An Illicit Attraction: A Roleplay

Selene looks back at him,"Yeah...I thought I'd humor this little game you have going on. I'm not sleeping with you but a girl does have to eat, so...." She scans the menu, it had been hours since she had. Whatever money she had, she used it to make the drive to L.A. and back.


The waitress came and they ordered, she drank her coffee and didn't want to make small talk. She looks at him finally, "Hayden is a good guy you know, he's...he liked the money and the life you showed him, he's a kid. He's impressionable. I can tell he looked up to you."

Garrett sighed. "First off, I know you're not just going to let me sleep with you. I wanted a date. Not a prostitute. And a little conversation for an unknown sum of money? I say you get off easy. No pun intended."

He smiled a little at his own joke. He couldn't help it. Then the smile changed to an empty stare.

"And on the subject of Hayden, well, that's exactly what I don't want to talk about. My golden rule was to stay away from my sister. When he couldn't do that, he couldn't even be honest about what he was doing for me. He thought he could handle it and he couldn't."

He leaned an inch closer across the table. "I didn't make him do nothing, doll. He chose his way all on his own. I just pointed out the quickest path there was to all that cash he was so desperate for."

Just in time, a waitress traipsed in from the back kitchen and offered them both a smile. "Ghost town at 3am, and I actually get some customers," she beamed. "What can I get you two?"

Garrett, grateful for the distraction, listed off a whopping order of waffle stacks, sausages, eggs, the works, and then looked to his reluctant date to add her part. Obviously he was paying for this, too, and she wouldn't hurt to pitch a little into the conversation that didn't revolve around St. Hayden. What did she do from day to day? Did she like it? How old was she? Was she seeing anyone?

Or, again, at the very fucking least, what the hell was this woman's name?

Selene looks at him, hurt about her cousin. She held back her tears, remaining tough, "The everything omelette."

The waitress nodded and walked off, Selene kept quiet. Her cellphone suddenly started ringing, she rolled her eyes slightly and answered it, "It's 3am sweetie, why are you calling?"

She listened to her daughter, how she missed her mommy. "I'm going to be home in a couple days, okay? You be a good girl like I told you. Give Grandma a kiss for me, love you." She hung up and drank her coffee, she looked at him.

"What?" She said.

Well, of course this lady was a mama. She was as tough as they came. And yet he could tell she'd been hurt by his words about Hayden. He hated to hurt her feelings, but his weren't about to change any time soon. They'd made a deal.

"You've got a kid," he said, a statement, not a question. When she seemed on the verge of protest, he raised both hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey, ain't my business. I'm just trying to learn about you. Hence the date."

The food came before she could find an answer, and he dug into his stack of buttered and slathered waffles. After they'd both chewed their first bites, Garrett took a sip of his water. "Never let it be said I don't try and make a woman feel comfortable," he finally said. "Choose anything. Tell me about yourself. For starters, I'd like a name to add to the pretty face. That's harmless enough."

Selene looks at him,"I don't understand...you're supposed to be an asshole but because you want to impress me, you're going to push that aside?"

Then remembering, this guy is going to give me money. He was charming, his arms...wow. Selene shook her head, then decided to answer, "My name is Selene, and yes I have a kid. You and I have a lot more in common that you can imagine. You took care of your sister, who do you think helped take care of Hayden..?"

She ate her omelette, the waitress filled up her coffee some more. She smiled and said thank you.

Selene. That was a name that deserved to light up the sky in gilded letters. That was more than perfect for a woman as beautiful as this. Selene it was. Selene.

Progress. And never before had he considered knowing a woman's name so much as progress. She had him working hard, he'd say that.

"I'm an asshole because it's my job description, Selene," he replied. Her name sounded even better while rolling off the tip of his tongue. It belonged there. What a privilege just to say it. To hold it there between his lips, caress the sound and the tone and to taste it. He imagined the name was almost as delicious as she would be. Selene.

"Doesn't mean I'm proud of what I do," he continued, "but it got Kara and me out of a lot of shit, so you won't find me complaining."

He considered the last of what she'd said. "So you're the nurturer. The daughter, the cousin, I like it."

He looked down at those small, feminine hands curled around a fork, the other around a knife, as she worked on her omelet. No ring. "No man in your life?" he guessed, insanely curious as to her answer, though he knew he was pushing it. If her name was privileged information, then this was the holy grail of personal secrets. "Or is it that none of the men in your life just weren't man enough, period?"

He grinned. "I've known you all of twenty minutes, but I'll take a wild guess and go with the latter."

Selene looks at him, "That's one way to put it...,what about you? Have the Mrs. back home waiting to see her Prince Charming?"

Garrett laughed. "No, ma'am. And don't lie and go acting surprised. I know I'm a pain in the ass. Can't blame a man for trying, though."

Selene looks at him, finished her meal and saw him done with his. "Okay,I've been nice...and yes, this is me being nice. I would really like the money you promised me, Mr.Money bags."

Garrett sighed. It was long, exaggerated, leaving none of his frustration to the imagination. "Come on, doll, am I that bad? We ain't even started on dessert."

He prayed she said yes, but though he'd gone into this headstrong, he doubted he'd try and force her to prolong this date. He wanted her aunt to have the money. Sheryl was a hoot. She deserved a little help. But he was enjoying his time with Selene, no matter how much she hated him.

Turning the puppy eyes on full force, he looked at her from across the booth. "Don't you think you can do a little better than half an hour? Hell, ask me some questions. Smack me and tell me to shut up. Do something."

Then, because he just couldn't resist, he smirked. "I'm starting to feel like you're using me for my money, Selene. It hurts."

Selene looks at him, "I'm not here to amuse you money bags, yes that's your nickname now but considering you're worse than my 6 year old at being annoying, fine. Are you from L.A. originally?"

Garrett shook his head. "Texas. A little town called Wimberley." He let a smile cross his face. "Kara never shuts up about wanting to go back. Hates the city. I honestly don't get it."

He grinned at Selene. "I've got to say I'm glad you went with 20 Questions instead of the slap. I'm obviously wearing off on you."

Selene looks at him,"Your still an asshole, also Texas..hmm. Starting to make a lot more sense, your attitude..."

She looks at him, he looks offended, "Look, I am not going to be nice to you. Yes, you are giving me money...I am not going to defend myself, I want the money already." She said, standing up with determination of her face.

They were then interrupted when a group of guys walked in, drunk as hell. One walked passed Selene, he stopped and looked at her. "Damn...you an actress?"

She looks at him, looks at Garrett "Definitely leaving now...'

"Come on baby...,if this guys being a dick. I'll show you a real one." He said, pulling her close to him by her waist.

Garrett was offended, sure, but sometimes he had to remind himself just who he was. He wasn't a good guy. Maybe he had good intentions, but the rest of him had joined the dark side far too long ago to matter. He'd give her the money and send her on her way. And try to keep away from her in return, since that was obviously what she wanted.

After, of course, he kicked this guy's ass.

Garrett looked at the man's arm around Selene's waist, and didn't even bother to get up. Let Selene freak a little. She obviously felt he was low enough to try and harm her. She wasn't going to stop and think he wouldn't let another man do the same.

Then, with a voice as calm as the one he'd used to place his order, he spoke, his eyes veering towards the man holding her there.

"I give you about three seconds to let her go."

The man laughed. "Is that right?"

Garrett stayed still. "One."

The man laughed again, and it began a chain reaction. His friends followed along with the cackling. Selene struggled in his grasp. She was strong, it was clear, but she wasn't that strong. She tried to bend her leg back and kick him in the balls, but he intercepted the move, swiveling his hips to the side, away from her efforts.

"Two."

"Scared now," the man mocked, pulling Selene closer. Her eyes leveled with Garrett's, almost pleading in their intensity. There was a rage there, too, that had his skin tingling. Hot damn, she did things to him. Someone so strong and fierce, and at the same time so vulnerable. His every instinct to save her kicked into overdrive.

Just before the man's wandering hands could reach her breasts, Garrett stood up with the deadly grace of an attacking snake and grabbed onto the man's arm. He twisted, and almost instantly, there came an audible snap. He dropped to his knees and he screamed. Loud. Like every bit the pussy that he was.

But, just as the move had been intended, he let go.

Selene scrambled toward Garrett, and he pushed her behind him, shielding her with the bulk of his body. The others looked as if they were deciding whether to step in or to run. No one seemed to care about the man whose arm he'd just snapped in half.

"Move along, boys," he warned them, his voice still as unaffected as before, almost bored in its tone. "I'll take you all on and I won't even break a sweat. Now, I suggest you not try anything so much as look at the lady, or you'll find out what I mean."

That seemed to do the trick. They backed up, and Garrett was almost disheartened. When was the last good fight he'd had? A real fight. A random, sudden one. The bar brawls. The beating the shit out of another man just because. He missed that. No murder. Just fists flying, unleashing all there was to be unleashed.

But he had a lady to take home. And she was probably even more pissed at him than she'd been before. He could only imagine how she'd have reacted if he'd pulled out his gun and dealt with the situation as he normally would.

Better not to entertain the thought.

Hugging her to his chest and noting that she smelled like some cinnamon vanilla goddess just as sweet and spicy as the woman herself, he led her out of Denny's, slapping a hundred dollar bill on the last table he passed. The man's screams faded into a distant wail when the doors closed shut behind them.

As usual, he opened the side door for her and ushered her inside. He was closed off this time, distant, but he still needed to know. Before he had to let her go and never see her again. God, he was lonely these days. What was it about this woman that made him into such a schoolboy? Was he that much of a masochist, to want an ideal that would never truly work?

Standing awkwardly outside the car, his hand on her door, he looked down at her and shifted his feet against the pavement. "You all right?"

Selene looks at him,"Thank you..." she truly did mean that, "But please, just give me the money now. This has been...interesting to say the least but I have no intention on giving you false hope. Not unless, you help Hayden too."

Garrett couldn't fold. He did what he did, sometimes without very much reason, but he was never a man to go back on what he'd done. He wondered if he'd have set Hayden up had he known Kara was pregnant.

Sadly, probably not. Kara needed Hayden to help with the baby. Or, in theory, she did. But, regardless, if Garrett hadn't been playing him, he'd be selling again for the money to raise that child. And, with that reasoning, whatever guilt he felt was gone.

He shook his head at Selene. "You make me almost sad to have to decline," he answered. "But no."

With that, he closed the door and went around to his side of the car. He climbed inside, started up the engine, and stared ahead through the windshield. "The money is at my house. About a fifteen minute drive," he explained. "You want to wait in the car and not trust me, that's fine. Just give me a figure and I'll pay it off. I promised I'd do it, and I will."

Selene looked at him, just nodded and they drove off to his house. She looks at him, "This is your house? Why does a single guy need something so big? Over compensating?"

Garrett had to laugh. The spicy number was back full force. He turned on her with a salacious grin. "Well, Selene, we can take care of that curiosity right now and prove to you I'm not. All you gotta do is ask."

Selene looks at him,"No but it's funny you keep trying." They walked into his house, she couldn't hide her amazement. It was a lovely house, so big and everywhere she looked just screamed money. She didn't have fancy things like this back home and she could suddenly realize why Hayden was so,hypnotized.

She just stood in the hallway, her eyes looking all over but then stopped.

Garrett glanced back at Selene and sighed. This woman was all kinds of odd. He could count on one finger the amount of times he'd invited a woman into his home and she'd stood rooted in one spot, staring into space. By now, they'd be disrobing and asking where the liquor was. But not Selene. Of course not Selene.

Garrett shrugged off his jacket and draped it over one of the leather chairs in his study. "Cabinet over there's got some good drinks in it, if you're interested," he offered, feeling as though she'd hate him even more if he didn't treat her as courteously as a guest should be. After all, he was the bad guy here. Doing one good thing wouldn't make him sprout a halo past the horns. He was helping because he liked Selene. He liked Sheryl. And, for the first time in a true while, he felt guilt.

Leaving her to do with his suggestion what she wished, Garrett disappeared into his bedroom and into the master closet. There hung a portrait inside, a stash of guns, and each one had to be removed with delicate care to get to the safe hidden inside the wall.

From within, he withdrew the duffel bag containing every bit of extra cash he owned that wasn't locked in a bank, then hauled it over his shoulder and went to find Selene.

She was rooted in the same room as before, but this time she was facing the large framed portrait of Garrett and Kara as children, with their parents smiling behind them, hands on shoulders, happiness frozen in time. He didn't like to look at it most times, but the hell if he was going to get rid of it. Deciding not to speak on the photograph, he dropped the bag on the table with a great thud, and she spun around, her hand to her chest. Oops.

Strictly business now, he ignored the happy picture behind her, his lips set in a thin line. "How much?"

Selene looks at the portrait and looks at him,"You both look like really happy kids. Ever think how they'd feel, about the career path you chose?"

She looked at the money but then back to him, she enjoyed pushing his buttons. If it helped Hayden as well, it was worth it.

"Honestly, she needs 15 grand...Hayden you know, he lost his parents when he was 10 or so, came to live with us. My dad walked out when I was 5, so my mom, she had three children to raise and support. Not once did she do anything illegal to do it."

He gave her the money she wanted, in a bag. "Now, here I am...asking for money that was probably made on behalf of someones now dead life..."

Garrett balled his hands into fists at his sides. "Now, I'm getting about damned sick of-"

He stopped himself. Sick of what, her being right? He took a steadying breath. Let it out slowly. "Selene, ain't a thing you think you know about me that simple. I was young. I did what I had to do. I stand by it, and anyone other than you would be dead right about now."

No longer caring what she thought, just simply angry, he strode back towards the edge of the room and held open the door. "Let's get you back to the motel," he said stiffly. "And trust me, you won't have to hear from me again, sweetheart."

Selene looked at him,"So..it's okay for you to do whatever you had to do but Hayden doing the same thing, to help the woman who gave up everything to make sure he had a decent life, he's wrong...he is the criminal, he is the one who doesn't deserve your sister?"

"You are the biggest hypocrite, I have ever met. Don't do me any favors, driving me back. You're useful for the money, that's it. I will call a cab." She says, marching out of the house.



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Selene returned to her motel, stashed the money somewhere safe. She had a shower, dressed and went to the prison. Hayden was called in and sat waiting for her. She came in and sat down.

He looks at her,"What happened?"

Selene looks at him,"Well,I got money for my mom...Garrett, he handed it over."

Hayden looks at her,"Of course he did..." shaking his head slightly.

Selene looks at him,"What?"

"He finds you attractive, it doesn't a genius..." Hayden chuckled back. Selene just sits back in her own chair,"Well..I'm not sexy enough for him to help you, he really doesn't like you. You screwed up big time."

"I know that...I'm probably going to get 5 years for this, Kara is pregnant. I screwed up, I'm sorry." He started to say, getting a little upset. She gets up and goes over to him, puts her arms around his head and hugs him close to her.

A guard near by, coughs and she breaks apart saying sorry to the guard. She sits back down, looking at him.

"Can you do one thing for me..?" He asked.

She nods.

"Convince Kara to come see me...,she hasn't. I know she's pissed. I need to know what she wants to do." He says.

"I will try..." She says back.

Hayden stands up to go leave, guard searches him and he's escorted back.

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Hayden walks into his cell, the guard closes it and he lays on the bottom bunk. His cell mate looks at him,"Rob Lowe...you okay man?"

Hayden had his arm over his eyes,"For the last time dude..,I'm not Rob Lowe."

"That's what Harrison Ford keeps saying, I asked him why he's a guard, I said his career must be going down hill." The cell mate said.

Hayden looks at him and then away,"Right..."


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Hayden did tell Selene his new address of course, she drives to it. A very good friend of hers, lent her 1 grand to do this trip to L.A., she was very grateful for it. She walks up to the entrance of the building, she looks at the names listed of residences who live here. She sees Hayden's last name and Kara's as well.

She buzzes it.

Graduation was right around the corner. Kara was working her ass off. Having just gotten home from work where she worked at a diner that grabby men liked to frequent, Kara lay down on the couch and flipped open a book. It wasn't as if she could focus, but she needed a distraction.

When she heard the buzz, she got up. No one had visited her in ages.

Kara pressed the button and leaned forward. "What?"

Selene leaned in a bit more,"Hi...,it's Selene. I'm in L.A., I am sure you can guess why. I wanted to talk?"