Lena didn’t know whether she should kick him out or hug him tightly. In the end, a fist bump worked well enough for “Hammerin'” Hank. Sadly, he had gotten the nickname from beating on his first wife, but he had since reformed. Well, he had reformed as well as could be expected, considering he was a contract killer. Lena had only just found that out, though, and was digesting the information just prior to the fist bump.
See, Lena had been out of work for six months and the bills were creeping up. She had been living hand-to-mouth, paycheck-to-paycheck until she was laid off by Solomon Bros. Bank. As barely a high school graduate, she didn’t have any skill-set to speak of; hell, she was lucky the bank had even hired her in the first place. It was tough times for girls with hardly any talent, focus or drive. She had, however, dutifully filled out application after application, had even used the last of her cash to buy stamps to mail them off. To no avail. Lena knew she was screwed.
Enter “Hammerin'” Hank. She was dating his cousin Paulie, who had suggested they get together for a “mutually good time”, whatever that meant. She wasn’t keen to find out but then he said it had to do with business. Lena was all about business, especially when it might mean not getting evicted from her third floor apartment in the village. She had had a sinking feeling, though, that “mutually good” might mean she would have to put out, but she had kinda made her peace with it. Maybe she had put on a little bit of weight lately, but she was still a pretty good package and she knew a lot of guys might be willing to pay for it, but she wouldn’t even know where to begin. Maybe Hank had connections, she had thought when she finally accepted his invitation.
Shock registered on Lena’s face when she found out she wasn’t being asked to sell her body (after Hank had felt her up anyway — the dog) but she was, instead, being recruited to kill people for a living. Hank explained it something like, “Well, you’re a girl and girls ain’t checked for weapons and stuff like guys is,” so that was the gist of it. It would be sorta like hiding it in plain sight. She was supposed to act like a prostitute, get paid by the specially picked out johns, then kill them when they were sleeping. Hank made it sound like easy money, and it sure was a LOT of money, but she knew she had to be missing a step in the process. She also couldn’t believe that she was even considering it. However, when she went to the fridge to make a sandwich later that night, realized she was out of cheese, and didn’t even have the money to get more cheese, she knew it was her best bet.
But could she kill a man, much less ten men? Her ex had called her the “ballbuster” because of her sarcastic attitude and coolness towards having sex with him. Well, she hadn’t been with him for the sex. If she had, she would have been sorely disappointed. Maybe she would be able to play her role well enough to seduce the guys into thinking she was nothing but a cheap whore, but would her psyche recover, especially if she really did have to sleep with these guys right before she killed them? Lena thought about it for a minute (while Hank felt her up some more — why not?) and found herself initiating the now infamous fist bump. A girl had to eat, after all.
Sam
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