Temptation
Wow. He watched her hair swing in a golden arc and fall fetchingly across her dainty shoulders. His attention was on full alert. The vibration of her delicate laughter tingled in his ears. He was drawn. She spun radiance, illuminating the room with gossamer threads of attraction; the center of the crowd, the life of the party.
His mind was racing. The party was raging and the alcohol was pumping bravado into his veins. He had to find a way to get near her, but the ticket-line was queued.
So when he saw Saskia dive in and chat to her like a long lost friend, he knew he was in.
Thank god…
“Hey, Sas?” His voice sounded a little too loud, he needed to be cool, calm.
“Good, you?” She chirped, following his eyes. She smiled knowingly.
“Greg, this is Carla. Say hello.” His mouth was suddenly dry, but it went unnoticed. She leveled cool gray eyes at him.
“Greg. Why don’t you get a thirsty girl a drink, then?” He grinned, not trusting his voice and scooted to do her bidding.
When he got back the crowd had dissipated, and he hoped it was by design.
“Thank you. I’m parched. So what do you do, Greg?”
It had been by design. His heart soared.
He opened the car door for her, to take her home.
“It’s not too far, 247 Callum Close.” She whispered as she brushed past him leaving her perfume dancing in the air like an invitation.
They drove in silence, her hand on his knee. A full moon kept pace with them as they slid through the night.
A wrought iron gate shuttered what looked like a castle at the end of her drive.
“Jeez, is this your house?”
She grinned and clicked the remote.
“I’ve been on assignment for a month, so the house hasn’t been lived in for a while.”
Her voice echoed tinkling tones above the sound of the gate swinging open.
Greg woke up alone under tangled sheets. He remembered kissing her on the couch. He remembered following her down the passage, but nothing after that.
God, I really need to take control of my drinking, he mused as he got up to find her.
“This place is amazing.” Grey took in the view of the lush green lawn rolling down to a sparkling blue pool surrounded by cheerful red and white striped loungers. “You've obviously done very well for yourself to afford all of this. He spread his hands, turning back to the breakfast table and the orange juice laced spread she’d whipped up while he was still in bed. He watched her spear a perfectly round ball of melon and pop it into her mouth.
Lord…
“Yes, but I’m in a bit of a state at the moment because I had to evict my last housemate for her rental arrears. She owed me a bomb and can’t pay a cent. I’m also in the market for a new recruit, but as you can imagine, not many people can afford this place. So we’ll just have to see…”
“Well that’s a match made in heaven, if ever I heard one. I’ve got my name on the books of all the agencies in the area. I’m in the market, what do you say?”
She looked at him in silence for a moment.
“You do realise that I can’t afford to let you live here free of charge?”
“Wh…” He blurted, “of course not. What do you charge?”
“Well, it’s five grand, but if you deal directly with me, cut out the agency commission, and pay in cash, I’d swing it for you for four-and-a-half. Obviously, you’d need to pay for three months upfront. Can you afford it?” She was grinning, a big, bright, beautiful grin.
“Three months is standard. No problem.” He nodded breathlessly looking at her across the table.
“Let’s go, now. I’ll draw the money for you. What about the paperwork?”
“Let’s deal with that tomorrow, okay?”
She’d asked him to drop her off at the mall so that she could shop for dinner after he’d kissed her and handed over his rent.
She looked so gorgeous as she swung away from the car towards the shops, her hair bobbing and glinting as she walked.
When Greg arrived at 247 Callum Close that evening with his luggage, the house at the end of the drive looked cold and dark. Even the garden was in darkness, not a glow to be seen. He called the cell number she had given him.
“The number you have dialed does not exist, please try again and dial…”
What the hell, so he dialed carefully.
Again, and again.
…and again.
On the other side of town Bella applied her makeup, getting ready for another party. Even she had to admit that the pace was exhausting. But Jason was adamant, they had to make a swift fortune and get out fast. Eventually, someone was bound to tie up the mounting complaints to the estate agency he worked for.
He said that they had the perfect plan and he wanted to keep it that way. He had lists of vacant upmarket homes available for premium rental, and lists of people on the lookout for expensive accommodation.
All the keys and access passes were on hand so that the agents could show the premises to clients and the roofies (*Rohypnol) were freely available on the black market so that she was never in any danger from the men.
It wasn’t that difficult to track the potential marks and make friends with people who ran in their crowd.
…especially for a girl like Bella
*Rohypnol (known on the black market as roofies, forget-me-pill, or R-2) is a pill, also known as a benzodiazepin, which has no taste, smell and is colorless, it is harmless except that it’s very effective sleeping pill - a knockout pill.
Hope the story doesn’t break any Ink Well Rules?
Find the prompt
This week’s prompt is
Tomorrow