Playing for Keeps

Chapter 5

“I said shut up!” Jason snapped as he stole the ball from Brad, his oldest friend, and tossed the basketball into the hoop.

Brad wiped the tears off his cheeks as he struggled to stop laughing. He failed miserably and fell to his knees when he was no longer able to stand.

“Shut up!”

“I can’t….I can’t….believe….she….shaved….your legs!” Brad said between gasps and laughter. The bastard. Thankfully he was wearing a shirt to cover up his now hairless chest and arm pits. Oh, she was going to pay for this.

“She ate my cake, too!” Jason said, which in his mind was the more serious betrayal. She wouldn’t even let him lick the spoon clean and he had asked, several times. Damn tease. That cake had smelled so good. His stomach rumbled just from thinking about it.

“Man, for someone so obsessed with food you’re lucky you’re not fat,” Brad said as he continued to struggle with his laughter. Thankfully he was now able to stand so Jason could kick his ass in this game.

“It’s not luck. I have a high metabolism and I work out,” he said, taking another shot.

“How long did she keep you tied up for?”

Jason shot a glare at the man. “I don’t know why you find this so funny. You’re supposed to be my best friend. This should outrage you that someone would take advantage of me like that. Where’s your loyalty?”

Brad abruptly stopped laughing and arched a brow. “You hired two strippers at my bachelor party to give me a Brazilian bikini wax when I was passed out.”

Jason chuckled. Oh, that had been a very good night indeed. In fact, he was pretty sure that he had the pictures around somewhere in his house. During the entire ceremony Brad fidgeted at the altar while he tried to discretely scratch himself. From what he heard his wife loved it so much she’d been after him to have it done again. To say Brad was reluctant to allow hot wax near his goods again was an understatement.

“Nothing you can bitch about will be any worse than what you’ve done to everyone else over the years. In fact, I believe Haley is now my hero.”

“She’s dead to me,” he said with a sniff.

“Uh huh,” Brad said, stealing the ball and making a rather shitty shot.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jason demanded, taking the ball back.

Brad shrugged. “It just seems that you like her.”

“I do like her,” he said easily before adding, “When she’s not betraying me she’s my buddy.”

“She’s a very hot buddy in a very cute way I would say,” Brad added.

“There is that, too,” Jason said, dribbling the ball. “It’s nice to have eye candy around for my enjoyment.” He looked Brad over. “It wouldn’t kill you to pretty yourself up if you’re going to be in my presence.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Brad said wryly.

“See that you do.”

After a few minutes of playing, Brad asked, “So, is there anything going on between you and Haley?”

Jason just barely held back a laugh. “Come on! She’s my buddy. I don’t see her that way!”

“Uh huh.”

“I don’t.”

“Sure.”

Jason shoved the ball at Brad. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Brad shrugged as he took another shot. “Nothing. Just noticed how you watch her sometimes.”

“Oh? Enlighten me. How do I watch her?”

Brad looked down at the ball as he bounced it once, twice, and then looked up. “Like you want to devour her from top to bottom and you’d kill anyone who got in your way.”

Jason snorted. Then for good measure he snorted again. “No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“It’s all in your head.”

“Whatever you say,” Brad said easily, pissing Jason off more.

He didn’t want Haley. He didn’t look at her in any special way. She was his friend, his buddy, his amigo and he saw her as that not some tasty morsel he wanted to devour. Okay, so yeah she was hot and those glasses made her look utterly adorable and he noticed that she had really nice legs and big breasts that he was sure would cradle his head very nicely, but who wouldn’t notice that? She was also short which made him protective of her, and he liked putting his arm around her because she felt good against his side and fit perfectly under his arm. So what? It didn’t mean anything more than friendship.

“Oh, here comes the object of your desire now,” Brad said, chuckling.

“Shut up!” Jason snapped before he turned his attention to Haley who was in a new green silk blouse and a dark skirt. It looked like she was going to work, not hanging out on a Sunday. She held a foil covered plate in front of her.

“You look nice. Where are you off to?” Brad asked.

Haley sighed, “Barbeque.”

Both men gaped as they looked her over. “You’re going to a barbeque like that?” Brad asked. Who went to a barbeque like that? What happened to jeans and a tee shirt or a tank top? Clearly they still had much to work on.

“Family barbeque, don’t ask,” she said before turning her attention to him. “Are you still mad at me?”

He grunted before walking off.

“Oh, come on! I eventually let you go!” He flipped her off without looking back. “Come on! That cake wasn’t half as yummy as it looked. It left me uncomfortably full!” she yelled, earning a laugh from Brad and a second one finger salute from Jason.

“What do you have there?” Brad asked.

Haley sighed as she pulled back the foil, revealing large chocolate chunk cookies. “I made these for the big baby so he would stop his little tantrum.”

“Wow, those look really good! Can I have one?”

She shrugged. “Sure, since the baby doesn’t want one.”

Brad picked up a cookie and brought it up to his mouth. It was inches away when a large tan hand grabbed it. Jason snatched the plate from her before sending Brad a killing glare.

“How dare you touch my cookies, you bastard!” Jason said in utter disgust before popping the cookie into his mouth and heading back to his house.

“Damn those looked good, too,” Brad grumbled.

Haley sighed. “Don’t worry I have a second plate on my counter.” The words were barely out of her mouth when Jason abruptly changed course and headed towards her house.

“Well, there was,” she said, watching Jason walk into her house like he owned it. A minute later he walked out of her house, carrying both plates and the gallon of milk she had in her fridge. He headed back to his house, but not before he glared at Brad. “You cookie thieving bastard,” they heard him mutter.

Brad rolled his eyes, chuckling. “And people wonder how I lost weight rooming with him in college.”

Haley just laughed as she locked up her house and headed for her car. For a moment there she forgot the hell that awaited her.

She ignored the glare of the parking attendant as she pulled around her parent’s mansion and parked her own car. She tried not to roll her eyes, but she just couldn’t stop herself. Leave it up to her parents to go overboard for a family barbeque.

Why they bothered she would never know. It wasn’t like the rest of their family didn’t know they were rich. It also wasn’t like the rest of the family wasn’t also rich. They were always trying to prove they were the best and richest. Kind of pathetic if you asked her, no one did of course. She was just expected to show up at family functions, act perfect and bite her tongue. Yup, this was going to be so much fun.

For the next four hours, and that was the time her mother told her she absolutely had to stay or she’d throw a fit to end all fits, Haley was going to have to endure looks of pity over her marital status, childless state, job, and looks. Yup, this was going to be great. Just great.

Why couldn’t her damn reliable car have stalled on the way over here or better yet run out of gas leaving her stranded at the mercy of the wildlife that would maul her and save her from this hell? Was it really too much to ask for?

She ran a hand over her shirt to smooth it down as she approached the front door. Before she could knock the door was opened. Jameson, their snotty butler of ten years, looked distastefully down his nose at her.

“Your mother expected you a half an hour ago, Miss. Blaine,” he said with a sniff. It hadn’t escaped her notice that he called her sisters by their first names and even smiled when he did it.

She wasn’t about to stand here and argue with the man. “Where is she?”

Another sniff. “Madam is in the back yard. She’s very exhausted. She’s been working day and night on this barbeque. She was up at the crack of dawn and hasn’t rested since!”

“Uh huh,” Haley said absently as she walked past a lot of people she didn’t know. Funny how family barbeques in her family really meant bringing everyone they wanted to impress or schmooze. It seemed she was the only one that hadn't brought an entourage. She had friends she really cared about and could have brought, but well, it was because she cared about them that she couldn’t inflict this upon them.

“Haley, so nice to see you!” her cousin Jacob said. “You should come to the Vineyard this summer and stay at my new cottage. It’s fabulous, you’ll love it!” he said loud enough to draw attention to himself. She had no doubt that it was the for the benefit of the crowd around him considering he absolutely hated her. It might have something to do with her putting Nair in his shampoo when they were kids. Ah, whatever.

She simply gave that fake smile her mother drilled into her head and made her way to the backyard where she found her mother working hard at sipping a Martini and gossiping with her sisters, a few aunts, and her Grandmother snoozing in a wheelchair a few feet away under her own umbrella.

Her father, brother-in-laws and several Uncles, cousins and men she didn’t recognize sat on the opposite end of the large brick patio that spanned the entire length of the mansion. On the lawn, professional caterers were barbequing on huge gas grills while others set up food on tables and chairs around tables that now covered a small portion of the ten acre backyard.

It didn’t surprise her that there were no kids at the family barbeque and to suggest bringing a child here would send her mother into a snit. A social queen her mother definitely was, a mother and grandmother? Not even a little bit. She was hardly there for their childhood. Why do it when she could pay someone else was her mother's motto. Nannies and maids raised her and her siblings until the age of ten when they each in turn went to a private year round boarding school. From then on it was obvious they were only guests in this house.

Some might think it was a pathetic upbringing and to a point she would agree. Since they only saw children as an accessory they really had no business having them. It would have been a horrible childhood if her grandparents hadn’t bought a house close to her school the first week and took Haley to live with them. Thanks to her grandparents she had a wonderful childhood. She loved the life her grandparents had given her, which is one of the reasons at eighteen she took over her life and decided to pursue her own dreams instead of following in her family's footsteps.

“Oh, Haley! There you are, dear!” her mother said cheerfully. Was she trying to smile? Yup, it appeared she had Botox done once again. Her whole face looked completely frozen.

“Hello, mother,” she said, giving her mother a barely there kiss on the cheek as her mother gave her one.

“Have a seat, dear!” Her mother gestured to the seat next to her. Her sisters Martha and Rose gave her smirks as they picked up glasses or fluffed back their hair in attempts to show off whatever new trinket their husbands, more likely husbands’ secretaries, bought them.

“It’s so nice to see you, Haley,” Rose said with a cool smile as she jiggled her diamond bracelet.

“It’s nice to see you too, Rose. How are your children?” Haley asked.

Rose gave her a rather bland look. “How would I know?”

Haley opened her mouth to point out that they were in fact her children, but decided not to.

Martha leaned in trying to look discreet. The fact that she raised her voice kind of wrecked the effect. “You poor thing! I see the diet didn’t work.” She pouted. “Did you get dumped again?” She shook her head as if it was no consequence and pulled out a business card that she probably had ready for this moment. “Here’s the name of a good doctor who does wonders with removing fat and cosmetic surgery.”

Still smiling, Haley accepted the card. Since she’d lost a few pounds in the last couple of weeks and didn’t consider herself fat, especially since her stomach was flat, she knew her sister was delicately as ever pointing out that Haley was not stick thin like the rest of them. Flat breasts and looking skeletal was in apparently. Since she would never look like them or want to, she simply left the business card on the table.

She had no problem with how she looked. She was comfortable with her curves. In factm she had the same body type as her grandmother had when she was younger. The same one out cold in her wheelchair and the one that everyone here, but her, feared to piss off. She could be a little hellion to deal with. They all looked down on her for her middleclass ways forgetting that it was her hard work and sacrifices that made the family what it is today.

“You know they can reduce those things these days,” Rose said distastefully, pulling Haley from her thoughts.

“What things?” Haley asked, distracted by one of her cousins eying their grandmother like a vulture. She had no doubt he was counting her breaths. Hell, the little prick was mouthing the words. These people were pathetic.

“Your breasts, dear. They’re….well….they’re so lower class. They make you look like a waitress or something,” her aunt said sympathetically.

“I think you would look great with less….curves,” Rose added.

Smile. “I’ll keep it in mind, thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

“Oh, wait, dear!” her mother said, holding up her hand. “I wanted to ask you how your little hobby was going.”

Her little hobby meaning her job. Smile. “It’s going great. Thank you for asking. We’ll be breaking for the summer in two months. I’m thinking of traveling, or renting a cabin in New Hampshire for a few weeks.”

“Honestly, dear, I don’t know why you do it. If you're so determined to work you should go back to school and get a real degree in law or medicine like your father. Is it because you’re trying to meet a man?” her mother asked, sounding hopeful.

Smile. “No, I’m not looking for a man. I enjoy what I do.”

Her mother’s answer was a frown; well it looked like she was trying to frown. Actually, everyone at the table was frowning now. They couldn’t understand why she worked since none of them had ever worked a day in their lives. Personally she thought the whole bunch was rather spoiled and she was wondering why she came here in the first place. Then she remembered. She came here for Grandma. She couldn’t leave Grandma to these vultures and it didn’t hurt that Grandma threatened to take her over her knee and spank her if she didn’t show up.

“Sweetheart!” her father said, smiling hugely. He leaned over and kissed both cheeks. Smile. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I’m sorry it’s a couple of weeks late,” he said sheepishly.

“Thank you, dad,” she said, taking the birthday card. Smile. Her birthday had been five months ago. Yes, her entire family had forgotten, well except Grandma of course. She called at five in the morning, waking Haley up on her birthday, demanding that Haley should knock some sense into her parents. Haley calmed her down and thanked her for the gift she'd sent the day before. The next day she went and saw her. Her old nannies sent her birthday cards and gifts. Her friends made her a dinner and they went out, so it was okay.

“I can’t believe my little baby is twenty-five already!” he said.

“I know.” She couldn’t believe it either since she was twenty-nine, but hey if he wanted to make her younger who was she to argue?

“She’s twenty-nine, you fool!” Grandma said. “She turned twenty-nine in December. How I raised fools is beyond me,” Grandma grumbled.

Smile. “Thanks, Dad. It’s fine.”

His smile wavered and for the first time in her life he truly looked embarrassed and ashamed.

“I’m going to call you later this week,” he said firmly.

“Dad, it’s okay,” she said, letting him off the hook.

“No, it’s not,” he said before he forced the fake smile back and turned to respond to someone calling his name.

“Honestly, Haley. There is no need to create such drama over nonsense,” her mother said, trying to save face. Everyone sent her mother pitying looks and eye rolls at Haley as if it was Haley’s fault for simply living.

Smile. “Sorry, if you’ll excuse me,” she said, taking her card with her and sticking it in her purse. She walked over to her grandmother and sat down.

Grandma huffed. “I don’t know why you put up with such nonsense.”

“It’s fine.”

“The hell it is!”

For the first time since she arrived she let out a real smile.

“Deborah, what are we eating today?” Grandma demanded of Haley’s mother, her least favorite daughter-in-law.

Her mother smiled, well tried to smile. “We’re having Salmon with broiled spinach leaves, a nonfat mock potato salad and some nonfat sugarless flourless soy French delicacies that are simply to die for.”

Grandma’s eyes narrowed dangerously as her hand went for the cane. Haley discretely wrestled the cane away from her grandmother.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Grandma snapped as Haley put the cane next to her chair, away from Grandma while rubbing the back of her hand. Damn, Grandma had a firm grip.

“Behave,” Haley hissed, making Grandma smile. Out of all the children and grandchildren Haley was the only one who treated Grandma as a human and not an old responsibility they got stuck with.

Grandma turned her attention back to Deborah. “I want a burger, a hot dog and some real potato salad.”

“Mother dearest, we simply don’t have that here!” she said as if the very idea of having such basic food items in her house was unheard of.

Grandma glared at her for a moment longer before turning her attention to Haley. “You?”

“Me what?”

“You have those things in your house, don’t you?”

Haley nodded. “Yes.” In fact her freezer and pantry were filled to the brim with staples for barbeques since she lived for barbeque food in the summer, probably had something to do with Grandma raising her. The woman simply lived for barbeque food.

“Good,” Grandma said firmly as she gestured to Chris, her helper. The man was just entering his fifties, but he still worked hard to take care of Grandma. “Let’s go, Chris.”

Chris nodded and walked over obediently and began pushing Grandma around the house. Without looking back Grandma said, “Let’s go, Haley!”

Haley stood. “Go where?”

“To your house. Where else? Now come along before the parasites try to crash our party.”

Haley hid her smile as she obediently followed her grandmother out the door. No wonder she absolutely adored the old woman.