The Rise of Rachel Price T-Girl Pt. 16

For as far back as she could remember, Rachel felt she had been looking for the opportunity to make sure Levant understood that this was all going to end. While she waited, no time offered itself as being better than another. As time ran out, it would get hard to end things as they rightly needed to be.

"Cinnamon," Levant began after a long silence.

It had been a week of apologies. Charlie promised never to do a stunt like that again. Eventually, an invitation from Levant arrived. He claimed didn't know anything of what had happened.

Levant looked over from the steering wheel. They were driving up the coast highway to a small village which Levant promised had the best fish restaurant on the west coast of California. Rachel had been mostly quiet as the city dissolved into freeway. They had driven under the spectacle of the Golden Gate Bridge, and Levant had said how his great-grandfather had worked on it. Now, the Porsche slipped through the early evening headlights to full beam as they followed the north coast road. The moon was out on one side, and its silver light twinkled on the Pacific beyond. Half a mile behind, there was a large Tesla Cybertruck carrying two solemn bodyguards traveling at a respectful distance.

Levant was driving, and the lights from the dashboard provided the only illumination to his dashing face.

"I was thinking. You could quit your job at that restaurant and switch to the restaurant at the Ambassador Hotel. It's around the corner from the Thornbury. No one at the Ambassador will know you. That way, you can say you're getting paid more, and it will be easy to drop work when I need you. I thought you could also say you're working late shifts and you could have a room to sleep in. You could kit it out with the latest gear - huge screen, PlayStation with VR, Xbox, you name it," Levant said.

Rachel didn't say anything, just leaned against the passenger window. The engine roared with pure power as the sports car accelerated towards their destination.

"You OK, Cinnamon?" Levant asked. "You look troubled. You're quiet. It's not like you."

Rachel found herself looking at her own red lips in the mirror of the Porsche's passenger side window.

"I'm wondering," Rachel said, her nerves nesting inside her, aching.

"What about? Dinner?" Levant asked, confused.

"No, I saw this photo on Twitter. Some fashionistas did it. A picture of me in that halter neck top. The gold band you bought. Anyway, what got me was a picture of me in the online section of a newspaper. It had me labeled as 'Levant's young gold digger girlfriend, Rachel Price.'"

"That offends you? Shall I make it stop? I'll call Procter and Procter when we stop. There will be a retraction down in an hour," Levant said tentatively, reaching for the dashboard button which would set up a phone call.

"It's not that. People are linking us. I'm worried about your reputation. What if someone finds out? We can't go on forever. If they think we are an item, there will be more exposure, more photos. People will want to know more about me. Think of what will happen to your company's stock price if they find out," Rachel said anxiously.

"I'll tell them it was fake news, a put-up job by some short sellers. No biggie," Levant said. He was mostly concentrating on the winding road. A few feet to the left and they would go over the precipice. Far below the moon light sea stretched out to a raw infinity of the horizon.

"Then what? Dump me? If you want me around... You can't keep this a secret forever," Rachel said, pointing to her crotch. "It's going to come out sooner or later. Let's not be in denial about it."

Levant smiled but didn't take his gaze off the serpentine road. "I'm not in denial. I'm taking each day as it comes. Living in the moment."

Rachel tensed up, and as she did, she felt her cock breaking free of the surgical tape, and a testicle starting to drop down.

Rachel continued, "But what's the long-term future? I mean, you're not gay, and I'm not gay. We're never going to... you know, do it? You know that, right? We could be, what's the word, platonic. That's okay. It might go on for a year or two, but I can't go on pretending to be your girlfriend for the rest of my life. I want to go back to being normal. I need to go to university, pick things up. Are you hearing what I'm saying?"

"U-huh" Levant said. It was that tone he had when talking on the phone, and you knew he was looking at his computer.

"Look, stop the car," Rachel said.

"What?"

"You heard me, STOP THE GODDAMN CAR," Rachel said.

Levant pulled into a space at the edge of the cliff. There was a low barrier to stop cars from going through some sea grass and over the edge. The car pulled over onto a gravel space where cars had gone over the limit of the road and desperately tried to swerve back.

Rachel looked over.

"Look, I like you. I like being your friend, but even if I wanted to be with you long-term, HOW? How do you think I could play being a society wife? That's not me. I like playing video games and stuff. Don't you want a family? Don't you want kids and a normal life?"

Levant, looking earnestly, looked into Rachel's eyes with vivid intensity. "I'd give it all up for you."

Rachel could see the sincerity in his gaze. He meant it too much.

Rachel got out of the car. The warmth was quickly stripped away by the staunch coastal wind blowing from the sea on her bare skin. The new long silver dress showed more bearskin. Levant got out of the car too, and they looked at each other over the car's rooftop.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? Think about it Douglas. People have expectations for those married to billionaires. You need them to respect you for you to do what you do. If people found out, you could be the laughing stock."

"Hey, what do you mean, even if I wanted to be with you long term?" Levant said.

"We are biologically the wrong match," Rachel said. "Nothing can change that. It's the stone to which we are chained when we are born. You're a good man, Douglas, but I'm just not the woman you need or deserve. I think it's best if we stop while we're ahead, while you still have your reputation and dignity. I don't want anything, you can keep all the stuff."

Rachel felt everything slipping through her fingers like sand. She wanted to break up with Levant, but in a nice way. He had been kind, understanding, and generous. She didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"So, where is this going? Do you want more money?" Levant said. "What if I said I would give you a million dollars to be Rachel full-time? A million dollars, and we could be together?"

"What? It's not about the money. Just to show you, you can stop paying me. I'll spend the rest of the time together for free."

Levant moved forward. "Like a real girlfriend?"

Yeah, but at the end of it, I'm off to university. You know this can't go on forever. We have to stop it some time, and that would be a good time," Rachel said.

Levant came around the front of the car, his large frame caught in the intense beams of the headlights.

"I love you, Rachel," Levant said, moving closer.

This caught Rachel totally off guard. "WHAT? You don't get it, do you? There is no Rachel. She does not exist. She's a figment of my imagination!" Rachel said, raising her voice. "In fact, she's a figment of my deranged imagination."

Levant looked appalled and confused, like a newborn lamb.

"She's you. The real you. Deep inside," Levant said. "I know that. I want to be with her."

He moved closer to let Rachel see how much he really felt with every syllable he was about to utter. Levant took a breath.

"I didn't want to say before now because... I know I'm way out of line on this... and I didn't want to spoil what we had. But I'm telling you how it is, Rachel. I can't go ten minutes without thinking about you. I can't think. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can hardly breathe when you're not there. You bring joy into my life. I've never been happier than in the last few months, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You're the candle bringing light to my dark soul. I need you more than I need life itself," Levant said, moving closer as Rachel retreated toward the cliff edge.

"You're paying for me," Rachel said, nearly shouting. "I'm no different from a call girl, and this isn't Pretty Woman."

"I bought you this," Levant said, pulling out a box from his pocket and opening it to reveal a ring. "I had it specially made. I've been carrying it for the last two weeks, waiting for the right moment."

Even in the wind and moonlight, Rachel could see the glint of the diamond.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Rachel exclaimed, realizing how deep she had fallen into the rabbit hole.

"Come here," Levant said, rushing up to Rachel.

Rachel stepped further back towards the edge of the road. The low metal barrier was close to her stiletto shoe.

"Keep the fuck off me," Rachel said.

Levant was a tall and strong man. Rachel couldn't stop Levant from grabbing her and pulling her close enough to kiss. Rachel managed to push Levant away. They were dancing near the edge of the crag, with only some sea grass to separate them from a long drop into oblivion.

Rachel pushed herself free, leaving a large red splotch on Levant's face. Rachel tried to punch, but Levant was fast for a man his size. Rachel swung through mid-air, and Levant didn't make a move. She hit his toned stomach and realized why, when she was younger, the big boys managed to get Denver's lunch money.

Just then, the headlights of the trailing SUV lit up the mountainside to their right. The SUV pulled to a sudden halt at the side of the road. Both doors opened and formed a protective shield.

"Sir, are you all right?" The voice came from the bright lights. It was Levant's bodyguards, who had been following them at a respectful distance.

There were black mascara streaks down Rachel's face.

"That's it. We are over. We are over. We are done. I never want to see you again, Douglas," Rachel said, looking over to the security men who appeared cautiously confused.

"I want to go back to the hotel now. Alone." She turned to the security people. "Mike, will you take me?"

The security guard looked over to Levant for permission.

"Fuck you!" Levant exploded. "You think you can live without me? Then good luck, Miss Price! Let's see how long you can go before you come crawling back."

Levant turned to the guards. "Both of you, on me. Leave her here. That's an order"

They nodded, and both got back into the SUV rather quickly. The doors shut, and they reversed and turned quite swiftly.

"See this?" Levant said, holding the ring box out. "This is worth a quarter of a million dollars. I won't tell you by whom, because you're too damn stupid to know. See this."

He flung the ring in the box into the wind and the sea, watching it quickly shoot out on a long arc into the waves, the rocks, and the spray below. After the box left his hands, Levant kissed two fingers and flipped them into the air after the box.

"You're going to come crawling back to me. You'll see. You can't live without me, Rachel. This is your last and final lesson. You can't live without me," he said, getting into his car and driving off at a ridiculous speed.

"My name is Denver," Rachel said uselessly, shouting at the wind.

Rachel felt relieved that it was over. She was also shocked at how things had ended up, the complete reverse of what she had wanted. She was anxious about what Levant might do next and suddenly frightened about how she was going to get back to the hotel without anyone discovering her secret.

"Oh, fuck, what am I going to do now?" Rachel said.

****

Rachel sat next to Hunter in his car. She was warming up after the cold wait. She had Hunter's jacket around her bare arms for warmth. There were two wide black streaks running down her face like little rivers of the underworld. Hunter's car pulled away from the road about two miles down the mountain where Levant had dropped Rachel.

"Thanks for coming to get me," she said quietly. "I didn't know who to call. Charlie wasn't answering."

Hunter didn't look at her and concentrated on driving. "I would have thought a resourceful woman like you would have called an Uber or something," he remarked.

Rachel paused. "I thought about it, but I don't want to use his money for anything."

"We're going back to the Thornbury?" Hunter checked.

Rachel paused again. "Yeah, it's where my stuff is. Thanks, by the way."

"Thanks? Thanks for what?" Hunter asked.

"Thanks for not saying 'I told you so.'"

"All part of the service," Hunter said.

Rachel paused. Partly, it was shock. Partly, it was a weird sense of loss.

"I'm going away," Rachel said. "It's over with Levant, and that was all that was detaining me in this brutal land. You will never see me again."

Hunter sighed. "I'm kinda sorry to hear that. I was hoping we could get to know each other better."

"You might not like what you discover," Rachel said, pulling Hunter's jacket closer to her. You could smell him on this coat, a faint reassuring smell like old rope and whiskey. Rachel looked at the streetlights outside. They were approaching civilization, and the beams danced around the midnight streets.

"Did they teach you somewhere how to be this enigmatic, or is it a girl thing?" Hunter said.

Rachel pursed her lips. "I'm not in the mood," she said firmly.

"Sorry," said Hunter, overtaking another car.

There was a long silence, only broken by the occasional ticking of the indicator signal.

**********

They pulled up just around the corner from the Thornbury. They could linger there unobserved. Rachel looked at Hunter.

"OK, here you are," said Hunter, pulling the handbrake.

You could see the genuine sense of loss in his face. "Believe me, getting as far away as possible is absolutely the best thing you can do. I'm fully behind this. You need to be as far as you can from Levant. Watch out - he has a temper, is vindictive, and has a mean streak wider than the Grand Canyon. If nothing has happened after six months, then you should be OK."

Rachel looked at the way he searched over her face. "But there is always a 'but' at this point," she said, undoing the seatbelt.

Hunter twitched. "But... I'm going to miss you. I really am."

"I'm not coming back," Rachel said. "Ever."

Hunter looked almost offended. "I know," he said, looking away. "It's for the best."

Rachel realized something. As a detective, had he detected something?

"What do you know?" Rachel said, sitting slightly back from leaving.

Hunter looked back. "The wig. I'm guessing it's the chemotherapy. My sister had the same thing. She told me she needed to feel alive before she had to go too. I'm not judging. She wanted one last finger to the universe, which had given her so much, and then just as capriciously taken so much away. For some, the clock starts early."

Rachel felt better and awful. It was better he believed this fiction than taste the cold, bitter soup of the truth. "I'm not saying anything," Rachel said then sighed.

Rachel smiled. "You're a nice guy, Hunter. The world needs more nice guys like you."

Rachel felt really sorry for Hunter. Disappointing him was harder than even pissing off Levant. She wanted to leave Hunter with a leaving gift. Spontaneously, she leaned forward and kissed Hunter on the lips. Her stomach felt like someone had stuck a wrench in it. It wasn't as revolting as she had suspected. It was like expecting to bite an onion but tasting bread.

Rachel gave the surprised Hunter a big smile as they parted. "To what was and to what could have been. You keep fighting the good fight. Promise me that. So long," she said, getting out.

She stood up in the cold night air and looked around. Then, opening the door, she asked, "Sorry, which way is the Thornbury?"

Hunter pointed.

"Thanks," Rachel said, shutting the door. "Lousy last words, huh? Kind of sums me up."

She walked off and crossed the intersection to enter the Thornbury for the last time. She knew she must look like a river rat being dragged in by an overly ambitious cat. She walked up to the main desk.

"Hector," she said to the man at the main desk.

"Madam," Hector said formally. If he felt pity for her appearance or disgust for her betrayal, he didn't show it.

"Is Charlie... is Miss Bechtel in?" Rachel said.

Hector lifted his eyes up and to the right, trying to remember something. "The manager was unavoidably called away on urgent business. She said to give you her apologies."

Rachel's shoulders slumped. "I'm guessing Doug... Mr Levant has phoned down and said to shut my room down and throw my bag out," Rachel said, thinking of what kind of spoiled brat thing Levant would do.

Hector didn't show any reaction. "He did, madam," Hector said.

"Oh," Rachel flipped back. To be honest, she didn't think Levant was that efficient.

Hector leaned forward. "Unfortunately, it's a busy night. I might not have gotten around to disabling madam's key just yet. If madam hurries, she might just find that housekeeping has not yet reached her room."

"Thanks," said Rachel, about to move off. Rachel stopped herself and turned back.

"I don't know if he might make everyone else suffer because of me. I just want to say if he does, I'm very, very sorry. It was never my intent to hurt anyone. You know?"

"Quite, madam," Hector said. "Your words are appreciated, and you shouldn't worry about us. All is well at the Thornbury Hotel. Goodnight, madam. It's been a pleasure, and all the best for your onward journey."

Rachel got to the room and found everything as it had been left. It was with a strange feeling of loss but also the sense of a new beginning that she cleaned Rachel from herself, removed the gaff, and changed into Denver's clothing. Denver checked himself in the mirror. Normal hair, normal face, no earrings, yeah normal. He put Rachel's things away as he normally did back into the case. Then, taking the neckband, earrings, and rings Levant had given, he left them with some slight ceremony on the table.

Taking one last look at the grandiose decor, he pulled Rachel's bag out, turned the light off, let the door slam shut behind him, and walked to the elevator.

For the first time, Denver pulled the case to the doors of the hotel. Taking one last look to fix all the grandeur in his memory, he walked outside. Denver's original intention was to drop Rachel's case in the sea. As he began to pull the case, the weight slowed him down, and he decided it might be less work to throw it in a dumpster.

It was down the third alley he found the kind of dumpster he needed. He picked the case up and then launched the bag into the mostly filled dumpster. It took walking past the third intersection until he knew exactly what he had to do. He returned to the dumpster. He began walking down the street and started to type on Rachel's phone.

"HUNTER, YOU THERE?" Denver typed.

Hunter responded almost immediately. "YES. I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE?"

"WELL, YOU'RE SUCH A GOOD KISSER I COULDN'T GO WITHOUT A LITTLE PRESENT XXX," Denver typed.

"THE ONLY PRESENT I NEED IS YOU," Hunter responded.

"No, THIS IS MUCH LESS TOXIC. YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO LIKE THIS ONE. MEET ME IN THE RESTAURANT TOMORROW AT 8:00," Denver typed.

The response was instant. "I'LL BE THERE. YOU CAN TRUST ME."

The next day finding somewhere to change had been a challenge. Denver had withdrawn all the money from Rachel's account in cash, and Levant's revenge had not yet extended to freezing the account. He had left Rachel's bag behind a dumpster, then collected it the next evening.

After leaving the bag at the airport, Rachel caught a cab to the restaurant. There, sitting and waiting for her, was Hunter. He almost waved, but refrained. Rachel sauntered up, passing a woman dressed in green whose eyes subtly tracked her as Rachel passed by. Rachel went over and sat down without an invitation in the empty seat.