4 - The Stroke

~Bailey’s Point of View~

I cursed under my breath as I ran across campus, seriously late. Because I had to put all my classes in the same two days they were pretty much on top of each other. I literally had ten minutes to haul ass from one side of the property to the other.

And now … the office was calling me. But of course they were. They don’t give one fuck that it is my day off. They probably need help finding some obscure thing that they are absolutely convinced only I can locate. I once had an attorney tell me he wrote an extremely important note in a newspaper and demanded that I find it. He didn’t remember what newspaper or where he’d left it, where he’d been when he wrote it. That was the horseshit I tried to dig out from every other day.

“This is Bailey,” I said, answering it at the last possible second.

“Hey uhm there’s a guy here asking for you, I just kind of told him to hold on and came into the break room. Says his name is Trey,” Nadine said. 

She was an older lady who hated the job as much as I did. Financially she didn’t need to work but her husband had health issues, so by staying on part-time they allowed her to keep her health insurance. Therefore when I came along she went down to the least amount of hours possible and left me with the rest.

For the most part she was nice enough but she sure as hell didn’t go out of her way to help me. I didn’t trust her for a second.

“Oh, uhm…” I trailed off. 

He came back to the office … to see me? Trey fucking Comstock? I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the field I was cutting across. 

“You can give him my number,” I finally said, shutting my eyes and silently screaming.

“If you’re sure…” she said, in her mom voice.

“Yeah that’s fine but I’m about to walk into class so you could tell him I won’t get back to him right away,” I said, trying to sound professional.

Cause for all she knows it is work related, but surely she’s not that stupid. She has two daughters that are older than me.

Out of all the guys in Feisty, Trey was the most normal looking. His tats were all coverable by a shirt unlike Jude and Corey who had them all the way to their fingertips. He had deep, rich brown hair that wasn’t long and floppy like two of his bandmates and was often photographed taking his mom as his date to awards shows. 

So maybe last night I stalked the ends of the internet for information. Intel. I told myself if there was any chance in hell I could get to see him again and he did flirt with me, I’d be all over it. Now … he was getting my number. 

I had to play it cool, but not desperate. When my mom lost her main job a few months back it wrecked what little savings we had and she absolutely refused to ask uncle Greg for money. She picked up more hours at the department store she stocked at night and that held us thankfully.

But if we had another disaster or if anything happened to her car we’d be screwed. Her car payment was already bad enough. I just couldn’t live like this anymore. I’d read that Feisty as a whole and even individually made a ton of charitable contributions. There were lots of stories about women they’d slept with getting gifted cash. I needed that fucking cash.

Even two grand right now would be game changing for me, and mean nothing to him. For me it would be a safety net, it would mean maybe paying the rent ahead a month and relieving that stress. 

How could he possibly be interested in someone fifteen years younger than him … dressed like a homeless librarian and with braces? Ugh. If I could get some spare cash I’d have to find better second hand stores.

I began to sprint when I realized I’d been standing still talking to myself for a few minutes. I darted to the building that housed my chemistry class and slipped in the back of the auditorium. Thank god for mass lectures, if this was in a small classroom the professor would likely embarrass me by pointing out my tardiness.

I barely had my pen and paper out when I felt my phone vibrate. 

“Bailey? This is Trey. I was wondering if you were free on Friday night, I’d love to have dinner.”

My jaw fell and my eyes damn near bugged out of my head. I jerked my head up to look around, to make sure nobody was watching me. Like I was on a top secret mission. Could I really do this? Try to date him for the purposes of getting money out of him? Would he even fall for that?

I’d heard some girls in a class last year talk about being sugar babies but I mean … they were pretty girls. Girls with tits and an ass. I barely filled a damn B cup and had no real ass to speak of basically. Maybe I needed to do squats.

Over the next ten minutes I nearly typed out a hundred different responses. All were stupid, lame and no where near the calibur of a response that this required.

I really thought about writing, “Trey who” but I couldn’t play that stupid. I knew from years of people telling me I looked stupid that I probably did. But he saw something in me … something grabbed his interest. I couldn’t for the fucking life of me figure out what.

But I didn’t care. I had his interest, somehow … some way. I needed money desperately and he was the way to get it and fast. Maybe I’d even get decent sex, I thought as I decided on a response.

I stopped myself suddenly, changing my mind again. Did he know that I knew who he was? Or did he think I didn’t know? Maybe he liked that I didn’t know… Hmm. 

Wait wait wait. Hold up Bailey.

Is he hitting on you right now while married? So he’s NOT with Halsey? Oh my god, everyone knows now that they are married. What if he’s seen out with ME? If I’m seen out with Halsey fucking Ulmer’s husband?

My neck jerked up again as I stared around the room. I licked my lips thinking about my extensive internet stalking last night. Usually he was seen with blondes, always very young. Dumb. 

That’s it! Fake it Bailey. Swallow your pride and be a ditz!

I nodded to myself and let my fingers fly.

Me: Stranger danger but you seem nice enough. Where do you wanna go?

If he was a gentleman he’d offer to pick me up and I can’t have that. Although he could fetch me at the office. God what will I wear though?? I’d have to beg my sluttier neighbor Fiona for something.

Before I knew it the rest of my class flew by and I was walking to catch the bus. He hadn’t answered me. Damn it! Did I say the wrong thing? Should I add something else?

I nearly drove myself to the brink of insanity as I went through the motions of going home. Walk, bus, walk, bus, walk. Ugh.

After finally getting home just after dark and fixing some cereal I got my answer.

DING

Trey: Actually I was hoping to bring you to my place, if that’s okay.

I made a face, first being pissed he didn’t want to be seen publicly with me. Then realizing it might just fast track things. Get me into his bed sooner. But is that what I wanted? Was I ready to sleep with a stranger in the hopes he slipped me cash in the morning? 

I stuffed some Honeycombs in my mouth and shook my head. God knows I could use a proper fucking, since I’d never had one. Certainly getting the chance to shag a rockstar, money or not, should be high on my dream to-do list.

But he … is … married. Hello lest we forget that major fact?

He’s clearly not with her. Ugh fucking hell I hate this! 

Me: Kinda weird for a first date but I’m game! Just don’t be a serial killer kk? You can scoop me at the office at six.

I scoffed at myself in disgust, christ what am I ten? This can’t possibly be appealing to a grown man.