The Deal

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “I’m so happy for you, Isabella. This is really exciting. Is there a catch at all to him asking you to stay with him?”

  “You are always thinking the worst of people Abby. Why can’t you just be happy for me?”

  “I am. You know I am. I just can’t figure out why he would spend so much money on someone he just met. Did you sleep with him?”

  Isabella was right about one thing; I did always think the worst of people. It was a flaw that I knew I had, but eventually, people lived up to what I thought of them, so I always justified my negative feelings.

  I hated that I thought so negatively of people and secretly I wished I could be more like Isabella and see the good in people. She always seemed so damn happy, and I couldn’t imagine going through life feeling that happy.

  “Abby! Seriously! I didn’t get paid to sleep with him if that is what you’re suggesting.”

  “No, I’m sorry Isabella, that’s not what I meant. I just thought maybe he was really appreciative of your fantastic moves.”

  We both laughed. Isabella did rave about her skills in the bedroom on a pretty consistent basis. It was commonplace for a guy to buy here things, just not such expensive things.

  “That’s how I get them addicted,” she said through her laughter.

  I decided it was probably best to leave the conversation alone for the time being. I really had no proof that anything weird was going on at all. Perhaps Theo and Jack were just rich playboys who liked to throw their money around to impress women. It certainly could be as simple as that.

  “Let’s order, I’m starving!” I said as we looked through the breakfast menu.

  “I am too,” Isabella said as she winked at me.

  “Oh, you definitely slept with him.”

  We talked and made plans for the future like we had never really done before. The idea of having a little financial security was fun. Isabella talked about buying her own apartment and letting me stay with her. I discussed inviting my sisters to come stay with us from Kansas. It was fun to imagine what life would be like with the four of us together.

  “So tell me about your guy,” Isabella finally got around to asking.

  I certainly wasn’t going to tell her everything that had happened. My last few days were remarkably similar to hers, and I didn’t want to make her worry about Jack and his intentions toward her.

  “He was really sweet. I’m actually going to dinner with him again tonight. So I’ll probably stay over,” I said with a wink.

  “You’re a dirty girl Abigail Tessaro. I love it!”

  “I’m not a dirty girl. I’m a good girl who likes to do dirty things,” I said as we both laughed.

  In our relationship, I was by far the good girl, but that was why we got along so well. I could pull Isabella back in when she got too wild, and she could pull me out when I tried to isolate myself. It was the perfect Yin and Yang for our lifestyle.

  The one thing I had never imagined, though, was what would happen when one of us met a man they wanted to stay with. Would the other keep going out to the clubs alone? That wasn’t very safe. Or would we stay with the other at their new boyfriend’s house? It had never even been a question on my radar until we met Theo and Jack. But there was a new possibility; what if we both met a guy and became happy all at the same time? That was surely the best possible result I could hope for.

  “You have fun with Theo. From what Jack tells me, Theo is a really good guy, and you’ll be lucky to land him. Jack says Theo has been looking to settle down in life. Maybe even get married and have babies. Wouldn’t that be amazing if you found a nice, good-looking, rich guy to marry? Talk about Cinderella story.”

  “He was really nice. But you know I don’t mix well with relationships.”

  “Abby, you can’t be a jerk to this guy and push him away. Don’t start making stories up in your head and reasons why you think he’s not right for you. Promise me you will, at least, give him a real chance. Promise you will not pick a fight with him and break things off over something that hasn’t even happened yet.”

  Isabella knew me so well. The last guy I had started to get close to was big on Wall Street. He was a sweet guy. Totally attentive to me and never asked for anything in return. I had stayed with him a couple weeks, and it was the closest I had to a real relationship in a long time. But when he officially invited me to live with him, I couldn’t handle it. I started a fight with him about how he just wanted a woman who would be barefoot and pregnant in his kitchen when he came home from working 80 hours a week.

  It wasn’t the truth, and I knew it. The guy did want to have a family and did work a lot, but he had never made such misogynistic comments. He was a kind-hearted man and much too good for me. It was probably better for him that I had left. Now, he would be free to find a woman who could really love him.

  “I’ll do my best,” I told Isabella as we prepared to say goodbye.

  “I’m only a call away. Let’s take a couple days and see what might come of our two new guys. Call me if you need to crash at Jack’s house. It will be no problem at all.”

  “Thanks. I’ll call you for sure.”

  “Remember to give Theo a chance, though. Don’t push him away. Try just going with things for a little bit and see how they turn out.”

  “I promise to give him a chance.”

  I decided to walk back to Theo’s apartment as I tried to process everything that was running through my head. It was entirely possible that I was pushing him away because I was afraid. Theo was a really nice guy, and he hadn’t done anything to make me suspicious of him. The facts were simply that I had seen some envelopes passed to him. I didn’t know for sure what was in them and certainly didn’t know if he was selling drugs or something else.

  My active imagination had all kinds of ways for explaining the envelopes that Theo had taken, but I hadn’t thought about actually asking him what was in the envelopes. Perhaps before I blew things too far out of proportion, I should talk to Theo.

  When I got to his apartment, I knocked and waited to see if someone came to the door. Kimberly answered, and she looked much better than the last time I saw her.

  “Oh, hey, I heard you would be stopping by,” Kimberly said as she opened the door to let me in. “Sorry, I look so horrible.”

  “You look good. How are you feeling?”

  “Like I got ran over by a truck.”

  “Well, you look like you’re on the mend, at least.”

  “I was just about to lay down for a nap. I hope you don’t mind, but the medications I’m taking make me so tired. I promise we can talk more when I get up.”

  “Oh, yes. Go take a nap. I can keep myself amused just fine.”

  Kimberly returned to her bedroom, and I found a spot on the couch and flipped the television on. It had been a long time since I was alone in a living room with a television. I hardly remembered how great it was just to relax and enjoy some mind-numbing court dramas.

  Theo’s apartment was impeccably styled, and it made me wish I had the ability to design things. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the best at pairing objects together and making things match. I was much better at the eclectic style. Even my daily outfits were picked more based on what I had that was clean than on any particular style.

  Just as I had started to get comfortable, there was a knock on the door. I looked toward Kimberly’s room expecting she would come out and get it, but then I decided it was up to me. I hustled to the door and looked through the peephole to see another stunningly beautiful woman. It was starting to bug me just a little bit how many stunningly beautiful women hung around Theo on a regular basis.

  “Hi, Kimberly?” The woman asked as she handed me an envelope before I could refute that I was Kimberly. “Tell Theo that I’d love to see that guy again anytime.”

  The woman turned and started to walk away.

  “What was your name?” I said as my voice cracked. “So I can tell Theo.”
>
  “It’s Paula,” she hollered back at me while she continued walking down the hall.

  Paula had on a very expensive looking dress and a pair of heels that I wouldn’t even dare try to walk in. She looked like she was a rich socialite. Her long brown hair was close to my length, and she had her makeup done to perfection.

  The envelope wasn’t sealed or anything so I flipped the top of it open and looked inside. There was a very large stack of $100 bills in there. I didn’t bother to count them. Did it really matter how many thousands of dollars the woman was bringing to Theo? No, the real question had to be why so many gorgeous women liked to hand Theo envelopes full of money. I placed the white envelope on the kitchen counter and went back to watching television while I waited for Theo.

  I had to figure out just why these women were so willing to give up thousands and thousands of dollars to Theo. Of course, my mind was working a million miles a minute as I tried to figure out the mystery. I had probably watched one too many crime dramas though because each thought that came into my head had to do with drugs, crime, and murder. I really couldn’t think of any other reason for that much cash to be changing hands.

  Somewhere between watching television and playing out my own crime drama in my head, I fell asleep. When I woke up, Theo was sitting next to me on the couch and watching the crime show I had on the TV.

  “Women who watch crime shows always scare me. I feel like they are learning tips to murder someone without being caught.”

  “Oh, yeah. I could totally make you disappear,” I teased him.

  There were so many questions in my mind, but as Theo sat there next to me, I didn’t want to ruin it. The words of Isabella played over and over in my mind, and I didn’t want to push him away just because of my suspicions. I did my best to bite my tongue and not make a comment about what I saw inside the envelope that Paula had dropped off.

  “I’ll try to behave myself so you don’t want to get rid of me,” Theo said as he leaned down and gently let his lips touch mine.

  His gentle lips made my body tingle all over. Theo’s hand wrapped around me as he leaned over me and continued to press his lips against mine. Our tongues thrust into each other’s mouths and what had started as a sweet little kiss quickly turned into something much more erotic.

  “There’s an envelope on the counter from a girl named Paula,” I said, pulling away from his kiss.

  I will never quite know why I always felt the need to ruin a good thing. What was going on between Theo and I was so beautiful, yet all I wanted to do was ruin it. It was like I didn’t want my own happiness at all.

  “Oh, great,” Theo said as he tried to go right back to kissing me.

  I should have just gone with it. My head told me not to say anything. I normally listened to my head. I normally didn’t let my heart control what I did, but in a moment of weakness, I felt my heart pounding and demanding to know why Theo was getting envelopes full of money from beautiful women.

  Just keep quiet Abby.

  Unfortunately, the words came out of my mouth before my brain could stop them. It was a common problem I had and one that I had always struggled with.

  “Why do you keep getting envelopes full of cash?”

  Theo sat up and right away, and I could tell the mood had totally changed. I regretted even bringing it up, but the words were out already, and there wasn’t anything I could do.

  “What do you mean by ‘keep getting’?” Theo asked.

  “I saw that woman give you an envelope in Vegas and then when we went to dinner also. Now someone is dropping off an envelope full of cash here. Are you a drug dealer?”

  Instead of being angry with me, Theo started to laugh. Something that I had said was amusing to him; I just didn’t know exactly what it was that had made him laugh.

  “No, Abigail, I’m not a drug dealer.”

  “Okay, then what?”

  “What am I?”

  “Yes, normal people don’t have beautiful women handing them stacks of cash.”

  Theo jumped from the couch, grabbed the envelope and then handed it to me. I sat up on the couch and looked at him in utter bewilderment. Why was he giving me the money? What did he want me to do with it?

  “Here, you take it. Use it to help your sisters.”

  “No. I don’t want your drug money,” I said as I handed it back to him.

  “See there, right there. A beautiful woman just handed me a stack of cash. That didn’t seem all that unusual now did it?”

  “Are you saying those women were just giving you your own money back?”

  “No, what I’m saying is in my world cash gets handed around like nothing at all. Someday, we can talk more about it. But I just don’t want you to worry about it. I can promise you one thing for sure; I am not a drug dealer.”

  Theo leaned down and gently kissed me again. This time, I decided to go with it. He hadn’t gotten angry at me for asking about the money, and he didn’t seem defensive about it at all. Perhaps Isabella was right. Perhaps I did like to just make my relationships into disasters. I didn’t really understand the restaurant or gym business; perhaps there was a lot of cash involved.

  Chapter 14

  THEO

  She was a smart girl; I had to give her that much, at least. But I wasn’t about to spill my guts and tell her my whole history yet. I was enjoying my time with Abby way too much. Her sweet smile and the way her big blue eyes looked at me; I just didn’t want to disappoint her. I wanted to be that man I could see in her eyes.

  In Abby’s eyes, I was someone incredible, I could see it. I couldn’t stand the idea of losing that vision from her. I liked thinking of myself that way, and it was the whole reason I was trying to get out of the escort business altogether. I was pushing 40 years old, and it was time for me to decide what I really wanted out of life. Money was great, but companionship and a future was much more important to me.

  As my lips pressed against hers, I knew I needed to keep her with me until her date with Aldo. I had to win her over before he had a chance to swoop in. I had hoped our trip to Las Vegas would have done the trick, but I could feel the trepidation in her kiss. Abby wanted to know me more, and she wasn’t going to put down her guard until she did.

  “Should we go see a movie tonight?” I asked as I pulled away from her.

  “A movie?”

  “Yeah, I love going to the movies. Let’s go see one.”

  Abby looked puzzled as she sat up and looked at me. I didn’t know why going to the movies seemed like something unusual for me to do. I had always loved the movies, ever since I was a child. But in New York City, there were so many other things to do that I didn’t get to just enjoy a film very often.

  “You struck me as more of a Broadway kind of guy.”

  “Oh, I like the theater too. But I love the movies. It doesn’t even matter to me what the movie is, I just love watching them. You are transported into that world and for that brief two hours, it is your reality.”

  “Then let’s go,” Abby said as she jumped up and grabbed her things. “I’ve got just the movie for us to see. You really don’t care what it is?”

  Her question made me a little nervous. I wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting at. Hopefully, she didn’t want to see something totally outrageous. But the truth was that I just wanted to spend time with her so, yes, I was willing to see any movie.

  “Within reason, I’m not a big fan of blood and guts, I guess.”

  “I’m excited,” Abby said, pulling me toward the elevator. “The Traveling Shoes is a movie I’ve wanted to see since I first saw the previews.”

  I laughed out loud as she said the movie title. Surely there couldn’t actually be a movie that was titled The Traveling Shoes. That seemed like a horribly odd movie for sure. But I didn’t really care, I just wanted to spend time with Abby, and if she wanted to see the movie, I was sure it would be just fine.

  When we made it to
the theater, I could tell right away the type of movie we were going to see. It was similar to Steel Magnolias and other female multigenerational films. A young girl is stuck traveling with her mother and undergoes an awakening and growing up. I actually didn’t mind those movies at all, but I figured it would sound weird if I admitted that to Abby, so I pretended just a touch.

  “So out of all the movies in this entire theater, this is the one you want to see?” I asked as we waited in line.

  “Yep.”

  “You wouldn’t rather see Terminator Locked and Loaded?”

  “Nope.”

  “How about Laughter and my Sister’s Sister In-law?”

  “Nope. I thought you said you liked all movies?”

  “Up until this very moment, I could say that with full honesty, but after we see this movie, I might have to think of a new slogan for my movie going.”

  “I think you’re going to like the movie. You might even shed a little tear if you aren’t careful,” Abby teased me.

  “There is no way this girly movie is going to have me crying. Even if I like it, I won’t be tearful, I can promise you that much.”

  “We will just have to wait and see,” she said with a huge smile.

  We found our seats and still had a few minutes before the movie started. It was the perfect time to talk with Abby a little more about Aldo. I didn’t dare speak bad about the man, but I certainly needed her to know that he wasn’t exactly who she thought he was. Aldo was much more dangerous than I was, and Abby really did have to be careful around him.