Dangerous Games Read online

  Maybe living in L.A. had permanently fucked me up, and if a girl my age hadn’t been through at least fifty to one hundred guys then she was considered weird. I had never been promiscuous, and my only serious relationships consisted of the one I had with Finn—yet again—and Amaani. Other than that, I had slept with a few guys, and all the incidents were duds so I thought why bother? Why was I lying down or up against the wall with a guy I didn’t give a shit about, and who cared even less about me?

  By the time we arrived at the Fairmont Battery Wharf, I actually appreciated they had valet parking. Finn left his coat in the car because it was perfect late spring day and summer, was literally days away. He slid his arm around my waist and we walked directly to The Terrace at Aragosta where it took less than a minute to find my mother, her beau, Monika and Clive. They obviously looked very elegant, and it was obvious by a couple of bodyguards seated at the table next to my brood, none of them wanted to be disturbed by fans.

  My mother didn’t mind being “on” when she was at a premiere or the myriad of award shows during the “awards season” but other than that, she preferred not to be disturbed. She was perpetually one of those celebrities they caught with “Posh Mouth Syndrome,” named after Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham. Every time I saw a photo of my mother and her beau, he always looked stoic while she would be rocking a thousand dollar pair of Armani or Chanel sunglasses and her mouth firmly puckered with distaste as if she had swallowed a lemon.

  I walked directly to the table, and waved as Mom tore her eyes away from her lover long enough to do a double take. Her mouth flew open but I knew she wouldn’t say anything until we were seated. With the intention of annoying her further, I purposely sat Finn next to her boyfriend while I sat next to Monika and directly across from my mother.

  “Elvira, how good of you to turn up on time,” Mother said in an overly stiff tone. “Monika didn’t mention you were bringing company.”

  “Ms. Donahue, I had no idea,” my best friend murmured before her icy blue eyes glared at me disapprovingly.

  “Well, happy fucking birthday to me too!” I exclaimed, careful to keep my voice down. “Are you done? Last time I checked today was my special day and I could have just as easily spent it with Finn than be here.”

  “Calm down, love.” Finn grabbed my hand closest to his under the table and squeezed lightly. “Sorry, I didn’t realize this was a private celebration or I would have dropped Evie off.”

  Mom rolled her eyes. “Well you’re here now so you might as well stay.” She paused and gathered her composure. “Monika, Clive, Etienne—this gentleman is Finbar Reilly. He and Elvira have been close friends for a long time but then again, I’m sure you’re already filled in Monika about how deep their relationship goes?”

  I involuntarily flinched the moment my eyes met my mother’s cool gray-green irises. She knew I had never ever told anyone about why I spent a year in Boston so long ago. I’d told everyone a different lie, and no one outside of our family and Finn knew the truth. Not even my best friend was aware I had a child that was, legally, now my cousin and being raised by my uncle and his wife.

  “Finn and I have known each other for a very long time,” I began in a quiet voice, “but we’re dating one another now.”

  Monika rolled her eyes. “You could have at least told me you know.”

  My mother said nothing further but she did touch her boy-toy’s cheek. “This is Etienne Fournier, my significant other. Etienne, this is my daughter, and today is her twentieth birthday.”

  “We have spoken on the phone. Nice to finally meet you,” he responded with a strong French accent but he was easily understood.

  “Nice to meet you too,” I replied as I held out a hand which he took and kissed my palm.

  “That will have to do until we can introduce ourselves properly.”

  I ignored the daggers Finn sent this guy’s way and I now knew why my mother had fallen for him in the first place. The photos I’d seen of them together didn’t do him justice at all. He was much more handsome and sexy in real life. Not to mention charisma oozed from his pores—it affected the way he spoke to the timber of his voice. His kick ass, model-perfect body was encased in a pair of fitted jeans and a short sleeved black silk shirt.

  His lightly tanned skin was flawless of course and he had the most intriguing blue eyes with pale green crescents surrounding the pupils. His brown hair shimmered and looked burnished in the sunlight. His features were perfect, from his straight nose to his structured cheekbones, and slightly full yet incredibly kissable lips. My heart beat just a bit quicker as I smiled back at him beguilingly before I turned toward my best friend.

  “Well, looks like I am not the only one who is keeping secrets. Hey, Clive, how are you?”

  Clive smiled. “I’m doing great, Evie, how are you?”

  “It’s my birthday!” I said again.

  His seaweed green eyes turned toward Monika and I didn’t miss the look he gave her. She glared at me again. “We have been here since last night. I tried to contact you but you never answered your phone.”

  I searched my brain to remember what I was doing the previous night. But of course, Finn and I were busy fucking one another’s brains out. I was on the pill now so we were pretty active in the bedroom. He was still young enough he could get it up after drinking copious amounts of alcohol. And we both had had more than our fair share but were still able to bring each other to mutual orgasm.

  “I was busy last night. Sorry,” I replied dismissively.

  “Yeah, so was I. Will we get together tonight and do something?” she inquired like a petulant child.

  “Sure. We’ll go to our favorite watering hole in Charlestown—”

  “Isn’t that a bad part of the city?” Clive wondered out loud. “I saw The Town you know.”

  “Good for you. Is that where you get all of your information about potential destinations? From the movies?” I smiled sarcastically before I did the whole Macaulay Culkin Home Alone look. “Well if you saw Charlestown depicted in a movie as a white ghetto, it must be true!”

  “Well, there are more impoverished white people in Boston than anywhere else in the country according to statistics,” Clive informed.

  “You sure about that? I’m sure there are plenty of white ghettos—there are fifty states you know. But of course all statistics are true too because everyone knows there is only one white ghetto in America and the rest are populated by ‘people of color.’”

  “Well, that is the way I have always understood it to be—”

  “Shut up, Clive.” Monika snapped. “You’re just playing into her game. God forbid someone say anything bad about Boston.”

  “You got that right.”

  “Do you know a better spot to go?” Finn inquired of Clive.

  “Well, I was thinking of a club—”

  “The good ones are all twenty-one and up. These two ladies aren’t old enough to get into them—unlike in L.A. where your pedigree, not your age, determines whether you get into the hottest night spots—so looks like we’ll go to one of the more trendy bars in Charlestown. And just for your information, we have a yuppie section you know—I live in it.”

  Monika sipped from her mineral water. “Thanks, Finn. That sounds awesome.”

  I looked around and realized they were talking amongst themselves while my mother was completely wrapped up in her lover. I had never felt so alone in my life.

  Who did I really have to turn to? Why was my mother really here? Had she decided to take time away from her busy schedule because it would look bad if she didn’t visit her only daughter on the day she gave birth to her? The same daughter she callously discarded and gave to her parents—my grandparents—to raise so I wouldn’t cramp her movie star lifestyle? I knew them as my mother and father. Not Athena Donahue and Rolf Sandstrom. Who were they anyway and where was my father? Out romancing his hussy while I sat at a table surrounded by people who supposedly cared for me on the day I’d
been born twenty years previously.

  It occurred to me my mother’s boyfriend was younger than many of the movie stars I had swooned about during my teenage years. Did she realize she was making such a fool of herself or did she simply not care?

  “Oh, darling.” Mother turned to me and smiled, “Etienne and I have the most wonderful news.”

  My gaze searched her face before her lover’s, Finn, Monika and Clive. They were obviously in on it even if I wasn’t and again, I felt left out like a lost charity case.

  I knew from the look it was something major or she wouldn’t be acting so blasé about the announcement though her face was about to burst with unconcealed excitement.

  “What is it?” I inquired.

  The waiter chose that particular moment to interrupt us. My dear sweet mother dearest ordered two bottles of Dom Perignon after we all ordered our food. I played it safe with a prawn Caesar salad though both Monika and my mother stared at me in horror.

  Oh the calories! I knew exactly what they were thinking and I didn’t give a shit either.

  They both chose something low calorie, and equally tasteless while Finn ordered a steak, medium-rare, with new potatoes and a side a salad; Etienne ordered the Halibut fish and chips that came with sweet potato fries and an assortment of steamed vegetables; Clive decided on the stuffed seafood salmon with a side salad.

  “So, what’s the good news?” I repeated again.

  My mother laughed at something Etienne whispered into her ear before he stared my way with well-hidden lust. I wasn’t stupid and just because I hadn’t been through a busload of men didn’t mean I didn’t recognize that “look” when I saw it.

  “Wait until the champagne comes, darling. It’s best that way,” Mother replied more out of annoyance than anything else.

  “You were the one who seemed so gung-ho to tell me and now you’re changing your mind. You know how much I hate that.”

  “Stop acting like a petulant child, Elvira, you’re an adult now, remember?” Etienne said in a dismissive voice.

  If it my actions wouldn’t have made me look small and petty, I would have stood at that moment, and walked right out of there. I was sick of them both already; Monika and Clive weren’t much better. They were all such elitists who thought they were better than Finn and I. It was written all over their smug faces.

  Despite being the daughter of the famed Athena Donahue, I might as well have been the help. I never really felt like a child of hers as much as I thought of myself as her charity case. Yes, she had given birth to me but I might as well be my own son, Kieran. Someone else had reared me through the difficult years; both she and my father fluttered in and out of my life when it suited them but they were the first ones with something to say when I messed up.

  I hadn’t bothered to tell my mother I had more or less been kicked out of University, and had to transfer. It wouldn’t have boded well and besides, I might have missed her visit today on my birthday. After all, she was the one doing me the favor, not the other way around.

  Finn grabbed my hand again underneath the table and leaned over towards me before he whispered, “Is something wrong?”

  “Yes. I wanna get outta here. They only came to make me feel like shit and remind me of what I’m missing since I’m not staying in L.A. They also thought it would bring some kind of sudden realization about how much I was missing out on because I’m not in Hollyweird but I don’t want to back there.”

  “How can you say that when they came all this way? Isn’t your mother doing a film in Canada? Why can’t they be here because they wanted to see you on one of the most important days of the year? Why do you always get so damn maudlin every time someone from your past comes around? You can’t avoid family forever.”

  “It’s easy for you to say that because you don’t have my family.”

  Two waiters brought over Dom Perignon and champagne flutes for everyone. Apparently, this restaurant didn’t care Monika and I were underage and not supposed to be partaking in the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

  They opened the champagne with ease and poured everyone a glass before they walked off as silently as they’d come.

  My mother and her beau picked up their glasses first and I followed reluctantly after everyone else held their fluted stems. “I want to wish my daughter a happy birthday first because she is officially a woman, and that makes me so proud. I am delighted to let everyone know you’re my daughter because you have grown up to be a gorgeous and very delightful lady, Elvira.”

  She paused as her gray-green eyes left mine and immediately focused on Etienne. “This is a double celebration. Monika and Clive already know but it gives me great pleasure to tell you after a lovely courtship, Etienne and I tied the knot in a private ceremony. I am now Mrs. Athena Fournier though I will continue to use Athena Donahue where my film career is concerned.”

  Everyone else at the table—Monika, Clive, and Finn—smiled back at the lovely couple, and clapped but all I could feel was the bile rising in my throat. I couldn’t clap, couldn’t muster the courage to fake happiness because I felt cheated. My mother had managed to outshine me yet again, and on the day of my birthday never-the-less.

  My heart stopped—at least the phantom punch to my chest and the absence of oxygen felt like it did—as I glared from my mother to Etienne and back again.

  “Why didn’t you wait until I could attend, Mom?” I inquired in a voice that did not sound like my own.

  “Well, Etienne and I were in Las Vegas, and his family was in attendance. It seemed like the perfect time. You weren’t around when your father and I tied the knot either so what difference does it make? I am sharing the news with you now.”

  She glared at me before I lifted my arm and toasted with everyone else. I was used to doing shots of JD so knocking back a glass of champagne was a joke. I didn’t care how unladylike it was but I swallowed it all in one go, and set the empty fluted glass on the table.

  “I hope there was a point for your appalling behavior,” Mother responded in s stern voice that dripped of condescension.

  “I’m just so happy for you, Mommy Dearest. I hope this one lasts longer than you and Daddy Dearest but you know what they say? Marry in haste, repent in leisure,” I responded in a cold and unaffected tone.

  I knew she wanted to say something else but Etienne put a hand over hers, and surprisingly, she kept quiet.

  The rest of lunch was a painful occasion to be honest. I couldn’t wait to get out of there but I kept my mouth shut. Finn gave me that look, and my heart broke. I hated it when he stared at me like that. It was the equivalent of telling me I was making a fool of myself, and acting immature.

  There we were—mother and daughter—shut up by the men in our lives. I really wanted to be happy for her because we’d never gotten along but something inside me rebelled at the thought of having anything other than a sarcastic attitude. I think it all boiled down to bad timing. She had decided to ruin my birthday with her news because she couldn’t stand not being the center of attention. Why couldn’t she tell us her good news the next day? Why did it have to be on my special day? I suppose that upset me more than anything, and I was too cowardly to say or think anything different.

  The formal lunch continued and the Dom Perignon continued to flow along with dessert, which both Monika and my mother picked over but I ate mine with relish along with the men at the table.

  “Well, my movie is finishing up soon so I have to leave tomorrow after breakfast. Will you try to make it here tomorrow morning before we leave?” my mother inquired as she picked at her chocolate cheesecake.

  “Yes, I will meet you and Etienne at your hotel suite before you go back to Montreal,” I replied after Finn gave me another look that reduced my ego to pieces.

  “Good. I was a bit scared you wouldn’t want to spend any more time with me after your outburst. My little girl is all grown up and you are naturally concerned I won’t be here for you but I will always be around, you kno
w that. I have a wonderful husband and a lovely young woman for a daughter. I am luckier than most people.”

  I did my best to prevent rolling my eyes. “Mom, I’m fine. I realize you had a life before you had me, and now that I am all grown up you will continue to have a life of your own. Congratulations on your marriage—you know I wish you and Etienne all the happiness in the world.”

  “Oh my God, that is so sweet.” Monika broke out with a black, silk Hermès scarf, and dabbed at her slightly watery eyes.

  Mom looked taken aback before she smiled at her new boy-toy hubby before she turned my way. “That is beautiful to hear from you, sweetheart. I have no doubt in my mind Etienne and I will be very content with one another for years to come.”

  I glanced at my new stepfather who genuinely seemed to be fond of my mother but I highly doubted he loved her at all. Too bad she was so vain, and self-deluded to see otherwise.

  Perhaps I was too cynical about the world but what would a thirty year old man want with a woman who was a couple of years from being fifty? Did he not desire children or a family of his own one of these days? I suppose they could go the surrogate route since my mother hadn’t entered menopause just yet.

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out if my mother were an impoverished, she would have never ever landed a thirty year old. Let alone a sexy French model that probably had women my age beating down his door to get to him.

  Etienne Fournier was everywhere, and modeled for some of the top designers. He was one of the most sought after underwear models for his perfect physique. With the body of Adonis who happened to have a rugged, clean-cut yet drop-dead gorgeous face, and the right type of professional attitude that reeked of intelligence and quiet ruthlessness. He was the type of man any woman would be proud to bring home to their parents.

  However, I didn’t like the way he kept looking in my direction. His behavior happened to be completely clandestine that Finn didn’t even seem to notice. Regardless of the situation and how I had managed to smooth over and barely save lunch, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Unfortunately, my best friend would be there along for the ride, and I hoped what ever she witnessed, she would keep her thoughts to herself and her mouth shut.