Taylor stared at himself in the mirror, taking in the figure being projected back at him. He was 23, successful, good-looking. It was true that he had a lot going for him. The fact was, however, that he was completely and utterly bored. It had been years since something had happened to really shake things up. It wasn’t that he was tired to adoring fans or the money their music brought in. Those aspects of his life suited him quite well as they afforded him plenty of attention and the funds to support his expensive taste. No matter what kind of music they put out, the fans would buy it. No matter what he wore to an event, people would put up with it. He wanted drama. He wanted someone to tell him no. Even his brothers usually gave in to him after awhile. Taylor had even gotten to the point of picking stupid fights over topics he really didn’t care about just so see if they would finally tell him to knock it off and to shut the hell up. They didn’t.
They were due to attend a party in celebration of the opening of a new club in Soho. Not being the type to turn down free booze and food, he had agreed and told the manager that of course, his stick-in-the-mud brothers would be attending as well. Needless to say, they hadn’t been pleased. Zac had never taken to partying and Isaac was married. They were still his brothers and he still loved them, but they were boring in all definitions of the word. Lately, if it hadn’t been for work-related issues, they never would have talked to him at all. Or at least it felt that way. So, Taylor lived alone and had made his best efforts to drink as much as possible, sleep with as many women as would have him, and do whatever he could to annoy the hell out of his brothers. His psychologist told him that he was acting out to get attention, but once he’d slept with her too, she hadn’t said much that he didn’t want to hear. Two appointments later, he’d told her he wouldn’t be coming in for appointments any more, but had slept with her several more times. Once she’d become yet another Yes Man, Taylor hadn’t seen the point in further seeking her professional advice.
The opening they were going to was for a bar called Fuse and it sounded like yet another celebrity-hopping STD factory, or at least that’s what Zac had said. Taylor had told him that at least they were still considered popular enough to attend such an opening and that had shut him up for the most part. At least it was going to get him out at a bar for a reason other than getting drunk and taking someone home, but he didn’t say that out loud to them. It would have only solidified the things they’d been saying behind his back for the last year or so. The information he could pry from his mother with the right amount of guilt was incredible. Under other circumstances, he would have felt really terrible for manipulating his mother like that, but when it came to the things his brothers and business associates were saying about him, he felt that having the knowledge justified the cause.
His phone rang, vibrating on the marble countertop in his bathroom. Isaac’s name was on the screen and Taylor bit back an annoyed sigh at the sight. He could just imagine them sitting out there in a cab, grumbling about how he was always late even though he, at the present time, was not late. In fact, he still had five minutes before he had told them he would be downstairs waiting. He understood Isaac’s desire to get to the party and to leave at a decent hour. Isaac had a pregnant wife at home, who was actually a pretty great person, Taylor was forced to admit. Zac, on the other hand, did not have a good reason to act like an impatient child, other than the fact that he was a perpetual whiner and had been complaining in advance about this night for weeks.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Taylor muttered to his Blackberry before pocketing it and heading for the front door. He didn’t bother answering it. He saw Isaac and Zac, as he had guessed, sitting in a cab outside of Taylor’s building looking slightly irritated.
“Let’s go, slowpoke,” Isaac said as Taylor opened the door to the front seat and slid in.
“Who gets to the bars before ten? Seriously…” he muttered, “I can’t believe you guys are making me go this early anyway.”
“Well, we both know that Zac has a curfew,” Isaac laughed and Taylor joined him.
“Just because I don’t have to go out and be an idiot every weekend like Taylor doesn’t mean I’m a little kid,” Zac said, crossing his arms across his chest and looking every bit the child he claimed not to be. Taylor just waved his hand at his little brother dismissively before turning around and watching the New York streets zip by as the cabbie sped unnecessarily through traffic whenever he got a free chance to do so. They arrived in front of Fuse about twenty minutes later and were past the line of photographers, which they had all fake smiled for and two of them had faked enthusiasm for, in a manner of minutes. The place wasn’t as empty due to the early hour as Taylor had expected, and they had to wait for almost ten minutes at the bar for drinks. Zac nursed the beer Taylor had bought for him, insisting that he at least pretend to have fun and look like he didn’t hate his life, and Taylor and Isaac enjoyed their gin and tonics as they started to survey the place to see if they knew any one else in attendance. There were some people they recognized, but for the most part, the crowd seemed to be filled with New Yorkers, which suited Taylor just fine. He hated being forced in to awkward, strained conversations with other people deemed as “famous” as if they had anything in common besides papparazzi snapping their pictures whenever they went out in public.
“Lots of women without wedding rings on, Taylor. You should have some fun tonight,” Isaac said, “Not that it would probably stop you even if they did have rings.”
“Come on, Ike. Even I don’t stoop that low,” Taylor responded before turning to shoot Zac an annoyed look for standing there moping, when his breath caught in his throat at the sight of the most incredibly intriguing looking woman he’d ever lay eyes on. He saw her standing across the room, oblivious to his presence. She was confident, sexy, radiant. A polished finish shone off her in every respect. She didn’t need him, but he wanted her, and for a single moment, that was all that mattered.