We arrived near the location of the party, an abandoned warehouse down by the docks. It was a rough neighborhood, so I was armed with pepper spray. We took my car and parked it several blocks away as we went over everything one last time.
“Okay, you guys have the code and we watched the video of Cole online a thousand times, so hopefully you’ll be able to recognize him,” I said.
“I’m going to walk up to him and tell him he’s a bad boy and needs to be punished,” Jess said.
“I’ll stay near you the whole time,” Mark assured her.
“I get him to write ‘I’ve been a bad little boy because’ and then tell him to list the reasons.”
“If he won’t do it you tell him you’ll spank him with your ruler,” I added.
“We get the sample and we get the hell out of Dodge,” Mark finished.
“We’re here if you need us and we can come in to help you if necessary,” Cam offered.
“We’ll try to stay in touch by phone as much as possible,” Jess said.
“Okay, team. I think it’s go time. I just want to thank you all for doing this.”
“Yeah, right, Lucy,” Mark replied. “When Ricky finds out he’s probably going to have my ass.”
“I’ll tell him I made you do it. Good luck.” He sighed and rolled his eyes at me, then he and Jess got out of the car and started walking in the direction of the warehouse as Cam and I sat nervously waiting. Ten minutes later I had a call from Jess.
“We’re in. There was no problem with the doorman and the code worked fine. Everyone is standing around mingling right now and we think we’ve spotted Cole. Oops, gotta go.”
“They’re in and they’re mingling. They’ve spotted him.” We sat waiting for a couple of minutes quietly and then Cam spoke up in a slightly hesitant voice.
“So Gabrielle, you and Braden are pretty serious now, huh?
“Yeah, we are. We’re very happy together and very compatible.”
“That’s good. I want you to be happy. I’m really sorry that I hurt you back in college.”
“I know you are. It wasn’t all your fault though. I had a big crush on you. I should have told you that before we… beforehand. I should also have told you that I was a virgin.”
“Yeah, that was the thing that freaked me out the most. I did really feel something for you — more than friendship — but you were so nice and so sweet. I had just messed up my relationship with Braden and I was pretty down on myself at the time. I didn’t think I deserved somebody like you and then when I realized what you had just given me, I didn’t feel worthy, you know?”
“So you’re saying it wasn’t just a casual hook up to you either?”
“No, it wasn’t but I couldn’t really deal with my feelings at the time. When you didn’t want to see me anymore at all I was really depressed. I realized that I f**ked up royally, yet again, and I didn’t want to make it worse, so I just left you alone.”
“Cam. I never knew. I figured you didn’t want to have to deal with me pining for you and I was just so embarrassed.”
“I wasn’t a really great communicator.”
“I know it’s none of my business but why did you hook up with Marla when she was dating Braden?”
“Braden was sick of her and on the verge of breaking up with her. She knew that and she figured if she made him jealous it might make a difference. I was out drinking with a bunch of my friends one night and Marla started hitting on me. I knew Braden didn’t have any feelings for her and I knew she was just using me. I was pretty drunk and she convinced me to go off into a dark corner with her while she applied her oral skills. I felt really shitty about it as soon as I sobered up the next day but word had already gotten back to Braden. He and I had an argument. He said he could care less who Marla blew but he was mad that I had betrayed him and made him look stupid. I got defensive. I was immature. Whatever. The point is, it wrecked our friendship.”
“It seems like you’re getting along pretty well now.”
“And I want to keep it that way. He’s my cousin and he and I were good friends once. I’m still attracted to you, Gabrielle, but I really do want you to be happy and I want Braden to be happy too.”
“You’ll meet somebody, Cam. You’re a great guy.”
“To tell you the truth, I’ve enjoyed spending time with Jess and I do find her very attractive too. I think maybe I should explore that a little, if she were interested that is.”
“I think she would be if she knew that you were interested in her. Make sure you communicate.” “I’m glad that I’ve worked things out with you and Braden. That makes me feel a lot better.” Just then a call came in.
“We got it!” Jess whispered excitedly.
“You got it?” I almost couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to get it out of here. They’re careful about what you carry in and out. I had to hide the phone and we’ve been getting some weird looks.”
“You’ve been getting weird looks? At a kinky party?”
“Because we’re not, you know, engaging.”
“Oh.”
“Look, we may actually need to sneak out of here. Meet us at the back of the building in case we need help. We may have to come out a window and I’m not sure what’s back there.”
“Shit!”
“Don’t worry. Just meet us.”
“Okay. We’re on our way.”
“They may have to come out a back window. They want us to meet them at the back of the building.”
“Okay, make sure you bring the pepper spray. This isn’t exactly the Upper East Side.” We walked toward the warehouse, circled wide to avoid the bouncers in the front, and crept as quietly as we could to the rear of the building, crouching behind some boxes. I looked up and saw a window open. In the next minute Mark jumped out and Jess started through. Suddenly, I heard a voice shouting.
“Hey! What’s going on?”
I stood up and called out, “We’re over here!” Mark caught Jess as she dropped to the ground and held her hand as the two of them bolted in our direction. I heard more voices at the front of the building and it sounded like they were directing someone to come after us. We ran like hell, no easy feat in stilettos, incidentally. A group of burly bouncer-like guys swarmed around to the back of the building as we took off for the spot where we had left the car. Unfortunately when we got there, the spot was empty. Have I mentioned that this was a bad neighborhood?