An Illicit Attraction: A Roleplay

Kara laughed at the photo, at Hayden straddling a dinner table, his eyes ringed red, a can of beer in his hand. He had a funny looking hat on his head, something no sober man would wear. And he still looked sexier than sin.

Grinning, she jabbed him in his side. "Obviously you were smashed," she quipped. "One night soon we're going to see if you're any better at holding your liquor than you were two years ago."

Jack seemed to love that idea. His eyes gleaming mischievously, he motioned towards the open bar. Kara examined Hayden, a dare in her eyes, but didn't speak. He was supposed to be catching up with old friends. She herself thought the night would only go a little more smoothly with a few shots.

Hayden looks at her, "You want to see me smashed, fair enough...let me just do something first, to get into the mood."

He held up his hand to the waitress, who came over with two shot glasses full of tequila. Kara went to grab hers, Hayden shook his head and placed one of the glasses into the cleavage of her shirt, thankfully their was more than enough.

He held his hands behind his back and put his lips around the glass, lifting it up and taking the shot. He put the glass back and looked at Kara, "You want me to do that again?"

Kara felt her cheeks burning. Other things warming up just the same. Grinning, she plucked the glass from her cleavage and faked a pout. "Well, that's no fair. What am I going to drink from?"

His eyes alight with what she knew was an idea, she watched as Hayden took another shot and tilted it back. Just as she was about to call him an ass, he wrapped one strong arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him, then lowered his mouth over hers. When she opened her lips to receive his kiss, the strong taste of tequila rushed onto her tongue. He was giving her her due shot. From his mouth.

She took the warm flow of liquid down eagerly, one hand cupping his cheek while the other buried itself in his back pocket, and then laved her tongue against his. Only when she heard a cough from behind her did she remember that they weren't alone.

Stepping away, she flashed the three a grin, strode towards the bar and tossed a smile over her shoulder. "Let me show you guys how it's done."

Hayden spent the night drinking and partying with old friends, his ex and Kara.

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That Monday morning, they were getting ready to leave. Aunt Sheryl came up and hugged Hayden, not wanting to let him go. She broke off and went upstairs, his cousin came up next and looked at him, "I actually have something to say....while you buy armani clothes by doing who knows what, I know you can't be in college anymore..."

Hayden looks at her, "You really want to talk? I heard what you said to Katie. The reason she never came with me, was you."

"I was helping you, she would have regretted it Hayden and you would have been even more heartbroken.." She said, Hayden looks at her, "That was her decision to make, not yours...if Aunt Sheryl needs money, I will help out..."

She looks at him, "Don't stress yourself pretty boy" she walks off, Hayden looks at Kara "Let's just go..."

They get into the car and he pulls out of the driveway, thinking about his Aunt, how can he quit now? He has money, he could make more of it even.

Kara sat in silence for a while as Hayden drove, turning what was said around in her head. Sheryl needed money. Selene had something to do with the breakup between Hayden and Katie. Was he still upset about it? Did he miss her? It hurt to entertain the thought.

Chewing on her lip, Kara turned to face him. "I heard you and Selene talking," she admitted, watching for his reaction. He stared ahead at the road, but his jaw tensed. "I really don't even know what to ask about first. Your aunt or whatever happened with Katie."

Hayden kept driving, "Selene has always been a bitch, she shouldn't have said that right in front of you but my Aunt is having trouble paying her bills, she was laid off work...and yeah, with Katie. Saturday night, when you went to the washroom, she confessed why she broke up with me...we were engaged, both of us decided to move to L.A. together but she broke up with me, a week before we planned to go....said she wanted to stay in town, she didn't want the life I did...but really it was Selene who put these thoughts into her mind."


He kept driving and glanced at Kara, "It's in the past, I just didn't know..so, I would think I have a right to be pissed off."

Kara nodded. "Yeah, no," she replied. "I get it. And as for your aunt, there are ways we can help with that."

She looked down at his knuckles, tight and white around the steering wheel, then back into his eyes. "You don't have to go back to what you were doing for Garrett. I know what you're thinking. But stick to the cars. Hell, I have money I couldn't dream of spending. We can work together on it. I want to help, but not if you go back to selling for my brother. And especially not killing."

Hayden looks at her, "I don't want your money. I want you to talk to your brother about us...that's all I want you to do and I will figure out everything else."


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hayden went into Garrett's office the next day, walking over to him "I have to talk to you..." Kara was thankfully at school.

Garrett looks at Hayden, "I need you to take care of that client first, then we're going to talk about a pay raise."

"Pay raise..?" Hayden says.

"How does 10 grand sound...?" Garret said, Hayden found himself suddenly reconsidering everything. That would be more than enough money to help his Aunt, Kara will be pissed but he needed to help his family, she wasn't his family and he doubts they ever will be with her brother so protective.

Hayden just nods, walks out and goes to the break room. He grabs a cup of coffee, slightly spilling some on his shirt, he looks to see Chocolate standing there, he smirks at the kid and walks over.

"I hear you have your first...killing assignment." Chocolate says,grabbing some coffee. Hayden nods,"Yeah...some asshole is owed a 3rd visit."

Chocolate looks at him,"Look kid...killing a man is a change of character."

"Do you forget I already killed someone..." Hayden says, "That was self-defense. This kill is going to be followed by torture...and then taking his life, someone who is unarmed as well. You're a killer, no matter what way you try to spin it..."

Hayden looks at him, Chocolate could see how nervous he was, "I can help you out, I will do it...but I would require a cut of that 10 grand."

Hayden laughs,"Yeah right...not happening."

He goes to walk out, Chocolate looks after him, "You know my number..."

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Hayden changed into his suit, sitting in his car as it was parked outside a house. It was a big house, the man who owned it clearly did have money. Probably a rich businessman Hayden assumed. He bent down lower as he saw two young children walk out of the house, with a woman that must be their mother.

When they were gone, Hayden thought right there and then to go pick up Kara and drive away, go anywhere else but he knows Garrett would track them down and his aunt would lose her house. This guy was asking for it, he shouldn't be doing drugs when he has children.

Getting out of the car, he went up to the front door. He knocked and the man opened the door, he saw Hayden about to shut the door, who quickly stopped it and pushes the guy in, Hayden walks in and shuts the door.

"You didn't listen to me from the last visit...,I wonder what lie you fed your wife about all those bruises and broken leg...?"

The man looks at Hayden, "I am waiting on a deal at work to go through and I will have the money."

Hayden looks around the house,"I really think you have the money, I mean...look at this place."

The man looks at Hayden, "I don't have anything, it's why I turned to drugs...my family is hanging by a thread."

Hayden looks at him,"You will be hanging alright..." Hayden goes up to him and kicks him to the ground, pulling the guy upstairs as he pulls a rope out of his inside pocket in his suit. The man screamed and begged, "Please....,I made mistakes, my children..please don't kill me."

Hayden held the rope, about to tie it up and make a noose out of it. The man ran to the door, Hayden chased him down and kicked him to the floor, breaking his leg and the man screamed, Hayden pulls him back.

He grabs a near by chair from the wife's vanity desk, the man begs and cries. "Please..."

Hayden looks at the man, who was in such pain and fear in his eyes. It hit him, he backed off and walks away, his feet just kept moving and he had no words to describe it. He just reached the stair case when he heard the cock of a gun and was about to tackle the guy down, but it was too late as he was shot right in his side.

He fell to the floor, on the edge of falling down the stairs.

Chocolate found himself sitting in the break room, resting on the couch as he watched JohnBoy and Lopez playing foosball. It had been a while since Hayden had left.

"We should go to Club Level tonight, boys," JohnBoy announced, turning one stick with a flick of his wrist as if to magically reject the ball coming his way, his shoulders slumping when it went in, scoring Lopez another point. "Been a while since I had some good quality pussy."

Chocolate shook his head. "You talking like that is the reason you're not getting laid, kid."

Lopez snickered at that. "Why so low, Choco?" he asked over his shoulder, reaching for another ball from the side of the machine and placing it at the table's center. "I dare you to take me. Your win last week was a fluke."

"Fluke my ass, son," Chocolate bit back, laughing. "You want to go?"

Lopez's enthusiastic agreement was interrupted by JohnBoy. The tattooed man glanced at his watch, then at the door. "How long's GQ been gone?"

Deflated, Chocolate glanced at the door as well, almost hoping Hayden would return. Hell, the kid had been nervous, sure, but it shouldn't have taken this long. He groaned. "Fuck, boys, I should go after him. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Lopez nodded. "Want us to tag along?"

Chocolate shook his head. "No. No, I know where he's headed. I'll handle it."

Then, reaching behind the bottle of whiskey on the small kitchen counter, he found the safe of guns. He tucked his best pistol into his jeans and went off to find GQ.
-----

The moment Chocolate pulled up to the mansion of a house and met the silence it emanated, he knew something was wrong. He lifted his shirt and found the handle of his pistol. Gave it a squeeze. Prayed like he always did before he walked into something like this, something bad, something dangerous, as if after all he'd done and all the lives he'd taken, God would still care to protect him. That was a laugh.

Suddenly the stillness in the air was pierced by a a sound coming from inside the house. Banging. Muffled shouts. A struggle was good. A struggle meant he wasn't too late.

Taking off and sprinting through the unlocked front door, Chocolate ran through the house, his gun raised, until he a set of steps. Hayden lay at the bottom, a red hand clutching his side, the stairs streaked with a long line of blood that made it clear he'd been shot, then pushed down the steps. Chocolate looked up, then, and found their guy, gun in hand, at the top. Chocolate leapt up. "Motherfucker!"

The man took off, and Chocolate wasn't far behind. He couldn't get a clear shot in, but he made several attempts. One bullet just skirted the man's head and hit a giant mural on the wall before him. The other skimmed his shoulder, leaving his suit torn and blood seeping through. And then they were at the balcony. The man stood on the edge, one leg over the rail, and looked back at Chocolate one last time.

"Might want to tend to your friend," he spat. "I'm not dying today."

Before Chocolate could make a grab for him, he sprang from the balcony and into the bushes below.

"Fuck!"

Frantic, Chocolate thought again about Hayden, about the wound, and cursed himself for leaving the kid. He needed to call someone. He needed to take Hayden out of the house, first, and then he needed to call someone.

When he reached Hayden, the blood had spread. He was barely breathing, but his eyes were open in his struggle to stay conscious. Chocolate knelt beside him. "Fuck, man, be strong," he chanted, pulling Hayden's hand away to eye the damage. Not good. Not fucking good.

Chocolate reared back and pulled his shirt above his head, then pressed it to the wound. With his free hand, he snaked his phone out of his pocket and called 911.

Hours of classes and notes and people, and Kara went through it all in a haze. What had even been discussed? She'd scribbled things in her book, nodded at the instructors, and none of it registered. No, all she could think about was Hayden.

Today they were supposed to tell Garrett. Everything. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. Everything he deserved to know, but that she'd been too petrified to tell him.

When it had been time to leave and go home, Kara found herself sitting at her desk, the only one left. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to hole herself up in this classroom until morning. But then Hayden and Garrett would be alone.

Cursing herself for her cowardice, Kara sprang out of her seat and walked numbly to her car. Fuck Hayden for being such an honest guy. Nobody did noble shit anymore. Being noble got you into trouble. Secrets weren't always bad. Secrets saved lives.

Warring with herself, she finally pulled into the parking lot behind Garrett's repair shop and climbed out. Hayden's car was nowhere to be seen. Odd. But then she could tell him alone. If it went badly, she'd call Hayden and tell him to run like hell. Somehow that idea seemed a lot better. Smiling to herself, Kara stepped inside.
-----

"I have to talk to you." Kara said it with more conviction than she felt. She'd been prepared outside in the parking lot. Now he was here, in the flesh, with a smile on his face.

"Well, now, Kar, you said you'd come back when I stopped being an asshole," he grinned, stepping forward for an embrace. "I see you ain't got the patience to wait that out."

Kara laughed and let his arms encircle her. God, he was huge. Hayden didn't stand a chance.

"What you been up to, anyway?" he asked, curious.

Kara shuffled her feet on the floor. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

Garrett eyed her, brows furrowed, then stepped back and motioned towards his office. "Well, let's hear it."

Kara felt even smaller sitting in Garrett's chair, and knew it would be useless to start off her confession with the overused now, don't get mad, but...

He was going to get mad.

Blowing out of a puff of air that sent her bangs flying above her head before settling down again, Kara began.

"I'm here because I wanted to be honest. And because... I'm a grown woman now, Garrett."

Garrett sat up straighter in his office chair. The inviting smile was starting to fade. His eyes narrowed. "And?"

Kara gritted her teeth. Breathe. "And you can't just-"

The door swung open. JohnBoy stood with his eyes wide, and before Garrett could scold him for bursting in unannounced, Kara stood. "What?"

JohnBoy's mouth opened, then closed. "Chocolate called."

Alarm. Panic. Something bad. Kara knew it all had to do with that, but all she could think about was Hayden. Please, God, don't let it be Hayden. And where the hell was he?

JohnBoy's next words quelled her thoughts.

"Hayden's been shot."

Hayden laid in the hospital bed, finally waking up and made a noise of discomfort. Then he heard her, looking to his side and saw Kara, expecting her to yell at him and say it's over but instead she hugged him.

"I'm okay..."

Tears on her cheeks, Kara found it hard not to squeeze the life out of Hayden. It was the last thing he needed in his condition, but she wanted to hold him until she was sure he was real. To kiss the hell out of him being alive, for being the man she loved, and then to slap him good and hard for lying to her. He'd gone back. He'd gone to kill that guy. He'd gone back to work for Garrett.

"Oh, thank God," Kara cried, her eyes scanning his body for anything safe to touch. What part of him wasn't hurting, wasn't hooked to a tube? She reached for his hand and pressed it to her lips. She blessed each perfect knuckle with a kiss. Did that three times over. Held the back of his hand to her cheek, reveled in the surprising warmth.

"Hayden, if you had-"

She couldn't finish the sentence. Didn't want to. Instead, she locked onto his eyes and glared. "You promised, and still you had to do it. If you didn't already have a bullet in you, I'd have done it first."

He looked at her, how worried she was, "I know, I lied...I just thought it would be easy, I could do it but when I walked way, the guy shot me from behind. Kara, I'm sorry okay...?"

She looked away, so mad and upset. He reached out for her hand, "I will quit, all of it...I swear."

Kara and JohnBoy had raced to the hospital upon hearing the news. They'd asked if Garrett wanted to come along. No, he'd told them. He had things to do. He'd catch up later.

Meanwhile, he, Lopez and Chocolate had met up. The man had jumped off the balcony like a fucking coward. So they searched. Neighborhoods, shops, asked people if they'd seen anyone matching the man's description. Lopez had stayed back at the house to clean up.

Lopez had been the one to find the man in the end. The man had nowhere else to go. Assumed it would be safe to head back home. Lopez had gleefully called Garrett from the man's home, told him he was tied up and ready for his lesson. Garrett had been all too eager to make this one suffer.

And that he did. He'd made the man suffer. He'd had him crying out for his dead mama, for his grandparents, for God and anyone else who would listen. In the end, he'd died alone, and barely all but bits of him remained. The whole time, Garrett had told him what happened when someone fucked with his boys. In the end, the man would know all too well what that meant.

And now Garrett stood in the doorway of the hospital, having sweet-talked one of the nurses into taking him back. He was Hayden's brother, he'd insisted, and she'd had no way of finding out the truth, so she'd led him back. Pink cheeks and a stuttered voice that pointed out just how affected she was by him, Garrett had considered taking her out because she was just too fucking cute.

Then he looked into room 201, at the man whom he'd killed for, at the man whom he'd trusted with his life and career and baby fucking sister, and she was hovering above the hospital bed, planting a kiss on his lips.

Rage building up inside him and damned near exploding, Garrett stormed into the room. "The fuck is this?" he roared, glancing between the two, not sure who to pull away first. Kara's eyes were wide.

"Garrett," she stammered, "I was going to tell you. At the shop. That's what I was-"

But Garrett didn't listen. His glare zeroed in on Hayden. "You fucking my sister? Breaking my golden fucking rule, boy?"

The cute nurse stepped in, her cheeks even pinker this time. "Sir-"

"Ain't nobody getting hurt, sweetheart," Garrett snapped, his eyes still trained on Hayden's. "Just a talk, is all."

Kara stepped forward and put her arm between Garrett and Hayden's bed. "I was going to tell you. Then this happened. Garrett, calm down!"

"Calm down?" Garrett rumbled. "I was just out taking care of the son of a bitch that did this. Got him cuz no one messes with my boys." His words broke in his anger, and he clenched his jaw shut, his eyes again homing on on the man he'd once thought to be a friend. A brother. "That's some mighty fucking betrayal, GQ."

Hayden looked at him, "We were both going to tell you, I'm not just fucking her..., Garrett I respect you, you didn't have to do anything for me. Just let me explain..., I am in love with her. I am not going to hurt her, I don't know what proof you're going to need from me."

"Fuck proof!" Garrett barked. "Girl don't need nobody like us. We're fucked up. We don't raise families and drag women down-"

"He's nothing like you!" Kara shrieked, incensed. "He didn't want to do the third visit. He was going to quit!"

Garrett's eyes narrowed at his sister. "And now here he fucking is. Some promise he made to you, right? Some attempt to change?"

The nurse stepped into the room. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she warned him. "You're causing a scene. I'll call security."

Garrett laughed, but it held more menace than any kind of humor. He wasn't wanted there, and he didn't want to fucking be there. "I'm leaving, doll. Let these two have their happy fucking reunion."

Kara had tears spilling down her cheeks. "Don't be like this," she pleaded. "I love him. He loves me. He's right, he'd never hurt me. We didn't tell you before because we knew this was how you'd be."

"So lying to my goddamned face was what worked best? Not reason?" he snapped back.

Kara flinched. "I'm sorry. Look, I'm so sorry. Hayden wanted to tell you. It was me. I was the problem. I said no."

Garrett shook his head, and the anger seemed to evaporate. And then it turned into something much worse. "I'm real disappointed in you, Kar," he whispered. "Real disappointed."

Feeling crippled, Kara stepped back. She didn't know what to say. He felt betrayed. He'd been lied to by the sister he'd spent his life protecting. The sister he'd killed for. The reason he'd gotten himself into any of this in the beginning. And she'd lied.

His hand on the door, he nodded one last time to the persistent nurse and turned back to Hayden's bed.

"I ain't killing you," he announced, hatred dripping from his tongue. "God knows Kara won't take it. Personally, something that fast seems a bit too kind."

He smiled, then, his his eyes were crazed. Furious. "Heal up, GQ. We'll be in touch."

And then, without a glance back into the room, he left.

It was two weeks later, Hayden had Kara waiting on him hand and foot. She would cook for him, help clean his apartment and because she's awesome, she would do it all in a sexy nurse uniform.

He got up one morning, looking to seeing her in his bed. She didn't return to Garrett's, afraid of what he might say or do. She missed him though, Hayden knew it. She cared about her brother and frankly, so did Hayden. He didn't want this to be the end of their friendship. He would have to talk to him, explain why he was working for him in the first place.

He sent 3 grand to his Aunt, she has tried to contact him but he dodges her calls, not wanting to tell her how he keeps getting all this money. He gets up, has a shower and gets dressed, leaving his apartment before Kara wakes up.

He drives up to the shop, getting out and seeing the guys watch his every move as he enters it. He walks into the office.

Garrett glanced up from his desk, knowing it would be Hayden before he even had to look.

"You're dumber than I thought," he muttered, glaring at the man before him. "Or you really do got a death wish."

Hayden walks into his office, looking at him "No, I came to be honest with you...it was always my intention. This has been going on for 6 months Garrett, I'm not going anywhere."

Garrett gets up and goes up closer to him, Hayden stood his ground, "Killing me is not going to fix or change anything either, if you want to lose her forever...you won't lay a hand on me."

Garrett knew there was truth in what Hayden was saying. It was the fact that they'd lied. That they'd kept secrets. Hell, he missed his baby sister. But sometimes it felt as if she didn't know him at all.

Maybe he deserved that assumption. Look at what he'd done with his life.

Garrett grimaced. "Boy, if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

No more GQ. No more Brother. No more handshakes or parties or jokes. Somehow, that saddened Garrett. He really had considered Hayden a brother. A friend. One of his boys. An equal.

He strode back to his desk. "So y'all have only been going behind my back for six months. It makes it all okay that you're telling me this now, right?" From across the office, he met Hayden's gaze. His lips moved to speak, but Garrett shook it off.

"No, I get it. She says don't talk, you don't talk. You didn't want to do that third visit? You tell her, you don't tell me." His fingers trailed the edge of his desk, the stacks of papers on top. The math that needed doing. The trucks out back that needed to be repaired. All the shit that Hayden would be doing now.

"You think I like to kill, kid?" he went on. He didn't expect an answer. He didn't need one. "First one, bastard messed with my sister. Second, man beat up on a lady friend of mine. I gladly killed him." He swallowed. "But the rest? Man doesn't have enough money to pay up for drugs, and what do I do? I make him sign over all he's got and then I kill him. All I got is my reputation. I need people to fear me. It's why we deliver. It's why we get what we ask for. We scare 'em enough, we don't have to kill."

Hayden stood, taking it all in, and Garrett finally turned to face him. "Stupid sack of shit that I am, apparently, I don't get why people don't talk to me. Is my own baby sister that damned scared of me to tell me the truth? I love the shit out of that kid. Always will."

Why the confession, Garrett wasn't sure. He'd known JohnBoy since middle school, and the most heartfelt conversation they'd ever had revolved around the weather. Somehow, though, he needed Hayden to understand. If the man was seeing his sister, if he indeed loved her, he needed to know.

"Bottom line is, I ain't never made one my boys do shit they didn't wanna do. You didn't want to do that third visit, you could have told me. I ain't unreasonable. But Kara? You broke my golden fucking rule."

He took a step closer to Hayden. "Kara's been hurt too damned much. I know I'm fucking insane thinking she'll be a nun. But maybe I wanted her to meet some nice college kid, get married, have some kids and a white picket fence. You? You sell. You worked for me. You're tainted. And you two get married, get in some financial trouble, what are you gonna do? You'll be right back to fucking square one. Here."

Another step. "Cuz what me and my boys got here is a fucking curse. Nobody just leaves."

Hayden stepped up to him,"You have a point..it's what I have thought about over and over. The difference is, I know all about her past...what happened to her and what you did. Yes, she is scared to talk to yuo and tell you things. I don't want her to...I don't want her to not be in your life, it's why I am here. This is not for me...or for my conscious, to be honest Garrett, I don't care if I did hurt you...she is my number one priority, so say whatever you want to me."

"Fucking true love right there, huh?" Garrett deadpanned. Their faces were so close, they were almost touching. Neither moved. The hell if Garrett would break the stare first.

"You're no good for Kara. You'll be back. Hell, you lied to her once. I wave enough money under your nose, you'll bow down to me and do whatever the fuck I say."

An enticing idea, really. The math, the cars, the business itself. Hayden had benefited it all greatly. He may hate the kid, but he was good with a lot of the things Garrett wasn't. And to have Hayden crawling back to him for cash would be the fucking jackpot. It would be all the reason he needed to kick Kara out of the boy's life forever.

Hayden looks at him,"If that is all you can say..., obviously I quit. I came here to make money for school and yeah, I liked it...not having to worry about how I was going to pay rent or buy an awesome car but is it worth costing my relationship with Kara? No, you can make the next move."

He walks off and into his car, walking back into his apartment with a couple subs he picked up for lunch. He could feel Kara standing behind him, a questioning glare.

"Yes,I went to see your brother and as you can see, he did not kill me." Grabbing a beer.

Kara shifted on her feet, pondering what could have been said. She knew her brother. Nothing Garrett could have done or said would be nice, but he also knew she loved Hayden. He couldn't risk losing her to prove a point. At least not by inducing bodily harm.

Sighing, she sat down on the nearest chair and shook her head. "There's nothing that would have come from that conversation, Hayden. He's hardheaded. He's not just going to change his mind so soon."

Hayden looks at her, "He doesn't scare me...,okay maybe he did a little bit but I had to show you know, I am not some jackass who is using you. He has to let go of you eventually and I really think that's what it is, he can say it's bullshit about protecting you...but without you, he's alone in a great big house."