When Perfect Meets Crazy

So I said the only thing I could say, “Fancy running into you here.”
Shock did not begin to cover the look on Masked Idiot’s face. He was astonished. Flabbergasted. Bewildered. Stupefied. Then, he was angry. Pissed.
Furious. Enraged.
I gulped. Olly, if I die because of this, I will haunt you till you’re forty.
“What,” he bit out through a jaw clenched so tight it had to hurt, “the hell are you doing here?”
Not only did he visibly want to kill me, it was also abundantly clear his less than friendly reaction wasn’t doing me any favors with the gun packing
bodyguards. The second one also proceeded to take his gun off safety. One small mistake, an ill-timed twitch or a muscle spasm in their trigger finger
and I’d be a goner. Deceased. Dead. Lost to this world. Starting another journey. In a deep eternal rest. On another plain.
“I was...” My voice came out tiny and croaky. Even to my ears, I sounded terrified. “I just... I happened to be in the neighborhood.”
“I know your routine.” His tone was icy sharp. “You did not,” his cold gaze met mine, “happen to be in the neighborhood.”
I shivered, my heart pounding a little harder. No other combination of words had ever sounded as menacing. And to think just a few days ago, he was
offering me comfort while I cried.
“I was. I... Uhm... I...” I gulped, discreetly wiping my sweaty palms on my skirt. Think, Avy! “I had an emergency meeting.” I latched on to the excuse,
then pinned on the lie, “Around here.”
“At the Calthorpe? You had a meeting here?” Cynicism coated his tone.
I shivered and tried not to dwell on how the child criminal was now looking from me to him and back again with a speculative glint. Nothing to see
here.
“No, I... no... not the Calthorpe exactly. Just... just in the area?”
Dear Lord, pretty pretty please help me. Not once since we’ve had our arrangement had I given as much thought and importance to Masked Idiot’s
opinion as I did at the moment. Those times I didn’t have a gun pointed at me, loaded and ready to be fired.
“You know, I was actually just leaving. I’m gonna go so... you know, don’t...” I swallowed hard. “Don’t shoot me.”
Never had I sounded more imploring, more solicitous. If any of my classmates heard that, chances were, they’d do a double take just to be sure it
was me. I was Avy Johnson. Avy Johnson demanded, threatened, issued ultimatums and on good days, reasoned with her opponents. She did not
implore, cajole or beg. Desperate times...

“You know,” the girl spoke up, a dazzling smile on her face. “She could work. She’ll just take Tammy’s place in the auction. No harm done.”
She who? She me? No harm done? No harm to who? Was that a joke? Did she think I hadn’t heard what they were talking about? Human trafficking
and whatnot?
Out loud however, I went with, “You know, I can’t. My father is waiting for me. If I’m not home soon, he’ll send a cop after me to find out why. He’s the
sheriff.”
Yes, I was blatantly lying and name dropping but if being crass saved my life, I was willing to run, fly, soar, teleport even, with it.
“No, he’s not,” Masked Idiot countered flatly, barely flickering a glance in my direction.
Fuck. Of course he’d know it was a lie. He had been stalking me for weeks. I should’ve known that he’d have figured out by now that my parents were
scarcely involved in my life. Shit. Immediately, I began to prepare a fake reason why my dad absolutely urgently needed me today.
“She won’t work, Ellie.” He faced to the cute girl with the heart of a demon, Ellie.
Even her name was misleading. How could she look so cute and angelic yet talk about selling me off so casually like I was meat? I had really
underestimated Masked Idiot. I pegged him for a fool and decided he wasn’t worth the trouble because the signs weren’t obvious. I should’ve known
better. The best criminals were those who didn’t seem like good criminals. He was with a human trafficker for heaven’s sake and I had pegged him
down as a rich kid going through a phase.
From the look of things, I was going to pay dearly for my mistake.
“Well, the only other option is ‘Chel.” The girl shrugged her tiny satin covered shoulders. “Do we really want to put this on her? He’s here, you know?
He’ll buy her to prove a point.”
Yes! Put this on her. Let’s sacrifice ‘Chel instead, whoever she is. I vote ‘Chel.
It registered in a not-so-distant part of my mind that the bodyguards were slowly putting their guns away -thank sweet baby Jesus- and that I was
willing to sacrifice an unknown girl to save my ass. I didn’t want to think about the latter but in my defence, it was a me-or-her situation. Saving us
both wasn’t on the table and I couldn’t exactly choose a stranger over myself. That would be stupid, the idiotic kind of self-sacrificing stunt actors
pulled in movies. I’m not a hero. Judge me all you want.
I immediately started inching away to freedom. No thank you, I was not going to be sold to a middle aged man with a pot-belly and foul breath. The
fact that Masked Idiot and Ellie were talking over me was most likely what led the paid muscles to conclude I wasn’t a threat. Never mind that Masked
Idiot was a trained fighter well over six feet while I barely cleared five ft. six and was dressed like a paper pusher. It was like comparing a manicured
Chihuahua to a Rottweiler and deciding the Chihuahua was a threat.

“You’re right. We can’t put ‘Chel in that situation. Avy will have to work,” Masked Idiot reluctantly conceded, nodding his head slowly.
They both turned to face me. I figured it was time to make a run for it. So I spun on my heel and ran as fast as my shaky legs could take me. Bye.
Sayonara. Au revoir. Adios.
Well, I tried to.

Masked Idiot must’ve read my intentions on my face or maybe it was just the standard reaction to being sold off because he reacted even faster than
I anticipated. His hand shot out and clamped on my arm, holding me in place before I could even take the second step.
“Don’t,” was all he said.
I gulped. Doomed. I was irrevocably, undeniably doomed.
“Go inside, Ellie. Tell them she’s on her way. Get clothes in her size and everything she will need. We’ll be right there,” he ordered.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Did I mention shit? Because, shit! I was going to be sold off. Auctioned away like an inanimate object to live the rest of my life in
misery. I knew how these things turned out. I’d heard stories, watched movies.
A chill invaded my limbs.
Ellie barely spared me a glance, nodding her understanding to Masked Idiot before she turned on her heel and walked into the swanky hotel, her
bodyguards trailing in behind her.
“I know you followed me,” was his first statement as soon as Ellie was out of earshot.
My brain blanked out for a full second, ‘he knows’ flashing in bright neon letters in my head.
“What?” I laughed. It came out pitchy and mangled. “I would... No. I... I didn’t. I... I would never.”
Hearing myself stutter, I cringed. It was hard to believe that was even me. I used to consider being a great liar one of my talents.
“You’re usually a better liar,” was his reply.
I usually don’t have my life on the line. By the way, did he read a book about how to make ambiguous statements sound threatening because he was
excelling at that.
“You followed me. Stalked me. Do you still expect me to believe you’re just an innocent high school senior?”

He was truly nailing the threatening in an ambiguous way thingy. I was quaking in my boots. Me, Avyanna Johnson. The girl who didn’t even scream
when a criminal broke into her room. Calm, rational, level headed me was quaking. It made me angry. Irritated. Pissed. He had no right to talk about
not being what one seemed to be. He had more colors than a chameleon. First, he was an underground fighter. Then, he was a breaking-and-
entering criminal. Then, a stalker. Later on, he was an educationally challenged rich kid. And now, he was a human trafficker. He’d had more
personality changes than me on my period.
“You know too much about me. Wanting to level the playing field doesn’t make me a sketchy person.” I gritted.
“And you thought what? Stalking a criminal was a smart decision?” His tone radiated condescension and bemused disapproval. Like how I always
imagined the wolf when he finally caught up to little red riding hood.
I squirmed.
“Uhm..., well... Now, I know better so... I’m just gonna... I’m gonna go... now... bye.”
“You heard Ellie. You can’t go.” He thinned the space between us. I gulped.
“We need you,” he added.
I could barely hear him over my pounding heart. Danger, danger, danger, it beat in staccato. My head turned sideways, my eyes scanning the few
passers-by on the street, none of whom seemed the least bit interested in Masked Idiot and me. That and they were too far to be of any help.
So I fell back on the one weapon women have used since time immemorial.
“I will scream,” I announced. “If you don’t let me go, I will scream.”
“What’s the harm? Why are you being so dramatic?” he inquired, irritation coloring his features.
“I’m being dramatic?” If my life wasn’t on the line, I might have laughed. He really was unbelievable. He wanted to sell me off and I was being
dramatic? “If that’s your way of trying to convince me, a, you’re failing drastically. And b, there was never a chance. I know what you’re really trying to
do.”
“Oh come on.” He rolled his eyes exasperatedly. “It’s just an auction. For charity. Aren’t you supposed to be the perfect girl for this kind of stuff, with
your straight A’s and volunteer work? It should be right up your alley.”
“Charity?” I scoffed. “That’s rich. What charity? The charity of masked fighting criminals? No, thank you. I’m not going to be sold and carted out of the
country for that. Or any reason whatsoever for that matter.”

The bodyguards and more importantly, their guns had gone with Ellie the devil. With them gone, it was just Masked Idiot. There wasn’t even a
conscious decision to lower my guard. It just happened.
“The charity is for autistic kids. I’m sorry, what are you talking about?” Confusion marred his face. “Are you going out of the country?”
“Autistic kids, huh? Nice cover. I heard you and little Miss Heart-of-a-demon. I know what--” I bit back acidly, dropping off abruptly when he shoved an
embossed invitation in my face. An invitation to a charity ball. For autism.
Then he went ahead to point out the banner for the event standing in the lobby, just behind the double doors.
What...? Color me confused.
“But...” I frowned, turning the invitation over as though I’d find some hidden message on the back. “But... you said you were going to sell me. You...
You clearly said that.”
“Yes, auction a dance. From you. They do that even at park fairs,” he paused, eyeing me skeptically. “Have you really never heard of such? It’s a
popular concept.”
My frown deepened, furrows appearing between my eyebrows.
“But the little girl is a criminal.” It was weak but it was my only argument. “She had armed muscle with her.”
I was no longer following. What exactly was happening? I was lost.

“Yeah, her bodyguards.” He was looking at me like I wasn’t quite alright in the head. “Hang on, you thought we were going to sell you? Like human
trafficking?”
He frowned. His tone made it clear he was not a fan of the thought.
“Yes?”
“In broad daylight?”
The more he said, the dumber I felt. I nodded in shame.
“Why would you even think that at all?” he questioned.
“I don’t know! What was I supposed to think?” I threw my hands up in frustration. “You guys were talking all weird and there were body guards and...
they were going to shoot me. I didn’t... It... I don’t know. It made sense.”

If I wasn’t so wound up, I might’ve laughed. Never had I been happier to be wrong.
“So I can walk away from here? Nothing’s going to happen?” I clarified.
“Duh.”
I deserved that.
“But wait,” I held up a finger, “how did you get invited then?” I had been put through enough of an emotional rollercoaster. I might as well get all the
information I could to make it worthwhile.
“They want money. My family has money.”
Family of criminals? Or just rich kid family?
I let out a long weary sigh. I didn’t have the bandwidth for that is-he-isn’t-he slide.
“Okay, let me just get one thing straight here. Are you a rich kid gone stupid or are you from a criminal syndicate family?”
He scowled.
“My family members aren’t criminals if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Then why do you have so much money?” I pressed.
“We do this and that.”
“What exactly is ‘this and that’?”
“Things. We dabble.”
“Things like...?”
“Just stuff.”
“You’re just brimming with information, aren’t you?” I gritted through a forced smile.
He smiled back. Asshole.

Mentally, I weighed the pros versus the cons as I carefully scanned the invitation again. I knew the organization the donation was supposedly going
to. My mom’s firm did some legal work for them at the beginning of the year so the ball couldn’t entirely be a lie. I could also call Parker with specific
instructions to come check it out if anything seemed fishy. Leaving now would mean I got the scare of my life for absolutely nothing in return. I
couldn’t do that. It was a matter of pride. I had to attend the ball.
No, I didn’t not care about my life. I had been through the mother of all wringers and the main thing I got out of the experience was that I could not
afford to have a criminal, no matter how seemingly harmless, in my life who knew everything about me while I had nothing to hold against them.
Nothing to insure my safety. My family’s safety. I needed reassurance in the form of blackmail material that I would always be safe and I wasn’t going
to get it by seeing him only on his terms, when he intruded into my life. He wasn’t going to just let information like that slip out. I needed to go to his
life. To his people. He might not slip up but chances were someone else would.
“I’ll do it.”
“The auction?” Surprise coloured his tone.
I’m doing it for me, buddy. For my own interests.
“Yes,” I affirmed, mentally praying I wouldn’t end up regretting my decision. “But before I step into that hotel, I’m going to make a call to my father. The
sheriff.”
I was only partly lying. I would call a cop, just not my father. He would ask too many questions. Or not even pick up at all. I’d call Deputy Parker.
“If I don’t check in with him, every thirty minutes, he’ll send a unit after me so don’t try anything funny.”
Masked Idiot shrugged nonchalantly. He was either really good at faking or he truly didn’t care which would mean the ball, was as I suspected, not a
front for illegal human trafficking. I cringed inwardly at the memory of how far my mind had jumped.
“And I have to be home latest, eleven.”
“I don’t plan on staying long either. I’m not a fan of these things. Now let’s go.”
Just as a shiny white limo was pulling up, he dragged me into the building, pulling me all the way to the elevators where we stood in oppressive
silence as we began our ascent.
“You really thought Ellie and I were going to traffick you?” he asked.
Heat flamed my cheeks. The idea seemed so stupid and farfetched now.

“I’ll admit, I let my imagination get ahead of me but in my defense, you’re a criminal and your guards were going to shoot me. How could I not jump to
such conclusions with that as my launch pad?”
“They’re bodyguards. That’s what they do. They don’t know you and you act suspicious, they react.”
“And you guys were also talking cryptically about selling girls. What was I supposed to think?”
“I don’t know, that we meant a dance auction?” he snapped caustically.
I rolled my eyes.
“I’ll take it under advisement.”