Chapter 2

Derek Stark looked about the club and frowned subtly.

This was not to his taste. He would rather be in a movie theatre instead of this place. But his friends had said it was the place to be on a Friday night and he took their word for it.

He stood at the back of the room and looked on with feigned interest. Many girls walked up to him but his friends knew exactly what to do; they made their way up to her and ushered her away without saying a word to Derek, although Derek was completely happy for it.

He looked around quietly before landing his attention on the waitress. She brought him a refill of his drink. Suddenly he realized that Toby had made sure they got free refills, no doubt he had something going on with the waitress.

"Come on, D. lighten up a little," Aaron said. He was the other member of the trio that was always together when he came to town. He had been Derek's best friend for ten years.

"You know I don't like bars, A," Derek replied as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Yeah, but Toby wanted to come see it. He said all the waitresses are the best looking in town."

"I'm not interested in finding a one night stand."

"Of course. You're the find the right girl and marry her type of guy. D, maybe you should admit that she doesn't exist and find someone in the right now."

"If you don't drop this conversation, I will drop you for the night." It was the final straw.

Apparently Aaron read into it. "Okay. I'll leave it alone. Toby might not."

"Then I'll set him straight if he brings it up."

Aaron didn't say anything before he walked off and began to mingle with everyone else.

~~~~~~~~~

"Percy, I don't want to be here!" Tophyr said as she walked in the door of Eclipse. Well not walked but was dragged in by Percy.

Her brother stopped and looked at her. "It's Friday night and I am not going to sit by while you grade papers. You need to get out."

"This isn't my scene."

"I know but you can't stay at the library all day."

"I sure can! I'm earning my masters at 22 and am proud of it."

"I'm proud of you too but you got to admit. Being cooped up is not very fun." He drug her to the bar and ordered two drinks, handing one to her."Take it and be merry."

"You're not going to find her here, Perce."

Percy's face sobered at the thought. "I know but I needed to get out."

Reaching out, Tophyr rubbed the back of her brother's head a few seconds before bumping foreheads with him. "If you had been honest with me in the first place, I would have come without the kicking and screaming."

He looked up. Meeting his eyes, he smiled. "You would have kicked and screamed a little."

Tophyr smiled and rubbed his head again. "Only a little." They parted and looked at each other. "So… who's the new girl?"

"Her name is Penelope and her dad runs the dealership in SoHo. She's really nice and said she'd meet me here."

"Do you want me to wait around with you?"

Percy made a face. "Do I look like I wanna be caught with my sister?" She cocked her hip and looked at him. "Okay, okay. I did drag you here to be my wing man but it was in honest fun. I…" He stopped when she started laughing. "What?"

"You babble when you lie. Anyway, I'll find me a table to relax at until you're ready to go. Behave!"

He jumped at the chance to hug her tightly. "Thank you!" When he let her go, he wove his way through the crowd of people.

Tophyr was left on her own. She would call her best friend, but Duke was out of town. He was skiing in Vermont. He had offered to take her with him, but being insecure she opted to stay behind and get caught up on her grading.

She found a table and sat down. She could see Percy across the way. He was talking animatedly to a girl that could only be Penelope. She was smiling as she talked to him, which meant she liked him almost as much as he liked her.

"I'm not surprised I'd find you here."

Tophyr looked up at the familiar voice. "Hey, Alex. Where's Kathleen?"

"She is with her sister in the hospital. The new baby will be born tonight and Kat will have a new niece or nephew. What are you doing here?" Alex sat down with his sister.

"Percy drug me here as his wingman and then went to the other side to meet her."

"You didn't drive did you?"

"Nope, we walked. It was easier sneaking past Mom that way."

"True. Very true." His eyes were drawn to something behind her. "Can I help you, gentlemen?"

Tophyr looked behind her. Three guys were standing behind her. Two were looking her over as the other stared blankly at her table. There was something about him that made her look again. He was tall with sandy hair that was more brown than blond. His eyes were a shade of green that looked like a whirling sea. She wasn't aware that her brother was speaking to the other guys.

"…and we noticed she looked pretty. We were wondering if we could have a dance with her on the floor?" one asked. He was the shortest one and had black hair with dark eyes.

"You'd have to ask her. Toph?" She wasn't listening so he jostled her arm. "Toph?"

"Yeah?" she asked as she came back to earth.

Alex smiled as he realized what had just happened. Licking his lips, he said, "These young men want to know if you'd like to dance."

She turned around and caught the other young man who hadn't said a word looking at her. He held contempt in his eyes, which meant he was a snob and she didn't want to deal with him. She turned back around and crossed her arms on the table.

"Nope. I'm not interested."

The guys closed in on her, at the first two did. They leaned over her chair. "Come on."

Alex was out of his chair and grabbing one of the guys' arms. "She said no."

"What is she? Your wife?"

"No, she's my baby sister."

"What's going on here?"

The others looked over. Percy was back at their table and he wasn't alone. Alain and his brother-in-law Matthew was with him. Penelope stood to his right out of the way. Alex straightened.

"They're messing with Toph."

Alain's blue eyes hardened at the thought. "No, they're not. They'll be leaving unless they want to mess with all of us."

"Mr. Hurst!" The waitress came running. Alain was the only one who looked up at her when she stopped beside them. "Your father called. He said he wasn't gonna be able to make it to your dinner date and for you not to wait."

"Thank you, Alice," Alain replied.

Alice looked between the small group assembled. "Is something wrong?"

"No, ma'am. Nothing's wrong at all. Tophyr, let's go."

"I came with Percy, Alain," She replied as he helped her to her feet.

"You're going with me. Come on. We're leaving."

"Wait," The last guy finally spoke. "Your name's Tophyr?"

"That's none of your business," Alex snapped. He down the rest of his drink and followed after his brothers and brother-in-law.

"What was that about, Derek?" Aaron asked. He felt bad for corning the girl but he was following Toby's lead.

"If I'm correct, that's Tophyr Hurst. She's the master's student in the journalism department at NYU," Derek replied.

"And you just happen to know her?" Toby said.

"She's a genius, T."

Toby shook his head. "You're hopeless, D." He left his friends and went back to the girl he had been macking on all night.

"Do you know her?" Aaron asked.

"No, but I'd like to know her."

"One problem. She's the daughter of Jim Hurst the attorney. She's got three brothers and two sisters. She's not going to be easy to get to."

That wasn't going to deter Derek. He wanted to meet her and he was going to.