by Mia Ford
Gasps burst out in the crowd, but somehow Logan doesn’t look like he quite gets it yet. I burst into giggles and shake my head, disbelieving that I’m actually going to have to tell him outright instead of waiting for him to guess. I suppose hints haven’t ever been his strong suit.
“Logan. I’m having your baby. You are going to be a father. We’re going to be parents.”
“Are you serious?” Now it’s his turn to look like the rug has been pulled out from underneath us. Every day with Logan feels like the best roller coaster ever, but there are some days that are more dramatic than others. This is definitely one of those. “You are… we are… there is…”
“Yep, I took three tests. We’re definitely one hundred percent going to have a baby.”
Maybe it isn’t the best timing since we’re in the process of starting our own business, but I think if there’s one thing that me and Logan have proven it’s that timing doesn’t really matter when you’re in love. We didn’t exactly meet at a great time, we didn’t get together at the right time, we probably even moved at the wrong time, but we’ve made it work. It’s me and him against the world and it’s worked out just perfectly. Of course there have been bumps, but what story runs smoothly?
The only thing that has come at the right time is this wedding… at least now our baby will be born into wedlock. Maybe people will think that’s why we got married, but not the important people. I’ve learned not to care about the opinions of others anyway, I’m living for me not them.
“Oh, my God. Me, you, and our little boy or girl.” Logan rubs my belly and rests his forehead against mine. “How did I end up so damn lucky? I don’t get it sometimes!”
He dips his head to mine and he kisses me with utter love and passion making my chest heat up and my heart swell with joy. I still get butterflies in my belly every time we kiss, I’m still just as attracted to and in love with him as I have been from the start of this. I don’t see any of that ever going anywhere. This love is so strong, and it’ll always be that way.
“Er, I guess you can kiss the bride!” Toby calls out. “Then let’s sod this and start partying, we have a lot to celebrate here today. A wedding and a baby. Who would have thought it?”
Everyone here might think they have a lot to celebrate, but it isn’t as much as me. I defied all the odds and ended up smack bang in the middle of a happy ever after. There was a time when I had nothing, no hope for a future, and now I have it all. The career, the man, the baby on the way, the friends to share in my joy. Logan hasn’t just given me him, he’s given me my world and for that I will always be so achingly happy that I could laugh and cry all at once. I am proof that anyone can find love and be happy, even if it comes from the strangest of places.
“I love you,” Logan whispers in among the noise, only for me to hear. “So damn much.”
“I love you too,” I cling to him as I reply. “You make me the happiest woman alive, and now we have someone else to share that love with. A baby who’s going to have a proper life.”
“A baby surrounded by love.”
The Escort – A Never Before Published Story
Chapter One – Avril
“Oh, my goodness,” I coo breathlessly while taking a step closer to the extremely gorgeous man standing in front of me. “I don’t know what to say to you. I never thought you would be here in front of me telling me that you love me. It’s all too much.” I flutter my lashes. “I’m overwhelmed.”
He grabs my hands and stares deeply into my eyes. I lose myself in the warm brown, already knowing that this man is a million times too good for little old me. I have no idea what someone like him would see in me which makes me feel shy and awkward. I barely know how to hold myself.
“Layla, I do love you,” he says breathlessly back. “The question is if you love me?”
Before I can answer, his lips crash into mine and he sweeps my breath away. I mold into him, clearly giving myself over to him completely, showing him my love with my actions if I can’t quite find the words to say it back. I need him to see that I love him with every single inch of me…
“Cut!” Buzz’s hands fall off me and we part in a heart beat as the director, Lee, ends this again. “No, no, no, Avril this is all wrong. Seriously. I don’t know how we’re still in this position. I told you weeks ago that you need to work on your sex appeal. There is no chemistry here on your part.”
My eyes fall to the ground, I feel sick to my stomach. I hate myself all over again. I’ve been really trying to get this right, the last thing I want to do is mess up the opportunity of a lifetime, which this movie definitely is bringing for me, but I cannot seem to get it right. Everything I do works, I’ve really brought Layla and her story to life, it’s only the love side of it I can’t get right. That’s unfortunate because the love story part of it is massive. It’s what audience will want to see.
“I’m sorry, I’m really trying my hardest. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
“You don’t have any confidence in yourself!” Lee explodes. “It’s obvious. As soon as Buzz comes anywhere near you, you crumble and fall apart. You need to believe that he loves you.”
Boiling hot tears bubble up in the corner of my eyes as I realize that I’m on the verge of losing everything. It’s taken me forever to make it as an actress, I’ve done all sorts of jobs that I don’t really want to do, all to get to this point. Lead female in a movie. If I lose this I have nothing.
“I need to take a break,” Buzz shoots out arrogantly. He knows that he isn’t the issue and since he’s a bigger star than me I don’t think he takes too kindly to me hashing things up. “Back in five.”
“Avril, do you want to come with me for a moment?” Carly, my make up artist and best friend on set wraps her arms around me. “Let me touch you up a little bit. Your mascara needs some help.”
If anyone knows how I feel, it’s her. We’ve grown closer over the last few months and I’ve confided in her a lot. She’s the one I always go to when it seems like things are going badly. I allow her to drag me into my dressing room where we can have a few moments alone to talk things through.
“Don’t worry about Lee,” she reassures me right away. “He’s known for being a dick.”
“He’s right though, isn’t he?” I ask her morosely while flopping into a nearby chair. “I suck at creating chemistry. I mean, it doesn’t help that I don’t think much of Buzz but still I should be able to overcome that.” A tear finally streams down my cheek. “I suck as an actress, I should give up.”
Carly grabs hold of my shoulders and she stares defiantly at me. “You should not give up, don’t let one bad scene take you down. Everything else you’ve done really well with. You just need to figure out a way to make this work.” She pauses and taps her chin thoughtfully. “From what you’ve told me, the reason you can’t act with passion, is because you haven’t really had any in your life. You don’t have any real-life experience to draw off. That’s probably something we can fix, right?”
I have to admit, Carly is right about that, I haven’t had much passion in my life. At twenty-two years of age I haven’t ever had a boyfriend that I can find any real desire with. There was Gary in my later teenage years, but he was boring, especially in bed. Very much concerned with his own pleasure rather than me. I suppose I accepted it because he was my first and I didn’t know any different. Then, once that fizzled out, Matt came along last year. I thought he was awesome, but it wasn’t long before he revealed himself to be a jerk too. He was selfish and a cheating asshole… and that was all him.
My entire dating history in one short burst of nothingness. It’s embarrassing to think of.
“How can I fix it?” I ask her desperately. “What can I do short of getting a boyfriend?”
“I wouldn’t recommend that. Your taste is terrible! No, you just need a good seeing to.”
Her words cause an instant blush to fill my cheeks, I’m definitely not like that at all. I can fake confidenc
e when I’m acting because I’m playing a role, I’m being someone else, but when it comes to being myself it’s a whole other story. I’ve always been a shy, quieter girl.
I turn to glance at my reflection, looking at my blonde, currently wavy hair and my bright blue eyes, wondering if I could ever be the sort of girl who has a one night stand.
“I couldn’t do that,” I tell Carly honestly. “I couldn’t ever go out to a bar and pick up some random dude. I don’t know how to even talk to guys when I’m not in a role.”
“So, pretend you are someone else,” Carly declares as if it’s obvious. “That could work, couldn’t it? Method acting and all that. You need to be the character to play the character.”
I shudder, knowing that there would still be a point where it’s me. When I take my clothes off and I strip for him it’ll be me and that’s when I’ll freak. It might be a good idea but it wouldn’t work out that way in reality. I shake my head and turn back to look at my friend.
“I don’t think I can. I just don’t think I can do it. It freaks me out to even think of.”
Carly grabs out her make up brushes and she dusts my cheeks, probably to look like she’s doing something more than anything else and she thinks. I can tell because her eyebrows are knotted close together as the cogs of her brain spin wildly round and round. I stay silent to let the answer come.
“There are other ways you can do this, you know?” she says quietly. “More professional ways.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I give her a look. “Professional, how?”
“Like escorts, you know? You could hire someone to teach you more about passion.”
I’m horrified by her suggestion, it makes me feel ill. Is she serious? “You’re talking about paying for it?” I hiss at her. “Like pay for sex? Are you insane? That’s absolutely crazy.”
Carly laughs at me and shakes her head like I’m a prude. “It really isn’t that big a deal, you do realize that? People do it all the time. I think it’s perfect for you to help you with this.”
“All the time?” I gush while clutching my throat in shock. “No, they don’t. You’re making it up. And even if they do, people like me don’t do things like that! I couldn’t ever…”
“So, what other solution do you have?” Carly asks with an innocent tone of voice, almost as if she doesn’t realize that she’s getting under my skin. She does though, she has to. “What’s your plan?”
I part my lips, ready to give her back a snappy retort but nothing comes out of my mouth. I don’t have any other answer, she’s got me with that one. I don’t want to be the sort of girl who has to pay money out for anything sexual, but I also don’t want to lose my job either. I love this movie, I want to be a part of it and I also don’t want this to be an issue in the future. This might well be something that I have to nail right now if acting is a path that I want to continue down.
“I’ll think about it,” I answer Carly in a prissy tone of voice. “Maybe I’ll see if I can pick things up this afternoon. If I can get over this hump then I won’t have to worry, will I?”
“I’ll find some reputable companies for you, just in case,” my friend replies knowingly. “Hopefully it won’t come down to it, but if it does the offer is there. I really think it might be a good idea though, it isn’t anything as seedy as I’m sure you have in your mind. It’s just business.”
Thinking about sex and business in the same sentence doesn’t sit well with me, it makes me shift uncomfortably in my chair, but then I think of Lee’s anger and Buzz’s disappointment and I know that I can’t keep facing that over and over again. Much as the idea scares the living hell out of me, I might have to attempt it, just to see where it leads. I certainly don’t think that I can come out of it any worse off than I already am.
“Okay, thank you, Carly,” I tell her softly. “I appreciate you always being there for me, it means a lot.”
Chapter Two – Owen
“Oh, my goodness, wasn’t that class boring?” Delia says to me while fluttering her eyelashes. “I don’t know what it is about Mr. Belmont but he always makes business studies so dull.”
She’s flirting with me, I can smell it a mile off, which makes me feel very awkward. Maybe I’m lucky really, she is beautiful and one of the most desired girl on the college campus, I seem to be the only guy that she actively goes after, but I think that might be because I’m the one she cannot have. I’m the only person who’s never shown her a scrap of interest and she never gets the hint.
I suppose she’s beautiful with her cropped back hair and her short skirts, she has the body of a supermodel but the personality of someone who knows she’s too good for everyone here. I might like the tattoos that run all over her body, but not enough to give up everything for a date.
I can’t go anywhere near a girl like Delia, or any of the others, because I have a secret life I don’t want any of them to ever know about. I’ll do whatever I can to keep it inside.
I didn’t intend to end up this way, this wasn’t ever in the plan when I first started attending college. I had it all back then, brains, good looks, a glittering career in business ahead of me, and most of all money. I thought my father was doing well, I assumed he had it made. He certainly flashed the cash as if he didn’t have a care in the world, including paying for my education.
Unfortunately, it was all a façade, and one that came crashing down in between my second and third year of college. My family lost everything from the fancy cars to the nice houses. We went from the top to the bottom in a heart beat. It was a horrifying, hopeless situation.
Fortunately for me, the only silver lining to that cloud was that my fees had already been covered. I didn’t want to lose my education too, not when I was so close to the end, so since then I’ve done everything I can to keep myself afloat. I’ve tended bar in between classes, waited tables, but none of them pay anywhere near as much as escorting which I can do in the evening time, hiding suspicion, and keep myself in finery too. It isn’t ever where I thought my life would go, but I don’t mind it now.
When I first got approached by the escorting agency as I worked a bar shift, I instantly said no. I thought it would be seedy and disgusting, having sex with strange women all the time, but eventually I allowed myself to be tempted enough to try and it isn’t anything like that at all. Mostly it’s business women who want dates to events but don’t have the time to find someone, or housewives that need a bit of action. Sex doesn’t always come into it, but when it does I’m allowed to be comfortable first. I don’t have to ever have sex with someone I don’t want to, I just forgo the fee which makes it easier.
Then it’s just a case of making sure she has a good time which I don’t mind anyway.
But that’s the reason why I cannot date any of the girls here. They are all so prissy, so protected by their dad’s money. They wouldn’t ever have to do what I have to, to survive.
“You should drop out if you don’t like it, Delia,” I rely coldly. “I’m sure Mr. Belmont is just doing his best with what he’s got. It isn’t tailored just to you.”
She pouts for a second, sticking out her bottom lip like a child. I brace myself, expecting her to yell and scream at me, she’s one for making a scene, but somehow that doesn’t happen. She forces her lips to curl up into a smile and she giggles like a school girl.
“Oh, Owen, you’re so funny!” she exclaims. “Honestly, me and you should go out sometime.”
Luckily before I need to make another excuse, someone grabs onto Delia’s hand and pulls her away from me, making me breathe out a sigh of relief. That conversation was awkward enough but to make it worse my work cell phone was buzzing in my pocket the entire time. That means I might have work tonight. I move away quickly, I grab it out my pocket and I find a private space to answer. I cannot let anyone overhear because the gossip will spread like wildfire. I only have a few more months of college to get through and I want to do it with my reputation intact.
&n
bsp; “Hello, Emma,” I say to the girl who hooks me up with appointments. “How’s it going?”
“You free tonight?” Most of the staff are super professional with what they do, but Emma is always chewing and popping gum on the phone, generally acting like she’s chatting with her friends. “I have a very interesting appointment for you tonight… if you’re up for it.”
That doesn’t make me want to instantly commit to the job, I have to admit. With Emma, interesting can mean a number of different things. It can geuninly be something quite cool or it can be weird… there have been times when I’ve had to bow out of good money jobs because they’re just too strange for words. I can’t tell by the tone of her voice which one it is.
“What do you mean, interesting?” I ask her cautiously. “Bad or good?”
“I don’t know really.” Chew, chew, pop. “Depends how you look at it. It’s some chick who’s an actress but wants to get better at acting out sex scenes.” The tight knot in my chest loosens. That doesn’t sound too bad. “I couldn’t think of anyone better than you for that.”
I sigh loudly, considering what that will mean for me. I guess it’ll just be showing her how to have some real passionate sex, maybe that isn’t something that she’s ever experienced before. I suppose that isn’t too taxing, it’s something I can do if I’m up for it.