so I agreed to at least hear about it. I didn’t talk directly with whoever was hiring me—it all went through my agent.”
“And it had to do with me?”
“Yes,” he said. “I was told who you were, and where you would be on the weekend we met. They would book a room for me at the same hotel, and my job was to try and get to know you, and to try …”
“And to try to sleep with me,” Abigail said, her voice trembling.
Eric took a breath through his nostrils, his lips pursed. “Yes. Basically, that was it. I mean, I wasn’t told I had to sleep with you or anything. I was just told that my job was to meet you, try and get to know you, and … seduce you. Then I was supposed to report back exactly what had happened. That was emphasized by the client, apparently. They wanted to know exactly what transpired.”
“Jesus,” Abigail said, and she couldn’t think of anything else to say for a moment. Her mind was spinning, and her stomach hurt.
“I know,” Eric said.
“It must have been … Do you think it was Bruce?” Abigail said. “I mean, of course it was Bruce. He was testing me. Jesus.”
“I really don’t know,” Eric said. “That was part of the deal, my not knowing. I never met the client. I only reported back to my agent.”
“And you weren’t told why you were doing this?” Abigail said, feeling a flush of anger. “You didn’t think to ask why you were being tasked with trying to fuck a complete stranger.”
“I did think to ask. I did ask, actually,” Eric said. “I just wasn’t told, and, obviously, I feel incredibly guilty that I took the job. There’s no excuse, but I needed the money. I know that’s not good enough. I know that’s not really a reason. And if I’m completely honest, I was intrigued.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.”
“No, hear me out. They showed me a picture of you, so I’d be able to recognize you, obviously.”
“What was the picture from? Where’d they get it?”
“They showed me your Facebook page.”
“Uh-huh,” Abigail said.
“And even just looking at it, I felt something … I was attracted to you. Look, I know it’s creepy, but I did.”
“Did they just show you this picture? Did they tell you things about me? I mean, what else did they know?”
“They told me you’d like my acting background because your parents ran a theater. They said you liked old movies. They said you were funny. That’s about it.”
“Did they tell you my favorite poet was Poe?”
He paused, and Abigail could tell he was thinking about lying. “Yes,” he said. “They did.”
Abigail squeezed both her hands into fists and clenched her jaw. She let out a partial scream.
“I know, I know, I know,” Eric said. “I know how you must feel.”
“You don’t,” she said. “Trust me on that.”
“Okay, I don’t.”
Abigail took a breath, told herself that she could feel rage later. Right now she needed to hear the full story. “So you memorized an Edgar Allan Poe poem in case I brought it up?”
“Yes. I mean, I knew that poem already, if that means anything. But I brushed up. I know it sounds terrible. It is terrible.”
“And they never said why you were being asked to do this?”
“I asked, but my agent didn’t say. When I was told that it was a bachelorette party, then, obviously, I guessed.”
“You guessed that you’d been hired by my fiancé to see if I’d cheat on him?”
“Yes, it crossed my mind.”
“And you did it anyway.”
Eric, already perched on the edge of the upholstered chair, moved forward another half inch. “Listen,” he said. “You don’t have to remind me that what I did was despicable. I know that what I did was despicable. I knew it when I took the job, and while I was doing it, and afterwards. I’m trying to help you out now because I agree with you, something fucked up is happening here, and I think it probably has something to do with me, with what happened that night. But I’m on your side now.”
“And is that why you came here? Because you were worried something bad might happen?”
“It occurred to me, of course. I mean, if what I was doing was helping your groom run a fidelity test, then you failed, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Abigail said.
“So I was surprised when I saw that the wedding was still happening. So, yes, part of my actions were because I was