27. Taylor
Chapter 27
Taylor
I turn the key over and over in my fingers, something that’s become a habit when no one else is around.
I have the note, as well, although I don’t carry it around with me. It sits safely in the small, inside zipper pocket of my work backpack. A square blue note with one line scrawled in prep school handwriting.
The room is yours if you want it. Keycode 6582.
And although I spend nearly every night in the room now, slipping across the hall when the two of them turn off the lights in Ainsley’s room, I’ve never taken him up on the offer to make the room anything more than a guest room. Never mentioned finding the note and the key on the bedside table when I woke that first night.
And sure as shit never told a soul that I still carry the damn thing around with me like some kind of twisted good luck charm.
But, even if I didn’t take up residence in that massive, empty room in that massive, nearly empty apartment, it’s hard to deny that the last few weeks haven’t brought on a bout of good luck.
Things are progressing, slowly, but promisingly at my parents’ house. The steady stream of cash from my paychecks has been successful in hiring contractors and lining the right pockets. I’m starting to feel hopeful about the mess of a situation for the first time since my father took me down to the basement and showed me how bad they’d let the problem get.
And then there’s the plane I’m currently sitting on.
It’s not a private jet, something I teased Ainsley about, though god knows why. The last thing I want is to pollute the planet with more jet fuel than necessary. It is first class, though, a first for me.I’m sitting in a single seat by the window, several rows behind Ainsley and Gemma. He offered to let me sit with her, ever the gentleman, but I refused, settling into my single seat like a contented little martyr.
The two of them have gotten closer over the last few weeks, there’s no denying that. We all spend the majority of our time at Ainsley’s house now. His quiet kitchen, his comfortable living room, his showers—yes, multiple showers—that are luxurious and hot and appear in my dreams more often than I’d ever admit.
I guess we’ve all gotten closer.
Ainsley and I seem to have some kind of truce at work, where he doesn’t fuck up, and I leave him alone. But if I’m being honest, and believe me, I'm only being honest to myself, it’s more than that.He’s good at whatever job I assign him. I’ve stopped trying to find the most torturous positions I can for when he shows up to do his hours, and instead, I find myself looking forward to when he arrives—so he can help out where it’s needed most.
He’s good with the customers. He can solve problems as well as I can. He figures out easier ways to do things and then tells everyone around him, explaining and teaching in a way that makes me narrow my eyes but keep my mouth shut.
I still don’t leave him alone to season anything, or make decisions about recipes or menu pairings, but as far as I can tell, the guy could be running the front of the house. And HR.
He’s still got almost a month’s worth of hours left, and already a few of the cooks have approached me about his going away party, like he’s a long-time team member, off to greener pastures, instead of a delinquent student volunteer.
I get it. He’s personable. Far more so than me.
As for our bedroom truce, it’s holding steady. No sword play, but plenty of sharing. Gem’s in hog fucking heaven with the two of us finally communicating in bed, coming up with more and more creative ways to tag team her willing body.
The overhead speaker informs me that it’s time to buckle up and prepare for landing. I slug back the rest of my whiskey, and hand the glass to the flight attendant. It’s the fourth one they’ve served me on this five-hour flight. I guess in first class there are fewer rules, because I sure as shit don’t think I’ve ever gotten more than one mini bottle of the cheap stuff in coach.
We’re about to land in paradise, and I don’t think I’m ready.
The two of them badgered me into taking this trip for the long President’s Day weekend. Gem insisted that I have enough vacation stored up for a year off, and Ainsley assured me that everything would be taken care of because his dad owns the resort.
So, here I am. Slightly buzzed, in brand new flip flops, and landing for my first vacation in…well, ever.
Ainsley may have lowered himself to flying commercial, but he still gets the rockstar treatment on the other side. We’re met by an eager man from the resort, who has a van waiting to take us to the water taxi. Two other resort workers collect our luggage and transport it to the boat for us.The water taxi is just a ferry, but with no cars, and far more people than seems safe crowded on board.Gem squeals when she sees dolphins jumping alongside the boat, dragging my attention away from counting the overhead life jackets just long enough to pull her closer to my side.
We’re delivered to the resort just after 4:30 in the afternoon. I’m exhausted from traveling and my waning buzz. All I want is to find our room and start my first of many naps, but we’re met in the lobby by a taller, darker, older version of Ainsley.
“Taylor?” Ainsley’s dad, Ben, asks when we’re introduced, taking my hand in a firm handshake. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Ben’s fiancé, Victoria, who can’t be a day older than Ainsley, greets him far more familiarly than I expect. A big hug held a moment too long. A conspiratorial grin.
She’s gorgeous, obviously, fit like a yoga teacher, and dressed in what looks like designer clothes. Girl caught herself a damn prize , I think ungenerously to myself, wondering why she hasn’t dragged him down the aisle yet.I can’t take my eyes off her, and I know it’s partially because she hasn’t taken her hands off Ainsley. She holds him at arm's length after they hug. She grasps his upper arm as he introduces Gem and me.
“This is your girlfriend, huh?” she asks, smile turning sly.
Ainsley looks to Gem and then to me, taking a step back from Victoria and taking Gem’s arm, shifting closer to where I stand on his other side.
Victoria and Ben watch the whole thing with hawk eyes.
“Yeah,” Ainsley says finally, his answer only drawing more questioning looks from the concerned parental folks.
We should’ve gone over what we were going to say long before we arrived at this moment, but here we are.
“I’d wrestle a dolphin for a nap right now.” The words fly out of my mouth without me considering beforehand how ridiculous they’re going to make me look.
I don’t care, though. They do their job.
Ben and Ainsley, host and host Jr, jump as if given mild electric shocks, looking around for the bellboy and our rolling rack of luggage.
“Sir,” a uniformed attendant speaks up from behind Ben, “all of your guests' things have been taken to the west penthouse suite.”
Ben nods to the man and turns back to us, speaking directly to me. “We’ll take you guys up there.” He slips his arm through Victoria’s, and his meaning is suddenly clear.
I step forward, resting my hand on Ben’s upper arm and returning his polite smile. “I’m sure Ainsley knows the way.”
I look back over my shoulder to where the man in question is standing, stunned still by something about this interaction.
He nods. “Yeah, Dad. We’re fine.”
“Dinner, then,” Ben responds, refusing to let us leave with the upper hand, though I don’t even understand what game we’re playing. “I made reservations at seven.”
“Sounds good,” I respond for the group as I walk toward the elevators, glancing at the others to join me.
“What the hell was that all about?” I demand as soon as the doors close behind us.
“I didn’t know what to say,” Ainsley admits, looking down at his feet in a display of shame I rarely see from the guy.
Something about his demeanor has me unsettled. “You didn’t know what to say about our relationship? ”
“Yeah. We’ve never talked about it, and then Vicki asked if Gem was my girlfriend?—”
“Which I am,” Gem interrupts.
Ainsley nods. “Which you are. But you’re more than that. Your Taylor’s girlfriend too. And he’s…I’m…we’re something.”
“This is something, all right,” I mutter to myself as the elevator comes to a stop, the doors opening on a bright, wide-open patio, complete with pool.
“We should have talked about it before we met your dad, I guess,” Gem offers, slipping her arm into Ainsley’s as we cross the sunny patio toward a set of double sliding glass doors leading into what looks like a two-story suite on top of this resort tower.
The A/C in the room provides instant relief, and with that relief, my brain comes back online. “How long have your dad and Victoria been together? Can’t have been too long.” I can’t help but sneak in a joke about her age. I know it’s going to be the first of many.
Ainsley shakes his head. “Almost four years.”
It’s not his answer, but his tone that makes me dig further. “You seem to know each other pretty well.”
“We’re friends.”
“You could have been classmates,” Gem adds from where she now stands behind an island in the open kitchen.
Ainsley’s growing more uncomfortable by the second, and I wonder if it’s embarrassment over his dad shacking up with someone young enough to be his sister. “It must be tough for your new stepmom?—”
Ainsley shuts me up with both hands pushing hard on my shoulders, a move so sudden and fierce that it nearly sends me over the coffee table.
“She’s not my stepmom!” he roars, standing over me as I try to recover from my near fall.
I straighten and take a few steps back, bumping into Gem, who’s come up behind me. She wraps her arms protectively around my middle and we both just stare at Ainsley, who’s breathing heavily, flushed, and clearly embarrassed by his outburst.
When he recovers, he won’t look at us. “I’m going to take my stuff upstairs.” He turns and starts toward the pile of luggage in the foyer.
“Hold on,” Gem says, releasing me and taking a step toward him.
“Whatever’s going on here, buddy, you can tell us.”
I want to be supportive, empathetic to the fact that there’s some serious family drama just under the surface, and he might be hesitant to blurt it all out. I certainly know how that goes, considering I have yet to share any of my family problems with the guy.
“It’s nothing. It’s fine,” he answers, still not looking up. “I’m going to take some stuff upstairs. Do either of you have a preference?—”
“Ainsley,” Gem starts, taking a step toward him with her hands out low, as if approaching a scared animal. “We are going to spend the next two days with these people. I know it might feel scary to say it out loud, but I promise you’ll feel better. And we can help.”
He looks down at the luggage once more, as if considering bailing, but then he sighs and shakes his head, gaze drifting out the large window overlooking the pool. Anywhere but at us.
“It’s not a big deal,” he says finally.
Gem takes another step toward him, feeling the surrender. “Great. So just tell us and we can get to our nap.”
Neither Gem nor I could have prepared ourselves for what comes out of his mouth, though.
“Vicki and I…used to date. ”
Stunned silence follows his admission.
Gem recovers first. “You…and her?” It’s more of a stutter than a question, but it gets Ainsley talking again.
“Not for a long time. We met doing a volunteer trip and then moved here to Faraday together. She got a job at the resort teaching Pilates, and I bummed around the island, avoiding my dad, who was trying to get me to start college. It wasn’t serious. It was just, I don’t know. After a few months, I took off, like an asshole. I didn’t say anything, I just left. My dad showed up right around that time after being tipped off that I was on the island, and…well, the rest is history.”
“Your dad stole your girlfriend?” I finally manage a few words as my mind reels. I walk up closer, beside Gem, as if the proximity will help me understand.
Gem elbows me. “More like his ex-girlfriend stole his dad.”
Ainsley shakes his head. “Neither. It’s totally fine.”
“It’s fucked up, that’s what it is.”
“No, man. It’s totally okay. She and I were more like friends with benefits anyway, and then I bailed on her and she found someone new. That’s how it goes. We’ve worked it out, the two of us. The three of us. It’s all good now.”
I’m dying to badger him about those benefits—and if he ever talks about them with dear old dad—but Gem can apparently read my mind and moves in to comfort him before I can attack.
“Thanks for telling us, Ains. That’s huge. I’m glad we know so we can support you.” She tosses a look over her shoulder that tells me I better fall in line.
I’m still too stunned to argue. “Totally, man. We’ve got your back.”
“Thanks. Now let’s get this stuff upstairs so we can nap, okay?”