by Candice Dow
Not only that, in order for the transaction to be legal, I would have to contractually give him a percentage in Unleashed. All my blood, sweat, and tears had gone into Unleashed and it was finally becoming lucrative; I wasn’t about to give him half. I offered him a percentage on all future bookings, but he was adamant about the percentage in the company. I wasn’t going to let that happen. He was the one who had taught me to be careful with how you dish out percentages of your company.
I loved Thorne and I respected him, but this was baffling. He’d never seemed shady to me, but I felt like he was trying to bully me. He implied that without him I would be nothing but a dog walker. His attorney called me daily to work the situation out, but I was not interested. If Thorne wanted to present something sensible to me, we could talk. A part of me thought that he would try to take me down, and maybe he did try, but from what I discovered, clients are loyal as long as you offer a quality product.
His demands began right after I purchased a new home in Cheverly. When I called him to share the news, he suggested that he hadn’t thought I could manage recruiting, booking, and retaining this long. I think he knew I was surviving, but the thought that I was thriving obviously bothered him. Suddenly he deserved so much when he hadn’t cared for over a year. I’d carried the load when he bailed out. I was the one dealing with all the stress. My phone was always ringing and my inbox was always full. And that wasn’t a result of Thorne’s transitioning the business responsibly; it was because I was determined not to sink.
Although we’d been in conflict, I still loved Thorne and felt like I owed him a lot, but I couldn’t just let him rape me financially. The situation with him was probably the only thing that brought me to tears frequently. As I sat in my office at Unleashed, I stared at my phone, thinking that I should call Thorne and squash this and hash out the right numbers that would make everyone happy. My phone buzzed. It was a text message request for a biracial German chick I had recruited about a year before. It had been weeks since she’d called me or accepted a job. Thorne was always good about stopping by if he hadn’t talked to you in a while. I was losing track. But after several requests for Taina, I decided to hunt her down. She was a twenty-two-year-old model who had come to the States at the age of eighteen to strike it rich. She had everything to make it in the modeling business. She was almost six feet, rail-thin, with a unique-looking face and long curly brown hair, but still she wasn’t getting enough gigs to pay the bills. She did a lot of pro bono work so she didn’t want to commit to a full-time job, so she had been the perfect candidate to respond to the Craigslist ad.
When I met Taina I knew it would only be a matter of days before she’d be willing to sign up. There was just something free-spirited about her. As usual, I took her out to dinner and proposed escorting, and without any convincing she asked how soon she could have her first hookup.
Taina was a dream call girl. She didn’t require a bunch of glam work; she was sexually free and willing to take on the kinkier clients. She had been making me a lot of money in her short time. I would definitely have given her the most valuable player award. So not hearing from her slightly concerned me. I tried calling her again. The phone kept jumping to voice mail. Finally I decided to pop up at her home.
I stood outside her apartment for nearly fifteen minutes, hoping she would show. Just as I walked out of her building I saw her strolling down the street looking like she’d lost her best friend. I had to jump into therapist mode. I could honestly say that every girl who worked for me had some type of issue. I guess that’s what made them prime candidates for the job. I always joked with myself, thinking, I wonder what my issue was. We can’t see ourselves from the outside, so I would probably never know the answer.
I stood there waiting for her to cross the street. When she noticed me she looked the other way and began walking fast. I darted out into traffic, practically chasing after her. “Taina. I just want to talk to you.”
When I caught up to her I was out of breath. “Girl, why are you running from me?”
“London, I’m sorry.”
“If you don’t want to do this anymore it’s fine, but I just came by to make sure you were okay.”
She sighed. “I’m not okay.”
I hadn’t been ready for that. I had assumed she had just quit, but the thought that there was actually something wrong scared me.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“By a boyfriend, I hope,” I said, praying that was the situation.
“No, a client.”
My heart beat rapidly as I stood there thinking. Most girls I’d known who had inadvertently gotten pregnant on the job had never thought twice about it. They always got abortions, but the fact that she was standing there in front of me looking bewildered confirmed that wasn’t in her plan.
“And you want to have the baby?”
“Yes.”
“Who is the client?”
“Ervin Calhoun.”
My stomach sank and left a bubble trapped in my throat. He was a Washington move maker, an assistant director of the Federal Finance Commission. This wasn’t a good look.
“Taina, I know that you probably think this is the best idea, but you don’t want a baby by a married man. And you’re not even his mistress. He’s been paying you for sex.”
It had begun to drizzle, and before she could answer I asked her if we could walk over to her place. She agreed. As we walked, she said, “We are in love.”
I rolled my eyes, because so often in this profession women get confused. Just because a man requests you multiple times a week doesn’t mean he’s in love. It just means that he likes sleeping with you and because he’s paying he doesn’t owe you an explanation. He pays for the convenience. Certainly it’s not love. Understanding that she was dealing with some hormones and emotions, I decided not to go hard. Instead I said, “So, you both are in love or are you the only one in love?”
“He’s told me that he loves me too.”
“Have you told him you’re pregnant?”
“No, I’m scared. I don’t know what he’ll say.”
As we entered her apartment, I felt I had to be honest with her. “Taina, these men are just clients. You can’t fall in love with them. Most of them are married men and they aren’t going to leave their wives and family for a call girl.”
“But he told me he would.”
“Taina.” I gave her an exasperated look. “Trust me, he won’t. He’s up to be the next director of the Federal Finance Commission. If they dig up that he’s left his wife for a call girl, he won’t get the job. And what I’ve found after nearly seven years in the business, men want power. He’s not giving up his power for a call girl. He can find another.”
She began to cry from my harsh words. I stood up to hug her. There was no way I could be easy on her. She had to understand that abortion was the only option. It was just that simple: Call girl and love should never be in the same sentence. While a client may like you a lot, he could never love you.
“But he told me he loved me.”
“Well, tell him about the baby and let’s see what he says then.”
She pulled away from me. “I tried to call him at work but he told me he’d have to call me later.”
“You know you’re not allowed to contact your clients directly. That’s my job.”
“We were in a relationship.”
Basically she was letting me know that they had already been violating the rules. She had been seeing him for free and confusing work with romance. This was an ugly mess and I could see that there was nothing I could say to convince this dumb girl that this was a bad move.
“Well, listen, Taina, really think about this before you contact him again. And trust me when I tell you that you don’t want this. You don’t want to bring a child into the world under these circumstances. Have you thought about adoption?”
“No, I want my baby.”
Ugh. She had a hard head. I
was trying to save her from rejection, but she was convinced. Some people have to figure things out on their own. I said, “Listen, I don’t know how you plan to make this work, but I don’t want my name involved in this. You and Ervin will need to figure out how you’re going to keep this private.”
I stood up. See, here’s why this is a man’s job. Thorne would have been able to tell her from his perspective and maybe she would have listened, but from me she wasn’t hearing it.
The situation was the perfect reason to call Thorne and segue into resolving our issue. I still needed him. I sent a text message asking if he could meet for lunch and he agreed. When we sat down for lunch, Thorne could tell by the look on my face that something wasn’t right.
He grabbed my hand. “You ready to discuss my proposal?”
“Thorne, we are definitely going to work something out. You deserve a percentage. I’m just not sure you should get it from Unleashed. Maybe I will create a subsidiary company and we can work it out that way.”
He smiled. “Wow, you were soaking it all up.”
“I guess, but that’s not why I’m here.”
“So what is it that you want to talk about?”
“One of the girls is pregnant by Ervin Calhoun.”
He wiped the sweat from under his glasses. He looked at me and shook his head. “That’s not good.”
“Who are you telling? And she’s talking about having the baby.”
“Are you serious?”
“I told her to keep my name out of this mess.”
“It’s not that simple, London. You can’t just walk away from this. You have to make sure she keeps her head on straight.”
“What else can I do? She claims they’re in love.”
He nodded. “That’s typical.”
“So what can I do?”
“Whatever you can to keep it from spilling out into the media.”
Thorne suggested that I appease Taina and convince her that maybe Ervin did love her, but that if she loved him like she claimed she did, she wouldn’t want to ruin him by demanding he leave his wife. I decided to tell her that he would eventually leave, but that now was not the time. Thorne didn’t want her to retaliate because of rejection. He also suggested I hire a personal security guard.
“Why?”
“London, you don’t want to play around with this one. Trust me.”
“Is there someone that you trust to protect me?”
He promised he’d give the guy my information. He continued, “Now go back over there and make sure you get this girl’s mind right.”
I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to deal with the drama, but I headed back over there. When I got there I knocked and knocked to no avail. Finally I left and headed back to Unleashed. I figured I’d stop by on my way home.
29
When I turned the key to my house, it dawned on me that I forgot to go back and check on Taina. I quickly pulled my cell phone out as I opened the door and walked in, turning on the light in the living room. I grabbed the television remote from the coffee table. I noticed that things were rearranged on the table. I wondered for a minute if I’d switched things around and I slowly backed away.
Usually Bruno was at the door before I could even open it. It was quite strange that I didn’t hear his paws pitter-patting anxiously through the house. I yelled, “Bruno. Mommy’s home.”
Suddenly I felt a huge arm wrap around my neck and I was lifted off my feet. I tried kicking and fighting. My cell phone was still in my hand so in the hysteria I tried to dial. My assailant grabbed the phone from my hand and threw it. I saw the phone hit the wall and break into pieces. I tried scratching and biting, but I felt myself losing oxygen. So I just stopped. If this intruder wanted to kill me, he was big and strong enough to do so. He carried me into the basement and threw me on the hard ceramic floor. I looked up, and Ervin Calhoun was seated in front of me with two other big, muscular men standing beside him. While I was certainly scared, it now made sense why these men were in my house.
Ervin spoke first. “I got a call from my wife today and she told me a young lady was at our door and she wanted to speak to me.
“I couldn’t imagine that. So I asked her name and she tells me it’s Taina. She claims she is irate and demanding to speak to me. I tell my wife to call the cops and have this young lady removed. And she does. But now I have to explain to my wife why she was there.” He shook his head. “Not cool. Not cool at all.
“So I decide to call Ms. Taina after she’s removed from my house and she tells me she’s pregnant by me and having my baby.”
Aside from my heavy breathing, the room was silent. Finally he spoke: “I booked this girl through you. It’s your job to protect my privacy. So if you don’t handle her and make her go away, I’m coming back. And if I have to come back, you may as well say that I’ll be the only one walking out of here.”
“I will handle her, I promise.”
“I know you will. Just know that next time I’ll handle more than just the dog.”
“Where’s my dog?”
“I took care of him,” he said.
“Took care of him!” I screamed. “Where is Bruno?”
“Look, I need you to know that I’m not playing with you. Like I said, we took care of him, and if I have to come back, we’ll be taking care of you.”
He stood up and said to the man who’d carried me into the basement, “Keep her down here until we’re gone.”
“I got it.”
After they closed the back door the man let me go, and on his way up the stairs, he said, “The dog died slow.”
I screamed, “No! No!”
He continued up the stairs and I ran behind him. “Where is my dog? Where is he?”
He pushed me back down the stairs and I tried to control the fall. I heard him close the back door and then I ran out to the backyard. Bruno was lying at the bottom of the stairs stiff. I ran down and held him in my arms, crying uncontrollably. “Bruno! Bruno!” I cried.
I ran back into my house with my dead dog in my arms. I rushed to the phone and it was dead. They’d obviously cut the wires from outside. I went over to piece my cell phone together. It was impossible. I was running back and forth. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. This girl’s stupidity had my dog murdered and put my safety at risk. I was angry with her and I didn’t know how to get rid of her, but all I knew was I had to. I thought about going to a neighbor’s house, but decided against it. All I knew was that I needed to talk to Thorne. I wasn’t equipped to handle this, but I knew he was. I wanted out. I was lonely and scared. I didn’t know what to do with Bruno. Finally I decided to place him in a box and carry him back to the backyard until I could figure out what I was doing.
I rushed out of the house and drove down Wisconsin Avenue, searching for a cell phone store but afraid to get out of my car. Finally I saw an AT&T store and went in to purchase a phone. I was jittery and anxious as I stood there waiting for them to activate the phone. Finally I got back in my car to call Thorne and it must have been the grace of God that he was available.
“Thorne.”
“I already know. He came here first.”
“He says he’s going to kill me if I don’t get rid of this girl.”
“I know. But don’t worry. We’ll get rid of her.”
“How? I’m not down for hurting anybody.”
“First you’re going to have to try to make her go quietly. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to use force.”
“Force?”
“Just do what I tell you to do and we’ll be fine. A man by the name of Ramon, a bodyguard, will be calling you momentarily. He’s going to be with you every step of the way and I’ll be guiding you.”
My heart was still pounding. I said, “Yes.”
“He’ll meet you wherever you need him to, right now. He’s not cheap. He’ll be about three thousand a week.”
“Okay. That’s fine.”
I needed to go to Taina’s h
ouse. I wasn’t sure if they’d been there or not. I asked Ramon to meet me in the city a block from there. When I pulled up he was standing on the corner looking like a Secret Service representative. I wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be incognito or what, but clearly he looked like he was there for protection. He was a little over six feet tall, with a clean-shaven face and a short haircut.
When he got in the car, I introduced myself again. “Hi, I’m London. Thank you for meeting me.”
“No problem. Just want to let you know up front, I’ve done private security for everyone ranging from celebrities to athletes to politicians. So I know what you’re dealing with and you don’t have to worry. I know how they play, but I play harder.”
I liked his confidence and I needed that. I felt better with him in the car. We found parking close to Taina’s apartment, and I was looking over my shoulder as we walked to her place.
I’d called ahead so that she’d be waiting for us. She was in tears as she opened up. I reached out to hug her when we walked in. She looked like she was scared of Ramon.
“He’s okay. He’s here to protect us.”
Ramon found a seat and I ushered Taina over to her bar stools. “Taina, this is serious. There were men in my house when I got home. Ervin is not playing with us. He doesn’t want this baby, nor does he want to see you again. And if you love him like you claim, you wouldn’t want to ruin his life.”
“But he’s ruining mine.”
“You don’t have to have this baby.”
“I love him, though. I want his baby.”
“But you do understand that it’s not in the best interest of anyone involved. You’ll ruin his career. He’ll lose everything. Are you prepared for that?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t think you’re prepared for the media frenzy that will occur if you go on with this.”