by Candice Dow
“Good morning, Mr.—”
My heart skipped a beat as if I were doing something wrong. I said, “Ah, yes, I’d like to place an order.”
She confirmed the suite number and took the order. I don’t know why I was nervous when he was the one who had suggested I call. Obviously he didn’t care that the hotel attendants knew he had a woman in his room. I would think someone of his caliber would have to be more cautious, but I guess not.
After he got out of the shower, I headed in. When I came out of the bathroom my client was watching ESPN and our food had arrived. He was sitting on the bed, eating from the tray, which was set nicely with white linen. I walked over and lifted the cover from my food. He reached over and grabbed one of my turkey sausage links. “These joints are slammin’.”
I smiled and he said, “What’s wrong? You don’t want my fingers in your food?”
“Oh no, you’re cool.”
“So, you new at this?”
I wasn’t sure what Thorne had told him and I didn’t recall that years of service were listed in any of the other girls’ profiles. I asked, “What makes you say that?”
“You seem a little shy.” He laughed. “Not in the sack, though.”
“I’m not shy.”
“It’s like you don’t know what to say to me.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t know what to say to him. It was more that I was one of his biggest fans and I was sure he heard that all the time. Why should he pay for sex with a groupie? So I kept my composure and tried to remain businesslike. Apparently I’d overdone my job and appeared too standoffish, because he was probing me for more.
“No, I’d rather you lead the conversation. I’m at your service.”
His hand rose, requesting a high five. “That’s what I’m talking about, ma. I like that.”
From the pleased expression on his face, I had scored big with that response. He continued, “Yeah, I really enjoyed last night.”
“Good.”
“Dudes need that.”
“I bet.”
“I’ma be honest. Sometimes you just want to spend a night with somebody. No questions. No drama.”
“I understand.”
“You’re probably not like that with ya man, though.”
My neck snapped back. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to have a man or not. I laughed. “Why you say that?”
“I don’t know, y’all get all crazy once you snag something.”
I shook my head. “That’s not true.”
“Y’all be like, ‘Gotcha! Now I can nag your ass to death.’ ”
“Is that what you think?”
“That’s what I know. I’ve been married for six years.”
He said it so carelessly, as if there were nothing wrong with my being there with him. He was open and waiting for me to open up. So I did. “So you’re telling me that your wife nags you to death.”
“Damn right, and every married man I know is going through the same thing.”
I shrugged. “So why get married?”
“I got married ’cause I owed her that. She been riding wit’ me since high school, but that still don’t mean she don’t get on my goddamn nerves.”
Shaking my head, I laughed. He started laughing too. “You see what I’m saying.”
“Yes, I see what you’re saying. Women are a pain in the ass.”
“Yeah, that. Plus y’all manipulative as hell too,” he said, laughing. “Y’all can’t be taken at face value.”
I looked him in the eye. “Do you really believe that?”
“Hell yeah. You fall in love with Cinderella and wake up one day to the damn Wicked Witch of the West.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Man, even my daughter is manipulative. I feel like my wife is teaching her how to manipulate and that shit ain’t right.”
“I think women have to be manipulative for our survival.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. At least you’re honest about it. I can tell you every woman I talk to about this tries to act like I’m crazy. If y’all do it for survival or not, it’s still manipulation.”
“Yeah, it is,” I said to appease his philosophy.
“Y’all call us dogs but women are the sneakiest creatures alive.”
“I agree.”
He put his fist out to give me dap. “See, I like that. You are real. Most women are so self-righteous, they would never admit. At least you’re real about it. I appreciate that.
“You really are the dog trainer,” he said, nodding his head slowly. “Teach a nigga some new tricks. Have him reevaluating what he thinks about chicks.”
I blushed. I really didn’t deserve that much credit, but if he wanted to give it to me I was going to accept it. We talked for a while longer before he had to leave. He pulled out a stack of cash and handed it to me.
“This should take care of you.”
I took the money and put it into my purse. After kissing him on the cheek, I headed to the door. He walked behind me and said, “See you again.”
“You know how to reach me.”
I hoped he would want to see me again. The next time I would know to sleep the entire day before. Inside the taxi I counted the money and was shocked to discover that he had given me ten thousand dollars. Thorne had told me that I would earn one thousand dollars an hour, but I hadn’t known every hour counted. I guess men like that could throw that kind of money away at the bar, so why not spend it on good sex, good company, and good conversation?
12
Thorne and I caught the same flight back to DC on Monday morning at five forty-five. The ride to the airport was the first time since I’d brought those shopping bags in the house that we’d spent any quality time together. He placed his hand on my thigh and said, “I’m proud of you.”
It was as if I’d been waiting for his approval because a wide smile spread across my face. He continued, “What are your plans when you get home?”
“Nothing. Are you coming over?”
“London Reed. It’s family time. I’ve been out of town for a while. It’s time to spend time with the wife and my boys.”
I nodded. I really wasn’t sure what to say because it seemed oxymoronic to me that he could speak so endearingly about his family, yet be running a sex-trade empire at the same time.
“So does your wife know?”
He smiled. “Know what?”
“About this. About what you do on the side.”
“In order to protect her, I think it’s best that she not know.”
“So what do you tell her when you’re out of town or handling the phone calls?”
He took a deep breath, seemingly irritated by my questions, but I planned to get as much as I could get out of him.
He said, “Well, she knows I’m a businessman and she has always given me space to do what I had to do. She doesn’t work, she has no plans to work, and she trusts that I’ll make a way for her to live in a lavish home, have a beach house, drive a nice car, and that there will be money in the bank to buy whatever she wants. So she doesn’t stress me. She never has.”
I envied her. What did she do to deserve that lifestyle? A piece of me felt Thorne and I were growing closer and I wondered if she’d worked for him before they fell in love.
“So where did you guys meet? Were you in this business?”
“Absolutely. We met a few years after I got involved in this.”
“Did she ever work for you?”
“Nope. Never,” he said, definitely.
I smiled tightly, not sure what I wanted to say next. There was a lump in my throat as I searched my soul for why he had bribed me into working for him but not her.
“So did you know you wanted something different from her when you met her?”
The expression on his face softened like he was visualizing her. “Not really, she was just different.”
“Did you try to get her in the business?”
“I tried, but she didn�
�t bite.”
“I thought you said that almost all women will bite, especially if you present it right.”
“Almost is the key word. I didn’t think I could convince her.”
My heart raced like he’d just smacked me. What about my character had made him think he could convince me? After noticing the disappointment in my face, he said, “London, some girls do. Some girls don’t, but one isn’t better than the other.”
He softly pinched my cheek. “No big deal.”
I smirked. Certainly he was bullshitting me, but what could I say? I’d fallen for his proposal and not only had I fallen for it, I was convinced it was a great opportunity. Maybe he’d taken advantage of my adverse circumstances. Maybe I’d had a FOR SALE sign stamped on my forehead. Whatever the case, I wondered what was so special about her and I knew it was too late to prove that I was special too.
“So what are you going to do with that large sum of money you got this weekend?”
I was agitated that he was trying to change the topic, so I said, “I’m not sure.”
“I would think you’d get somewhere larger to stay.”
“Well, I do have another nine months on my lease.”
“You can get out of that, you know. Always remember, every contract has a way out.”
“What are you saying?”
“I believe you’d just have to pay two months’ rent and give a thirty-day notice. Most leases have a cancellation clause. You should never sign one without it because you never know what can happen.”
“I’ll have to see if my lease has one.”
“I hope it does and if not, don’t ever sign another without it. You have the right to see the lease before your actual move-in day so that you can make sure it meets your needs. If you wait until the day you’re scheduled to move in, you already have movers and helpers lined up. That puts you in a desperate situation and you’ll sign anything. Never sign a contract out of desperation. Always with clarity and calm.”
“Yeah, when I moved into that place I was definitely desperate. So it’s likely anything could be in that lease,” I said with slight chuckle.
“Yeah, that’s in the past, but no more of that.” Raising one eyebrow, he said, “Got it?”
I nodded. “I got it.”
“Nine times out of ten, contracts are not written in your favor, so always cover your ass.”
“I agree. I guess you just assume that some things are standard.”
“Assume nothing. Know everything whenever you sign your signature.”
“That’s good advice.”
He put his hand on my knee and said, “Always.”
“You’re funny.”
“I’m not trying to be,” he said with a smile. “For real, though, back to the lecture at hand, that dog of yours definitely needs his own space. It just ain’t cool having him growling like that while you’re getting it on.”
“But I thought you told me that no one would ever come to my house.”
“I was just joking about that. Seriously, though, when you do your taxes, you can write off the portion of your home that you use as office space. It’s calculated by square footage. You don’t have much to write off when your entire living space is four hundred feet, now do you?”
“It’s closer to five or six hundred.”
“You’re missing the point. Make your business work for you. You can afford it now.”
We arrived at the airport and the driver took our luggage to the skycap. After we checked in, we headed to our gate. Shortly after, we were boarding the plane. Luckily we were in first class. The flight attendant offered us drinks while the other passengers boarded. Thorne said, “Mimosas for the lady and me.”
When she brought the drinks, Thorne raised his glass. “London Bridge, you really handled your business. Keep up the good work.”
As I tapped my glass against his, I wondered what type of feedback he had received. I gulped down my drink. Within minutes both Thorne and I were asleep. I didn’t know when the plane took off.
When we arrived in DC I felt abandoned once we got our luggage. Thorne waved goodbye as if I were a stranger he’d met on the plane and headed toward the town car waiting for him. My pockets were full, but I felt empty as I watched him walk away, detached and carefree.
By the time I got home, after sitting in traffic for what seemed like forever, it was a little after five. Bruno, his crate, and his food were gone. Kari must have decided it was easier to just take him home with her instead of going back and forth. I quickly searched for my lease to see if moving was a possibility. As I read through it, it appeared I could upgrade my apartment in the same building without penalty and with only a nominal transfer fee. It was just about ten minutes to six and the leasing office was about to close. I rushed downstairs and into the office.
I smiled at the leasing agent. “Hello.”
He smiled politely. “Hello. Can I help you with something this evening?”
“Well, I moved into a studio in November and I was looking to upgrade because it’s a lot smaller than I realized. I was wondering—”
He smiled. “You wouldn’t believe this. I got a letter today from a tenant who won’t be renewing the lease. It’s a two-bedroom on the sixth floor. Do you think you’d be interested?”
“What’s the rent?”
“Sixteen hundred.”
“Yep, I’d love to see it.”
“We don’t have any two-bedrooms available to see, but I can show you the floor plan. All the appliances are the same. Hardwood floors, et cetera.”
“Cool, when can I move in?”
“If you’re interested, you can move in on March fifteenth.”
“Okay, so what do we need to do?”
“You will have to put your intentions in writing and my manager will have to agree to it, and she will. Then you pay the transfer fee and we’ll be set for March.”
I nearly hugged him, but I shook his hand. “Sounds good to me. I’ll get that letter to you tomorrow.”
“Okay, cool. What’s your name and apartment number?”
I gave him my information and headed across the street to get Bruno. I called Kari just before walking into her building.
“You home, chick?”
“No, Bruno and I walked down to the Starbucks on M Street.”
“Oh, well, I’ll meet you guys.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll just bring him home when I get back.”
She probably had a blind date at the coffee shop, so I backed off. If I’d been on some of the horrific dates she’d been on, there would be no way I’d keep hopping on the dating treadmill. Some people are fine with disappointment. I would just wait for a guy to find me instead of being on the prowl 24-7.
I went back home and stretched across my bed. Kari knocked on my door about an hour later. When I opened it Bruno nearly attacked me, sniffing me like crazy. Kari struggled to control him before handing the leash to me. I sternly shouted, “Sit!”
He whined a little before sitting. Finally I hugged Kari. “Thanks so much.”
She said, “Anytime, girl. So how was your visit?”
She’d caught me completely off guard. I hadn’t thought about what I would tell her about my visit with my mom. I smiled. “Surprisingly, it was pretty good.”
“Your hair looks good.”
“I know. I went to her stylist and he hooked me up.”
“I like it. It looks so natural.”
“You trying to say my other hair looked cheesy.”
“No, not at all. It always looked good, but you could tell it was fake. This looks like it’s coming out of your roots. You look Hollywood.”
My heart skipped a beat because I wondered why she had picked that term. I quickly looked at my luggage and hoped she didn’t pay attention to the baggage claim sticker. It was time for Kari to go. The past weekend had too many secrets and I hadn’t fully figured out what I planned to tell her.
I petted Bruno and said, “I’m
glad you like the new hair. I am so sleepy; I don’t know what to do.”
She said, “I bet you are. Let me go.”
“Thanks again for keeping my baby.”
“Anytime, he was a lot of company.”
“Good.”
As she approached the door, she said, “Your mother must have been feeling really sympathetic.”
“Why you say that?”
My eyes looked in the direction she was looking. My new purse sat on top of my luggage.
“I see she bought you a brand-new Louie. Or was that just her way of trying to convince you to apply to medical school?”
I laughed. “Probably.”
We exchanged a hug and Kari was gone. I was consumed with how I planned to live this double life. How long would I be able to keep this from Kari? How could I explain all the new designer clothes when I’d just gotten fired? How could I explain my late nights? I didn’t have any answers, just questions and uncertainty.
13
The next day Thorne asked to meet me for lunch. We had an early afternoon meeting not far from his office. I stopped at the bank to deposit half of my earnings just before hooking up with him. When I walked in the restaurant, I looked around and spotted him in a booth in the corner. How can you miss someone you don’t really even know? I wanted to skip over there and hug him. Instead I headed in his direction, trying to suppress my schoolgirl excitement.
As I was about to sit on the bench across from him, he patted the seat beside him. When I sat down I leaned over to kiss his cheek. It was as much of a surprise to me as it was to him. He blushed. “Thank you. I needed that. I’ve had a crazy day at the office.”
“You’re welcome.”
He pulled out his laptop and said, “I have something amazing to show you.”
“Amazing?”
“Absolutely,” he said, as he began to start up his computer.
Before turning the screen so that I could see, he continued, “I told you that my team works fast. My graphic artists touched up your shots and uploaded them to the website last night.”
