“Did you see how many hits we got for our last stunt?”
She doesn’t answer.
“Exactly. More than the kids who go to your school.”
“Is that really the entire point, Ben? How many hits? How many follows?” Ginny steps closer, uncomfortably close.
Part of me feels like a kid again and wants to yank her hair and run away. Another part is frightened by how old she seems. How smart.
“Benny, Ginny, get up here and see this view.”
We stare at each other for a second and then take the stairs up to Mom. She’s before a wall of windows that overlook the rest of the development. “Look,” she says.
Ginny and I join her and take in the scene. The condo is on the back side of the property, which is against a hill that slopes down to the valley. From here, the view of trees is impressive. I can imagine the dashes of yellow and orange and red of fall, which are now scattered on the ground. But what catches my attention are the properties between the condo and the far off hills. I can see both Chantel’s and Trevor’s homes from here.
“Breathtaking, isn’t it?”
I nod and Ginny mutters something.
My mother pulls us to her. “Welcome home, kids. Welcome home.”
—
John and I get out
of the Jeep and stare at Trevor’s mansion.
“It’s weird, huh?” John says,
“His house? I kind of like it.”
“No, not that. His house is awesome. But the fact that we’re here, going inside, not egging it?”
He’s got a point. We’ve been dropping eggs on this house for years at Ricky’s request. And now Ricky’s inside with Trevor. I don’t think
weird
quite covers this situation.
We walk up and ring the bell. Trevor answers. “Hey, we’re all set. Come on in.”
After we hang our coats on the rack and kick our shoes onto the mat, we follow Trevor through his open-floor plan, marble, hardwood, stainless steel masterpiece of a home to his bedroom tucked into the far wing. Ricky’s sitting at one of three desks covered in computers and editing equipment, looking very comfortable.
“Hey, guys. We’re all set with FaceTime, just need to call O. P.”
Trevor has his iPad connected to three other monitors so we all have our own view. I sit. “You have his number?”
“Yeah, the one-eight-hundred one.”
There goes tracing his location, unless any of the technology in here can make it happen.
“Call him,” John says with a nice authority to his voice.
It’s good to hear that after everything he’s been through. Shit! We haven’t told him about the payment. One really deep breath.
“Right.” Trevor sits and makes the call. In a moment, all of our screens display Ricky in large profile, and in the upper corner, a guy in his midthirties wearing a baseball hat.
“O. P., is that you?” Ricky sounds like a little kid talking to a mall Santa.
“And you are Ricky, I presume?” His voice is light, almost jolly.
“Yup, it’s me.” Ricky continues like nothing about this is off. “Thanks for talking to us. We wanted a face-to-face because of how crazy things are going.”
“Things look very good on my end. Lots of new hits from this marketing campaign.”
“Right, right. Sure that makes sense. But as you know, John broke his arm and that’s going to give him some problems playing basketball in the future.” Ricky pauses and sneaks a glance at John. “And of course, because of that, we didn’t get paid.”
“What?” John’s voice is cutting. “What did he just say?”
He’s asking me, but I don’t know what to say. I give him the universal “in a minute” sign and he grinds his teeth.
“There are lots of other games to play,” O. P. says.
John coughs and kicks Ricky’s chair. This is not going to end well.
“Of course, but you see, he’s got a scholarship, and now, maybe not.”
O. P. moves around onscreen, adjusting his position. He blurs but then becomes clear again. “What’s your point?”
If I knew O. P. in the real world I’d want to kick his ass. He’s very obviously a dick. Ricky takes a deep breath, and I wait for him to tear into this piece of shit.
“My point is that we’d like to be able to make enough money to take care of John’s education in case he loses that scholarship.”
O. P. stills for a moment and then laughs and laughs, the sound echoing throughout Trevor’s bedroom. John, Trevor, and I all look at one another, but Ricky keeps his eyes on the screen and waits. He should have hung up already.
“I can’t make that promise. You get what the contract stipulates, not a cent more. Remember, this is business. If you don’t like the terms, too bad, you signed. If you renege on your obligation, you owe me all the money you’ve earned.”
John looks at me again and I shrug. I didn’t read that, but apparently Ricky and Trevor did because Ricky isn’t raising holy hell and Trev’s staring ahead. But Trev does that, regardless.
Ricky swallows. “I understand that. I guess we need to know if the next dare will be something that John will be able to complete with his injury.”
O. P. sighs, like an exasperated parent. “Again, not my problem. The other half of the deal—since you seem to need the reminder—is that you
all
complete the dare that I send to you. Can’t have any of you ditching because you’re scared and then squealing about all this.”
“We wouldn’t think of that.”
“Good. Anything else I can help you with?”
Ricky shakes his head. “Not unless you have the next dare ready?”
“I do, but check your email tomorrow.” O. P. hangs up.
I stare at my screen, now blank except for Ricky’s face, still staring ahead. I have no doubt that he would love for us all to leave and not dissect what we heard. Normally, I might give him his space, but shit just got real and we need to talk.
“Fuck this, I’m out.” John stands.
“What?” I ask. “No, sit down, hold up a minute.”
John growls. “When were you planning on telling me we didn’t get paid? Huh?” He looks at me and then around the room. “You still want to do
business
with that asshole after he pulls shit like that?”
“John, you heard what he said. It’s all of us or nothing. It’s in the contract,” I say, aware that I don’t know where to find the clause, even if I had the thing in front of me.
“Yeah, I heard every word from that creepy ass. No wonder you found him on Craigslist.”
Ricky speaks. “We’ll get you that money. I promise.” He looks at me and Trevor. “All of us will get paid what we deserve. Please don’t bail on us, John. Because hanging in there sends him a giant ‘Fuck you’! You feel me?”
John takes a long moment, but he nods. It’s curt, but it’s there. He’s still with us.
CHAPTER 15
W
ork sucked tonight.
Everyone was frenzied because of all the orders. I barely saw Alexia, much less had any opportunity to speak with her. Not that I’d know what to say, but I feel like I have to. What’s happening between her and Jesse isn’t all right. No, it’s awful. But maybe throwing him under the bus will do some good, not that McNeil dragged him into his office or anything. At least not that I’ve heard.
And now . . .
“Jesus, Ben!” Ginny meets me at the door as I walk in. John, Ricky, and Trevor are on the couch.
“What?”
“We’ve been waiting for an hour.”
I hang up my coat. “Hey, you asked to interview us, not the other way around.”
Ginny glares at me but says nothing.
I head over. “What’s up, guys?”
“Nuthin’, just waiting on you,” Ricky says, and he’s relaxed. In fact, they all are, chilling on my couch together. I think something about seeing what a tool O. P. is changed something here. Or, I could just have a very comfortable couch.
“I’ll be right back.”
Dad’s in the kitchen, cracking a beer. He smiles when he sees me. “Hey, it’s nice that you’re helping out your sister.”
I grab a soda and take a swig. “No problem.” I have no idea what Ginny told him we’re doing, but he seems fine with it. “Everything cool at work?” It’s a lame question, but I have to ask.
He sips his beer and shakes his head. “No. Not even close. But that’s my problem, Benny. Don’t you worry.”
I nod and silence fills around us. “I gotta go before Ricky tries to put moves on Ginny.”
“Remind that idiot that I’m upstairs.”
“Will do.”
Back in the living room, Trevor has mounted the camera and Ginny has a notebook on her lap. I sit in the recliner next to the guys. “As soon as Trevor is ready, we’ll get down to the questions.” Ginny sighs. “But first, I want to thank you. What you guys are doing is insane, but also a perfect example of what we’re studying.”
The guys mumble “no problem,” but Ricky looks less comfortable than before.
“So, I’ve got questions, but feel free to talk about whatever comes to mind. I’m going to take notes and record the audio, but Trevor, you’ll give me a copy of the video, right?”
“Sure.” Trevor’s voice has no emotion.
Ginny looks around. “You ready?”
Trevor answers by pointing to the red bulb, indicating that he’s recording.
Ginny turns on the digital recorder and clears her throat. “Tonight, October, 23rd, I am interviewing the Get Out There Daredevil Crew.”
The guys smile at this, even Ricky, and I feel a wave of something unnamable pass over me. It’s not nausea or déjà vu, but some weird sense of importance at her giving us a name.
“Could one of you tell me how this all began?”
Ricky sits up. “It was my idea. I wanted to have fun during my senior year, and this seemed like a great way.”
Ginny looks down at her notes, but it doesn’t seem like she’s reading them.
“Okay, so how did you get the rest of these guys on board? What you’re doing is kind of dangerous.”
John rubs his cast and Ricky nods. “Right. It is. But we’ve been friends forever, and the guys were happy to go along. And then after the first dare was a success, it snowballed.”
I feel sweat behind my knees.
“Interesting, you said it was a dare. Who dared you, and can you explain what you mean by
snowballed
?”
John sits up. “We’re making money now. We did the one to see if we could make a splash. Which we did. Because of that, Ricky got some deal worked out, and now we’re making cash because we complete one of the dares from the list this guy gives us.”
Ricky scowls. Sweat breaks out across my back, and I take a few deep breaths.
“Really? Now
that’s
interesting. So someone is paying you to do this. Please explain.”
John beams. He, too, always liked my sister. “You see, it’s like this, Ricky got this contract and we all signed it, so . . .”
“It’s not something we can discuss.” Ricky’s face has resumed its natural color.
We all turn to him.
“It’s confidential. I’m sure you understand,” he says to Ginny.
Ginny nods and looks back at her notes. “Do you have any input on these dares, then?”
Ricky nods. “Sure. Like John said, we pick them from a list.”
“Is this list something you created before you started?”
“No.” The way Ricky says the word, we all shift. I want to take off my shirt I’m so damned hot. This is not going well. I’m not sure if John or Trevor can tell, but Ricky can, and that’s all that matters.
“So the list comes from your sponsor. The guy behind Get Out There Adventure? Who is he?”
“That’s also confidential.”
Ginny shoots me a quick look. Her eyes seem to search my face, but I’m not sure what she’s looking for.
“Okay. So you complete these dares from a list provided to you from an unnamed sponsor, and you are contractually obligated to complete them? Is that correct?” This time Ginny looks right at Ricky and doesn’t bother to include us.
Ricky smiles his big-toothed grin. “Yes.”
“Is it safe then to say then that you all feel compelled to complete the dares, even if you don’t want to?” Now she turns to John.
He doesn’t answer, but stares at the floor.
“No one has to do anything they don’t want to.” Ricky leans toward Ginny.
“How is that true if you all signed a contract?”
Ricky’s eyes swim in his head and a tiny laugh emerges from behind the camera. We all look over, but Trevor stays tucked away behind the tripod.
Ricky’s face is red now, and he stares at me like he’d like to rip my throat out. I feel an I-told-you-so moment coming, but with the tension that’s building, that may not be the best idea.
Ginny repeats the question and is pressing her notebook so hard she’s dented the spine.
John continues to stare at the ground. I’m drenched, trying not to hyperventilate, and I think my phone just vibrated with a text.
Ricky looks away.
“How about this one? Why are you willing to risk your life for this?” Ginny’s voice is calm, but her hands shake.
Watching her, I understand why she wanted this interview.
This
is the question she wants answered. Her interview is for her psychology class.
Why are we willing to take it this far?
Shit, it’s a good question. Is it the legacy? The money? Because we have to? But do we? What
would
happen if we didn’t? We wouldn’t get paid. That’s it. But then our story would go away, the one we’re creating behind the scenes. Who would we be then? I close my eyes and feel the bathroom calling.
Ricky stands up. “No one’s died, or come even close.”
Ginny stands, too. “So what’s next? Is it less risky than the other dares? Are you playing it safe?”
Ricky steps closer to her. “We’ll have an ambulance on standby. Stay tuned.” He turns and walks out the door without even closing it.
The cold night air whips in like the morning dissolving a dream. We all blink and look around. Trevor powers off the camera. “Well done.” He quickly packs up his equipment and follows Ricky’s path, but at least has the courtesy to close the door.
In the silence that follows, we all look our separate ways. I reach into my pocket as Ginny turns to me.
“What have you gotten yourself into, Benny?”
I look down at my phone. It’s a text from Chantel:
Alexia. Again.