by Penelope Sky
“That must be nice.”
“Yeah, but it’s still weird to talk about. I need to get my own place.”
“I can buy you something.”
She turned to me and gave me the coldest look. “I should be the one giving you money—paying for your manwhore services.”
Most men would take that as a compliment, but since I had a different agenda with her, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. It implied she was using me for sex…because she didn’t want anything else from me.
“I don’t need your money. I can afford my own apartment now, so I’ll find something soon.”
I intended to steer her away from these hookups at the hotel. I wanted her in my bed or somewhere else more private. This still felt like a dirty affair that we were hiding from our spouses, but if we were just sleeping with each other, it was time to upgrade.
I got out of bed and prepared to walk her to the door.
She grabbed her purse and turned to me. “I guess I’ll see you later.”
“Yes, you will.” My arms slid around her, and I pulled her against my chest so I could kiss her goodbye.
She melted at my touch, like the previous insults had never come from her mouth.
I drew back and let her go, reluctantly.
She looked up at me, as if she had something else to say.
I stared at her as I waited.
“I don’t know what happened earlier… I think we were just—”
“It’s you and me—no one else.” I silenced her insecurities. “However long this lasts, I want it to be just us. If we’re gonna do this, we may as well enjoy every single moment until it’s gone. I want all of you—not just a piece of you.”
This would be the moment where she would argue with me, tell me I didn’t have any part of her. But this time, she let it go, probably because that night of sex was so good that she wasn’t going to stop. She wanted it skin-to-skin, wanted to feel my come fill her up like an empty tank needing gas at the pump. “Alright…until it’s gone.” She was in her heels, so she didn’t have to rise onto her tiptoes to kiss me goodbye. It was the first time she’d done that, gave me any kind of affection that wasn’t purely sexual.
It was a start.
I squeezed her ass before I let her go.
She turned around and walked out, shaking that ass like she was torturing me on purpose. She left without looking at me again, letting the door shut behind her. Once her presence was gone from the room, it immediately felt lonely, like a cold draft had just erased her warmth.
I sat in the armchair once more and sipped the scotch I’d been enjoying the night before. The sun would rise in a few hours and I was exhausted, but after the night I’d had, I didn’t want it to end.
There had been only one time in my life when I didn’t wear a condom…and it was with her.
How could I ever go back?
My phone started to ring from my pants on the floor. I fished it out, saw Damien’s name on the screen, and answered it. It was four in the morning, so he would only call me at this hour if it was important. “What?”
“You sound wide awake.”
“I’m always awake.”
“Really?” he countered. “Because you didn’t show up to work a couple days ago because—”
“What do you want, Damien?”
He dropped the argument and turned serious. “Maddox wants a meeting.”
“Why?”
“He wants to renegotiate territory.”
Maddox was my biggest competitor. His product was similar to mine but not quite as pure. If he had the chance to take me out, he would. I’d do the same to him. We were enemies, bloodthirsty for each other’s corpse. He was a decade older than me, and when I came into the game, he didn’t take me seriously. Considered me to be a child. But I rose in power overnight and pulled territory from directly under his feet. It started a war, battles lost on both sides, and there was no end in sight. “Not gonna happen.”
“Just passing along the message. Do I deny his request?”
“I have nothing to say to him. This is my territory. He can take his business elsewhere.”
Damien accepted my decision. “Alright…but there will be consequences.”
“I’d judge him if there weren’t.”
8
Sofia
I stood at the counter in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for time to pass so my shift would end. I was grateful I had a job because it paid my bills and got me an apartment a few blocks away. After I moved in, I’d finally get some independence back.
Wouldn’t have to do the walk of shame right in front of my mother.
It was just another receptionist and me since it was late at night. After seven in the evening, people didn’t enter the lobby unless it was the weekend and they’d spent the night out on the town. So when I saw a group of men walk in, all wearing suits, it was odd.
There was one clearly in the lead, wearing a dark blue suit. With a rigid back and a cold demeanor, he entered the hotel with a clear purpose, marching across the lobby under the chandeliers, and heading toward the lounge. I didn’t know every single guest staying at the hotel, but I usually could surmise their purpose. Businessmen were there during the day, sometimes meeting a client for lunch. Businessmen in the evening were usually having an affair with a woman half their age while their pregnant wife waited for them to come home.
These men didn’t fit into either category.
They entered the lounge then disappeared.
Since this was my hotel, I was naturally nosy, so I took a break from my desk to see what they were up to. The lounge was down the hall and in the corner, where there were huge windows that showed the entire street. I stepped inside and noticed similarly dressed men already sitting at a table in the center of the lounge—and no one was around.
The air felt heavy, like I’d stepped into a meeting I wasn’t part of.
I lingered there for a moment but couldn’t make out the conversation. They were speaking too quietly.
The bartender wasn’t even there.
What was going on?
One man in the corner noticed me. He stared at me for a while, his eyes narrowed as if he was the school bully and I was his next target. “Can we help you?”
All heads turned my way. Smoke from their cigars drifted to the ceiling, and their glasses of booze rested next to their hands. They must have helped themselves to the bar as if they could do whatever they wanted. My first impulse was to say something sassy, like usual, but my gut told me that wasn’t a good idea.
That my life depended on it.
“I noticed there wasn’t a bartender. Do you guys need anything?”
The guy who interrogated me dropped his guard slightly. “We’re good, honey. Run along now.”
Honey?
Run along now?
It took all my strength to turn around and walk away. But I knew I was making the right call.
The second I walked in the door, I slipped off my heels so I wouldn’t have to wear them a moment longer. Heels and stairs didn’t go together, so that was a problem I wanted to avoid. If my feet had lips, they’d be screaming in relief right now.
My mother appeared out of the shadows…because she was a damn gargoyle. “Home at a reasonable hour… That’s a nice change.”
“Hello, Mother,” I said sarcastically. “So nice to see you lingering in the entranceway.”
“You can’t wait to move out tomorrow, huh?” She was perfectly aware of my annoyance, but she managed to brush it off like a joke.
“A bit.”
“Gustavo and I will miss you.”
“No, you won’t,” I jabbed.
She chuckled. “Yeah, probably not. But it is nice that you’ll be close by. So, how was work?”
“You know…boring.” I considered telling her about the strange men who crashed the lounge, but Gustavo was probably the better recipient of news like that.
“You aren’t seeing your myste
ry man tonight?”
“What makes you think I have a mystery man?”
“Well, I hope you aren’t out until three in the morning with all different men…”
I headed to the stairs and began the climb.
“So…who is he?”
“You’re being nosy, Ma.”
“I’m just curious. Is this serious? If it is, you know—”
“It’s not serious, so let’s not even go there.”
“Oh, I see.” She wore a long nightgown and lifted it above her feet as she walked. “Then he must be a fun mistake.”
He wasn’t fun, and he wasn’t a mistake. He was just…a good memory. At least, someday he would be. It was a passionate relationship that I would never find again, and I wanted to hold on to it until the flames went out. My heart was locked up tight, so no one could come anywhere near it. Hades would never hurt me because it wasn’t possible. How could a man break your heart if he never had your heart in the first place? “Something like that.”
“I miss being young. Have so many good memories…”
“Yes, you say that a lot.” We made it to the second landing, and I turned to say goodnight. “I’ll see you in the morning. I’ve got to soak my feet in the tub.”
“Alright, honey. Good night.”
The movers placed all the furniture in my new apartment, and I spent the afternoon unpacking everything from the boxes. It was a small one-bedroom apartment, so I had a little kitchen, a four-person dining table, and a couch. It wasn’t as grand as my mother’s mansion, but it still beat living with her.
Esme lifted the dishes out of the box and set them on the counter. “So, should we celebrate with a bottle of wine here or go out?”
“I do have wine here, but there are no hot guys here.”
She chuckled. “That’s a very good point.”
Now that Hades was the regular man in my bed, I wasn’t looking for anyone new. But I knew Esme was hitting guys out of the park. She lived the epic single lifestyle. She didn’t want to be cooped up in my apartment when she had sexy legs to show off. “You wanna go out, then?”
“Only if you pick up a hot guy too.”
“You know, I’m not really looking right now. I’m just focusing on me.” I pulled the blankets out of the box and draped them over the couches. When I didn’t hear the rattle of the dishes anymore, I looked at Esme again.
She gave me a look that clearly said, “You’re full of shit.”
“What?”
“Aren’t looking?” she asked. “People only say that if they’re already seeing someone. Are you seeing someone?”
No, I wasn’t seeing Hades. We just weren’t seeing other people because we were skipping protection. It wasn’t a romantic decision. “No.”
“Then you’re picking up a hot guy.”
“I’m not doing that either.”
“So, you are seeing someone.”
“No…”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Spill it.”
I tossed the blankets aside and joined her in the kitchen. “It’s not how it seems, alright?” I grabbed a couple of plates and placed them in the cabinets over the stove. “I’m hooking up with this guy, but we’re exclusive for the moment.”
“Uh-huh…” She propped one hand on her hip, giving me so much attitude, it was suffocating. “That sounds like a relationship.”
“It’s not,” I said firmly. “We just don’t want to use protection. That’s all.”
“And why wouldn’t you want to use protection if this guy means nothing to you?”
“Come on,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Don’t make me get into the details. I’m not interested in him romantically. Not at all. He’s not my type.”
“Not your type? You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you?”
“I have needs, obviously. But that’s it. My point is, I can’t pick up any hot guy I see.”
“Then he must be pretty good in bed if you’re willing to swear off all other men temporarily.”
She wouldn’t believe me if I told her. “Yeah…he’s pretty good.”
“Am I gonna meet this guy?”
“No. He’s not gonna meet anyone.”
“So, he feels the same way? About this being casual?”
“Yes.” He didn’t strike me as the boyfriend type. I really knew nothing about him, but I wanted it to stay that way.
She finished putting away the dishes. “Alright, let’s get a drink. Hearing all this talk about good, casual, exclusive sex makes me want it too.”
It was mid-November so it was too cold outside not to wear a coat. We shed our jackets at the front then found a vacant booth. We ordered our drinks and got to talking.
“How’s the hotel?” she asked. “Gustavo still got a tampon up his ass?”
“Yeah, a bit. Technically, the hotels aren’t even his—they belong to my mother.”
“Asshole.”
I was annoyed by the situation, but I did think Gustavo was a good guy. “My mother agrees…that’s what the problem is. Until I have a strong husband, I’ll never have any real responsibilities there.”
“She needs to build a time machine and go back to 1734.”
I laughed when I imagined my mother getting into some contraption that actually transported her to a different time period. Her morals were so archaic that I didn’t understand where she got them. Was it really by choice?
“So, on a scale of one to ten, how good is this guy in bed?”
“Wow…”
“What?” she asked. “I’m your best friend. I can ask.”
I stirred my vodka cranberry and stared down at my swirling ice just to have something to do.
“Girl,” she pressed. “Just give me a number, one to ten.”
I took a long drink before I put down the glass. “Eleven.”
“Ooh.” She leaned forward and clapped her hands against the table. “Does he have a brother? Tell me he has a brother. A cousin will do.”
“You know…I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what?”
“If he has a brother. I’ve never asked.”
Esme furrowed her eyebrows. “Wow…you really don’t talk, huh? All you do is screw.”
“That’s how I like it.”
“How do you know he really is faithful?” she asked. “Since you hardly know him.”
I shrugged. “I guess I don’t know. I just think we’re screwing so much that I doubt he’s looking for sex elsewhere. And this is a short-term fling. It’s not that hard to be committed to someone for a month or whatever.”
“What are you going to do when it’s over?” she asked. “Where are you going to find another eleven?”
My lungs deflated from all the air I had been holding. “I don’t think I ever will.”
“God, that’s depressing.”
“Yeah…” When I slept with someone else, I knew I would be disappointed. “So, do you see anyone you like?” I took the attention off of me and my amazing sex life. Maybe Esme was inspired to find her eleven out there. I hadn’t even glanced at the other people in the bar because it didn’t matter who was there. I wasn’t going home with anyone, so I didn’t even want a free drink.
“Ooh…he’s gorgeous.”
“Which one?”
“He’s in the back, sitting with a bunch of guys. Some are older, which is weird. But he’s the one with the chocolate-colored eyes and that sexy shadow on his face.” She nodded to the other side of the bar, which was about a hundred feet away.
My eyes zeroed in on a face I instantly recognized. Hades was there, having drinks with an eclectic group of men. Some were middle-aged; some were even old. He seemed to be the youngest guy there, looking sexy in a leather jacket with a gray V-neck underneath. At least he wasn’t here alone or with Damien, picking up women. He seemed to be doing business of some kind.
“That’s the sexiest guy I’ve ever seen. He’s drinking scotch… I like a man who knows how to drink. I think I’ll b
ring him a double to break the ice.”
It was so awkward that I didn’t want to tell her the truth. “Actually…that’s him.”
Esme looked back at me, her eyes filled with confusion. “Who?”
“Eleven…”
“Oh my god, shut your ass.”
“Nope, I can’t.”
“That’s the guy you’re sleeping with?” She raised her palm in the air. “Girl, good for you.”
I chuckled before I gave her a high five. Of course, Esme wasn’t embarrassed by the situation. She had the confidence to bounce back no matter what. “Yeah, he’s easy on the eyes.”
“I can tell he earned that score. Look at those shoulders.”
“They look better when he’s naked.”
She chuckled. “You’re so dirty. What’s he doing with all those dudes?”
“Probably working.”
“What does he do?”
“Runs a bank or something.”
“So, he’s rich?” she asked in surprise.
“Yeah. Pretty loaded.” Based on his house, his car, and the fact that he owned a restaurant…he was doing pretty well.
“Well, now is the perfect chance for you to see if he would keep his word.”
“What do you mean?”
“I doubt he’s seen us from way over there. He looks preoccupied. What if I hit on him and see what happens?”
Testing him had never crossed my mind. “I don’t know… It doesn’t really matter what he does.”
“Doesn’t matter?” she asked incredulously. “You’re screwing that guy bareback.”
“Yeah, but most men cheat on their wives, so we’re constantly exposed. He seems like a guy who would take care of himself if he wasn’t committed.”
She gave me the weirdest look. “You weren’t kidding when you said he meant nothing to you.”
“I didn’t say that, exactly. It’s just, we aren’t in a relationship. If he does take you up on your offer, it doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he’ll say yes to you, and then he’ll break it off with me because he’s officially bored with me. It just doesn’t mean anything like it would if he were my boyfriend. You get what I’m saying?”
