Pretty Evil

Chapter 1 When Geffen Cage entered the Crustacean, an upscale French Colonial Vietnamese restaurant in a section of Beverly Hills known as the "Golden Triangle," he had one thought: I wish this was the Bermuda Triangle so my date would disappear.Usually Geffen felt comfortable in high-profile places like this, but tonight he wanted to hide. As one of "the beautiful people" among the L.A. socialite circles, he was known to have impressive taste in women, but tonight all of that was blown to hell. He was looking good as usual, but his date was another story. If she stood on the side of the freeway, people would stop because this woman looked like a wreck.Geffen hoped he wouldn't run into anyone he knew, but that would be hard because Geffen knew a lot of people. His date had suggested this place. The restaurant had an indoor, under-the-floor stream filled with black and gold koi and covered by glass. A floor-to-ceiling aquarium, waterfall, and copper-topped bar added to its breathtaking ambience, but all Geffen could do was hold his breath as he walked his date over the small wooden bridge, ready to duck if anyone recognized him."Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Cage," the maitre d' said, as Geffen and his date stood waiting in plain view of the whole restaurant while an attendant cleaned up a spill near their table.Aw damn, Geffen thought, as he brushed nonexistent lint from his Versace suit's lapel. Geffen was superclean and always GQ, dressed sharp like a razor with not a hair in his thin, trimmed mustache out of place and not a fingernail unfiled. He just needed a distraction, a reason to put his head down and try to hide, but he was too late.Three women sitting at a table a few feet across the marble floor spotted him. He didn't know them, but they were talking loudly, sipping on martinis and ragging on people as they walked by. Both Geffen and his date could hear every word they said."Why is he with her, as fine as he is," one woman said."Maybe the young brotha likes older women -- nothing wrong with that," said the second."I know she gets a lot of candy on Halloween.""Quick, call the zoo and see if they're missing a llama."Geffen shot the attendant a hurry-your-ass-up look.When their table was finally ready, Geffen's date walked closer to the ladies' table. At first, Geffen thought she was showing off her 5 carat oval-shaped diamond ring, but turns out she was giving them her middle finger. Then she sat in her seat.Geffen tried to concentrate on reading the menu, and put his mind over the matter. The fellas were counting on him to convince this woman to give them a cut-rate investment loan to buy property.Geffen pulled a long-stemmed red rose from the table piece and handed it to her. "Tonight you look...indescribable."She batted her fake eyelashes and grinned at Geffen like he was a piece of meat and she hadn't eaten in twenty years. All Geffen could think about was how much older she looked here in the candlelight compared to when he had first met her at the bank that she owned. She had been dressed better, too, with not so much sagging skin showing. And who had done her makeup tonight? Cirque du Soleil? He tried hard to think of something positive. Umm, okay, nice, expensive teeth."You really know how to treat a lady, Geffen, my sweetheart," she said in a low, guttural voice intended to be sexy but that sounded like a toad croaking. She opened her menu. "Umm, I'm so hungry. What looks good to you?"Not you, that's for sure. "The roasted lamb is always good," he said out loud.She asked the waiter, "What's your catch of the day?"While his date irritated the waiter with too many questions, Geffen smiled and tried to look patient. Don't order the baked potato. It'll take too long.Finally, she placed her order, then added, "Oh, and add a baked potaDavis, Lexi is the author of 'Pretty Evil ', published 2005 under ISBN 9781416505259 and ISBN 1416505253.