Heart of the Hunter (66 page)

“I was set up?”

“No, not at all,” Cassie said. “He just wanted you to feel comfortable, making your own decision about it. He didn’t want you to feel like he expected you to do this. He just wanted to make sure you had the
opportunity
.”

“Cassie, I thought this was just something you and I were doing together.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Cassie said. “There’s no way a receptionist could have done all this.”

“I see,” I said.

I was confused. I didn’t know if I should have been upset or not. I felt deceived, but a part of me was excited about how I looked, and I had agreed to it.

“So you’re not thinking of going to college?”

“I already went,” she said, a professional smile on her face.

I saw her differently now. She wasn’t the kind, innocent girl I’d thought she was. She was a trained professional, who’d tricked me into looking the way Rob wanted his date to look. It was a betrayal. She was making light of it, but the whole thing had been a total and complete deception.

“I guess I’ll have to be more careful what I believe when I’m around here,” I said.

“Let’s get you dressed, cutie,” Cassie said. “You can’t go out naked.”

I felt a slight shudder as she called me
cutie,
as if it wasn’t just a casual remark, but something designed to put me into a certain role.

“My clothes are right out there.”

“No they aren’t. I sent them down to your car already. Rob wanted you dressed in a certain way.”

“What?”

“Look, I’m just doing my job. If you don’t like it you can go home and wash it all off. It’s just makeup.”

I looked around the room. My clothes were gone. I sighed. It would be easier to let her dress me than to make a scene. If this was what Rob wanted for his date, he could have it. At least he might be able to get a hard one when he saw me this time.

“First, we have body sculpting underwear,” Cassie said.

I put on a bra that was padded in the cups with flesh colored latex. Cassie pulled the straps from behind me and it pushed up my breasts and squeezed them together, creating far more cleavage than I ordinarily had. There was actually a lot more padding in the cups than I’d realized, and when I saw the effect, it was almost as if I’d had a major boob job. It hurt a little, but there was no denying the effectiveness of the harness.

“What do you think?” Cassie said, taking a step back to admire her handiwork.

“Does it matter what I think?”

She smiled. “Now you’re getting it, cutie pie. Listen, if you want to get on with hotshots like Rob, you’re going to have to play their game. They like their girls ditzy, like bimbos. It’s not about what you think, or what you say, it’s about how you say it.”

“And how do they want me to speak?”

“The way I speak, sweetie,” she said, her voice taking on an exaggerated sweetness.

“I see.”

“You’ll get it.”

“What if I don’t want to get it?” I said.

“Listen, Lacey. I’m trying to be your friend here. This is just one night. Just a date. Nothing untoward is going to happen. You’re just going to have the chance to be one of the girls that you always see on the arms of these guys.”

“Have you been that girl?”

“Of course. You don’t get ahead in this world without playing the game.”

“Do you even have a daughter?” I said.

Cassie paused for a moment before answering. “That part was true,” she said. “And I quickly learned that if I was ever going to have the kind of guy I wanted, I’d have to up my game.”

“So you’re married now?”

“Not exactly,” she said. “But I live in a forty-grand a month condo with my daughter, I drive the most expensive Audi you can buy, and I’ve been to parties in fifteen countries so far this year.”

“Sounds very glamorous.”

“Come on, put on these panties.”

I slipped into an expensive pair of crotchless panties. Easy access to my pussy for Doctor Crawford, if he decided he wanted it. The dress that Cassie laid out for me looked like an ordinary black dress, but as I put it on, I realized it was carefully padded in certain locations that accentuated my ass and thighs. It squeezed in my waist, and then further expanded my already ample bosoms. It had the effect of making me look twenty pounds skinnier, while at the same time giving me bigger boobs and a bigger ass. If it wasn’t for the circumstances, I’d have been impressed.

The shoes, naturally, were a pair of black Louboutins with red soles and heels as high as was physically possible.

“You look perfect,” Cassie said, turning her back on me. “Knock him out. He’s addicted to chicks like this. Just play the role and he’ll be coming inside you all night. You look like you could use a good screw.”

Chapter 16

Lacey

R
OB STOPPED DEAD WHEN HE
saw me in the reception.

“Holy shit,” he said, obviously thrilled by what he saw. “Now you see what I was trying to say last night? You’re hot shit, Lacey.”

“Thank you,” I said, and without even realizing it, I let my voice go a little higher than normal.

Cassie was sitting in her position behind the desk, watching. Her eyebrows rose in approval at my high pitched tone.

“This is what I was talking about. How do you like it?”

I wanted to slap him. I wanted to call the fucking police and tell them I’d been tricked into this humiliating situation, but again, it was as if the outfit and the makeup changed my personality, along with my appearance.

“I love it, baby.”

“So much better,” he said, shaking his head. “So much better. You even sound better. You sound like a lady, Lacey. You know that? This really brings out your natural beauty so much more.”

I wanted to laugh. There was nothing
natural
about this beauty. But instead I just stood there as he walked toward me and took my arm.

“Thank you, darling,” I said, almost making myself throw up.

When had I allowed myself to become such a pushover?

He of course looked as dashing as he had the night before, dressed in an impeccable navy suit. His shirt was of such high quality cotton it almost felt like silk. He smelled of the finest aftershave.

As we walked past a big mirror by the elevator, I caught a glimpse of myself and it amazed me. I looked like one of those actresses on the red carpet outside an award ceremony. I looked fucking amazing.

I swallowed all my inhibitions, and decided to give this a fair shot. I’d try my best to see how this felt. I’d never allowed myself to be a complete, girly girl before. I’d never allowed the old, traditional stereotypes and gender roles to completely take over my will. Whatever I’d been doing so far in my life clearly wasn’t working. Maybe this was the woman I was meant to be.

Even before I’d gotten there, I’d decided to give Rob another chance. I’d forgive him the deception he’d used, and play along. It was just one evening after all.

“Maybe tonight we’ll actually be able to have some action,” he said, patting my ass as I stepped into the elevator.

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Cassie could still hear us. I knew he was trying to compliment how hot I looked, but there was something very humiliating about him saying I hadn’t been hot enough to fuck before the makeover. Especially in front of Cassie.

*

T
HAT DATE WAS ONE OF
the strangest experiences of my life. I felt like I was a different person, like I was locked inside of someone else’s body. I didn’t look like me, and I didn’t act like me either. It was surreal.

Rob had a town car with a driver pull around to the front of the building to meet us. I wondered vaguely how I’d ever be able to get home. Cassie said she’d taken my things down to my car, but I suddenly realized that
my things
included my car keys, my cell phone, and my wallet. If I’d felt vulnerable in this new outfit, looking like a new woman, I felt positively naked without my cell, my keys and my wallet. I was completely at Rob’s mercy without those things.

A shudder of apprehension came over me as I stepped into the car.

“Rob,” I said. “I need to get my things from my car.”

“Trust me,” he said, “you won’t need a thing, Lacey. Not the way you look tonight. I’ll be happy to pay your way.”

“I don’t even have my ID.”

“You don’t need it.”

I nodded. I know this sounds difficult to believe, but at that moment, I didn’t feel like I could really make a fuss. I felt somehow beholden to Rob. He’d spent all this money transforming me into his dream date, and I felt as if that made me owe him something, like I shouldn’t be rude.

The thing was, I heard all the time about terrible things happening to women when they allowed themselves to get into compromising situations. Wasn’t this exactly one of those situations? I mean, the girls who got in trouble usually looked exactly the way I did, with a sexy ass, huge breasts, perfect hair, and no fucking clue where they were going and who they were going with.

The car had a minibar in the back and Rob opened a bottle of champagne. He handed me a glass and then poured one for himself.

“Relax, Lacey,” he said, “you’re going to have a great night. You’re going to see how much fun a girl can have when she dresses and acts the way men actually like.”

I felt an intense urge to fling my champagne in Rob’s face. Who did he think he was, telling women how they should act and dress? There was more to women’s existence than pleasing men.

But yet again, all I did was smile and nod. I took a long drink of the champagne and held my glass out to him for a refill. He liked that. He smiled as he poured my drink, and then his hand came to rest on my thigh.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Rob was controlling everything, from where we were going and what we would do, to how I dressed, to the fact that I didn’t have my phone on me. I was completely under his control and I realized that this was how women too often allowed themselves to be.

I began to have terrible thoughts of where he might be taking me. I mean, what really could I have done if the driver took the freeway out of the city and brought us to some cabin in the woods? What if Rob had something really terrible planned for me? I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t fight him and the driver. I couldn’t outrun them in my two-thousand-dollar heels.

When the car pulled up outside one of the most exclusive nightclubs in the entire city, I almost cried in relief. And that’s saying a lot, because I don’t even like nightclubs. I find them intimidating. All the sexy women, the girls who are willing to go farther than me, work harder, to win their man. I’d always felt out of my depth at clubs like that, but this time I was just glad Rob hadn’t taken me into the woods to murder me.

*

T
HERE WAS A LONG LINE
waiting to get into the club, girls in expensive dresses that barely covered their asses and tits and left nothing to the imagination. The guys looked like they worked out at the gym seven days a week, muscles rippling under their bright shirts. I saw one guy with thick, strong arms who looked out of place in the line of jocks of bros and he reminded me intensely of Grant.

Grant
.

What I wouldn’t have done to see him right then and there. I’d have run to him and jumped into his arms. I’d have forgotten all my pride, all my dignity, and I’d have told him to take me home.

This scene with Rob wasn’t for me. It wasn’t the kind of girl I was. I already knew. What he wanted was a supermodel bimbo who would talk like he wanted, act like he wanted, and do what he wanted. That wasn’t me. He’d made me look the part, but there was no way he could change the person I was inside. Or was there?

One of the club security guards came over to our car and held the door as we climbed out. A photographer from a gossip website flashed his camera at me as I walked past the line, Rob to my left and the security guard to my right.

Every girl in the line looked on jealously as I was escorted right past them, into the club.

“What’s going on?” I said to Rob as we followed the guard.

“It’s always like this here,” he said. “They get so many celebrities that the photographer shoots anyone who looks like they might be news.”

“Does that mean we look like news?” I said, my jaw dropping.

“You look like news,” Rob said. “You look like the cover of a fashion magazine.”

Despite everything, the fear I’d felt in the car, the helplessness at not having my things, the betrayal at being tricked into dressing up like this, I smiled. And it was a genuine smile. I was excited at the prospect of being news, of being a celebrity, no matter how small.

“You like that, don’t you?” Rob said, his hand on my ass again, as he guided me through the crowd of people.

I nodded.

“Well, do exactly what I say, when I say it, and I’ll make you a star, sweetheart.”

I followed him past the bar and up some steps to the VIP area. An attendant opened a rope barrier for us and brought us to a large, round table where some guys who I assumed were Rob’s friends were sitting with beautiful women.

“Everyone, meet Lacey,” Rob said with a flourish. “Lacey, meet everyone.”

I smiled at the people around the table. The men all looked friendly enough. The women eyed me like I was their competition. There were magnums of champagne in ice buckets on the table and one of Rob’s friends, a guy with a short beard and goatee, poured me a glass. I sat next to him on the low, leather sofa. Rob sat next to me and put his arm around me like I was his trophy.

The friend with the goatee immediately began ignoring his date, a beautiful looking blonde half my age, and started hitting on me, right in front of Rob.

“So, what’s your deal, darling?”

“My deal?”

“You know? What are you into?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I had a wine buying business with Faith that I was incredibly proud of, but dressed the way I was, I felt as if I was playing a role. Owning a business didn’t feel like it would fit in that role.

“All sorts of things,” I said.

“Oh yeah, like threesomes?”

I turned to look at Rob, to see if he was listening. He’d heard everything the man said, and was just watching and smiling, as if it was completely normal.