CHAPTER 7: Piper
I’d had enough. I didn’t feel like dealing with Anna anymore. She always pissed me off so much whenever she’d just stand there, smug, all the answers stashed up her designer sleeves, just waiting for a chance to destroy me with another fact she’d kept hidden. And then there was Theo. I couldn’t believe him.
I couldn’t look at him either. He said my name, one time, softly, after Anna spilled the beans about them fucking, and I just put my hand up, palm out, to him. I couldn’t look at him because I didn’t want him to see the tears forming in my eyes. I’d just been beginning to let myself trust him. He’d made me laugh, stood up to and pulled a gun on Vinnie for me, and yet it looked like he was turning out to be the same as every other man; only capable of thinking with his cock.
I turned on my heel and stomped back to my car. Theo had left it running with the door open, in his hurry to get Vinnie away from me, so I was able to just hop in and put my foot down.
Dust kicked up from the front wheels as they span in time to my high revving engine. I sped out of there. I didn’t know where I was going but I was sure going to be there really soon. I let a tear roll down my cheek in memory of the trust I’d nearly shared with Theo, but I refused to actually cry.
The weird thing was, I was reminded of Adam. He was a client I saw back in my first week working at Anna’s. I was pretty messed up, barely twenty-one, and had no idea how to entertain a client and pull in the big bucks, like I do now. Most of my jobs were wham-bams, a quick hand job or blow job, anything I could to avoid actually having sex with them, and the guys were old, or ugly, ungrateful assholes. It was a pretty low rent existence.
I didn’t understand it either. As a stripper, teasing guys but never letting them touch me, they were all so nice all the time. Even doing porn, yes it was exhausting, and it hurt sometimes, but the sets were such fun places to be. Everyone just acted so crazy and horny all the time, it was hard not to get caught up in the atmosphere.
But at Madam X’s, there I was, working to actually, physically, get guys off, and they treated me like shit. No manners, nothing. They acted like I was just meat. Nothing but a warm hole to ejaculate into.
Then came Adam. He was tall, black, handsome, wealthy, and sophisticated. I did ask him why he came to the brothel, when he could probably get pretty any girl he wanted. He told me this was more honest. If he wanted to get laid, he didn’t have to buy us dinner and take us out, or lie to us that he was after anything other than sex, and we didn’t pretend either.
I’d never seen him before and yet, when he came into our lounge, he ignored my thrown together outfit and cheap makeup, and chose me. He paid for the whole night and, I remember, that made me so nervous. He behaved impeccably, though, feeding me champagne and strawberries, listening to my life story, massaging me with oils… he actually turned me on. For a while, I even forgot where we were and what we were doing, and gave myself to him. I let him do whatever he wanted and found myself wanting to do things to him. We even slept together, spooning, until I awoke the next day with a big smile on my face.
I thought about him the whole week, as I was sucking and jerking my way through the usual procession of losers, until he finally appeared again, the following Friday night. I felt my heart doing somersaults of delight as he walked into the lounge. I beamed at him when he saw me. He gave me a brilliant smile back and waved. I was about to get up and go upstairs with him when, suddenly, he picked a different girl, a new girl, one who had only started two days ago, and they went off together.
I was devastated. I pushed my way to the break room and sat crying my eyes out. The older girls, of course, knew all about Adam, how he liked spoiling the fresh young things, making them fall into wide-eyed love with him, and told me I was being stupid to cry about it. This was the business we were in. I just remember I felt so betrayed. I didn’t work for three days until, in the end, Anna had to come and ‘remind me’ of my obligations.
After that I decided to make this less honest. I strived to make every guy I was with feel like I really wanted him, like Adam had done to me. My earnings doubled that following week and kept on climbing until I was Anna’s number one earner. Guys kept coming back to me and I was able to call the shots, free to just refuse to see them, if I felt like it.
The point is, after Adam, I hadn’t let myself feel anything for anyone in about half a decade. Then there was Theo. Sweet, handsome, a little lost, adorable Theo. He was so good to me, too, but was he playing me as well? Was he just being nice to me to fuck me? He could have done that the first night we met. I let myself begin to trust him and, within a day, he’d fucked Anna. Maybe not just Anna? He was so nice looking, I could think of several of the younger, less experienced girls that would probably throw themselves at him.
***
Quite by accident, I found myself back at my little apartment, down on Burbank. Maybe I was always heading that way. I let myself in and dropped onto the bed, sprawling face down and spreading my arms and legs out wide. It seemed like a good idea but turned out to be a lot less comfortable than I thought it would be, so I got my ass back up and undressed, slipping into a soft, gray tank top and diving under the covers.
No sooner had I got settled, my cellphone started ringing. It was Theo, naturally.
“Piper, please let me explain,” he said as I picked up, not even trying a hello.
“There is nothing to explain,” I replied coldly. “You don’t owe me anything, Theo, we’re cool.” I hung up.
It would be business as usual. I could work with him. I could be around him. Except that, now that he was fired, I didn’t have to. What the fuck, anyway? He was just another biker doorman. I’d seen enough come and go, some almost as pretty as him. They were always friendly and usually good at taking care of us, but I no longer cared about him. We weren’t married, he could fuck whoever he wanted.