We drive down the dark streets, sticking to the outskirts of town. Finally, they decide to let me in on the plan. Brax tells me that I’m going to walk into a bar and seduce this guy. They need me to convince him to go to a second location alone, without his entourage, just with me.
“What’s the second location?” I ask.
“A motel,” Brax says matter-of-factly.
“Are you serious?! I’m not sleeping with some stranger!”
“You don’t have to sleep with him,” Daire interjects from the front. He hasn’t turned around the entire car ride and I’m getting the feeling he’s trying to avoid looking at me.
“You just need to get him there and we’ll do the rest,” Brax adds.
“What are you guys going to do to him?”
“I thought I told you that you ask too many questions,” Daire says darkly.
“He’ll live,” Brax adds. “We can’t tell you more about him because we want you to go in there as just some bimbo who wants a bit of fun. It’ll be a lot easier for you to pretend you know nothing if you actually know nothing.”
“Is this dangerous?” I can’t help but ask.
“You’ve got us watching your back so you’re safe,” Brax says. “If you get into trouble, we’ll get you out.”
“But don’t start trouble on purpose just to get out of it. We’ll know,” adds Daire.
I sigh and lean back against the plush leather seat to watch the run-down scenery rush past.
8
The bar sits on a lonely street corner like a neon and dirty brick eyesore. We pull up behind an empty building a short distance away with a perfect view of the entrance. Daire cuts the engine before turning to look at me for the first time since we left Theodora’s place.
“This is the guy.” He holds up his phone and I see an average, kind of sleazy-looking, man in his late thirties. “That’s your mark. Get him to agree to go to the Starbeam Motel on Twenty-Second Street.”
“What if I can’t convince him to go?” This plan is crazy. I’ve never tried to seduce anyone in my life. I don’t know how to be sexy on demand and I’m a bit out of my element here.
“You’re a hot girl,” Daire says as he stares at me, his narrowed eyes blazing. “It’s going to be insanely easy to convince any guy to go to a motel with you. Now, go,” he commands and I hop out of the car.
I’m weirdly motivated by his pep talk.
Daire thinks I’m hot.
Who cares if a monster thinks you’re hot, Addison?
Right.
I walk quickly across the empty street to the bar. I make it to the front door and rush in before I can second-guess myself.
Inside it’s dark and smokey—which is weird because it’s illegal to smoke in any establishment, but I guess they don’t care much about the law in this part of town. A couple neon beer signs are the only attempt they’ve made at decorating. I think this place looks depressing as hell but apparently not everyone agrees with me because the place is busy.
I start scanning the crowd, trying to find my “mark”. It’s hard because about ninety percent of the people in here are guys and they all look like the guy in the picture Daire showed me.
I move through the crowd and try to ignore all the lecherous stares I’m getting. Even with the makeover, I still stand out. I don’t know what to do and I need a moment to collect myself so I head to the bar.
While I wait for the bartender, I continue to scan the crowd. I try to avoid eye contact with anyone, but it doesn’t work as a guy starts to walk over to me immediately.
“Fuck,” I mumble as I turn away, trying to ignore him.
“Hey, gorgeous. Is this seat taken?” he asks.
“I have to go to the washroom!” I blurt out before rushing off.
The large boots take some getting used to and I almost fall flat on my face as I escape. I make it to the washroom and hide in a stall. I don’t think I can do this.
I take a couple minutes to calm down and collect myself. I need to get this over with and get the hell out of here. The quicker I get this done, the quicker they ask me for the second favor, then the third, and the quicker this will all be over. Then I’ll never have to interact with the Vicious Crew ever again.
I take a deep breath, look at myself in the mirror—who is that?—and then head back out.
I keep my calm better this time as I survey the crowd. With a relieved sigh, I finally spot the guy. He’s by the bar surrounded by a couple of friends.
I attempt to look confident as I strut over towards them. I make eye contact with the guy and hold it, before turning away to lean against the bar next to his friend. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds before he pushes his friend aside and slides in next to me.
A part of me is thrilled. I can’t believe how easy that was!
“What’s a pretty young thing like you doing in a place like this?” he asks me and I have to suppress my disgust.
“I’m just… looking for some company. I was bored at home all alone.” The words come to me naturally and I wonder, who is this person? I don’t know her at all.
“I can help you with that,” he says with a laugh, and I fake a laugh too. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Sure, a beer, please.”
“A girl after my own heart.” He gets the attention of the bartender. “The lady will have a—what kind of beer do you want?”
I look around desperately but I can’t find a drink list anywhere. “Um, a… one of those.” I motion to a man on the other side of the bar drinking from a dark bottle.
“Make that two,” my mark says and slips the bartender a twenty.
He turns his attention back to me and starts flirting shamelessly—and I start flirting right back. The guy is gross and sleazy, but my adrenaline is in overdrive so I don’t find it hard to pretend to be interested in him—but when he puts his hand on my back, it takes all my willpower to not shove it off.
When, after a drink, I mention going somewhere else, he readily agrees. I’m giddy, I can’t believe I’m pulling this off! He tells his friends that he’ll talk to them later and that he has to “take care of this sexy young thing. Make sure she’s dicked just right”. I fake laugh to cover up my revulsion and we head out.
We walk over to his car and this is when I start to wonder what to do next.
“Where did you want to go?” I ask.
“I’m good with anywhere you want. It can’t be my place though because my wife is home right now.”
“I have a roommate so we can’t go to my place. How about a motel?” I say too quickly.
“All right. Anything for your sweet little ass.”
“The one on Twenty-Second Street, I think it’s called ‘Starbeam’ or something.”
He looks at me suspiciously for the first time and I start to get nervous that I screwed up. He knows.
“You do this a lot or something?” he asks. “You trying to make me pay for it or something?”
“Oh my god, I’m not a prostitute!” I think my absolutely real indignation convinces him and he backs off.