Six rules undying book 2, p.3
Six (Rules Undying Book 2), page 3
relative stranger in stilettos and diamonds, who wore an expensive-looking black and gold choker around her skinny little neck.
“Oh, say it!” she prodded as she shuffled around her cart full of chicken, bacon, and all manner of things that would make a vegetarian cringe.
“You’re so thin,” Paige said before immediately clamping her hand over her mouth in horror. The blonde burst into an even bigger grin.
“Oh, that is about the nicest thing you could possibly say!” Tina gushed. “One hundred and fifty pounds down. I’m literally half the woman I used to be.”
Paige returned the smile. “That is amazing. I’m so happy you could do that,” she said.
Tina walked around her cart and scooped up the smaller woman into a warm hug. They both let out that distinctly feminine coo of happiness as they rapidly sized up all the other differences they had racked up in the nearly seven years since high school.
Neither of them sported a ring, but Tina’s tan put her nearly on par with Paige’s sun-kissed olive skin tone. The shorter brunette eyed the sheer number of chickens in Tina’s cart. “Stocking up?” Paige asked.
“Throwing a little dinner party this weekend to celebrate my new job in town. Your mom would be so proud of me, Paige! Does she still have the restaurant?”
Paige blinked a few times. “Um, no; she switched to catering and making pastas for local restaurants about a year ago. She was starting to hate the hours and the overhead. I’m guessing you decided to go to cooking school after all?” she asked.
“A very special friend of mine is opening a bar and gastro pub in East Memphis, and guess who he hired as his executive chef?” Tina said as she bounced on her heels. “I mean, it’s not quite the food scene as New York, but it’s exciting to get a start in my hometown!”
“Well, I’ll have to check it out—”
Tina shook her head a few times. “You know, I’ve never forgotten how you were one of the few people who didn’t laugh at
me, Paige. It was so hard to face all those skinny little bitches day after day, but you had class. Thank you.”
The wee brunette just shook her head as she turned red. “It was nothing really. I was too afraid to talk to anyone, let alone tease someone. That’s all.”
“Still so sweet!” Tina said. “Look, it can’t be a coincidence running into you like this. Say, if you aren’t busy tonight, why don’t you stop by? I’ll have more than enough food, and there are some people I’m just dying for you to meet. Please! Please, say you’ll come.”
“Well, my boyfriend is working—” Paige started.
Tina squealed with delight. “Let me get you all the info!”
Paige quickly became so wrapped up in plotting and planning and exchanging numbers that she swept away the text from Dad.
Even though it clearly stated, “Paige we need to talk—NOW,” she merely rolled her eyes and filed it with his last five unanswered messages.
- 2 -
Paige thanked her lucky stars under her breath as she eased her puny little Honda into a narrow bit of parallel parking on a jammed side street somewhere farther west than she had been in ages in the sprawling metro area of Memphis. This particular pocket of midtown remained isolated from both the extremely opulent and the desperately destitute and consisted of row upon row of mission-style modest houses with manicured little lawns and a myriad of colorful flowers popping up along the fences.
She double-checked the number and watched as a few people wandered toward the bright red door of number fifty-three on a warm spring Saturday evening. Paige took note of the rather upscale dress and quickly pulled a compact from her purse to verify that all makeup was still in place and not thoroughly melted on the long drive. Her oversize brown eyes stared back at her expectantly.
“It’s just a party, not an interview,” she muttered as she twirled a wayward curl back behind her ear. The humidity continued its declaration of war against her styling products as she cursed at her ever-growing halo of rich brown locks. After one last check for wayward bra straps or gunk in her teeth, she finally eased open her driver’s side door.
The second she stepped out into the thick night air, all manner of swarming, buzzing little creatures made a beeline for her bare arms and legs, and she could feel fresh beads of sweat forming deep in her armpits. “Please, deodorant gods, stay with me,” she prayed as she snagged the bottle of wine off her passenger seat and finally locked up her Civic for the night.
This particular home stood out among the pack with its fresh paint and a brilliant green lawn still marked with seams. Paige wrinkled her nose as she passed beds full of lovely begonias and deep dark mulch. As she got closer she could see people congregating around the windows in the front, sipping wine and smiling—with their mouths at least, if not truly with their eyes. One couple meandered to the door ahead of Paige, a stately, white-haired couple, with one in a tweed suit and the other in a dress straight out of Saks Fifth Avenue. Paige stayed a few steps back and let the door swing open and the strangers slip in. She peeked once more at the crowd inside and remained frozen on the steps.
She started to retreat but was stopped by a blast of cold air as the door swung open again. A leggy blonde in a golden choker and heels positively beamed as she held open the glass with one hand.
“Oh, thank goodness you found the place! Paige, come on in before the mosquitoes get yah,” Tina declared.
Paige immediately thrust her bottle of Italian white forward. “I saw lots of chicken and rosemary in your cart, so I brought a grigio,”
she said as she tried her best to stay hidden behind the green glass.
Tina smiled wider. “Ain’t you just so sweet? Come on, come on, we have people to meet.”
Paige peeked once more into the door and listened to the gentle, drawling din of introductions and pleasantries; the clicking of dress shoes against shining new floors that seemed too close to perfect to possibly be natural wood; and the guttural grunts and throaty coughs of menfolk comparing their golf handicaps while sniffing the Scotch from the bar in the corner. Tina urged her latest guest in by subtly shifting against the screen door. Paige took the hint and slipped immediately against the parlor wall, cringing at how her sunshiny summer dress made her look as if she was deliberately trying to camouflage with the buttercup plaster walls.
Tina didn’t skip a beat and sized up her pint-size companion from top to bottom. She waved over to the Dixie yellow roses on the table and the deep gold base of her drapes. “Love the color, Paige.
It’s just made for your skin tone too! Now I have to check one or two things in the kitchen, but never fear, I won’t leave you alone, sweetie.
Toy! Oh, Toy, you have to come over here. Someone is giving you competition for being the shortest one in the room!”
Tina’s summons brought forth a curious stare from a young woman who was in the process of wolfing down a mini quiche from the tray on the bar. Like Paige, she had opted for a bright, summery sundress, but this one was an explosion of every primary color against a crisp white background—a background that contrasted strikingly against her dark brown skin. She smiled with the same orthodontist-dream smile as Tina and wore a statement choker of braided black and white leather, but changed out the heels for clunky, unseasonal, white patent leather ankle boots.
As soon as the stranger seemed sure her tiny pastry was indeed well on its way down her esophagus, she pranced over, stuck out her hand boldly, and proceeded to give Paige a handshake worthy of a used car salesman.
“Toy, this is my friend, Paige. Paige, this is—” Tina started.
“Latoya, but everyone calls me Toy,” the new girl said as she continued to pump Paige’s arm up and down.
“Nice to meet you,” Paige said.
“It is so nice to have someone I can make eye contact with without risking neck strain.” Toy laughed. “Tina, you better get to work because I see the glasses and the trays emptying fast.”
“Excuse me, sweeties,” Tina said as she grabbed the wine and slipped toward what must have been the kitchen.
Toy finally released her death grip and did a not-too-subtle size-up of Paige’s skinny little arms. In contrast, Toy had the body of a gymnast—a bit stocky, compact, and riddled with muscles that would make a meathead man turn green with envy. She motioned toward the bar. “Can I get you anything? I think you’re going to need a few to survive this crowd,” she said with a knowing look in her own big brown eyes.
“I could use a glass of something white, cold, and alcoholic,”
Paige said with a little nod.
“Well, you just described half the party guests.” Toy snickered.
“But I think Tina has some pretty good chardonnay flowing tonight.
Come on; keep moving with me and you won’t have to talk to too many strangers, kiddo.”
The vertically challenged pair made their way past conversations about hedge funds and church scandals, the latest gossip and some reality TV. The pair who had strode in seconds before Paige was already separated, and each half was talking to a member of the opposite sex approximately half his or her age. The man was chatting up a lanky strawberry blonde in a miniskirt, while the woman had found a very well-built redheaded boy in a crisply pressed green shirt and super skinny jeans.
Toy snickered as she pulled out a pair of glasses and something from an ice bucket. “It’s so cute to see the twins in action. Do you think we should warn the McKinseys that they’ve each got the wrong one?”
Paige just stared blankly. “I don’t quite—”
Toy pointed to the tall, skinny girl. “Well, Freckles there likes the Indigo Girls, flannel shirts, and fish for dinner, and the world’s only non-Scottish hot ginger is her brother, Kyle. Kyle’s hobbies include denying he’s an interior designer, show tunes, and sucking mountains of cock.”
Waves of red rushed over Paige’s face. She stammered for words. “Did—did you just—?”
“To be fair, that was his description of the first week after he downloaded Grinder,” Toy said as she punched Paige in the arm.
“Now he’s all mopey because his boyfriend moved to Utah and decided it was time for a break.”
She gave a fluttering little finger wave to Freckles. “Hey, Kayleigh, how yah doing?” Toy mouthed. The strawberry blonde just rolled her eyes in return.
“Bitch owes me ten bucks,” Toy sighed. “Oh well, did you want the next stop on the tour?”
“Um, I guess so,” Paige mumbled as she looked around the parlor.
Toy handed over a glass. As requested, it was a goblet brimming with frosty golden liquid. Paige took a moment to sniff the
heady aroma of oak and vanilla wafting from the surface. After taking a tiny sip, her eyes lit up.
“Told you, Tina keeps a kick-ass chardonnay,” Toy said as she slapped the poor girl on the back a little too hard. “Oops, too much coffee today,” she apologized quickly.
Toy led Paige to the lone sofa now parked against the far wall.
No one had yet claimed its tailored ivory cushions, so the pair settled down for another round of shameless people watching.
“So, we covered the McKinseys and the wonder twins,” Toy noted. “Over around the bar you have a trio of Bobs—Bob Monroe, Bob Thompson, and Bob Johnson—but we just call the last one Bob the Dick. The Bobs are all venture capitalists and are the ones funding Tina’s new little venture, and the McKinseys did something with the construction and the design. The token Asian guy over there
—whose name I forget—is the architect, and the other old white couples are like local suppliers. The really fat dude is her business manager/taste tester/cousin Drew, and the guy with the dude-bun is her sommelier and on-again-off-again FWB, Alistair. You got all that?”
Paige shook her head and took another sip of wine.
Toy started laughing. “I wouldn’t worry about them too much.
These people show up when there is free food or money to be had, and that’s about it. You, on the other hand, are decidedly not connected to getting Tina’s damn restaurant open, so what the hell are you doing here. It’s Paige, right?”
She nodded. “Tina and I went to high school together. We just ran into each other today. I haven’t seen her in years.”
“Interesting,” Toy said. She wiggled her mouth pointedly from side to side and analyzed the stranger with an intense stare. “I thought poor Tina wanted to get as far away from her high school memories as she could. She never mentioned any friends.”
“I don’t know if we were really friends,” Paige confessed. “More like I treated her like a human being as opposed to most of the jerks in our class. So, um, how do you know Tina?”
“Oh, you know, she needed a token black friend, and I was available,” Toy said dryly.
Paige remained speechless. Her companion broke into a wide grin.
“Oh, you are so precious,” Toy giggled. “We met through a mutual friend. It was a little complicated, but we now work out at the same gym and hang out with the same crowd. Plus, as an aspiring businesswoman, it never hurts to have a former cop around. In my current line of work, I can be very useful.”
“And that is?”
“I do private security and investigations,” Toy said, beaming. “All the fun of a conceal-and-carry permit without having to wear those unflattering blue uniforms anymore! The pay is better too when you find out some rich guy’s wife is cheating on him during an expensive divorce. I work for the Bobs a fair bit. They’ve found it very wise to know a little about the people they invest in before they sign off on the check.”
“Wow,” Paige said softly. “It sounds pretty awesome.”
Toy sat at attention and folded her hands in her lap like an eager schoolgirl. “So, Miss Paige, I showed you mine; now you show me yours. What do you do?”
Paige began studying the beads of condensation forming on the underside of her glass. “I’m just an admin over at Schuler Sani-Tech.
I do expense reports and help the accounting team—phones mostly,”
she mumbled.
“Well, that’s fascinating,” Toy said dryly. “Associate’s degree only get you so far?”
“How did you—?”
Toy leaned back and took a sip of her own glass of wine. “It’s just what I do, hon. Reading people is my everyday job, plus who around here can even afford four years in school anymore? So, are you ready to slap me yet, or did you want to keep talking?”
Paige could only sigh, “Well, it’s not like I know anyone here, and wow, those McKinsey people are really trying hard.”
They watched as the male McKinsey waggled the keys to his BMW in front of an extremely bored-looking Kayleigh. Meanwhile, Mrs. McKinsey was laughing a little too loud over her empty glass.
Kyle maintained a pleasantly passive face, but every once in a while,
his eyes would dart over pleadingly to his sister across the room.
With all of these taller, louder, larger individuals in the room, Paige and Toy could remain safely hidden among the upholstery, occasionally finding cause to comment or snicker. This delightful status quo remained for nearly half an hour until a spectacular smell wafted from the entrance to the kitchen. The din quieted as the intoxicating fragrance of bacon, fried chicken, and something sweet filled the room. Toy actually leaped to her feet.
“Oh, hells, yes!” she squealed as Tina finally returned to the party carrying a doublewide tray full of hors d’oeuvres. Paige squinted to make out what looked like crispy little nuggets nestled on golden brown breakfast treats with glistening syrup and a cockscomb of pure pork goodness.
Toy managed to maneuver all the way across the room, grab a plate, load it with chicken goodness, and get back to the oasis all in the time it took Paige to set down her drink on a windowsill. She blinked a few times to take in the delicate little morsel presented to her on a cocktail napkin by her new acquaintance.
“It’s a chicken and waffle slider—” Toy started.
“With bacon,” Paige finished.
“I see no fault in this,” Toy said before popping the entire bite into her mouth. Paige quickly followed suit and was rewarded by a delightful explosion of chicken juices and waffle innards cascading over her eager taste buds. As salty, sweet, crunchy, and moist all combined in her mouth, she smiled her first broad, genuine smile of the night.
“Oh, my god, this is better than Chick-fil-A,” she cooed.
“Screw that; it’s better than sex,” Toy countered.
Paige just laughed and nodded in agreement. The two of them eyed the now-empty tray and hung their collective heads in sadness.
Finally, Paige took a tiny sip of wine—enough to dislodge any errant bits of breading but not enough to wash the heavenly flavor from her mouth.
“Tina’s really talented,” Paige said. “I remember her asking about what my mom did when we were back in school, but I never thought . . . wow . . . chicken . . . mmm . . .”
“I got to try these little guys last night when she was testing. I told her if she didn’t put them on her menu, I was going to forward her last round of drunk texts to man-bun Al, including the pickle pic.”
Paige stifled another giggle. “Do I want to know?” she asked.
“Let’s just say that the last time we took a trip down to Beale Street to let off a little steam, she ended up going home with a spectacularly endowed Ukrainian, who made her a very creative image to remind her of him always. Unfortunately, Comrade Pickle Dick didn’t realize that he had my number also labeled as “Hottie Hookup,” so I got the prize. I don’t know what was in his drinks that night, but he somehow managed to confuse Tina and me.”
“Well, you look so much alike.” Paige giggled.
“Sisters from another mister, surely.” Toy laughed. “I like you, Shorty Spice!”
“Do you have a nickname for everyone?” Paige dared to ask.
“Only those that I like, I hate . . . or that really amuse me,” Toy said with a wink. “If you don’t like Shorty Spice, I can keep running down the list—”
Paige just broke into further giggles. She listened to people commenting on the tasty tidbits and good booze, while Toy took a moment to check her phone. Tina made the rounds to get glowing compliments and made promises of a buffet-style dinner that would be available soon. Overall, a pleasant mix of chuckles and small talk filled the room, and the packs of people had all congealed into pockets of like-minded individuals; Toy and Paige could simply hide away on their island of snickering short girls. Just as everything had just about blurred together and the party gone completely into cruise control, the doorbell rang one more time.
