TROUBLE

CHAPTER ONE

He knew when he walked into the pub that he was asking for trouble. He was certain he had waited far too long, she had surely given up on him by now, on their friendship, much less anything beyond that moving forward.

In fact, he heard she had moved on and had found not only the perfect job but the 'perfect man' for her. He couldn't be sure if it had in fact been the idle gossip at Mode about his former assistant "meeting someone special" that had finally persuaded him to make a break from his lonely and bitter existence in New York.

After all, it had been six months (to the day) since she had left. Why hadn't he come here sooner? The only answer he had for his mother (and himself) was that he wasn't going to just run after her, especially not after she left him behind.

She had left him; so why would she even want him to follow her? He didn't want to give anybody the idea that he was pining for his one-time best friend. So why WAS he here now? That was a good question. One he was still trying to think of an answer to as he somewhat sullenly nursed his Dewar's, desperately attempting to avoid looking like he was eyeing the door every time someone came in so he didn't seem quite so pathetic.

Anyway, there was no guarantee she would even be there tonight. Just because her nephew had told Marc it was a pub she frequented after work on the weekend, didn't mean she would show.

He ordered another Scotch and looked down at the glass, trying to ignore the obviously flirtatious stares of a woman on the other side of the bar who evidently had taken a 'fancy' to him since arriving, talking his ear off, then clearly not taking the hint when he moved as far away from her as he could without actually leaving the bar completely.

He could tell she was a bit tipsy and the last thing he needed was any drama with some drunk girl hitting on him right now.

Besides, with his luck, she probably had a very huge, very possessive boyfriend she was using Daniel to make jealous! How could he forget how well that had gone with Renee Slater?

He panicked when she saw him, trying to duck behind his menu, and started to circle towards him. He turned quickly, bumping into a sexy brunette whose ass he couldn't help noticing, knocking her drinks out of her hand and onto the floor, "Dammit! I'm sorry, Miss! Here, let me help you. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She shook her head before looking up.

He leaned down to pick up the glasses of Guinness that he had bumped, not failing to check out the girl's quite generous cleavage as well. He furrowed his brows, then looked up into her eyes. Eyes he would know anywhere. Even without her signature red glasses.

His heart did an extra little beat at the sight of her. How had she managed to get even more lovely since he last saw her? She was a total knockout! She bit her lower lip and her eyes widened as she recognized him, "DANIEL!"

He gave her his best charming grin, trying to convince himself NOT to grab her and pull her out of the pub right then and there and kiss her on the spot, like that navy guy in the World War II picture. He knew Betty wouldn't go for that. Would she?

"Betty! Hey! I was...sort of hoping I would run into you. Not...literally of course!" Now he felt like a complete moron, stalking her, then knocking her over like that. She probably thought he ran into her on purpose.

"You were? But how...how did you even know I came here? Oh...Justin?" She answered her own question.

He shrugged, a bit embarrassed that she immediately called him out on his somewhat lame attempt at stalking her, "I...um...well, yeah, actually. Sorry, I really was hoping to catch up to you, Betty. How are you?"

"Fine. What are you doing in London?" Did she sound cold, he wondered? He was fairly sure she was going for casual, aloof. He could absolutely tell she wanted him to know how pissed she was at him for taking so long to reach out to her.

"I…um...vacation!" Hell, he really SHOULD have thought up some kind of lie! Anything would do right now. Surely he could think of something, couldn't he? Hmm...maybe not. In his defense, she had totally taken him by surprise, with her sexy outfit and totally hot appearance.

Then, of course, there was also the not-so-small matter of her escort. The man who she was there with; the one whose drink she had likely been getting. Wait a minute, why was Betty playing barmaid to this idiot, he wondered? Was the guy some kind of misogynistic neanderthal? One could hope, anyway.

He ordered new drinks for her and took them, trying to look confident, even though he felt anything but right now, as he nodded, looking around for her date. He needed to get a look at this guy, to gauge his 'competition', "So, where do these go? Where are you sitting, Betty?"

She got that look on her face. The one he knew so well said she wasn't happy with the situation or him or...both. He had called it her 'judgy butterfly' look at times. Mostly, he realized later that it just meant she was either disappointed or felt sorry for him or sometimes both.

"It's fine. I've got them. Thanks. It was...nice to see you. Take care, Daniel."

He couldn't help be hurt. She was really blowing him off just like that? Okay, maybe he deserved it, but still! It wasn't like Betty not to at least hear him out. He put his hand on her arm lightly, "Betty. Wait. Can we...talk? Please? At least let me apologize for...for…"

"Taking so long to talk to me? It's fine, Daniel. I understand. I hurt you. It's okay. I was hurt, too. But I got over it. No harm done. I'm sorry, but my…oh, hi, honey."

Daniel blinked, but saw a tall, muscular man suddenly standing on the other side of Betty and glaring at his hand on Betty's arm, "Is this guy bothering you, sweetheart?"

Betty blushed and Daniel gave the idiotic man a glare and stood his ground, but nonetheless removed his hand, "I'm an old friend!" Of course, the guy had to be...well, good looking, to say the least. Betty's tastes had obviously improved since Grubstick and Hartley.

"Daniel, this is...David, my...boyfriend. David, this is Daniel Meade. My um…."

"Former employer? THAT Daniel Meade?" David finished for her, giving Daniel a wary look that told him Betty had in fact, told him what a jerk he had been to her when she left Mode.

"Well, yes, and...we WERE friends for a long time, too." Betty admitted, although Daniel heard the emphasis she put on the fact the past tense.

They all stood, rather uncomfortably in silence for what seemed like an eternity, till Daniel finally extended his hand to David, trying to be the 'bigger man', "It's nice to meet you, David. You're a very lucky man. Betty's a wonderful woman."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that. Thank you. It's...good to finally meet you."

Although Daniel could tell the man didn't mean that whatsoever, he managed a smile, and merely nodded, "I apologize for taking up too much of your girlfriend's time just now.

It seems I'm a bit of a klutz these days. That used to be sort of your thing, didn't it, Betty?" He smiled, "The first time I met her, she walked right smack into a glass door."

Betty stood uncomfortably between the two men, not sure what to say, or if she should try and make small talk. She had no intention of inviting Daniel to come sit with them, as much as she was dying to know why he was here in London.

Luckily for her, David did that for her, "What brings you to our fair city, Mr. Meade?"

"Please, call me Daniel. I'm here on...holiday I believe you 'blokes' call it. Is that right?" Daniel tried to be charming. He had no intention of admitting the only reason he was there was to 'hit on' this man's girlfriend. He was a terrible fighter and this David looked like he was a very good one.

"Quite so. Very good, Mr….um, sorry, Daniel. Well, you should of course see the London Eye if you haven't as yet, the Tate, perhaps if you're into art. This isn't your first time to London, is it?"

"No. I've been here several times before when I was younger. It's been quite a while, though. Probably...in the late nineties, come to think of it. Just before you did all the 'millennium' stuff, including the London Eye of course. I'm looking forward to checking out the pyramid at the Louvre."

"I see. So it has been quite some time, then."

"Exactly. I've been to Paris quite a bit since then. Fashion Week and all, of course."

Betty smiled, "London Fashion Week isn't big enough for Daniel."

"That's not fair. I had planned on coming last year, but you took my place, remember? I let you come with your sister for her bridal shower. And you ended up flashing your ex!"

Betty turned scarlet and looked at Daniel as if she wanted to smack him for revealing her little indiscretion with Gio, but David merely laughed, "Yes, quite. I read all about that in your blog, luv. Quite the adventure!" David grinned, putting his arm around Betty affectionately.

Daniel fought the urge to say something about Gio's intention to bring Betty to Rome. He decided at this point, anything he 'told' on her to David could only get him into more hot water with Betty. He didn't want to sound like an annoying tattle-tale.

He figured his best bet was simply to back off and come up with a strategy to get Betty alone so he could humble himself to her and plead his case without this guy interfering.

"I um….better get going. Take it easy. Nice meeting you, David. Betty...I'm really glad I ran into you. It was great seeing you again. Goodnight. We'll talk later."

He hugged her briefly the minute that goofball let her out of his grip, and tried not to let her see how much the smell of her hair filled him with absolute joy. He had missed her so much, he honestly didn't know how to handle those feelings he was having.

He released her quickly, to avoid any suspicion and smiled at her, then nodded, as he ducked outside, feeling as if his whole world was ready to fall apart. As usual, he had no one to blame but himself for the predicament he was in currently.

He had let her go, without a fight (unless you count his idiotic form-release burning incident that only resulted in him having a permanent scar on his left hand). He had sulked and pouted, ignoring her requests for some kind of closure because he didn't want to admit she would actually leave him behind.

Then, after she did leave, he had waited until she had found someone new here in London. A good-looking, fairly intelligent attorney who seemed much more worthy of her than Daniel was. But he knew her first, dammit! He loved her, he knew every little thing about her that this new guy couldn't possibly know yet in the space of a few months. Daniel knew and loved Betty Suarez for four years. Didn't that count for anything? Did he still have a shot?

Betty hadn't acted completely furious with him. At least not in public. But she hadn't exactly welcomed him with open arms, either. He wondered what kind of lecture he would get when they got time alone. Maybe he shouldn't give her a chance. Maybe he should just grab her and kiss her senseless the first opportunity he had.