Mr.Big Shot // Rio (Good Girls)

Chapter One: A Deal She Could Definitely Refuse

"Cause baby, you're all I need,

In darkness, she's all I see~"

Alexa hummed, the eraser of her pencil tracing her lips mindlessly as she looked over yet another sheet of overtime work she'd been given. The blinds were drawn open all the way and the window was cracked, a rectangular array of squares imprinted on the outside street pavement from the harsh lights. They spilled out into the dark outside, her silhouette a hunched figure spinning back and forth on a stool.

She pulled the screen open, relishing in the smooth swish it made on the polished rails.

Downing the rest of her Red Bull and crushing the can into a twist, she padded out to the kitchen. Her cartoony Inside Out pajama pants slipped under her heels, the drawstring hanging to her knees. She dragged a blanket like a little kid holding a teddy bear, wrapping it around her tank top when she stepped onto the freezing tile of the kitchen. She sighed, squatting in front of her refrigerator and tightening the bandana tied around her hair.

After waiting an excessively long time in the kitchen, opening and closing the hotel mini-fridge in the desperate hopes that a new, more palatable food would appear in it, she walked back into her bedroom with a can of soda and a glass of water.

"I didn't know if you'd prefer Mountain Dew or Red Bull, so I just brought water." She didn't even startle at the man sitting slouched on the corner of her bed, placing the glass on the bedside table for him and standing by the door.

He smirked. "How'd you know?"

"People like you are hard to hide from." She pried the tab off the soda can, saving it on her dresser. "I can tell when I'm being watched by now."

The edges of his mouth twitched up, and he looked amused. Not impressed, or even surprised, just mildly intrigued. "That's good. You're good." He stood up, darting his tongue over his lips to wet them after taking a small sip of water. His rings slipped on the cup, his loose grip threatening to let the drink spill. "Thanks for leaving the window open."

"I didn't want to pay for the fee of you breaking it, which seemed like the option gangbangers usually go with." She shrugged. "Anyways, I assume you aren't on my bed for the reason I'd like?"

He chuckled. "Nah, sweetheart, not tonight. I'm here for a quick chat, s'all."

"How unfortunate," she hummed. She pursed her lips as the man stalked forward, gently balancing the cup on the corner of the dresser. A dangerous afterthought. The space between her and the hall closed as she backed into the doorway, her heels dragging in a reluctant effort to maintain distance from him.

"You seem nervous." He laughed softly, which only intensified Alexa's unease. She never could get rid of the anxiety of having someone in her house- usually, she was the offender, and this new power dynamic was hard to swallow. His shoes cut sharply into the carpet as he approached, and Alexa wondered how bad an idea it would be to ask him to take them off while inside. "Why do you think I'm here?"

"If you kill me, can you bury me with my Jellycat frog plushie? It's kinda my favorite," she blurted. Her pastel-painted toes curled as she fidgetted. "Or- just keep it with me. I don't think you guys bury people, actually. That'd be dumb."

"Yeah. It would be," he agreed patiently, preoccupied with his own thoughts, or maybe hers, as she had the distinctly eerie impression he could guess her thoughts faster than she could think them up. "It's not often someone like you just shows up in town. I'm just a bit curious."

"Speak now or forever hold your peace." She had an awful habit of making movie references when anxious.

He shrugged. "You've just gotta lot of money for a pharmacist."

"Yeah." She cautiously played along. "I guess a lotta people are just sad nowadays. Money can't buy happiness, but sadness can cost a whole lot. How unfair is that?"

He glanced towards the window, the thin curtains outstretched in the breeze in clawing folds. "Yeah, and that's how you see a box of cash and assume it's counterfeit? Not really the mindset a public servant should have." He tilted his head to the side, an unreadable expression on his face. "Look, I'm not here to hear the truth, ma, I'm just here for...business outreach."

She swallowed heavily, a shaky inhale punctuated with a nod. "I'm guessing this isn't a choice."

"Instructions'll be in your trunk tomorrow. Drop off is next week." He turned, straightening his jacket just to wrinkle it again as he sat on the open windowsill. "Oh, and bring your mama friends in on it, too."

"Why me?" Alexa asked. "I mean, I know why me, but how do you know why me?" He stopped, staring at the coffee stains on the worn desk table as if he had to think hard for an answer. She held her breath. What did he have on her? In other words, how much power did he know she had? And how much power did that knowledge give him over her?

"You really thought your reputation would stay in Chicago?" He tutted, shaking his head, looking disappointed in her as he took another slow step forward, bridging the distance between them to a charged couple of feet. "Let's just say that I look for employees with experience. GAP does it too." He flashed a smug grin, and then the window was shut and he was an obscure figure ambling away through the alley. Alexa bitterly wished he wasn't quite as mundane in his exit, because she hated having to watch him go. She didn't work under anyone. She was someone people ran after, not him. She slowly moved to the window, the curtains wrapping around her in a caress of cheap polyester, falling limp around her as the glass slid shut.

Her phone still played but was quieted to only one notch. The man must have turned it down, she thought, maybe out of a need to dominate the space, or maybe he just didn't like Maroon 5. She stared at her bubbly vaporwave phone background, unsure of how else he might have tampered with the room. She looked around as if wanting to spy out any superficial listening devices or spyware he may have placed- not that there was any need. People with power didn't really need that kind of thing to attract workers. Some people always seemed to gravitate towards them, like bubbles around a sink drain, clinging with thinning resistance as they spiraled down, down down.

Not that Alexa thought this would be her downfall; she severely doubted that would ever come, although she pushed that out of her head in fear of jinxing it. Knocking her knuckles on her wood desk twice, they fell again in a third thud as she was startled by a notification ushering her back to her phone.

Uknown Number (***) *** ****

get some sleep. I'd hate for you to be tired on the first day on the job - rio

She pursed her lips. "Oh, so he's good-good," she murmured at her phone screen. "Game on, Rio. Game on."