Page 34 of Bound By Mistake
All three of us whip around to stare at Tina, and whatever expression each of us sports has her raising her eyebrows. “Well,ah, I’ll just leave that with you then,” she says, backing out of the door when none of us answer immediately.
“Wait! Won’t her number be stored on the switchboard?” Erik demands, getting himself together faster than me and Cain.
Tina worries her lip with her teeth, probably because the atmosphere in the room has just turned electric. “I’m sorry, Sir,” she addresses him. “It may be possible if I can pinpoint the time and filter out any other numbers, but I can’t promise.”
“Thank you, Tina. We’d appreciate it if you could check into that for us, but don’t worry if it looks too difficult.” I tell her with a conciliatory smile, knowing it’ll be a ball ache she’d probably rather avoid.
As soon as she leaves the room, I fish my phone out of my pocket, pull up the number for Primal Fantasies and put the call on speakerphone. It’s time to pin down our quarry and see what the future holds with the delightful Sierra.
“Ah, Gretchen, this is Gray Carter. I’m ringing about our fantasy scenario last weekend,” I say, as soon as I’m put through to our personal liaison who set everything up for us.
“M-Mr. Carter. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened, but you can rest assured we’re actively dealing with it,” she stammers, her voice thready. I throw a look at Cain and Erik, who look equally baffled. Did Sierra make a complaint or something? Is that why she called?
“Gretchen…”
She cuts me off, rushing her words, but also far more composed, like she’s already in troubleshooting mode. “We’ll give you a full refund, of course. And I can absolutely guarantee the young lady who was supposed to meet you has already been struck off of our books.”
“What?”
“We don’t tolerate no-shows like this, Mr. Carter. It’s unprofessional and puts the entire company in a bad light. Ican only apologize that we didn’t know sooner and couldn’t contact you before you left for the cabin. I know you must be disappointed, and so are we, but if you’d be prepared to give Primal Fantasies another chance, the executive manager has authorized me to offer you another fantasy pairing free of charge, for your trouble.”
For a moment, I can’t fully comprehend what Gretchen is saying, and there is a long, uncomfortable silence as Cain, Erik and I stare dumbly at each other while the words sink in. One our liaison incorrectly interprets as annoyance, rather than shock.
“I have Mr. Smith and Mr. Evans with me,” I finally tell her when I find my voice. “You’re on speaker, so perhaps you could explain exactly what happened.”
Cos I’m not gonna lie, I really need this woman to tell us why she’s talking like the weekend we just experienced was a bust after the three of us just lived it.
“Juliet, the woman involved, got cold feet,” Gretchen explains as my heart begins to beat faster and faster. “I’d like to reassure you that it most certainly wasn’t a scam. Juliet didn’t take the money and run. In fact, she turned up at the camp site, signed in, and started the initial part of her chase fantasy. Unfortunately, despite our very thorough vetting, that served to freak her out and she withdrew, but as you know, the cell service is non-existent up there, so it was a while before the information filtered back to us, and then we weren’t able to establish a connection to let you know what was happening.”
I stare, dumbstruck, at my two closest friends. Their faces are as pale as I expect mine is, since it feels like all the blood has drained from it.
Because if Juliet was our rendezvous, then who the hell is Sierra and where had she come from?
Chapter
Twenty-Two
CAIN
“Jesus fucking Christ! This has got to be the master of all clusterfucks.”
I fling myself back in my seat and fist my fingers in my hair, pulling tight and hoping the pain will distract me from the horror story unfolding before us, as Gray finishes the call to Primal Fantasies, pressing to disconnect with visibly shaking fingers
It doesn’t.
Nothing will.
What the fuck have we done?
“Goddammit!” Erik, normally the most chilled of all of us, roars, grabbing his coffee mug and launching it at the wall so it explodes in a spray of splatter and shards. “This means we basically abducted and assaulted a complete stranger,” he yells, ending on a wheeze, his tone ripe with a combination of disbelief and self-loathing. I feel bile bubbling in my gut and scrambling up my throat as he voices what none of us can deny.
Just the thought is abhorrent.
“It was an accident,” Gray replies, his eyes wide and voice thin, like he’s trying to convince himself more than anyone else. Although there’s no excuse, I can empathize, because the ugly alternative is that we’ve done something so dreadful none of us can put it into words.
I rub my hands over my face, wishing I had something a whole lot stronger than coffee to drink, right now. “Christ, no wonder she seemed so authentic.” The words leave my mouth as a whisper, like they don’t want their reality to be laid bare, out in the open for all to hear.
“Fuuuuck!” Gray stares at the ceiling as if it will give him answers, but we all know there are none.
