by Alexis Gold
“I know. I’m so sorry I’ve been so busy. This has really been a crazy couple of weeks for me,” he said, not meaning to have given her the exact time frame like he had. She stopped walking and looked up at him.
“What do you mean? What crazy couple of weeks? What’s going on?” she asked curiously.
He sighed. “Well, one of the women that I... that hires me through the escort service, is a gallery owner. She has four galleries, and they are all really big, really successful galleries between San Francisco and San Jose.”
Julia’s brow lowered and she watched Derek closely, looking for some sort of clue about what he was going to tell her.
“Well, she saw my work and she loved it and wanted to sponsor a gallery show for me to help me sell some of it. I took her up on it,” he said quietly.
Julia grinned in excitement. “That’s some of the best news that I think I’ve ever heard!” she exclaimed.
He stopped and turned to look at her. “Well, there is a catch,” he told her quietly.
She frowned slightly. “Is there? And what catch is that?” she asked in confusion.
Derek took her hands in his and looked into her brown eyes. “She is one of my clients through the escort service and so because it’s her gallery that’s showing my work and she’s done all of the publicity and preparation for it, she asked if I would be her escort there for the night of the show.”
He told her. He had finally told her and it felt both wonderful and horrible to say it out loud. It was off of his chest and he no longer carried the weight of the secret, but the pain that the secret had caused Julia was written all over her face.
She shook her head. “You can’t be serious. You’re going to go to your first gallery show as her date because she owns the gallery?”
Julia wanted to scream out to him, “What about me? Don’t I count? I’m only your girlfriend! Why should I come first? Oh... no... wait,” she thought. “I’m not coming first. One of your other girlfriends is higher up on your list of priorities than I am.” She didn’t say any of those thoughts though, she let them go and she just smiled at him with her mouth in a thin line as she bit her lower lip. “I guess... congratulations and... uh... would you like me to be there are your show for you? I could go as a friend, I guess.”
Derek saw the pain in her eyes and on her face and it made him feel horrible. He didn’t want to be Felicia’s date. He wanted to celebrate such a special first night with her, but it just wasn’t going to work out that way because that wasn’t what Felicia wanted.
“Please come,” he told her honestly. “I really want you there.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Sure. As a friend.” And with that, she turned and walked away from him, heading toward home so she could have herself a good cry and get it all out of her system. She didn’t take his calls on any of the days leading up to his show. She didn’t try to talk to him and he gave her the space that she so obviously needed and he stayed away from her and from her house, missing it every single moment.
It was as if he had lost his home and he felt lost and alone, more alone than he had felt before they had decided to become a couple together.
Chapter Six
The night of the show, he left a message for her on her voicemail telling her that he hoped he would see her there, that he missed her, and that he loved her. It had barely been a few days since she had needed the space and he felt completely lost without her. He wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t heard from her. He knew that she was hurt and it hurt him to know it. He had caused her that pain and that made it almost insufferable to him.
Felicia, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She kept calling him and texting him, going over every single little detail, until he was sure that there was nothing he had missed. He took his artwork over to her gallery and together they got it all set up.
There was a light food buffet arranged, there was an open bar for the guests, and before he knew it, there were guests, walking around and looking at his art, praising him and shaking his hand, telling him how incredibly lucky he was and how it was so wonderful to find a talent like his where he had been found.
Partway through the night, Julia walked through the door of the gallery and he knew that nothing was ever going to be the same for him. It was like light and life had begun to shine on him again after a long period in the dark.
He went to her and was about to hug her and thank her gladly for coming to the show, but she held out her hand to him and the gesture stopped him in his tracks.
“Congratulations,” she told him. “The pieces are exquisite.” She recalled posing for several of them. Her heart ached horribly as she saw a tall slender woman with enormous breasts and long lean legs walking toward them. She smiled lightly at Julia and slid her arm through Derek’s arm. Derek looked down at his feet, shame coloring his face somewhat.
“Well hello!” she greeted Julia. “Welcome to the opening of Derek’s show! I hope you have a lovely time here tonight. Have you had a chance to see many of his works?”
Julia nodded in a seemingly frozen state. “Yes, I have seen a good deal of his work. It’s brilliant. I’m glad to know it’s finally being show in galleries.”
Felicia simply glowed with pride. “He’s so good. I couldn’t do anything but share his incredible work with as many people as possible.”
With that, she leaned over and held her hand to his cheek, turning his face toward her. Then she leaned over and kissed him, pressing her lips to his sensually, as a soft sigh sounded from her, and then she released him and looked back at Julia.
“He’s more than just an artist I represent, he’s a great lover as well.” She grinned at him and his gaze shot up to her as Julia’s mouth fell open and she stared at them both.
“I am not your lover!” he snapped at her and she blinked for a moment and then grinned at him.
“Well, maybe not yet, but at the rate you and I are going, you probably will be by tonight!” she said, sliding her arms around him and holding him in a hug, and leaning up to kiss his cheek. She slipped her hand down to give his ass a hard squeeze and he pulled away from her and looked desperately at Julia, but Julia’s eyes were filled with tears and she turned to walk out of the door.
“Best of luck with all of your endeavors, Derek,” she called back over her shoulder as she walked out of the door.
He pulled free of Felicia and went after Julia, catching up with her in the parking lot.
“Stop! Please! Stop, Julia!” He shouted after her and he ran to her and almost pinned her against her car. She turned to him and tears rolled down her cheeks.
“How could you do that?” she demanded of him.
He was hurt and scared, and he spoke the first thing that came into his mind, regretting it immediately. “How could I do what? Sell myself and pretend to be something I’m not to others for show? Just like I did for you and your family?”
She covered her face in anguish and sobbed for a moment, and then tried to collect herself and turn away from him but he grabbed her shoulders and made her face him.
“Julia! No! Listen to me! I love you, Julia, and I don’t want anyone but you!”
He leaned toward her and tried to kiss her, but she turned her face away from him.
“Stop! Don’t do that!” she insisted, making a face and then looking up at him. “You have her lipstick on your mouth. Don’t kiss me with her lipstick on your mouth.”
He blinked and released her then, and she pulled away from him as his hand went to his lips and he wiped at them hard.
“I’m sorry.... I didn’t realize.” he said quietly.
“Listen,” she told him, “I understand why you did it; you wanted to get your artwork out there so people could buy it and you could make some money off of it, but this just isn’t going to work for me. You sold yourself to her so you could sell your artwork to her. The problem is that you sold me, too, right along with your deal. I had to come along for this ride. There was no option for me. You made me fal
l in love with you, and you kept your job as an escort and then you chose your artwork and your escort job over me.”
She grew sad and wiped her tears away again. “I fully understand the irony that you and I wound up together because I tried to sell you to my family, but it’s different for me now because I’m in love with you and I’m not willing to share you with anyone else. I can’t live like this and do this. We can’t stay together. You chose your escort job, you chose your artwork, and you chose her over me. You stood right in there and let her say those things like she owns you, and then she kissed you right in front of me! Of me! And you let her!” She wiped her tears away and closed her eyes for a moment and then looked at Derek again.
“I can’t stay in a relationship like this one. I’m sorry, Derek, but we’re done. I can’t live like this with you dating other women and getting paid for it. I sure as hell wouldn’t be okay with you doing it and not getting paid for it. I wish it was different for you, but it isn’t. You made your choices and now I’m making mine. I’m sorry. I love you, but we’re finished.” And with that, she turned to get into her car and leave.
Derek reached for her but he knew it was in vain and he had to step back and watch her leave. She was right about everything that she had said, and it cut him right to his very soul.
She drove away and he watched her disappear, knowing that everything important in his life had just vanished. He felt a hand touch his arm and he turned to see a short man with a lime green silk shirt on and white pants with a black belt and black and white checkered shoes.
Derek’s mind was yanked back to the present and the fact that he was still at his gallery show.
The man looked over his thickly framed glasses and smiled at him. “Are you Derek Carter?” he asked with a pseudo-British accent.
Derek nodded. “Yes... I—” He glanced in the direction that Julia had driven off in and he saw that her car was gone. He looked back at the flamboyant man in front of him. “I am Derek.”
The man smiled and clapped his hands together in delight. “Well that’s spectacular! I’m Sheldon.” He gave a little bow from the waist and then grinned at Derek. “I own a couple of galleries here in the city, as well as one in Seattle and four in Los Angeles. I want to talk with you about displaying some of your art in my galleries. All of my galleries, because my dear, your work is absolutely sublime!”
Derek stared at him and stood as still as a statue for a long moment before a smile broke out over his face and he laughed.
“Really?” he said in surprise.
Sheldon nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off of him. “Really. Also, I have two friends inside who also own some galleries, and don’t you dare tell them but theirs are just as nice as mine are. Anyway, they want to talk to you about showing your work, but I have first choice of your pieces because I’m the one who came out to get you. Agreed?”
Sheldon looked very serious and Derek grinned and nodded. “No problem! You got it. First choice.”
Sheldon grinned broadly and then slipped his arm through Derek’s and walked back in to the show with him. “Now, let’s go introduce you to the heavy hitters, and Derek, you want to watch out for Felicia; she’s great with art and terrible with people. She’ll leave you for dead,” he warned Derek in a conspiratorial tone.
Derek nodded. He knew that firsthand. He glanced over his shoulder once at the empty parking space where Julia had been, and then he turned to walk into the gallery.
Sheldon introduced him to Maude who was all in black and had bright red lipstick on, and Percy who was an elegant-looking black man in a silver tailored suit. Maude and Percy were kind and interested without gushing, and Sheldon gloated that he had the best of Derek’s work coming to him, although Maude and Percy were both glad to have any of it coming to them.
By the time the night was done, he had finalized agreements to show his work in their galleries which canvassed not only San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, but also New York and Austin, Texas. Percy told him that he had friends in London and Paris who would be clamoring after him to get his work shown internationally. Maude said she owned a gallery in Australia where she would like to show his work as well, and Derek walked away at the end of the night in a daze; his heart ripped in half between the work he had put so much of himself into becoming so successful so quickly, and losing the love of his life.
Felicia walked up to him with a sultry smile as they headed toward the door at the end of the evening and she slid her arms around his waist and pressed her body firmly to his.
“Let’s get out of here and go have a really good time, shall we?” she said, sliding her hands over his ass and squeezing it hard.
He pushed her from him gently. “Felicia, I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me, but I have a girlfriend and I love her. I lost her tonight because of you, and I’m going to do everything I can to get her back. You and I can keep a business relationship going if you want to, but I’m leaving the escort industry, I’m going to focus on my work and I’m going to focus on my girl, and there is no room for you in my life in any aspect other than business. If you can live with that, we can go forward, but if you want anything more from me than a business relationship, then this is where we are going to part ways.”
Felicia pouted fiercely for a moment and leaned up closed to him and kissed him softly on the mouth.
“Well, I’d rather have you underneath me in my sheets, but if you want to just keep it as business, then I guess that’s what we’ll do.” She looked at him seriously. “You made a fortune in sales tonight, Derek, and you became the hottest new artist to grace this city in a long time. I spoke to some of the critics who were at the show tonight, and in the morning when the papers hit the stands, your name and face is going to be all over them. I’m not foolish enough to lose your partnership with my gallery just because you don’t want to get tangled up in my bed with me. Although, if you ever change your mind, that option is always open to you. I don’t care if either one of us is dating anyone, my bed is always open to you. Apart from that, I think we had better keep our business relationship strong; it would be best for both of us.”
She pouted again and reached up to slide her finger under his chin with one last lascivious look at him.
“Too bad. Such a pretty boy.” Then she turned and headed for her limousine, waiting at the sidewalk. “Well, have a good night my dear. We’ll email soon.”
He watched her go and tried to make some sense of the supernatural high he was feeling and the profound pain that had engulfed him in the loss of his love.
The Final Chapter
Julia went home and wept for hours, feeling her heart breaking as it never had before. Theo had not caused her even a shadow of the pain that she felt in her heart ache for Derek.
She picked up her phone and called her mother. Evelyn answered on the first ring. “Hello baby!” she called out in a sing-song voice. “How’s my girl today?” she asked happily.
Julia muffled her cries and decided to go with the truth. “Mom, I have to tell you something. Derek and I broke up.”
Her mother was quiet a moment. “Who is Derek? I thought you were dating Theo.”
Julia took a deep breath and explained. “Mom, you met Derek at Samantha’s wedding. You didn’t meet Theo. Theo is a two-timing jerk who I caught sleeping with another woman three days before Samantha’s wedding. Derek is a...” she hesitated. Even in confession she felt that there were things she could not say to her mother about who he really was and what he really did.
“Derek is a friend of mine who stepped in to save me going to Sam’s wedding alone. He just pretended to be Theo to keep you and dad from asking me when I was going to get married and to keep Ronald at bay so he wouldn’t keep trying to hit on me and follow me around like a little lost puppy.”
Her mother followed everything she said and was enormously sad about it. “I’m so sorry to hear it, baby. We really liked Theo, or Derek. I wish you had stayed with hi
m.”
Julia nodded in agreement. “I do too, Mom,” she said with disappointment ringing in her voice. “Derek is an incredible man, and I love him and I know he loves me, but there are some problems that we just can’t seem to get past and we had to break up.”
Evelyn sighed sadly. “We all adored him. You two are so perfect together honey. I wish I knew what to tell you. I don’t know what problems you are both having, but I will say that you two should talk it over and try to make it work somehow. Don’t let it go so easily. Your dad and I didn’t always get along, but we stuck it out and worked through each and every one of our problems. If you really want the love to work, you have to work hard for it. You can’t just assume that it’s going to work and happen and that everything will be good without you two having to put some effort forth into it.”
“I know Mom,” Julia said sadly. “Your words are ringing true, but I just can’t get through this one. This one is too tough.”
Her mom scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. There isn’t anything that the two of you can’t get through if you don’t work hard and try for it. Now, answer me one question. Why in the name of God did you decide to lie to your father and me, and to our whole family? What on earth would you do that for?” she asked in sadness.
Julia sighed deeply. “Mom, I’m so sorry. I should never have done it. I just wanted to come to Sam’s wedding and have a nice time. I wanted to enjoy myself without hearing you and Dad try to tell me that it’s long past time since I should have married, and that as the first born I should have been the first married. I didn’t want to be pushed toward Ronald Williams. I don’t even like him. I’m never going to want him. He should be with someone who will love him.”
Her mother smiled through the phone to her. “Just like you should be loved by someone who cares for you, right?”
Julia nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.” She loved it when her mother made sense of her life. It happened every time she asked her mother for advice and she listened to the woman. “I just wish there was a way around this problem with Derek. He means so much to me and I love him, but this one isn’t going to work, Mom,” she insisted again.