by Nikki Sloane
That was why she’d wanted to come. She wanted to see the moment when Blake learned what I was going to do.
“What?” I think he stopped breathing.
“Oh, yeah? What do you do again?” Amy asked. I hadn’t realized they’d rejoined the group conversation.
“Customer service,” Payton answered.
“Right.” She gave a polite nod and went back to discussing something with her coworker. She didn’t know the truth about how Payton made her living, but Blake did. This past New Year’s Eve, when Amy had gone home to Minnesota for the holidays, Blake and I had gotten sloppy drunk and spilled our guts to each other about everything.
I’d told him that Payton was a prostitute, and he’d agreed, not understanding until I explained it all in detail. He’d had a lot of questions but promised not to judge her, for me. Then, I’d told him about my repeating crush through college, and he revealed he’d felt the same.
Then the margaritas in me told him I loved him.
He didn’t say anything. Instead he kissed me ferociously, and the alcohol allowed it. We’d made out on my couch for a good twenty minutes until I stopped him. We were drunk and he had a girlfriend.
We never spoke about that night. I’m not sure if he remembered it or if he wanted to pretend it never happened, because Amy returned from her folks’ place, and a month later she moved in with him. They got serious, fast.
“Tell me she’s kidding,” Blake said, horror splashed on his face. His eyes pleaded with mine.
I swallowed hard and nodded. “It’s true.”
He stood abruptly and stormed away from the table.
“Is he all right?” Amy asked.
“He’s mad at me.” I pushed back from the table. “I’ll get him to come back.”
Blake was waiting for me in the parking lot. I hadn’t made it through the outer door, and he stalked toward me, getting in my face.
“What the fuck, Evie? Why would you do this?”
I told him about the stupid mistake and how I was doing it to save my job. I left out the part where I’d gone down on Joseph minutes after meeting him.
“It’s just a job,” Blake said. “You can get another.”
“No, I can’t, not in Chicago. Agencies talk to each other. I know where my coworkers came from and whether they left by choice or not.” I despised how shaky my voice was.
Other than a rude boss, it was my dream job, and I loved living in the city. I loved walking in a herd with other business professionals on blustery Chicago winter mornings, and escaping into an air-conditioned cab after bar hopping with Payton on steamy summer nights.
“I’ll be a senior designer by the end of the year, if not sooner,” I continued. “Even if I could go somewhere else, I’d be starting from the bottom.”
“There’s got to be another way.”
“Sure, you’ve got ten grand I can borrow?” I asked, bitterly. “It’ll only take me a decade to pay it back.”
His face changed to shock. “Jesus, it’s that much?”
I nodded, grim. “Look, I’ll be fine. It’s just sex. It’s not any worse than going home with some random guy. It’s actually safer.”
“Except you don’t do that.”
No, I didn’t. I’d never had a one-night stand. I hadn’t seen the appeal of doing something so intimate and then never speaking to them again. “Well, I guess I do now.”
He glanced over my shoulder to the window of the restaurant. Then he closed the space between us, pulling me in his arms. I shut my eyes, set my cheek against his chest, and allowed it to happen without feeling guilty. I listened to the steady, quick thud of his heartbeat.
“Please don’t do this,” he begged.
“I’m sorry,” was all I could say.
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
He pulled back, his golden eyes cloudy and dark. “Where?”
The rational part of my brain screamed not to tell him. Nothing good could come from him knowing, but I would do almost anything for him.
I told him the address. He squeezed me into a hug and brushed his lips over my forehead, the closest he could get to kissing me where I felt like he wasn’t cheating on her. I pretended my heart wasn’t hurting the rest of the night. When it was time to head home, he pulled me aside.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.
chapter
THREE
Payton pulled away from the curb and didn’t speak until we hit the traffic on Lake Shore Drive.
“Tomorrow, are you still—?” she asked.
“Yes.” It came out tight.
“You would have told him eventually,” she said. “You tell him everything. At least he got his chance to talk you out of it.”
“Oh, so that’s why you did it?”
“No.” She slammed on the brakes to keep from rear-ending the cab that cut her off. “I told him because he only wants you when he can’t have you. I thought you two were just friends.”
I’d downed my beer quickly and had loose lips. “You’re kind of being a bitch right now.”
She took her eyes off the road for a split second so she could lock them on me. “True, but you deserve so much better than that douchebag. You should be someone’s first choice, not an option they keep open on the side.”
She had a point, but it was hard to accept. I couldn’t just turn off my feelings for him, no matter how much I wanted to.
Payton dropped me off at home, promising to be back for me in the morning. She had the whole day planned out before the main event. We went to a spa. Spray tans, mani-pedis . . . anything we could do to make sure we looked as good as possible while naked, her treat. Then we went shopping.
It didn’t matter what we wore to the club. We could have shown up in sweats, but there was an unwritten rule among the ladies that you make an effort. Something you’d wear if you were going out on a hot date or to a club opening. Payton pushed me to try a shimmering, low-cut silver dress that clung to my curves, and then pulled out her credit card.
“No, Payton–”
“Shut up. I’d pay ten grand to sleep with you in that dress.”
An eerie calm washed over me at dinner, and as I geared up to leave all my inhibitions behind, I started with my words.
“I need to know why you care so much about this,” I asked Payton. “Why it’s important to you.”
Her blue eyes searched my face. “I like it. I want you to like what I like.”
I’d never known her to lie to me. “I need to know your real reason.”
“I’ll tell you, I swear.” She gave me a sad smile. “But I can’t tell you until after.”
That only increased my curiosity and skepticism. “Why? Are you getting some sort of commission off of me?”
“There is a bonus, but trust me, it has nothing to do with it.”
We each had one drink. I would have liked some more liquid courage, but respected the rules of my contract. I couldn’t afford not to. Time went too fast and too slow, and as it got closer to ten o’clock, I became restless and giddy. The dirty girl buried inside me was excited.
Payton drove her sleek car to the club, parking two blocks down. One of the advantages of arriving with her meant I was on time. Early, which was helpful because just across the street from the deceptively vacant-looking building that housed the club, a lanky man waited for me. I felt like I’d just done a somersault.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Payton hissed. Her eyes narrowed. “Why did you tell him where?”
“I couldn’t help it,” I confessed. “He asked me.”
She stared at me expectantly. “Well? Go listen to him tell you why you shouldn’t do this. How you should continue to wait for him to get bored with his girlfriend. I’ll be here,” she said, pointing to her feet, “when you’re ready to finally move on.”
I swallowed hard and shuffled across the deserted street. Concern was painted across Blake’s face. God, I’d been so stupid telling him
. Seeing him now destroyed the shred of excitement I’d been clinging to and replaced it with paralyzing dread.
“Hey.” His voice was grave. “I’m asking you not to go in there.”
“Please don’t make this harder than it already is.”
I’d never seen him look like he did now. He was an even mixture of desperation and fear, and I ached for him.
“Don’t do this to us,” he whispered.
I froze. “Us?”
“It’ll destroy any chance for us to be together, Evie. Please,” he begged.
“Wait, what?”
“I love you.” He reached out for me, tried to pull me close, but all I could hear were Payton’s words echoing. I wanted to believe him, but it had rolled off his lips strained and forced.
“What about Amy?” I asked when his arms circled my waist.
“I know, it’s complicated.”
A spark of anger ignited a fire deep inside me. “It’s really not that complicated. You can’t love two people at once.”
“Believe me, you can. I do.”
I twisted out of his arms. “Let me clarify. You can’t be in love with me and be in love with another woman, too.”
“Evie, stop.” He took a step toward me. “Let’s talk about this. Just don’t go in there.”
We’d had time to talk. Months and months. If he wanted to leave her, he would have done it. “Does she even know you’re here?”
He tore his gaze away from mine, guilty.
I took in an enormous breath, letting it make me feel strong. “You shouldn’t have come.”
He nodded toward Payton, a sneer on his face. “She’s a whore, and she’ll drag you down.”
I didn’t understand her reasons, but she’d never betrayed me, and she’d certainly never hurt me the way he had right now.
“Get out of here,” I said, turning away.
Payton didn’t judge. She loved me unconditionally, the way a true friend did. So I left him standing there and returned to my friend.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I lied. “Let’s go have some fun.”
Immediately inside the door, a large black man was perched on a stool with a clipboard and an earpiece. The room was small and dark, and the focus was the white door across from us with the black club logo on it.
“Hey, girl,” he said to Payton, a genuine smile on his lips. He buzzed us through the white door, and as it swung shut behind us, I heard him say into his earpiece that we had arrived.
This room was wide and short. An oversized couch rested on one side and a bar on the other. The friendly-looking bartender also gave Payton a genuine smile when he saw her. He was also wearing an earpiece.
“This is the holding room,” Payton said, directing me to the bar. “Sometimes the client needs a few minutes before parting with that much money.
“Or for the Viagra to kick in,” the bartender said. He’d said it like a joke, but I was sure he was serious.
“Two shots of tequila,” Payton announced. The bartender didn’t hesitate.
“Is that okay?” I asked. I wanted the help the alcohol could provide, but what about the contract?
Payton knocked the shot back. “Joseph just doesn’t want us plastered. A little lubrication isn’t a bad thing.” Her fingers nudged the glass toward me. I snatched it up and downed it, ignoring the burn.
“Thanks,” she said to the bartender, and pulled me away as soon as I’d set my glass on the bar top. This door spat us out into the center of a long hallway, facing a seemingly endless bank of doors. She didn’t have to say what kind of room was behind those doors. I’d find out soon enough.
We didn’t go into the rooms. I followed her to the end of the hall and up a set of stairs. I could hear female voices coming from the room on the right, but she went left.
Into Joseph’s office. He was seated behind a desk in a black suit and black shirt without a tie, a row of darkened video monitors behind him. The contract had detailed that the sessions were videotaped strictly for security purposes. Payton had reassured me it wouldn’t wind up on the Internet.
I wasn’t that concerned about it. A grainy black-and-white video of a woman with a blindfold on would be tough to identify. Plus this club made serious money, why would they jeopardize their operation for a few extra dollars selling amateur porn?
“Evening, ladies,” Joseph said, rising from his seat. “You both look lovely.”
“Thanks,” Payton said. I struggled to find words and just nodded. I was more nervous now fully clothed than I’d been when I was naked before him.
“Do you have the contract, Evelyn?” he asked.
My trembling hand dug it out of my purse. The paper crinkled when I handed it over, but then I couldn’t release it.
“I need a pen,” I blurted out.
Payton looked at me, startled. “I thought you signed it already.”
“I did.” I didn’t want to explain, and thankfully Joseph produced a pen so I didn’t have to. I turned to the willing list and checked not one, but three more boxes. This wasn’t the tequila talking. This was my response to the man who had said he loved me not five minutes ago.
She gasped when she saw what I had done and then gave a wicked smile. “Aw, we’re going to be sorority sisters.”
I held my breath as Joseph evaluated the contract and waited to find out what the magic number was after the house took their cut.
“The best I can do is twenty percent to the club, and I’m sorry, that’s not negotiable.” Joseph pulled open a drawer in the desk and filed the contract. “And ten percent on top of it to Payton.”
“Forget it, I don’t need it,” she said immediately.
My heart sank. Even with Payton dropping her bonus, I’d need to get someone to agree to sleep with me for $12,000. It was so much money. Who would pay that?
She threaded her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. “You can do this.”
There were four other women offering their services for the evening, and they’d all arrived by the time Payton and I entered the lounge. She introduced me to them, but I couldn’t focus and forgot their names immediately. They were stunningly beautiful and exotic like Payton. Was I there as some sort of twisted affirmative action? The token average girl in case a customer wanted a helping of that?
And while these women were friendly and pleasant, they were also my competition. I was so screwed in every sense of the word.
“It’s okay,” Payton said. She must have sensed I was mentally freaking out and eased me down onto a chair. “Let’s go over some of the code talk.”
“Code talk?” There was a red drink in my hand suddenly, delivered by a blonde woman who looked like she’d just stepped out of a magazine ad. I thought I’d already met all the other women, but she was new.
“That’s cranberry and vodka,” the woman said. “I’m Tara. I’ll be your sales assistant.”
“You?” I took a sip of the drink blindly. “They’re going to want to sleep with you rather than me.”
Payton gave me a tight look. “Tara’s the best at sales. I already told her where you need to get to.”
“I’m sorry,” I said to the mesmerizing blonde, trying to calm myself. “I’m really nervous.”
Tara sat beside me. “I’ve been there. You just have to let yourself enjoy it. There are plenty of women who would pay to have this happen to them. It’s a fantasy.”
I set the drink down on a nearby side table. I suddenly didn’t want any more alcohol in my system. I wanted to keep my wits about me. “Tell me about the code.”
“If I talk about the weather when a client first comes in, he’s average looking. If I talk about sports, he’s hot,” Tara said.
“And if he’s fugly,” Payton added, “she’ll talk about traffic.” Tara shot her a knowing look as if they shared an inside joke.
“But if I’m wearing a blindfold, why does it matter?”
Payton’s eyes fell on me like I was a
dummy. “Ugly guys pay more for pussy. A lot more.”
“I’ll negotiate the price,” Tara said, “but it’s always your call on accepting the offer. You won’t be able to see his body language, and he’ll think that’s to his advantage. When he makes a bid, where I touch you indicates what I think I’m seeing. The closer to your head I get, the closer I think we are to reaching his limit.”
I didn’t understand. She was going to touch me?
“For example,” she continued, “if he offered ten thousand for Payton and I touched her on her ankle, I think we can get him up quite a bit. If I touch her on the shoulder—”
“I’m going to take it,” Payton said.
Okay, I guessed it made sense. I hadn’t thought much about the pricing or negotiations, and I was relieved not to have to.
Time was rushing along, and when I glanced at my phone it was ten minutes to eleven. There were noises downstairs, stirrings as if clients had begun to arrive. Joseph appeared in the lounge, chatting with a few of the women near the door. I wondered dimly if he’d had his dick in everyone’s mouth at one point or another.
“Number four, Tara,” he said when he passed by.
That was the number of the room I’d sell myself in. Tara handed me a silk robe and showed me where I could put my clothes and purse, and then looked at me as if waiting for me to do something. I couldn’t fathom what, until the five other women in the lounge started to undress.
They weren’t bashful. Two of them laughed and told jokes with all their business hanging out. Some of them were watching as if judging me. I hurried to catch up, pulling the silver dress over my head. I couldn’t wear a bra since the dress was backless, so that one move told them I came to play.
I stepped out of my underwear and heels so I was as naked as a jaybird, and shrugged into the soft robe. Payton slid an arm into her own robe and cinched it shut as she gave me a wink. In spite of everything, I cracked a smile.
My bare feet were cold on the stairs as I descended in a single-file line, and then marched determinedly down the long hall to my room.
“Enjoy yourself, Evie,” Payton whispered as she passed by. “If you like it, he’ll fucking love it.”