Page 10 of Make No Mistake

Four

My smile was still goingstrong when I pulled into the parking lot outside my apartment. Today had not gone as expected, at all. I’d woken up wanting to cancel, and left with a new best friend, one that had the potential to be a co-conspirator and wise advisor. Not too shabby for a Saturday morning.

I unloaded my board and carried it to the small storage unit Aubrey and I shared. I took up most of the space with my surfboards, longboard, and paddleboard since Aubrey claimed the things she valued most could fit in her closet. She wasn’t one for outdoor activities.

“Mac!” I nearly dropped the lock I was attempting to close on the door. Jay appeared next to me looking weary. I secured the door and turned to face him.

“Hey, what’s going on?” He didn’t respond immediately. Instead he looked around the parking lot like he was trying to come up with an excuse to leave. He did call me out, didn’t he?

I chose to ignore him and walked back to my car for my bag and towel. He followed silently behind me. Whatever was going on in his head was leaving him seriously distracted. I gathered up my things and locked my car before heading toward the stairs leading to my apartment. I was halfway up before he spoke.

“Mac, wait.” I turned and saw his face was now a mix of frustration and nerves. Neither of which I was used to seeing on my normally calm and focused friend.

“Jay, what is wrong with you? You look like you’re about to tell me someone died.”

He took a deep breath and shoved his hands through his hair. Another thing he would never, ever do under normal circumstances. Maybe someone did die. That always happens when you say it. You think you’re joking but really someone’s in the hospital.

“Oh no, did something actually happen? Is Aubrey okay? Is it Brandon?”

“Mac, stop. Everyone is fine, as far as I know. I just need to ask you something, but I really hate that I have to.”

My hand went to my chest to calm my racing heart. “Geez, Jay. Could you not act like you’re here to be the bearer of bad news?”

“Well, I kind of am.” He paused and looked down but didn’t give me enough time to ask another question. “I need to ask a favor of you. I want to start off with an apology. You know I wouldn’t do this unless I was desperate.”

“Are you in trouble, Jay? Do you need money or help moving a body?” I tried to laugh, but he was seriously freaking me out now.

“No, it’s nothing like that. I just hate having to ask you, but you’re the only one I can, because you’re the only one that knows. Well, I guess Aubrey does, but Carter would kill me.”

I cut off his rambling. I couldn’t handle it anymore. “Get to the point, Jay!”

“Will you come with me to a gala for my dad tonight?” He scrunched his eyes and seemed to be holding his breath.

Holy crap, was he for real? This whole time I’d been waiting for him to tell me the worst, and this was it? Actually, he probably did that on purpose. He’s smart like that. Under any other circumstance, I would have immediately turned down an invitation to anything having to do with his dad’s circle, but now it didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Well played, my friend.

“Open your eyes, Jay. I’ll go with you, but next time, don’t be so dramatic. You really freaked me out.”

He jumped up the steps separating us and pulled me in for a hug. “You’re the best! Thank you so much!”

I shoved him away and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, whatever. When is it?”

He dropped a few steps and cowered. “Tonight.” He looked at his watch. “Actually in about three hours.”

“Three hours? You expect me to find a black-tie appropriate dress in less than three hours?” I was already freaking out. I didn’t have those just lying around, waiting to be worn to some show or gala. I was a college student! I lived in yoga pants and university hoodies!

“I already talked to Aubrey. She said she would take care of that as long as I could convince you to come.”

“You went behind my back? You little manipulator!” I was seriously regretting our friendship.

“I knew you would do it for me! You know how much my dad stresses me out. What kind of friend would you be if you let me go through this alone?”

I shook my head but knew deep down he was right. Despite the way he went about asking, I would never make him go to any party for his dad alone. That was the highest form of torture to him. He might have grown up in the world of the rich and famous, but he hated it. After his mother died, his dad abandoned him in the name of making money. He was raised by a revolving door of nannies and au pairs. Jay had told me stories of being alone on Christmas and Thanksgiving while he dad was jet setting around the world with whatever model or actress he was dating at the time. The only time his dad was around was to criticize him—anything from his clothes, to his choice in hobbies, to not getting an A on a project. He missed seeing his son grow up and missed his milestone and achievements, but was always there to throw in a jab about achieving Whittaker excellence. Jay abandoned ship, changed his name, and tried to avoid his father for obvious reasons. If he was having to go to this event, there must be a good reason behind it.

“Fine, but you owe me big time! The last time I went to one of these with you, people assumed I was the help and kept asking me for refills.”

He laughed but shook his head. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen this time.”