Madison tucked the to-go box into the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. She held it up in a silent question.
Janie scowled and switched her gaze to the cabinet above the stove. “Something stronger.”
Complying, Madison returned the bottle of suds to the fridge and took down the tequila for margaritas. “Yeah. He ended it.”
“Asshole.” Janie came around the island. She took down two shot glasses and banged them on the counter. “He was a douche, but we shall say goodbye like he wasn’t.”
Madison pulled her lip through her teeth. “Actually, after a year of distance, it doesn’t seem like a tequila kind of night.”
“Vodka?”
“Vodka martini. Dirty.”
Janie’s eyes glimmered and a smile played on her lips. “I like your style. Sit. I got this.”
Madison walked around the counter and seated herself. She eyed the invitation on the fridge and felt her heart sink. “I knew it wouldn’t last with Frank. I knew it wouldn’t. I should’ve ended it when that invitation came so I could find someone else. Eight months would’ve been plenty of time.”
“Number one…” Janie had abandoned the apple on the counter, half-eaten, to make their drinks, but she paused for long enough to hold up a finger. “You need to do something besides obsess about James. You guys broke up a long time ago, and he wasn’t that awesome in the first place.”
“He broke my heart so bad I still haven’t found all the pieces. He humiliated me.”
“So? That’s what first love is: conquering all your firsts, followed by horrible heartache that makes you want to break glass with your fist and use one of the shards to kill your ex. Bully to you for not doing it.”
“Not everyone is that violent—”
“Yes they are, they just don’t admit it.”
“—and first-love heartache doesn’t happen to everyone.”
“No, some do the heart-breaking.”
Madison ran her fingers through her hair. “Whatever. The point is, he invited me to his wedding because he must occasionally think about me.” Madison ignored Janie’s dramatically rolled eyes. “I want to prove I’m valuable. That I’m desirable. That he didn’t curse me to spinsterhood for the rest of my life. Which is not to say that I don’t want to be single. I do. I need a break from guys. But James can’t see me alone, or he’ll think I’m lonely. Before you say it, yes he will. Society views single women as pitiful creatures who can’t get a guy.”
“Since when do you care what society thinks?”
“Are you not listening? I don’t care about society. I care about James. It’s like a high school reunion. I want to be the awesome nerd who made something of herself.”
“Um, hello? You did make something of yourself.” Janie shook the martinis vigorously, as if to underscore her argument. “You have some sort of high-powered job I’ll never understand, you make bank, and you could afford to keep your own apartment even after moving in with Frank the douche, maintaining your independence. You’re awesome, girlfriend, and you did all of that on your own. James can suck it. What he did didn’t define you.”
“I didn’t say it did. I said he humiliated me. I want to punch him in the face with the knowledge that he was wrong, and I am awesome.” Madison held up a hand. “I know you think I’m awesome. I got it. But I want him to think I’m awesome. That’s all.”
Janie expertly poured the drink, experienced from one of her many low-paying jobs. She handed it over. “You want visible revenge, yes. I get it. I’m just yanking your chain.” Janie poured her own drink. “Too bad you’re not a guy, because going single would have been a power move.”
“How do you mean?” Madison grimaced from the tang of the first sip.
Janie leaned against her elbow, contorting her body in ways only an experienced yoga person would consider comfortable. “You have a great bod, a good face, a great income, and you’re powerful. If you’d gone alone as a dude, it would’ve been a statement that you’re fulfilled just as you are.” She rolled her eyes. “But you got the girl card, m’dear. You can repopulate the world, but you’re not allowed to be alone and happy. That simply isn’t right. Too bad for you.”
Madison laughed into her martini. She held it up. “Thank God for these, then, huh? Alcohol doesn’t judge.”
“Friends don’t judge, either.” Janie smiled. After they each took another sip, her face dropped a little again. “So you’re not sad about Frank? It was a long time.”
Madison briefly thought over the five years they’d been together, then the two years they’d been friends before that. All that time, and now it was over. Just like that.
Well, to be fair, their relationship had dwindled long before either of them had acknowledged the growing distance. It was like a seedling had found all the cracks in the relationship and taken root. By the time they’d acknowledged its existence, the damn thing was twenty feet tall. After that, it hadn’t taken long for the wall to give way and Frank to find someone new.
Madison really should have called it a day, for both their sakes, last year. But that invitation had arrived and taken over her thoughts. What better way to show she could keep a man than one she’d been with for years?
Except then he’d dumped her. Poetic justice. She had to own that she half deserved this.
Maybe less than half. At least she hadn’t cheated. Or lied. The ass.
Madison flicked her hair, needing movement to distract herself from the emptiness she suddenly felt. Maybe their love had been over, but they had been companions. That spot in her life was now empty. It would be an adjustment. She said as much.
Janie nodded gravely, watching her closely. Ready to run interference if the situation should come to tears, no doubt. Janie was a true and great friend. She would rush to support Madison in any situation.
“I think Frank was waiting for me to end it.” Madison traced the bottom of her martini glass. “He usually let me take the lead in the relationship—”
“Forced you to take the lead, more like.”
“—so he was waiting for me to end it. I didn’t because of James’s save-the-date. In the end, I guess Frank just got tired of waiting.”
“Or his new girlfriend did.”
“Or that, yeah. She’s probably been pining after that apartment for a while. I wonder what she does that she can afford it.”
“They probably can’t. Frank’s about to get a rude awakening now that he can’t mooch off Mommy Warbucks anymore.”
“In other words, kiss him paying me back goodbye.”
“Like he would have ever paid you back. Give me a break. Tell me you knew better.” Janie stared her down. “Tell me.”
“Oh shut up.”
“That counts. Deflection counts.” Janie laughed and flicked a crumb from the counter onto the floor. That was cleaning up, in her opinion. “Relationships always seem completely one-sided and rotten after the fact, but at least you loved each other at one point. Can you pinpoint when it fizzled out?”
Madison shrugged. “Hard to say. The spark between us never really turned into the bonfire of passion I’d hoped for. But it just simmered and then went out. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, and if he hadn’t stood me up for this wedding, I would have been willing to stay friends.”
“No way would his new girl allow that. No. Way.” Janie took a sip. “And just so we’re on the same page, you know that no one liked him, right?”
“People liked Frank!”
“No. Literally no one liked him. He was never, even on his best days, good enough for you. Besides that, he hated that you made more money than he did. He resented you for having a better job.”
“No he didn’t. He was happy for me.”
Janie shook her head. “Agree to disagree.”
Feeling a scowl coming on, Madison looked away. It wasn’t worth mentioning that all of this was coming from a woman with an on-again-off-again boyfriend. That Janie probably wasn’t the best source for relationship in
sight. But it didn’t matter. What was done was done. And besides, Janie was touchy at best about that lover of hers. She was liable to stab Madison in the eye for bringing it up. A girl just never knew, where it concerned Janie. That was half the fun.
“I guess I can’t go to James’s wedding,” Madison said. “He’ll probably think I’m canceling because I don’t have a date. Which is true.” She crinkled her nose and drummed on the counter. “This really sucks.”
“Just get a date for the thing.” Janie shrugged. “That’s easy enough for you. There are, like, eight hundred people desperate to bone you in your office.”
“Your sarcastic faith in me is really something. I’m overwhelmed with all the love in this room.”
Janie laughed and grabbed the bottle to make them another round of drinks. It would be a dirty night. “But seriously, just get a date. You don’t have to know the guy.”
“I kinda wanted a steady thing to prove I’m stable. You know, since he accused me of being a psycho when he broke up with me.”
“So get your date to pretend you’ve been together for a while. This is not rocket science.”
“Oh sure, yeah. That’s not awkward or anything. I’d have to babysit the date and help him act? Are you trying to set me up for suicide?”
“Oh my God. Do I have to do everything for you?” Janie abandoned the martini and stalked from the room.
“I don’t mean this the way a guy would or anything,” Madison hollered at her retreating friend, “but are you PMSing? Because you’re all over the place.”
Janie marched back in with a card in her hand. She thumped it down on the counter. “Yes. I am. I feel as big as a house, you don’t have any chocolate, and despite hating to cry in front of people, I want to sob. Okay? Call that fucking number, bitch, and let’s lament that Frank the wonder chump is out of your life.”
“I’m afraid of you right now.”
“That is wise.” Janie went back to Dr. Vodka.
Madison picked up the card and read the front with a crooked grin. “Big Dick Escort Service?” Giggles bubbled out. “Are you for real?”
“Yes, actually. You get what you pay for. They’re expensive, but they’re professional.”
“Their name is Big Dick Escort Service, and you’re saying they’re professional?”
“They don’t work in a high rise like you, no, but they know their business.”
“The business that this card boasts is just over two years old? A whole two years?”
Janie started to chuckle helplessly. “Yes, okay, so there are some issues. Like that weird dick and balls in the logo. But seriously, I know a friend who used them and everything was professional. He didn’t hit on her or act sleazy in any way. I guess he was really charming. He picked her up like a date, took her to her business dinner, chatted or whatever, and took her home. That was it. No biggie.”
“Are they hot?” Madison flung down the card.
“She said the guy was smoking. Like”—Janie fanned herself—“smo-king.”
“Escort services are usually for sex.”
“Not always, but they do that, too. On the down-low, obviously.”
“Oh, ew. I’m not hiring a hooker to go to James’s wedding with me. That’s the opposite of what I’m going for.”
Janie sipped her martini. When she set it down, she threw Madison a glare. “Do you want to see my ragey side?”
“No, thank you.”
“No, thank you is right. What did I just say? You don’t have to hire him for sex. Just hire him for the thing. How did a dumb girl like you get so far in the export business?”
“We import.”
“Whatever.”
Madison patted the card. “I’m going to stick to maybe on this one. I’ll look it up, but if the website has pictures of women licking chocolate off guys’ junk, I’m out. Oh, and if there’s an obscene amount of A) pink or B) glitter.”
“Chocolate. Ugh.” Janie bent and banged her head off the counter. “I so wish you had chocolate. But in related news, these guys aren’t strippers.”
“So you say.” Madison fingered the card again. If they were in any way decent, it might not be a bad idea.
And the fact that she was contemplating an escort service, which sold sex, as a viable alternative to her problem really said something about her level of desperation.
She flicked the card away. “Are you staying here right now, or what’s your living situation?” she asked Janie. “Just in case I want to get eight cats and use the spare bedroom for an asylum.”
Janie made a sound like “Meh,” and straightened up to take a swig. “I have a place for a while. I’ll stay with you tonight, and then you’re on your own. I got shit to do.”
“Yes. Paintings don’t paint themselves.”
“Nor do they sell themselves, which is the problem. Drink up, lady, so I can talk you into using an escort service, and then forever hold it against you.”
Two
Colton grabbed the metal door handle and swung it open, holding it open for the two older ladies behind him. He stepped wide, getting out of their way.
“Oh, thank you,” one of the ladies said with a big smile.
“Such a gentleman.” The other woman stalled next to him. “You don’t see that much anymore. One lucky young lady will have a great catch in you!”
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, hoping they’d hurry along. He was on a tight schedule. He shouldn’t have tried to fit this visit into his day, but he’d had it. His side gig had long since gotten old, and it was time to pull the plug.
“And so polite. I’m smitten.” The other woman laughed and put her hand to her chest. “If it weren’t for George, I’d turn into a lion and pounce.”
“Cougar, Bernice.” The other woman looked skyward and shook her head. “And don’t hold your breath.”
“I can barely keep my breath as it is.” They laughed, and with one more grateful smile, they moved through the gym door.
Colton followed them inside, stopping at the check-in desk to wait for Dick to scan the women’s cards. When he was done, he nodded at Colton and settled back in his squeaky chair. “Hey, bub. How’d it go?”
“She was all over me.” Colton stepped off to the side and leaned against the counter, shaking his head. “From the word go, she was handsy.”
Dick’s brow furrowed. He swiveled his girth until he was facing the laptop on the counter. For most employees, personal computers were forbidden when working at the front desk. As the owner of the establishment, rules didn’t apply to Dick. If he was responsible for chasing customers away, so be it. That was his problem. Something he told the staff over and over when they complained about not being able to use their phones in the slow times.
Using the hunt-and-peck method, he jabbed the keyboard with his pointer fingers, then squinted at the screen. “Says here she’s got a boyfriend. She wasn’t looking for anything extracurricular.”
And then there was Dick’s side job, as the manager and bookkeeper of a very profitable business Colton and a few other guys had started up. A business Colton was about to leave forever.
Colton scratched his nose in irritation and looked out through the glass doors at the half-empty parking lot, his nerves getting the better of him. “Yeah, well, if she has a boyfriend, they must have an open relationship. It wasn’t twenty minutes in and she grabbed my cock. This was after I told her I hadn’t signed on for that.”
“Did you finish out the time?” Dick asked as Colton’s friend Dave walked around the partition separating the gym and the check-in area. Sweat dripped down his face and veins bulged across his arms, the intensity of his workout showing.
“Hey, brother,” Dave said, leaning heavily against the counter.
“Get off there! You’ll get sweat everywhere.” Dick reached below the counter with a huff and threw him a small white towel.
Dave snatched the towel out of the air and slid it between his arm and the counter, resuming his
lean.
“That was to wipe off your face,” Dick grumbled.
Colton nodded at his friend while answering Dick. “I finished out the time and paid for a cab to take her home. She was trying to get me to stay at the hotel.”
“You don’t get reimbursed for that cab,” Dick said in a warning voice. “The rules are very clear. If you want to be the good guy, you do it on your own dime.”
“I’m not trying to get more money out of you, tight-ass. Relax.” Colton laughed before scrubbing his fingers through his hair.
“Another one, huh?” Dave asked, humor lifting the corners of his mouth. He found Colton’s struggle endlessly amusing.
“Yeah.” Colton shook his head, straightening up. “I asked her how her day had been—the usual spiel, right? Getting ready to listen. Nope. She shushed me, then told me how she wanted me to fuck her.”
“I remember the very first time a woman said that to me. I about bust a nut.” Dave looked at the ceiling with a dopey smile. “That was probably the best night of my life. She took me for a pleasure cruise. Blew me under the table and everything.”
“Do I look like a barber?” Dick asked, looking up from his laptop long enough to level an incredulous stare at Dave. “I don’t want to hear this shit.”
“It’s not as hot now, though,” Dave said, ignoring Dick. “I still don’t mind hearing it, but it definitely doesn’t have the same wow factor.”
“What did I just say?” Dick demanded.
“You’re the one who organizes all this,” Dave said. “Don’t you want to know what we get up to?”
“No, I do not,” Dick said, turning back to his computer. “I most certainly do not.”
“Well, you guys are more than welcome to keep up with that sort of demand.” Colton put his hand up in surrender, knowing it was now or never. “But I’m not into it anymore. I’m done. When a woman talks to me like that these days, I’d rather tell her to fuck off and be on my way.”
“Mr. Alpha, is it? Always want to be in control?” Dave grinned.
“No, but I’m tired of being treated like a lap dog.”
Thunder (Big D Escort Service Book 1) Page 2