Chapter One

Selena looked at herself one more time in the mirror. She wasn’t particularly happy with her white mini skirt. It just made her feel so exposed but she liked how it showed off her long legs. It also paired well with the large looped earrings May bought for her birthday. The only problem was that her skin was already quite pale and her crimson hair seemed to blend in with what she wore.

“This isn’t going to work,” she told herself and went back to her closet. In the end she traded her clothes for a black laced mini skirt and a backless black sleeveless top. All the black further accented her red lipstick, pale skin and red hair. She never really liked wearing black but this was better than looking like a pastel painting.

Her phone buzzed and she checked to find several messages from her friends. They were already at the party. She didn’t bother replying as she left, grabbing her purse and car keys on the way out of her apartment.

Getting from her place to the venue took longer than she expected. It was a private party, in some rich guy’s house, but her friends knew a guy that knew the guy so they were able to get invitations. She didn’t really care. All she wanted was a chance to drink, dance and forget about work for a while.

As she drove, Selena tried to clear her thoughts. She had been working as an interior designer for the past six years but the company recently got into financial issues and she was one of the many that were laid off. She needed a job, any job.

To drown out her thoughts she played a few songs as loudly as she could, trying to pass the time in traffic as peacefully as possible. It was after a while that she realized she had been playing songs from Roxette, Bruce Springsteen and White Snake and it made her feel old.

“Good luck getting a job,” she told herself as she took a left turn. “I’m probably older than my boss.”

In truth she was only twenty-seven but companies these days were constantly looking for the impossible. Often she’d find an advertisement looking to hire a single female, with no children, aged twenty-one to twenty-three. Somehow they also expected to hire someone with at least a year or two of experience. With each hiring post she found she discovered they were looking for someone young and single.

“What’s with these requirements,” she once asked. “Are they hiring a designer or a model they can seduce and fuck?”

Just a few minutes after sorting her thoughts she took the last turn and found herself in a very fancy neighborhood. All the houses on this street were big enough to swallow her entire apartment building and more. Just a few more houses down and she found a corner with a lot of cars parked in front of what she could only describe as a genuine mansion.

It took her a while to park her car but when she did she found her friends, Ayesha and May, were already outside waiting for her.

“Took you forever,” Ayesha said as she took Selena by the hand.

“Sorry, I couldn’t find something to wear,” Selena answered.

May rolled her eyes at that and said, “You couldn’t find something to wear that wasn’t black but still pretty to look at.”

The girls giggled and Selena acknowledged May was right.

“So what’s going on,” she then asked.

Ayesha led them through the front garden, where there were already a lot of people drinking and chatting away, “Well, we saw Gilbert flirting with Mylene. They were over in the basement playing beer pong with a few people.”

“Gilbert’s such a man-whore,” Selena responded as she waved at a few familiar faces on their way into the house. “Can’t believe I actually dated that idiot.”

“I can’t believe you slept with him,” May stated. “He’s probably got more diseases that a flea bag hooker.”

Selena’s jaw dropped and she nudged May with her elbow, “Fuck you.”

“You know it’s true, though,” May told her. She then opened the front door and they walked into a large reception area where couches had been moved in and a lot of people were randomly talking, standing, dancing and drinking. They quickly identified a few people they knew – the party constants such as themselves.

Selena also identified the big guns, the real people that belonged in this kind of occasion. She could tell a person was upper class just by the way they dressed or walked around. Unlike her and her friends, the genuinely rich people wore everyday clothes. They didn’t need to dress rich or make an effort to look elegant and refined because they already were.

“Is that Nicole?” she then asked Ayesha and May when she spotted a girl sitting atop a guy’s lap.

Ayesha nodded, “Yeah. The guy she’s flirting with is Garett Owelheim, by the way. He owns that big car dealership down Cicero.”

“Damn,” May responded. “No wonder she’s doing her best to keep him glued to her. I’d drop my panties too if it got his attention.”

“You’re such a bitch,” Selena said playfully and picked up a glass of champagne from a nearby table. She took a sip and said, “You know, we are here to have fun.”

May and Ayesha both looked at each other with a devious smile on both their faces.

“What?” Selena had to ask. She knew they were up to something.

“Well,” May started, “we already booked you for something.”

“Huh?”

Ayesha took a glass herself and sipped before explaining, “We met someone just before you got here. We told him about you and he wants to meet you.”

“You sold me out,” Selena said dryly. “Great, now I’m a whore. Did he pay you well?”

Both May and Ayesha laughed at her sarcastic – but somewhat true – remarks. Ayesha continued, “Well, let’s go talk to him. He’s not going to wait forever, you know.”

“Did you even ask for his name?” Selena prodded for more information before she set her glass down. “Is he cute?”

They didn’t bother to answer her and led her through several hallways. Selena’s eyes grew wide when she saw just how many rooms the house owner had built. She passed by a gaming room, two dining halls, two bedrooms and even a large playroom, which was where most of the guests were socializing in.

Eventually they reached the third floor of the house and she was brought into what appeared to be a large solar. There was a fireplace and a large rug in the center. It looked like there must have been shelves of books and an office space judging by the size and shape of the room but they have been replaced with couches, tables and an open space for people to party in. She also saw a large door leading to a wide veranda that overlooked the backyard, where she could hear people partying by the pool.

Few people were in here though, no more than a dozen or so. Seated in one large recliner was a man in a grey shirt and jeans. He was well built, with sleek muscles that rippled across his arms but he wasn’t grossly large like a body-builder. He also had short, trimmed black hair and she surmised he may have been in the military. He was drinking a bottle of beer and his gaze was glued to his phone.

Oddly enough, it was this man that Ayesha and May led her to.

“Hey, Tom,” Ayesha said to the man as he looked up from his drink and phone. “Here’s the girl I was talking about, Selena.”

Tom reached out for Selena’s hand and gave it a firm shake, “Hi, hope you’re enjoying the party. I’m Tom Sellick. Come, have a seat.”

The girls sat on the couch. May and Ayesha pushed Selena to the side closest to Tom.

“Well,” Selena replied. “I just got here but it looks like everyone’s having fun. I’ve never been to a house this big before though.”

“But you have been to other parties in the neighborhood?” Tom asked.

Selena nodded, “I’m not a gold digger, if you’re worried about me hanging around well-to-do guys.”

“Oh, I never implied that,” Tom said apologetically. “I was just curious about your own sense of wonder. I do apologize for the house. I often host parties here to fill up the rooms. It’s quite dreadful when I’m all alone here.”

Selena went blank for a second. She wasn’t just talking to some rich guy or someone pretending to be fancy. She was talking to the actual owner of this gigantic mansion and host of the party. Selena looked back at Ayesha and May and silently mouthed “How the fuck?”