Page 61 of Crossing the Line
She sits very still and closes her eyes. Soon, tears roll down the side of her face.
“Oh no.” I reach for the box of tissues at the corner of my desk and place it in front of her.
Lake snatches a tissue and blows her nose. “He’s been fainting because he’s been under a lot of stress.” She takes another one and dabs her eyes. “He’s also angry at me for taking this assignment.”
The corners of my mouth turn down as I think about all that’s changed in my life since Lake and I became acquainted. “I’m glad you took the job.”
Lake manages to smile again. “So am I. But I can’t ignore Mason’s health these days. Sometimes I look at him, and I swear he’s more anemic. I’ve never seen him this way. I’m worried, Paisley. And he refuses to go to the doctor.” She forces a breath out of her nose as she shakes her head. “He can be so stubborn. It’s the one thing about him that irks me. But we agreed that we should postpone the wedding until things get better. That’s why we’re hosting a dinner this Friday. We’re inviting everybody in the wedding party.” Lake rolls her eyes and groans. “I already informed Amy. She just doesn’t get it. She can be so unnecessarily mean.”
I finch with surprise. Amy’s her family. I would have thought she would be the most supportive. “What did she do that was mean?”
Lake’s eyes water as she looks upward. “Something about how she’s never heard of such a reason for not going through with a wedding. She said I’m going to end up alone and that I’ve been loose for far too long, whoring around New York City like a Jezebel.”
My mouth falls open. “Whoa,” I say, imagining those words leaving her bossy, uptight cousin’s mouth.
“Amy’s conventional. Now that I’m telling you about it, she seems repressed and insane.”
“Very.”
“That’s how my parents think, too, to a certain degree. They’re not as extreme as Amy and her parents. Usually, I never let her get to me though. I figure, she’s just a product of her upbringing, and she doesn’t understand that being kind to people and having a lot of friends isn’t about my vagina.” Lake stiffens as if she has to contain her runaway emotions. She blows her nose and then takes a clear deep inhale. “But this time, she struck a nerve when she referred to me as a whore. I have no idea what part of her rear end she pulled that criticism from. But I don’t want her anywhere near my wedding and love for Mason. My dad insisted on paying for our wedding like a good old traditionalist. But in order to do that, then I would have to have Amy managing things. I should’ve said no. It’s not like Mason and I can’t afford our own wedding. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.” Lake covers her face with her hands and groans into her palms. “Ugh… I have to tell my dad.”
I give her a moment to take a breath. Lake tends to let words pour out, and oddly, she does so pretty coherently. I wish I could let her know that I mentioned to Hercules what happened to Mason and how Hercules said he would insist that Mason go get himself checked out. But I feel that I shared something that should have remained between Lake and me with the man I’m falling in love with. If I say something, Lake will know that Hercules and I are playing with fire, getting too intimate.
The way Lake is watching me makes me nervous. “What?” I ask.
“There’s something else.”
* * *
Who arethose people atTop Rag Mag? Don’t they have anything better to do than follow Hercules and me around?
Their attempt to derive amusement from my life seems borderline cruel. Some spy has captured us in the hot tub yesterday. The video makes the one moment when Hercules and I almost succumbed to our lusts appear more salacious than what actually happened between us. And then there’s the blurb written underneath the video…
Look what happens when the heir and heiress think nobody’s watching. Oh, we here at Top Rag Mag have eyes everywhere, even in the murky green water of the Hudson River.
And for the record, we graciously withdraw Friday’s retraction. This little rendezvous proves that our street team had not gotten their hands on any doctored video. These two are doing it and doing it, and, well… you know the rest.
But I don’t see what the big deal is, do you? This couple is hot, hot, hot.
Oh…
That’s right.
He’s engaged.
#Messy
I close my eyes as embarrassment flushes through me.
“You were with him yesterday,” Lake says. I detect a hint of criticism.
“I was. But we’re just friends.”
“Oh, Paisley,” she says, shaking her head. “It’s kind of like two sugar addicts staring down a birthday cake?”
My lips are stuck closed as I visualize this cake.
“Just because you’re practicing restraint doesn’t mean you won’t end up burying your faces in dessert,” Lake concludes.
I squish my face, picturing Hercules and me standing on each side of his king-sized bed. The bed is the cake. We want to get naked. We fall onto the bed. I part my thighs, and he plunges his eager cock inside me.
“Right,” I say faintly, feeling flushed.
Lake studies me. I’m guessing that my skin is patchy and my eyes wired from desire.
“Be careful, Paisley. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
I tell her I will be careful. and then we start our meeting, finalizing her renderings for the upcoming benefit.
