It was close to
All to suddenly, the cell phone on the nightstand next to the bed rang.
Daniel shot up in shock, his heart racing. As it slowed to a regular beat, he
picked the phone up, ready to yell at Darren for waking him up from his precious
sleep.
“Hello?” Daniel asked in a low, irritated voice.
“Hey, Dan. It’s me,” the harmonic, next to angelic voice of Alexia said
from the other end.
Daniel had no reply. He was simply unable to speak. His heart began to
race again at the though of Alexia calling him in the middle of the night to
talk. He hadn’t expected her to call him at all, let alone the same night he
gave her his number.
“Dan, you still there?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m here. Hi,” Daniel replied as he sat up in bed.
“Did I wake you? Because I sensed that you sounded a little angry when
you picked up,” Alexia said.
“No, you didn’t wake me,” he lied, trying to keep the conversation going
for as long as he could without falling asleep on Alexia.
“Okay, just making sure.” There was a pause before she continued. “Are
you doing anything tomorrow?”
“Well, I have Chance’s party tomorrow night, but tomorrow I’m free for
most of the day. Why?”
“I’m free tomorrow, and I was just wondering if you wanted to do anything.”
This is exactly the kind of thing Daniel was waiting to hear. He loved it when
a girl was persistent, especially this one.
“Yeah, I’d love to go out tomorrow,” Daniel said as he laid back down
on the bed sideways, parallel to his pillow. A wide smile penetrated his lips
as he thought of all the wonderful things that tomorrow would bring.
“That’s great. I can show you
“That would be nice. I’ve never really seen all of
“Well, you’re gonna love what I show you tomorrow. I’d better get going
though. I’m tired, and I’m probably keeping you up, too.”
“Get some sleep. You sound tired.”
“So do you. Good night.”
“Sweet dreams.”
Alexia smiled from the other end as she hung up the phone. This was the
first time that she had ever felt so strange and wonderful after a phone conversation
with one of her cons. It was also the first time she had almost felt bad for
what she was going to do to when the time was right.
Alexia shrugged off her bad feelings and said, “Its just money. Besides,
when I’m done with him, I’ll be able to move on.” With that, she climbed into
her own bed in her apartment just down the street from the hotel and fell into
a restful sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~
A loud pounding came from the front door, startling Daniel out of bed.
He stood up, rubbing his eyes open, and walked over to answer it. Rebecca stood
just outside wrapped in a towel with the straps of her sapphire blue bikini
showing over her shoulders. She had a childish grin on her face suggesting to
him there was something going down that day.
“Wake up, Danny. It’s almost
“Your point?” Daniel asked, annoyed that she had called him “Danny” again.
“Walter thought it would be better if you just slept in today. He didn’t
want me to wake you, but seeing that the morning’s almost over, I thought you
should be up and about,” she explained. “I’m going to the pool for a few hours.
Care to join me?”
Daniel shook his head. “Not today. I’m going out,” he told her.
“Daniel Jones is skipping a relaxing day at the pool to go out? That’s
one I haven’t heard before. And where exactly are you going?”
“Out,” he repeated, ready to shut the door in her face.
“Did she call you?” Rebecca immediately asked, knowing that this would
be the only reason for him to act so hostile.
“No!” Daniel shouted.
“Yes she did!” she replied. “Come on, tell me all about it.”
“No! Go to the pool and leave me alone,” he pleaded as he was shutting
the door to his room.
“Fine! But I’m gonna get all the details from you tonight!” Rebecca yelled
through the door once he had it closed.
Daniel rolled his eyes. This was the last time he’d ever tell Rebecca
anything that involved his personal life. He made his way into the bathroom
and began to get ready for the afternoon’s events. As he was finishing up, his
cell rang. He instinctively knew it was Alexia calling him and quickly picked
up.
“Hey,” Daniel said calmly trying hard not to make it sound like he had
been waiting for the call.
“Hey, Dan. Just thought I’d give you a call to tell you that I’ll be
in the hotel lobby in five minutes. Are you ready?” Alexia asked.
“Yeah, just finished up. I’m coming down now,” he replied as he frantically
searched his room for the key. ‘Shit,’ his mind cursed when he couldn’t find
it. Daniel made another sweep, this time even quicker than the first one. He
moved so fast around the room that he wasn’t about to take into account the
nightstand as he passed it. His left toe hit the hard wood and he yelped in
pain.
“Dan, are you okay?” Alexia asked hearing his painful cries.
“Ow, no, I stubbed my toe on the damn nightstand,” he said, hopping on
one foot. Daniel cursed at himself for being so stupid then sat on the bed to
assess the damage to his toe. It was throbbing red and turning a rainbow of
colors the more he looked at it.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be there soon. I’ll take care of you,” she
declared. “See ya in five minutes.” She hung up the phone leaving Daniel hanging.
He didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye.
The next few minutes went by painfully slow as Daniel waited for Alexia
to arrive. Besides the throbbing pain his toe was sending to his brain, he didn’t
have anything to wear that day. His suitcase was on the opposite side of the
room, nearly 50 feet away. Just thinking about trying to reach it in his state,
Daniel cringed. He didn’t need the added pain of hopping on his good foot to
get to his suitcase.
The door opened in a split second, startling Daniel and making him look
up to see who it was. To his surprise, Alexia stood in the doorway, followed
by Rebecca, still wrapped in her towel. Alexia walked up to Daniel, cautiously
sitting beside him on the bed as he cradled his left foot.
“Hey, Dan, I’m here. Do you wanna show me what happened so I can help
you?” she asked, her voice in a soothing, comforting tone. Alexia gently placed
her hand on his shoulder, setting off small lightning sparks that ran down his
back to his brain. There was something about her touch that made Daniel think
that Alexia was somehow a witch, casting a spell over him to keep him within
her grasp.
Slowly, he let go of his foot and said, “I guess this is going to cut
into our fun time.” Alexia laughed as she unhurriedly rolled up Daniel’s pant
leg to examine his toe.
“Dan, what were you thinking when you did this?” she asked.
“I wasn’t thinking about anything, except for finding my room key,” Daniel
replied hesitantly. He looked away from her to hide his stupidity.
Alexia tenderly began to massage his foot, the gentle motions of her
hands sending soothing pulses to his brain, comforting him as he lay in her
mercy, the pain slowly lessening. After a few intense minutes of silence, she
stopped and looked over at him.
“Does that feel better?” Alexia asked, standing up.
Daniel stood up and walked around, stumbling at first but gradually beginning
to feel a little better. His foot wasn’t in as much pain as it had been before.
“Yeah, that feels much better. How did you do that?” he said, marveling at how
her touch had so quickly taken away his pain.
“I have special powers,” she joked, letting out a little giggle as she
headed for the bathroom.
Until now, Rebecca had remained transparent. When Alexia had stepped
into the bathroom, she quickly took the opportunity to analyze what she had
just seen. “Daniel! You’re falling in love with her!” she loudly whispered to
him.
“Shut up, Rebecca. That’s almost impossible,” he retorted, slowly walking
to his suitcase.
“Oh, it is so very possible. I saw the way you acted when she was around
you. I’ve never seen you act that way for all the time that I’ve known you.
You’re falling head over heels in love with her and there’s no way you’re going
to come down from this rush,” Rebecca declared.
Daniel became enraged. He had never been tested before, and after what
Rebecca had just said, he was ready to kick her out of his room. He took a hold
of her arm and pushed her out the door. “Don’t talk to me for the rest of the
day. Just leave me alone. I don’t need the added stress of you predicting my
every move,” Daniel said before slamming the door in her face. He laid back
on it and let out a few long, slow breaths to calm himself down. This hadn’t
been the way he expected the day to begin. He didn’t like the fact that there
had already been two stressful incidents, and he surely didn’t want another
one. All Daniel wanted to do was spend a quiet day alone with a friend and walk
around
“Dan, what were you and Rebecca yelling about?” Alexia asked as she stepped
out of the bathroom, her hair softly swaying behind her. Daniel couldn’t help
but notice the subtle things about her as she came closer to him.
“Oh, nothing,” he replied, his mind telling him to move away from the
door. “I meant to ask you, how did you know to ask Rebecca about where my room
was?”
“I remembered her face when I walked into the lobby, so I walked up to
her and asked her. She said she would take me to your room because she wanted
to make sure you were okay. She was very nice to me,” she said, sitting down
on the bed as Daniel ruffled through his suitcase in search of some clothes.
He only nodded, and when he found the outfit he wanted to wear, he headed for
the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Alexia looked around a few moments, then quickly reached over to the
nightstand and grabbed Daniel’s wallet, which sat beside his cell phone. She
quickly checked to make sure how much cash he had with him. ‘Damn, all Australian
bills,’ she thought. She made another check, this time for credit cards. ‘Ah-ha!
A Visa, National Gold Card, Clear Choice MasterCard, and a Citibank Platinum
card are all in here. Nice. Don’t know how to manage your money, do you?’
A wide, devilish smile creased Alexia’s face as she thought how easy
it would be to embezzle a clean half million. ‘And to think, he’ll never even
know. All I need are these few numbers and a signature.’ The more Alexia thought
about her money, the more depressed she became. She hadn’t expected the sudden
rush of feelings that came over her when she saw a helpless Daniel lying in
bed with a sore toe, waiting for her to magically save him. He was too sweet
and innocent to be taken advantage of, and those eyes, those majestic green
eyes, took such a hold of her that she couldn’t move when he looked at her.
The bathroom door opened, its creaky hinges making a loud noise, and
knocked Alexia out of her thoughts. She quickly put Daniel’s wallet back onto
the nightstand beside the cell and stood up to face him. He stepped out wearing
a tight black turtleneck sweater, which clung to his upper body and showed off
his well-defined muscles. A pair of baggy khakis loosely hung around his legs
as he walked towards her.
‘Ohhhhhh, yum!’ Alexia’s mind screamed as her bright blue eyes scanned
his figure. She could already feel her legs begin to wobble just watching him
come closer. ‘No! You CANNOT fall for him. It’s not worth it!’ a voice counteracted
her from within. It was the part of her that had become detached from her feelings
and led her through some touch situations in the past. It was the only thing
that kept Alexia from becoming to emotionally involved with her cons. She knew
the voice was right. Falling for Daniel was an invitation to getting caught.
Alexia’s eyes lost their shine instantly, indicating to Daniel something
was going on in her mind. She was hiding something from him; he could feel it.
He was tempted to ask her what she was thinking, but declined, knowing that
somehow it would screw up their day. ‘As if it isn’t screwed up enough,’ Daniel
thought to himself.
“So, where are we going today?” Alexia asked aloud. Daniel looked up
at her and shrugged. “How about
“Sure, sounds fun,” he replied, but inside he hated the idea of being
in a crowded place where there was potential for people to notice him. Daniel
followed Alexia as she led the way out of the room and towards the elevator.
Once in the lobby, they exited the hotel to find Alexia’s limo waiting outside.
“Nice ride. You must be rich. What do you do for a living?” Daniel asked
as the driver opened the door.
The happy expression on Alexia’s face didn’t change as her panicked mind
began to race. This had never come up with other clients since most of the time
they were the ones providing the rides. Alexia cursed herself for being so stupid
and not figuring out what kind of a job she should have to match with her lifestyle.
“I’m a dot com millionaire,” was the first thing that popped into her
mind.
‘You dumb fuck. You don’t even know anything about the web. What the
hell possessed you pick that as a profession?’ her conscience asked her.
Alexia wanted to yell at it for bugging her at such a bad time, but ended
up stepping into the limo after Daniel. As she looked at him, the voice became
a whisper in the back of her mind, forgotten for the rest of the day. The driver
pulled away from the curb and it was off to