Tempted (erotic) (#4, 101 Nights)

Chapter One: Alisha

Please god, give me something!

Just my luck. There’s nothing but the laptop. I sit back and stare at it. If I take it, I’ll have all of five hours to hack it, and my equipment is busted, thanks to George, the second mistake I’ve made recently.

Happy thoughts, Alisha. I made it through another night and only have a few bruises to show for it. I’m naturally a cheerful person, crazy according to my friends, though I think what they’re seeing is probably my self-destructive side at work. The more cornered I feel, the more erratic I become, the stranger I dress and the more chances I take.

It’s a vicious cycle, one that’s helped me dig my grave so deep, no one will find me when someone finally finds me and kills me off.

I can just walk away tonight. Think it over and come back in a day or two with a plan or idea of what I need to take to help me. I’m waiting for a few more arrangements to fall into place before I can disappear with Natalie. I have time to think.

Then again, I’ve never been one to think things through. I tend to act first, think eventually. Or conversely, overthink until I’m paralyzed by indecision, and then act on impulse. Natalie is the patient, stable, thoughtful one. I’m the loose cannon.

Fuck it. I don’t have much to lose at this point. I’m grasping at straws, about to disappear anyway to help Natalie escape the psycho she’s engaged to. Why not simply … go for it?

Snapping up the laptop, I leave Tony’s apartment. Adrenaline races through me, and I stuff the computer into my bag. My skin is itching from a combination of disgust and paranoia by the time I step outside into the warm night in the city. Sometimes, I catch a cab home, but tonight, I feel like I need the walk. I’ve been working on figuring something out since earlier in the day, when I last spoke to Natalie. Walking helps me think and calms me down after dealing with Tony.

I already transferred over fifty grand off the credit card number she gave me to an offshore account. In two days, the money will be where I can reach it. It’s enough to help us disappear though not quite enough to keep us off the radar for too long. It’ll be easy for me to hide her, but me …

So many people are about to be after me, assuming I can’t crack the server where Tony is hiding information about me. Dare I risk going with her, or should I go off in another direction, out of concern for her safety?

I want to go with her so bad, to disappear off the face of the planet after telling him to fuck off. I want out of here and the mess I’ve made. I want a new start, one I won’t fuck up, now that I know the dangers of messing around with the wrong people. I’d give anything for Natty and me to have that chance together. She’s more like a sister than a friend.

But with two lives at stake, hers and the unborn heir of a kingdom she’s carrying …

“There’s no fucking way.” I’ll need to spend the rest of my life being a decoy to protect my best friend. Her fiancé’s lapdog, George, managed to fuck up my world bad, to the point I need all new hardware. If he was this aggressive defending his boss from my hacks, I don’t want to know what he’ll do if his boss tells him to find me at all costs.

He’s definitely not the kind of man I should’ve crossed. But I did, and now I’m on his radar, too. Huge mistake, Alisha. At least I’m able to get my best friend away from the psycho prince who someone how managed to convince her to get engaged. Natalie is too sweet, too nice, always looking at the good in people and never at what the bad sides of those people can do to her.

Troubled, I walk the fifteen blocks back to Tenley Apartments, where I’ve lived my entire life, and go up to my floor. A hot shower, hearty breakfast and some time with headphones on, and I’ll start to feel normal again.