ONE NIGHT PACT
“One night. No strings attached. We do the kinkiest things we can think of and we never talk about them again.”
What do you say when your half-naked best friend approaches you with the craziest suggestion you’ve ever heard in your life? You certainly don’t entertain the idea. And you certainly don’t come up with a list of do’s and don’ts for the night that is never going to happen.
My best friend, Harry Parker Huntington, wants us to make a one night pact. He’s a playboy, hellbent on never settling down and I’m a tomboy ready to change my image. All of our lives, he’s been able to convince me to join in on disastrous schemes and plans that always seem to blow up in my face. But he says this one is foolproof.
We’ll be at his parents’ house for Christmas and as Harry says, “what happens at my parents’ house stays at my parents’ house.” I’m not sure it’s the best idea he’s ever had, but he always did have a way of making me say yes, to just about everything.
Chapter 1
Sarah
“Sarah, I need for you to do me a huge favor, okay?” The sweet begging note in Harry’s voice alerted me to the fact that he was going to ask me to do something I didn’t want to do. I was used to that dulcet tone, the one that made you think that butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. But I’d known Harry for too long. He’d asked me to do too many favors that had blown up in my face, to make me say yes without knowing exactly what he wanted me to do.
“What’s the favor, Harry?” I asked my best friend, trying not to give him any encouragement. If he thought I was going to acquiesce, he’d ask me for more than one favor and I’d get off the phone wondering what I’d just gotten myself into. I was attempting to create boundaries with him. We were best friends, yes, but I wasn’t going to be his doormat any longer. He always wanted to ask me for favors yet, he was never willing to do any favors for me. Not that I’d ever really asked him for anything. But still, it seemed to be a one-way street on the favored highway.
“I need you to go down to Macy’s and I need you to buy some Christmas presents for me.” His voice was sweet. “Please, I would owe you forever.”
“What Christmas presents, Harry?” I frowned into the phone, wondering why on earth he wanted me to buy Christmas presents for him.
“Oh, just stuff you think you’d like.”
“Stuff I think I’d like? Are these presents for me?” I highly doubted it.
“Not quite.” He coughed and immediately I was suspicious.
“So then who are the presents for Harry?”
“Well, if I have to tell you...” He paused. “I don’t really want to say, because I know you’re going to judge me.”
“Harry, tell me right now, who are these presents for?” I walked to my bedroom and sat down on my mattress. I was feeling slightly tired and was ready for a quick afternoon nap in my bed.
“Sarah, can’t you do something for me without having to know the answers to everything? Do you have to know the why?”
“Yes, Harry, I need to know the why.” I leaned back on my bed and yawned. “I’m tired and want to go to bed for a couple of hours. So if you’re not going to tell me...”
“Fine. There are three girls I’ve kind of been seeing casually, and I think all of them are expecting a Christmas present. So I need for you to get them Christmas presents because I don’t have time.”
“Oh my gosh. Are you actually asking me to get presents for your girlfriends?” This was a new low for Harry. I mean yes, we were best friends, but this was too much.
“They’re not my girlfriends,” he protested. “You know I don’t have a girlfriend. Would I be able to spend so much time with you if I did?”
“Oh, sorry. For your lady friends, then?” Sarcasm dripped from my voice.
“They’re not my lady friends.”
“They’re not your lady friends? What do you mean by that? What are they then? Aliens?”
“They’re just ladies that I know and go out on dates with sometimes.”
“Oh, but they’re not friends?”
“No, I wouldn’t call them friends, necessarily. You’re my friend, Sarah. You’re my best friend. That’s why I’m asking you to do me this huge favor. You know, I will owe you one.”
“You owe me so much already, Harry.”
“Aw Sarah, but isn’t that what best friends are for?”
“Harry, you know that I don’t want to get involved with you and your skanks.”
“Now, now, they aren’t skanks.” He laughed. “Please, Sarah. I’ll love you forever.” He spoke in that smooth voice that he normally reserved for women he was flirting with.
“You’re already supposed to love me forever.” I laughed. “I’ve been your best friend your whole life, if you’re only going to love me if I buy presents for your lady nonfriends, then I guess—”
“Well, I’ll love you forever and a day then,” he cut me off. “Please, Sarah. You know I suck at buying gifts and you’re so good. And I have absolutely no time, what with running the office, helping out with the German merger, acting as family liaison for the annual charity fashion show, and I really have no idea what to buy, you’re the one with all the fashion sense and—”
“Fine. I’ll get them. What exactly do you want me to buy?”
“Just choose whatever you think you’d like. Just use your intuition. You have great taste, so I trust you.”
“Okay, no need to suck up, Harry.” I laughed. “Also, do you want three gifts that are the same or three different gifts?”
“I don’t care. It’s up to you.”
“And do you want cards?”
“Do you think they deserve cards?”
“Do I think they deserve cards?” I could hear the disbelief in my voice. “Harry, I feel sorry for these poor misguided girls. You’re a real treat to date, aren’t you? What the hell do you mean, do I think they deserve cards? Do they deserve to be treated like this?” My voice was rising as I got angrier. “The real question, is do they deserve to be treated this way, and if you want to know my answer to that, the answer is no.”
“Oh, Sarah, don’t take it so personally. They know what’s up. They accompany me to dinners. They go with me to business events and parties. They enjoy the life I give them.”
“Really? Do they know about each other?”
“Well, each one of them knows they’re not my one and only. And let’s be real, if they read any of the local newspapers here in New York, they’ll see that there are other women that I’m also dating.”
“That’s so horrible, Harry. That’s really, really horrible.”
“Well, you told me you wouldn’t accompany me to any business events. And you know I can’t go alone, so I needed to find someone or many someones. We could avoid all of this if you would just agree.”