Everyone's Dirty Little Secrets (26 page)

He knows what she needs to look like, at least.

*****

Chuck
is still in the lobby bar
and Dodge finds a perch in the lounge behind him where he can watch without being easily seen.  Chuck would have to turn all
the way around to be able to spot him
, which would give Dodge enough time to duck out of view,
or even
dart for the slot machines only a matter of feet away.

Dodge looks for a mirror behind the bar,
making sure Chuck ca
n’t se
e him in a reflection,
remembering the time
he
first noticed Chuck,
at
Siobhan’
s par
ty, at the club, in the mirror
- the first time he saw the man
who looks so much like him that
their lives
have beco
me
inseparably tied together since then.

Watching Chuck, though,
Dodge wonders how this guy could pick up any girl - whether it was some drug addict in Amsterdam, a desperate Craigslist girl, or a prostitute in Las Vegas. He’
s terrified of women, and after watching him for a while, even though this
place is crawling with hookers -
tr
ying to pick up any single guy -
it’s clear to Dodge that Chuck isn’t going to approach any wome
n.  And none, not even the bountiful ladies
of the night, are approaching him. 

Dodge can’t blame them;
the man radiates creepiness.

Dodge is going to have to take matters into his own hand.

It doesn’t take long to spot a prostitute who resembles Jaime enough to lure Chuck.
  They’re all blonde and beautiful
, so they’ve pretty much got that going for them.  The rest is just about body type, and a bonus if she has
similar
hair
,
or any facial feature tha
t even slightly resembles something about Jaime.

Chuck’s failure is amazing because as soon as Dodge
spots
a
woman who fits the bill
, she’s in his lap a second later. 

It’s that easy. 

In fact, it’s more than he bargained for -
she’s no sooner in his lap than her mouth
is pressed
against his ear, offering him all sorts of pleasure.
 

Within thirty seconds of her landing there,
he’s
willing
to
do everything she says.

But Jaime is upst
airs waiting for him.

He just wants to get this over with as quickly as possible.
.

“Not me,” he
manages to say, before she
practically
earns her paycheck right there
.  “For my friend.”

She eases up some.  “You sure, doll?  You’re kind of cute.”

Co
mpetition is crazy around here.  These girls don’t mess around.

“I’m sure,” he promises, trying to ta
ke control of the situation
.

“
You first, then him?” she asks.

“It’s tempting,” he says.  “But
just my friend.”

He slides a roll of hundreds into her hand
, nodding toward Chuck at the bar
.
 
He has no idea what it costs for a hooker, but
hands her more than he thinks will cover it
.

He just wants this to hurry up and happen.

So he can get back upstairs.

“I need you to show him a really good time.”

“For this?
” she asks, eyes light up.
 
“
S
ure - he looks like you anyway.  This’ll cover a good
time.”

“Perfect.  But I need you to do one thing.”

She looks suspiciously at him. 

“I’m not doing any funky stuff, no matter how much money this is.”

“Nothing funky,” Dodge promises.  “I need you to find out his room number for me.  Repeat it out loud so I can hear, write it on a napkin, tell it to the person sitting next to you.
  Anything.  Just make sure I know the room.”

S
he looks skeptical, but he can
tell by her expression
earlier he’s already given her a lot of cash
.

Maybe that’s why she’s skeptical.

But it’s also why she agrees.

“One more favor,
too,
though,” Dodge insists.
  “An easy one.”

“What now?” she asks,
dubious as all hell.

“D
on’t tell him anyone hired you.  Just let him think you’re picking him up. 
D
on’t come on too strong
.”

“Anything else, boss?” she asks.

“Yeah,” he tells her.  “Be careful.”

She winks back at him before walking
away
.

“Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promises.

Dodge can
only hope.

*****

Chuck
sets his eyes on a woman, her blonde hair initially drawing his attention – not that there isn’t plenty of that
all around him
– but this blonde is
a
real blonde, and there’s not necessarily so much of that.  So it’s the hair that catches his eye but what keeps it is the fact that she notices, and smiles back at him.

And with nothing more than her smile, something stirs inside him
, a quiver in his stom
ach, radiating outward,
a scintillating rush
when it begins
, but more like an illness by the time it reaches his heart
-
and a poison by the time it reaches his brain.

He smiles back at her, and she immediately stands up and drifts amiably toward him, fixing her gaze on him, hypnotizing him with her sm
ile, with the sway of her hips. 
All those curves, so wonderfully displayed in motion - in slow motion - gliding toward him, remind him of Jaime.

And why he is
in
Las Vegas.

Her touch -
her arm dropp
ing easily around his shoulder, her comfortable closeness with him -
are unexpected but welcome. 
Accelerating what Chuck immediately knows is
going to happen. 

The anticipation of which is killing him.

Never mind what it’s going to do to her.

Even as she whispers her invitation into his ear
, h
e marvels at his change in fortune
since he stole Dodge’s identity.  Amsterdam.  Las Vegas.  The money.  The women he’s had.  The woman he’s about to have
.  The glorious, exotic
adventur
e of his life over the last week
. 

He can’t make it last. 

He has to make tonight last forever
. 

For a second, he realizes that if he’s ever going to be with Jaime, by any miraculous twist of fate, that he wants it to be different than this, that he wants it to be real.  To be about love, not
killing -
not even sex
. 

He wants the pure, unadulterated thrill of true love.

Tonight could be that, or could be practice for that.

This woman likes him.  He didn’t lure her here with drugs, or find her
on a Craigslist ad.  She is smiling at him, approaching
him.  She is inviting him upstairs.  She likes him.  This doesn’t happen to him.  It’s not crazy to think that a woman – a normal woman – a beautiful woman, even – might find him attractive, or
intriguing. 

This happens to other people. 

It happens to Dodge. 

Dodge has two beautiful women.
 

Had two beautiful women.
 

Chuck looks like Dodge.  He knows it can happen for him.

It is happening for him.

“So where you staying?” she asks him.

“Right upstairs,” he tells her.

“What room?” she asks,
playing with his hair.  “I
n case you try to get away from me.
”

“2714,” he offers up to her, in exchange for her smile.

“What are
we waiting for then?” she asks, before repeating the room number.
  “2714.”