Stalker Problems - Chapter 38 - Flint Ironside #2
“Alright,” said Chastity. “Then let’s figure out what his issue really is.”
“So you don’t think he’s a vampire?”
“I mean…there’s like an 80% chance it’s that. I double-checked and the garlic really shouldn’t have been cooked.”
I knew it. Vampire! “And that’s why he couldn’t come to work today. It was really sunny out.”
“Fair point. But we should probably rule out some other possibilities before we make that leap.”
“What possibilities?”
“Well…” Chastity pulled a notebook out of her purse. There were tons of notes scribbled on the first page. Most of them were paranormal creatures.
“Those don’t seem more reasonable than him being a vampire. He’s definitely not an amphibious larva of the Loch Ness monster.”
“Right.” Chastity flipped to a blank page and clicked a pen open. “Let’s start with what we know.”
“Okay. He’s a dirty stalker.”
Chastity nodded and wrote STALKER. And then she added BILLIONAIRE. “Are we still in agreement that the place he took you to at the Caldwell Hotel was just a random rental? Since none of his stuff was there and one of his LLCs owns a place at One57?”
“Yes. He was just being super secretive.” Like always.
“Or the Caldwell Hotel is just his apartment while he’s doing wishes for the Society or something.
” I was still hoping Frankie would text me and say I could move into the Caldwell Hotel.
“Either way, he definitely lives in One57. And he’s about 28 years old.
He owns Rhodes Venture Capital, which owns a number of businesses and shell companies.
Oh, and his Society alter-ego is Ryder Storm. ”
“Got it,” said Chastity when she was done writing all those bullet points. “Anything else?”
“He mentioned that he went to high school overseas.”
“Anything about his parents? Or siblings?”
“Uh… No. Not really. Come to think of it, he never really talks about himself that much. Even that first night when we talked for hours, he mostly just asked a ton of questions about me.”
Chastity wrote FULL OF SECRETS in big bold letters at the top of the page.
“And most importantly, he claims that he can’t be with me because he pissed off someone very dangerous. Really, what kind of billionaire can’t just pay someone off? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about that very question,” said Chastity.
“It actually reminds me of when Daddy lost everything. One minute we had it all - an NYC penthouse, a mansion in the Hamptons, drivers, maids. Paintings worth a million dollars. And then one day all of it was gone.” Chastity sniffled and looked longingly at the boxes of Odegaards stacked around my tiny apartment.
“Daddy never talks about it, but from what I’ve been able to piece together, he was overleveraged and a few investments started to go south.
So then he started making increasingly risky investments to cover those losses.
One thing led to another, and even though we were living like billionaires, our net worth was actually negative.
Eventually it all caught up to him when the IRS showed up to collect unpaid taxes. ”
“So you think the IRS is after Tanner?”
“Could be. Or it could be someone scary. Or both. Either way…he must not have the money to pay them. That’s probably why he hired BIMG. One final hail Mary to try to make his businesses profitable before it all comes crashing down.”
“Damn. You really think so? He seems so calm for someone drowning in debt.”
Chastity looked off into the distance. “Daddy never freaked out either before his big collapse. He was working late hours, yes, but that was nothing new.”
“I don’t know. It seems more likely that he’s a Russian oligarch who’s done something to piss off Putin. Those guys are billionaires, and they can still disappear.”
“That does fit with him growing up overseas,” agreed Chastity.
“But after that it kind of falls apart. He doesn’t have a Russian accent.
And he’s not exactly hiding. If the Russian government was after me I’d go off the grid in North Dakota or something rather than setting up shop as a venture capitalist in the middle of NYC.
Anyway…there’s only one way to learn all of a man’s secrets. ”
“Which is what?” I asked.
“Sex.”
“Well I should have seen that answer coming. So you think he’ll tell me everything if I seduce him?”
“That would be the easiest thing, yes.”
“But he keeps running away whenever we kiss!”
“Have you tried taking your top off and dropping to your knees? That always works for me.”
“I wish he’d let me do that. But I’m not sure I could handle the embarrassment of trying that and getting rejected.”
“Well then you’re lucky I have a backup plan.”
I reached for my wine bottle and was devastated to find that it was already empty. “I’m going to need about three more bottles of wine before I agree to let you seduce him.”
“Are you asking me to have a threesome with you and Tanner?” Chastity smiled so hard. “I’m honored!”
“What? No! Who do you think I am? Madison?”
Chastity laughed. “Ew. I don’t want to have a threesome with an actual lesbian. It’s only good if both girls are straight.”
“What?” I shook my head. “Please tell me that’s not really your backup plan.”
“Nope. But it’s actually not a bad idea as a last resort.
Single Girl Rule #28: All girls should try at least one threesome.
You’ll need to try it eventually. But we can talk about that later.
My backup plan is to find a way to talk to some more people in the Society.
Didn’t Frankie mention something about him being a total player? ”
“Yes.” My stomach did a little backflip at the thought of him with other women.
“Well, then one of the girls he’s banged must know his secrets.”
“You really think so?”
Chastity nodded. “Yup. Guys talk after sex. Everyone knows that. That’s why prostitutes make the best spies.”
“I hate this idea.”
“Well it’s possible we won’t have to talk to one of his former lovers. We could always seduce one of his friends. Surely his friends know his secrets.”
“But we don’t know any of his friends.”
“True. Well, then how about some other guy at the Society? They must all be close.”
“It’s an interesting plan, but it’ll never work. Tanner is always with me during my dates.”
“Except when you blew Dr. Lyons.”
I cringed. “What are the odds of him getting called away for work again during a wish?”
“He’s a billionaire with like 30 different businesses, so actually quite high. But I don’t think we have to worry about that. Because I’ve been asking around, and I’ve found out an interesting little morsel of information.”
“Do tell.”
Chastity leaned forward and whispered like she was telling me the greatest secret ever. “Apparently the Society isn’t all waxings and wishes. In fact, rumor has it that the wishes are just a screening process before you get access to the real thing - a sex club called Club Onyx.”
“It didn’t say anything about that in the contract.” I got out my phone to check the app to see if I’d missed something.
“Of course it didn’t. What kind of amateurs do you think they are?”
“Fair point. So where is this Club Onyx located? And how are we going to get in? And what kind of wild stuff goes on there? Is it even crazier than the wishes?!”
“Oh, I have no idea about any of that. I just found the name of it earlier today, so I haven’t had time to do much research.
But I’ll start digging. And we can get Madison and Liz to look into it too.
Maybe Madison can like…torture a dude until he tells her or something.
And if Club Onyx ever has a furry night, then it’s extremely likely that Liz will have all the details. ”
“Oh God. If Liz has been there for a furry night, then count me out.”
“Right. The Liz thing is mainly just to see if the place is a bunch of freaks that we should avoid at all costs.”
“Glad we’re on the same page.” If Club Onyx was too freaky for Chastity, then it would definitely be too freaky for me. “So what’s my role in all this? Try to slip away from Tanner during the next wish to ask some people about Club Onyx?”
“If you get the opportunity, yes. But mainly you should keep getting closer to Tanner. If you open up to him more, then maybe he’ll let something slip that we can use to figure out his secret. Asking him for the day off on Rosalie’s birthday would be a good place to start.”
Oh God. “Just being around Tanner makes me nervous. But the thought of telling him all about Rosalie makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out. There’s like a 100% chance that I’ll break down crying like a crazy person in the middle of the conversation.
Won’t it be easier if I just like…don’t show up for work that day and pretend like I got hit by a bus or something? ”
“No. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity to open up to him. Just ask him tomorrow and get it over with.”
“I hate my life.” Mainly because I knew she was right. I had to do it. Especially because most places had a policy that required two weeks’ notice for paid vacation.
“It won’t be as bad as you think. Guys act weird when girls get emotional. Maybe Tanner will panic and take his pants off right then and there to try to make you feel better.”
“Is that really a possibility?”
“Eh,” said Chastity. “It’s possible, but not likely. In my experience it only works like 33% of the time.”
What? How often did Chastity cry to seduce random men?
There was no time to think about that, though.
Because I was already rehearsing in my head how weird it was going to be when I started crying in Tanner’s office tomorrow.
I tried to focus on just the image in my head of him whipping his giant dick out to comfort me.