The Temp

by Cates, A. K

  “And the wristwatch? Nick works in a coffee shop, how can he afford to have a silver wristwatch like that?”

  Trisha sighed. “He doesn’t like to tell people,” she looked away. “His family have money; he’s trying to disassociate himself with them.”

  Eve bit her lip. “You sure know a lot about him.”

  “I work with the guy,” she threw up her hands. “Eve, you’re got to relax, you’ve been on edge for a while and I can’t make heads or tails of it. Has this got anything to do with Roman? Or me? Is this my fault? It is isn’t it? If I hadn’t told you about the van”-

  “No, Trisha, stop-” her problems had started long before the van.

  Trisha sighed again. “Eve, you’re not in any danger.”

  Oh, how she wanted to believe that.

  62

  Two weeks later…Eve stepped into the familiar alley.

  She wasn’t far away from home, though it took her out of her comfort zone like it had the first time, familiar or not. The familiar wet sucking-the-colour-out grey cobblestones and gutter. The familiar reek of rotting food from the dumpster bins a few metres down. The familiar man materialised before her and took her breath away. Trigger was different. His chin had stubble, his hair was dishevelled.

  “Trigger, are you”-Eve didn’t know how to finish her words. She hadn’t seen him since the night he’d helped her get away and the morning thereafter when they’d planned her new fake life to divert those who’d watched her.

  Her past was catching up to her and so was the present.

  Trigger stepped into the sparse light, sucking the colour out of his flesh. “I’m fine. What about the men? Are they still following you?”

  She shook her head. “I wasn’t sure if it would work.”

  “Neither was I.”

  “I’ve been going through the back street entrance.”

  “Good.” he stepped forward, he looked hesitant as if he wanted to close the gap between them but resisted. “Unfortunately, I need you to get back in the game again.”

  “Trigger”-

  “Eve, I’ve given you as much time as I can. I tried with them, I really did. They want you to take action. They’re impatient,” his grey eyes burned. Eve shook her head. “What kind of game are you playing Eve?” the clouds sunk into the alley. Trigger appeared darker, a constant shadow clinging on his skin.

  “You look awful,” she said.

  His brow rose. “He really did a number on you didn’t he?” Eve bit her lip and turned away. She was protecting her virginity; didn’t that mean something? He stepped in closer. “Eve, you’re hurting,” he placed a hand on either side of her. “What did he do to you?” his gaze bored into her, she had to look away. His arms pressed her in until her head rested on his shoulder. She hadn’t felt the touch of another human in so long. Trisha hadn’t needed her to babysit for a while.

  She was so alone and so forgotten.

  “Eve,” he breathed into her hair. “I was afraid of this.”

  “Afraid of what?” she pulled back.

  “You were too inexperienced to know when you were being played.”

  “You think he played me?”

  “Eve, he wants what he wants and he’s willing to do whatever he can to get it.”

  She blinked. “I need you to go back to him.”

  “What?” she stepped back. “No. Please don’t make me do this.”

  “It won’t be long before you’re called upon to do what it was you were sent here to do. It’s a few more days; it’ll all be over soon. They need you as close to him as possible when it happens. They’ve given me their word they’ll get you out after. They’ll provide you with a new identity and enough money to live off in another country of your choosing.”

  “What?” this changes everything.

  “Eve. I did the best I could at the sacrifice of”-

  “Trigger what did you give them?” her voice lost its fight.

  “Myself,” no. “In exchange for you getting out when the time comes.”

  Eve’s hand flew to her mouth, “no.” She couldn’t think. Her fingers graced his skin, cupping the side of his face, those stray gold hairs. “I can’t do it anymore. Tell them I’m out. I’m not changing my mind. I can’t have you taking the blame for me.” Eve stepped off the curb and almost made it out of the alleyway.

  “I didn’t want to have to do this,” he said.

  Eve stopped in her tracks. She should keep going. She should.

  “Please Eve, don’t make me do this. I’m putting everything on the line for you, everything,” there was an edge to his voice.

  “I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” she whimpered, she didn’t turn back.

  “Especially you.”

  “You’re leaving me no choice. There’s something else they wanted to use against you, I told them they wouldn’t need to.”

  “You’re lying.” Eve looked at him then turned back again.

  “Please Eve, don’t make me do this,” the way he said it shattered her insides.

  “I’m not. You’re doing this”-

  “Eve, they told me they would use this if you weren’t willing. I’m warning you of what it is so you can be ready. Take a look. They’ve been snooping into your life again and found this. It’s quite”- Eve turned back.

  What was it? Papers? More documents?

  “They’re photos.” Trigger held them in his hand.

  She snatched them from him.

  …

  …

  …

  Her eyes widened.

  Her mouth opened. Closed.

  “Oh my god, how did they get these?” the world was caving in on her.

  There was a moment of false calm as she studied the photos again. It repulsed her to look, disgusted her. How could she look away?

  Another skeleton in another closet. She’d thought she had nothing left to hide. She’d thought it was all buried…

  “Is this really you?” Trigger said. “You said you hadn’t”-

  “It’s not me. It’s someone else,” the tears flowed freely. “I swear it.” She couldn’t look at him anymore. It was betrayal of the deepest kind.

  A silence swept up in the alley amidst muffled tears.

  “I feel like there’s a story there you don’t want to tell me.”

  “This isn’t what it looks like”-Eve stopped, knowing it was so cliché to say it in the first place. “You were trying to protect me from this? How long have you known they had this?” she turned on him. “How could you?” her voice broke.

  “I only found out this morning.”

  “I feel sick,” Eve clutched her stomach. Her body numbed.

  The photos had haunted her for so long. She almost believed she’d buried them in her past, she never thought she’d be seeing them again.

  The photos were spilled in shadows and light in a bedroom with mood lighting. The girl was naked and sprawled in various explicit positions throughout them.

  Girl, meaning under age. What’s more-

  It was Eve.

  63

  It had been buried for so long-

  Eve was fifteen, a shy girl with a world of promise. She had a best friend, the best of friends. They were peas in a pod; they even looked alike, like sisters.

  Carra. They did everything together, until one day things changed. Nobody saw it coming.

  Things changed overnight when Carra’s parents passed away in a freak accident.

  Carra disappeared off the face of the Earth. One day she was there, the next she wasn’t. Social services claimed they never received the girl and Eve never heard from her best friend again. Eve didn’t know what had happened until the photos appeared. They were linked to a child porn site. And they all had Eve’s face on them, not Carra’s, Eve’s.

  Only they weren’t Eve.

  They were definitely Carra. It was the birthmark that gave her away.

  Eve found out the hard way when the police showed up at her foster p
arents door as part of a crack down on child pornography. Her face had been one of the few identified in the system.

  The shock of it all…and no one could believe it wasn’t Eve. There was a birthmark on her thigh; no one had believed her, not a girl growing up in a foster home with a shady past. Things were difficult for a while living with strangers until her grandmother was found to be alive and she could move away again and start anew. So Eve had moved away, started over, her grandmother having been awarded her new guardian. Those photos had been dug under the rug, an endless rug she lived with under her bed.

  Carra, nothing had been heard from her except those photos.

  Eve had feared the worst, even to this day.

  That was ten years ago. Ten years and the past had finally caught up to her. Ten years and Eve hadn’t heard anything from her best friend. She didn’t know what had happened to Carra or whether she was even alive. Somewhere along the way Eve had buried Carra and all those memories. The police had no leads and one day the photos become part of a forgotten past.

  *

  Eve slouched down on the curb.

  Trigger crouched down next to her.

  “Carra,” she shuddered. “What did they do to you?”

  “Eve,” Trigger reached for her hand.

  She snatched it away. “I swear it’s not me, I can prove it,” she stammered. “There’s a birthmark on her thigh, it belongs to my friend Carra Thornton. I don’t have one.” She pointed to the photo wishing Trigger didn’t have to see them, that he’d never looked in the first place.

  Her cheeks burned for herself, for Carra. She could only imagine the horrific things subjected to a girl trapped in such a sordid filthy world.

  “It was photo-shopped with my face.”

  “You say her name is Carra, so you know the girl in these pictures.”

  “Yeah,” she buried her head in her knees. “I wasn’t a part of whatever she was.” Was. Is. Eve couldn’t bring herself to correct it. Was. She could be-

  “What happened to her?”

  “They never found her. She disappeared.”

  “A birthmark is not a lot to go on.”

  “Look closely,” she hated saying it. Don’t look at all, would have been better. “Look at the shadows, they don’t align.”

  “It’s well done.”

  “Please, you have to believe me.”

  “I do.”

  Eve snapped up. “You do?” her lips quivered. No one, not her foster parents nor the police had believed her and yet Trigger did.

  “This isn’t like you.”

  “My face,” Eve stumbled for words. Oh, how the past was racing up to her. She wiped her cheeks with her sleeve, producing Trigger’s handkerchief from her pocket.

  “What about it?”

  “I have the same photo; whoever did this took my face.” Of all the things she’d kept, she still had the photo somewhere among the limited things she possessed from her past. Carra had had the photo too. Eve didn’t want to consider she was behind this.

  Carra was a victim, is, was, the tears spilled over again. Carra and Eve had been together in so many photos when they were young.

  “Bring it to me and we can rectify this.”

  “What do I do in the mean time?”

  “Those who are doing this will know if you’re out. We need to make them believe you’re not, you need to make the first move.”

  “Because I’m a pawn”-

  “Go back to Roman.”

  “No.”

  “You have no choice.”

  “I do. No.”

  “Eve, if these photos make it out”-

  “What?”

  “Eve, these are ten years old. If these get out the whole world will think you were a child prostitute.” Her voice trapped in her throat. “There are ways they can make this stick. The world is not like it was ten years ago. Social media is big and even if you can prove the photos are fake, once the story’s out it’s all the public will think of you. Your past will really come back to haunt you.” Trigger put an arm around her shoulder. She tried to fight him, he pulled her in harder. “I know you hate me, I’m trying to help you.”

  “You’re working for them.”

  “Not by choice.”

  She didn’t know what to do. She was facing faked child prostitution claims against going to Roman and being his mistress. Yes, he’d take care of her and what? Wouldn’t that make her another form of prostitute? Bought and paid for?

  “What do I do?”

  “Please Eve, don’t make me say it. You’re making me out to be the bad guy in all of this.” Was he the bad guy? She didn’t know anymore.

  Eve swatted away his arm with more force this time. “Say it,” she ground out. Tears streamed down her face, smearing her eyeliner. Her make-up was hideous and her puffy cheeks pitiful, she was at her wits end.

  He let out a deep breath, gritting his teeth. “You have no choice Eve. You have to go to him.”

  *

  “You lost her?!” Beareman threw Jenson against the wall pining him by his lapels.

  “S-She disappeared. She knew we were on to her,” Jenson stuttered.

  “What about where she’s working? You find her there?”

  “She’s a temp. I tracked her to that big black building”-

  “Which one?”

  “R-R-Roman Industries,” Jenson was getting more agitated by the second. Beareman was going to kill him, he was. “P-P-Please, I tried to find her there b-b-but I don’t think she works there anymore.”

  “So you lost her,” her dropped Jenson.

  Jenson struggled to his feet, his hands bracing the wall behind him. If he ran he might be able to get a head start on Beareman. It didn’t matter. They knew his face all over town, he was done. His fingers scratched against the grain of the brick, his nails biting into the rock.

  He had no choice, he was going to run.

  Beareman turned back and threw the final punch.

  PART V

  The Betrayal

  64

  Roman woke with a start.

  The door banged incessantly downstairs.

  He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and took to the stairs, to the first door underneath, his office. Who would want to see him at this time of night?

  He had a fleeting hope, a momentary lapse. A spark. Was it her? He brought up the camera shot on his computer, it loomed right above the entryway outside the front door, a precautionary measure he’d taken years ago.

  The air left him in a whoosh.

  It was her. It really was, here, well after midnight, come at last. He’d waited so long, dwelt longer on her than he’d wanted to, wished he could rid himself of her and yet he craved her like a depraved addict.

  He opened the door.

  “Eve, what are you doing here? It’s three in the morning” he took in her appearance. Her hair was dishevelled, her long coat open. Some buttons put together haphazardly and out of order. Her face…wet and glistening and pink.

  Despite what he’d told her, despite how he’d pushed her away, it burned to see her like this. So broken. So dismayed.

  “Eve,” he put out his arms willing her into them.

  She didn’t go for it as she side stepped him and moved into his apartment.

  “If I say yes to your proposal will you do something for me?” her bottom lip quivered, she was frantic. He took her in his arms this time regardless if she resisted. She needed it and he needed her. He didn’t want to admit these last few weeks he’d missed her in and out of the office. She was his. Should be. Mine.

  She clung to him so desperately, her tears releasing into him. He held her tight. He got her on the lounge laying her against him like a limp doll. This wasn’t how he’d wanted her, she seemed to be so against her will and yet he’d seen the way her breath had caught when they’d locked on each other. She was so torn, over what?

  She sank against him and her eyes closed momentarily.

  He could feel h
er breathing soften and he really took in her appearance. Her delicate marron tendrils sprawled behind her, her china doll skin. She was more beautiful than he remembered and so frail and so in need of protection. He wanted to protect her.

  She was right. She did need a knight in shining armour and even if he couldn’t be that for her permanently maybe he could be her temporary knight, a fodder for the real thing, until he came along, whoever the lucky man would be. The very notion of another man touching her iced his veins.

  What could he do? He couldn’t love her, not truly.

  “Tell me what you need, anything,” his fingers trailed the curve of her face, her skin supple soft hinted of vanilla.

  He would do whatever he could to make the pain go away.

  Eve wiped away the tears with her sleeve and pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket. She smiled at the cloth as if reminiscing of a past time. She tucked it back out of sight. He didn’t ask what it was. His arm laced around her shoulder. She was cold against his skin. He drew her in further, until she lay across him.

  “I want you,” Eve said.

  “And it’s taken you this long to figure it out.” He should soften his tone, she was here after all. There was something so haunted and lacking in the way she’d come to him. It seemed she was here against her will and he couldn’t fathom what it was, nor understand it.

  “No. It’s taken me this long to straighten my priorities. You don’t want a relationship. Fine.” He sat up. Was she serious?

  “You can live with those circumstances?”

  “Maybe if”-

  “Maybe?” Roman blinked. “Eve, you have to be sure.”

  “I am sure.”

  “So why are you here in the middle of the night crying?”

  “Do you want me or not?” she snapped fresh tears breaking free.

  “Something’s happened.” It hurt him to admit he wanted her, not like this.

  Eve rose off his lap. “You think?”

  His jaw tightened. “Tell me.”

  She looked away, baling her fists, scrunching her sleeves. He wanted badly to comfort her, she was resistant, hiding from whatever it was taunting her.