I swell with euphoria, bringing with it a memory from last night previously lost in a whisky haze. Talent offered me a bottle of water, and I offered my body. Over and over.
He strokes against me and releases my wrist to capture my chin, forcing me to see the hunger in his eyes.
“You offered your pussy to me for free,” he says between clenched teeth. “Again.”
Bits and pieces come back to me, and the drunk, ridiculous display embarrasses me, but it’s an emotion overshadowed by the excitement of Talent’s hard cock against my warmest spot. He hitches my leg around his waist and thrusts against me, raking his hand into my hair to pull my head back. I cry out as he sinks his teeth into the top of my shoulder before he turns his face into my throat and groans against my flying pulse.
“I should make you beg for it now,” he says in a husky tone.
The words nearly leave my lips when he pushes away, leaving me breathless and empty. The signs of life I felt in his arms are sucked away like a vacuum in his absence, and I’m left an empty vessel, free to build my wall of protection again. But it can’t be done.
Out of breath like me, Talent stands back and straightens his hoodie. My feet touch the carpet, but I can’t move away from the couch in fear of falling … or begging.
“Let’s be clear about one thing, Lydia,” he says, taking a step toward the door. “I don’t have motives, and I didn’t ask you to walk into my life. You did that. I don’t know what this is between us, but now we’ll never know.”
He opens the door, and if I were going to ask him not to go, this would be my chance. If only I could get my voice to work.
Before he leaves, he turns to me and says, “The only thing you need to be saved from is yourself.”
“Good morning, vita mia. How are we feeling today?” Inez stands at my front door dressed in a white suit, creased sharply down each leg and paired with a nude heel. A string of diamonds hangs from around her wrist, and she’s wearing rings on every finger like a true queen.
She didn’t dress up for me. Inez hopes Talent stayed the night and it shows. There’s nothing she’d love more than an opportunity to pick his brain once more.
“Better,” I answer sharply, unconcerned with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry icing Inez’s hand. I focus on the sandy-haired girl behind her. “This can’t wait until I’m done with my day?”
“Should we have this conversation at the door, or do you want to invite us in?” Inez asks.
It’s a non-question, and I step out of the way to allow them inside. Inez Ricci doesn’t enter a room and turn her head for anyone, but I see her eyes darting around in search of Talent. What she finds is our untouched dinner on the counter and an empty carton Dog had his way with on the kitchen floor. If she’s disappointed that I’m home alone, she keeps it to herself. I’m grateful for the small blessing.
Camilla follows Inez inside with a suitcase in one hand and a small cardboard box in her other arm. She’s polite, sure to make sweeping eye contact with me as she enters. She whispers, “Thank you.”
Manners are nice, but if she’s going to make it as an escort, she better toughen the fuck up fast. Not only will her clients have their way with her, but the other girls at Hush will eat her alive. There’s zero tolerance for a weak link when so much money is to be made. Backbones are a must, even among each other.
“Your room is the first on the right.” Inez directs Camilla toward the small hallway. “Get unpacked while I have a private word with Cara. We’ll come for you when we’re ready to talk.”
Once the girl is in her bedroom, I go into the kitchen to clean up. “How long is she staying?”
The takeout boxes are soft from being left out overnight to absorb condensation and grease. Inez scrunches her nose in disgust as I drop them into the garbage on top of the burner phone I snapped in half and tossed away after I woke up. Unless Talent calls Inez, he absolutely has no way to get in contact with me.
I doubt he’ll show up at my door again.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the friendship you sparked with Talent Ridge, Lydia?” she asks. “It would have saved me a lot of worry.”
I close the garbage lid and meet her eyes. “He’s not my friend, and I won’t see him again.”
She glances at the rings on her fingers, knowing now she brought them out of their cases for nothing. How she could ever believe that I’d let him stay the night here when I knew she was dropping Camilla off sometime today is beyond me. Not that Talent staying over was ever on the table.
“Should I be worried about the amount of information you keep from me?”
Her concern softens me around the edges, and I shake my head. “No. Nothing has changed.”
“I count on you for a lot, Lydia. If we don’t trust each other, the consequences will be disastrous.”
“I’d tell you if Talent was interested in pursuing a working relationship with me, Inez. That’s not what you saw last night. If Ridge & Sons is an avenue you’re still interested in perusing, send another girl because I don’t want to see him again. You may have better luck with the brother, though. Talent’s a dead end.”
She shakes her head. “That’s a topic we can revisit in the future. Right now, my concern isn’t with Ridge or his sons, but I am worried about you. Before I leave Camilla in your hands, I need to be sure we’re on the same page. That we’re on the same team.”
Am I still on the same page as Inez? No doubt something in me shifted after crossing paths with Talent, but my life isn’t on a different course because of it. I wonder about the prospects of a life outside escorting more than I did before, but I’ll fall back in line with time.
“How long will she be here?” Inez doesn’t need her anxiety eased with words. She likes to see action, and if she insists on dropping Camilla into my lap, I may as well take advantage of the situation and prove my reliability.
Camilla will be the best slut in town once I’m done with her.
“Until she’s ready to be on her own,” Inez answers.
Inez summons Camilla from her room. She appears straightaway, as if she were waiting to be called. Dog’s hot on her heels, curious with the stranger in our home, and I feel betrayed by his brazen show of disloyalty to me. I saved him from a life on the streets, and the new girl already distracts him. Typical male.
My new roommate’s taller than I remember from the handful of times I saw her behind the reception desk at Hush. She’s too thin, has bad posture, and she needs to lose the timid glow in her eyes. Innocence is one thing, but men need to feel desired right away—they can’t be bothered to coax her out of her shell.
“How old are you, Camilla?” I ask.
“Twenty,” she replies.
She’s not as young as I was the first time I sold my body. I wasn’t shown another way of surviving before I relinquished my virtue for thirty bucks and a hot meal. Had someone intervened and warned me of the permanent repercussions and lingering trauma, I may have chosen differently. This life isn’t for the fragile, and she deserves a chance to run.
“Did you graduate from high school?”