Searching for Mr. Darcy

Scene Sixty-Five

"You seem tense," Bastian said that evening over dinner.

Maisie attempted a smile.  "I know, I'm sorry.  I've been having a rough few days."

He refilled her wine glass.  "Tell me about it."

"I had a weird fight with my sister, but we worked it out.  My friend, George, from work has a secret girlfriend he won't tell me about."

"Why should that bother you?" Bastian's voice had gotten sharp, and Maisie felt bad for forgetting his tendency to jealousy.

"We're just friends, I promise.  It doesn't bother me, exactly.  I just don't like people keeping secrets from me.  Speaking of which, apparently my best friend and I do that now - keep secrets from each other."

"What secrets?"

"I don't even know.  I mean - I kept from her that you cancelled our last date because I didn't want her reading into it, but she found out anyway when you posted to the page."

"Did you like that?" he waggled his eyebrows and winked, but Maisie was too distracted to appreciate it.

"Oh, I haven't looked at it.  Talia and my mother both mentioned it to me."

"You didn't even read it?"

Was that hurt in his voice? No. It was more like annoyance.  Maisie took a sip of wine.  "Talia manages the page for me."  She breezed past the subject, "Then today, ugh, today was just awful.  My mother called and is insisting I bring you to brunch on Sunday, but don't worry, you don't have to."

"I'll go."

Maisie stopped in her tracks - she'd been taking a big breath to continue her rant, "What?"

"I'll go to brunch with your mom."

"You really don't have to do that."

"I want to."

"Don't you think it's too soon to meet each other's families?"

"Only if we aren't exclusive - are you still dating other people?" It was said lightly, but Maisie could tell he'd been wanting to ask this for a while.  She thought of Marcus, and for some reason Caleb.  But it had been almost two weeks since her New York rendezvous, and it had been four days since she'd seen Marcus and she hadn't heard a peep from him.

"Well... no."

"Perfect.  It's settled then."  He began clearing the table and Maisie stood to help.  She felt like she should be thrilled that they'd basically just decided to be exclusive, but she wasn't.  She felt sure she should be thrilled he wanted to meet her family, but she wasn't.

They put the dishes in the sink and as soon as they were done, Bastian grabbed her around the waist and kissed her.  That she was happy about.  As their lips moved together, she tried to forget her troubles; she hadn't even gotten around to telling him about her asshole of a boss.  But who cared?  His hands were slowly moving down her back and she wanted them to speed up.  Before they reached her ass, he broke the kiss and whispered against her mouth, "I believe I told you I'd make it up to you."

She licked her lips and nodded, slightly out-of-breath already, and the real exertion hadn't even begun.

"Follow me."  He took her hand and led her through the house - past the dining room, living room, and den and up the staircase into the giant master bedroom that took up three quarters of the second floor.

Once inside, he kissed her again, backing her against the wall and pressing the full length of his body against hers.  His tongue was magically moving just the way she liked and she naughtily hoped the talent extended to other areas.

His hands went under her shirt, up to her breasts. She responded by lifting his shirt over his head and tossing it to the floor.  Hers followed and they changed direction, stumbling to the bed while clutching at the zippers and buttons on each other's jeans.

Falling on the bed, wrapped in his arms, Maisie began to feel dizzy from the excitement.  Her heart fluttered wildly in her chest, and every new place he touched on her body sparked with electricity.

She was just about to remove her bra when something fell to the floor with a thud.  They both looked towards the source of the noise, and for the second time in less than a week, a woman with her arms crossed over her chest stared disapprovingly at her.  This one was in her late fifties or early sixties and had dropped a suitcase, not a handbag, but the look of utter contempt was the same.

Maisie pushed Bastian off her and hastily grabbed whatever she could lay her hands on to cover herself - which turned out to be Bastian's jeans.

He popped off the bed and snatched his shirt up from the ground. "Hi, Mom," he said, then put it on.

"Mom?" Maisie repeated.  "Why didn't you tell me your mother was visiting?"

The woman scoffed.  "Visiting?  This is my house, my room, and my bed."  She turned to her son.  "How many times do I have to ask you not to have sex in here, Sebastian?"

"What?" Maisie found her shirt, too, and put it on, then stepped into her jeans.  "This isn't your house?"

"Oh, he lives here," the woman said, dryly.  "In the basement."

Maisie looked to Bastian for some sort of explanation, but he just stood there, grinning.  He hadn't even bothered to put his pants back on - as if standing in front of his mother in his boxers, with half an erection, was an every day occurrence.

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry.  I thought this was Bastian's room, his house.  I would have never-"

The woman waved off Maisie's apology, her expression softening from contempt into pity.  Maisie turned back to Bastian.  "I don't understand, why didn't you tell me you lived in the basement?  I wouldn't have cared.  I know doctors go into a lot of debt in medical school and can't always afford-"

His mother cut her off again, this time with laughter.  "He told you he was a doctor?  That's a new one.  Oh my goodness."  She wiped the sides of her eyes.  "He works at the hospital, at the ER check-in desk.  The closest he'll ever get to becoming a doctoring is binge-watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy."

"What? Why... how could you lie to me?" Maisie pleaded with the man she'd been spending time with for weeks.  He'd made her laugh.  He'd made her dinner.  Was any of it real?

"It's more fun that way," he answered.  He had the audacity to grin at her.  "You think you're falling in love with a rich, handsome doctor, and I have to keep track of all the lies I've told.  It's more of a challenge that way."

"A challenge?"  She was utterly bewildered.  He's hoodwinked her, seemingly, for sport.  "Why?  Didn't you like me?"

Now he started laughing, too.  "Like you?  You're a pathetic loser who couldn't find a man to date you on any normal dating apps.  I guess you're kinda pretty, but a lot heavier than the girls I usually date.  And you're fucking gullible.  What's to like about that?"  The smile with which he said it all hurt worse than any of the words.

She stepped towards him, her face on fire, wanting to throttle him.  Instead, she calmly placed her hands on his shoulders and knee'd him, hard, in the groin.  He yelped and fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

As she passed his mother at the door, the older woman shook her head.  "That's not even the first time that's happened in this room."  Maisie didn't know what to say to that, so she said nothing, went downstairs, collected her purse, and left, slamming the front door behind her.