by Tara Brown
“So what. I’m never moving out,” she scoffed. “So overrated. Training new staff and decorating a new house and getting used to a new neighborhood. No thanks.”
I laughed. “We don’t have the same problems.”
“No, we don’t. I would never do to Monty what you’re doing to Jordan. Monty said he’s suffering, bad. Jordan doesn’t get it. You just vanished. That’s cruel. His dad kicked him out and refuses to see him. His mom is heartbroken and left his dad. Monty said she was so shocked at how he treated Jordan, she couldn’t handle it anymore. His grandpa is even being weird. And you’ve been his friend through this and then just dumped him. Like it doesn’t matter. That’s not you.”
“I’ll talk to him, I swear.” My insides were burning. “I just need to get past my brother and all that stuff. After the gala.” I would tell everyone the truth then. And all the money would go to charity, even the money I made with the Test Dummy. I’d earn my way through school by my own wits and gumption, not deceit.
“It’s in two weeks. You’re honestly going to make him suffer for two weeks?”
“Look, Martin’s still recovering. The gala is going to be a brutal amount of work and stress for you. I still have work full-time. Kami hasn’t decided what to do about the whole Miguel thing, but no matter what, that’s a whole lot of extra in our world. I don’t have time for a boyfriend or even a casual thing with anyone. Especially someone who has all that shit happening in his life. Like you said, his life has fallen apart. We can’t both be broken. We’re no good to each other.” I sounded crazy—I could see it in her eyes. She was close to backing away with her hands up.
“Fine! Jeez. But this isn’t like you.”
“I know!”
“As soon as that gala is done and you’re back to being seminormal, you have to talk to him. If he’ll even talk to you at that point. What happened with you guys anyway?”
“Honestly, nothing. We had sex once. We talked on the phone once. We rode in a limo once. We slept in a hotel once. Nothing more.” I rearranged the events a little. “That’s it. It wasn’t like we were dating for weeks. At all. I can’t do needy guys right now.” I felt bad for saying that when the truth was so much worse. While we hadn’t done anything beyond those things, I would have been with him if not for the whole Test Dummy secrecy thing.
I needed it to end. I just had to finish the stupid jobs I’d already gotten. Including Monty.
“You coming over?” She changed the subject.
“No, I have to go home. I have to keep working that second job for a couple of nights. I can’t just quit. You have to give notice in the real world.” My lying was getting better. “Two weeks.”
“God, working sucks,” she scoffed, turning and giving me a huge hug. “Promise you’re not mad at me and doing that Lacey thing where you smile and pretend everything’s fine?”
“I swear to Prada, I’m not. I’m legit not mad. At all. Just make sure Monty understands the whole Jordan thing, please. You know how I’m his fav.” I grinned as I pulled back.
“No way. I’m letting you go down a couple of pegs.” She winked. “Spa tomorrow morning? I already booked us in for detox wraps. I’m telling Dad you need it.” She cackled and walked off, waving at me.
“You can’t milk Martin’s cancer so that I can go to the spa during work hours.”
“I can and I will,” she shouted back.
Laughing, I headed down into the subway and jumped on. But I didn’t go home. I went straight for guy number one. I didn’t even need a disguise. I had no clue who he was, and my pin camera wouldn’t show my face. I caked on extra makeup and wore sunglasses, taking off my blouse when I got there and dragging my neckline down on my tight black dress.
The guy shot me down, didn’t go for the bait at all. I couldn’t help but wonder if he could sniff my emotional unavailability from a mile away.
As I sent the email to his girlfriend, telling her he checked out, I caught the train back to Brooklyn to test a guy who worked at a bar. I wanted them all done so I could be finished with the Test Dummy once and for all.
On the train, I made my makeup more gothic, noticing a little girl watching me. She seemed fascinated by the transformation. I smiled at her, but her mom gave me a deathly stare, judging me.
I got off the train at my stop and walked the four blocks to the bar.
The bartender, a guy named Tony who liked girls with heavy makeup and had a pregnant girlfriend, hit on me the second I walked in.
“Hey, what’s a gorgeous thing like you doing in a dump like this?” He leered at me, giving me a creepy vibe.
“You hitting on me?” I asked, cracking a grin.
“Fuck yeah, if it’ll get me in that dress.” He nodded his head at the booze. “What can I get you to drink, on the house?”
“Why would you want in my dress?” I didn’t answer his drink question. I’d learned that lesson already.
“Cause you’re fucking sexy. And I can see that little freak flag of yours waving. You looking for some cock?”
“Maybe.” I made sure I got a close-up of his face as he leaned in.
“Cause I can fuck you like no one else.”
“You’ve got a dirty mouth, you know. Maybe you should watch how you use it on unassuming women coming into your bar, God forbid expecting to be treated with respect.” I got up, making my feet hate me. I’d gotten the evidence I needed in all of five minutes, and I felt more than relieved to stroll out, grossed out.
“Hey!” He ran after me on the street and spun me around. “What’s with the hot and cold, doll?”
“Leave me alone.”
“You came into my bar, asked me why I wanted to get in that skirt of yours, and now you’re telling me to get lost?” He got closer, making my entire body go on pins and needles. “I think you like it rough and you’re hoping I give it to you like that.” He grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the alley.
Shit was real and I was scared.
I hit him with my bag, kicking and pulling to get free, but he was too strong.
“Stop!” I screamed as he pushed me against a wall and pinned me there.
“I’ll stop when I’m done.” His sneer scared the shit out of me.
I shoved him, but he backhanded me, making my face feel like it was split open and my lip bleed.
Shock set in.
My vision was hazy from the hit and the surprise.
No one had ever hit me before. I couldn’t even imagine being in this situation. I suddenly realized how naive I had been, running this game without considering the risks. After the trouble I’d already gotten into at the bar and being slipped a roofie, I never expected to have another brush with misfortune. Now it was too late.
Tony’s fingers fumbled with my skirt as a dark shadow covered us both. Someone shouted, and the seedy bartender was dragged off me in an instant. I was huffing and paralyzed with fear.
Someone in a hoodie was attacking the bartender. Though I couldn’t see the features of the guy, he was punching and punching relentlessly.
“Stop!” I shouted, seeing the bartender go limp. The guy who’d saved me staggered back, toward me.
I turned and ran as fast as I could. Faster than I thought possible with ringing ears and hazy vision.
I hauled ass to the train and jumped on, my heart racing and tears in my eyes.
The looks I got then weren’t so nice. I was a girl wearing too much makeup and revealing clothes, and I had a welt on my face that spelled trouble. No one wanted to see that girl on the train.
No one offered her anything, not even a kind word or a smile.
I’d never felt so alone or judged in all my life.
By the time I got home, Grandma was in bed. She’d left me a quiche for dinner and small note reminding me to take the garbage out.
I didn’t feel like eating. I went upstairs and walked into my brother’s room.
“Oh my God.” He flinched.
“You should see t
he other guy.”
“Looks like business is going well.” He grimaced as he whispered. “Angry girl catch you hitting on the wrong guy?”
“Nope. The right guy tried to rape me in an alley.” His eyes widened as I shook my head. “I’m fine. He might not be. Some dude walking by heard me screaming and jumped in and beat the shit out of him. I mean, like, beat him to near death.”
“Lacey, oh my God. You should call the cops. You know this guy’s name and where he works.” He sounded psychotically angry, even with his weird raspy whisper. He was still recovering from his procedure.
“I can’t draw attention to the Test Dummy. I’m starting to believe the world needs it with how many dangerous guys are out there, waiting for their moment.” I climbed up onto Martin’s bed and snuggled him. “That was terrifying. I really feared for my safety there.”
“You didn’t see who saved you?”
“No. Typical hoodie and dark hair. Honestly, I don’t think I saw anything clearly. My eyes were fuzzy from the smack I got.”
After a couple of minutes, he asked, “Okay, look, I love you, and I get that you’re all about earning this money for school, but, dude, do you think maybe this needs to either be rethought or ended?”
“Yeah.” I hid the fact that tears were flooding my eyes.
“This is dangerous. Some guy attacked you. And chances are he would do it again. You’re lucky some random was there. I really think it’s time for you to retire or rethink this thing. I’m not willing to be the cause of you getting beat up in back alleys, Lacey. You created the Test Dummy to help save me; now, it’s time for you to take my advice and save yourself.”
“I think maybe you’re right.” I bit my lip, sniffling. “And even worse, Kami wants the video buried. She messaged the Test Dummy this evening, saying to burn it.”
“Well, I think you know what you need to do with that.”
“Of course I do. But what if anyone figures out I’m the Test Dummy?”
“Well, better to be known for that than the girl who didn’t warn the rest of the world that Miguel is a pervert and a rapist.”
“Yup.” I nodded. I’d sat on the video long enough. I’d given Kami the time to make the right choice. She hadn’t, so my hand was forced.
“Let me see your face.” He made me look at him. “Yikes. I want this guy dead.” He sounded like an evil-villain cartoon character with his voice. It made me smile and laugh, even while crying.
I sat there, thinking about the man who’d saved me.
Had he not come when he did, I’d be having a very different conversation with my brother. And the police.
As it was, the video was going to his girlfriend, and it had the whole assault, mine and his.
I would have to watch it later and see if it was clear enough what was happening. Maybe I would have two videos for the police.
But the second video wasn’t as easy as making it go viral. I would need to testify on the second one, which meant letting people know who the Test Dummy was.
The thought of that made me regret all of this.
Chapter Thirty-Six
CONFESSIONS
Lacey
My hands were shaking and sweating because I was committed.
I was in over my head.
The bruise on my cheek and the fat lip that I’d managed to cover up told me this had gone too far. At least I was good enough with makeup that no one would notice the marks. God knew I didn’t need more scandal.
My stomach ached and my heart raced and my mouth went dry, but as I entered the office, I knew it was time. I needed help.
“Lacey, you’re in early today,” Mr. La Croix said pleasantly.
“I have something I have to show you.” My words were almost a whisper I was so scared.
“Okay.”
I sat at the desk and pulled up the Test Dummy website on my laptop, ready to reveal everything.
“Test Dummy! I heard all about this. This is amazing. Whoever came—wait, what’s wrong?” He tilted his head.
“You have to see something Marcia and I know about. It’s bad.”
“Okay.” He sat next to me as I pulled up the video from the admin side of the website, the one featuring Miguel. At the end, Mr. La Croix sat quietly for a second before he whispered, “Oh, fuck. Is that—?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, wow.” He nodded. “Okay. Does anyone else know about this?”
“Miguel’s and Kami’s parents, and us girls. She showed us the video at her house.”
“And they’re going to bury this?” he asked, obviously keeping up with my dilemma and why I would come to him with this.
“Yeah.”
“We have some decisions to make.” He reached over and put his hand on mine. “I’m glad you showed me this. It’s good in two ways. One, I will absolutely ensure this makes its way into the right hands to out that little shit as the pervert he is. I hate when money buys protection. And two, I’ve been looking into this Test Dummy website. It’s genius. If we buy right before we leak this information, we can use the PR and publicity of the scandal to gain exposure for our new product.”
“What?” My heart burst, and my stomach clenched as again my body contemplated a trip to the bathroom.
“Think about it. This is a genius website: the design is flawless, and the idea behind it is brilliant. I’m taking you off Hart Bars and putting you on this.”
“Mr. La Croix,” I gasped. “I can’t possibly—with what happened to Kami, I’m personally invested.”
“You did so well with the Hart Bars, I really am proud. And at this rate—”
“It’s me!” I shouted as I covered my eyes. “I’m the Test Dummy.” I couldn’t face him and say it, so I kept my eyes closed. “I created the website with Martin.” It didn’t feel good admitting this aloud, not like I’d wondered if it would.
“What do you mean?” He sounded lost. “This is you?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, braving a look at him.
“You made this site?”
“Well, Martin, but the Test Dummy was my idea.”
“Marcia showed me this, but she didn’t know who was behind it. I don’t think anyone does.”
“I haven’t told anyone but Hennie and my brother.”
“Jesus, kid. This is genius. You really went out of the box. And you’ve done the IT work; it’s Fort Knox. Amazing stuff, you two. I should have known it was you. The marketing on the site, making it like some underground love tester, was brilliant. You are incredible.”
“It’s not all amazing.” I pulled my makeup out of my purse and used a wipe from the bag to show him the bruise. “I got attacked by the guy I was testing yesterday, and if it weren’t for Jordan finding me drugged at the bar, Miguel and his friends would have done much worse things to me.”
“Lacey! Your face! You test them yourself?” His eyes darted to the screen. “Were you the girl in the video with Miguel—?”
“Jordan saved me. Miguel didn’t do anything to me. Jordan didn’t know I was the Test Dummy; he just thought some asshole put something in my drink. But he—Miguel—was-was going . . .”
“Oh my God. And this.” He brushed my cheek.
“I know. Some guy from the street must have heard me screaming. He saved me, but it was not going well for me when this happened.” I pointed at the bruising. “I got lucky a couple of times, but I can’t put myself in any more precarious situations.”
“Oh my God. I don’t think I ever considered the lengths you had to go to make this happen. We can’t risk your safety anymore. Why would you do this?”
“My tuition.” I started to sob again. “I needed to cover it and maybe Martin’s bills and help my pare—”
“It’s okay. I get it. All you were trying to do was help Martin, but the cost was so much greater. I’m so sorry for not seeing the desperation and need you had. Will you ever be able to forgive me for being a negligent dad?”
“Of course. I don’t s
ee it like that.” Sighing, no longer scared of his response, I clicked on the pending emails awaiting replies. “But I have this other problem.” The site had gone viral in the last two days. I wiped my eyes.
“Holy shit!” He jumped back. “When I started looking into the purchase, I didn’t know it had grown this much. I thought it was still really a start-up.”
“It is. I don’t have the infrastructure to run the company. I didn’t really expect that many people to be willing to pay top dollar for the truth. I assumed it’d be a couple of jobs here and there—a few paranoid girlfriends and their harmless, playboy boyfriends—but this has all gotten so out of hand since I launched the site.”
“Lacey!” His eyes widened. “You can’t possibly fulfill that many requests on your own. Not to mention that we’re never putting you in harm’s way again.”
“I’ve done ten so far.”
“And you have four hundred pending emails?”
“Yeah. And that number is going to triple by the end of the week at the rate of growth I’m currently projecting.”
“Not enough for one girl.” He contemplated, his eyes darting to my face. “And not safe. Can we come up with a way to make it safe, market it, take it nationwide, and create an app, like that ‘chat a fish’?”
“Yeah,” I laughed. That’s how he referred to all dating sites. His response wasn’t what I’d expected, and yet here we were.
“If you’re interested in selling, that is, though I don’t think you have much choice at this point.”
“I don’t. I made a couple of huge, almost lethal, mistakes. The Test Dummy—”
“Look, here’s what we’ll do. We won’t tell anyone you were behind this. I’ll buy the business anonymously from you, and you will work on it for me. And you will not test Monty. I already know Marcia sent an email asking the Test Dummy to run him. Marcia . . . I love that kid, but sometimes she can’t see the forest for the trees.”
