Chapter 13

"You don't look like you're enjoying yourself," Johnny murmured, grazing Elizabeth's arm with the back of his hand.

Her skin tingled slightly under his touch, and she found herself wanting to pull away, but blamed it on the alcohol. "This isn't the crowd of men you usually entertain," she replied, lifting her glass of wine off the bar and taking a long sip.

She swirled the dark liquid around in her mouth as she turned to face the guests, a hundred or so men over seventy, each with their own tiny, bleached-blonde wife who was all of thirty. The second she stepped into the ballroom at the Metro Court, she'd stuck out like a sore thumb, her dark curls, a sharp contrast to all the blonde and graying silver.

"I've learned that good investors are the ones over forty, and the true money makers are the retired and over sixty-five. They have nothing else to do with their money, so why not buy stocks in coffee beans. They get to sit on their fat, wrinkly asses and watch their bank accounts grow, while doing nothing but smoking their Cuban cigars and drinking well-aged scotch."

"You want to be just like them, don't you?" she asked, smiling to herself as she finished off her glass.

"You know it," he replied, flashing a quick smile as he snapped his fingers at the bartender, and ordered her another drink.

She had to admit that she was surprised at how smooth things had gone the entire night. He picked her up promptly, and the drive to the hotel was filled with anything but small talk. Johnny filled Elizabeth in on his travels overseas, and she found herself feeling a little sad that Jason wasn't there to hear it all. He had at least seen all these places that O'Brien talked about, and she found herself smiling at the thought of her best friends exchanging anecdotes about ancient cities in Greece and the lights of Paris.

Jason was right; Johnny really had changed.

Not that she minded any of that really, seeing as every change was for the better. It was just the petite, blonde tramp he was carting around town that was eating her up inside. She had better luck with Johnny than she did with Lulu when it came to getting him to confess her faults. He had no problem saying that it frustrated him that his fiancé took no interest in his business affairs and didn't like to mix and mingle at parties. He also followed it up with something about how Lulu didn't take being groped as good for the business, and Elizabeth tried to ignore the fact that her friend was implying she did.

"So, have you made any connections?" she asked, as he handed her a fresh glass of wine.

"I doubt you really want to talk business," he replied, leaning against the bar, a short glass of scotch in his hand.

"Drinking when the wifey's away?" His eyes darkened briefly, and he set the glass down without touching it. "I didn't mean to-"

"I know," he cut in, shrugging half-heartedly. "You think she's changed me."

"Maybe," she said, wanting to talk about anything but Lulu. "You never were one for women like her, Johnny. I guess I'm still coming to terms with the fact that you're dating Joan Cleaver."

"There it is!" he sighed, shaking a finger at her.

"There's what?" she asked, rolling her eyes and sipping her wine.

"Drunk Lizzie," he replied, laughing and taking her glass out of her hand.

"Hey!"

"Oh, I'll give it back, but you've got that whole glazed over look to your eyes and that crooked smile that makes your lip twitch," he said, setting her glass on the bar. "I want to know the truth."

"Truth?" she grunted, wrapping one of her curls lazily around her finger. "You can't handle it, O'Brien."

"Try me," he murmured, leaning in closely and touching her arm again.

Her eyes dropped to his hand, then lifted back to his face. "How honest?"

"As honest as best friends are supposed to be," he challenged, arching his eyebrows.

She turned to face him, pressing her hip against the bar, and picked up her glass of wine. "I don't think you're ready or drunk enough to hear what I have to say," she replied, taking several gulps, and nearly polishing the glass off on the spot.

"Slow down," he hissed, grabbing the glass and pulling it away. "You're more of a lush than all these old fogies."

"You're the one that wants the drunken truth," she reminded him, placing a hand on her chest. "And the truth is…I don't think you should marry her."

There it was.

The one sentence she'd been trying to say since he'd come back to town, and she'd started planning his stupid wedding.

He nodded as if he figured that was what she would say and grabbed his scotch. "I don't think it's any of your business," he replied, setting the glass back down as if he couldn't bring himself to take a drink. "And you don't want to get into this here, Elizabeth."

"Why not? You started this all," she said, almost feeling guilty that she'd hurt him. "Maybe that's why you invited me. You thought, I'll get her drunk, and find out what she really thinks. And what I think is that your stupid fiancé, Princess Purity, is the wrong choice and nothing you say could make me change my mind."

"You're just jealous," he growled, pushing himself away from the bar and turning to leave. She grabbed him by the arm, and when he tried to jerk out of her grasp, tumbled forward, slightly unstable from the wine and stiletto combination. "I'm going to get you a cab."

Before she could protest, he slid an arm around her waist, gripping her elbow tightly and steering her towards the elevators. "I just wanted us to have a good time tonight," he said, punching the button and still clutching her at the waist.

"We could have," she replied, digging her fingernails into his hand that was at her hip. He didn't budge or flinch. "But you had to spend the entire night droning on about Lulu, and I get that she's everything to you or whatever trite garbage you've managed to convinced yourself-"

"You're walking a fine line, Elizabeth," he warned, as the doors opened. He shoved her inside hurriedly and hit the button for the lobby. "I thought if I told you some things about her, you'd warm up, but clearly I thought too highly of you…The sad thing is, she actually likes you for some ungodly reason."

"The same could be said for you," she slurred, bracing herself against the railing that wrapped around the elevator. "So maybe she just has poor taste in judgment."

"I don't know how Jason puts up with your shit," he hissed, pacing back and forth and waiting impatiently for the doors to open to the lobby. "I had a hard enough time doing it on my own."

"What?" she asked, his statement sinking in. "I guess I was just an obligation."

"Just like I was a Jason Quartermaine stand in," he replied quietly, as the doors swung open to a grinning Jasper Jax.

"Well, Johnny O'Brien, I heard you were back in town," he said, holding out his hand to shake his as he stepped off the elevator.

Elizabeth hung back briefly, trying to pretend that it was the wine blurring her vision and not her tears. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to throw Jason Quartermaine in her face, not when he was there, not when he knew what all that had been like for her.

"You better step off," Jax said, grabbing one of the doors as they started to close.

"Oh, sorry," she said weakly, giving him a faint smile. She could feel Johnny looking her over, was sure that he was sorry, but she just didn't give a damn anymore. "I have to get a cab. Nice to see you, Jasper." She squeezed his hand as she passed him, refusing to look O'Brien in the eye.

She heard him quickly dismiss Jax and hurry after her, and even when he caught up to her and held the doors open to the front of the hotel, she didn't give him any attention.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry," he muttered, stepping in front of her as she waved her hands at one the cabs across the street.

"Leave me alone," she replied, her lower lip trembling.

"You don't know what it's like to have you casting all these stones at me, when you're guilty too," he said, grabbing her by the shoulders to keep her from turning away.

"I didn't do anything wrong," she replied defensively, relieved to see the cab doing a u-turn in the middle of the street and heading for the front of the hotel.

"What happened that night shouldn't have happened when I knew I was leaving. It was wrong to hurt you like that, and I just didn't…I didn't think about it," he murmured, swallowing hard and watching the cab pull to the curb.

"So, I'm just a girl who didn't make the notches on Johnny O'Brien's bedpost," she said, annoyed when he opened the car door for her and motioned her inside.

"You're the girl who never belonged on my bedpost," he replied seriously, looking her in the face. She started to slide into the seat, but he grabbed her arm and stopped her. "I get that you don't like Lulu, or think that she's right for me, but I love her, and I just-I hope that will be enough."

She nodded, knowing that like her fight with Jason, this one was already over the second it began. She could say whatever she wanted to Johnny and he would forgive her, just as she would him.

Or she would at least try. It was going to take a while to get the Jason Quartermaine comment out of her head, though she knew or rather hoped, he meant nothing by it.

She was too drunk to dwell on anything now.

"Stop acting so crazy," he said, his thumb stroking her bare arm. "It's not fair to Jason."

"What does that matter?" she asked, confused as to why he was being brought up yet again.

"Things are finally good between you two, the way they should be," he replied, leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Not that I'm surprised that you two found one another. You know, I think you were always meant to be. I just wish things had happened differently, that's all."

Nodding again, she lowered herself into the cab, frowning as she watched him close the door and wave goodbye. None of it made any sense to her, the concern for Jason, or the comments about him, when she was trying so hard to make Johnny the focus.

"Where to?" the driver asked, pulling the car onto the street.

…you two found one another…

…always meant to be…

…son of a bitch…

"Harbor View Towers," she said, settling back against the seat. "And step on it."

"Come on," Jason growled, his eyes half slits as the blonde, who was straddling his waist, fumbled with his belt buckle.

Fuck, he was really drunk.

He had done exactly what he told Elizabeth he would; called a cab, went to Jake's, played some pool, picked up a fairly attractive woman, and now he was going to screw her on this very couch.

"Here let me," he hissed, sure that she was as intoxicated as he was, and that was the cause for the struggle.

Scooting her off him, he stood up, quickly undoing the belt and jerking it out of the loops. He tossed it to the floor as she reached for the snap of his jeans, and the penthouse door suddenly flew open.

"Jason, you ass-" Elizabeth shouted, her mouth falling open when she realized the scene she'd come upon.

"What the hell are you doing?" she cried, holding her hands over eyes and literally stomping her feet on the floor.

"Don't you knock?" he spat, pulling the blonde's hands away from his pants.

"Who the hell is she?" she asked, pointing at the woman on the couch, who was looking at Elizabeth with a matching expression.

"Are you married?" she asked worriedly, looking up at Jason.

"No!" they both answered, still glaring at one another.

"But I need to talk him, so you need to leave," Elizabeth said, her hands on her hips. She shifted her eyes to the woman when she didn't move. "Fine, I'm his wife, and if you don't get out, I'm going to stick my stiletto in your eye."

Jason let out a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. It wasn't even about Elizabeth. It was the fact that he'd been so close. Couldn't she have been a half an later longer and caught them as he was putting her in a cab and sending her home?

"I don't do the married thing or the swinging thing or whatever thing you thought I was going to," the blonde said seriously, pushing herself up from the couch.

Elizabeth dug through her purse as she made her way to the door. "Here, get yourself a cab," she murmured, shaking her head. "And don't ever come near my husband again." When she started to reply, she grabbed her by the arm, shoving the blonde out the door and slamming it closed behind her. "What the fuck is it with the men in my life being attracted to stupid, bleached-blonde bimbos?"

"Hey, she wasn't a bimbo," Jason replied, picking his belt up from the floor and sliding it back through the loops. Thankfully, adjusting his clothes was the only rearranging he had to do. Elizabeth's appearance was enough to ruin any turn on he'd had. "She was studying math or something."

"College or high school?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and tossing her purse down on his desk.

"Johnny dates the underage girls, not me," he reminded her, grabbing his beer from the coffee table and sitting down on the couch. "So I take it your night wasn't going well, so you figured why not fuck up mine."

"Well, you don't usually bring sluts back to your penthouse," she muttered, walking over to him. She started to sit down on the couch, but stopped and moved to the chair. "Get that thing exterminated.

"If I remember correctly, you've been a bar tramp in your own right," he pointed out, rubbing his thumb up and down the glass bottle.

"Only I let them screw me up in the dirty rooms above the bar, so I don't have to do the walk of shame when I slink out of bed the next morning," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

"No, you just have to hurry past Coleman when he's locking the doors at three a.m."

"Asshole," she spat, rubbing the palms of her hands roughly against the chair arms.

He wasn't a complete idiot and knew that he'd done something to piss her off. She was talking in that high-pitched nasally tone of her's, which she insisted didn't exist, but he'd heard it enough to know. It wasn't a cry, but it wasn't quite a screech, and it did a number on his ears.

"What did I do?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm not sure," she replied, taking a deep breath and clucking her tongue. "Why does Johnny think you and I are together?" He sucked in a breath, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. "Well, I seem to have gotten left out in the dark on that one."

Jason nodded, knowing that he was completely set up. If he spoke, she was going to flip out, and if he stayed silent, she was going to rant. Either way she was going to bitch and he just didn't know what to do.

So, he drank his beer.

"You are such an asshole," she said, getting up from the chair. She leaned over, grabbed his beer from his hand, and plopped down beside him. "How could you honestly let him believe something like that?"

"I didn't know how not to," he replied honestly, reaching for his beer, only for her to smack him away.

"You couldn't say, hey, I'm not banging her because she wants to bang you," she said, motioning back and forth with the beer bottle.

"Bang," he grunted, his head falling on the back of the couch.

"Or maybe, that it's insane to think about me banging Elizabeth because she's Elizabeth, and this whole thing is just really freaking me out, Jason," she admitted, periodically slurring her words. "Isn't this weird for you? I mean, Johnny's practically been there, and now he thinks you've been there and-"

"Elizabeth?"

"What?"

"Shut up," he growled, jerking the bottle from her hand and taking a sip.

The last thing he wanted to think about was Johnny seeing Elizabeth naked, or Elizabeth being naked, or wanting to see her naked.

Sometimes being a man with Elizabeth as a best friend was far too complicated.

"So, did you set him straight?" Jason asked curiously.

"No, but unlike you, I have an excuse. Or at least I think I do…I've had lots of time to think about this," she protested, turning around and drawing her knees beneath her. She leaned back against the couch arm and looked Jason in the eye. "Like really think."

"It's a ten minute cab ride to here from the Metro Court," Jason said, rolling his eyes.

"I think fast," she replied, holding her hand out for the beer. He handed it over, waiting for her to continue. "I mean, Johnny said a lot of stuff tonight, and so did I, and he was all, what happened shouldn't have, and I knew you'd end up with Jason, which makes no sense."

"He promised me he was going to come back, that was the only reason why we didn't sleep together. I mean he was there and it could have-"

"Was this what you spent all your time thinking about?" he interrupted, hoping she would get to the point before he kicked her out, just like she'd done the blonde.

"No, I just…I mean, I guess it makes sense. We're always together, and he totally caught me in your t-shirt the other morning with bed head, which could have been post-morning romp head, and-"

"Your point please?"

"What if he moved on with Lulu because he thought I was sleeping with you?" she asked seriously, holding the beer between her knees and looking Jason in the eye. "What if he really did want-"

"You shouldn't think like that," Jason cut in, not wanting to hurt her feelings, but prevent giving her some kind of false hope.

"But what if-"

"People make their own choices, Elizabeth," he said slowly, reaching for the beer, but he dropped his hand to her knee instead, smoothing it over the flimsy material. "Regardless of whether you and I were together, if Johnny wanted you, he could have come back at any time. Why would I be the reason to stop? This is Johnny we're talking about, and he goes after something when he wants it."

She nodded, working her lip back and forth between her teeth.

"I'm not saying that he didn't want you, or that you were nothing to him. I don't know what he felt. I'm not Johnny, and-"

"You don't have to explain," she shrugged quietly, looking at his hand as he rubbed her knee. "I get it. All that matters is that he didn't come back."