SCUMBAGS EVERYWHERE
Lacey
“And then he said he wanted me. Like, he wanted me, right then and there. He asked if I was staying at a hotel nearby. I said no, and he wrote down a hotel and a room number and said his family kept it on hand for occasions such as this. He asked if I knew who he was, and I pretended I’d never seen or heard of him. And then he put a hand on my thigh, like, really brushing it softly. It was so crazy.” Hennie talked a mile a minute while I tried not to think about anything else that might make me sick.
She looked closely at me. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I just feel awful for his girlfriend. He’s clearly a douchebag.”
“Why, because he’s unhappy in his love life and wants out? She doesn’t even know him. She has a thing with that drummer dude.” She sounded like maybe he was going to become a hard limit for her. As in I couldn’t bash him anymore because he’d hit on her. She didn’t realize it was because he was a pig and would have hit on anything. And I wasn’t going to ruin that for her.
So I nodded along.
“So, you’re going to hand the evidence over to Amy?” Her eyes widened, like this excited her.
“Yeah.”
“Wow. I can’t believe your first mark was Jordan Somersby.”
“It’s wasn’t. I mean it was, but only because I can’t get to DJ Dipshit until tonight. I figured, why not get this one out of the way while I had tabs on him?”
“Are you upset?” she asked.
“Oh, no. I mean, sort of. I just expected more from him. He’s a friend of Monty’s, and I don’t like it when Monty hangs with guys who are a bad influence. You are who you hang with, ya know?” The lie was horrid.
“I guess so.” She sighed. “Except I don’t think that’s true. It can’t be considered cheating when your relationship isn’t real. And when it comes to bad influences, look at you and Marcia; you are different as night and day, but you stick to your guns.”
“I guess you’re right.” I shrugged and lifted my bags up, carrying everything like I was her help and she was a celebrity. She floated on her high all the way to my house.
When we got inside, Martin was walking out of the kitchen with a sandwich. He froze midbite, scowling. “Hey.” He didn’t look impressed. In fact, he was suspicious.
“Hey.” Hennie gulped, losing some of her high. I suspected she wanted Martin to be impressed with her makeover, but it was abundantly clear he wasn’t. She didn’t realize that he was more than most men and not interested in her looks. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine. A little sleepy.” He took another bite of sandwich and sat on the arm of the chair. “Grandma is driving me nuts.” He gave me a look. “She was panicking because you weren’t home yet and she had to leave to get some groceries. And she’s been going on and on that tonight she has to be at the theater forty-five minutes before the movie starts, but she doesn’t want me to be here without a babysitter.”
“Yeah, I got the impression she’s going to be weird for the next couple of weeks while this is ongoing.”
“Awesome.” He groaned and gave us both a nonchalant stare. “So, you still on for tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ll leave here, catch me a DJ, and come back, and we’ll upload the videos I got. Should be exciting.”
“I don’t think you should go to a club alone.” He tilted his head, like he was Dad.
“I was thinking about that too. I can see if Marcia or one of the other girls wants to go. They love to club.” I rolled my eyes. “Which means I’ll have to disguise myself extra, make sure Marcia drinks a lot and I drink nothing, and ensure I don’t get caught talking to Miguel. Which shouldn’t be that hard if the club is packed.”
“Just don’t go by yourself. Be smart. And careful not to get caught.” He nodded approvingly at me before asking Hennie, “You want a sandwich?”
“I’d love a sandwich.” She smiled wide, and her face screamed, Jordan who? She followed him into the kitchen, and I left the garment bag and took my makeup upstairs to start the plastic surgery I would need to make myself into someone DJ Spark wouldn’t recognize.
When I got into my room, I pressed my back against the door and tried taking deep breaths, but I couldn’t. My ribs were killing me. It was like Jordan had stabbed me.
It was in that moment I had to own up to the fact that I liked him.
A lot.
It was why I was so disappointed in him. I wanted him to be better than the average rich guy.
There was no denying I was attracted to Jordan or that I liked the fact that he called me Cinderella and asked my friend about me. He was taking chances to get to know me and showing up at parties I was at, hoping. And he apologized for being a douchebag when he wasn’t even really that much of one. He was weak, which I didn’t admire, but I understood his reasons. In his world, the rules were different. And how hard would it be to walk from your own family? I couldn’t imagine doing that with my own.
But deep down, none of that meant anything after today.
Jordan was a jerk. I even had proof.
I took the pin Hennie had given back on the train and uploaded the video to my phone, forcing myself to watch it.
It came on, shaking like Hennie was playing with the pin, likely to turn it on.
“Hi there.” Right out of the gates Jordan oozed prowl vibes.
“Hi.” Hennie sounded funny. “Do you come here often?”
His eyes widened, and he paused. “I do.”
“I need a good drink recommendation. I’m celebrating.” She sounded like she was smiling.
“What are you celebrating?”
“I just graduated college,” she lied.
“Hey, same here.” He lied too. I wasn’t sure why, but I guessed that gave them something in common right off the bat.
“Why don’t we share a drink?” He turned and did the facing-her thing. His smile was creepy looking, not the one he’d given me at all. I was grateful at least for that. This schmoozy side of him was icky.
“Okay. What are you having?”
“Let’s get some champagne.” He waved over the server. “A bottle of your best champagne, please.” He turned back to Hennie. “So, what did you major in?”
“Finance.”
“Interesting.”
“Not so much.” She laughed genuinely.
“What’s your name?”
“Does it matter?” she asked, sounding like a badass ninja spy. She was better at this than I gave her credit for.
“I guess not.”
“Your champagne, sir.” Another man spoke.
The pop of the cork made Hennie jump and giggle. Jordan handed her a glass, and he smiled, lifting his own to “cheers” her. “To the end.”
“To the end of school. And new beginnings,” she said, reaching into the frame and clinking her glass against his. “So, do you maybe want to continue this little celebration later?” she asked, completely naturally. “I have somewhere to go after this, but we could meet up in the evening.”
“Yes. I’d be into that. A couple of strangers celebrating their own successes. I have a hotel room my family keeps on hand for moments just like this. Here’s the name and room number.” He wrote on a piece of paper and slid it to her. “You’re very beautiful.”
“Thanks. So are you.” She was getting flustered.
I ended the video there. Then I uploaded the video from my laptop onto the site. I emailed it back to Amy, praying to the gods that it never got back to her that I was behind this scam.
I felt dirty.
But I didn’t even have time to pout.
I had date number two, and something told me Hennie wasn’t going to be up to seducing a slimy party boy.