by Angela Blake
Madame Sauri clasped her hands in her lap. “Why we get into this business Clo?”
Claudia shrugged as she sloshed the drink around the cup. “I don’t know, Sauri. I guess we each have our reasons. Whether it’s us or one of the other girls. They may not make sense, and if they do, maybe we shouldn’t be here, yet here we are.”
Madame Sauri nodded thoughtfully. “Is true. You wise girl, Clo. Should consider accepting offer for your virginity someday. Is good money. Could get you out of here.”
Claudia laughed. “Why would I want to get out of here, Sauri? I came to you, remember? I sought you out, and I want to be here.”
Madame Sauri cocked her head to the side and examined her as if she were some type of rare bird. “So you say. I no get you, Clo. You are strange girl, but you are hard worker.”
Claudia raised her glass. “I’ll drink to that.”
Madame Sauri eyed her speculatively before she clinked her glass against hers and gulped the whole drink in one swallow.
***
Tw0 hours later, Claudia wandered down the barely lit hallway that smelled strongly of heavy perfume and kept one hand on the walls to keep from toppling over. She was sure she shouldn’t have had so much to drink, but as always with Sauri she couldn’t help herself. The two women had next to nothing common, but somehow they bonded over the fact that life had handed them both a crappy pair of cards.
Sauri with her abusive husband, and his incessant blows that eventually made her unable to carry any children which was the final nail in the coffin that was their marriage, and Claudia because of a past she couldn’t seem to escape, no matter how far she ran.
She had shed her skin so many times, changed locations, she even tried changing her appearance from blonde to brunette, but nothing she did was ever enough to bury the hole inside her heart. A hole that at times felt big enough to house the Titanic.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to outrun her past forever, but for now, she was as far away from it, in theory, as she possibly could be. She was still in her hometown, but she was doing the last thing anybody would ever expect her to be doing. She was sure they wouldn’t come looking for her here, in a gentleman’s club of all places.
With her business degree, and her eloquent French, this was the last place anybody would think to look, and that’s exactly why Claudia picked it. She stumbled towards her room and began snickering to herself at the thought of what 16 year old her would say if she could her right now.
Working at a gentleman’s club, and as co-owner, no less. The idea may not have been hers, but when she showed Madame Sauri all the things she needed to do to attract more customers, and stay within the confines of the law, business took off so fast, Sauri insisted on making her a partner. She was genuinely touched by that.
It wasn’t why she had come here in the first place, but she figured it couldn't hurt. The more distance she put between her and her past self, the better. She groped around for the light switch and flinched as it danced across her field of vision.
With that warm, fuzzy feeling in her stomach, Claudia clumsily lurched forward and began to curse her inability to get the zipper down. Sometimes, she wished she had a roommate, but Sauri insisted that she deserved her own room with a private bathroom, and her own sweet set up.
It was fun at first having all of this to herself, but soon the glitz and the glamor wore off, and all she was left with was the deafening silence of a room that never truly felt like hers because of the over top décor, and the colors that bled into each other causing an angry clash of bright purple and red. Personally, she would’ve preferred softer colors, something that brought out the peaceful energy within her.
“Bloody zipper.” She squinted her eyes and bit down hard on her bottom lip in concentration until she finally heard the tell-tale swoosh of the zipper being pulled down. She grinned triumphantly as the dress fell into a heap on the floor. She stepped out of the dress and sighed as she touched her lip and saw a smear of red splattered across her finger.
She made her way to the bureau and grabbed a tissue and pressed it hard to her lips. The unexpectedly mundane gesture reminded her of her father. An English doctor who had a love for classic novels, cigars and old black and white movies. At first glance, he seemed oddly mismatched with her mum who was a designer in Paris and kept up with all the latest movies. Their eyes met across the room at a party one day, and somehow it didn’t seem to matter that they came from two totally different worlds.
Growing up, Claudia believed in their love, and her little sister used to make fun of her whenever she would say that she wanted a marriage like that. She supposed that at her age, Elizabeth was too young to understand, but she still tried to teach her. That a love like theirs was rare, that them meeting each other like that was meant to happen.
Claudia frowned as she stared at herself in the mirror and watched as she touched her honey blonde hair. She had her mother’s hair, defined cheekbones, and her shapely thighs, but she had dad’s caramel colored eyes, lips, and his forehead. Whenever she looked at herself in the mirror, she was reminded of them in a way that was almost too painful to contemplate.
She shook her head as she turned away from the mirror and headed towards her closet. She smiled for no particular reason thinking that she really did quite enjoy the buzz that came after enjoying one too many drinks. She put her shoes back where they belonged, and managed to fumble into a pair of sweatpants and a shirt.
She huffed as she tried to pull the shirt down only to realize that she was trying to put it on upside down. She began to giggle hysterically, the sounds of her laughter echoing in her empty chambers until her laughter died down, and she seemed to sober up almost instantly.
“I miss you, all of you,” she said under her breath. “It’s not fair what happened, I know, and I know I could’ve dealt with things a lot better, but I can’t change that now. All I know is, I can’t go back. I hope you understand.”
She flopped onto the bed without bothering to fix her shirt, and with one hand splayed across the bed, and the other across her face, she drifted off into a deep nostalgic sleep.
Chapter Two
Claudia tried not to scowl as she made it through the usual morning check up with the girls. They usually spent the morning off, doing whatever their heart desires so long as they were back on time. Usually, Claudia and Sauri would check and make sure that everything was in order before they do. They had to make sure the girls were properly fed, well clothed, and groomed at all times.
They had very few rules at La Chambre De Plaisir, and what rules they did have, were meant to keep them and the women who lived here safe, and to make sure everyone got what they wanted out of the deal. It was, after all, a business, at the end of the day.
Her head felt like it was being nailed to the wall with a jack hammer while little people rummaged around for diamonds inside her skill, and she tried to ignore that as she focused on the task at hand. She had to make sure the last girl was good to go before she sent them off on the way. She sighed as she realized everything was good, and she dismissed the girls.
At 26, Claudia still kept in shape, and her French genes definitely helped her maintain that willowy figure that she was sure she would lose once she gave up tennis. Somehow, though she hadn’t. She still moved with the grace and finesse of an athlete which often drew the attention of many men in the room, but she never paid attention to them. Not even to flirt.
She was very conscious of the way she acted around men, lest she encouraged them, and in a place like this, you didn’t want to be misunderstood. There were times when she was tempted to break her vow to herself, her parents, and Andrew, but every time she thought about it, she would come down hard on that little voice inside her head and ignore it.
She was cursed, so she knew it was better to just keep her distance rather than risk going through even half of the pain she went through all over again.
Her refusal didn’
t make the men ask any less, but it sure did make them more intrigued. They all wondered about the 26-year old beauty who was half French, half English, and seemed not to have the slightest bit of interest in men. What fueled the fire even more was that she was a virgin.
A wry smile made its way to her face as she grabbed a book from her room, and made her way to the roof where she could get some peace and quiet for the next few hours as she lost herself in a book. She knew the rumors that circulated around her. That she was secretly a lesbian.
She found the rumors amusing if she were being honest, and it did keep some of the more vigorous clientele off her back, but most of them didn’t seem to care. They renewed their efforts all the time, and found new ways to pester her with their offers. It wasn’t that she wasn’t flattered. She truly was, but she just didn’t want to, and not because she wasn’t interested in men.
She was very interested, and the reason she was a virgin wasn’t for lack of trying either. It had nothing to do with that. It had to do with a secret that she had kept close to her heart for many years. A secret that felt like poison unfurling in her veins, shooting throughout her system and taking hold as it seeped through into her core.
She stopped in front of the heavy wooden door and grunted as the door creaked with the weight of being pushed open. She smiled as the first blast of fresh air hit her squarely in the face, and she inhaled deeply and sighed. She liked the smell of New York.
She knew a lot of people were bothered by it, the way it didn’t have a distinct smell like a lot of places, but she loved all the many different smells that intermingled together to form something else entirely. A smell that embodied everything her beloved New York represented.
She felt the sun beat on her back, and she rolled her arms back, attempting to let the tension slide off of her in waves as she headed towards the small hammock she kept up here for moments like this.
She kicked off her flip flops and hopped onto the hammock and shut her eyes. She felt the sun shine on her face, and she allowed it to warm every inch of her being as she allowed the stress of the previous week to simply melt away.
She began to swing herself back and forth on the hammock, the rhythmic movement helped lull her into a trance-like state as all the chatter in her brain finally died down. Her eyes fluttered open a while later, and she rummaged through her bag for a book. She produced it a while later, set the water with a straw inside of it next to her, and flipped open the book.
She allowed herself a moment to admire the smooth texture of the book, and the way the words felt in her hands. As if they had a life of their own, something that could not be contained within a certain amount of pages. She smiled, a secret, content sort of smile as she allowed her eyes to travel over the expanse of the page until she remembered what part she had stopped it.
Soon, Claudia was lost in the immersive world that Diana Gabaldon had created for her characters in Outlander, and everything else faded into mere background noise.
***
Claudia sighed as she realized that she had to leave behind 17th century Scotland and get back to reality. She stared into the distance for a few minutes allowing her mind to wander as she let it reel and mull over the events of the book.
She swung her legs over the side of the hammock and slipped her flip flops back on. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, bathing the world in a halo of pink and orange. Claudia stood for a moment to admire the view, wondering how it was that the sun could paint the sky which such vivid strokes of color, yet it couldn’t infuse their mundane lives with such color. She supposed that it wasn’t so much about the actual blending of color than it was about what it represented: beauty and hope.
Those were two things that Claudia sorely lacked in her life. Not that she wasn’t surrounded by beauty day in and day out. Sure, the girls at the club were gorgeous in their own way, but she was thinking of a different kind of beauty. The kind of beauty that made you lay on your back at the beach and stare up at a night that was filled with a smattering of crystalline stars winking at you from an existence that had long since passed.
Claudia smiled ruefully to herself as she climbed down the stairs and back into the real world. She stopped by her room to drop off her book, and change into something a bit more daring for the night. She didn’t mind performing for the guys, it could actually be fun.
She slipped into a navy green, flouncy baby doll that showed off her legs, and she brushed her hair, so that it fell in loose curls down her back. She swiped on some mascara, a little blusher and red lipstick. She nodded at herself in the mirror and went off down the hallway to make sure the girls were ready for the night.
She found them all huddled in the corner of the room, giggling over something. She walked over to them, feeling a lot like a teacher at a school.
“Ladies, why are you all huddled around here giggling?”
“Claudia, haven’t you heard the news?” Chastity said as she excitedly rubbed her hands together. She could barely keep herself in check as she flounced with excitement. Chastity was one of their more popular girls. With her petite figure, dark hair, and big almond shaped eyes, she was what a lot of men liked to consider a delicate beauty. She was far from it of course, but she knew how to play to her strengths. She was also one of the funniest girls around, and one of the few people Claudia considered to be a friend besides Sauri.
“What news?” Claudia gave all the girls a once over to make sure they were all set, and then she smiled at them and nodded before she turned her attention back to Claudia.
“Archer Paisley is here,” Chastity announced amidst a series of giggles and sighs.
Claudia rolled her eyes and shook her head. Of course, they were sighing over Archer Paisley. She knew him of course. His reputation preceded him everywhere he went. He was notorious for his unusual taste even in such circles, and for leaving a trail of broken hearted women in his wake wherever he ventured.
They said he was a shrewd lawyer, one of the best, that he was as rich as they came, and that he was sexy as hell. He had been to the club before, and he normally perused the women and said nothing, but he did try to hit on Claudia once or twice. She politely turned him down every single time, but he’d still come back and be more persistent than the time before. She felt nothing but pure disdain for this man who thought he was God’s gift to women.
Sure, he was attractive. She’d have to be blind not to see that. He had shaggy brown hair, and he was tall. With his toned physique, defined cheekbones, straight nose and symmetrical lips, he had very striking features. One that could definitely land him on the cover of any major men’s magazine. It was his eyes that she liked best though.
Blue eyes the color of rain after a thunderstorm. She had never seen such eyes before.
Yes, she did find Archer Paisley very attractive, but it was his arrogance that made him decidedly unattractive whenever he was in her vicinity. Usually, she liked to admire him from afar. There was nothing wrong with that after all. However, the second he opened his mouth, and honeyed nothings came pouring forth like a speech he’d rehearsed, she’d immediately feel her revulsion start to kick in, and she’d politely excuse herself.
She had a feeling tonight was not going to be any different.
She really didn’t want to deal with him tonight, but she had no choice. “That’s interesting news, I suppose.”
“You suppose?” Chastity gasped as if she questioned whether or not the sky was blue. “Clo, it’s Archer—THE-Archer Paisley. New York’s most sought after bachelor.”
Claudia pursed her lips. “He’s also New York’s most notorious bachelor. Don’t forget that there are three sides to every story. You ought to remember that, Chas. That goes for you to ladies. I doubt Mr. Paisley is as dreamy as you think he is. Remember what kind of business this is after all.”
She could feel the collective doubt gather and form a cloud above her head. “However, there is no harm in ogling
from a distance.”
“Can we picture him naked too?” Leslie, one of the newer girls, a tall brunette asked.
“I’d rather not know that you do, but in theory sure.”
“Can we picture him in a compromising position?” One of the other girls waggled her eyebrows as the rest of the girls laughed.
Claudia began to laugh. “You can do whatever you want, ladies. I just don’t need to hear about it.”
Chapter Three
Claudia tried to keep her head in the game as she focused on getting the girls in and out on time because even though it was a gentleman’s club, they still prided themselves on being able to have at least some semblance of order around here. Generally, they were laid back and easy going, so aside from knowing when your cue was, that’s really all you had to know.
It was pretty simple, but sometimes the ladies were so caught up watching each other or gossiping, so they miss their cue. That’s where Claudia or Madame Sauri came in.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Chastity sidled up to Claudia and looked out at the audience having already finished her part in the show.
“I think they’d cost you a lot more than that,” Claudia responded, very dryly.
Chastity took her hand and slipped something in it. Claudia looked down in surprise only to find a 100 dollar crumbled up note.
“What’s this?” Claudia asked, amusement lacing her tone.
“It’s the thing called money. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s a piece of paper that coined the term monetary value. It has no real use except its baffling ability to make people kill over.”
Claudia cocked her head to the side as she pretended to consider. “I have heard of it, yes. It sounds familiar. It also has high rates in some countries, and low rates in others?”
Chastity snapped her fingers. “Bingo, you’ve got it. You can be taught.”