Chapter 2
Ries Kafatos watched the young beauty take off down the sidewalk, slightly perplexed in his inebriated state that she hadn’t wanted to join the party.
He’d been collecting women all evening, promising them a night of debauchery the likes they’d never seen before.
So far, he’d collected a harem of ten willing women who had agreed to join him on his yacht for a night of drinking, dancing, and other carnal pleasures.
He leaned against the building for a moment, smiling as he imagined the look on Damon’s face when the news of Ries’ latest party hit the papers.
He’d made sure to invite a local journalist willing to get the inside scoop.
After all, Ries’ playboy antics were for naught if he couldn’t draw attention to himself and irritate his older brother.
Damon was the oldest of the three Kafatos brothers and while Ries knew he meant well, he was an overbearing and controlling perfectionist. Due to the untimely death of their parents, Damon had been forced to take the reins of the family business while he was still in his teens.
Nicolai and Ries had been too young to help with the business at the time, leaving Damon to shoulder all of the burdens upon his lanky frame.
Now that the three brothers were all adults, they’d each assumed a role to play.
Damon was the controlling dictator, overlord and self-proclaimed ruler of the family.
Nicolai played the role of pacifier, constantly trying to smooth things over between the other two brothers.
As for Ries, he’d assumed the role of screw up and playboy.
His outrageous antics and propensity to draw the media’s attention kept the tension between him and Damon near boiling point.
It was a role which kept him from having to handle any responsibilities in the family business.
Playing the role of philanderer wasn’t hard for Ries. His ready charm with an endless supply of money made playing the spoiled, rich boy easy. Irritating Damon was just an added bonus.
“Ries. Man, you out here?” Chris Parker’s voice called from the sidewalk.
“Here.”
“What are you doing outside? You’ve got a bunch of women inside waiting for the party you promised them.
” Chris had been Ries’ personal assistant for the last three years and was responsible for keeping Ries from crossing the line too far.
Ries appreciated Chris’ frequent saves when he flirted too closely with disaster but always pretended to resent his assistant’s interference.
“Followed a cute little thing out here but she didn’t seem inclined to play.” Ries pushed away from the building and wavered just slightly. He turned and looked down the street where Stephanie had disappeared, a frown appearing on his brow. “Maybe I should go after her? She sounded upset.”
“Maybe she was upset that you were hitting on her?” Chris suggested.
“No. She saw something…”
“You’ve had too much to drink to be out here wandering around on your own.
You certainly shouldn’t be chasing after some gal who already turned you down,” Chris told him, coming forward and slipping Ries’ arm over his shoulder.
“Let’s get you back inside. There are plenty of beautiful and willing women waiting for you. ”
Ries sighed and allowed Chris to turn him back toward the bar’s entrance. “You think I drink too much?”
“I know you drink too much,” Chris replied. “That’s the reason I have a job.”
In truth, his job was not only to monitor Ries’ penchant for drinking to excess but also talk him down from attempting idiotic stunts while drunk.
Chris didn’t mind making sure Ries was having a good time – within reason.
Ries had a tendency to attempt crazy and daring stunts when he got really drunk.
It was Chris’ job to direct Ries’ attention elsewhere.
“You don’t have to worry about me tonight. I invited those two police officers inside.”
“To the yacht?” Chris asked for clarification.
“Sure. They were eyeing the booth and I walked over and introduced myself. I could tell they were a little suspicious because I’m not from here. I promised to only bring good publicity to Stavros.”
Chris stopped Ries and shook his head, “You invited two police officers to the yacht? Ries, what were you thinking?”
“Well, I saw them talking to that beauty who took off.”
“The girl who turned you down?” Chris asked, trying to follow Ries’ train of thought.
“Yes. She was talking to one of the officers, and she seemed kind of upset, but they just blew her off. I thought maybe I could find her around the back and almost collided with her attempting to get there.”
“The woman who was talking to the police? You ran into her?”
“Not quite. Anyway, she didn’t want to party, and she was really upset about something. She was trying to get to the police station.” Ries pressed a hand to his temple and then took a calming breath.
“Didn’t she talk to the officers inside?”
“She did, but for some reason they didn’t or wouldn’t help her.
She said something about a crime being committed and then pushed me away and took off.
” Ries turned and took a step in the direction Stephanie had gone moments earlier.
“She seemed really upset.” Chris’s hand on his arm stopped his forward momentum.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Let’s go gather up your harem and head for the yacht. Do you still want to invite those officers? I could go talk to them for you.”
Ries considered that question as they headed back inside the bar and then made a decision. Stephanie seemed like a beautiful young woman and was really upset, and yet, the police didn’t help her.
“Don’t say anything to the police. That was probably a bad idea on my part. Let’s gather up the women and head out.”
Upon reaching the booth, Ries found himself surrounded by gorgeous women from different countries. Tall, short, all colors of hair, all gorgeous, and all ready to party the night away. “Ladies, did you miss me?” he asked, although without his usual measure of enthusiasm.
Realizing that all was not right with the local police and worrying about Stephanie stole some of his enthusiasm for the party he’d been planning all afternoon.
Two women hooked his arms with their own as they towed him towards the exit.
Ries smiled down into their eyes, doing his best to put the incident with Stephanie out of his mind.
“I can’t seem to remember any of your names,” he commented to the dark-skinned beauty on his left and the blonde on his right.
“That’s all right, you don’t need to know our names to have a good time,” the blonde informed him with an inebriated giggle.
Ries smiled and squeezed her closer, “That’s right. I don’t, do I?”
“Ladies, if you’ll get into the limo and slide all the way to the front, I believe we can all fit into the one vehicle,” Chris said as he held open the rear passenger door.
“We don’t mind getting cozy, do we girls?” one of the women asked.
Ries guessed by her accent and coloring that she was French, but everything was slightly blurry and after all, he didn’t really need to know their names or where they were from.
They all knew the score, that this was a one-time event and, in the morning, Chris would ensure they were all returned to wherever they needed to go to resume their lives.
Ries waited as the women climbed inside, looking back inside at the place where the two officers sat, nursing their drinks. He frowned and asked Chris, “Do the police consume alcohol while on duty in your country?”
Chris followed his eyes and shook his head, “If they did and anyone reported it, they’d be out of their jobs rather quickly.”
“That’s what I thought, as well.” Ries made a mental note about the policemen.
First, they ignored a woman in distress and now they were drinking while in uniform and presumably on the job.
The situation deserved more thought, especially if he was going to be in the area for any length of time and possibly needing their assistance.
“Did you forget something?” Chris asked, gesturing toward the open limo door and raising a brow as Ries continued to stand on the sidewalk.
“No. I believe everything we need is already inside.” Ries climbed into the limo and found himself surrounded by the women once more.
It was obvious the women were waiting for him to decide what came next and suddenly Ries found himself struggling to hide his true feelings.
Everyone who looked at him saw a carefree, party boy who didn’t have any concept of the future or concerns about anything other than his own personal gratification.
It was all that anyone had ever seen in him, from the time he’d turned sixteen and entered the party scene.
In reality, Ries hated his life and the perception people had of him.
The expectations they placed upon his shoulders to always be the life of the party and expecting him to thumb his nose at society.
He didn’t want to be the party boy but he’d created this life for himself and now he felt trapped by it.
I’m incapable of doing anything else. No one expects anything from me and that’s exactly what I give them. Nothing tangible. I’m the rich, handsome, wealthy playboy who’s always up for a good time. I couldn’t even help a woman on the street. I just let her walk off to fend for herself.
“Ries, you okay?” Chris whispered as the limo pulled up to the docks.
Ries shook himself and then nodded, “Never better. Ladies, I hope you brought your suits.”
“And if we didn’t?” one beauty asked, leaning forward and giving him a glimpse of her ample cleavage beneath the short top.
“Well, then I guess you’ll just have to do without,” Ries suggested blandly. The women looked at him for a minute and then laughed when he waggled his brows and confided quietly, “I personally never wear a swimsuit. I just don’t see the need.”
They talked amongst themselves and Ries leaned back, his thoughts going once more to Stephanie. I hope she’s okay. She needed help. Why didn’t I offer her something tangible?