Perfect Ten

by Michelle Craig

  The door was answered by a woman wearing a stern black skirted suit. I think it was safe to say she was the housekeeper.

  “Hi, Maisie.” Faith kissed the older ladies cheek, which brooked no response from her except to usher us into the living room.

  “Your parents will join you directly.” Her low heeled, serviceable shoes clicked down the hallway as she left us.

  “She sure seems like a ton of fun.” When my father was alive, we had people working in our house as well, but with one big difference. They were almost a part of the family. To this day, I still have an occasional lunch with our gardener, Rodrigo.

  “My mother keeps her staff very separate from the family, but I still treat them as I would any other human being I’ve known my whole life.”

  “Did I tell you how pretty you look today?” Faith had on a knee length brown dress that had a thick black belt with large buttons on it running all the way around it, just under her breasts. It had capped sleeves and a high scooped neckline, which to my chagrin, showed absolutely no décolletage.

  “Yes you did. Thank you.”

  We sat down on the sofa, and I pulled her up close to me. Not being able to resist, I placed a small kiss on her upturned lips. Then another one. Before I knew it, our tongues were dueling and her hands were gripping my shirt. Just as I put my hand up to pull her hair out of that tight bun that I hated, I heard a not so subtle cough coming from behind us.

  Faith pulled away from me so quickly, I think my tongue might have still been sticking out of my mouth. What a lovely sight that must have been. Awesome way to impress the parents, huh?

  “So, that’s how it is, Faith? You bring your…” Mrs. Graham gave me a disgusted once over, “boyfriend over to dirty up our formal sofa?”

  Oh, this was going to be a fun night.

  “So nice to see you again, Mrs. Graham.” About as nice as getting a root canal. “I apologize for the display of affection. I forget myself when Faith is anywhere in my viewing area.” And fuck you too, Mrs. Graham.

  Stepping directly in front of his wife, Mr. Graham walked over to me and gave me his hand. “Nice to see you again, Joe.” Then he turned to Mrs. Graham and gave her a slight set down. “You behave yourself, Patricia.”

  “A pleasure to see you too, sir.” After the pleasantries were dispensed with, we all took a seat facing each other on opposite sofas, and Mrs. Graham rang for the housekeeper.

  “Yes, ma’am?” Maisie must have been standing right outside the door, waiting to be summoned.

  “Bring us some wine, please.” She tapped a finger twice to her chin, as if she hadn’t already planned out every minute of our little gathering. “The white, I believe.”

  Just to be a dick, because I didn’t like her, I asked, “Would you happen to have a beer instead, Mrs. Graham?” I gave her what I hoped was a disgustingly sweet smile to go along with my request. And, God love her, Faith spoke up.

  “A beer sounds great. Make that two please, Maisie.”

  Mrs. Graham’s smile disappeared, but she nodded her head in acquiescence. It looked as if she were trying to frown in disapproval, but her latest injections prevented any lines from forming, so she wound up looking constipated instead.

  “Great. Beer. In a bottle. So classy.” Having gotten her digs in, she finally made an attempt at actual conversation. “So, Joe. What exactly do you do for a living? Constuction?”

  Faith began fidgeting beside me. Since her father already knew the truth, and I never did get into any details about myself at the wedding that I had to worry about, I went with a half-truth.

  “I’ve actually just decided to go back to school full time, so as of next weekend I won’t have a full time job.” I knew she’d want to know how I could afford to do that, but I was going to make her work for it. She didn’t work for it very hard, though. Mrs. Patricia Graham was one forward lady, and simply asked outright.

  “And how will you afford to do that? I hope you’re not expecting Faith to pay your way, although that would explain this situation.”

  What. The. Fuck? I looked over at Faith, willing her to speak up, but she remained stubbornly silent. I guess asking for a beer instead of drinking her mother’s wine was her limit for upsetting the apple cart.

  “With all due respect, Mrs. Graham, I would appreciate it if you could refrain from any further attacks on my or Faith’s character.”

  She placed her hand on the arm of the sofa as if she were getting ready to stand up, most likely, so she could look down on me while she reprimanded me for what I’m sure she thought of as my insolent behavior. Before she could stand, Faith’s father put a hand on hers, stopping her mid-rise. “That’s enough, Patricia.”

  Since he made an effort, I threw them a bone. “Thank you, Mr. Graham, but I’ll answer anyway. I have a sort of trust fund, you could say.” That would have to do for the moment. Mr. Graham knew where my money came from, I’m sure.

  “Please, son, call me Dale.” He looked pointedly over at his wife and said, “And you may call my wife Patricia.”

  She sniffed at that and raised her head up higher, but forced a small smile on her face. “Of course.”

  Interesting. Dale did possess a bit of control over the Mrs. Out of respect for her husband or something else? I’d be surprised if it were out of respect. She didn’t seem to have a good supply of that for others—at least not that I’d seen as of yet.

  “What are you going to school for?”

  “I’m going to finish my architecture degree. I have a little over a year done now, so I do have a ways to go.”

  “Architecture. That’s great. You know there’s a firm right here in Beverly Hills called Starling Architecture. Any relation?”

  And there it was. The one subject I hated talking about. Faith knew my father had killed himself, but that was about it. This wasn’t the time to tell my whole life story so I stuck to the truth, just not all of it.

  “Yes. That’s my uncle’s firm.” That was true, but it wasn’t the whole story. I was also part owner, as well as my sister. She signed her portion over to me when she started nursing school, not that there was much money to be had after my father was done with it. It took my uncle almost ten years to get back to the rich firm it was in the past, but I still didn’t even take the minimum distributions from the firm. My uncle re-invested them back into the company for me. Long ago, I tried to sell my portion to him, but he wouldn’t buy it. He wanted me to hold onto it. “It’s your legacy,” he said.

  “They’re a solid firm. I’ve had the pleasure of doing business with them when I worked for the accounting firm they use. They had some trouble a while back, as I’m sure you know.”

  Ahh, so he also knew the story of my father.

  He leaned over and patted my leg. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, son.”

  “Go through what? What’s Daddy talking about, Joe?”

  Dale answered for me, for which I was grateful. “It happened a long time ago. Let’s go take a walk through the gardens before your sisters get here, shall we?” I knew I’d have to tell Faith about my past at some point, and I’d tell her, but I was happy to be granted a reprieve for the moment.

  Maisie entered with our drinks, and we each grabbed a glass, or bottle as it were, and then followed Dale outside.

  I’d love to tell you that the rest of the evening went swimmingly, but when her sisters arrived, we were treated with more of the same bullshit. Sassy was the only female in the family who seemed to genuinely love her sister, but even she wouldn’t go up against the others to defend Faith.

  The dinner table was laden with food. Dana was munching on her lettuce and tomato wedges watching me put a big steak on Faith’s plate.

  “That’s a mighty big piece of meat there, Faith. Do you really think you should eat all that?”

  “I’m not going to eat it all, Dana. As a matter of fact, you should have some of it. You’re looking rather… never mind.”

  That certainly ca
ught her attention.

  “Oh, no. Please, finish what you were saying. I’d love to hear it.”

  “No. Forget it, Dana. I don’t want to be like that.” She looked at me sweetly. “Could you please pass me a dinner roll, Joe?”

  “Of course. Butter?” Please say yes.

  “What’s a roll without butter?” It was amusing to watch Dana look at Faith buttering her roll with abandon. When she was done, she looked right up at Dana and put almost half of it in her mouth. “Umm.”

  Faith turned to her sister Sassy in an effort to bring forth a better subject. “How are you feeling, Sassy? Is the baby kicking yet?”

  “Oh, no. Not yet. I still feel sick in the mornings, but I feel fine after that. Better than fine, actually. Thanks, Faith.”

  The conversation then turned to fashion as my eyes glazed over. I would have escaped with the men after dinner was over, but I didn’t want to be trapped with Dana’s asshole husband so I stayed by Faith’s side.

  “So, Faith. I heard that you were thinking about helping your friend run her little baking business.”

  “It’s not a little baking business, Marge. She owns two bakeries now and can’t get product out fast enough because she’s so in demand.”

  It was like they couldn’t possible talk to her without being negative or condescending.

  “Oh, of course. I didn’t mean anything by that. Everyone needs something to do, right?”

  “Yup. Well, are you ready, Joe? I really don’t have room for dessert, but dinner was delicious. Thank you, Mother.”

  “Yes, well, you ate enough, didn’t you? Thank you for coming, dear.”

  She didn’t even get up to hug her daughter or see her out. We stopped to say goodnight to her father and went on our way.

  Having made our escape after that wretched dinner, I didn’t think the night could get worse, but as usual, I was dead wrong. When I drove Faith home at nine o’clock, she asked me if I wanted to come in.

  “Do you want to come in, Joe?” Faith asked me before getting out of the car, still not making eye contact even after the amazing sex we’d had just hours earlier.

  I had to tell her I couldn’t. She did not care for my reason. I get it, I really do, but I was still pissed off when I left. Honestly, I would have rather peeled off my fingernails than answer that question. “I can’t.”

  “Oh. Okay, goodnight then.” Quick as a bunny, she hopped out of the car.

  “Wait!” Fuck! What could I say to her? I didn’t want to lie to her, but I really didn’t want to tell her I had a date. “Faith!”

  Halfway up the walk, she turned around. I would have sworn I saw tears in her eyes, but then up went the head and hands went on the hips.

  “Uh, huh?” It was all I could do to contain my laugh. What a contradiction she was! I loved it.

  All desire to laugh quickly fled when I started speaking again. “I have a job tonight that I tried to get out of, but I couldn’t.” My brain was telling me to shut the fuck up, but my mouth kept going anyway. “There’s this crazy woman. Sophia DeMarino and she found out I was leaving. She booked me for the whole night. I told Stan no, several times actually, but—”

  Faith put her hand up about an inch in front of my face. When I stopped moving toward her, she turned and walked up to her door, unlocking it before whirling around to face me again. “Sophia, huh? Jesus. Never mind. What the hell was I thinking?”

  Aw, fuck. I blew it, and I didn’t know what to do. I was so close, and just like that, I was going to lose her for good. “It’s just a job, Faith. She means nothing. I can’t stand her! I swear, but I have to go.”

  “Really. You have to. Hey, I get it. Today was great, thanks. Now, I’ll be seeing you.” She turned around to enter her house, but I grabbed her arm, not having any idea of what I was going to do. I did the only thing I was good at. Yup, you guessed it. I grabbed her arms, pinning them to her sides and kissed her, trying to pour all of my emotions into it. Trying to will her to feel what was inside of me. At first, she kissed me back, but then she jerked out of my hold and gave me a hard shove. “Stop. Forget it, Joe. Just go.”

  “No!” Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! There was nothing I could say to make it better. Nothing. “Faith, please. Just let me get these last three jobs over with and I’m all yours.”

  She stood there, her hand back on the doorknob shaking her head, brows drawn together in disgust. “So basically, you just have to fuck three more women and then I can have the leftovers. Thanks, but no thanks.”

  Goddammit. She doesn’t believe a fucking word I say! “It’s not like that! I’m telling you.” I didn’t appreciate her flippant attitude even a little bit. Here I was, changing my entire life for her for fuck’s sake, and she was going to change her mind now? Screw that.

  “Have you slept with her, Joe?”

  Ah, shit. “Yes.” My anger faded a bit in the face of the truth.

  “More than once?”

  Double shit. I kicked a stone sitting by my shoe, and it went sailing as my anger completely left me. She was right. She should turn around, walk into her house, and forget I ever existed. “Yes, but—”

  “So you’ve slept with this woman more than once, have an all-night ‘appointment’ with her tonight, and you expect me to believe that you aren’t going to fuck her?”

  Well, at least she wasn’t picking on herself anymore.

  “No. I mean yes. I mean no, I’m not going to have sex with her. Vaughn will be there too, and—” Yeah… probably should have kept that to myself.

  “Oh, that’s disgusting. Goodnight, Joe.” Without another word, she went inside her house and slammed the door in my face. Having no choice left, other than breaking her door down, I tucked my tail between my legs and left to go on my mother-fucking date with mother-fucking bat-shit crazy Sophia DeMarino.

  ***

  FAITH

  I knew it. I knew he was too good to be true. When will I learn? Why didn’t I listen to myself? Why did I let everyone around me convince me he was worth a chance? Well, I’m not going to cry about it. That was the old Faith. I’m turning over a new leaf—opening a new chapter in my life, but first things first.

  Even though I knew it was destructive behavior, I broke into my emergency stash of Hershey kisses I kept shoved in the back of the freezer—and ate about three quarters of the bag before I caved. Then I cried. I cried all night long, dammit. I was so close.

  JOE

  “Hands off, Sophia.” Would the night never end? I actually avoided round one by showing up late, but I wound up seeing Vaughn’s johnson at the end, and that’s not something that’ll leave my mind for some time. Introduce yourself to some clippers, man! Fuck, all that hair’s gross. There’s nothing wrong with a little grooming, you know? Are we going back to the seventies or what?

  But now, since Vaughn needed a little while to ‘recuperate,’ Sophia was all over me. Her perky tits bounced in my face as she tried to throw her leg over me as I sat on the couch waiting for the goddamn clock to spin its hands, getting ever closer to the morning.

  “This is ridiculous. Get off, Sophia!” I shoved at her and she fell backward onto the floor, clipping the coffee table with her hip on the way down. As much as I abhorred that woman, I felt awful. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

  She looked up at me with crocodile tears squeezing out of her eyes. I knew she wasn’t hurt that badly. “I can’t believe you did that!” She rubbed her hip and continued down to her pussy, still wet with her juices. “Now you can make it up to me,” she purred.

  I stood up and walked over to the window, pulling the curtain aside to see rain pelting the glass. Sophia walked up behind me and slid her hand around to cup my balls. Her surprised intake of breath was satisfying. I wasn’t even a little bit hard. Not only was I not turned on, but I was honestly disgusted with the whole evening.

  “Come on, man. Give her your cock until I’m ready to go again. It’s what the lady paid for.”

  I batted her hand away an
d turned on Vaughn. Blue jeans covered his shit now, thank God. A shirt would have been nice too, but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess. “No, Vaughn. What the lady paid for was an escort for the evening. I’m not a prostitute. If I have sex with a client, it’s because we’ve both agreed to it.”

  “Why wouldn’t you want to fuck that?” Vaughn widened his legs a bit more from his seat on the couch and opened his arms to Sophia. He was about ready for the next round.

  Sophia walked past me, spreading herself wide for Vaughn on the same coffee table she’d hit her hip on. Without another word, he unzipped his pants and stuck his mouth on her pussy.

  “You’re really good at that, Vaughn. Joe, come give me a cock to suck on.”

  I didn’t even bother answering. I just left them to their business and walked into her bedroom. When her screams sounded too real to my ears, I peeked out to see a disturbing sight.

  Sophia was bound at her ankles and wrists as Vaughn whipped her with a cat of nine tails. He was slapping her so hard there was a thin trail of blood running down her ass. “More. I need more, Vaughn!”

  “Jesus, Vaughn. Stop!” While I wanted nothing to do with her anymore, I couldn’t stand to see a woman beat. Surely, she didn’t want to be beat like that.

  Vaughn didn’t even hear me, he just slapped her hard again, and she loved it. Now, I’m all for a little rough play. I don’t mind leaving my hand print on a girl’s ass if she liked that, but this was way over the line for me. I walked over to grab Vaughn’s hand at the same time he dropped the whip and plowed himself into Sophia’s ass. She came instantly and he quickly followed. Fuck my life. I swear, I’m never watching porn again. Wait—I take that back, never is a really long time.

  When she was done calling out Vaughn’s name, but still pushing herself back against his cock, Sophia spoke the most beautiful words I’d ever heard. “You can go, Joe. Vaughn is all the man I need tonight.” Then she ruined it. “I’ll be seeing you again, though.”

  I couldn’t suppress my sneer, as I replied, “No, you won’t. I’m done. I’m not going to be an escort anymore.”