The Arrangement

An Ally

Both Daniel and I had ignored each other before David arrived late Friday night. He didn't even show up for our noon meeting. I hid in my room when I heard David.

"I'm home!"

I ran down and threw myself in his arms while Daniel stood back and watched.

"It's chilly in here. I thought you two were playing nice in the sandbox."

"We were until I found out your brother's been controlling my life!" I spat.

David looked at his brother with raised eyebrows and Daniel said, "I'm getting a beer. Do you want one?"

"Sure. Paige?" David asked.

"She can get her own damn beer if she wants one!" Daniel replied.

"Testy. Come on Paige come sit on the porch with me."

I went because I missed him. Both the brothers looked alike, but there were differences. David's hair was a lighter brown and cut much shorter. I imagined it was to fit under his scrub cap in surgery. He had an earring but his brother was not cool enough. Both were tall and built, but because Daniel was always a swimmer, his shoulders were broader.

I listened as David talked, but grew tired of Daniel glaring at me and went up to bed. If he ruined David's visit, I'd be pissed.

When I woke on Saturday morning it was early. Hershey was gone so I suspected that her owner was up. Patricia had the weekend off because David had permission to babysit us.

Thankfully coffee was brewed. I heard voices on the porch and froze.

"Why the hell did you get rid of the boyfriend?" David asked.

"I couldn't help it. Joel had to call him in because his performance sucked. Believe me, he wasn't the only one. Anyways I was getting coffee one morning..."

"You don't have a girl to bring it to you," David teased.

"I could, but I like to move about. I hate sitting all day. Do you want to hear my story? Okay so I was getting coffee and I heard someone talking in the adjacent room which has a copy machine and shit like that. I listened because whoever it was wasn't working.

"Then I heard, 'I just have to hang on until Labor Day, then no one will hassle me about numbers. The chick I'm doing won't fire me and no one will be able to without her approval. I can keep sleeping with her. I could do worse'."

I gasped.

"Where's this bastard? I want to punch him!" David exclaimed.

"Believe me. I was ballistic and walked in on him. One look at me and he hung his fucking phone up. I told him that he had better break up with her and that I personally would be reviewing his numbers. If they didn't rapidly improve, he'd be on the street."

"Why didn't you tell Paige?" David asked.

"Because I couldn't without telling her that he was using her. I was trying to protect her, but I guess it backfired on me. I'm the one she's pissed at."

"She's been pissed at you since high school," David said.

"I was a stupid jerk. She thinks I'm sleeping with Felicity..."

"The one from Christmas?"

"Yeah, but I was done with her by New Years. I just needed a distraction because I hated the idea of Christmas without Mom."

"I know, you had Dad so pissed off even he wasn't mourning," David laughed.

"Oh, I've got to go. We'll go out on the boat when I get back."

I heard his chair scrape and I ran to the stairs and turned around as if I hadn't been eavesdropping. He walked by me without even a glance.

I couldn't believe he was protecting me from Nate. The problem was that Nate told me it was just sex, so if Daniel had told me the truth, I would have believed him.