Playing with Fire

by J. S. Cooper

  “Everything okay, Evie?” Tyler waited at the end of the hallway for me with a worried expression, and I nodded, my eyes focusing on his handsome face, his blond hair seeming to glow like the sun.

  “Everything okay, Sleeping Beauty?” Grant’s voice came from the other end of the hallway, and I turned around to face him, his face dark and devilish as he stared at me. I gazed into his blue eyes, and I shivered at his expression. All of a sudden, I understood his comment. He knew. He knew what I’d done. He was the Cain. He was the bad one, only he was a lot worse than I’d thought.

  “I’m fine.” I nodded, my face white as a ghost.

  “Good,” he said softly. “I’d hate for anything to happen while you were staying with us.” He walked towards me. “I’d hate for you to make any wrong decisions. I’d absolutely hate it.”

  “What are you doing?” I whispered as he grabbed my wrist.

  “Think carefully about who you choose, Evie.” He kissed my cheek and then whispered in my ear. “You don’t want to end up like Eugenie: alive, but dead inside.”

  “You know?” My eyes widened, and he laughed.

  “There’s only one wolf running this house, Evie.” He stepped back as Tyler walked towards us. I could hear the anger in his quick steps as he thundered towards us. “Tyler.” He said softly, taking another step back. “Come to save the Princess?” He laughed and looked at me with deadly eyes. “I told you, Evie, there are no fairytale endings here.”

  “You lost, Grant.” I said loudly and firmly. “Leave me alone. I don’t want you.”

  “Have you ever had two men before, Evie?” He licked his lips. “You might find you quite like it.”

  “That’s enough.” Tyler’s voice was cold.

  “It’ll never be enough.” Grant shook his head and turned away. “Until tonight, you two. Enjoy yourselves until tonight.” And then he walked away.

  “Why is he still here?” I turned to Tyler. “Why do we have to do this whole thing tonight?”

  “You wouldn’t understand,” Tyler said softly and grabbed my hands. “This is the only way I can protect you, Evie. You must play this game through with me. It’s the only way.”

  “It’s the only way we can win?” I asked softly, searching his face. He stared at me for a few seconds and answered softly. “It’s just the only way,” he said, leading me to the kitchen.

  17

  “Evie, do you know there are two things I absolutely love about you?” Tyler sat in his big red leather chair and stared at me.

  “No.” I shook my head and looked around the sparse room. Aside from the chair, the room was vacant. We’d eaten in silence and then Tyler had brought me to this room. I had no idea why, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, either.

  “I love that you’re open with your sexuality.” He grinned. “And I love that you’re fearless.”

  “I’m neither of those things.” I shook my head and looked down.

  “You’re not the first girl who’s been here.” He frowned. “You know that, right?”

  “I could have guessed.” I rolled my eyes. “You and Grant have been intimating that for a long time.”

  “You are the only one who’s not playing the game, though.” He smiled and cocked his head back.

  “What is this game you both keep talking about?” I walked towards him.

  “Stop.” He held his hand up. “Don’t move until I say you can move.”

  “Okay.” I stood there awkwardly.

  “I don’t want you to sleep with Grant again.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  “He won’t accept you turning him down.” He stood up. “He has plans for you.”

  “Who’s in charge here?” My voice rose. “You or him?”

  “Excuse me?” His eyes narrowed at the sharpness in my tone.

  “What does Grant want? What normally happens next in these games you play?”

  “Next?” He shrugged. “Do you really want to know?”

  “Yes.”

  “We fuck ‘em. And leave ‘em.”

  “Leave ‘em where?” I swallowed hard. Was he admitting they did something bad to the women they picked up? And when he said, we fuck ‘em, did he really mean they both fucked them? Hadn’t Eugenie said Tyler had never slept with anyone but me?

  “We take them back to town.”

  “I want to go back to town now.” I stood straight as he stood up and walked towards me, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “But I’m not done with you.” He reached over and grabbed my wrist, pulling me towards him.

  “I don’t want to be here anymore, Tyler. I don’t want to play this game.” I shook my head. “Please let me go.” Especially not if Grant knew my secret. It was something I’d been running from my whole life. I was so ashamed of myself and now, knowing he knew, well it made me feel cheap. I no longer felt like the girl experimenting. I felt like the cheap slut who had been exposed to the world.

  “I can’t.” He shook his head.

  “Why not?” I bit my lower lip.

  “You’re the first one I’ve ever cared about,” he said softly as he stopped in front of me. “You’re the first one I’ve wanted to touch more than once.”

  “Yet, you want me to have a threesome with you and Grant.” I shook my head.

  “If he touches you again, I’ll kill him.” He smiled, but his eyes were still dark.

  “Why do you both play these games?” I held my breath as he touched my neck and ran his fingers down the valley between my breasts.

  “Because we can’t help ourselves,” he groaned as he pulled away from me. “Let’s go out.”

  “Where?”

  “You’ll see.” He grabbed my hands. “Let’s go.”

  “Where are we? And where are you going?” I stared at Tyler as he made his way to the door of the room we’d just entered. I had no idea where we were. We’d driven for about twenty minutes, and I hadn’t recognized my surroundings at all. When he’d stopped the car at what appeared to be an old farm house, I’d been perplexed.

  “We’re at the club.”

  “But there’s no one else here.” I frowned. “Not even Grant, or did he come by himself?”

  “Grant won’t be here.”

  “But you said I had to dance in front of you and Grant.” I frowned.

  “Did you really want to do that?” He tilted his head and studied my face.

  “Not particularly.” I admitted.

  “I didn’t think so.” He smiled benevolently. “So you won’t have to do it.”

  “I won’t have to dance for you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Oh.” I was slightly disappointed. I’d been excited to dance for Tyler.

  “Don’t be disappointed, Evie.” He grinned. “You can do it another time.”

  “Then where are we?” I frowned and looked around the empty room. “Where have you brought me?”

  “This is a safe room.” His expression changed. “We need to chat.”

  “Chat about what?” I looked at his proximity to the door. “And why are you leaving?”

  “I have to get something.”

  “Something like what?” I walked towards him. “And why do I have to stay here?”

  “You ask way too many questions.”

  “Well I want to know.”

  “I want you to know.”

  “So tell me.”

  “Tell you what?”

  “Are you kidding me, Tyler?” My voice rose. “Why are you making this a riddle?”

  “I’m not making this a riddle, you are. You don’t need to ask any questions, then you won’t be frustrated when you don’t receive any answers.”

  “You’re so frustrating.”

  “I’m frustrating? You don’t even listen to me when I do tell you what to do.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to choose me.” He stared at me unblinking.

  “I did choose you.”


  “I want you to choose me without any doubts in your mind. I want you to choose me regardless of the fact that I’m the man with the money. I want you to choose me because I’m the man you have to be with. I’m the man who pleases you. I’m the man who…” His voice trailed off. “That’s all for now.”

  “So you’re just going to leave me?”

  “I’m going to leave you to think.” He nodded. “I want you to know who you want to be with.”

  “Do I even have a choice?” I blinked at him.

  “You always have a choice.”

  “How long do I have to think?”

  “You’ll know when your time is up.”

  “How?” I shivered in the cold room and looked around again. There was a small twin bed with a paisley quilt, a small arm chair, and some books on a side table. The room was sparsely decorated, and I wasn’t sure what I was meant to do to occupy my time while I was in there. Did he seriously think I could decide which one of the two men I wanted in that amount of time? Not that it was an issue. I already knew Tyler was the one I was more attracted to; he was the one who sparked something in me. However, I didn’t know which one of them was bad. I didn’t know which one of them Eugenie was warning me against. From what Eugenie had said, or intimated, there was a really scary sort of game going on here. Not that I hadn’t already gathered that when Eugenie had popped up in the closet and Grant had said I couldn’t leave, but I really didn’t know who to trust at this point.

  “You’ll be safe, Evie.”

  “I’m not worried about being safe.” I was annoyed. “I don’t want to stay in this room by myself, sitting on the bed or the couch waiting for someone to come and let me out.”

  “I have to know.”

  “What do you have to know, Tyler? What is this really going to accomplish? I barely even know you. Even if I did choose you, what would it really mean? We had hot sex, and I think you’re hot. It doesn’t mean we’re destined to be with each other. It doesn’t mean this is anything special. It doesn’t take back the fact that I already slept with Grant.”

  “Don’t talk about him.” He stepped towards me, his eyes narrowed and full of anger. “I don’t need to be reminded of that fact.”

  “Why does it bother you so much?” My breath caught as he grabbed my hands and pulled me towards him hard.

  “I don’t want to think about him touching you. You’re mine.”

  “I’m not yours. And I’m not his either.” I gasped as his lips came down close to mine. “I’m no one’s. I’m just another girl you picked up at the club and took home. I’m just another girl who fell for Grant’s smile and offer of five grand. I’m just another girl who got carried away and tied my dreams of a fairytale onto someone I had no good reason to hope would be my Prince Charming. I’m just another girl who hoped for the needle in the haystack to be found. I’m just another girl who grew up dreaming and wishing I’d meet the man who would carry me away and make me forget my crazy fucked up life.” My lips quivered as I took a deep breath. “But you know what? I got what I always get, a fucked up situation with a fucked up man and a whole lot of heartache.”

  “What’s your story, Evie?” He frowned and led me to the bed.

  “What do you mean, what’s my story? What’s everyone’s story?” I sighed as we sat down on the bed.

  “I didn’t ask about everyone’s story. I asked about yours.”

  “I thought you were leaving.” I looked away from him, my stomach dropping. I didn’t want to talk about my story. That would make everything too real about this situation. This wasn’t real. It was a fairytale. It was make-believe. This wasn’t my real life. This was a game and a fantasy, and when I was done, I could go back home and back to my normal life.

  “Tell me who you are, Evie Johnson.”

  “There’s not much to know. I’m just like millions of other women. I grew up with a single mother whose jerk of a boyfriend left as soon as he found out she was pregnant. Though calling him a boyfriend is giving him a title he doesn’t deserve. He was a man who enjoyed fucking my mother until he got her pregnant. So I grew up without a dad.” I shrugged and tried not to think of all the nights I’d cried myself to sleep wondering why my father hadn’t wanted to be a part of my life and wishing I had someone to spoil and love me like I saw other girls’ daddies doing.

  “I’m sorry.” He blinked at me, his eyes never leaving my face.

  “Don’t be sorry for me, be sorry for my mom. She didn’t let my father’s rejection get her down. She continued allowing herself to be a plaything until I was eight years old. She had three abortions I know of and gave one kid up for adoption.” I paused. “He was a boy. She didn’t want a boy.” I rubbed my temple, as my head was starting to hurt. “Then one of her boyfriends tried to touch me. She caught him, and she almost cut his hand off.” I turned to him. “She wasn’t an uncaring mother. She stopped dating then, cold turkey, and she hasn’t dated since then.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Like I said, don’t be sorry for me. It’s not my life. I don’t even see her anymore.” I sighed. “I went away to college and took out as few loans as I could and survive. I never wanted to be like her. I wanted to be far away from her and that life.” My breath caught. “I’ve never had casual sex with anyone since I left home. Just boyfriends. Just safe and dependable boyfriends. I’ve been waiting all my life for my Knight in Shining Armor to come and whisk me away and out of this life.” I laughed. “I guess I got fed up of waiting.”

  “That’s why you took the job as a stripper?”

  “I took the job as a stripper for one night to help my friend and to make some money to pay my bills and all those student loans I told you about.” I sighed.

  “And what about Grant? Why did you leave with him?”

  “I left with him because playing my life safe for so many years has resulted in absolutely nothing. And all those safe boyfriends have meant nothing. Not one of them has made me feel as alive as I’ve felt the last couple of days. Sex with them was boring. I was never fulfilled. Safe doesn’t equal happy. Safe doesn’t equal pain free. I’m broke, single, and living a life I never wanted for myself, but I’m still in my twenties. I don’t want this monotony anymore. I want to be wild and crazy. I want to be free. I want to be loved and love. I want to be hurt and to hurt. I want to feel something. Anything other than this never ending boredom and safety. I left with Grant because I was ready to go skydiving.” I stared at Tyler. “I was ready to ride the rollercoaster and to hell with what society thinks or what even I think.”

  “You took a dangerous risk.”

  “A dangerous risk that took me to you.”

  ‘You’re happy you’re here with me?” His expression changed, and I could see my answer was important to him.

  “Being with you is anything but safe.” I laughed. “I have no idea what to think, what to feel, what to say, what to expect. I have no idea what’s going to happen, and a part of me loves that.”

  “So you prefer me to Grant?”

  “I choose you over Grant, Tyler.” I nodded. “I choose you.”

  “Good.” He said simply. “Let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?” I said in a surprised tone. “We just got here.”

  “I’m going to make you feel even more alive.”

  “Oh?”

  “Trust me.” He grinned. “As long as you’re with me, you’ll always feel alive.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because you make me feel alive. I know because you do the same thing for me.” He grabbed my hand as we walked to the door. He paused and looked back into the room and thought for a second before turning to me. “You’re changing the man I am, Evie.”

  “I hope that’s a good thing,” I said softly.

  He just smiled as we walked out of the room, down a narrow hallway, and out the door we had entered through. His Porsche Carrera was sitting in its spot right outside the door and we walked over to it quickly.


  “Where are we going?” I turned to him as he opened the passenger door for me.

  “You’ll see.”

  “Where are we?” I asked as we got out of the car, once again in a location I didn’t recognize.

  “Brooklyn.” He grinned. “And more specifically, Greenpoint.”

  “What are we doing in Greenpoint, Brooklyn?” I frowned. “Is it famous for something?”

  “No.” He laughed and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go inside.” He pointed at the big grey building in front of us.

  “This isn’t the club, is it?” I bit on my lower lip. Had he changed his mind? Did he want me to do the dance after all?

  “No, this isn’t a club.” He grinned. “It’s a stunts training center.”

  “Stunts?” I made a face. “What do you mean, stunts?”

  “I mean like big budget Hollywood movie stunts. We’re going to go rappelling.”

  “Say what?” My eyes grew wide. This was not what I expected at all. “Rappelling?”

  “Yeah.” He grinned. “Down the Empire State Building.”

  “What?” I shook my head, my heart racing. “Are you joking?”

  “Well, we’re not going to go down the real Empire State Building. I don’t think they’ll let us, not even if I offer a million dollars.”

  “You love to throw your money around, don’t you?”

  “No.” His voice was soft as we walked into the building. “It’s quite the opposite actually. Why do you think I became the driver? Why do you think I don’t tell anyone I’m a billionaire?”

  “I don’t know. I thought it was a part of the game the two of you played.”

  He stopped and looked at me then, his eyes keen as he surveyed my face. “You’re too smart for your own good, Evie.”

  “Not smart enough though, obviously.” I shivered as I looked at the tall mock building in front of me. “You expect me to climb down the side of the building?”