by Amy Brent
Darren asks out of curiosity, probably thinking the same thing that I’m doing right now.
“Because of the money?”
She shakes her head, “No, she says that he looks after her. He comforts her every need and no matter what he always cares for her. Makes sure that she’s taking steps in the positive direction.”
I’ve heard only one person say that one too many times. He says it with a smile and confidence that always makes me sick to the stomach. Hearing another person quote what my brother would say, sends a chill down my spine. Because the connection between Ida and I is a lot closer than I’d imagined. I don’t know why I never saw it before; I was fucking caught up with the idea of getting Darren to let loose and having a virgin. That I ignored the fucking obvious, that my brother set this up. No doubt for one reason, so that he gave me a gift and then it’ll be my turn to give him one back. He’ll want me to give him access to this place so that he could add it to the list of his torture chambers.
“What did you say?”
I pull Ida closer to me as we lie on the bed.
Her eyes dart to Darren as if she wants reassurance that she said the right thing. As if she’s scared that something’s wrong.
“Steps in the positive direction.”
I nod my head as I hear her say it. Fuck! There’s only one person that says that, and that’s Seth. I knew that he recommended Ida to be a sugar baby, but then I didn’t realize that Seth’s gone out of his way to make sure that Ida’s here with me. The question is why?
“So, where’s this bestie of yours now? Is she at home or with her daddy?”
Ida holds on to me, and then I know that she’s more comfortable with the line of questions. She probably thinks that I want to get to know her better. Figure out how her mind ticks.
Probably?
Or maybe the chill that’s running through my spine is making me feel fucking sick right now. Especially if she tells me that they’re both in Aspen.
“Aspen! Lucky thing, I’ve always wanted to go skiing,” Ida beams and then I delicately move her away from me.
Darren’s just about to ask me what’s the issue when I shake my head. I don’t want to have this discussion in front of Ida. She’ll panic about here friend.
“Ida, we’ll leave the money on the side of the bed. You get some rest and then well. Thank you for your services.”
Darren agrees, “Thanks for your services. We’ll put a little something special in the envelope for your troubles.”
Fuck! He sounds as if he’s thanking someone for his laundry service or something? Not someone who won a competition to spend Christmas with us and now we’re treating her as if she’s a whore or something?
I want to say something, but I can’t find the words to comfort her. I’ve got more important things to worry about, like Seth and her bestie. She’ll realize that we did this all for her good in the end.
Darren knows that something’s wrong and I’ve got so much fucking explaining to do. That the whole idea of it’s spinning my head into turmoil. I know that if I start talking, that Darren will probably next talk to me again. He’ll realize that my family consists of a bunch of monsters. I could pretend and curl up to Ida and pretend that I didn’t know that there was a possibility of this happening, but I know the moment I do that. When we leave here, the truth will come out. I’ve been living with my head in the sand for too long. I don’t want to do it anymore. Not when another life’s at stake. Maybe, she’s Ida’s friend, that I feel the need to intervene. Either way for once in my fucking life. I’m willing to do the right thing, even if it means turning my back on my family. At least I can do it with a clear conscience knowing that another life wasn’t broken or even worse, taken.
And I know that she wants to say something as she starts sniffing and I can hear the tears rolling down as we walk out of the room. I can’t tell her the truth, which her bestie’s in trouble. I don’t want her bestie to be harmed, but by the same token as much as I hate Seth. He’s my brother. There’s no getting away from that, all I can do is protect Amy and try and figure out how to get my brother to see that what he wants from her is wrong. I’ve never felt it as much as I do after experiencing the time that we’ve spent together with Ida. She’s a woman deserves to be treated as one and not a lamb getting ready to be slaughtered. Which is exactly what I know Seth has in mind for her.
Chapter Eighteen
Ida
Then he starts to move from the edge of the bed. That’s when I realize that something I said must have changed their mind about today. They even suggested and additional day, and now they’re leaving as if I’m a prostitute whose just been paid for her services. I want to say something to them, but I can’t as I feel so cheap and then I close my eyes, hoping that they’ll change their mind and come back. I can’t believe that this is now the end of an era. Just like that we’ll have nothing to do with each other again, when they made me feel more of a woman than I’ve ever done before in my life. By the same token they’ve made me feel like a whore. Something that I didn’t think I could ever be until now.
I wake-up in the morning and I’m alone in the room. The two men have done exactly what they promised to do. They’ve paid, and I can see the envelope on the side of the bed, but I curl up and throw the covers over my head, but then I pick up the phone. The one in the room. I know that they’re probably monitoring the call, but I need to speak to Amy. Tell her exactly what went down and what I learned from her sugar daddy, the one that she’s kept as a secret.
“Amy?”
I say as the phone stops ringing and I can hear a heavy voice on the other side of the line.
“Ida, is that you?”
She’s crying; I wonder if what they said is true. But, I have a chill running through my spine as I sit up.
“Yes, you okay?”
She sighs, “Not really.”
I know what’s going on, I can hear it in her voice. This was the real reason that Bond left, it had nothing do with me. It had everything to do with what I said about Amy.
“I know who your sugar daddy is,” I say as there’s an awkward silence between us. She’s sniffing and trying to fight back the tears. The ones that I’m sure he’s been causing her. I don’t want her to suffer. I need her to know that I’m her friend. The same way that she helped me. I’m happy to help her all the way. I’ll forsake everything just to make sure that she’s okay.
“You know?” she asks, and her voice is trembling as she asks the question.
“Yes, and I know now, that life’s not as rosy as you’ve been painting it. I have a lot more money than I have sense. But I know one thing. Nothing’s worse what’s going to happen to you. Let me help you.”
She’s crying, and I know that she’s probably going through so much right now. If Bond’s correct, then she needs to get out of there and the sooner, the better.
“Someone came to help me,” she whispers, and I feel relieved that Bond stuck to his word. He said that he'd do it, I just wasn’t sure if he was going to. Then again, he has no reason to lie to me. After all, I don’t even know his real name.
“Amy, I’m going to get ready and come to the house.”
She blurts out, “No, I’m not there. But you don’t have your phone. I’m in a hotel.”
I sit up, and that’s when I see it in the corner of the room. My bag and my purse sitting on top of it. The same one that Simon the driver said I didn’t need to take with me.
“Seems I do have it. Send me the address. I’m on my way.”
She says, “I’ll be waiting.”
Then I hang up the phone and hop in the shower. I think about the plans that I had when I thought about leaving here. Giving some to mom and even hopping on the next available flight to Paris. It was so important for Amy to help me chase after my dream. As I hop out of the shower, just as quickly as I went in. I think about my plans. Helping my friend and that’s more important right now. Everything else would simply have to wait.<
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***
I didn’t see Magdalena. She must have left with Bond and Master, just as I suspected that she would do. It’s the day after Christmas, and I feel so lonely. I got everything that I wanted and as I counted the money. I was curious to see what twenty thousand big ones look like, only to discover that it was double the amount. Not only did they please me all day and night. But they paid me a lot more than we’d agreed at the start.
I wonder if they’re both my guardian angels in disguise rather than just my sugar daddies, that gave me so much more than I’d ever expected in my life. No one’s ever filled me up; they way they did. Not just sexually, but emotionally too.
As I walk towards, Simon the driver while wearing one of the dresses that I bought with Amy. I smile as I think that there was no reason for me to bring any clothes. Apart from the maid costume and lingerie that I’ve been wearing for the last three days. This is the first time that I’ve needed clothes.
He smiles at me, “Are you ready Ida?”
I say, “Yes, but I’m going to give you an address. I need you to take me there.”
He opens the door and says, “I know where you need to go.”
I stare at him for a split second, but he says nothing and avoids eye contact. I’m about to ask him a question if Bond or Master know where Amy is and that’s the reason he knows where I need to go. I don’t bother as it starts to dawn on me that I know the answer to my question. He’s going to take me to her. He knows exactly where she’s staying and I sit back in the limo as he closes the door.
I grab the seatbelt and turn my phone back off again. I don’t even bother to look at the messages because the only ones seem to be from Amy. I notice that my mom didn’t bother to call. Let alone wish me a Merry Christmas. I start to wonder if the whole time I was working with her, did she do it so that we could be together and she loved me as a mother should love their child? Or if she did do it, just because she couldn't do it alone?
I think about the way she treated me when dad was alive. How she reacted when I told her to wake-up about his death. I decide as a tear traces down my face that it must be the latter. And I feel sad, that in all of this I was thinking of her. Wondering how to help her and make things better, but she never did the same to me. This money for Amy and I. The only person that’s treated me better than my mom and a lot better than my dad. I’m not sharing anything with her. She doesn’t fucking deserve it.
Chapter Nineteen
Darren
I shake my head as I think about Ferguson doing something that he’s going to regret. I need him to agree to be in this with me. I can’t do it alone, and he knows it.
“Are you going to pretend that she means nothing to you?”
He chokes, “Who?”
As he stops at the lights. One thing about my Ferguson, he’s not a good actor at the best of times. And he’s doing a fucked up job of pretending that he doesn’t know exactly who I’m talking about.
“Fuck it; I’m going to turn back and just get to Amy. Is this what you want?”
Darren asks as he does a fucking U-turn and the jeep nearly turns over out of control.
“You don’t need to fucking kill us to do the right thing. Your brother’s sick. We both know it, and he needs to be stopped. At least you did the decent thing and got the girl out of there,” I sigh as I close my eyes and sink my head in my hands.
“I should have told you about him earlier. What he and dad were like? You see you’re not the only one with skeletons in your closet. I just hide it better than you,” he confesses, and then I look at my best friend’s face and can see for the first time in a long time, his weakness. That he does feel and everything’s in control for him. Because that’s the way that he knows to deal with things. Whereas I just know how to do it by sticking a bottle in my mouth every minute. Like a baby who needs, I need a drink all the time.
Fucking pathetic!
Ida’s made me feel better than I’ve done in a long time. I didn’t realize how out of touch I’ve been until these holidays and knowing that for once, I’m helping someone other than myself should make me feel a whole lot better.
“Right, it’s not far. We’ll be there soon,” he sighs.
“What are we going to do once we get there?”
I ask as we haven’t discussed that part. The fact that Ida wants to go to Paris, but I think that Ferguson’s feeling the same way that I’m doing right now. Ida’s the key, and I know for a fact that he doesn’t want to let her go. I know that I don’t want to do it.
He sighs, “One step at a time. Let’s sort out Amy.”
I press him about the topic, “And Ida?”
He shakes his head as he stops at the lights. I’m waiting for him to say something, anything to make him agree with me about Ida. I don’t want to go over his head and then offer to be her sugar daddy. Fuck, it was fun, but I can’t see me doing something like that on a long term basis. I get too attached, and I wouldn’t want her to be a side thing, I would want us to be for real. I know that Ferguson feels the same way, but he’s not going to admit it in a hurry as he bites on his lips, changes gear and keeps on driving.
I turn on the music. Usually, I could sit in the car and let my thoughts run away with me. Not today, it’s spiraling out of control and then message flashes on his phone.
“Ida’s on her way to the hotel too,” he sighs and then continues driving.
All I can think to say is, “Good.”
One way or another, not only will we end up rescuing Amy, but we’ll agree on what to do next with Ida. I just hope that it doesn’t result in fucking upsetting my best friend once again.
***
As we drive into the dingy hotel. I see the lights flashing and then as Ferguson parks up and turns off the ignition. I decided to ask him the same question once again. Maybe since we’ve been driving for the last twenty minutes, he’s had time to reflect and can give me a straight answer.
“Ida?”
I repeat, and he turns to look at me.
“What do you want to do about Ida?”
I say without any hesitation, “I want her to be in my life. Not as a sugar baby, but as a girlfriend. I know that you’re into this sugar daddy thing and you get a kick out of it. I think that you can do a lot more with the cabin and just rent it out for sugar daddies. I think that Seth’s right about that business. And girls like Amy and Magdalena could be the golden ticket to it being a business. We could get them to do something to make the business grow. Train girls. Run competitions. Who fucking knows? But I did get a kick out of Christmas, and it was the best one that I’ve had in forever. But, I’m only going ahead with Ida, if it’s Okay with you.”
He rubs his chin and says, “I would hate the idea of her being yours. I’ll have her on my mind all the time. The way she made me feel and even the times that I’d lost control.”
I point and turn to him, “You lost control?”
“Fucking unbelievable. I never crave a woman; I just seem them as…”
“Another thing to control,” I know what he wants to say, but most likely he’s too ashamed to admit what he wants and what he thinks inside.
“Seeing, the way that Seth treats women makes me feel fucking sick. I just turned a blind eye to it. Fucking died my hair as you fucking tease me about. Anything to make sure that I’m not associated with him. I don't want to think of myself as a fucking monster,” he chokes.
“Ferguson, you’re not a monster. You helped Magdalena, and you’ve never attacked or abused a woman, you can’t fucking put yourself in the same category as him,” I say as I try to reassure him.
