I made it back to the restaurant, only to find out that they didn’t know where my phone was.

It was a bad morning, to say the least, and it didn’t help that Gray had been such an asshole to me earlier. Maybe I was asking for it though. I should have rejected his offer to blow him. I shouldn’t have stayed there at all when I’d woken up. But I couldn’t say no to him. It was easy to say no to my previous clients. I had a laundry list of things I wouldn’t do. But when it came to Gray, it was like he had a spell on me.

I drove back to my apartment, feeling defeated, and hoped that Josh was home. He always had a way of cheering me up.

When I got into my apartment, Josh rushed to the door immediately.

“Holy shit, you’re alive,” he said, giving me a hug.

“Of course, I’m alive,” I said.

“I was about to call the cops. I thought you got kidnapped by a client. Why don’t you answer your goddamn phone?”

“I lost it last night,” I said, kicking my shoes off and walking over to the couch. I sank into the plush sofa that smelled of spilled beer.

Josh came over and sat down next to me. “How did you lose your phone?” he asked.

“I don’t know...I kind of blacked out last night and ended up at my client’s house.”

Josh shook his head. “You have to be more careful. I was worried sick about you.”

I smiled. At least somebody cared about me.

“I have to get a new phone now. I may have dropped it onto the street. God, when am I going to get a break?” I said.

“Some days, you just have to take your losses and keep going,” Josh said.

I sighed. “Want to get brunch? I’m hungover as fuck.”

“You know brunch is the way to my heart,” he said.

I changed into a new set of clothes, and Josh and I went out to the laundromat next door that also served brunch. It was a place we went to often. We used to go there and write essays in college while we washed our clothes.

The owner, who we called Mr. Clean, knew our usual order. We called him Mr. Clean because of his shaved head and the tight white T-shirts he always wore that showed off his physique.

Josh and I sat down by the window and watched people bring in bags of clothes to wash in the industrial machines in the back of the shop. Mr. Clean brought us our coffees.

“What’s been on your mind lately?” Josh asked. “You’ve seemed a bit frazzled.”

I didn’t have to say much to Josh for him to know exactly what I was thinking.

“There’s this client,” I started.

Josh nodded, taking a sip of coffee. “And?”

I hesitated to continue. “And...I think I like him more than I should.”

Josh shook his head and crossed his arms. “Weren’t you the one who told me not to fall for clients?”

I sighed. “Yeah...but—”

“No buts,” Josh said. “You know it’ll get messy. I don’t care if he’s super rich or the sexiest guy ever.”

I put some cream into my coffee and stirred it around with a spoon. “But what if he’s both of those things?”

Josh gave me a look. “I know you know better.”

“I know. I know,” I said. “I just can’t help it with this particular client. I’m usually so good at asserting my boundaries and detaching emotionally.”

“Wait...don’t tell me you broke your cardinal rule of having sex with him.”

I shook my head. “No, we haven’t fucked yet.”

“Okay,” Josh said. “So, what’s the big deal then?”

“The big deal is that I’m confused and I hate how I think about him twenty-four-seven,” I said. “And I hate how even though I like him, there’s nothing I can do about it. He’s not interested in me.”

“You’re going down a slippery slope,” Josh said. “Maybe it’s better if you just stop seeing him, even if he’s your client. I don’t want to see you get hurt, River. You haven’t been yourself lately.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Maybe that’s a good idea.”

The thought of never seeing Gray again was such an obvious solution. But thinking about it made me sad. Sure, he was a dick to me. But there were all the times when he was a really nice guy. Like last night, when he leaned my head on his chest when he saw that I was upset. But I didn’t have to be a law graduate to know that this thing we had was going nowhere. It was nothing more than a contract.

Mr. Clean brought us our food. Eating brunch here brought back many pleasant memories with Josh. All those deadlines we’d scrambled to make. All those late nights we’d shared as we’d waited for our laundry to dry. I was glad to call him my best friend.

When we finished our food, we went up to pay.

“Sorry, it says your card is declined,” Mr. Clean said, handing me back my card.

My heart raced. I was sure that I had enough money in there for a five-dollar brunch.

“I can get it,” Josh said.

“No, no,” I said to Josh before turning back to Mr. Clean. “Can I try again, please?”

I handed my card back to him and waited for it to process. But it was declined again.

“I’ll just pay for it,” Josh said.

I was ashamed that I didn’t have enough money in my bank account to even buy breakfast. How could someone as successful as Gray like me?

We went to my bank next door so I could see if there was a problem with my card.

Josh and I went up to the counter.

The teller put her glasses on and looked at her screen.

“It looks like your account has been frozen,” she said.

“Frozen?” I asked.

“Yes. It looks like there was a transaction that happened this morning, and the bank froze your account because of suspicious activity,” she said. “Can you confirm that you’re aware that you’ve been transferred fifty-five thousand dollars this morning?”

Josh looked at me with wide eyes. I knew instantly that it was Gray, who had transferred me that money. We had agreed on fifty-thousand to go to his brother’s wedding and another five for the blow job. I was just surprised that he’d given me the money already.

“I am aware of it,” I said. “But is there any way you can send it back to the person? I don’t want it.”

Josh pulled on my arm to talk to me privately.

“Are you crazy?” he whispered. “Is this from the client you were talking about?”

I nodded. “You told me to end it with him, remember? That’s what I’m going to do.”

“You didn’t tell me he gave you that much money,” Josh said.

The woman behind the counter was staring at us, and we weren’t doing a very good job at whispering. “We can’t transfer the money back. But we can unfreeze your account for you. You need to talk to the person who put this money in your account if you’d like to reverse the transaction.”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s all right, I guess.”

The woman handed the card back to me, and Josh and I left the bank.

“Hold on,” Josh said as soon as we walked out of the front door. “What did you do for that much money?”

“I’m escorting this man to his brother’s wedding, and I gave him a blow job,” I said as we walked back to my apartment.

“He gave you that much money for that?” Josh asked.

“Yeah,” I said, waiting for the walk signal to cross the street. “I haven’t even gone to his brother’s wedding yet, and he’s already given me the money.”

Josh threw his hands in the air. “Dude, you’re rich. Do you know how much money that is?”

I nodded. “But it’s money I don’t want. I’d rather be poor than accept money from someone who’s such a dick to me.”

Josh looked at me like I was crazy. “Well, you can at least buy yourself a new phone before you give it back to him. But if I were you, I’d just keep it.”

I thought for a moment. “You’re right. Remember that pair of jeans that you really wanted? Let’s go get them today.”

Josh laughed. “Maybe you should start by getting a new phone.”

I laughed. “I guess I’ll do that too.”

Instead of going home, we decided to go to the mall. Even though I was trying not to think about Gray, he was like the pink elephant in the room. Did he really think he could just act like he could solve all his problems with money? Sooner or later, he’d have to face the fact that he must at least be a bit interested in guys, even though he’d never done anything with other men before me.

I wanted to go to his house and knock on his front door and give him his money back. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t want to go to his brother’s wedding anymore. But first, I needed a new phone.

We arrived at the mall. I’d forgotten how delicious mall popcorn smelled or how crowds of people gave me anxiety. I hadn’t had any reason to go to a mall in so long because I was broke. But I figured some retail therapy wouldn’t hurt. Maybe it’d get my mind off Gray. I got a new iPhone and hated myself for it. I’d been trash-talking it since it came out, complaining how Apple was becoming elitist and overpriced. But there I was, with the shiny new phone in my hand and loving how beautiful the display was.

After that, we went to buy the jeans Josh had been wanting to get forever. He tried it on in the dressing room and stepped outside to show me.

“Look how great my ass looks in it,” Josh said.

I smiled. “I’ll get them for you.”

Josh raised his brows. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure. What else am I going to do with this much money?”

I couldn’t wrap my head around having fifty-five thousand dollars in my bank account. I never imagined having that much money in my life. But as much as it felt good to be splurging on things, it didn’t sit right with me to accept money from Gray. I knew I was only going to get hurt if I continued things with him. I knew I had to be brave and go to his house after and confront him. Show him that even though I was submissive, that I wasn’t going to let him walk all over me. The thought of seeing him again made my body tremble. Why did one person have such a powerful effect over me?

Josh couldn’t stop smiling as I paid for his jeans. It was the least I could do for having such a supportive best friend. And he had paid for my brunch that morning.

“Are we done here?” I said. “I realized how much I hate the mall during the holidays.”

“Me too,” Josh said. “Let’s go home.”