Who: Kace Tailor and Matt Russell What: Holiday drinking. It never leads to good things. When: (Backdated) Thursday night. Where: Matt’s brother’s house, Toronto, Canada. Warnings: Just...all of them.
Kace was blitzed. No surprise there. She’d come to this party with the soul intention of getting completely drunk and possibly razzing on Matt on the side. Now she’d achieved both of those things, all under the scathing glare of the parties hostess. Who was currently hovering nearby, trying to keep an eye on the very, very drunk model that she hadn’t wanted at her party in the first place. That was just an added bonus to the whole thing. She liked nothing more than making the people she didn’t like completely miserable. The more intoxicated she got, the more vindictive she got. So she didn’t really blame said hostess when she excused herself and went to the kitchen to bitch to her husband. Matt was right. This was fun.
Speaking of Matt. Now that Marlene had disappeared, she needed someone else to keep her upright. It was lucky that she was professionally good at walking in heels, or she would have already been flat on her ass. In hindsight, the sheer height of those heels had probably been a bad call, but she looked really hot. That was what counted, right? Matt should have been fucking grateful that he had the best looking date in the place, even if she was just there because she liked having him owe her a favor.
She never would have admitted it out loud, but they both had very good looking dates. Matt had apparently forgotten the ‘upscale’ part of the invite, but he was still looking pretty damn good. He didn’t have to know that, though. Instead, she could just give him hell. Grinning happily over at him, she reached up and ruffled the beard that he was currently rocking. “Why hello there, handsome. You know, your sister-in-law is a bitch, but she has great taste in wine.”
---
What could have been the longest night ever was turning out to be extremely entertaining. At a party full of pretentious lawyers and their equally successful and obnoxious significant others he was something of a novelty, the doctor who'd run off to Africa, only to eventually return to 'civilization' to go work at what he described as a charitable clinic for people with multiple personality disorders. A few drinks made everything that much more amusing.
He was well passed buzzed, but still had a ways to go to completely shitfaced. The hostess had made her usual snide comments, when she wasn't busy trying to wrangle Kace. His sister-in-law really couldn't blame him for his choice of date though, after all she was the one who'd insisted he couldn't come alone. Besides, no way was he going to find a hotter date than Kace. She never failed to deliver in that department, and all the other men at the party were suitably jealous. Of course, that was because the other men at the party didn't know that she was a crazed psychobitch, but that was beside the point. At least sometimes she was a fun psychobitch.
"Hello to you too, sexy." Matt grinned as Kace tottered his way and he laughed when she ruffled his (well-groomed, totally un-Jack-like) beard. "I am aware of her bitchiness. She makes a point of demonstrating it whenever possible. Brian probably only keeps her around to choose the wine." He yoinked the glass out of Kace's hand, stealing a sip before returning it to her. He needed a refill. “Having fun yet?”
---
She giggled, the kind of giggle that made it obvious just how many glasses of that quality wine she had put away. It wasn’t really helping her opinion of Matt and his facial hair, either. He looked awfully cute with that beard. “Oh yeah. But she hasn’t kicked me out yet, so at least she’s got patience on her side.” Or she just didn’t want to look heinously bitchy in front of all these very influential people. It was probably that, which would do absolutely nothing for Kace’s attitude the moment their hostess returned from the kitchen. Poor woman, she really had no idea what she was getting herself in to demanding that Matt bring a date.
When he took her glass, she pouted prettily at him until he gave it back. The pout was lady like, the kind of thing that was seen splashed on glossy magazine pages. The drink she tossed back the moment she had the glass back in her hand was anything but. “Of course! I love parties. And free wine.” Getting completely wasted was the only way she was going to get through the night and still have fun. Which was, naturally, the most important part. If he hadn’t wanted an obnoxious date, Matt wouldn’t have invited her.
Looping an arm through is, she steered them back toward the open bar. “I dunno about you, but I could use another drink.” And look at that, she was walking so much better with him there to lean on. What a gentleman. “What about you? Having fun? Or are we about to tell them all to go fuck themselves and run away?”
---
That pout was really sexy, and he knew that she knew it. The way she tossed back her drink was pretty sexy too, although in a whole other way. She always did know how to have a good time. He'd definitely invited the right woman to liven up this night. "Good. We'd better get more of that wine then, eh?"
Arm in arm they looked almost respectable. Well, she did. No one was looking at him anyway. He was fine, he was wearing a jacket, right? If his brother wanted more than that he'd have to call in more than one favor. "What's not fun about telling them to go fuck themselves and running? We might want to save that for the last act though, when we're done with any other entertainment."
He snagged two glasses of wine from the bar and only barely avoided spilling them both when someone bumped into him. At least they weren't the drunkest ones here so far. That gave him something to shoot for. With that in mind he handed both glasses to Kace and grabbed two more. "Right, how about we ditch the crowd before any more of them decide we're fascinating?"
---
“Oooh. I like that plan. A memorable exit. That’s important.” If she remembered, that was totally how she was going to live. Luckily, that was a pretty big if. She’d already sealed her fate as far as being invited back next year went, there was no point in not telling them how she really felt. Yeah, that would be fun. Lots of fun. All she had to do was make sure she remembered this clever plan after a few more glasses of wine. Yeah. That would happen.
Especially considering how enthusiastic Matt suddenly was about drinking. She took the pair of glasses from him, raising an eyebrow when he grabbed two for himself. Now this was about to get a whole lot more fun. Tipping one of the glasses to her mouth, she concentrated on not spilling the other one and still staying on her shoes. It wasn’t easy when there were a lot of other drunk people milling around, not watching where they were going. Assholes. Couldn’t even hold their liquor.
“God, please. If your sister-in-law corners me again, we’re going to go find the hard stuff.” Now they just had to find somewhere to hide. Taking a drink out of the other glass this time, she started out of the main room and down the hall. This wasn’t the sort of party where they would have to battle it out for privacy, which was lucky. Hey hey, guest bedroom. Now to open the door. Hmm. “Okay, flaw in the plan.”
---
It was actually impressive how well she navigated through the crowd, considering. She didn't have any trouble remembering where to find somewhere to hide either. She only lost points for being outsmarted by a doorknob. "Curses, foiled again," he deadpanned.
Matt was good at creative thinking and unconventional problem solving. He drained about half of one glass of wine in one go, then poured the rest of the glass into the other one. Why did they always leave so much empty space in wine glasses anyway? Seemed like a waste. He stashed the empty behind a potted plant, then opened the door. "Problem solved."
It also left him with a free hand to put around Kace's shoulders before she encountered any more flaws in the plan, like tripping over the bedroom rug in those sexy but ridiculous shoes. He was a gentleman, eh?
---
She watched in ill-concealed awe as he found a way around their predicament. Now that was clever. He was clever. Good for him. If she had a gold star, she would have given him one. Instead she only had two glasses of wine that she wasn’t about to hand over. He should have paced himself, even if it did get them in to the room. “Look at that. What a hero.” Kace slipped around him and in to the room. They sure did know how to furnish the place, even if they were pretentious bastards. It was comforting to know that some things never changed.
If he was going to be all helpful, there was no reason not to lean against him again until she could stumble over to the bed. Carefully holding up both her glasses, she sat down on the edge. It was a miracle that she managed not to spill anything, though she did have to look at both of them for a long second before she decided which one she wanted to take a drink out of next. Right hand, that one looked tastier. Letting out a happy ‘mmmm’ she looked up at Matt. “Now this is a party.”
Since they were in private and cozy in their new party, she toed off her shoes. Just in case she needed to possibly stand up again for some reason, it was definitely the safer option. “See, I’m already having a lot more fun.”
---
"Much better." He let out an exaggerated sigh before dropping onto the end of the bed. "Safe from anyone who's going to expect me to give a damn about their case record or whatever." Matt really wasn't completely antisocial, there were just some people who made him wish he was.
"You have an odd definition of fun, Kace, but I'm not going to argue with you." For a change. They were really good at arguing. When they were dating, when they broke up, and now. Their alter-egos probably didn't help any either. The drama queens couldn't have a functioning relationship to save their lives. Nearly literally. Right. That was his cue to drink some more wine.
---
She snorted back another laugh, scooting so that she could look at him now that he was sitting next to her. “Do they really think that anyone other than them finds that interesting? These people are drunk, and they’re still boring. Fuck that. They need more...I don’t know, physical violence in their lives. That’ll wake ‘em up.” What was she saying? She wasn’t sure. The back of her mind had drifted off to fond memories of her last trip to the shooting range, which had been so much better than fancy parties.
Which meant he was right, she did have an odd definition of fun. She was okay with that, though. “Hey, you’re the one that invited me.” She elbowed him, her other hand busy tipping one of her glasses back so that she could drain it. Was it possible to feel it go straight to her head, cause she was pretty sure she could. Swaying slightly, she shot him a wide grin. “I don’t wanna speak too soon, Matty, but you may have to drive me home.” Dropping the empty glass carefully, she looked both ways and kicked it under the bed. They’d find that later.
Sighing heavily, she leaned against him. “Next we should just go steal a bottle. Each.”
---
"Violence solves everything?" He shurgged. That sounded like Kace anyway. "Not usually my go to solution, but sure, why not." To be fair, between Matt and Jack they'd probably punched more people than average, but they also fixed way more people than average, so it had to even out right? Right.
"I did invite you, which makes this all my fault." He grinned when she elbowed him. "So far I don't even regret it. "You, my frined, are a lot of fun. The life of the party. Definitely the life of this party."
He laughed way too loudly as she kicked the glass under the bed. That was fantastic. Good plan. "A bottle each. Got it. Although then we'll both need a ride home. Or someone to track us down when we run out of hear with lampshades on our heads. That could be fun. That means leaving our hiding place though." He looked down at her, leaning against him. "I kinda like it here." It was almost like old times. He was having flashbacks to school, except the booze was much better now.
---
“If you don’t regret it, I’m not drunk enough yet.” Now her smile was more than a little evil. But she was kidding. Mostly. A little. She was actually having a better time than she thought she would, and not just because this was giving her a good way to torture people she didn’t have to work with. “I’m glad you did. Thinks are frakking crazy right now. I needed a break.” Between the hit list and trying to maintain her own career and interpersonal relationships she was about ready to pop. Being able to go out and get drunk with someone who wasn’t involved in any way was a nice little vacation.
She made a noise that could have been a try at words or really was just a slurred ‘pffft’. “Fine. Then just get me one? Don’t lemme wear a lampshade, though. That’s just not classy.” Adding more ridiculous clothing usually wasn’t her problem when she was drunk anyway. Though it was probably a safer option.
Grinning wide and happy, she flopped back on the bed, holding her wineglass above her and trying to keep it level. So far so good. She really was kind of a pro at this. Of course, she couldn’t take a drink now. Propping herself up on her elbows, she only spilled a little down her arm. “Whoops.”
---
"Our hosts probably regret it, but that was sort of the point. Me?" He took another swig of wine. You weren't supposed to swig wine, were you? Meh, sipping was for losers. "I think it's going exactly as planned." His expression was a little evil too. If he couldn't make his little brother's life difficult, then who was he supposed to torment, really?
"I bet. Everything is insane enough without technically being involved." He still wasn't fully sure what Kace did, and didn't think he wanted to know. He was just glad they were more or less on the same side. The woman was seriously scary sometimes. "As long as you aren't getting me to take you to mysterious islands, I figure things must be going okay though."
Her balance was pretty good. He expected the whole glass to go flying. It was probably only a matter of time. She did get it all down her arm though. "Now you're just wasting it."
---
That had her snickering, the look on his face. “You’re kind of a bastard, Matthew. It’s the only reason I like you.” Well, maybe not the only reason, but he didn’t have to know that. Their entire relationship was (now) built on antagonism. If they didn’t have that, then what the hell would they have? “But hey, as long as we’re having fun, who gives a frak.” The drunker she got, the more she sounded like Kara. That was a problem.
“Nope, we’re being crazy without islands this time. You’re off the hook.” She hadn’t forgotten how he’d helped her out. She’d tried to forget, because it was easier to keep hating him that way. Too bad she hadn’t hated him for...shit, months. Stupid jerk. He’d always been too damn likable for his own good.
Since somewhere in the back of the mind she was bitter, and in the front she was giggly and uncoordinated, she looked him up and down once before reaching out and rubbing her wine covered arm all over his jacket. That was one way to clean up. Kind of. Choking back a laugh, she tried not to sound smug. “There. All better.”
---
"I knew there had to be some reason." Coming from Kace, he was willing to take that as the highest of compliments. He was kind of a bastard, and always had been. Possibly slightly less so, now that he had Jack's input. That was a little disturbing. No wonder Kace and Kit had hated him, them along with most of the women he'd dated. At least Morgan didn't hate him, even if she had a good reason too. She'd just loved him less than someone else. Who was more of a bastard than him. Women were all fucking nuts, weren't they?
Kace was definitely not entirely in her right mind. He gaped at her as she dried her arm on his jacket, even as he was trying not to laugh. "You... are such a brat." He dipped his index and middle fingers into his wine glass, then flicked a small mist of white wine droplets at her. "I think you missed a spot."
---
Well, wasn’t that a keen observation. Of course she was a brat. He should have known that all alone. What he did next wiped that smug smile right off her face, though. Gaping at him, her drunken mind tried to come up with fitting retribution for having wine flicked at her. A lesser woman might have squealed. She just plotted. That was just mean of him. He really was a jerk, and she said so. “Jerk!” She briefly considered upending the rest of her wine on him, but that would mean wasting more wine. Instead, she took a drink, pouting around the rim of her glass.
Then, after a few seconds, she sprung. With an astonishing lack of grace, she grabbed his arm and gave it a yank, in a heroic effort to have him spill all of his wine all over him. It was a brilliant plan, really. And it probably would have worked a whole lot better if she’d tried it while she was stone sober. Oh well. She was working with what she had.
---
Her attack didn't make him spill all of his wine, but he did get a nice splash. "That wasn't very nice." He couldn't pout like she could, but he did a pretty good job of looking totally put out. "Poor wine never did anything to you. I better put it somewhere safe." With impressive speed he drained the glass, placing any more weapons safely out of her reach. If he hadn't been drunk before, he definitely was now.
He dabbed at the spill on his jacket with, well, his shirt, which really wasn't helping anything. It was hard to say what his intention was there. "I'm thinking this is less than optimal." He looked over at her. "Brat." He must have been drunk, because he thought this was hilarious.
---
The look on his face combined with how hilarious she found what he was saying nearly had her rolling on the bed with laughter. Drunk or not, she couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed like that. Which wasn’t saying that much. She couldn’t remember where her shoes were, either. Still, it felt nice. “It was collateral damage. It’s fellows will remember it as a tragic hero.” The fact that she was able to string together a sentence like that (in between new fits of giggles) was a miracle. Words were slowly losing their meaning among the nice fuzzy feeling in her head.
Tilting her head, she tried to see what he was doing. “Doesn’t look like it’s doing you much good, Matty.” Since their splash fight appeared to be over, she knocked back the rest of her wine, too. Unless they wanted to venture out for more, that was that. Sighing, she decided horizontal had felt pretty damn good. This time her arms flopped with her, straight out on either side. That was cozy. And it allowed her to reach around and poke Matt in the side, though her hand lingered afterwards. “Know what? I bet they think we’re fucking in here.”
---
"They can build a memorial for it. Or just drink in it's honor. No, wait." What the hell was he talking about? He really didn't know. He didn't care, which was fun. Having already blown things with Kace years ago had it's perks. There wasn't any pressure. If he'd brought a date to this party he might actually have had to behave himself. And stayed sober enough to walk upright. Nope, this was the best.
He flopped down on the bed next to her after she poked him. She made a good point. Hey, it's what he would be thinking. Two hot drunk people at a boring party? It only made sense. He turned his head to the side, looking at her as if he were trying to figure out a particularly complex problem. "Why aren't we fucking in here?"
---
She barely moved her arm in time to avoid it being pinned by Matt and his flopping. In retaliation, she gave him another poke. This was all too familiar. They’d one this at least once before, gotten drunk at his brother’s boring corporate party and snuck off somewhere more private. The only difference now was that they were older, wiser, and marginally better dressed. She was better dressed anyway. For a doctor, Matt didn’t have much in the way of suits. He was lucky it worked so well on him. Really well, especially with all that sexy stubble and...what were they talking about?
Right. Her head tipped to the side too, less than a foot away from his. There was no way he could miss it when she rolled her eyes. She was still grinning at him, though. “Cause...we left the door unlocked?” Honestly she didn’t know. Well, she did. She was kind of in a relationship. Whatever she was doing with Adam there were no words for, and it frustrated her more often than it made her happy. Sometimes she felt like she couldn’t get his attention unless she was turning naked cartwheels. Besides, all the reincarnate bullshit made it unclear as to just who was attracted to who. In this case, with Matt lying there, it was a lot more simple. Crooking a finger at him, she smiled as slyly as she could. “Come ‘er. I wanna try something.”
---
“Like anyone is going to come looking for us?” he pointed out. At least they’d closed the door, that was something. He couldn’t think of a good answer to his own question. He was single, as usual. Kace was single. He thought. He hadn’t really asked. He didn’t really care. She was still easily the hottest girl he knew. He knew other women who were pretty or beautiful or cute, but Kace was straight up hot, there was no better word for it.
Turning onto his side he shifted closer to her, his fingers finding their way to her bare arm. At least she didn’t have wine on her anymore? Matt smiled smugly. “Yeah? What, you gonna show me a trick?”
---
That was a good point. Chances were they really did think they were going at it. As bitchy as his brother might have been, he wasn’t going to come interrupt them on purpose. That was just awkward. Instead they would just make snide remarks whenever they finally resurfaced. She could live with that. It wasn’t like it would be the first time after all. “You never know. Some other drunk couple might come stumbling in.” Yeah, right. Everyone else here was too worried about their reputations to try something like that. Nice to know where they stood in the hierarchy of Matt’s family.
“Nope.” Cupping a hand around the back of his neck, she tugged him forward and kissed him. It wasn’t the timid, testing kind of kiss, either. No this was full contact, passionate, the type of kiss he would have given him before he’d broken up with her for going crazy. By the time she pulled away, she was nearly out of breath. “I wanted to see if that was the way I remembered.” She laughed again, loud and happy. She was way too proud of herself. “Cause if it wasn’t, there’s no way you were getting fucked in here.”
---
It was possible, but not likely. If someone else showed up they'd just have to move on. He and Kace had gotten drunk and found the guest room first damnit. It was theirs by right of occupation. Of course, the way he brushed off the problem to Kace was less complicated. "Whatever. As long as they're hot." Matthew Russell really knew how to bring the romance.
When she kissed him he was actually surprised. Not by the kiss itself, but by the passion behind it. He'd forgotten how fierce she was. Kace didn't do anything half way. Fortunately, he had a similar complete lack of moderation. He grinned wildly. "Same as it ever was." He rolled her onto her back and put one leg on either side of her. This was a much better position if they were really going to start with a kiss just like he remembered. "Possibly better." He moved in to kiss her again. It was the same. They were going to end up breaking something.
---
One of the best things about Matt was that he gave as good as he got. She was still laughing when he rolled her over and pinned her to the bed. Now this was a party. Her heart hammered in her chest from all the excitement and anticipation as she wiggled in to a more comfortable position. It was like deja vu, with added affect because her vision was so hazy. She could see him pretty clearly, though. Looking all handsome and dangerous. Everything that had attracted her to him in college was still there. The inappropriate sense of humor, the inability not to be a jackass, and the rugged good looks. There were bad parts, too, but she wasn’t thinking about those right now. All she was trying to do was conjure up memories of how he’d been in bed.
Looping her hands around the back of his neck, she kept him close for another long kiss. She had to shake the hair of her face afterwards as she grinned lazily up at him. “Definitely better. You’ve learned some new tricks.” It was different, just a little. Enough so that it was exciting and new while being familiar and comfortable. That was a wonderful combination, in her opinion. Her fingers slid under the fabric of his shirt, playing over his bare skin. “I used to wish you’d get fat and bald. Right now, I’m glad you didn’t.”
---
"Fleeing the country gives you a new perspective sometimes." He smirked and slid down the straps of her dress. He did have new tricks. She probably did too. Well that just made this even better. No pressure, just fun.
"At least you could wish that and pretend. I just had to hope I wouldn't stumble across you looking smokin' in some magazine. I don't know if you know this, but you're a very hard woman to avoid." Yes, he'd dumped her, but that was because she was crazy and he was a moron. That didn't mean he stopped being attracted to her. He hadn't gone blind. All his other senses were pretty happy right now too. He kissed her again. "You taste like wine."
---
Oh, right. Kit had said something about him running off to Africa. But she didn’t want to think about Kit or Africa. That didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was the fact that they were both here now, and she got to see some of those new tricks for herself. So far, they were very impressive.
She kissed up the side of his neck, her laugh muffled against his skin. “Trust me, babe. The real thing is still a whole lot better.” In any other case, she would have been twistedly satisfied that he hadn’t been able to escape her after they’d broken up. It would have seemed fair. Yet right then, she wasn’t thinking vindictive or bitter thoughts. She was thinking up ways to get his hands on her that much faster. She’d missed this. She’d saw off her own tongue before she admitted it, but she had. This was the one part of their relationship that had never been lacking. “So do you.” Her hands slid down as far as they could, which wasn’t very far considering their current position. She wiggled her hips, seeing if she could get him to move. “Let’s see what else you’re better at.”
---
“Glad to hear it.” He’d missed the real thing. There were other parts of their relationship he definitely didn’t miss, but this... yeah. Her wiggling did convince him to move. Anywhere she wanted to put those hands was just fine, especially if she kept going with that downward slide. It was also going to be a lot easier to get rid of some of this unnecessary clothing this way anyway.
“Hm, everything, of course. Just you wait and see.” Being drunk and all wound up only made him more of a smug bastard. Good thing Kace seemed to go for that. He slid his hand up her leg, in a hurry to get to the part where they both demonstrated what they’d been missing. He found something he wasn’t expecting and his expression changed from smug to slightly concerned and extremely confused. “Kace... is there a knife hidden up your skirt?”
---
She was fine with the seeing part, but waiting didn’t sound like much fun at all. Her hands slid under his jacket, moving behind his back so that she could pull him down for another long kiss. Somewhere, in the slightly more sober part of her mind, Kara was telling her in no uncertain terms that this was a bad idea. Kace thought that Kara needed to loosen up and have some fun. For someone who was in bed with a new guy ever week, she sure didn’t agree with what was going on here. Oh well. Frak her.
The look on his face made her giggle, though she knew it was a valid question. “Yeah.” Since he looked more confused than turned on right then, she stuck her own hand under her skirt. It reappeared after a few seconds holding the sheath she’d had strapped around her bare leg. Tossing it on to the nightstand, she gave his belt loop a tug. “You can never be too careful.” To demonstrate just how much danger he was currently in, she rolled them both over. Kace always did love to be in charge. Bending down to kiss him again, she grinned. “After this, you owe me another drink.”