Ryder

I got the call sooner than I expected, but what I didn’t expect was to hear a name that rang in my head like an old church bell. Lucinda Quinn. Of all the women in New York City, that’s who the best kept secret club paired me with? I didn’t even know she was in New York for sure, although I’d assumed it. Running my hands through my hair, I debated what to do. It was almost comical that the most compatible match for a companion in all of this metropolis was my high school girlfriend who broke my fucking heart. The reason I’d never love again, the root of my disdain for relationships. She was considered my most suitable match. How fucking ironic.

My first instinct was to call the whole thing off. From what I could remember, the client - which was me- could change their mind up to the point of the first meeting, and then I was financially bound, regardless of whether or not I wanted her to do anything. The mere thought of having her in my life again sent a chill down my spine. All these years that I’d tried to leave the thought of her behind, and I was becoming the weak, lovestruck teenager that I was before, just at the mere mention of her name.

I decided to go for a run to clear my head and put a game plan together - and to prevent myself from making any hasty decisions. In my original requirements, I did not want my companion - or my girlfriend, whatever she was - living in my home. I wanted to have some privacy; however, once I knew who it was, and I’d had some time to digest the situation, I decided to use this opportunity. After running for awhile, I realized that I had the freedom to exact a bit of revenge on the source of my tattered heart, while still getting what I paid for and having my immediate needs met.

I stopped running to make a call to Karen, the broker of the deal, and provided my new requirements to be included in my contract. The new instructions were that Lucinda, which apparently Lucy was going by now, was to be at my home no later than 5pm, with three days’ worth of clothing suitable for going out in the evenings.

I would then arrange for the remainder of her things to be packed and moved to my home, where she would be living for the next year. I chuckled, realizing that she probably had no idea what was in store for her. An entire year, under my roof, doing what I tell her to. Wouldn’t that be a fucking trip, I thought to myself, as I continued my run through the neighborhood.

As it turned out, an adjustment in arrangements such as mine wasn’t uncommon, and Karen was more than happy to relay the message to her employee, and coordinate my request. Money definitely talked in this town, and I had plenty of it now. While twenty thousand dollars a month, plus living expenses and whatever else she would need to be my companion, was the price, I’d have paid triple for the satisfaction I anticipated in seeing her face.

My jubilance about exacting revenge was far greater than the tinge of guilt I felt for what was surely going to be a shock for her. Lucy was never one to take orders, and she was certainly never one to put up with my shit; or anyone else’s, for that matter. The Lucy I remembered was smart, driven, and would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. I knew that was one of the reasons she left me; marrying me would have stifled her, or at least that’s what she believed. After three years together, she never even gave me the chance to prove her wrong. She didn’t let me show her that all I ever wanted was to support her dreams, and we could have run off to the city together.

Instead, she was selling her services to the highest bidder at a top secret, exclusive club. I’d been made well aware that the arrangement was not for sex specifically, and that Infidelity was not a high-end brothel. But, something had to have happened to her, for this to be what she was choosing to do to get by. Selling her companionship made me think she was even more desperate and selfish than I’d thought she was when she took off all those years ago. I had all year to find out what happened, while making her feel as shitty as I felt then, and even now.

After I had spent most of the day creating some inventive ways to hack some potential new client’s infrastructure, I finally rubbed my palms together with fervor, knowing the moment of truth was on the horizon. In about an hour, she would be at my door, moving in. And she wasn’t going to be able to run away this time.