Bad Company

Sometimes I wonder if I’m going to be the only Parker child with a messed up love life. I sit and watch Luke and Ali play cards at the table while I channel surf. They are mesmerized by each other and as sick as I want to be I can’t. They look good together, I’ll admit it. Both of them seem to be smiling more since they got together. Yet I can’t help to wonder what happens when it doesn’t work out. Will I still have my best friend?

“I think I’m going to take a walk,” Paige stated turning off the television walking to the door. She looked back noticing that neither Luke nor Ali was paying attention to her.

“I win again,” Ali squealed pulling the Oreo cookies in the middle of the table towards her. “I can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I,” Luke sighed shaking his head.

He glanced up to see his sister leave the house which gave him the great idea for a new and better way to teach Ali how to play poker. This way would be beneficial to Ali and himself.

“How about we play for something else now,” Luke suggested watching Ali tear an Oreo cookie in half and begin to lick the filling inside. He shifted in his chair watching her tongue devour the white filling.

“Like what? Do you have those colorful chips that they play with at the casino,” Ali wondered as she bit into the dark cookie then licked her lips for a final taste.

“No, I was thinking of something else, something a bit more revealing,” Luke smiled as he tucked at his shirt and took it off putting the gray t-shirt in the middle of the table. “Strip poker, every hand the loser takes off a piece of clothing.”

“I don’t know, Luke,” Ali whispered putting her hands across her chest. Sure, it would end up being an innocent game, something a little different and maybe even fun. It’s not like Luke didn’t have a great body either as she stared at his well defined naked chest and those biceps of steel. She swallowed hard then looked up at Luke noticing the smile across his face and the look of desire in his eyes. “Okay.”

Luke shuffled the deck of cards with a sly smirk across his face. He knew he had taught Ali well, but not well enough, he still had some tricks up his sleeve.

Paige walked down the sidewalk turning left onto High Street when she noticed the police officer sitting in his car watching her. Since she had been released from the hospital she had noticed the police were keeping an eye on her. She wasn’t the one needed protection though, that was Ali and now Luke and Josh.

“Hi, Miss Parker,” Officer Reynolds said as Paige walked up beside the dark blue police car.

“Hey, Reynolds, anything going exciting happening,” Paige asked the young police officer.

“Nope, just Mrs. McCluskey and Mr. Barnes arguing once again about his dog messing up her precious rose bushes,” the detective answered pointing at the older couple that everyone knew was crushing one each other.

“You know one of these days Mr. Barnes is going to grab her into his arms and kiss her and that will be the end of them fighting,” Paige stated watching Mrs. McCluskey wave her roses in front of the old man’s face.

“Until then I will sit here and enjoy the show,” the officer said before taking a sip of his coffee.

“Well I’m going to take a little walk,” Paige replied as she waved goodbye to the officer. She knew no matter where she went in the neighborhood Officer Reynolds wouldn’t be far behind.

As she walked down High Street towards Jefferson, she could begin to see where her heart was leading her too. Only six more blocks and she would be standing before the one place that helped clear her head. Paige didn’t realize it, but her heart always led her to the water, to the clear blue waves of Lake Michigan.

The young woman sat in her rented Mazda around the corner watching Paige stand on the pier. She held up her camera that came in handy at the most indecent and exciting of times taking as many photos she could of Paige Juniper Parker, her half-sister. As April took photos of Paige, she noticed the resemblance between them. Both of them looked more like their mother than either of their fathers. April got excited about the possibility of hurting her sister, just like their mother hurt both of them.

As April shot more pictures she noticed a familiar face walking down the pier towards Paige. The dark-haired figure made the hairs on April’s neck stand up.

“No, it can’t be possible,” April hissed as she turned the camera on the man who was also out for revenge. “Brandon!” April watched closely wishing she could get closer to the action before her. Brandon had found her, in a way, but there was no way he would get back what he lost. He would be so lucky if he got as close to her as he once did. She thought of their steamy nights together on his boat, the way he tasted, the way the champagne felt on her bare skin as he licked it off of her. He never saw what was coming, and that made it even sweeter.

She intently watched as he walked closer to her half-sister, the resemblance between them would be his downfall.

Paige looked out into the approaching dark clouds heading towards Saunders Bay. She knew she wouldn’t make it back to the house before the rain came, so she turned hoping to find someplace to find shelter. Without realizing what had happened she fell to the ground after running into someone. She looked up to see the mysterious stranger from the hospital looking down at her. He held out his hand to her and after taking his hand she felt a spark through her body like she had never before. Suddenly the dark clouds were above them bringing the rain upon them before they could say anything to each other. He tightened his grip around her as he led her towards the marina. The rain was hard against their body making them feel wet and sticky. The thunder rolled through the area with the lightening filling the sky above them.

Paige didn’t know where he was leading her to as they ran towards the marina with the rows and rows of small and large boats. They came upon a medium size boat just big enough for two yet big enough for a family. Neither of them said anything as he led her inside of the cabin as the boat rocked back and forth from the waves crashing against them. She didn’t know what she was doing or who this man was and at the moment she didn’t care.

“Everything is in order, Tyler,” Richard stated handing a copy of the court order to his client. “The court date is set for the twenty-fourth.”

“Thanks, Richard, she won’t see this coming, which makes it even more wonderful,” Tyler smiled reading over the document that would destroy his ex-fiancée.

“Can I ask what bought this along,” Richard asked knowing full well that thirty-six hours ago Benjamin was venting on how Tyler and Charlotte were as close as ever and if there was anything Richard could do to stop them.

“I saw the light, Richard, that’s all you need to know.”

“Well, she should be receiving the court order by the end of the day.”

“Thanks,” Tyler said before standing up and shaking the older man’s hand. “This is just the beginning.”

Minutes later Tyler was walking out of the office on the corner of Newton and Washington not realizing he walked out into the thunderstorm. He walked towards the company car and got in the back seat.

“Where to, Mr. Donnelly,” the driver asked.

“The mansion, please, Ronald.”

“Yes, sir.”

As soon as the car started moving, Tyler got his cell phone out from inside of his blazer and dialed another person that could help him in his little plan of sweet revenge.

“Line Designs, this is Juliet, how may I help you,” the quirky female answered.

“Juliet, this is Tyler, I need to speak to my sister,” Tyler ordered.

“One moment, Mr. Donnelly,” Juliet replied.

“Hey, there big brother, what can I do for you,” Caroline asked seconds later.

“I want to do something to welcome Greg back. I was wondering if you could give me the number to your friend in Italy he had dated.”

“You mean the one he was going to marry, Arianna,” she wondered going thru her blackberry to find the number. “You know she promised to come visit me last time I talked to her.”

“Even better, instead of me calling her up you can do it and ask her to visit. I will pay for her entire trip, say something like your brother wants to see her, which is true, I do, just don’t tell her what brother.”

“What is going on, Tyler.”

“Nothing for you to worry about, sweet Caroline.”

“I will worry if I’m setting my friend up for a fall. I don’t want to see her get hurt,” Caroline stated writing down Arianna’s phone number on a piece of paper.”

“Oh, there is nothing to worry about, Greg will be thrilled to see her, I’m sure of it. Just do this for me and I will buy make sure your husband to be doesn’t do anything to crazy at his bachelor party and I will even make sure Colin is on his best behavior.”

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Fantastic,” Tyler said glowing in anticipation for the moment Greg sees his past love and ruins any future of a reunion of sorts with Charlotte.

“Have you found out,” Ariel asked her close friend and personal private investigator.

“Well, it seems that your mother and sister have left a trail of men in their path with broken hearts and empty bank accounts. Your mother taught your sister well and your sister has taken it much farther than your mother.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your sister has been married already and divorced. It seems that she moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana after high school. She married a man fifteen years her senior, and left him after six months with nothing,” Meg explained.

“She is worse than I thought.”

“No, it gets worse.”

“How could it,” Ariel wondered writing the information down in a corner booth in Juniper’s.

“She had a daughter a little over a year ago that she put up for adoption. There wasn’t a father listed on the birth certificate, but I can look into it if you like.”

“No, I’m not very interested in the father angle just yet. See if you can find the last man she robbed and where I can find him. And then I will call Cooper and see what really happened between him and April.”

“On that front, I’ll keep digging on this little twisted girl who you call your sister.”

“Thanks, Meg.”

Ariel hung up the phone and decided it was time to confront her little sister and her mother once and for all.

“A royal flush,” Ali said showing her cards on the table. She noticed the color of Luke’s face drop and the color begin to drain from his face.

“How,” Luke mumbled shifting in his chair.

“I catch on real quick, hot stuff, now take it off,” she ordered as she sat there with two items of clothing still on and Luke down to his briefs, “unless you’re chicken.”

“Far from it,” he retorted standing up from the table noticing all the items of clothing sitting in the middle of the table. He walked over to the other side of the table to stand in front of Ali. If he was going to show her all of him she was going to get the best view she could.

“Wait,” she said putting her hand on his bare chest.

“I don’t think so,” he said pulling her up towards him.

They were only inches apart with the bare necessities between them. Luke’s left hand fimbled with the bottom of Ali’s t-shirt which was the only piece of clothing that was covering most of her body. Her pants had been removed on the fourth hand, while his pants had been removed on the fifth. Her bra was removed on the fifth hand. Now she stood there in her beige t-shirt and panties as Luke began to slowly pull her shirt up.

“As much as I love this game, don’t you think we should go somewhere more private,” Ali murmured between heavy breaths of being this close to Luke once again.

“Is that what you want,” Luke’s hot breath whispered in her ear making her body temperature rise another ten degrees.

Paige stood there looking at herself in the full length mirror. All she could think of is that she looked like a wet dog with her blond hair matted to her head and her clothes soaked through. She slipped her t-shirt off and unsnapped her bra. Paige grabbed the white button down shirt the stranger had left for her on the bed as she put the shirt on she couldn’t remember the last time she did something this impulsive or felt something this powerful.

Minutes later she opened the bedroom door and looked around for the stranger who had bought her in from the cold. She sat down at the table trying not to be too curious on who the handsome stranger was. She wasn’t sure why she felt safe with him or what drew her to him, but it was nothing like she had felt before not even with Tony. Paige jumped as she heard the thunder roar above her then she heard a crash inside the bedroom where she had been minutes before. Running back into the bedroom she came upon the mirror she had looked in minutes before shattered into pieces on the floor.

“Are you okay,” the stranger said running down the steps that led to the surface of the boat.

“Just peachy,” she replied looking at herself in the broken mirror which reminded her of how she felt these days – broken into a million pieces. Seconds later she began to pick up some of the bigger pieces of glass..

“Let me,” the dark-haired stranger stated as the both of them reached for the same piece of shattered glass.

“Thank you,” Paige whispered as she reached over to kiss the stranger on the cheek only he turned his head towards her at the same moment.

Their lips met for one brief moment and they both felt as time stood still. All of their problems and plans for the future were thrown out of the window as they began to deepen the kiss.

“Every part of me wants this, but I can’t,” the stranger mumbled pulling away from Paige, “this is how it happened the last time.”

He ran his hand through his wet hair standing up and turning his back to the confused and breathless Paige.

“What do you mean? Do you save women from themselves on a daily basis,” Paige asked standing up while straightening his shirt she was wearing. She had forgotten that the only thing she was wearing was his shirt.

“No, but the last time I let myself fall for a woman I didn’t know, she stole fifty thousand dollars from me,” he explained. “That what bought me to Saunders Bay. I’m sorry I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“Why not? I might be able to help you. I know everyone in this town and if this woman came here I would be able to find out.”

“I will think about it,” the stranger commented. “First let me introduce myself, the name is Brandon Ellsworth.”

“Paige Parker, nice to meet you, Mr. Ellsworth.”

“Brandon. And the pleasure is all mine.”

“So Brandon, what should we do until the storm clears?”

“Tell me about yourself, Miss Parker. How many siblings do you have? How long have you lived here in Saunders Bay,” Brandon questioned trying to learn what he could of the stunning blond before him hoping it would lead to the real reason he came to town.

“I could tell you that my life is boring and that I’m an only child, but that wouldn’t be the truth. Instead my life seems to resemble a roller coaster these days. And the family part, well that’s more complicated than even I would like to admit.”

“It couldn’t be too complicated. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders. It’s not like this town is over-populated with Parker’s, right?”

“It sure seems like it these days,” Paige sighed remembering that her mother and half-sister were now in town. She didn’t want to think about them right now, she didn’t want to think about any of it.

Suddenly the lightening outside brightened up the cabin and then they were a large explosion as the electricity went out in the small cabin. Paige jumped as Brandon took her hand to calm her. Both of them stood up and went to one of the windows that led out to the pier without letting go of each other’s hands.

“The lightening must hit the transformer down the pier,” Paige rationalized noticing one of the electric poles near the entrance of the pier. “Do you see the sparks?”

“I sure do,” Brandon acknowledged looking at the blue-eyed goddess standing next to him. Deep down he knew this woman wasn’t like the her sister, deep within himself he knew she wouldn’t hurt him, no, she would make him feel pleasure in every way. He let go of her hand and she noticed immediately looking at him, he ran his fingers through her hair.

“Oh hell,” he murmured seconds before his lips crashed against hers.

In the darkness, he picked her up with her legs wrapping around his waist instantly. Minutes later Paige screamed in ecstasy as she collapsed against his bare chest. Both of them were out of breath and sweating from the heat between them. They knew what they felt for each other was something neither of them had felt before. Now neither of knew what this meant or where they would go from here, all they knew it was something powerful.