Chapter Three

Day One Eighty-Nine

"Hey," Clare greeted him, handing him both bottles of beer that she was carrying before she climbed onto the fire escape. She settled onto the ladder a few steps above him, repositioning her skirt to allow for a modicum of modesty, and accepted the bottle from his outstretched hand. "So this is where you escaped."

"I didn't think you'd notice with your party going on."

Clare rolled her eyes. "Yeah, trust me. This was the last thing I wanted to do tonight."

"Really? Celebrating your birthday was the last thing you wanted? I thought all girls love their birthdays."

"We do. But I had a different perspective on how to spend this particular day than Alli did, I guess."

Owen bumped a shoulder into her knees. "And what would a Clare Edwards birthday celebration look like if not a party?"

Clare leaned back against the steps, resting her head against the railing and closing her eyes. "I was going to have a bubble bath with candles and a bottle of wine I bought last week. And afterwards, I was going to settle down with one of those trashy romance novels that I used to read as a teenager."

"So, the complete opposite of Alli planned then?"

"Pretty much," Clare replied with a laugh.

"And you're hiding out here because?"

"Because I had a stressful day at work, ran into my ex on the way home and have had about enough of listening to the latest top 40's on full blast. All while pretending that I don't want to kill the bunch of people hanging around my apartment when it's almost midnight, especially their ringleader," Clare told him.

"Do you want me to kick them out? I'm about as good at breaking up parties as I am with starting them."

Clare shook her head, sliding down to his level and resting her upper body against his. Her body shuddered as she let out a yawn that ended in a sigh and he wrapped his arm around her, allowing her to snuggle closer to his side. "I think I'm good here. This way Alli gets her party and I get my peace and quiet. And you to keep me company."

He intertwined his fingers with hers and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "Happy birthday, Clare."

The sound of her soft snoring was his response.

It was a quarter to one when Alli popped her head out the window, the look of disgust clearly written on her face. "Ugh, so she's been out here with you this whole time. I figured that she'd be hiding from the party about an hour into it but I didn't think she'd be hiding with you."

"It's nice to see you too, Bhandari," he greeted her with a sickening sweet tone.

Her dark eyes rolled skyward. "God, I'll never understand what went through my best friend's head when she picked you to be her newest confidant."

"Trust me; the feeling is completely mutual about you."

"Whatever, Owen," Alli spat, "I just wanted to tell Clare that the party's broken up and I've started the clean-up. I'll be back tomorrow to finish but she's not to lift a finger to help."

"Well, as you can see, Clare is asleep."

"Great. So when she wakes up, you tell her what I told you and all should be good." She gave them another look of disgust before disappearing from the open window.

Owen waited until he heard the front door slam before rousing the sleeping beauty resting against him. She blearily blinked open her eyes and delivered him a small smile as she stretched. "Sorry for falling asleep on you."

He waved away her apology. "Alli said the party's over and she'll be back tomorrow to clean up."

Clare nodded, yawning. "Sounds like a plan. You didn't have to stay out here with me, you know."

"Sure I did. If I hadn't, what would you have used for a pillow?"

"Thanks, Owen." She stood, brushing off her backside and stepping towards the window. She had one leg inside the apartment when she paused. "I'm really glad we're friends."

Later, when he was falling into bed, he had to wonder why hearing the word friend out of her mouth bothered him so much.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-three

He was having drinks with Eddie and a few of their mutual friends when his cell phone went off. Excusing himself from the conversation that had taken a more vulgar turn, Owen ducked into the lobby of the hotel that was their current watering hole. Not recognizing the number on the screen, he answered with a terse hello to whoever had the gall to interrupt his night and take him away from not only his friends but the attractive bartender as well.

"Save me," a whisper over the phone line met his ear.

"Clare?"

"Owen, seriously, you have to save me," she begged, her voice only slightly louder than before. "I don't know how much more I can take before I use my fork to cause bodily harm."

"You plan to stab yourself with your fork?"

"Eh, me…him…Alli…it's all really a toss-up at this point."

Owen chuckled. "It can't be that bad, Clare."

"You would think that, wouldn't you? Why don't I paint you a pretty little picture of what's going on here and you can judge just how bad it actually is?" Clare huffed. "First of all, Alli is about two seconds away from shacking up with her cheap imitation of Drew Torres if the tonsil hockey they've been playing all night is anything to go by. Secondly, the date she provided is crude, arrogant and if he touches my leg one more time, I might go postal. And third of all, do you hear that music in the background? The really horrible, god-awful music that sounds like it should be in another universe altogether?"

She paused in her rant to allow the notes of whatever song drift over the phone line to his ear. He cringed the moment he could decipher it being a duet of I Got You Babe and a horrendous one at that. "I hear it."

"I am at a damned karaoke bar. Now if you'd so kindly say good night to your friends and get me the hell out of here before Mr. Touchy-Feely decides that we need to murder some hit from the seventies, I'd very much appreciate it," Clare growled.

"Are you really going to turn down the first bit of action you've seen in almost a year?"

"Owen! I swear to God if you don't get your ass down here in the next twenty minutes, every woman you bring home is going to know that you're hiding out at my place as soon as they wake up," Clare threatened.

"You wouldn't dare."

Clare let out a bark of sardonic laughter. "Do you really want to take that bet? I mean, I've got nothing to lose except my sanity. You, my friend, have a whole lifetime of dates with beautiful women. Because in case you weren't aware, women talk and we especially like to talk about the douchebags in our lives."

Owen ground his teeth together so hard that he actually felt the back of his jaw click. These were the times that he actually found himself missing the old days when she was Saint Clare, back when she would never dream of uttering a harsh word to anyone or fathom blackmailing someone to get out of a date. But, then again, Saint Clare would have rather suffered than to ask for his help. "I'll be there."

He looked over at the pin-straight women to his side, quickly averting his eyes and pressing his lips together when the ice blue eyes darted his way. She tucked the front locks of her hair behind her ears and looked down at her lap, her shoulders beginning to shake as he watched her finger the hem of her dress. "Oh, come on Clare, it wasn't that bad."

Owen had been detained by his friends a bit longer than he had expected, finally freeing himself from them and the trio of women with them with the help of an understanding Eddie. An hour later, he arrived at the karaoke bar to find the type of mayhem only found in the best chick flicks. Alli and some guy, who he assumed was the Drew Torres look-a-like, were lip-locked on one side of the table and Clare was sitting on the other side with a sickened expression on her face. Owen figured that the reason her face looked so green was because of her best friend playing tonsil hockey right in front of her until he followed her line of vision.

The man he assumed was her date for the evening was on stage, belting out the best of Ricky Martin and grinding his hips to the beat. Owen was ready to stand back and enjoy the discomfort that Clare was displaying until he watched her date jump off the stage. He could actually feel his protective instincts take force as he watched the man make his way closer to where Clare was seated, the unconcealed glint of desire in his eyes causing Owen to surge forward to save the woman from the creep who appeared as though he was ready to devour her.

He ignored the indignant gasp and irritated barbs Alli threw his way—though it did give him an adolescent thrill that his mere presence caused such a reaction—and pushed the now-sputtering man slightly back as he put a hand on Clare's shoulder. Owen acted like the jealous boyfriend who had just caught his girlfriend out on the town when she should have been at home, pulling her out of the chair and towards the door.

Now that he sat with a silent, visibly upset woman in the parking lot of their apartment building, he worried that he had overacted his role. "Clare, I got there as soon as I could. And I thought that you wanted me to get you out of there no matter what it took. If I'd known you were going to be upset, I would have chosen to go about it a different way."

When she raised her head, he expected to see tear tracks on her cheeks. What he didn't expect was the red face brought on by laughter or that her shoulders had been shaking from mirth. She wiped a stray tear that had fallen during her bout of utter amusement. "Owen, I got to say that was one of the most hilarious things I've seen in a long time. Did you see Alli's face when you stalked up to the table and started proclaiming me to be your girl?"

"Wait, you're not mad?"

Clare shook her head. "I should be seeing as how I'm not the biggest fan of me-Tarzan-you-Jane mentality but I can't stop laughing. I didn't know Alli's voice could get that high. And the way she kept slapping her boyfriend in the arm so he'd say something but he just sat there was pretty much priceless. I know she's my best friend and I should be mad at you but she deserved it for setting me up with that creep. Can you believe that idiot still motioned call me as you were dragging me out the door?"

Owen let out a relieved chuckle. "Well, you were right. That guy did look a lot like Drew. Do you think Alli noticed?"

"I think that's probably one of the reasons she's dating him." Another round of laughter escaped her lips that ended with a sigh. "Oh, I'm going to kill her the next time I see her. I mean, is that really the type of guy she really sees me with? Is that the type of guy you see me with?"

She was asking him what type of guy she saw him with? How was he supposed to answer that? "Uh…well…" he cleared his throat. "Look, Clare, I don't know what type of guy you should be with but that freak was the last man on earth that Alli should have introduced you to. You deserve better than that."

Clare smiled softly as she reached for the door handle and pushed it open. Halfway out of the car, she stopped and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks, Owen, for everything."

He raised a hand to the place her lips had touched, watching as she jogged to the entrance of the building before shaking his head to break the semi-trance he had fallen into.

To Be Continued...