Darker The Forbidden Berry

*****

“Hey! What do you think about this look?” Aja asked, twirling in front of Finn, her black, lace beach cover up fluttering just above her knees.

Finn looked her up and down, his eyes lingering on the tight, neon yellow bikini peeking out from the cover-up.

“You look great, but you always do. Why are you so concerned anyway?”

“Because I’ve never met these people before. I don’t really know what kind of party this is going to be. What if this is too casual?”

Finn cocked a well-groomed brow and looked out the sliding glass doors of their balcony. A small dance floor was being set up and food and speakers were being wheeled through the sand as Ryan waved his hands around, giving very animated instructions.

“Ryan is wearing a pair of Budweiser swim trunks. I don’t really think we’re talking about a formal event here.”

Truth was, Aja just wanted to make sure she was the only girl Finn would be looking at tonight. There were a few girls who seemed very friendly with him. Her reasons for wanting to keep them away should have been purely business, but that was not the case.

“You look amazing, Aja. You have nothing to worry about. You’re going to fit right in,” he said, standing and offering his hand. “C’mon. Let’s go see what’s going on, yeah?”

She took his hand and followed Finn out to the beach where quite a few new people had started showing up. There were pretty girls scattered about, laughing and chatting with each other. A tall blonde woman with chiseled abs and toned arms was standing in the middle of the circle, a volleyball resting on her hips. Her tiny bathing suit barely clung to her ample bre*sts, not leaving much to the imagination. This same woman had been one of the girls getting a little too chummy with Finn. Their eyes met for a moment and Aja pulled her gaze away, following Finn over to the food table.

“Ryan gets the best catering for all of his parties. It’s the main reason people come,” he said, grabbing a plate of shrimp.

Aja grabbed her own plate and they returned to the small crowd. She found herself standing beside the blonde, listening and trying to catch her name. Someone finally called her and Aja had her answer. Allison.

“Oh! Aja! This is Killian,” Finn said, breaking Aja from her focus.

“Huh?”

Finn had his arms thrown around a strange man’s muscular shoulders. He was tan with kind, honey eyes and a soft smile that gave her the impression that he was easy to talk to.

“Nice to meet you, Aja,” he said, offering his impressively large hand to her.

She took it and turned around to ask Finn how they knew each other, but Finn had already walked away, headed towards the small circle of people who had gathered around the bonfire. Aja turned back to Killian and forced a smile.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Finn has been talking about you a lot. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

Her heart fluttered a bit and she bit her lip. He’d been talking about her? To his friends. That was a very good sign.

“Yeah. It’s been a little weird since I technically work for his parents but I think we have a nice friendship budding.”

“Yeah. His parents are a little crazy. They’re kind of known in our circles to be control freaks.”

“You don’t think their worries are legitimate?” She asked curiously.

“Not really. I mean, He’s a ladies man for sure, but he’s also a grown man and he’s an entirely responsible person. I think his parents would be shocked if they realized how much normal guy stuff he turned down for work. I mean, this is the first time we’ve seen him in months.”

Aja blinked in surprise before her brows pulled together.

“He’s at like 2 parties a week…” Maybe he just did not like hanging out with this particular group of people often.

“Of course he is. They’re social engagements. When you own that many businesses and have that much money, you have to keep up appearances. It’s an important part of the lifestyle.”

Aja had not really thought about that. All of the sleeping around was probably just a side effect of all the partying.

“What his parents don’t understand is that their parties and his parties are different,” Killian said, arms crossed. “They’re in their 70’s so they go to highbrow events. Finn’s are a little more down to earth. Truth is, all of the socializing is why their empire here is thriving.” He shrugged and turned to look at Aja. “What about you? What’s your story? How do you two know each other? You said you worked for his parents, but that doesn’t really tell me much.”

Aja’s eyes were fixed on Finn. He had his arm around the shoulders of the busty blonde now and they were both laughing. She felt the heat rise in her chest and up into her cheeks.

“His parents hired me to keep an eye on him. They don’t want him doing anything that might affect their business interests.”

She could hear herself speaking but she was not really paying attention to what she was saying anymore. She was focused on the two people in front of her. Two people who are getting too close for her own comfort. She knew that she had no right to be angry with him or to be angry with her but she was angry and she could not help the emotions that were rolling around in her brain. a moment of silence passed between them before Killian spoke again.

“Do you want to go to the bar? Grab a drink?” He asked, motioning over towards the stand-alone bar with the thatched roof.

She should have said no. Aja felt like all she did anymore was drink, but she was upset and numbing the pain sounded like a good idea. She nodded but did not respond verbally and walked over to the bar. Killian followed her and eventually, they both settled on the bar stool and began making idle conversation. Aja talked about school and her favorite restaurants in Detroit and Killian matched her bland conversation. They were both sipping drinks, trying desperately to loosen up, but it was not working. Even as they downed their second drinks, the conversation remained stiff.

Aja’s eyes had not left Finn. She watched him intently as he and Allison swayed together and laughed about some joke only known to them. The last time she’d seen him and felt like this was at that party over a month ago. She had not had a reason to be angry then. She still did not have a reason to be angry, but it at least felt a little more justified.

“Aja?”

Her head snapped around to look at Killian. His thick brows were pulled together and the corner of his lips had pulled down. He ran a hand through his thick brown curls.