Temptation
Wow. He watched her hair swing in a golden arc and fall fetchingly across her dainty shoulders. His attention was on full alert. The vibration of her delicate laughter tingled in his ears. He was drawn. She spun radiance, illuminating the room with gossamer threads of attraction; the center of the crowd, the life of the party.
His mind was racing. The party was raging and the alcohol was pumping bravado into his veins. He had to find a way to get near her, but the ticket-line was queued.
So when he saw Saskia dive in and chat to her like a long lost friend, he knew he was in.
Thank god…
“Hey, Sas?” His voice sounded a little too loud, he needed to be cool, calm.
“Good, you?” She chirped, following his eyes. She smiled knowingly.
“Greg, this is Carla. Say hello.” His mouth was suddenly dry, but it went unnoticed. She leveled cool gray eyes at him.
“Greg. Why don’t you get a thirsty girl a drink, then?” He grinned, not trusting his voice and scooted to do her bidding.
When he got back the crowd had dissipated, and he hoped it was by design.
“Thank you. I’m parched. So what do you do, Greg?”
It had been by design. His heart soared.
He opened the car door for her, to take her home.
“It’s not too far, 247 Callum Close.” She whispered as she brushed past him leaving her perfume dancing in the air like an invitation.
They drove in silence, her hand on his knee. A full moon kept pace with them as they slid through the night.
A wrought iron gate shuttered what looked like a castle at the end of her drive.
“Jeez, is this your house?”
She grinned and clicked the remote.
“I’ve been on assignment for a month, so the house hasn’t been lived in for a while.”
Her voice echoed tinkling tones above the sound of the gate swinging open.
Greg woke up alone under tangled sheets. He remembered kissing her on the couch. He remembered following her down the passage, but nothing after that.
God, I really need to take control of my drinking, he mused as he got up to find her.
“This place is amazing.” Grey took in the view of the lush green lawn rolling down to a sparkling blue pool surrounded by cheerful red and white striped loungers. “You've obviously done very well for yourself to afford all of this. He spread his hands, turning back to the breakfast table and the orange juice laced spread she’d whipped up while he was still in bed. He watched her spear a perfectly round ball of melon and pop it into her mouth.
Lord…
“Yes, but I’m in a bit of a state at the moment because I had to evict my last housemate for her rental arrears. She owed me a bomb and can’t pay a cent. I’m also in the market for a new recruit, but as you can imagine, not many people can afford this place. So we’ll just have to see…”
“Well that’s a match made in heaven, if ever I heard one. I’ve got my name on the books of all the agencies in the area. I’m in the market, what do you say?”
She looked at him in silence for a moment.
“You do realise that I can’t afford to let you live here free of charge?”
“Wh…” He blurted, “of course not. What do you charge?”
“Well, it’s five grand, but if you deal directly with me, cut out the agency commission, and pay in cash, I’d swing it for you for four-and-a-half. Obviously, you’d need to pay for three months upfront. Can you afford it?” She was grinning, a big, bright, beautiful grin.
“Three months is standard. No problem.” He nodded breathlessly looking at her across the table.
“Let’s go, now. I’ll draw the money for you. What about the paperwork?”
“Let’s deal with that tomorrow, okay?”
She’d asked him to drop her off at the mall so that she could shop for dinner after he’d kissed her and handed over his rent.
She looked so gorgeous as she swung away from the car towards the shops, her hair bobbing and glinting as she walked.
When Greg arrived at 247 Callum Close that evening with his luggage, the house at the end of the drive looked cold and dark. Even the garden was in darkness, not a glow to be seen. He called the cell number she had given him.
“The number you have dialed does not exist, please try again and dial…”
What the hell, so he dialed carefully.
Again, and again.
…and again.
On the other side of town Bella applied her makeup, getting ready for another party. Even she had to admit that the pace was exhausting. But Jason was adamant, they had to make a swift fortune and get out fast. Eventually, someone was bound to tie up the mounting complaints to the estate agency he worked for.
He said that they had the perfect plan and he wanted to keep it that way. He had lists of vacant upmarket homes available for premium rental, and lists of people on the lookout for expensive accommodation.
All the keys and access passes were on hand so that the agents could show the premises to clients and the roofies (*Rohypnol) were freely available on the black market so that she was never in any danger from the men.
It wasn’t that difficult to track the potential marks and make friends with people who ran in their crowd.
…especially for a girl like Bella
*Rohypnol (known on the black market as roofies, forget-me-pill, or R-2) is a pill, also known as a benzodiazepin, which has no taste, smell and is colorless, it is harmless except that it’s very effective sleeping pill - a knockout pill.
Hope the story doesn’t break any Ink Well Rules?
Find the prompt
This week’s prompt is
Tomorrow
A voluptuous con artist, together with an partner in crime, devises a way to swindle. A well thought out story to build a perfect crime until their luck runs out..... Thank you for posting this story on @theinkwell, @itsostylish. We look very fondly on the support you give with your comments to fellow writers.
Thank you. This was fun to write.❤️💕🤗
Adventurous tale that reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work. Very Jazzy, lively, and perfect for the roaring 20's.
Thank you. This was fun to write.❤️💕🤗
Wow lovely story and so interesting
I hope it doesn’t break any rules because it was so interesting to read .... I love it
Hah! I knew it! CON artists!
I read a book on a long con and it was amazing. This one is nothing short. You captured my attention and it was fun to read. Had me giving "ooohs" and "ahhhs".
Beautiful!
Thank you, so glad you liked it. It was fun to write❤️💕🤗
🍷❤️🍷❤️
To hell with the rules, I would say. A good story! I especially like that you don't tell it chronologically in detail, but in sections that let the reader fill in the gaps themselves. A very good stylistic device. You trigger, my mind does the rest. LOL
I think your story has a perfect ending and I wouldn't want to continue it because it can only get worse. HaHa! You'd have to top the coup or add an even more difficult hurdle. I would otherwise have to blow the whistle on the cheating couple and I wouldn't feel like doing that. People truly like to be a victim of deceit because there is also a desire for adventure and thrill in them. If they give in to it, they learn an important lesson, sometimes in hard currency. I have no particular sympathy for them, rather I think it is a valuable experience in the treasure chest of life. :)
I’m glad you see it that way. Thanks for reading, your comments are always so insightful.❤️💕🤗💕❤️❤️
He was drugged huh?.
LOL.
It's a great story.
❤️💕🤗
Wow, very dark! Really good! 😁
I think Greg learned a valuable lesson here; if it seems to good to be true, it probably is!
I admire the way you got a fully coherent story in here with a great twist, but you didn't let the word count spiral out of control, something I think will take a LONG time for me to master! 😁
I trend to the opposite. I struggle to write more than 500 words. Haha. Odd lot aren’t we? 🤗
Oh my gosh, usually it's women that get roofied by men! This is quite a turn of events. Poor Greg. What a horrible moment it must have been to realize he was out about 15 grand and had been swindled. Great story, @itsostylish. You have an interesting plot, and the story is well written with good characters, action and dialogue - the perfect trio!
Thank you @jayna I really appreciate it when you read my stuff 🤗💕❤️
Great story @itsostylish... you are the master of the twist❣️🙌🤗 I do think Greg is a little naive to hand over all that cash though... perhaps his rational thought processes were otherwise diverted !LOLZ. !PIZZA !ALIVE
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A bad apple.
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Thank you for reading @samsmith1971 . Stars in his eyes 😊❤️🤔❤️😊😊 That’s why it’s called a confidence trick, I think. Haha
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You gave a captivating start that will make the reader wants to go through till the end.
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Oh, a similar story would be grand. A group of us do a “finish the story “ thing and it’s a lot of fun. ❤️😊🤔😊😊❤️
Detective work is augmented by the wonderful invention of the Internet. I find so many “holes” in my premise of origin it’s scary, but if you need a colorless, tasteless sleeping powder in your story, you just ...
Haha
It’s usually @erh.germany or @owasco who provide the real kick and add to the actual “fun” of things. It used to be @litguru (but I think he’s busy) Anyway, why don’t we have some fun - I would be so honored if you’d finish my story❤️💕🤗