Chapter 1

Laurissa was pissed and she didn't care who knew about it. The taxi driver, who's cab the Laurissa had climbed into, learned of the young ladies temperament very quickly after he tried to engage her in playful banter to pass the time. He gave up after only a couple of blocks. It was clear the woman in the back wanted to be left alone.

Laurissa had come to Chicago to spend the weekend with her friend Stephanie. It was something they had been doing for nearly two years. The two women had grown up together and were as close as any sisters. They had even attended the same college. Eventually it was their chosen careers that had led them to two different cities. However, they were determined to try and stay in contact with one another. In addition to burning up the phone lines several times a week. One or the other would travel to the others city so that they could spend at least one weekend a month together. This time it had been her turn to fly up from St. Louis.

On more than one occasion there were times a month would pass between each visit. Even so the two women had always picked up where they left off as though no time had passed at all. This was counter balanced by the months that they visited more than twice in a single month. The two shared their lives and adventures like few sisters ever would. That was until two months previous. Shortly after that months visit, Stephanie had called. She wanted to share her news about finding 'the one'.

This was nothing new. Stephanie was always finding 'the one', even though the relationships were usually short lived. The fact that Stephanie was still with him during her next visit said something about the guy. Most of Steph's relationships lasted a week or two at most. This guy must have been strong enough to tolerate Steph's normally overbearing personality, or a total wimp. Either way, he made Steph happy and that was all Laurissa wanted to know about him.

Of course, the fact that the man in question made Stephanie happy, did eventually become a problem. The problem was, now that she had a man in her life and was happy. She thought everyone of her friends had to have a man to be equally as happy, regardless of what the person wanted. Since her and Laurissa were the closest, Laurissa became Stephanie's first target. Of course Laurissa was blissfully oblivious to Steph's machinations. She became aware of it during the following visit. Stephanie had decided to bring with her two extra visitors. One of the uninvited might have been overlooked and that was Stephanie's boyfriend.

However, Stephanie had made the decision, without asking, to include him. His presence was something that would intrude on their normal 'girls only' weekend. That in and of itself would have been bad enough, but Steph had gone further and brought along a guy that she was certain would be perfect for Laurissa.

Needless to say, Laurissa and Tom got along like oil and water. From Laurissa point of view the weekend was a total disaster. It was bad enough that she had to put up with her own mother playing the matchmaker during visits. The last thing she needed in her life was for her friend to start the same shit.

Laurissa was forced to admit, even if it was only to herself, that she did like Randy well enough. She could see what her friend saw in him. He was tall with wide shoulders and reasonably good looking, but it was his personality that made him stand out from others. Laurissa was glad to see that he had a strong and independent personality and wouldn't let Stephanie walk all over him. During their many phone conversations since, Stephanie had apologized repeatedly and promised that she wouldn't do it again. It was on the basis of those promises that Laurissa had decided to fly up this weekend. She wasn't happy when it became apparent that Randy was going to join Stephanie and her for dinner. Maybe it was wrong or even selfish of her to want their 'girls only' weekends to continue to be 'girls only'. It wasn't as though Randy didn't have her the rest of the time.

Perhaps if that was all that had gone wrong, she might have found a way to enjoy the evening. Like so many other things in life, it wasn't meant to be. It couldn't have been more than two minutes after being seated at the restaurant, one of Randy's 'friends' appeared at the table. He 'just happened' to be at the same restaurant at the same time they were and of course he was alone. Being in the same restaurant as a friend, he just had to stop by the table and say hello. To Laurissa, his actions were reminiscent of a hawk swooping down on what he thought to be easy prey. When Steph and Randy invited Daniel to join them and seated him beside her, she knew the fix was in.

The meal wasn't bad, meaning the food was good. It would have been better if she didn't have to keep forcing Daniel's hand off of her thigh. When the meal had ended, Laurissa was exhausted after fighting off Daniels constant, and uninvited, advances. For her part she was ready to go back to her hotel room. However, Stephanie thought they should go out dancing, since, according to Stephanie, the evening was still young. Laurissa found herself outvoted three to one and since she had ridden to the restaurant with her friend and her boyfriend she felt she had little choice. They say that hindsight is twenty-twenty. Looking back now Laurissa should have gone with her original instinct to catch a cab from the restaurant. The bouncer at the door seemed to know Randy and Daniel and the group was allowed into the club, while others were kept behind the rope. The first stop was at the bar, and again they got their drinks almost immediately. What was even more amazing was they found an empty table. The first flashing warning light started in Laurissa's head. She had the feeling that this had all been set up in advance.