I opened my phone and stared at my contacts, one ex to another, all archived, maybe I could text one of them, no…that'll show I'm too desperate.
Dating apps were a big no.
Male friends, I never liked keeping male friends unless we had a thing together.
Coworkers…. Too risky, I wasn't into the habit of that sort of relationship.
Hiring someone…..wait a min….I could probably hire someone right.
I quickly went to Google then typed in, "rent a boyfriend", all that came up were things that didn't relate to my current predicament in any way.
While I was busy thinking of what to do, a thought suddenly came to my mind. I remembered that my coworker Jane had said something about a place where single people could hook up with one another. I couldn't remember the name, but I knew it was a club of some sort.
So I decided to call Jane instead, I went to my contacts and dialed her number. At the second ring she picked up.
"Hey Jane, what's up?"
"Hey…. Grace, I'm good, how about you?" she asked.
"I'm in some deep shit Jane, I need your help"
"What's wrong?" Worry evident in her tone, I could hear shuffling from the other side.
"Umm….that club you talked about, the one where you said single people met and hooked up…. What's the name of the bar please" I asked.
"Uhh….I mean you never really cared about it, are you sure everything's alright?" She asked again.
"Well…I kinda told Mabel I had a boyfriend, I panicked Jane and her friends were all there, and Mari kept on jabbing at me, saying I couldn't have a boyfriend even if I tried so….I told them I had a boyfriend, now they want to see him at the event Claire's hosting tomorrow, I don't know what to do Jane" I said pleading.
"Shit…Gracie, I mean I don't know how they operate, even I heard about it from a friend, but you could go and check and see how it is, the name of the club is called Sexual Abduction… pretty kinky name, if you ask me, it's at the end up Mary weather street, you could probably find what you want there" Jane said.
"Thanks a lot Jane, talk later"
"Good luck Gracie and let me know how it goes ok"
"I will" I said and cut the call, I quickly slipped on my slacks and top and soon enough I was heading out of the house.
I got into my car and drove towards Mary weather street. It was a long drive by the time I arrived. The sun had set already and the sky slowly turned grey. I parked and walked towards the bar.
Once I reached the door, I showed the bouncer my ID and he let me through. Inside the club, everything was different and I immediately felt out of place with my slacks and top.
Now I was here, the question was, what the fuck was I going to do?
People stared at me strangely, I wouldn't blame them though, who wore actual clothes to a club.
I met a girl serving drinks and I quickly went up to her.
"Umm.. hey, could I maybe talk to you boss please" I said.
She looked at me as though I were crazy. Then she sighed and pointed towards a man across the room.
I went to him.
"Hi, the waitress said I should speak to you, I'm looking for your boss,"
"What do you need?" he asked.
"A friend said you run an agency where single people can meet . I actually need something else. I need someone to pretend to be my boyfriend. Just for tomorrow."
He finally looked at me, eyebrows raised.
"We don't run a dating agency. We help people hook up for sex. And we only have girls."
That was it.
I stood there for a moment then turned towards the exit. Mari was so going to laugh at me, I could feel tears prick at the back of my eyes.
"Let go of me you idiot"
The voice came from outside the club.
I turned and saw a young girl struggling against a group of men. She couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen. My feet moved before my brain caught up.
"She said let her go," I said. "do that right now or I'm calling the cops"
"This is none of your business lady, piss off" one of them shouted.
These men looked dangerous, I knew that but i couldn't back off since she looked at me as though I were her last option.
"I said let her go or I'm calling the cops" I raised my phone to show them how serious I was.
Instead of backing off, the man released her—and stepped toward me. She ran.
I tried to run too, but someone grabbed my wrist. I was cornered.
"I see you'd rather we play with you instead."
Disgust crawled over my skin.
"Please," I whispered. "You don't want to do this."
Then—
Click.
"Let her go or I'll empty each piece of bullet in your dumb heads" a voice said from behind me.
The grip of my wrist vanished. Hands went up.
"Shit dude, we were just joking around, it's not that serious" one of them said.
"You joke with 15 year olds too?" The man said coldly.
The girl peeked out from behind him.
"Sorry dude, we didn't know she was taken," another one said.
"She's my sister dumbass, scram" he said and they left, he came to me.
"Are you alright miss, I came as soon as my sister told me what was going on, my name's George, I'm a detective" he said smiling
"Yeah…my name's Grace and it was no issue, I'd have done the same for any kid, although I'm a bit disappointed, as to what a kid is doing at a place like this" I asked.
He scratched his neck "I'm working on a case at the moment, Kim here refused to stay home, she hid in my trunk and I didn't realize till we got here, I told her to stay by my side but she wandered off, I was talking to the club owner when I noticed she was gone so I began looking for her then she ran to me and told me what happened"
"I see, it's fine then, I was actually heading home"
"Let me at least buy you a drink as a thank you, I really don't know how else to thank you" he said
"No it's fine, I'm good actually" I said, going towards my car.
I really wasn't in the mood for drinks, I just wanted to go home and sleep then prepare to be chewed by…..wait a minute. Shit. He just asked me if there was anything he could do to thank me. I turned back and noticed he and his sister going back into the club, he seemed to be reprimanding her.
And so I ran towards them.
"Detective George" I called
He turned to look at me in surprise, the moment I came within talking distance.
"Is everything alright miss"
Shit. I had to do this.
I mean it was an insane idea but it could work, it had to.