Stalker Girl: The Pretender

One: Grimace

Billy Gillies- Disturbance

X

"X, what do you think about this?" Will, my only brother asks waving a file for me.

"What is it?" I ask, holding my hand out without looking up from my ePad. He hands me a little black paper folder.

"It's the contract for the new-"

"You know I don't like interfering in your business, Will," I toss it back at him cutting him off. That's a lie. I love it when he asks me to theme his new clubs but other than that I like to stick to my lane.

"Come on, X. You promised you'd be more interactive when you graduated," he sighs. I shut my book giving him a nod and holding my hand out again. He glares at me and hands it back. I did promise that. In my defense, we had been in the middle of a two-week bender at the time. I didn't think he would remember.

After our father's untimely demise, William Hale the Third took over the family business at seventeen. That was eleven years ago. The two of us expanded the legitimate part of Hale Enterprises. Will made it big in real estate. I took his money and I invested it. I'm good at gambling. Risks and rewards. Just as my father taught me. Had he given us what we wanted, he'd be here seeing the two of us thrive together as he intended. He just couldn't stop being an asshole to save his life. Literally. He had options.

Will is the face of Hale Enterprises. The hotels, the casinos, the clubs, the drugs, the brothels, the gangs, the fights, all of it. That behind-every-man bullshit is strong between the two of us. Not in a creepy way. He is my brother. When Will's will isn't imposed through bribes and negotiations he calls me and I make sure that my big brother gets what he wants because he's never taken anything from me and he's always given me whatever the f**k I want. I'm happy so I want him to be just as content.

Muse City knows me as Little Sister X.

"It's a little cliche," I toss the file back at him. He groans opening it up in front of him to look it over. "Just because you're into minimalism doesn't mean all our s**t has to be like that. It's why I don't live with you anymore. Your new money sense of style is so boring,"

I understand that he doesn't want to live in the shadows of our father and I respect him for it. So as long as he stops trying to push me into the light or the gray in between our lives. I love everything we inherited. I mean I was the one who cashed in and collected. I'm a little proud of my work. Each of us to our own and all that.

"f**k you," he laughs. "What would you change?"

"All of it. Starting with the location," I stand up taking my phone with me. I open up my Muse app to show him the top trending hashtags. "Everyone loves our venues but you want to know what rich people like the most? Exclusivity. Everyone wants to be part of a secret in a world where secrets no longer stay hidden for long. This is the era of reality TV and money. Everyone wants to be the new Kim and Kanye. Our select clientele isn't like the rest of the world,"

"X, what do you want?" he smirks, pushing my phone back toward me. "You're talking big business. You know I love it when you talk big business with me,"

"Well," I start making him glare.

"I'm listening," he nods.

I walk back to his ugly box couch to get my backpack. I pull the binder out and hold it up for him. He gives me a single nod waving me back to him. I set it down in front of him and take a seat in the chair opposed to him. I can't remember the last time I saw Will smile. I expect it sometimes but he always changes his mind in the end. Always the serious businessman.

"That's the old fairgrounds," I tell him. "Where mom tossed Jenny,"

"Okay," he shakes his head. He's told me I need to get over that.

"I want to buy it," I shrug.

He flips through the pages slowly and I sit back waiting to see a reaction. But Will isn't the kind of person that shows what he's feeling. Dad took that from him. He beat it out of him until my brother became a savage. Until he became more like me. It was the biggest reason why I killed him. I wanted him to stop hurting my brother and my brother just wanted to be loved. As the years went by, as Father made us stronger, it became more and more obvious that he wasn't going to give us what we wanted. So, he had to go away. The same way Mom made Jenny go away. The same way I made Mom go away. We deserved better.

"You want to turn this into your headquarters?" he smirks. "Walk me through it. Are we tearing it all down or-"

"Why don't we go there?" I ask pushing out of the chair. "And I'll show you,"

"Sure," he nods. "You drive. I want to look over your business strategies. You're getting better,"

I won't comment on it because, honestly, business isn't my strong suit. Coperations and organization whatever aren't my thing. I'm practicing them at his behest. He thinks someone one day will take him from me. He just wants to know I can take care of myself even if Hale Enterprises falls. I'm not holding my breath because anyone who wants to get to my brother has to go through me and Father made sure nothing ever gets past me.

The drive to Colony takes us about twenty-five minutes from Hale Tower. I play his favorite music at a low background level in case he needs to take a call or has questions. He shouldn't have questions because I put everything in there. At least, everything I plan to do with it. I even ease off the gas pedal so he's not distracted by my driving. He always freaks out when I go "too fast".

Fun Town is owned by the Lores. In the early nineteen forties, the Lores owned Muse. Kind of the way we own Muse now. Except they didn't have drugs or brothels. Fun Town used to be the biggest Muse attraction. It started off as a seasonal circus, that turned into a state fair, and then became Fun Town.

In the late fifties, the groundskeeper, Garret Thomas defiled the purity of what Fun Town had once been by luring teenage girls and murdering them inside the fun house. Then the sick f**k would cut them open and bathe in their blood. Just kidding, but he would chop them up and eat their organs. He believed they kept him young. Old f**k died at the age of one twenty-three. They might not have kept him young but he lived for a long f*****g time. So, who knows? Maybe he was on to something. Anyway, the fairgrounds were shut down and no one has ever wanted to bring the place back to life until now. Me. I want to do that. For Jenny. She deserves to be celebrated with the spirit of glitter and violence. The very essence of her soul.

"Think about it, Will," I say as the two of us walk over to the gated shithole that is Fun Town. "There is no one around for f*****g miles. See that big tent?" I point at the crappy red-and-white structure that's barely hanging on by a thread. "Rebuilding it would be easy and it's big enough for your little untz-untz s**t,"

"f**k off," he rolls his eyes but I can see the idea taking root in his eyes as he looks around the abandoned field.

"We can put up the Ferris wheel. Add a few rides and weekends would sell the f**k out. You can do whatever you want with it. What I'm interested in is that," I point at what used to be the main event tent. "I want to turn it into a gym for my guys. I want to build an octagon right in the middle. How attached are you to your shoes?"

"Not very. They're new," he shrugs. Good because the last time someone ruined a pair of his favorite shoes it didn't end well.

The two of us get over the gate and make our way to the tent. I've been here hundreds of times with Jenny. And hundreds more ever since her body was found here. I know it better than I know the house we grew up in. The house I recently decided to move back into. Alone. If you don't count the staff.

I lead him down into the lower storage areas. Tunnels that run through the bottom of the fairgrounds for maintenance on old rides. There are eight tunnels. All of them lead to Sixteen huge storage rooms. I walk him through them without saying a word. He didn't even question the fact that I have equipment down here to light our way. When we get to the furthest storage room I lead him up the steps and we're on the other side of the fairgrounds. He looks at me and nods.

"What do you think?" I ask.

"I think you're nuts," he smirks. "This place has a lot of bad history,"

"We have a lot of bad history," I remind him. "You slap a Hale brand on this place and you know it'll be everything you want it to be. Compton has tattoo parlors for his guys. Ju-Ju has a garage for his bikers and a compound. You have Hale Tower. I mean sure we have hella venues and locations all over the city but I don't have my place. Little Sister Exael doesn't have a home base.

"I think I've earned it. I've done everything you've ever asked. Even the stupid business degree. I'm never going to use it. Even if it fails, I want to have something between us that fully belongs to me. You can have complete control of all of it. The money, the events, and the business it's all yours, Will. Do you understand?"

"I do," he nods crossing his arms over his chest. "X, why do you work for me?"

"What do you mean? You're the boss, Will," I say looking around the crappy storage room I intend to make my office.

"No, sissy. I mean why do you work for me when you can do whatever the f**k you want? This plan is flawless," he holds up my binder. "You have the ability to run s**t on your own. Why don't you? You have the money for this. Why are you asking me?"

"It's your money. I don't understand what you mean," I really don't.

"It's our money, X. We both work for it. I mean sure, I handle the business but I wouldn't be where I am without you. You're twenty-three now. What do you want out of life?" he asks. I look down at my hands and shrug. "Come on. Anything. What do you want?"

"I want you to be happy, Will," I say honestly.

"Okay," he nods. "And I want you to be happy. If this is what you want. I'm more than happy to help, but I want you to really think about it. My question I mean. I don't want you to include me in those thoughts. I want you to think about what you want selfishly. What does Exael Hale want out of life? Can you do that?"

"What do you want me to write a f*****g essay for you?" I scoff.

"Yeah," he nods.

"Really? I was kidding. I hate writing," I shake my head.

"I don't care, X. Take me back to work. I'll start this," he holds up my binder. "You go home. Take the week off. Think about what I said and write your paper and if I like what you write I'll decide how much I want to intervene in your home base here. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," I nod without meeting his gaze. He pinches my chin to make me look up at him.

"X, you mean everything to me. There isn't a single thing I wouldn't do for you. You know that right?"

"Yes, and you mean everything to me,"

"Good. Get out more, X. All you do is show up, do your thing, and read. Get out of your head. Find something or someone to expand your interests. You're wasting the best years of your life being cooped up in that house. You can do your thing and read when you're old. I'm worried about you. I don't need you to take care of me,"

"I promise I'm fine," I shake my head. The last thing I need is for Will to worry about me. He takes care of so much already. "I like taking care of you,"

"I know, but I'm a grown-ass man and if I can't make it through the day without you then what am I even good for?"

"Everything," I roll my eyes. "You're William Hale the third. King of Muse City,"

"And don't you f*****g forget it," he smirks.

"Will, if I focus on myself more than I do you... what if they come after you? If anyone hurts you I'll-" I can't even finish that sentence because I really don't know what I would do without him.

"Hey," he shakes his head. "Just because you focus a little on yourself doesn't mean anything will happen to me. Your security is tight and you'll still be my second. That's never going to change, X. But I need you to live a little. Get s**t going with Z or get a girlfriend. I don't know what you're into. Do something. Anything.

"You can't live like this anymore, Sweetie. Dad isn't here to deprive you of that. He can't hurt us anymore. You're allowed to be your age. You're allowed to do more with your life than just kill. Just don't do something that will f**k us up. The rules apply to us as well. You will be punished accordingly if you step out of line. Come on. Take me back to the Tower. The sooner you finish that paper the sooner we get to start on your thing. What do you want to call it?"

"Grimace," I answer as I take him back down into the tunnels. He pauses and looks back at me with a blank expression.

"Grimace," he nods. "It's simple and even a little creepy. All right. Grimace. Let's get started,"

"Will you do me a favor too then?" I ask.

"What?"

"Will you also do the same for me? You know. Write me a paper about something you want. Something outside of Hale Enterprises,"

"You can't give me my homework. I'm the boss,"

"Which is why I'm calling a favor. In return, I'll give you a blank check. Whatever you want no questions asked. Deal?" I spit into my right hand and hold it out to him. He takes a deep breath and nods doing the same before putting his gross hand in mine.

"Deal, but it might take me a while. You know I live for the business,"

"That's fine. Take your time. I'm not in a hurry,"