by Leigh James
“That’s exactly what I mean.” She grabbed his tie and pulled him in for a quick, hot kiss. Todd lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around him. They headed to a dark corner for some serious making out and grinding.
“They’re drunk,” Cole said and laughed.
“They’re happy,” I said, surprised. I turned to James. “They’re actually good together.”
James stood up taller and watched them making out in the corner, a bemused look on his face. “He likes her slutty sorority girl act. You just might be right,” he said.
Meanwhile, sparks were still flying in our little circle. “You are so hot when you fight for me,” Cole said to Jenny. He took another sip of his martini and looked at her with hooded eyes.
“That wasn’t even a fight,” Jenny said. She tossed her hair. “If you want to see me throw down, just bring that bitch back here.”
Cole looked impressed. “That’s so hot—that’s the bride, Jenny. You gonna fight the bride for me?”
“I would, baby,” she cooed, pressing herself against him. They started seriously making out then, with Cole’s hands all over Jenny’s ass. James and I just looked at each other, somewhere between mortified and amused.
Celia Preston was not impressed, however. She motioned for us to come over. We both took large swigs of our drinks before we went. “Who is that girl with Cole Bryson tonight?” she asked, watching them dry-hump next to the bar.
“That’s Jenny,” James said matter-of-factly. “They’re dating.”
“If that’s what you want to call it.” Celia turned to me. “Do you know this Jenny? She seemed excited to see you.”
“I met her last night. We went out for after-dinner drinks,” I said, watching James out of the corner of my eye.
“We met them,” James said, nodding. “For drinks after dinner.”
“Is he bringing her to the wedding?” Celia asked, scowling at them as they became more entangled.
“I hope so,” James said. “Otherwise, Todd and Evie will be the only ones having inappropriate physical displays in public.” James pointed them out in the far corner, still playing Slutty Sorority Girl and Her Jealous Boyfriend.
Celia frowned. “I think I should have had more substantial food served at this thing,” she said mostly to herself.
“Live and learn, Mother,” James said. “Live and learn.”
* * *
We snuck out after Celia was interrupted by one of her friends, asking about which red wine on the list had the most antioxidants.
I winked at Jenny on the way out, and she gave me a thumbs-up. Cole still had his hands on her ass.
“I think he really likes her,” James said as we slid into the car. “I don’t think he’s pretending.”
“What’s not to like?” I asked. “She’s gorgeous, she’s young, and she’s smart.” He looked at me skeptically. “No, James—she’s actually really smart. One of her many talents is hiding it.”
“My brother and Evie were also entertaining tonight,” James said.
“You know what? I think they’re actually in love,” I said. “Todd seems really excited about getting married. And Evie definitely seemed into him tonight… if he can live with what happened and accept her for who she is, maybe you can, too.”
James snorted.
“I’m just pointing that out to you,” I said in a know-it-all voice.
“We’ll see,” he said. At least it was something.
I sighed. “I have to deal with my mother.” I gave Kai my mother's address in East Boston, and he sped silently through the night. “I wish we could just go home,” I said. “I mean—your home.”
James put his arm around me. “Do you want to tell me what’s happening?”
“Nope,” I said. Because then you’d try to fix it, and it’s my cross to bear.
James sighed and sat back. “What do I have to do to get you to trust me? This is safe,” he said, pointing between us. “You can tell me anything. It’s not like we have to hide anything from each other.”
“I’ll trust you when you trust me,” I said. “I seem to remember you have some things you’re keeping to yourself.” I thought he would move away from me then, but instead, he pulled me closer.
“The things I’m keeping from you I’ve kept from everybody,” he said. “You shouldn’t take it personally.”
“Same for me,” I said. “There’s just some stuff that no one else needs to know.”
“But what if I want to know?” James asked. He tucked my hair behind my ear. “What if I want to know who you are?”
“So you can fire me again?” I asked. He narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m kidding—relax,” I said.
“And I feel the same way about you... but James, don’t you kind of wonder what the point is? We’re only going to know each other for another week.” The thought made my heart lurch.
James looked down at our entwined hands. “Maybe the point is that we care about each other, even if it’s just right for now. I don’t care about too many people, Audrey. It’s a very short list.”
My heart lurched again, and I grimaced. Don’t tell me things like that, I thought.
“I care about you, too,” I said.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, I fumed at myself.
He kissed my forehead. “Then that’s reason enough.”
Kai pulled up outside my mother’s building. “Saved by the bell. I guess we can’t talk anymore—we’re here,” I said, relieved.
“I’m going in with you,” James said.
“I need you to stay here. I have to do this by myself.” I looked at my watch: it was nine o’clock. My mother was definitely drunk and most likely belligerent at this hour. It was nothing I wanted James to see. “Please.”
“Is it safe?” he asked, nodding toward her run-down apartment complex.
“This is where I grew up. It’s my mother. I’ll be fine—and I’ll be right back.” Kai opened the door for me, and I got out.
“Audrey.” I leaned back down to look at him. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
I sighed and quickly headed up the stairs to my mother’s entrance, not looking back at the car. I didn’t want him to be here, near the ugliness my mother always caused. I knocked on her door but there was no answer; the lights were on, though, so I tried the door. It opened, and I took one last deep breath of clean air before I went inside.
There she was at the kitchen table, next to an overflowing ashtray, smoking as if she were going to the electric chair. “Hey, Ma,” I said through the haze of smoke.
“Well, if it isn’t Little Miss High and Mighty. You’re looking fancy,” she said. “Nice of you to finally show up.” Her hair was long and thin, with bleached ends and long, oily-looking roots. She’d been pretty once. Now her skin was red and mottled from too many Boston winters and too many Marlboro Lights.
“You were waiting for me?” I asked.
“You know I got into an accident today. You know they towed my car and that I don’t have any money.”
I would have felt bad for her then, had I not known any better. She didn’t want my sympathy. She wanted my money.
“No offense, Ma—but how is that my problem exactly?” It wasn’t what I should have said. But the half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the table and the fact that she’d tried to take money from New Horizons today pushed me over the edge.
“I don’t know why a hooker thinks she’s better than her own mother. At least I worked an honest job,” she said. She had that nasty tone in her voice, the one that said she was just itching for a fight.
“You haven’t had an honest job in a long time,” I reminded her. “Last time I checked, your job was drinking, smoking, and trying to get by on other people’s money.”
She looked up at me, a triumphant smile on her face. “At least I’m not gettin’ by on other people’s dicks.”
“Yes, you are,” I said. It was sad, but her words didn’t even faze me anymore. “You have one nasty man a
fter another up here, and that’s how you pay your rent and buy your cigarettes.”
“What do you know about it?” she snapped.
“I know all about it. I’m a whore, too,” I said flatly. “It takes one to know one.”
She stood up, her hands curled into fists, ready to come after me. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time, but I didn’t want to get into it with her tonight. I wanted to defuse her and put her on the back burner of my life, where she would stay out of trouble for the imminent future, maybe forever.
As usual, I was doing a crap job of that.
“How much do you need,” I said. It was a statement, not a question.
“Two thousand dollars,” she said. She uncurled her fists, but she didn’t bother looking like she was sorry.
“I can give it to you, but there are conditions,” I said, pacing around the grimy kitchen. “First, do not ever go and try to get money from New Horizons again. That money is for Tommy. Your son. He needs it more than you and me put together. That’s why I’m working so much. Please don’t ever do that again. Promise me.”
She nodded. I wasn’t sure if I could believe her, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that right now.
“Second, you can’t ever go to my office again. My boss would have fired me today, except I’m on a job.”
She snorted and lit another cigarette. “That boss of yours thinks her shit doesn’t stink. I had a mind today to tell that beaver chomper—”
“Please don’t call her a beaver chomper,” I interrupted, “and just don’t ever go there again. She said she’d fire me if you do. She meant it. If you want to keep crashing your cars up, getting bailed out of jail, and borrowing money for the rest of your life, I sort of need a job, okay? So lay off.”
“Fine.” She blew out a cloud of smoke in my direction.
I didn’t know what I’d ever done to her to make her hate me, but she did. She didn’t hate Tommy—she didn’t take good care of him, but she at least ruffled his hair occasionally. But not me. Maybe it was just a complete and utter lack of love that I felt from her.
She was like the sun on a sub-zero day: she was there, but she gave no warmth. It was as if I’d come along and ruined her party just by being born, and now I had to pay. And pay. And pay. I took out my wallet and handed her the cash. It was the only money I’d kept from the advance. It was supposed to go toward rent, but there was nothing I could do about that right now.
Except go back to work.
“Bye, Ma,” I said.
She stuffed the money into her pocket and nodded at me. “See ya. Have fun in that fancy outfit.” The way she said it made me feel dirty.
I couldn’t wait to flee the smoke and everything else. I threw the door open, eager to breathe in the fresh air.
And there stood James Preston on the landing, just standing there, waiting for me.
James
I caught a glimpse of the mother. She was about Audrey’s height, but that was where the resemblance ended. I saw a barrel chest, stringy bleached hair, and a face that had seen too many Tequila Sunrises.
“Hey,” Audrey said, closing the door behind her quickly. “I told you not to come up.”
“I wanted to be here if you needed me,” I said. I pulled her to me protectively as we headed down the stairs.
“Did that go okay?” I asked. I had no idea what “okay” meant in this circumstance, but it was the only thing I could think of to say.
She shrugged. “It was typical. It was fine.”
“What does that mean, Audrey?”
She slid into the car and sighed. “Can I please have some bourbon?”
“Of course.” I poured her a glass and watched her take a shaky sip.
“You know, I thought I’d never drink. After growing up with my mom the way she was.” She shrugged. “But my mother taught me what it actually means to need a drink.”
I poured myself one and clinked her glass. “Cheers to that.” We watched the city lights as we sped from East Boston back through the Financial District. “Audrey. I know you don’t want to tell me what your mother wanted, but I wish you would.”
She stared out the window, the tension obvious in her shoulders. “She just needed money. Her car got… towed. That’s all.”
“Does she always ask you for money?”
“She doesn’t always ask, James.”
“Ah,” I said. “So she’s an alcoholic, and she’s a problem.”
“She’s an alcoholic, and she’s a problem.” She smiled at me bravely. “Just another sob story from your friendly neighborhood escort.”
I put my arm around her and pulled her to me. I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. I just held her close and hoped that made it a little better.
* * *
I made love to her again that night, slowly. We didn’t say a word. I understood her body now, what she wanted, and all I wanted was to be inside her. We came at the same time. As I spent myself into her she called my name again. It left me with a deep ache, a yearning. I didn’t know what that was, and I didn’t know what to do with it. So I just wrapped myself around her as if she were mine, holding her from behind while we slept.
But she wasn’t mine. It’s like a timeshare, baby. No one gets to own me. You just get to stay a while. Her words echoed in my head as I drifted off to sleep. I hated those crude words. I hated the truth behind them…
I woke up the next morning pressed against her, hard again. She moved closer in her sleep, but I rolled over, not letting my erection overtake my thoughts. Today was the day of the rehearsal dinner. Tomorrow was the wedding. Then, Eleuthera.
Then, no more Audrey.
I looked at her naked back, rising and falling with her breath. She was too young to have dealt with everything that had been thrown her way. I hadn’t let myself really dwell on the fact that she was a hooker. She was a hooker. I wouldn’t even let myself imagine all the men she’d been with.
Probably not as many women as you’ve been with, asshole, I thought. That was true. And I’d only ever had feelings for one of them.
Now, two.
But when I thought about Danielle, what had happened… I shuddered. I couldn’t let anyone down like that again. I didn’t trust myself with another person’s heart.
Fuck, I thought, and rolled back over. My erection pressed against Audrey, demanding and fierce. But what was I going to do? Move back to Boston so I could date my escort? Relocate her to California so I could put her up in a condo and see her whenever I liked, keeping her from my family and the rest of the world?
My family would never accept her, even as the fake orphan/graduate-school student she was pretending to be. Even buoyed by that lie, she wasn’t good enough. If they found out she was an escort from a destitute family, they would hate her. My mother would make her life a living hell.
Audrey’s background didn’t matter to me—neither did my family’s opinion. But they would never treat her like a Preston. Even if I could accept that, it would be cruel to ask her to.
My head was spinning. I pressed my forehead against her back, trying to block out my swirling thoughts. This is why I didn’t want a relationship, I thought. Too many fucking issues.
She woke up then, turning over to me and smiling. “Hey,” she said, a blush creeping up her neck.
The only escort in the history of escorts who blushed. She was adorable.
Any thoughts I’d just been having about issues vanished when she smiled at me like that. “Hey,” I said and leaned down and kissed her.
She looked at me, sheepish. “I really need to brush my teeth.”
She went to get up, but I grabbed her arm. “Don’t,” I said. “Don’t go.”
Audrey looked at me, confused for a second, and then settled back down on the bed. She moved her body against my hardness. “Ah,” she said. “Do you need some services rendered, sir?” she wrapped her hand around my hard length and squeezed.
I sucked in my breath, ha
rd. Maybe if I buried myself in her again, an answer about what to do would present itself.
Even if it wouldn’t, I had to get back in there.
I kissed her again urgently. “Yes. But I’m going to be the one doing the rendering. Lie back,” I growled.
* * *
Audrey’s phone kept beeping while she was in the shower. I went into the steamy bathroom to tell her and also as an excuse to watch her.
“Audrey. Your phone.” I could see her glorious silhouette, her ass and thighs tight and muscular. My cock stirred again. Down boy, I thought. We’d done it twice already this morning. We had to get dressed and eat at some point, even if I never wanted either one of us to leave that bed again.
“I’ll get it in a minute. Thank you,” she called, rinsing her hair.
I dragged myself out of the bathroom, away from her, her phone still in my hand. It was a funny looking old thing, with a keyboard you could pull out. It beeped again.
I wanted to check it to see if it was her mother.
You want to check it to see if it’s a guy, I thought. She hadn’t mentioned any sort of a relationship, but then, why would she? It beeped again. I could still hear her in the shower.
I hit a button and the screen lit up.
It was a message from someone named Reina. Your mother came in this morning and withdrew money, it said. The manager had to ok it. I’m so sorry.
The fact that it wasn’t a guy was where the good news ended. Was this from a manager at Audrey’s bank? Or something else? I put her phone down and paced for a minute. Audrey had given her mother money last night. But maybe it wasn’t enough, or maybe something had happened that wasn’t to her mother’s liking.
I remembered what Audrey’s face looked like yesterday afternoon when she’d been on the phone in front of the museum. Pale, cold, and furious.
Furious. Audrey was gentle, but something had made her beyond angry.
I immediately called Kai. “What’s the name of the place Audrey had you take her the other morning? Where her brother lives?”
“New Horizons, sir. In South Boston.”
