Save the Date (Modern Arrangements) (4 page)

For a moment I thought my eyes might pop
out of my head.

"Four years?" I shouted. Viola
placed her hand on my arm in an attempt to calm me.

Devlin cleared his throat again.

"The infidelity goes for both you
and your spouse." He took a deep breath. "Now, for the terms of the
child. Your heir should be conceived within the first year of marriage. Your
heir is to be a biological child, unless it is impossible, and must be given
the Iverson name." Devlin looked up, again.

"Is that it?" I grumbled.

He shook his head and I sighed.

"Living arrangements are as
follows: You will live in the same house with your spouse and child during the
four years of marriage and reside in the same bedroom for at least three nights
a week."

"Jesus Christ, did we want to
regulate how many times I am supposed to fuck her too? Did he pick her out
already?" My anger seething, I gripped the side of my chair to the point where
I thought I could snap it at any moment. I was ready to launch my fury on
Devlin.

"No, no, none of that," he breathed.
"I told you, your grandfather was all about the specifics."

"Yeah," I growled. "Is
that it? Can I go?"

"Aidan, if you have any questions then
now —"

"Oh, I don’t have any questions,
Devlin! It's pretty clear what a ridiculous arrangement he made." I shot
him a nasty glare.

"Aidan it’s not Devlin’s fault, so
control yourself," Viola spoke softly and rubbed my arm.

Standing abruptly, I left the room with
a slam of the large oak door behind me.

Chapter Three
First Date(s)
Aidan

"Holy shit! Are you kidding
me?" Dixon practically fell out of the old ratty recliner he loved.
Though, I wasn't sure if it was from shock or amusement. Either way, it annoyed
me.

"Yeah, I’m fucking joking."
With an exaggerated roll of my eyes, I put the beer bottle to my lips.

It hadn’t taken long for Oscar, James
and Dixon to start their
unfunny
jokes about my predicament. Everyone
had an opinion, a suggestion or a snarky comment. My family was desperate for
me to not fuck all their lives up, so that meant that everyone had someone
‘great’ they wanted me to meet and now even my friends were trying to
help
.

"Well I could set you up with a
friend of mine, she is single and she’s cute. She lives—"

"Look, I don’t even know what I am
going to do. Seriously, how am I going to make this work?" When I heard
James snort, I looked at him. "What?"

"Oh come on you big fucking baby!
So you have to get married, big fucking deal. It’s not hard to find someone who
will marry you, just go back through your little black book and pick your
favorite ex. Problem solved." He shrugged and took a drink of his beer.

"He has a point," Oz offered
up from the other side of me.

"So you don’t think that I should
attempt to find someone that I could actually stay with?" They all bursted
into hysterics. "What?"

"Did you just really try to put you
and a serious long term relationship in the same sentence?" Oz barked out
in laughter.

I punched his shoulder.

"Screw you," I growled.

"Oh come on, Aidan. We’ll help you
out. Let’s see, Oz help me with the ex girlfriend list." I was about to
object but then we heard the door of Dixon’s apartment. We all turned as Lilli
walked in.

She was in a pair of baggy jeans, a
large sweatshirt and her hair was in a high ponytail. She must have realized
that we were all looking at her ‘cause she slowed her pace and looked over to
us.

"Umm…hi," she waved "Just
ignore me, I’ll be out of the way in a second." She smiled, went to the
fridge and then disappeared down the hallway.

"She’s ridiculously hot."
James stared after her, leaning off the couch to look.

"Quit ogling my roommate
asshole!" Dixon threw a pillow at him and we all started laughing, even
James.

"Claire?" Oz shouted. We all
looked at him.

"What?" Dixon wore a perplexed
expression.

"You remember Claire don’t you,
Aidan? She was nice and she was a lot of fun." Oz nudged me and I nodded.

"Born again Christian," James
announced and took another sip of beer.

"What?" I asked.

"She got all religious and became a
born again Christian," he said again.

"How do you know that?" Oz
asked.

"Her father is on the board of
directors at AIS, idiot," he directed the derogatory comment toward me.
"You should really pay a little attention to the chicks you screw around
with." He chuckled.

"Okay, how about Leann, she was
always chasing after you in college" Dixon offered.

"Lesbian," I shook my head.

"And that’s a deal breaker?"
Dixon laughed.

"I have to have kids with her and
don’t think she wants the equipment I can offer," I snorted.

"Hmmm…" James sat thinking.
"What about that Amanda chick you actually went out with more than once?
What happened to her anyway?"

"She was a tad too shy," I
winked and he shook his head. "She’s married. I got an invitation to the
wedding a year or so ago." Sighing, I sat back in the couch.

"What about Channa?" James
beamed proudly.

"She was decent. Though, I wonder
how she will react to the conditions."

"You're going to tell them?"
Oz asked incredulously.

"Um...yeah. I think I have to so
they don’t think I'm insane for instant marriage and baby." I sat quiet
for a minute. "Oh God, I have to get married and have kids." Tipping
over onto my side on the couch, I felt no shame for whining.

"What’s the matter, feel like you
are getting up there in age, Aidan?" Sitting up quickly, Lilli's brows
teased me with the way she arched them over her eyes.

"Not exactly," I groaned. She
just laughed. James eyed her in her
work
clothes. I threw a pillow at
him. "Focus, James."

"I say we try Channa. I mean it’s
the only positive response you’ve given yet," shrugging as he spoke, his
eyes still on Lilli’s ass in tight jeans.

"Okay, hand me my phone." I
bumped Oscar’s arm.

"You’re going to do it over the
phone?" Dixon questioned.

"No, I need to see if she’ll meet
me though."

"I’m actually glad that I have work
today. I don’t think I want to hear anymore about what's going on with you
guys." Lilli laughed as she grabbed her bag from the kitchen counter.

"Later, Lilli," Dixon shouted
to her as she headed to the door.

"Peace out Homey!" she yelled
back.

Dixon cracked a large smile. "She’s
fucking crazy," Dixon laughed.

Oz nodded.

"Who says that?" James asked
with a furrowed brow.

"Lilli," Oz and Dixon said in
unison. James shook his head.

I moved off the couch and away from
their conversation, I could still hear them, though.

"Didn’t she just get home?"
James asked.

"Yeah, she was at the library
studying," Dixon took a sip of his beer. "Now she has to go to
work," I turned and caught Dixon’s expression. He looked unhappy for a
moment.

I hung up my phone and sat back down on
the couch.

"So?" James asked.

"I am going to meet her tonight at
that little café down the street from my apartment," I shrugged.

"That’s my boy!" James reached
over and fist bumped me.

"What if she turns you down?"
Dixon broke the feel good bubble that started to form.

"Who would turn me down?" I joked
and sat back on the couch.

~
~ ~ ~ ~

Evening arrived quickly and I found
myself getting nervous, waiting till the right moment to leave my place for the
small café. I didn’t want to show up too early, but I sure as hell didn’t want Channa
to get there before me.

After being seated, I was only waiting
for about five minutes when Channa arrived. I stood from the table as the hostess
brought her over and pulled her chair out.

"Aidan," she smiled.
"It’s been awhile, how are you?"

Channa was always a nice girl and I was
sure she hadn’t been happy when I broke the relationship short and never called
her again. I couldn’t help it, I tended to get bored quickly. Now, there was no
other option. This was it and my gut was churning.

"I’ve been good, busy with work,"
I answered, giving a half smile.

“I’m so sorry, Aidan.” Channa’s eyes
dropped to the table.

Confusion washed over me.

"About your grandfather—I read he
passed away." She placed a hand on mine.

"Thank you," I gave a small smile.
"Um, Channa, I was wondering…are you seeing anyone?"

She looked a little taken back, pulling
her hand from mine.

"Uh, no. Why?"

Launching straight into my situation, I
watched her face go from finding it funny, to depressing and then what I was
afraid of—disgust.

"Aidan Iverson, you think you could
buy
me? That I'm just something you could use to get what you want,
again!" she tossed her drink in my face and stormed out.

I rose from my seat to go after her, but
couldn’t make my feet cooperate.  Slumping back into the chair, I grabbed the
white napkin and wiped the liquid from my face.  This was going to be a lot
harder than I expected.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Telling Oscar was embarrassing enough.
But James and Dixon’s wisecracks were pissing me off.  This time we met at my
place to discuss the demise of my social life.

"So who’s next?" Dixon wore a
big dimpled smile on his face. "This is getting fun. It’s like
dial-a-chick!"

"Shut up," I growled.

"Aww, poor wittle, Aidan."
Dixon teased, lounging back in the overstuffed chair. "You got rejected from
one of the girls you fucked and dumped. Who didn’t see that coming?" He
laughed, boisterously.

"Okay, so who else, Aidan?"
Oscar patted my shoulder. The couch shifted when he sat next to me.

"I don’t know," I sighed, pinching
the bridge of my nose. "This is pathetic."

"Yeah, we know," James
mumbled.

I glared at him.

"Okay what about Hannah? She was
hot." James wiggled his brow.

"Yeah and completely
annoying," I argued.

"Gina?" Oz threw out there
with a snicker.

"Are you fucking kidding me right
now? Please tell me you’re joking." I glared.

"Who’s Gina?" Dixon asked.

"She stalked me for almost a year
after one night together, proclaiming we were "meant to be"." I
rolled my eyes.

"Well, it sounds like stalker was
right, dude," Dixon laughed.

"No way. I’m not calling Gina, not
talking to her, not even letting her get wind of this." I got up for
another beer, needing a moment away.

"I say you at least try Hannah
then. What other option do you have, unless you want us to start fixing you up
on dates?" Oz wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh God…is that the only option
left?" Putting my head down to my kitchen counter, I grunted.

"I told you, I have a pretty cool
friend," Dixon threw out there again.

"I work with a woman that I could
fix you up with," Oz threw out there.

"Dude, you are so screwed!"
James laughed loudly.

"Thanks, James." I smacked him
in the head on the way back to the couch. "I appreciate the support and
apparently you don’t care too much about AIS, since our family will lose it to
the damn directors." I snarled.

He put his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay, I’ll see if I can
figure something out. Want me to call one of my
friends
?" He grinned.

"No. Can we
try
for a decent
girl, please?" I shot back and he laughed me off.

"So that’s a ‘yes’ to being fixed
up, right?" Dixon wanted clarification. I sighed, nodding by acceptance of
blind dates. "You are going to love my friend. I just gotta convince her
to do this." He grinned around the beer bottle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Colored lights swirled over the walls
and floor as I sat at Club, Inc., waiting for my blind date courtesy of Dixon.
It was only a couple hours after the club opened, so the crowd was still
sparse. Sitting with my eyes trained on the door, I sat nervously waiting.

"Expecting someone?" Lilli stood
smiling from behind the bar.

"You could say that." I gulped
my drink.

"What’s she look like? Maybe she’s
already here." She asked nicely as she scooped ice into a large glass
blender.