“That’s fine.”
We continue eating, and talk about topics that range from childhood memories to crazy, drunken, college memories, even to what we’re looking forward to in our lives. Adrienne and I laugh at each other’s funny stories, and sympathize with the sad ones. In this moment I can feel us growing closer. I’ve never had these moments. The moments when you get to know another person on a deeper level. Getting to know someone’s wants sexually is nothing compared to getting to know someone’s dreams of their future.
Even though I know it’s a cop out, I decide on telling Adrienne about the escort thing until after tonight. I tell myself that after we’re done celebrating and it’s time to take her home will be the time I tell her. I can’t keep dragging it out.
After a while, Adrienne slips her dress and heels back on, and we head down to my car so I can take her home.
“See you later,” I say as she steps out of the car.
“I can’t wait. Tonight should be fun. It’ll be my first time hanging out with you when you’re with your friends,” she says with an eyebrow lifted.
“You think I’m a different person with them?” I ask with a laugh.
“I know you are. We’re all different with our friends. I would never talk to you about some of the things I talk to Emilie about.”
“Oh, I know. Things like God-like creatures, right?” I ask with a smirk.
“Oh, shut up!” she says with red cheeks.
“It’s okay. I like it. I mean, I know I say I’m a king, but if I can be a God, why not?”
“You’re too much,” she says with a laugh.
She leans into me and I bend down to kiss her. “Yeah, but you like it.”
“I do.”
“I’ll give you a call later to let you know the details about tonight.”
“Okay.”
We kiss one more time before she walks away. I shut the passenger door and walk over to the driver’s side. On my drive back home, I consider all the different ways I can tell her the truth, and also consider all the ways she can react. Fuck. I don’t see this going good.
While I’m in the shower, I hear my phone ring several times. As soon as I get out, I grab it and see that both Jace and Emilie have called me. Only Jace left a voicemail, but that’s probably because Em left several text messages.
His voicemail lets me know where we’re going and that he’ll come pick me up at six-thirty. When I read Em’s messages, she’s basically saying Troy called her and asked if she was going out with me tonight. So she’s yelling at me about not inviting her. Deciding to call her, I press send as I walk back into the bathroom with a towel wrapped around me.
“So you don’t invite your best friend to go out with you when hot guys are gonna be around?” she says as soon as she picks up the phone.
“Oh hey, Em. Nice to talk to you too. What? Oh, yeah, I spent the night at Jace’s house last night, and just got home and took a shower. He called while I was in the shower to let me know about tonight. So what’s goin’ on with you?” I say.
She’s quiet for a little while before responding.
“Ummm…okay, I apologize for being crazy. Now where were you and for how long? Did you say you spent the night?”
“Yes. I have to tell you about the whole day though! It was amazing, Em! A dream come true.”
I end up sitting on the edge of my bed, with only a towel on, and tell Em everything from the spa appointment, to the dinner under the stars, and of course the sex, but with limited details.
“Anyway, I was going to tell you about tonight, but I didn’t have any details about what was going on. So, are you coming or what?”
“Are you serious? Of course I’m coming!”
“Yay! Now tell me what’s going on with you and Troy.”
“Well, not much. He’s really nice, and very considerate. It’s weird because I kind of want to jump his bones, but he’s so…I don’t know. Hesitant.”
“I heard he had a hell of a last relationship. It probably has something to do with that.”
“Like he’s still broken hearted or in love?”
“I don’t think he still loves her. Maybe he’s afraid to get hurt again.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“Well, I’m still sitting here in a towel, and I need to start getting ready. Jace is gonna be here at six-thirty, and I have about five hours to eat, figure out what to do with my hair, do my face, find some clothes, and maybe take a nap.”
“Didn’t get much sleep at your sleepover, eh?” Em asks.
“No, not enough,” I laugh.
`When I hang up with Emilie, I flop back onto my bed and close my eyes. Sleep overcomes me in minutes.
I wake up in a panic. I didn’t set an alarm, and I’m just sure that I overslept. When I look over at the clock, I’m able to breathe a little. It’s only a little after three o’clock. I throw on an oversized t-shirt and go to the kitchen to warm up some leftover pasta.
After eating, I go to my closet to figure out what I’m going to wear. I can’t do my hair or makeup until I have clothes picked out. I have to be sure that my makeup will match my outfit. After pushing hanger after hanger to the side, I find a mini, sleeveless, black dress. It’s form fitting and shows off my curves. The back is sheer, so that determines my hairstyle. An up-do.
I look through my drawers and find a pair of pantyhose. The front of them is solid black, while the back is sheer. I decide to add a bit of color by pairing it with red heels and red dangling earrings. I’ll be sure to carry my red-and-black clutch.
With the outfit picked out and ready to go, I make my way to the bathroom to pull my hair up and put my makeup on. I give my eyes the smoky look with a charcoal gray shadow and a glittery highlight. Since my eyes are fairly dark now, I decide to go with a nude-colored lipstick and gloss. Don’t want to start looking too drag queen-ish.
I end up pinning almost all of my curls back until it looks like I have a curly, messy bun on the back of my head with a few curls framing my face. After slipping on my clothes, spritzing myself with perfume, and using the bathroom one last time, I head to the living room.
Twenty minutes later, Jace is at my door.
“Hey,” I say as I open the door.
“Hey, you look amazing.”
“Thank you, you’re not too bad yourself,” I say playfully.
He’s wearing a black shirt and black blazer with a pair of white jeans. He could definitely be a model.
I walk up to him and run my hand along the scruff on his face before stealing a kiss. I’ve never seen a five o’clock shadow look so good. He’s got it all trimmed up and looking perfect.
I grab my clutch and make sure I have my phone and keys. “Ready.”
Once we get to the car, I see he’s chosen his SUV this time. It’s a black Range Rover with really dark tint. When I get inside, I see that this one is just as clean as his other vehicle. The interior is black and gray and the chrome is probably still as shiny as the day he bought it.
“This is really nice,” I say.
“Thanks. I usually prefer my Bentley, but I gotta pick Troy up and figured I should give him more space. I hope it’s okay that he rides with us.”
“Yeah, of course. I don’t mind.”
When we get to Troy’s place, I gawk from the passenger window. We pull up into one of the three driveways. Each one is set a little in front of the one next to it. There are palm trees on the sides of a huge, floor-to-ceiling, arched window near the front door. It’s gorgeous, and I can only imagine what the inside looks like.
Jace texts Troy to let him know we had arrived, and soon after Troy comes walking out. He’s wearing a long sleeved, white, collared shirt that has thin black stripes, and a black vest. A pair of blue jeans, and black shoes finishes the outfit. He looks good, too. These guys should never be allowed to go out together. I can only imagine the amount of women who would throw themselves on them.
When he climbs into the back he flashes
me his perfect smile, showing off his straight, white teeth.
“Hey, Adrienne.”
“Hey,” I respond with a smile. “Jace, do you mind if we pick up Emilie, too? She was just going to meet us there, but maybe we can just all ride together.”
I see Jace look in the rearview mirror and smirk. “Yeah, that’s fine, just let me know where to go.”
I turn and look at Troy in the back. “You don’t mind, do you?”
He smiles. “No, it’s fine.”
“Okay, good. Let me text her to let her know.”
I send Em a text to let her know we’ll be by to pick her up. I may have left out that Troy will be with us.
“Hey, so Marc, Kade, and Nico are gonna be meeting us there. I think Marc said someone else was coming with him,” Troy says from the back.
“Okay, cool. I haven’t seen Marc in a long time. He was out of town for a while,” Jace responds.
“Was this that work trip he said he was going on?” I ask, and then realize that he never specified if it was work or pleasure.
Jace and Troy share a look through the mirror. “Yeah. It was for work,” Jace responds.
“Oh man, did you hear what Nico did?” Troy asks quickly.
They talk about somebody I haven’t met before, so I kind of tune them out. I give Jace directions as we drive, and soon enough we’re at Em’s place. I take out my phone and let her know we’re here.
As she’s on her way to the vehicle, I see Troy watching her. Em has on a cowl neck, dark blue, knee length dress. Even though she’s yet to turn around, I know the dress. The back crosses at the top in an X formation and the rest of her back is uncovered. Troy’s gonna go crazy.
She opens the back passenger door, and before she even has it all the way open, she’s already talking.
“Adrienne, do you think Tr…Troy! Hey, I wasn’t expecting to see you,” she says as she realizes Troy is in the backseat. I stifle a laugh knowing she was about to ask about him.
She slides in behind me and then we’re on our way to the club. I hear Troy compliment her, and Emilie reciprocates. Jace reaches over, grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles.
“So, are you guys excited about this club opening, or what?” Em asks excitedly.
“Yeah, I’m just worried about the first week. I think that’s when everything that can go wrong, will,” Troy responds.
“Are Adrienne and I invited to the opening?”
“Em, I have to be there because of my job. So I’ll be there whether Jace wants me there or not,” I say playfully as I squeeze his hand.
He looks over at me and gives me a heart melting smile. “I’ll always want you around.”
“Awww,” Em coos.
“I’ll make sure you get in,” Troy says to Emilie.
“Thank you. I’m sure it’s gonna be crazy busy for a while. Everybody always wants to be in the new clubs first. So is this what y’all do? Open clubs and stuff?”
“This is our first one,” Troy answers.
“Oh. So you both work together, right? What’s the official title, like entrepreneurs or something?”
They both seem to pause to see who’s going to answer. Jace clears his throat. “Well, we hope that after this we’ll be able to branch out and get more up and running.”
“So what did you do before? If this is the first business that you’re opening, then what was your job before?” I ask Jace.
I was under the impression that that’s what he did. That he had opened up other clubs here in Las Vegas with Marc and Troy. I guess that’s why I never asked.
“It’s right here, man,” Troy says, leaning forward and pointing out the window.
“Oh, okay,” Jace responds.
“Let me text Marc and Nico and see if they’re here yet,” Troy says, pulling his phone out.
A few minutes later, once we’re parked, Troy’s phone goes off.
“Yeah, they’re all in there,” he says.
On our way to the front door of the large, one level building, Jace grabs my hand.
“We’ll talk about my job later, okay?” he says with a small smile.
“Okay.”
We walk straight into the Blue Martini and are instantly surrounded by loud voices and loud music. There’s a huge round bar in the middle and that’s where we go first. As Troy and Jace talk to the bartender, Emilie pulls me to the side.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Troy was in the car! I was about to ask if you thought he’d like my dress. That would have been embarrassing!”
I laugh. “That’s for asking all those questions when you knew Jace was right behind me. You’re lucky I didn’t do that to you!”
“Oh whatever. I’m so excited! I’m glad we’re all hanging out together. Double date, woot woot!” she squeals.
“There’s gonna be a few more guys joining us, though.”
“Oh really? Are they gonna be as good looking as these two?” she asks.
“Well, Marc is really good looking. He’s the other one that’s involved in their club. I don’t know the other guys.”
Jace and Troy walk over and hand us our drinks.
“Thank you,” Em and I say in unison.
“Here you guys are!” a voice yells.
We all turn and look in the direction of the voice. It’s a young-looking guy. He’s got tanned skin, and dark brown, unruly hair. His dark eyes are a little glazed, and you can tell he’s been drinking. The guy next to him looks young, too. He’s got blonde hair and light colored eyes. It’s hard to tell with it being so dark, but the fact that they aren’t ugly is obvious.
“Hey,” Troy and Jace say at the same time.
“Nico, this is Adrienne and Emilie. This is Nico and Kade,” Jace introduces.
“Hey,” Nico drags out. “What section of the club did you find them, cause that’s where I need to go,” Nico says with a laugh.
“We brought them here,” Jace says sternly.
“Oh,” he says softly. Then his voice becomes animated. “Wait! Kade, oh man, tell them about your date yesterday. Oh God, you guys, this shit is the funniest shit I’ve heard in a while. I’ve never had this happen to me with any of the women I’ve been with. I swear Kade’s had the worst luck since he started.”
My brows furrow. At first I think he’s just talking about a regular date, and then he says since he’s started, which doesn’t make sense. Although, he’s drunk and rambling, so who knows?
“Yeah, hold on. Let’s talk about it later. I need to find Marc,” Troy says. “I’ll be right back,” he says to Emilie with a smile.
When he disappears into the crowd, Em pulls my arm. “Let’s dance!” I hand my drink to Jace before she yanks me further away. He gives me a small smile, and then me and Emilie are lost in the crowd.
The music is good and my heels aren’t too uncomfortable, so we dance for a few songs.
“Damn, why is it that all their friends are cute? I mean, those other two aren’t bad to look at,” Em says while we dance.
“I don’t know. I’m curious as to what they do. I wonder if Jace and Troy work with them.
Emilie just shrugs and keeps dancing. After the song we’re dancing to goes off, we make our way back to the bar. I don’t see Jace or Troy, though. I don’t even see the other guys that were with them.
“Wanna get another drink?” Em asks.
“Nah, let’s go to the bathroom first.”
“Okay. I wonder where the guys are.”
“I know. Hopefully they won’t be hard to find,” I say, still looking around for them.
“Well, considering they’re the most attractive men here, we’ll just be on the lookout for a mob of women, and the guys will probably be in there.”
We struggle through groups of people, looking for the bathroom. After a while, we finally make it to a hallway that holds the bathrooms and emergency exit. We pass the men’s bathroom on the way and hear a girl’s voice inside.
“Com
e on, you know you want to,” the seductive voice says.
Em and I pause near the door and listen.
“Maybe we’ll hear them have sex,” Em whispers with a smile on her face.
A toilet flushes in one of the bathrooms, causing whatever the guy says to be muffled.
“I know you enjoyed yourself last time. There’s no denying that, so why don’t we just leave and go have some fun? Just the two of us this time.”
A man starts walking down the hall towards the bathroom, so Em and I move a few steps away and act like we’re just chatting in the hallway. When he goes to open the door, it’s locked. He bangs on the door with his fist several times.
“Boo! He’s ruined our fun. Now we won’t get to hear a live sex show. Let’s go to the bathroom now,” Em says as she walks across the narrow hall to the women’s bathroom.
Right as we get to the door, we hear the men’s door unlock and the man waiting outside the door, pushes his way in.
“Come on, man. If you wanna fuck a girl in here, at least move it into one of the stalls and leave the main door unlocked. I almost pissed myself.”
Em and I get into the bathroom but peek through the cracked door, watching the show.
“Sorry, man.”
“We’re leaving anyway. We need a bed for what I have in mind,” the female voice says huskily.
The door opens wider, and since the women’s bathroom is set a little further down, they won’t come our way to get back to the club, so Em and I continue watching. When I see the girl, my mouth drops, although I shouldn’t be too surprised.
“Is that…Vivian?” Em whispers.
“Yeah.”
“What a whore. What the fuck is she wearing?”
“A whore’s uniform,” I whisper back and we both try to keep our laughter quiet.
Vivian steps further into the hall. “You ready?” she asks.
Jace walks out into the hallway next, and I think my heart stops.
I end up leaning back against a wall in the bathroom. The door is now closed and Emilie is looking at me with a mixture of rage and pity. I know she’s pissed at Jace, but I also know she’s worried about me. I can’t find any words. I’m embarrassed, heart-broken, and angry. I just don’t know which one to feel first. I should have known this was going to happen. This is why I didn’t want to be with him in the first place. Vivian though? They had been together before? Jace said he didn’t know her, that he didn’t know her name. The fact that he lied to me probably pisses me off the most.
Living in Sin (The Escort Series) Page 19
