Seduction Game (Art and Soul)

by Candy J. Starr

  My family would notice. I’d have to sell everything we owned to get two grand. All our furniture, all our possessions. I’d be lucky actually if someone paid for our old junk. More like I’d have pay for it all be taken away and end up in more debt.

  “They won’t know. I’ve got my own money.”

  I raised my eyebrows. I had my own money too but it was like pocket change. Especially after a night of drinking. Two thousand bucks was a whole lot of cash and I had no intention of telling his parents anyway. Even if he was a jerk, I wasn’t the type to go blabbing other people’s secrets.

  I should just swallow my pride. I needed the money. There was no shame in taking it.

  I had no idea where Junichi drove to. I didn’t know my way around that well, but it didn’t look like we were going home. It’s not like he’d take me somewhere remote and kill me to keep his secret, I hoped.

  “You worked for this money?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s from my grandmother. Gift money. I don’t need to spend it so it just sits in the bank. Some in managed funds and other investments.”

  “Wowsers. Your grandmother wouldn’t like to adopt another granddaughter? All my grandmother ever gave me was 50 cents taped onto a birthday card.”

  He snorted.

  “Why would my grandmother want you? It would be no advantage to her.”

  ‘I have good qualities.”

  I couldn’t imagine what they were but I had as many good qualities as Junichi. Life was pretty unfair. I got a deadbeat Dad, no mother and a 50 cent-giving grandmother. He got managed funds and other investments.

  “My grandmother would hate your good qualities. Actually, she’d hate you. She is very strict about good behaviour.”

  “Well, she’d be torn up to know about your secret rock career then.” I folded my arms. That would teach him to say his grandmother would hate me. How rude!

  Before he could answer, he pulled into a storage facility.

  “Wait here,” he said, parking the car in a creepy yard.

  Waiting here was the last thing I wanted to do. It looked like the kind of place where someone in a clown mask would pop up beside the car and garrote you.

  Junichi jumped out of the car with his guitar and another bag, leaving me alone.

  His back as he walked away from me seemed different. The swagger in his walk and the way he held his shoulders had become so much sexier. No wonder I’d not realised he was the same person.

  The one light flickered in the yard, casting creepy shadows around me. I’m not normally a scaredy cat but something about that place weirded me out. I bet half those storage lockers had dead bodies in them.

  I jumped out of the car and went in the direction Junichi had, trying to quell the rising panic in my gut. If he got killed, I’d be stuck here. He could’ve at least left me the keys so if he got murdered, I could drive home.

  As I rounded the corner, a metal door clanged. Junichi or the scary murderer in the clown mask?

  The metal door clanged again. I broke into a run.

  I rounded a corner to find Junichi stood slap bang in front of me, stripped to his jocks!

  Holy shit. That body. The glimpse of his hipbone at the bar had been enough to get me wet, but seeing him almost naked took my breath away. Those abs! I’d not ever noticed them before. Of course, he didn’t often hang out barely dressed in front of me. That curve where his shoulders met his arms. I reached out to touch it, my brain fuzzed up with booze.

  “What the hell are you doing? I told you to wait in the car.”

  He rounded on me just as I was about to touch him.

  “The car park is freaky.”

  “Are you five years old? You can’t wait in a car for a few minutes?”

  “Hey Sunshine, before you get all ballsy with me, think about who holds the cards here.”

  That stopped his sass. I moved closer. Could I really seduce this guy? He smelt good. I moved even closer. I needed to test this out for myself. I trailed my fingertips down his naked chest. He didn’t say a word but the muscle quivered under my fingers. I definitely wanted to touch him more. Maybe kiss him. Definitely kiss him. All kinds of things stirred up inside me.

  Before my lips reached his, though, he grabbed my wrists. Not roughly, just enough to stop me touching him.

  “You’re drunk and acting weird.”

  The sting of rejection soon sobered me up. Like a bucket of cold water. What the hell did I think I was doing?

  “You’re probably right. I’ll wait in the car.”

  Even walking away from I knew it wasn’t because I was drunk or even that stupid offer from his parents. He made me tingle. He made my skin buzz and my insides mush. I wanted a piece of him, I knew that much for sure. But it was just a physical thing. I’d not had sex for a long, long time.

  After I broke up with Sean, I wasn’t that keen on dating. There’d been one guy but every time he’d tried to touch me, I recoiled. After a couple of dates, he’d dumped me. Apparently flinching when a guy tried to kiss you was off-putting.

  Then that whole Kenji debacle.

  I hated the thought of a guy touching me. But touching Junichi was a whole other matter.

  A little while later, Junichi came back to the car. I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want the image of the hot, shirtless him in my mind. He wasn’t hot Junichi who played guitar now though, he was his old, uptight self. Who knew a change of clothes could do so much for a guy?

  If Junichi wanted to have his secret life, then good for him. It actually made him more interesting. He was so uptight and sanctimonious most of the time. I kind of wanted him to keep thinking I might though. Teach him to reject me.

  I folded my arms and didn’t talk to him for about three blocks before I broke down.

  “I’ll keep my mouth shut on two conditions. No money because it’s about time you learnt that money can’t get you everything in this world. Firstly, I want to know all about this secret life of yours.”

  I’d regret not taking the cash. I’d regret it so much. But I stupidly wanted him to think good of me and, if he thought I was the type who could be bought off, he’d have no respect for me. Even him offering me the money showed what he thought of me.

  “I have no idea why you want to know that.”

  “Idle curiosity.”

  I thought that was an adequate reason.

  “It’s no huge deal. I like playing guitar. My parents think it’s a waste of time. It doesn’t fit into their life plans. I had piano lessons when I was young and then started with guitar but had to quit.”

  “Their life plans for your life, obviously.”

  “Our plans.”

  “But you have no problem disobeying them.” I wasn’t even sure you could call it disobeying when he was legally an adult. He could play guitar in a band if he wanted.

  “I make sure it’s not taking time away from my other responsibilities.”

  Yeah, he said all this logical-like but it didn’t take much to realise there was a lot more behind his words. When he was on stage playing, he’d become a different person. He had a fire in his eyes and his face took on a look I’d never seen before. He loved playing, you could tell.

  That night I’d heard someone playing guitar in the house, that had been him. That music that had soothed me after I’d talked to Belle. It’d been Junichi all along. If he could play like that, there were hurts in his soul that he never showed.

  “It’s tough.”

  He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

  We drove on in silence for a while. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. It was a big deal. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t go to such pains to hide it from his parents.

  “What was the other thing?”

  “Huh?”

  “You said two conditions. The first one was that I tell you my secret, which I did. So, what’s the second one?”

  I gulped. I was going to do this. I was really going to do it. I couldn’t take money from Junic
hi but I could take it from his parents.

  “I want you to date me.”

  CHAPTER 10

  “I can’t date you!”

  That was the first time I’d ever seen Junichi rattled. He nearly crashed the car. I didn’t think I’d asked that much. He was only getting the tip of the iceberg.

  “Why the hell not? It’s not like I’m hideous.”

  “We… how do I put this? We don’t match. We don’t match at all.”

  “That doesn’t matter. It’s not like we’re getting married. Just make it look like we’re together for a while.”

  “Why?”

  Hell, I should’ve known he’d ask that. I couldn’t exactly tell him that his parents had offered to pay me to have sex with him. I don’t even think dating technically came into his parents’ plans. But I couldn’t ask him to have sex with me in a way that his parents would find out. I needed to tread carefully. Asking him to date would be step one in my plan. The whole plan would go nowhere if he had no desire for me at all.

  We stopped at the lights and he looked at me, waiting for an answer.

  “There’s a guy at school who keeps bugging me. If he thinks I have a boyfriend, he’ll stop.”

  Junichi laughed a little. “Oh, that kind of thing. For a moment, I thought you seriously wanted to date. If it’ll get that guy off your back then sure, pretend I’m your boyfriend. I don’t know that anyone will believe you, though.”

  So long as his parents believed me, that was the main thing. I’d have a place to stay until it was safe to go home. It seemed like the Tachibanas were my only option for the moment.

  “Do we have to go straight back home?” I asked. “I’m starving and, since we’re dating, we should go out for something to eat.”

  “I guess that would be okay. I’m pretty hungry myself.”

  “There’s a great place near home. It’s a family restaurant. You can just swing in there.”

  “You’re kidding, right? A family restaurant? Filled with plastic seats and children running around? That’s not the kind of place I go. I’ll find somewhere fashionable.”

  While a fashionable restaurant would be more date like and maybe set up the mood, I was starving.

  “Don’t be a wanker. They have great burgers and an all you can drink deal.”

  He sighed. “You realise this is the exact reason that no one will ever believe we are dating.”

  He was probably right about that. Well, maybe there were other factors too. Like him being an uptight jerk. And me standing out like a tattooed freak in this country. Anyone would look at Junichi and imagine him with one of those chicks at school with the “subtle” makeup they spend hours putting on and the beige designer outfits. Anyone would look at me and see me with someone like — well, the rocker, Junichi. That’s the guy I could see me with.

  “The parfaits are really awesome too. And it’s just down the road a bit. And surely there’ll be no kids running around at this time of night. They are open 24 hours and it’s not like we need a reservation or anything.”

  “If you ever tell anyone I went to that place, I will kill you.”

  “So, we’ll go?” I clapped my hands. Brilliant. I could taste that burger. The whole seduction thing could wait until after I’d eaten.

  We parked and went in. “I hope no one recognises me.”

  We followed the girl in her pink uniform to a booth at the back.

  “Well, if any of your friends see you here, that means they are eating here too.”

  “True. But the lighting in this place is disgusting and the decor makes my head ache.”

  Jeez. I remembered why I thought he was a tool. Because he was.

  I didn’t need to look at the menu. I knew what I wanted. A “cheese-in” hamburger and a giant chocolate parfait. Junichi held up the giant, laminated menu, flipping through the pages.

  “I’m not sure I can eat any of this.”

  “Sure you can, Sunshine. Get the damn burger.”

  I reached across the table and pushed the button for the waitress. If he was going to be a princess, I’d starve to death. I had no time to waste on petty things. He wanted the hamburger – he just didn’t want to admit it.

  The waitress ran over.

  “Two of these burgers,” I said. “Drink bar and two chocolate parfaits.”

  “I’m not eating a parfait.”

  He screwed up his face like he objected but was waiting for me to convince him otherwise. I wouldn’t be doing any convincing, though. I had plans for that second parfait.

  “Who said the second one was for you? I can definitely eat two parfaits.”

  “Don’t you ever worry about being a bit more sophisticated. It’s not exactly classy to go to family restaurants and eat two parfaits. Also, did you see the calories in those things? It’s written right here on the menu.”

  “Of all the things in the world that I worry about, that is not one of them. It’s not even on the list of things I worry about.”

  I patted my belly. I guess one day I’d have to worry about calories and that kind of thing but for now, I’d enjoy myself.

  Where was that waitress with my burger? It’d been two minutes and I was starving. Junichi’s gaze met mine. I couldn’t read his expression. It wasn’t love, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t hate either. More like he studied me the way some people study rare bugs.

  I jumped up and went to the drink bar. Junichi followed me.

  He went to the hot drink machine.

  “Don’t get the coffee. Trust me, you will regret it.”

  He got the coffee. He’d take one sip then blame me for it. But I’d warned him. That was all I could do. I got a juice. The juice was the only thing that was decent at the drink bar. He was such an amateur at this.

  When we got back to the table, our food had arrived.

  Junichi took a sip of his coffee.

  “That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had in my mouth. It’s not even coffee, it’s nothing like coffee. It’s like the taste of all that is wrong in this world.”

  “I warned you.”

  I laughed. Then, surprisingly, Junichi laughed too. His laugh made me forget about the burger in front of me. I wanted him to keep laughing. I wanted to keep that glint in his eyes and the glow on his face.

  “You did.” He pushed the cup away. “So, what do you worry about?”

  “Huh?”

  The burger was awesome and I didn’t want to talk. I just wanted to keep eating.

  “You said being sophisticated was not something you worried about. You said it like there are things that bother you.”

  Wow, that was like the first time he’d ever asked me a personal question. I wasn’t about to tell him about my crim ex-boyfriend or my worries that Sean would hunt me down as soon as I returned home.

  “Money. Of course. Everyone worries about money.” I caught the look on his face. “Well, maybe you don’t but normal people do.”

  “But you’re lucky, right. You can do whatever you want.”

  “No way.”

  “You get bits of yourself pierced. You get tattoos. You don’t have to stop and think about how that will affect your future.”

  “What future?”

  “Exactly. I can’t even imagine.”

  I shrugged. It seemed like there was a gap between us that words couldn’t bridge. He really understood nothing. It wasn’t like I wanted to have no future. I’d love to be a pampered princess sometimes. Not having the constant worry and anxiety about the future. I had no idea what I’d do when my degree was finished. I guess teaching was the best option but I didn’t exactly love that idea. Anyway, I had a burger in front of me and that was the immediate future taken care of.

  “This burger is so good.” He seemed shocked.

  “I told you that. You don’t need a fancy decor to have good food.”

  “It helps, though.”

  “Doesn’t change the taste.”

  The aching longing inside
me had gone away a little but I still had a warm buzz. It was fun hanging out with him. I’d never expected that. Even his arrogance wasn’t so bad. It was more amusing than annoying.

  When we’d finished eating, the waitress brought the two parfaits to the table.

  Junichi looked longingly at them. They had these little puddings on top that were super tasty then just layers of deliciousness. I bet he regretted not ordering one.

  “By the time you finish the first one, the ice cream will be melted in the second one,” he said.

  “That’s okay. I like it a bit melted.”

  He looked so sad when I said that. Full on puppy dog eyes and all. That look ruined me.

  “Do you want a parfait, Sunshine?” I asked him. I took a big scoop of mine on my spoon. “A horrible, calorie-laden parfait that’s not at all fashionable and sophisticated?”

  He looked at my parfait and for a moment I felt jealous of the damn thing. He could reject me but look at a dessert with such undisguised longing? Damn him.

  “Yes, I do.”

  I pushed the second parfait towards him. I could always order more.

  “You know, we don’t really have to date. That was a stupid idea. But you could be a bit more pleasant, especially to someone who gave you their parfait.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Shun would’ve never mentioned the sports day if I’d not found the flier in his room. Even though it was in Japanese, the cheesy clipart of sporty stuff was a giveaway.

  “What’s this?” I’d asked him.

  “Ah, it’s nothing. Just a stupid school thing,” he’d replied.

  He’d said that but there was more to it than that. That kid couldn’t lie to me. The way he turned away from me when he said it made me think it was a big deal to him.

  “Do you want me to come along?” I asked him. “Is it one of those friends and family things?”

  “Would you?”

  The kid’s eyes lit up. Bang, I’d guessed it. I bet no one ever went to school stuff with him.

  “Hell yeah. I’ll cheer like crazy.”

  He hugged me tight. “You know I’m crap at sports though.”