Chapter 7: Luke

“Holy shit!” I blurted out after I got off the phone with Elisa.

Corey jumped up as if I’d awoken him from a nightmare, then he rolled back down to sleep. He’d had a long night with Ed, one which entailed them drinking too much and Corey sleeping on his desk and Ed on the floor. It wasn’t the first time they’d slept in this position, but the older they got, it seemed to be more painful.

“Who died?” Ed crawled off the floor, using one of the table legs to drag himself up.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t sleep in your spot.” Ed winked at me.

I’d on occasion slept in here too, which was crazy because Corey had a room out back of his bar. He would use it for one lucky lady who came to his bar and wanted to experience his magic on those nights he still thought of himself as being at UC Berkeley and playing the field. Then, when his dad gave him a generous handout for graduation, he didn’t hesitate in opening a bar and a club. He spent most of the weekend between the two, and he had a back room in both of them.

“Elisa just asked me to give April a job.”

“You must really like her,” Ed said. “I can’t wait to tell Hayley she hit the jackpot this time and the people she set up actually like each other.”

“No!” I barked as the memory of last night flashed through my mind. The last thing it could be called was a jackpot. “More like a fucking disaster.”

“I’m confused. If it was so bad, then what’s she doing at your penthouse, and why are you going to give her a job?”

Shit. I didn’t tell Ed about April staying at the penthouse, but it was clear the only way Elisa would be talking to April was if she was at the penthouse. For a second, I’d forgotten myself because I remembered during the night, when in the midst of all the craziness I got a hard-on when I thought about April, I’d decided to lie to my best friend and tell him I had a good time.

I wanted to tell him the truth, but I bit my tongue. I could imagine on every future Christmas, birthday, wedding, Christening, or any other family event, this story would be repeated over and over again. Remember the time Hayley set Luke up on a blind date? What was her name again? Anyway, doesn’t matter, but remember what happened in the restaurant…

Nope, I wouldn’t tell them what really happened last night. They were my best friends, but it didn’t mean we had to share everything all the fucking time. We weren’t in school, and we certainly were not kids.

“We were wasted,” I said as I tried to think of a good lie, which wasn’t far from the truth. After all, by the end of the night, April did smell of piss. “And she decided to crash at my place. Don’t worry, I didn’t take her honor.”

Corey shook his head as he stood up and came behind me. “After all this time, we still haven’t taught you how to speak like one of us. No one says ‘honor’ anymore. Seriously.”

“I’m British and even I wouldn’t talk about someone’s honor,” Ed chimed in. “Luke, you need to lighten up. You know what was really weird last night?”

“What?” Both Corey and I said in unison.

“One of the girls in the club looked just like Hayley. She could easily be her twin. She must be. The same dark hair, eyes, haircut, and even the gold sexy number she was wearing. Hayley has a dress just like it, but I haven’t seen her wear it in forever. Shit, that reminds me—I need to tell her I’m still here.”

“Don’t worry, I did and she said she figured as much. She said to tell you the kids are at her parents and she’s out this weekend with the girls.”

“Wow, her parents are back? I swear, they’ve either won the lottery and kept it a secret or they’ve had money stashed away for years.”

Neither Corey nor I said anything. Ed didn’t like his in-laws, and they didn’t like him. It’d been like that from the start, and nothing was going to change the way they felt about each other. It didn’t stop Ed moaning about them every chance he had, though. They traveled a lot, but I didn’t think going to San Jose to stay with some friends meant they were secret millionaires.

“Right, a quick shower and then we’ll go get something to eat,” Corey said, ignoring Ed and dictating our next move. One I had no plan on being a part of. I knew if I sat down with them and they prodded me a little more, I would just confess and tell them it was all one big lie. That it wasn’t a blind date, it was a hell date.

I decided to do something better and relish in the lie.

“Shit. I’ll have a sweet thing waiting for me in the penthouse. She needs her rest after the little performance she put on last night.”

They both smiled at me, and I returned the wicked smile all men gave each other when they talked about their conquests from the previous night. The type made them think I’d had a lot of action last night. I did… just not in the way they thought I did.

Fuck, if they found out they would crucify me.

“See, I knew you were keeping something from us,” Ed chuckled.

“And he said he didn’t take her honor. Most likely you was so nasty that you took every inch of it.” Corey winked at me, and I returned it.

No matter how many decades had passed, we still acted like we hadn’t grown up since high school.

I better make sure April never breathed a word of what took place last night to Hayley.

“Fuck! You need to tell us. Then again… she babysits my kids. I don’t want to know.”

Good!

“But I do,” Corey growled.

I shook my head. “A man never fucks and tells.”

Something I made up.

“True,” Ed agreed. “But let’s go out for breakfast. Then you and April can pick up where you left off. I have the whole fucking weekend free. Do you know how often I have the whole fucking weekend free? Like never. I’m not on call, no wife, no kids.”

“Shit! It’s only two days!” I said.

He shook his head. “It feels like a lifetime in my world.”

“I hear ya,” Corey agreed. “Sometimes, between running the bar and club, I forget what life’s like on the outside.”

“Oh please, like you have any regrets. You have two rooms in both of them and you fuck a different girl nearly every night,” I said, thinking this used to be my lifestyle and I really was getting old and boring. I tried to remember when it all began, this boring Luke…

And then I remembered it was after the breakup. I just immersed myself in work and just stuck there. It was two years ago, and Hayley was right—I did need to move on. Otherwise I would end up like one of those guys in the clubs. The ones we used to laugh about, them being over sixty and still trying to get the attention of girls half their age. It always seemed so sad and pathetic.

I knew Corey was on that path. He talked about settling down, but the idea of it gave him hives. The longest relationship he’d even been in consisted of dating a girl for a whole month… and then he did come out in hives. He claimed it was getting too serious, too soon.

“Guys, I need a quick shower, and Corey, some clothes to change into. I need to figure out some things, and maybe you can help?” Ed asked with all the seriousness in the world. “I think Hayley has a twin sister out there. I think her parents are lying to her about being an only child. She was here in the club, I’m sure of it.”

I nodded my head to reassure Ed, and Corey did the same as Ed headed to the bathroom, away from us. “You going to tell him, or should I?”

“Nah, let him think it for a while. If he keeps going on about it, then we’ll tell him. Why spoil the fun?”

While Ed relished in the idea of Hayley’s parents keeping a secret from her, I needed to figure out what to do with my blind date. I had to keep up appearances, but giving her a place to stay for the night was enough. A job was too much.

No, I picked my secretaries not only based on their skills, but their availability too. This is why I loved Caroline—she was very much taken and never an option. April would be an option. No, I had to figure out a way to get rid of her, but Elisa obviously wanted me to hire her. But the question was why? Something I would have to figure out much later.

Right now I just felt like chilling with the boys and winding Ed up even more. It was the little things that kept me entertained at the moment, including seeing my best friend become completely paranoid and thinking he had won something over on his in-laws.