Notes: Alternate universe where everyone is human. I may or may not expand this into a series, because I feel like this has potential. Written for the prompt One Meeellion Dollars: Indecent Proposal at Ladies Bingo. WC = 698
Hayley walked into the hotel bar where she was supposed to be meeting her client. As she glanced around, she spotted a pretty blonde sitting at a table by herself, playing with the straw in her cocktail. She was wearing a flower in her hair, just as the woman who Hayley was meeting said she would be. Approaching the table, Hayley pasted a smile on her face. "Rebekah?" she asked. "I'm Hayley." The brunette knew a lot of escorts used fake names, but she found it too confusing.
"Hi" said the blonde, gesturing to the seat across from her. "Take a seat."
Hayley did as the blonde requested. "Do you have the money?" she asked. She'd made the mistake of not getting paid upfront once before, back when she had first started doing this. Never again.
Rebekah nodded her head. Glancing around to make sure nobody was looking at them, she opened her purse. It was from a high-end designer, Hayley noted. This woman was obviously rolling in money. Hayley, who had always had to work for every cent she had, felt a pang of jealousy.
Rebekah slid the money across the table to Hayley, who began counting it. "It's all there" Rebekah assured her. Hayley finished counting. $500, exactly as they'd agreed to.
"It's not that I don't trust you" said Hayley, tucking the money away in her own purse. That was a lie; Hayley didn't trust anybody. "But my boss is a total bitch and would lose it if I came back short." That much was true. The madam Hayley worked for was a total bitch.
"I get it" said Rebekah. Hayley didn't think she did, but didn't say as much. After all, her job was to make her clients happy. Tearing them down was the fastest way to make sure she didn't have any clients.
"So what are looking for?" Hayley asked. She had been fuzzy on the details. While her boss kept a master list of everything each of her girls would and wouldn't do, she often did a poor job of letting the escorts know what to expect. Especially if they were a new client, like Rebekah was.
Glancing around again, Rebekah said "This is going to sound crazy, but I was hoping we could talk."
Hayley raised her eyebrows at that. Her clients rarely wanted to just talk. Sure, some of them got chatty before or after sex. But sex was always foremost on their minds. And they rarely asked her to meet them at the bar. Instead, she usually got a room number. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked.
Rebekah bit her lip. Then she said "I might as well just throw this out there. I need to get married in order to stay in the country."
Hayley thought she had detected an accent, but couldn't quite place it. "And what do you want me to do about that?" she asked pointedly. Surely Rebekah had far more connections than Hayley did.
"I need you to marry me" Rebekah blurted out. Then, before Hayley could say anything, she added. "I know, I know, it sounds crazy." Hayley had to agree with that. "But I can make it worth your while."
"How so?" asked Hayley, curious. She knew this idea sounded crazy, but if Rebekah really could make it worth her while, then she would listen. Besides, she was already getting paid just to sit there and listen to the blonde talk.
"If you marry me, I'll be able to apply for citizenship after a few years" said Rebekah. "Then, after I've become a citizen, we can get divorced and you can get on with your life."
"I still don't see how this benefits me" said Hayley flatly.
"If you agree to marry me, I'll give you $500,000 after the wedding" said Rebekah. "And another $500,000 when the divorce is settled. That's $1 million, just for two years of your time."
Hayley considered the offer. She was trying to calculate how many years she would normally have to work to make that much money. The answer was a lot. After a few moments, she nodded her head. "Okay, I'm in."