared at him, confused. Why would his boss care about his feelings? Did he think he was sick? “Uh, good?”

“No new-job anxiety? Nothing that’s making you wish you had gone back to Nebraska?” Sol seemed genuinely concerned.

Jerome stood behind the boss and rolled his eyes.

“No. I like the job. Jerome’s still letting me sleep on his couch, so it’s not like I’m on the street or anything.”

“The couch? Jerome! You should know better. The company has an apartment downstairs. You may stay in it, if you like. It’s furnished.”

An empty furnished apartment? He didn’t know much about New York, but that didn’t seem possible. Not unless it was some kind of rathole.

“Uh, I guess? I bet Charity wants me out.”

“She would never admit it if she did,” Sol said, glancing back at Jerome. “Would she?”

“She’s okay so far. But yeah, Beta, if you wanted to take the place, we wouldn’t be offended.”

Beta knew what that meant. Charity wasn’t trying to run him out, but she was whispering in her husband’s ear. His mom did the same kind of thing. So did every woman in her bible study.

On the plus side, he could afford the rent unless it was something truly ridiculous. “How much is the rent?”

Sol chuckled. “Well, it’s complicated. There’s no rent, per se, but I do need a favor.”

“Uh...” Beta looked to Jerome for guidance.

Sol laughed louder. “No, no, young Benjamin. You are not my type. I like my men like my coffee: tall--”

Jerome cut him off. “If you’re about to finish that with ‘black and strong,’ I wouldn’t.”

“Just because it’s true, doesn’t make it wrong.” Sol smiled innocently.

Jerome rolled his eyes. “I’m filing a sexual harassment lawsuit. I just want you to know that.”

“Anyway, Benjamin, I need a favor.”

“I’m listening.”

Sol rubbed his hands together. “I have a friend--a girl--that is having some gentleman trouble. She’s asked me to spend an evening with her being seen about town in order to send a message to this gentleman. I don’t particularly care to spend my evening gallivanting around with her. Not only is she a woman, but her mother is friends with my mother, and that’s just a headache I don’t want.”

Beta considered it. He wasn’t actually dating Victoria. As far as he knew, she was still seeing Trent. If it had seemed like he was making progress chatting with her at the hospital, the silence since she’d left the hospital had set him straight. He looked to Jerome. “Is he serious?”

Jerome shrugged. “Probably. It’s hard to tell with him.”

“Of course I’m serious. She’s a perfectly nice girl. Jewish, if it matters. Our mothers attend the same synagogue.” Sol stood up, but stopped at the door. “I hate to be pushy, but if you could me know by say, 3:00, I’d appreciate it.” He sauntered out, leaving Jerome behind.

“That was bizarre,” Beta said.

“That’s Sol for you.”

“Well, I guess free rent is worth a night on the town with about anyone.” Beta put his feet back on his desk and settled the keyboard back into his lap.

“You don’t have to take him up on it if you don’t want to. I know you’re still chasing Victoria...”

“I’ve been chasing Victoria most of my life. I’ve never quite caught her.” Beta sighed, and took his feet back down. He stood up. “I guess I’ll take Sol up on the offer. That’s a heck of a thing, though. Having your boss set you up with a girl.”

Jerome laughed and clapped Beta on the shoulder. “At least he didn’t try to set you up with a boy.”

***

They called it clubbing, and Beta was starting to understand why. He wanted nothing more than to smack Zoe in the head and go home. A night stick would work, but what he really wanted was a full on Fred Flintstone tree limb. It wasn’t that she was ugly. She wasn’t. She was quite attractive, in fact. She had a swimmer’s body, lithe and tight. It wasn’t even that she was dumb. She had been pleasant and conversational when they had dinner.

The problem was that she was drunk.

Not just drunk. Giddy, happy, ridiculous drunk. Out of control didn’t begin to describe it. She had dragged him to three nightclubs, killed half a fifth of vodka at one, three quarters of a fifth of tequila at another and was well into her second drink at the third. And she wouldn’t shut up.

“Ben, Ben, come on. I love this song. You have to dance with me.” She caught his hand, pulling him toward the dance floor. Her martini sloshed over the lip of its glass, splashing gin and vermouth on Beta’s pants. She didn’t even notice.

“Again? Come on, Zoe, I’m danced out.” She wasn’t even his girlfriend, for God’s sake!

“Come on! Sol said you were mine for the night.”

She dragged him to the dance floor. Bodies waved around them. The music drowned out all other sound, nearly drowning out thought itself. Beta swayed more or less on beat while Zoe shook her ass at him and then on him.

Her jeans were tight enough and low enough that he could see a significant portion of her ass cheeks as she ground them across his pants. She rubbed side to side and up and down, and it was having an effect. His cock throbbed in his slacks, and there was no way she wasn’t noticing it.

Beta cursed himself, wondering how he let himself get in this situation. Zoe was hot, smart and interested. All the things he used to think were attractive. Still thought were attractive. He just wanted them in different packaging.

“What’s wrong, Ben?” She was facing him then, yelling in his ear to be heard over the din. “Sol said you weren’t one of his people.”

Her breasts were pressed tight against him, and her whole body was slithering up and down his chest. Beta swallowed, his hands barely touching her hips. It was like a bizarre version of his high school prom, only he wasn’t spending the night jealous of the guy dancing with Victoria.

“I... I’m not.”

She pressed even tighter, rubbing her crotch against his. “Then dance with me, fool. You’ll never get lucky if you stand there like a dead fish.”

He tried to protest, but she wouldn’t listen. She grabbed his wrists and pushed his hands to her ass, shimmying in his grip when he finally held her.

Beta hated himself even before he did it, but he squeezed those melon cheeks. Zoe grinned up at him.

Her lips found his neck, and she kissed him from collarbone to up to the edge of jaw. How many guys had she done that with? A girl like her probably wasn’t too discriminating. He pulled away.

“Alright, let’s go.” Zoe had hold of his wrist and dragged him back toward the front door and then they were out on the cold sidewalk.

“You’re a terrible dancer. Did you know that?” Zoe waved at a cab.

“I know. Where are we going now?”

“My place.”

Would that make him the fifteenth guy she’d slept with this year? Or the fiftieth. He hated to consider if the number were higher. A girl with her looks could have practically any single guy she wanted. And half the married ones, too.

Beta shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Come on, Ben. I promise you’ll have a good time.”

He pulled his hand away. “I’m going home, Zoe. It’s been... nice.”

“What!” She pushed a hand against his chest. “You can’t just leave me. I have needs!”

“And I need to go.”

“You ass!” She slapped him across the face, the cold air adding to the sting.

Beta stepped back. “You. Are. Insane.”

She glared at him and he thought she was going to come after him again, but the cabbie yelled out the window, “Hey, lady! Are we going somewhere or not?”

Zoe got in the back of the cab and flipped Beta the bird through the rolled-up window.

One of the random people lined up outside the club started laughing. “Dude, that was awesome. Never seen a guy stand a girl up like that.”

Beta twirled his finger at his temple, the universal signal for crazy. He was going to regret blowing her off, but what was he supposed to do, move to the city and pick up the clap on his first date?

Before he could start trudging down the sidewalk, someone called his name.

“Hey, Ben!” A girl stepped out of the crowd, waving. It took him a moment to get from the skirt and blouse to the tanned face, and a moment longer to register that it was Vidya from work.

Beta paused. Did Sol send her to spy on him?

Two other girls followed her over. “How’s your night?” Vidya asked.

“It’s good. Are you going inside?”

“We were actually going down a few doors to the Blue Note.” She hesitated. “Do you want to go with us?”

What was the harm? “Alright.”