“Dominic’s is popping, wow!” Anabel and I had arrived outside the exclusive new restaurant. There was a line of people waiting and three limousines parked outside. “Do you think we will get a table?” I asked her as we walked up to the door.
“I think so,” Anabel said, but she looked unsure. “Oh look, there’s Emily. Emily, over here!” She raised her voice and waved to Emily, who was leaning against the wall next to the restaurant. Emily grinned as she looked up and saw us and came running over, her long black hair bouncing against her back.
“There you are, girls.” Emily gave us both a big hug as she reached us and her blue eyes stared into mine in concern as she pulled back. “You okay, Char?” She studied my face for a few seconds. “I heard you lost your job.”
“Meh.” I made a face. “I’m fine.” I ran a hand through my long black hair and stifled a sigh. “Nothing a couple of stiff drinks won’t fix,” I said, and we all laughed.
“I’m going to go and see if I can get us a table.” Anabel headed toward the door. “Wish me luck.”
“You got this!” Emily’s voice was enthusiastic. “If anyone can get us a table, it will be you, hot-shot lawyer.”
As soon as her back was turned, Emily grabbed my hands.
“Okay, tell me everything. What the fuck happened? Didn’t they just give you a promotion?”
“Yes,” I said. “That’s why I got my own place, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. That’s so shitty. So they just decided to fire you?”
“No, well, yes.” I sighed and took a long breath. “I guess the company wasn’t doing well, and Sally wanted to retire and move to Boca Raton in Florida. Some billionaire made an offer on the business and he promised to keep on all the staff, so she ended up selling it to him.” I flushed, feeling angry as I told the story. “And then as soon as he took over, Parker Industries or Parker Corporation, whatever it’s called, had their HR department send us all a letter firing us.”
“Oh, no!” Emily’s jaw dropped. “But can he do that? Can’t you guys sue him?”
“Sue him?”
“Sue him for breaking his promise to Sally. Didn’t he promise Sally?”
“It was verbally. It wasn’t in their contract when she sold.” I shook my head. “So I’m screwed, along with the others.”
“Getting a severance package?” Emily looked at me hopefully.
“One thousand dollars.” The words dripped off of my tongue like poison. “What the hell am I supposed to do with a grand?”
“Not much in New York City,” Emily commiserated with me. “That’s absolutely ridiculous. Want us to go and egg his car or send a stripogram to his office or something?”
“No.” I laughed. “Though that would be funny.”
“That would be hilarious. I’d totally do it with you. Most probably Anabel wouldn’t because she doesn’t want to lose her law degree or whatever.”
“I think she’d be disbarred, not lose her degree, but yeah.” I grinned at her. “I don’t think we should risk getting arrested.”
“You don’t think we could talk our way out of a ticket?” Emily winked at me, and I just shook my head.
“What would you do to get out of a ticket, Emily?” I asked her knowing she would say something that would make me laugh.
“I wouldn’t blow a cop, if that’s what you’re asking. That rumor was false.” She gave me a wicked smile.
“What rumor? You did not blow a cop to get out of a ticket?” I stared at her, my mouth agape.
“Of course I didn’t, but wouldn’t that be a totally awesome story if it were true.”
“Oh, Emily.” I laughed and looked toward the front of the restaurant to see Anabel walking back to us with a disappointed look on her face. “Oh no, looks like Anabel wasn’t lucky.”
“Oh no, we don’t have a reservation?” Emily wrinkled her nose. “I looked up the menu and the food looks divine. Expensive but divine.”
“We can’t afford expensive.” I grinned at Emily, who, even though she had a job, was almost as broke as me. “So, maybe this was a sign for us to go to Shake Shack or something.”
“Shake Shack. Hmph.” Emily rolled her eyes. “What’s the word?” she asked Anabel, who joined us with a little shrug.
“They said we can wait to get a table, but there is no guarantee that one will become free.”
“So we could be standing here for hours and still get no food?” I looked at Anabel and she nodded. “Well, that doesn’t sound great.”
“I have an idea.” Emily’s expression was devious. “Let’s go inside by the hostess table and just stand there and talk very loudly about how hungry we are.”
“I don’t know.” Anabel shook her head. “That seems a bit rude.”
“Exactly! That’s the whole point. They should seat us faster then because they won’t want us making a scene.” Emily linked both of our arms. “Come on, girls, it’s the Christmas season, let’s have some fun.”
“Emily.” Anabel tutted and gave me a look. I just grinned back at her and we all walked into the restaurant, prepared to guilt them into giving us a table.
The skinny blond hostess shot us another look of disdain as we assembled right next to her desk. I peeked into the restaurant and stared at some of the dishes on the table closest to us. One lady was eating some sort of lobster dish and her companion had a juicy steak that looked delicious. The smells emanating from the kitchen were mouthwatering, and my stomach was starting to grumble.
“So what are you going to do now?” Emily asked me as we stood there.
“Eat?”
“No, career-wise?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I sighed. “I was hoping that Max Parker would grow a heart and come to his senses, but I don’t think he cares.”
“Yeah, billionaires think about money and not people.” Emily nodded. “I think I’ve heard of him. Wasn’t he married to Marilyn Monroe or something?”
“Who? Max Parker?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I think so. He’s the CEO of Parker Enterprises, right? Don’t they own half of Manhattan?”
“I suppose.” I shrugged. “Old asshole.”
“I bet he has a small dick,” Emily said.
“Yup, shriveled up and small just like him.” I giggled.
“With veins all over his legs,” Anabel added. “What does he look like, anyways?”
“Hold on, let me check.” I pulled out my phone and did a Google search. I went to images and surveyed the results. There weren’t many and I clicked on what appeared to be an older photo. “Okay, well look at this,” I said as I pulled up the article and clicked on the photo. “Oh, hot damn, look at that body!” I said as I showed Emily and Anabel the only photo of Max Parker I could find.
It was a photo of him on the Harvard website and was of him in his swimming trunks as part of the swim team. Apparently, Max Parker had been some sort of hotshot swimmer back in the day.
“He was a looker when he was young,” I said in surprise, staring at his handsome face. I could tell from the grin on his face that he’d been a cocky asshole even then. He had that sort of self-assured smug grin that handsome men who came from money always had. Pompous asshole. “I wonder what he looks like now?”
“Girl, that photo is from ten years ago.” Emily gawked at the screen. “He’s not sixty-something. He has to be in his late twenties or early thirties now.”
“You’re right. I didn’t even think about that.” I looked at her in surprise. “You can tell he’s one of those preppy assholes that we hate.”
“Yeah, some trust-fund kid that thinks he owns the world.” Emily nodded.
“Yup,” I said, and we all looked at each other knowingly. We’d met many offspring of rich and famous people at Columbia. While all three of us were Ivy-League-educated as well, we’d all come from modest upbringings, with our tuition being offset by scholarships and grants. “’I’m Max Parker, I’m the man, and I can have any woman that I want.’”
“Bet he has to pay for sex,” Emily said.
I giggled while Anabel just shook her head at the two of us. I knew she disapproved of our making fun of him, and if I was honest, my heart wasn’t really in it. But I hated entitled assholes who thought that money made the world go around. He hadn’t even stopped to think about his new employees and how they were going to survive. He hadn’t cared at all. We were just numbers to him. Numbers that didn’t matter.
“Yup, if I met him he would be begging me for it,” I said with a smirk. “Oh, Charlotte, please, please kiss me. Please, let me go down on you. Please, let me pleasure you.” I paused. “And then I would say, ‘Max Parker, I wouldn’t let you near me if you gave me ten billion dollars.’” My voice rose. “You can beg me as much as you want, Max Parker, but I—”
“Excuse me,” The blond hostess approached us. “Did you just mention Max Parker?” She had a tight smile on her face.
“Sorry, what?” Heat crept into my cheeks. Had she heard what I said?
“I didn’t mean to listen to your conversation, but I heard you saying that Max Parker had said something to you?” She looked at my face and then down at my clothes and I could tell from the look in her eyes that she doubted he’d ever had anything to do with me. Smug bitch! Just because I was wearing jeans from Old Navy didn’t mean I couldn’t date a billionaire.
“Well, my boyfriend, Max Parker, says many somethings to me.” I looked at her haughtily. “In fact, I just got off the phone with him. I was telling him, that I was waiting in line at—”
“Oh, but I just wanted to let you know that a table was just made available.” She looked at me with a panicked expression. “Your friend didn’t say that you were acquaintances of Mr. Parker’s.”
“I wouldn’t say we were acquaintances. He’s my boyfriend.”
“He’s her man.” Emily grinned gleefully. “And between us four, I think he’s about to propose soon. He was sending me photos from Tiffany’s asking me which one I thought Charlotte would like best.”
“And I told you five carats was just way too big and ostentatious. I prefer a four-carat ring.”
“You’re to be engaged to Max Parker?” The blonde’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“Everyone knows who I am already.” I looked her over. “Well, everyone who’s important.”
“I’m so sorry. Please follow me.” The blonde looked mortified as she motioned us to follow her.
“What’s going on?” Anabel mouthed to me.
I just shrugged. “Come on.”
I grinned at Emily and followed behind the blond bitch, strutting my stuff as if I really and truly was the girlfriend of a billionaire. I didn’t feel any shame in my little white lie.
The other two followed behind me and I could have bet what the expressions on their faces were without even seeing them. Emily was likely grinning; she loved mischief. Anabel was probably trying hard to look dignified and not totally embarrassed. She was the most straight-laced of all of us, but she still went along with our shenanigans. I was the boldest and brazen of the group, most of the time. Maybe it was because I wanted to be an actress, but I swore that I could get away with almost anything.
“I hope this table is to your pleasing, ma’am.” The waitress stopped next to a central table that already had a bottle of champagne sitting on ice. “Please, accept today’s meal and drinks on the house.”
“Hmm, I suppose I can do that.”
“I do hope that you won’t tell Mr. Parker that you had to wait.” She offered me a small smile. “We didn’t know . . .” Her voice trailed off as I gave her a steely look.
“No, I suppose you didn’t.” I paused for a few seconds and looked at my two friends, whose faces were shocked. “I won’t tell Maxy what’s happened today. I wouldn’t want to upset him, you know. And he would be very upset if he knew.”
I walked to my chair and the blond girl pulled it out from the table for me and then pushed me in. Emily and Anabel sat down quickly and we were then presented with menus.
Two seconds after the blond lady walked away we all burst into giggles with Anabel just shaking her head.
“Oh, Charlotte, how could you pretend to be his girlfriend?” she asked me with a small frown.
“It’s not like I came here planning to lie, but then the opportunity presented itself.” I gave her a winning smile. “Plus, this is nothing. It doesn’t even hurt him. He owes me a lot more than a free meal at a restaurant.”
“A very nice swanky restaurant,” Emily added.
“It’s still just food.” I shrugged. “He owes us more than that. Let’s drink, eat, and be merry. It’s on me.” I winked and we all giggled once again before we gave our full attention to the menus.