Chapter 26
Neal takes me to a beautiful restaurant. It's practically empty and there's very few staff still lurking about.
"Isn't this place supposed to be closed?" I ask as the waiter takes us to a table.
"My brother's influence does come in handy sometimes. He did some 'big' thing for the owner of this place and pulled in a favor for me. Of course now this means I owe him one."
The waiter hands Neal the wine list and waits as he makes his choice. I always let him choose the wine because there's nothing I know about French wine, or any wine for that matter. I'm more of a Bud Lit and bottle of Jack kinda guy, or I was. I only drink when I'm with him now.
"We'll take the 98' La Fleur."
"Ah, that was a good year, sir. But I must tell you, the La Fleur is sold by the bottle."
"How much is it?" Neal asks, handing the menu back.
"450, sir."
My eyes widen in shock at the price. Four hundred and fifty dollars for one bottle of wine. Are these people crazy?
"Good," Neal reaches into his pocket and takes out his wallet. He pulls out a black credit card and hands it to the waiter. "We'll take two. And some oysters."
He's going to spend nine hundred dollars on wine? He's the crazy one.
The waiter greedily takes the card from Neal with a, "Yes sir, right away sir," before disappearing to the back of the restaurant.
"I hope you're not trying to impress me." I growl once we're alone.
Neal takes immediate notice of my anger. "Don't worry about that. That's my brother's card. I'm just trying to get back at him for the car thing."
"So you charge nine hundred dollars to his credit card? He's going to kill you."
"Harvey has more money than he knows what to do with. That's barely a dent in his wallet." Neal leans across the table and kisses my forehead. "Now stop frowning. You'll get wrinkles."
When the waiter comes back, Neal pops open the first bottle of La Fleur.
"Tell me again why you ordered oysters?" I ask looking down at the disgusting shell fish in front of us.
Neal laughs as he picks up one of the oysters. I watch in disgust as he slurps it back and then licks his lips.
"You just ate an oyster." I state. "Licking your lips will not make that any less disgusting."
He picks up another one, garnishes it with the condiments on the tray, and holds it out to me. My immediate reaction is, "Uh, no way. You eat all the raw, disgusting, slurpy fish you want. I'm gonna wait for the real food to arrive."
"Aw, c'mon babe." He insists. "Just one. I promise you'll love it."
He flutters those perfect blue eyes at me, knowing I can't say no to them. I chug back my entire glass of wine, not caring how vulgar I look doing so, and then turn back to the slimy morsel waiting for me. As Neal puts the oyster in my mouth, my only thought is to not throw up. I tilt my head back and the thing slides into my mouth. Neal removes the shell and watches enthusiastically as I start to chew the oyster.
"Don't chew it too many times," He warns. "I don't want you to be completely disgusted on your first time."
On his counsel, I swallow the oyster after the third bite.
"Well," He says eagerly. "How was it?"
I shrug and reply, "It wasn't bad."
"See, I told ya." He says taking another one for himself. "These things are an aphrodisiac, y'know."
I hit his arm as he puts the oyster in his mouth. "You fiend. Is that why you ordered them?"
"No," He laughs. "I knew you've never tried them before and I wanted to watch your face on your first time. You're cute when your mouth is being filled with foreign objects."
"Oh my god, sex jokes at the table. How classy."
Neal continues to eat the oysters, offering me one every once and a while that I take, and I finish off our first bottle of La Fleur. As Neal is uncorks our second bottle, I just so happen to glance at the window and see a group of drunk guys staring in making juvenile kissy faces at us.
"Oh no." I groan immediately recognizing a few of the stupid faces.
Neal turns to see them and asks, "Do you know them?"
"I really wish I didn't." I look back to the window and the guys are gone. And then I hear a commotion happening at the front of the restaurant. "Oh no, no, no," The guys find their way from the entrance to our table in a remarkably straight line for a bunch of drunks.
"Alex," Blaine calls out loudly. "Where have you been man? I haven't seen you since Thanksgiving." Because Blaine isn't tripping over tables and slurring his words, I know he's not as drunk as he could be.
"You saw me on Christmas and New Year's," I remind him. "You were just too drunk to remember."
"Oh yeah. That's right." He laughs as loud as he talks. "Hey man," He suddenly becomes serious. "Be honest with me. Are you two on a date?"
"Yes," I nod as if it wasn't obvious.
"And…and are we ruining it for you?"
"Yes," Neal answers this time.
"Aw, aw man I'm sorry. Look, I'll talk back later. Maybe then you can explain why you haven't called your best friend since New Year's."
"Wait," I grab his arm and prevent him from walking away. "Give me your keys."
Blaine pulls his arm out of my grip and smiles a sly smile. "Can't." He says. "I'm the designated driver."
"The hell you are." I nearly yell. "Give me your keys or-"
"Or what little man?" He taunts. "You forget who's been kicking your can since fifth grade?"
Neal surprises me and stands in front Blaine, blocking the exit. "Give him the keys." He asserts.
"And who are you?" Blaine questions.
"FBI Agent Neal Coleman. Your friend's trying to help you. I'd listen to him if I were you."
Blaine looks excited at meeting Neal. He pulls his keys out of his pocket and holds them in front of his face. "I'll give Alex the keys on one condition. You two come party with us."
"This is a date, Blaine." I casually remind him.
"Aw, c'mon Alex. You owe me one night after completely forgetting about me for four months."
Neal leans over to me and whispers, "We should take this conversation outside. Before we get kicked out." He nods his head towards the back and I chuckle at the sight of our distraught little waiter marching hurriedly to our table.
We all quickly beeline it out of the restaurant.
"Okay," Blaine says loudly once we're outside. "There's a club about a block that-a-way. I say we go and finish getting our buzz on."
Blaine and the rest of the fellows start walking in the direction of the club but before I can follow them, Neal grabs my arm.
"We're not going." He says plainly.
My eyebrow arches in surprise. "Pardon me?"
"Your team made me promise to watch over you when we go out. One of Agent Rossi's conditions for us going out was that we did not go to any clubs or parties. Did you forget that?"
"No," I say yanking my arm out of his grip. I came out to have a good time, not to be reminded that I'm here dishonestly.
Blaine, finally noticing we weren't following him, stops and turns around. "Hey, what are you two doing? Catch up ladies."
"Uh, we're…we're actually not into the club scene anymore." I'm forced to say.
"Not into the club scene? Since when?"
I shrug. "Uh, for about four months now."
"You mean since you started dating this dick?"
"Blaine, please. Don't-"
"Don't what, huh?" He starts walking to me until he's at arm's reach. "I've been your best friend since we were ten, now all of a sudden I don't hear from you for months and you're telling me you don't hit the scene anymore."
I haven't spoken to Blaine since I got back because I didn't want to tell him about Dalton. Blaine's a certified arse and, even though we're friends, there are certain things you don't tell certain people. He'd somehow find a way to make a joke about it like he does everything.
"Look, just…give us a minute. Okay. Please." I beg.
Blaine glares at Neal a minute longer before walking back to the rest of the guys.
"We can't." Neal says, obviously knowing what I was going to ask.
"C'mon, babe. Just one club. We have a couple of drinks, it'll give me time to catch up with Blaine, we could dance-"
"No," He barks. "No dancing."
I smile knowingly. "So that means we can go?"
Neal wraps his arm around my waist. Then he puts his hand in my front pocket and his thumb in my belt loop. "We go," He presses his body against mine. "But we stay just like this. You stay by my side every second. Got it?"
"Yes sir," I reply smugly.
We go to the club and Neal, Blaine, and I go straight to the bar. I remember ordering a third round of drinks, but then the rest of the night is a blur.
I wake up with a skull-splitting pain. I look around confused and afraid until I realize I'm in my bed at Jason's cabin. I notice I'm down to my underwear and wonder at what point during the night I started taking off my clothes, as that does happen when I start drinking.
"How…did I get…here?" I ask myself. I sit up and suddenly my stomach wants to come up to my throat. Jumping out of bed, I run to the bathroom and burry my head in the toilet. I puke out my insides until my stomach hurts.
"You're up," I look to the doorway and see Jason standing in it with a tray in his hands. The anger in his eyes makes one thing clear for sure. I did not get back before he woke up this morning.
"How-how did I get home?" I venture to ask.
"You don't remember?"
I try to remember what happened last night. Fuzzy memories of a lot of drinking comes forth. I remember Neal being mad about something. And then it starts to go blank. The curse of excessive drinking.
"N-no. Not really." I answer, flushing the toilet.
Jason steps to the side and ushers me out the door. "Well, let's go to your room and I'll see if I can refresh your memory."
Once in my room, Jason and I sit on my bed and he sets the tray between us. On the tray, he grabs a glass of tomato juice with a celery stalk sticking out of it.
"Drink." He says. "It'll help with your hang over." As I start drinking, Jason says, "I can't tell you the details of the entire date, but the jest: You started drinking, Neal was ready to go, you didn't want to stop drinking, and that's when Neal called Dave. Can you imagine his reaction at hearing that you were, not only out at a club after he forbade you not to go, but you were also drinking?"
I set the glass by my side and try to imagine Dave's reaction. I'm stuck between picturing him completely pissed off, down-right afraid for my safety, or disappointed.
"Dave then called me, at two in the morning, and Jack and I had to go to Washington and find the nightclub you refused to leave. You were practically passed out when Neal brought you out to the car. You fell asleep in the back seat and I had to carry you and Jack to bed. And just so you know, I am too old to carry a twenty-four year old man-child to bed."
"I…I'm sorry."
"Alex, I don't want to hear it. Not now. Finish your tomato juice and then go back to sleep. We'll finish this later."
"Are…are you gonna-"
"Yes," Jason answers my unasked question without hesitation. "You're not getting out of this one unscathed. You lied to me."
"I didn't lie." I correct feeling my conscience working overtime again. "I never said I wasn't going to go out. You just believed I wouldn't."
"I believed you wouldn't because I told you not to. You know what; we will talk about this later. Drink and go to bed."
I down the rest of the tomato juice and lie back in bed. Jason covers me and says, "Don't expect to have an easy day today."
The threat is ominous yet well understood but I am too tired to worry about the consequences.
When Jason wakes me, it's after noon. My mind is clear now and I can finally understand how much trouble I've actually gotten myself into. I sit up and really take in the fact that my clothes are gone. Since I passed out in the car last night, that means Jason had to undress me.
"H-hi," I say wearily. Jason is standing by my bed with his arms folded.
"Get up," He says. "Lunch is ready."
"I…I thought you were gonna-"
"You're still getting paddled." He answers. "But lunch first. Let's go."
Jason walks over to the door and I get out of bed and follow him.
He looks at me and says, "Are you going to get dressed?"
I look down at my body. I've been slowly getting used to seeing my body. When Dave and I are home alone, I sometimes walk around in my boxers, but this is the first time I've felt comfortable enough to walk around without clothes on in front of someone other than Dave or Neal.
"Is it that bad?" I ask brokenheartedly, referring to my body.
"No," He smirks pass his austere exterior. "Not at all,"
For lunch, Jason made sandwiches. Jack is sitting at the table when we enter the kitchen, his sandwich already halfway gone.
"Hey little guy," I say sitting beside him.
"Hi," He replies quietly.
I look to Jason for an explanation of the kid's put-off response and he gives me a look that says 'you know why'. I sigh and decide to worry about the kid later. I have enough on my mind already.
After lunch, Jack goes back to the library. I stand by the staircase and wait for Jason to give me further instruction.
"Go to your room." Jason orders. "I'm going to get Jack settled. I'll be up in a minute."
I go upstairs and wait anxiously on my bed. No matter how hard I try, I cannot stop thinking about the paddle. A tear slips from my eye as I remember the sting it brings.
As I wipe away the tear, the bedroom door opens and in comes Jason, wooden paddle in hand. He walks over to my bed and I stand up, ready to get it over with.
"You understand why you're about to be paddled?" He asks.
I nod and reply, "Because I went out with Neal when you said I couldn't because I was grounded, I was drinking, and I went to a club."
"Close," Jason corrects to my surprise. "You're about to be paddled because you snuck out of the cabin last night after I said you couldn't go out with Neal. David said he would take care of the rest of your waywardness."
"You mean…Dave's gonna punish me when he gets back too?"
"Yes and you deserve it. I'm at my wits end. I don't know what to do with you. I trusted you to be a responsible adult last night."
"Then why did you ground me like a child."
"Because you behave like a child. And if you think I treated you like a child then, just wait until you see what I have in store now." Jason sits down on the bed and pats his knee. "Over,"
"But-but…"
"Alex, we're done talking. Over my knee now."
My hands are shaking in fear as I drape myself over his lap. Jason places one hand on my back to steady me. He lies the hardwood paddle on my butt and stiffen. When he starts paddling, he starts lecturing.
"You will not disobey me again when I only have your best interest at heart. You will not lie to me."
"Ow, I didn't…lie," I argue.
Jason suddenly stops paddling me. He pulls down my boxers and starts spanking my upper thighs with his bare hand.
"Having me believe one thing when the other is true is the same as lying." He continues to scold. "Do not do it again."
"Okay," I whine, tears flowing heavily. "Please stop. I'm sorry."
"Are you?" Jason stops the assault on my ass.
"Y-yes," I choke out. "I-I'm sorry I disobeyed you and didn't tell you the truth. It won't happen again."
Jason pulls my boxers back up and I feel him replace the paddle on my backside. I stiffen, having thought it was over.
"Three more," He says.
I nod and cover my mouth with my arm awaiting the first lick.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
When Jason sits me up, I jump up and down trying to rub the sting out of my ass. He stands up and grabs my arm, dragging me out of the room behind him.
"I have to clean the kitchen but since I can't trust you to stay in your room, you're going to stand in a corner until I'm done so that I can keep an eye on you."
Jason doesn't let go of me until we're in the kitchen. He puts me in a corner and walks away.
"N-no," I say turning around. "Wh-what if Jack sees me."
Jason takes my arm and forces me back into the corner. "You should've thought of that before you snuck out last night."
"But-" I turn around again.
Jason turns me around again, this time landing a solid smack on my ass.
"Turn around again and we're going back upstairs for a round two."
I stand in the corner, wiping the continuing tears from my face with one hand and rubbing my butt with the other.
Well, at least it can't get any worse than this.
Oh, but it can. Stick around people.