Desperate Measures

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Desperate Measures Page 8

by Stephen Leather


  Rachel said she earned lots of money at the bar which is why she was able to save enough money to buy her own contract. She had tried to get a student visa on her own but the embassy had turned her down because she had no one to sponsor her. She said her plan was to work really hard for one year in London to make enough money to build a house in Surin and then she would go back and work at Angel Witch.

  Cat cooked Pad Thai for us and Wanda had brought tubs of Häagen Dazs ice cream and Candy had brought strawberries so we had lots to eat. Oliver asked me if I’d enjoyed working with Nancy and Nancy said that it had been fun. Oliver said we should get some pictures of me and Nancy for the website because some customers really liked to see two girls together. I said okay, because two girls with one man is half the work, really, and so it’s easy money.

  Bee didn’t come to the flat. I suppose because she hadn’t been working she didn’t have any more for Oliver so she didn’t want to come. I don’t think it was because she was scared of Alice. I don’t think Bee is scared of anybody. Nancy said that Bee’s picture is still on the website so that when people phone up for her Oliver tries to get the customer to take another girl.

  I went home in an Uber taxi with Nancy and Sandra. Sandra said she was a bit worried about Bee and wanted us to go to see her but Nancy and I both said we were too tired. Sandra said we could maybe go around in the week and we said yes. I think she’s a bit worried that Bee might disappear because if she disappears then Sandra will lose the money she paid to bring Bee to London.

  When I got home I slept almost the whole day but then Oliver phoned just after six o’clock in the evening to tell me that Robert had booked me for four hours. I was so happy.

  Chapter 35

  Wednesday May 13. Cat took me and Nancy to get new photographs taken yesterday. I went to see Nancy first. Chris was there and he asked if he could come with us but Nancy said no, she didn’t want Cat to know that she had a ik. When Cat phoned to say that she was outside in the taxi, Chris asked Nancy if she would give him some money and she gave him £100. I don’t understand why she gives him money. He’s supposed to be her boyfriend. I think she is crazy to have FFF with him but she is even crazier to give him money. Nancy told me not to tell Cat about Chris but I knew that already. I don’t think Cat or Oliver would be happy to know that she had a boyfriend and that he was the reason she wasn’t working very hard.

  The shop still had the CLOSED sign on the door but Cat rang the bell and the photographer opened it. It was Thomas the gay guy who took our photographs the last time we were there. I think he takes all the pictures for the agency. Cat said we had to pay £200 each for the new photographs. Nancy said she didn’t have any money so she asked me if I would lend it to her and I said okay. While we were changing, I heard Thomas talking to Cat about Bee. Thomas said that Bee had phoned him asking if he would let her have copies of the photographs he had taken of her. She wanted them on a disc but she didn’t say why she wanted them. Thomas wanted to know if it was okay to give her the pictures but Cat said that it wasn’t okay because the pictures belonged to the agency. Actually that isn’t fair because the girls have to pay for their own photographs so really they belong to us. But I think Cat knows that Bee wants the photographs because she wants her own website. I think Bee can’t take new photographs now because her eye looks so bad. I could see that Cat was a bit angry and she told Thomas he must never give the photographs to Bee and if she wanted him to take new photographs then he had to say no. I think Thomas will do what Cat says because she gives him a lot of business.

  Thomas took a lot of photographs of me and Nancy together. Some of the pictures were very sexy, with me and Nancy kissing and touching each other. In one of them I am on my hands and knees wearing the spiky dog collar and she is holding my lead like I am her dog. Sometimes it felt funny and we giggled a lot until Thomas scolded us and said that we had to be professional. Some of the things he made us do seemed silly at the time but when we saw the photographs we realised what he had meant. Nancy and me did look very sexy together, like we really enjoyed being with each other.

  Afterwards Cat said she was going to see Oliver so Nancy and I went back home in an Uber taxi together. In the taxi Nancy asked me if I would lend her some money. I asked her why and she said that she was just short of money this week because she had paid her rent and her council tax. I asked her how much she wanted and she said £2,000. That seemed like a lot of money but she isn’t earning a lot now that she is with Chris so much, and she loses a lot at cards. So I gave her another £2,000 which means that she owes me £2,200. I think it is crazy that a working girl can sleep with men for £150 an hour but then she has to borrow money, but I didn’t say anything. I just hope that she remembers to pay me back.

  Chapter 36

  Thursday May 14. I don’t understand why men think they can have a working girl as a girlfriend. They look at a website and choose a girl because they want to have sex with her, right? So they must understand that the girl is selling sex for money and that that’s their job. So why then do they think that the girl would want to be their girlfriend? If I was looking for a boyfriend or a husband, I wouldn’t be working as an escort. I work as an escort because I want to make a lot of money quickly.

  When I worked as a waitress in a Thai restaurant, lots of guys wanted to be my boyfriend. I could always tell the ones that wanted to ask me out. Usually the first time they would come in a group, but they would smile a lot and maybe ask my name. Then they would come in again, probably with someone else, and this time they would give me a business card and tell me that they wanted me to call them. I never did, not even if the guy was good looking. Then they would start coming in on their own and eat alone, trying to talk to me whenever I went by their table. Then finally maybe they would ask me out for a meal or to go to see a movie, but I always said no. I had to work six nights a week and I never finished before one o’clock in the morning. Then during the day I was at school. I didn’t have time for a boyfriend. Once I said no to a guy, he would stop coming in. The manager of the restaurant noticed that a lot of customers were coming in to the restaurant because I was there and he said that I should flirt with them, but even if I did they always stopped coming in once I turned them down.

  I understood why guys would ask me out when I was a waitress, but I didn’t understand why they thought I would want to go for a meal as a date, because I worked in a restaurant! But I don’t understand why my customers now think that I would want to go out with them. Simon keeps sending me messages asking me if I want to go and see a movie with him and I just ignore him. The first time he asked I said that he’d have to book me through the agency but he said that he wanted to go on a real date. He doesn’t seem to get it, booking me through the agency would be a real date. He could book me for three hours outcall and we could go and see a movie and that would be a date. He knows I’m working, so why does he think that I would go out with him for free? I’m not like Nancy. I would never FFF.

  A lot of customers ask me out now. Probably four or five a week. It’s usually guys who have been to see me three or four times. Sometimes they ask me out straight away, the first time they see me. They have sex with me and then they ask me if I want to go and see a movie some time. How stupid is that? But most of the ones who ask me out wait until the third or fourth time. Usually they bring me a present, some flowers or chocolates or perfume. Then they sweet talk me, then they ask me out. I always say that I’d love to go out with them but that the agency won’t let me and then they always say that the agency needn’t know. Do they think I’m stupid? Sometimes after I’ve turned them down I never see them again. But others, like Simon, keep on asking. They don’t give up. In a way it’s good because they’re regular customers but it can get a bit boring when they keep asking and asking and asking.

  Even if I was looking for a boyfriend or a husband, why would a customer think that I would want him? Why would I want a boyfriend who visits prostitutes? If he m
et me through the agency then he’s probably been to see lots of agency girls. I don’t want a man who visits prostitutes. And if let a customer be my boyfriend, how could I ever trust him? I’d know that if he ever got bored with me he’d start looking at the agency websites again. No, I would never want a customer as a boyfriend. And I don’t understand why a customer would want an agency girl as his wife. Surely every time he looked at her he’d think about all the men she’d slept with. Do you know, if a girl works for an agency for one year she has probably had sex with more than five hundred men? Why would a man want a wife who has had sex with five hundred men? That’s just crazy. No, I will wait until I have finished doing this job before I look for a husband. And I will never, ever, ever, ever, tell him that I worked as an escort girl. That will be a secret for ever.

  Chapter 37

  Saturday May 16. The new pictures of me and Nancy went up on the website on Wednesday night and yesterday we had two customers who wanted to see us together. The first was a man called Elliot who wanted an hour’s incall so I went around to Nancy’s apartment because hers is a bit bigger than mine. This time she had on a sexy black plastic dress with holes cut out for her breasts and I was wearing red stockings and suspenders that I had bought from Anne Summers. Chris was in the apartment and he said that we both looked really sexy. Actually I didn’t like him looking at me. I know that sounds a bit silly because customers see me naked all the time but he isn’t a customer, he’s Nancy’s kik, and I don’t think that he should be looking at me. Nancy didn’t mind, though, so I didn’t say anything, but I put a towel around me and told Nancy that I was a bit cold.

  The downstairs bell rang at just before two o’clock and we looked at the customer on the CCTV and then Chris left. Before he went he asked Nancy for some money and she gave him £50. I really don’t understand Nancy. Not only does she FFF but she gives him money, too.

  Elliot was about forty years old and quite thin with blond hair that I think was dyed. He smelt of cigarettes and I think he had been drinking whisky. We sat on the sofa and both kissed him. Nancy has a big shower so we both went into the shower with him. We both made sure that he was really clean and then Nancy knelt down and gave him oral sex while I kissed him on the mouth. He tasted quite bad, really, because of the cigarettes. Nancy was really clever. She got him really hard and then she looked up at him and said that she wanted him to come in her mouth. We dried Elliott and took him into the bedroom. We gave him a massage but he couldn’t get hard again. That was why Nancy was so clever. A lot of men when they get a bit old can only come one time, unless they cheat and take Viagra of course! So when he came in her mouth in the shower, that was all he could do. We just gave him a massage in the bedroom and then he went. He didn’t tip us, but that was okay. He had paid us £300 and he hadn’t even had sex with either of us. I wish we had more customers like that. I don’t mind having sex with customers and sometimes it can be fun, but when you are busy it can hurt a bit if you do it too much.

  After Elliott had gone Chris came back. He started kissing Nancy and said that he wanted to go into the bedroom with her. Nancy laughed and said that he was always horny but she went with him anyway. I went home and showered and watched a Netflix movie.

  Oliver phoned me to say that I had a customer at four o’clock, incall for an hour and a half. His name was Tom and he was quite good-looking, about thirty years old, I think. He said that he had been to Thailand many times. He said he had been to Pattaya most but that he really liked Phuket, where the beaches are good. Phuket is too expensive for most Thai people, it is mainly farangs who go there. Tom said that he wanted a Thai girlfriend but that all Thai girls cared about was money. That didn’t seem fair to me. Not all Thai girls care about money. We are like girls everywhere, we want a man to love us and take care of us, a man who can make us happy and feel safe. Then he said that all Thai girls lie and that’s not true at all. I think maybe Tom just talks to bargirls and of course they will lie because they want his money. Thai people have a saying – Farang Ru Mak Mai Dee. It means that the farang who knows too much isn’t a good thing. Tom thinks he knows too much about Thai people but really he doesn’t. I didn’t like it when he said bad things about Thai people. I kept smiling at him and being cute with him but really I hated him. He asked me if I would give him my phone number but I told him that my agency wouldn’t let me do that. He had sex with me twice and I pretended to come both times but really I didn’t like being with him at all.

  Chapter 38

  Sunday May 17. Today I went to Sandra’s flat to eat some Tom Yum Pla that she had cooked. It’s spicy fish soup just like the soup that my mother used to cook. There was another Thai girl there. Her name was Dao and she was quite young, just twenty-two years old, small and pretty with very long hair. Dao is a student like me but she also worked as a waitress at one of the restaurants that Sandra used to eat in. They only do takeaway now so they don’t need waitresses. She was only paid in cash so they just sacked her when Covid started and she gets no money from the Government.

  Sandra was very clever. She kept saying how expensive London was and how the people who worked in restaurants earned very little money. Dao said that it was hard work and that she never had enough money even before Covid. The owner of the restaurant where she worked kept all the tips for herself so Dao only had her wages and she was only paid £8 an hour. Sandra laughed and said she earned £100 an hour. Dao wanted to know how Sandra earned £100 an hour and Sandra explained about the agency. It was funny because I realised it was what she’d told me, the time she and her boyfriend had come to see me at my restaurant in Camden. She said that it was easy work, that you spent time with wealthy farangs and were nice to them, that you got to live in a nice apartment and go to nice hotels and wear nice clothes. Dao had some questions, but I could tell that she was interested. Then she asked me if I did the same job, and I said that I did. She asked me what it was like, sleeping with farangs, and I said that actually it was sometimes good fun.

  Dao said she wanted to try. I asked her if she was sure she could do it and she said that actually she had done things for money when she was a student in Sara Buri. She said there was a road in Sara Buri where students waited for men. Men would drive up and the girls would get in the car and they would drive somewhere quiet and the girl would give the man oral sex for 500 baht or maybe 1,000 baht. Sometimes the girls would have sex with the man but Dao said she never did, she just did oral. She said she was sixteen when she did it the first time because she wanted a new mobile phone and her father wouldn’t give her enough money. She said a lot of her friends were doing it, too. Sandra said she could come with us to the Sloane Square flat on Sunday to meet Oliver and Cat and they could talk to her about working for the agency.

  Then we got an Uber taxi back to Bayswater. Dao had to go and see a friend but Sandra came back to my apartment with me. She said she was sure that Dao would do really well as an escort girl and she was short of money now that her restaurant had closed because of Covid. She went into my bedroom and saw that I had done what she suggested and hung a mirror at the end of the bed. It was a good idea because it made customers horny to see themselves making love to me and when they are horny they come quicker. Sandra said she had put a television and a DVD player in her bedroom as well so that she could play sexy movies because that made customers horny, too.

  Sandra said that she was really angry at Bee. Bee had either turned off her mobile phone or she had thrown away the SIM card. And she hadn’t paid Sandra any money for two weeks. Sandra asked me if I would go with her to talk to Bee and I said that maybe I would next week. Actually I do not want to get involved. If Sandra has a problem with Bee then that is her problem. I do not want to get into a fight with Bee. In fact I do not want to get into a fight with anyone. I just want to earn money. I understand that Sandra is worried that Bee might not pay her back, but that’s not my problem.

  Then I was really surprised because Sandra asked me if I would
lend her some money. Sandra earns a lot of money and has a lot of regular customers. She is never the top earning girl at the agency, but she is never the worst either. And she has been working for a long time so she should have saved a lot of money by now. Sandra said she needed £3,000 and could I help her. I asked her if she had a problem and she said that it wasn’t really her who needed the money, it was her boyfriend. She has been helping him pay for his Porsche and he didn’t have any money this month. I couldn’t believe it. She was helping him pay for his car? What sort of boyfriend is that? Sandra always said how rich her boyfriend was and how well-dressed he was and how much he spent on presents for her, but now I think that maybe it’s her money that’s paying for it all. I think she is crazy but she is my friend so I said I would help her so I got £3,000 for her. Actually I have a lot of money in my apartment. More than £15,000. I send a lot back to Kung and some I post to my mum in Udon Thani but the rest I keep in my room. I don’t have a bank account in London and I’m not sure how to open one. I am worried that they might ask questions about where I am getting my money from.

  Anyway, I keep my money in envelopes under the carpet behind the sofa. I don’t think anyone will ever find it there. I put one thousand pounds in each envelope and I lay them flat under the carpet. I think it’s a safe hiding place. I gave three envelopes to Sandra and she said she would pay me back in a week or two. I hope she doesn’t forget.

 

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