An Illicit Attraction: A Roleplay

He opened the bottle and listened, "She is just a bitch to everyone lately, her husband left her. Of course, she was stupid enough to get involved with a guy who was a douchebag....can't really feel that sorry for but they did have Jenny out of it all."

He handed her a glass and he took a sip of his own, "What did she say to you anyways?"

Kara sighed and sipped from her glass of wine. She hadn't once lied to Hayden, and she wasn't about to start now. "She brought up Katie," she answered, daring to look him in the eyes. When realization dawned across his features, she knew Selene had been telling the truth. "But hey, if you don't want to talk about that, we won't. I don't play into games like that, and I wasn't going to start tonight. We all have our pasts."

Hayden drank down the wine in his glass,"It's nothing I am ashamed of. It's a woman I dated before I left. I asked her to marry me but we both wanted different things...she didn't want to leave this town and I always did. That's the big story."

He did love the woman, very much but looked at Kara,"I am really happy you came here with me...,I wasn't sure about it but it has been nice not having to look over my shoulder every time I am out in public with you. I wanted to give you something..."

He sets a box with a bow wrapped around it, when she opens it, it's a necklace. "I saw you looking at that online a couple weeks ago..."

Kara looked down at the necklace in the box and immediately felt her knees wanting to buckle. He'd seen her looking at that?

She smiled, eying the little silver dolphin pendant inside. Her mother had owned an almost identical one. After she'd died, Kara had torn the house up looking for it only to find nothing. It was gone.

"Oh my God..."

Hayden looked at her expectantly, and Kara found herself smiling. "This... this is exactly like my mother's," she gushed. "We got this at some resort back when I was little. We rode these dolphins."

When he smiled, she found herself telling him more and more. Found herself laughing. "The instructor gave us these warnings before we could get into the water. All important things, but you know Garrett. He couldn't wait. So he hops in, grins and says, I'm gonna make this dolphin my bitch. We all laughed, at first."

Kara fingered the pendant, her mind filling with memories she hadn't gotten to tell a soul. It had been a mere year before they'd found out about her mother's cancer. "He got on the dolphin, and apparently it didn't like it. Flipped him off, Garrett goes flying against the edge of the pool. Dolphin follows."

She met Hayden's eyes with a smirk. "You know dolphins are actually pretty sick creatures, right? They're known to rape their own species. Any species, for that matter. Well, Garrett found that out that day. Mom, Dad and the instructor pulled him out, but..." Kara found herself laughing so hard, she couldn't stop it. "Oh god, his cheeks were so red. He got so mad when we poked fun about it."

Even Hayden was laughing by that point. She hoped he never mentioned this particular story to Garrett, though. As funny as she found it, and even after all these years, he did not.

Kara smiled and took the necklace out of the box. "Then Mom and I got in to pet the dolphins. They liked us just fine." Finished with her story, and knowing she'd said too much, she felt a blush rising in her cheeks. "Hayden, I can't tell you how much it means to me, this gift. I love it."

Kara swallowed. She wasn't finished by far. Suddenly, feeling braver than her head for once, she spoke what was in her heart. "I love you."

Hayden looks at her and what she said, quiet for a good few minutes and responds with kissing her. He broke off and holds her face in his hands, "I love you too..."

They spent that entire night back in his bed, making love and enjoying each other.



The next morning, Hayden woke up and looked to the naked woman beside him. He felt lost, confused. He got up and got into the shower, it was there under the water he felt solitude. He forced his face up, his eyes shut, as the water fell on his face.

How was he going to kill someone, he could never imagine doing it. Now, with what he and Kara admitted last night. They were not just messing around, they loved each other. He loved a woman whose brother will kill him, a brother who wants him to kill someone else.


All of it, just started to hit him at this very moment and he felt like he was going to break.

Kara awoke next to Hayden's empty spot on the bed and heard the sounds of the shower running. Smiling to herself, she crept out and into the bathroom, intent on joining him. She slid the door open, stepped in, and closed it shut behind her, soon enveloped in the warm, thick steam around them.

She stepped into Hayden's back and wrapped her arms around his waist, planting tiny kisses between his shoulder blades.

"Morning," she murmured, her lips moving against his skin in slow upwards advances until she reached his neck. "Mind if I join you?"

Seconds later, after no reply, she stopped and loosened her hold. He was letting in one large breath, and it caught, his shoulders trembling in time with it. Panicked, Kara eased past his side and then turned until she was standing before him. The shower's spray was almost too hot, and blocking his view, her back took the brunt of it. She didn't care about the burn. The only thing she noticed was the absolute pain in Hayden's eyes.

He stared straight ahead, not seeing anything, and Kara felt her worry rise. "Hayden," she spoke, her hand to his chest. "Hayden. Baby. Baby, look at me."

As if she'd just awakened him, Hayden looked down and met her gaze. His jaw was clenched shut. Instead of stepping closer, she raised her hand from his chest to his cheek and cupped it gently.

"Hayden, tell me," she whispered. "Tell me what's wrong."

Hayden looks at her, "It's exactly what you warned me about...,I'm not cut out for what your brother does. I am too weak...to even comprehend anything he wants me to do. I rather not hear you say, "I told you so..."

He was about to get out but she held him there, he looks at her "I should be thinking about you, but instead, I get images of what is going to happen now when your brother finds out. It's not like either of us is brave enough to tell him we're dating and on top of all that, he wants me to kill someone on Tuesday."

Kara shook her head. "No. Hayden, no. Don't do it. Leave. Quit. I'll leave, too," she pleaded. "We can work something out. You were supposed to fix cars, but he just couldn't let that be enough. You're not killing anybody."

He looks at her, "Leave and do what...?I know I can't kill anyone but maybe I can just explain that too him, I can do everything else...I need to pay for things, now I want to help send my Aunt money. I can't just quit and leave..."

Neither situation was a winning one, and they both knew it. If he ran, Garrett would soon get down to why. If he explained he wouldn't kill, Garrett would either knock him back down to mechanic or tell him he'd gone too far to wuss out now.

Kara swallowed. "Look, okay. Talk to him. Tell him you'll get back to fixing cars. That you're done with the rest. And then, I don't know. We'll figure out how to be together. How to get out of all of it."

Imploring him with her eyes, she reached out and grabbed his hand. "No more," she repeated. "Just cars. No matter how much you need the money, baby, don't. You won't be able to take it back. Not this time."

He'd killed in self defense before, she knew. He'd done it to save her brother. He'd lived through it. But killing a man who didn't have enough money to pay back for some drugs? Killing someone who was struggling just as much as he was, himself? That would kill Hayden just as surely as the hand that killed the victim.

Hayden looks at her, "You know what, no...I am not going to cower like some pussy from him. I will take your suggestion and go back to fixing cars, and I am telling him about us...." He turned off the water and got out, grabbing a towel.

Kara scrambled out of the shower, not even bothering with a towel. The cool air hit her like a fan at full blast, and found herself shivering. She hardly cared.

"Hayden, that is a bad idea," she begged. "You don't know him like I do. You don't know half the shit he's done."

When he didn't reply, she raced forward and spun him around until their bodies were practically mashed together. "Don't. Just don't. We'll talk about what to do, but just don't tell him. He'll kill you in a heartbeat."

Hayden looks at her, "What is it then? Tell me why he is so protective of his sister? It's a little weird, if I can tell you the truth...."

Suddenly the room felt as if it had dropped to glacial temperatures. Kara lifted the comforter off of Hayden's bed and wrapped it around her frame. "My dad hanged himself in our attic. Left a note on the kitchen table. Garrett had just picked me up from school, I remember. The rest, not so much. Just the note."

She sat down on the bed and hugged the blanket against her chest. "I think my dad had given up on Garrett, but the whole note was to him. About me. About keeping me safe because the world's a fucked up place. That he was the man of the family now, and he was to take care of me. And Garrett looked up to Dad so much. Then he was dead, and he had this note to read, and he took it all in like the word of God."

Before Hayden could think she'd reached her conclusion, Kara shook her head. "I was good, though. Until my teens. When I was seventeen, Melissa Jenkins had a party to celebrate our upcoming graduation. She was going to Texas State, so we all were psyched. She had friends there already. I mean, a college party, right?"

Kara laughed, but it held no humor. "Garrett caught me just when I was leaving. I told him I was going to a party, that he wasn't Dad. That he couldn't stop me. We had the biggest fight. I said some things I shouldn't have. In the end, I hurt him so bad that he let me go.

"And I went. There were lots of guys. Kegs, drinks, loud music. Everything I had imagined a party would be. And this guy... Rob. He was cute, and we started talking. He got me a drink."

She looked up at Hayden, the look in her eyes a pointed one, and then returned her focus back down at her lap. "I must have fought him before the drug kicked in. The rest isn't so clear, and Garrett won't tell me any specifics. All I remember is waking up later at home. I was... sore. Everywhere. And on the news, everyone was talking about Rob going missing. In fact, I was watching that when Garrett got back. He said he'd found us a new place to live. That everything was okay. In less than half an hour, he had us packed and we were moving nextdoor to Louisiana."

Kara gnawed on the edge of her lip. "He let me date a little before I was seventeen. He trusted me. But then, after that? He blames himself for being too pissed off to follow me. For arriving too late. Now I can hardly speak to a man. Because apparently they're all out to hurt me."

Daring herself to meet Hayden's gaze, Kara stood again and crossed the distance between them. "Hayden, don't tell him. I can't lose you."

He looked at her, "I'm sorry all of that happened to you...but what is his goal? To never let you grow up? You forced yourself on me...if we want to be specific. I just don't like having to lie about this anymore, he can't protect you forever...you have to talk to him."

Kara groaned. "I know all that, Hayden. Believe me, I do. But you've known him all of two months. I've known him for twenty-two years. When he finds out, he'll feel like you've betrayed him."

And betrayal was what Garrett abhorred the most. She'd seen men break Garrett's trust. And she'd seen him break them in return.

Sighing, she reached out to him and rested her palm on his chest. "I'll talk to him," she promised, the words like poison in her throat. "He'll take it better if we're honest. We don't need him finding out some other way. But just give me a little time. Let's enjoy this. Your family. Being together. Okay?"

Hayden looks at her, "I understand everything you're saying but end of the day, I care about being with you. I could care less if I hurt your brother, who is going to kick me in the balls when I tell him I can't kill someone on Tuesday."

He starts to get dressed, letting the towel fall. He looks at her as he dresses.

Kara's gaze wandered Hayden's body, and every part of her wanted to take advantage of their proximity. Of the fact that they were both alone. But she could still hear his family moving about upstairs, and she couldn't find it in herself to act on her wants.

Instead, she leaned over the bed and grabbed the suitcase she'd tucked beneath it. She withdrew a fresh set of clothes and began to get dressed as well. Once they were both decent, Kara met his gaze.

"You're doing the right thing."

Hayden looks at her and finishes getting dressed, "Come on..." They went upstairs and spent the day with his family. Finally they left around noon, he showed her around town. They had cute little shops, everyone seemed to know everyone as well.

They finally stopped in at a local pub for lunch, as they sat down a waitress came over. "Well..., your cousin did tell me you were back in town." Hayden heard a very familiar voice, he looked to see a blonde woman.

"Katie...didn't know you worked here." He admitted, she looked at him, "Just for the time being, I am going to the community college for hair dressing."

Hayden nods,"That's good..." She smiles at him, "You?" "Still at UCLA taking business classes and enjoying L.A., this is my girlfriend Kara by the way." He said, indicating her. Katie looked at her, "Kara, what a pretty name. I'm Katie." She said, smiling.

http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Premiere+International+Film+Circuit+Hammer+INIk58awVk_l.jpg (katie)

Well, Katie was certainly gorgeous. Kara eyed her clear, perfectly tanned skin, her perfect hair, the beautiful sea-colored eyes, and worked up a smile. Katie's had been genuine enough.

"Thanks," she nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Katie."

Hayden looked at Katie, he wouldn't lie and say he didn't notice how beautiful she still was. Katie looks at him, smiling back as if she knew what he was thinking. "We should catch up...how long you in town?"

"Monday morning....,tonight we could meet back here for drinks later? If you don't mind Kara?" He looks at Kara.

Well, this was getting weird. Kara was quite glad that this Katie hadn't turned out like Selene, but she knew Hayden well enough to know that he wouldn't have set out to marry the woman if she were.

What room did she really have to talk? She and Hayden had to set up secret meetings just to see each other. She hardly had a right to tell him he couldn't speak to an old friend. Whom he'd slept with. To whom he'd been engaged.

Pushing the last of those thoughts aside, she smiled. "Yeah, no, sure," she agreed. "That would be cool."

Hayden looked back to Katie,"Sounds good..." Katie nods, "I get off at 7, so..what can I get for you guys anyways? Back to work mode."


Kara goes first and then Hayden, Katie takes their menus and walks off. Hayden looks at Kara,"You are really cool, most girlfriends would get jealous and theirs just no need, we were really close and good friends...I really would like to see how she's doing, so thank you for agreeing because you know you can trust me."

Kara smiled at Hayden from across the table. "I won't lie," she admitted. "It's a little weird. But you're friends. And I do trust you."

Almost subconsciously, she began fiddling with the dolphin pendant around her neck. "Maybe after all this, when we get back..."

She stretched her hand across the table to find his, and idly stroked her thumb across his knuckle. In her eyes lay the rest of the sentence, and Hayden knew to connect the dots.

The corners of his lips turned upwards into a smile, and Kara let herself grin. Just like their first pub date, Kara was again promising to enjoy the hell out of Hayden Sommers. Enjoy him until it all crumbled down.

Hayden showed her around town some more, they had some fun back in his bedroom. They spent some more time with his Aunt and Dylan.

Aunt Sheryl ate her burger and finally said, "What do you have planned for tonight Hayden?" Hayden drank some of his coke, "Meeting Katie actually...for a few drinks, yes with Kara as well." Answering her questioning look.

"Oh..., well, I guess it would be good if you two were friends again." She said, Hayden nodded, "That's what I thought..."

They got ready and headed to the bar, taking a cab and they went in and sat down. Moments later, Katie walked in with a guy beside her. As the man stepped closer, Hayden could see it was an old friend,"Jack..." Hayden said, Jack nodded to him and they exchanged a manly hand shake. He looked at Jack pull out Katie's chair.

Hayden gave a nod, "Can't say I'm surprised to see you both together..." Katie looks at him, "So, big city guy, what's new?"

"Well first of all, Jack..this is my girlfriend Kara." Hayden said, Jack eyed her,"Wow, you didn't do too bad buddy."

Hayden smirks to Kara, looks back at Katie finally "Nothing really new, been so long since I've been back here it feels like..."

Katie shows Kara a picture on her phone, "What are you showing her?" Hayden says, "A picture of you two years ago." Katie giggles.

"Thanks..." Hayden says, sarcastically.