Chapter 15
Elene
"Well, that innocence streak didn't last long."
Sandi eyes me from the side, winking at me when she sees me fixing my outfit for the night. I avert the intensity of her appraising eyes.
"I was surprised when Miss Barry called up your name tonight," she adds. "Care to tell me what brought about this change of mind?"
I shake my head. "Nope, sorry."
She scoffs, positioning herself between me and the full-size mirror, robbing me of any leeway to move to continue checking myself and pretend that I'm too busy to pay attention to her interrogation.
"How come you never mentioned anything?" she wants to know. "How come tonight was the first time I heard about your sudden change of heart?"
She pauses, adding another insulted breath before she goes on.
"Did you think I'd be like... pissed or something?"
I sigh. I knew there was no way around having this conversation, but I've not been looking forward to it, nonetheless. There was a reason why I didn't mention it to Sandi before now, even though we've seen each other plenty of times since our first shift at The Velvet Rooms.
She lives right next door to me and not only shares my occupational life, but my everyday life as well. We see each other every single day, no matter whether we're working or not. We both took a day off yesterday, knowing that we'd be tired after our first shift at the new club, and we spent half of that day together, grocery shopping, having a late breakfast that was more of a brunch, and chatting about our new job. Just like me, she will no longer work as an escort for the agency, at least for now. Unlike me, she didn't grow tired of having sex with men in exchange for money. For her, it was more about changing the pace and diversifying her work—at least that's what she called it.
I had told her about my desire to do something else, something entirely different, which didn't sit all too well with her. I can still see the disappointment written all over her face when she said, "So, you're leaving then." She made it sound as if I were leaving her all alone, as if I wanted to break off our long friendship and start a completely different life in which she no longer had a place.
I understand her concern. Our job is hard to handle, not only for potential boyfriends and family. I lost more than one friend when I started working for the agency. It's easy to become lonely and it’s hard to maintain friendships outside the business.
When I told her about my decision to work for the club, but only as an angel, she felt it was the perfect solution to both my personal dilemma and our potentially endangered friendship. However, I can see why she feels a little betrayed by me now for not including her in my decision to change roles at the club before it was publicly announced by Miss Barry to the entire staff.
"No, I didn't think you'd be pissed," I say. "Why would you be?"
She nods furiously. "Exactly! Why would I be? But you gotta tell me—what changed?"
I swallow hard, too shy too to tell her the truth. As it turns out, I don't even have to give her a response, as the color on my cheeks is doing that for me.
"You're blushing!" Sandi squeals, pointing at me as a giant grin spreads across her face. "You naughty girl! Don't tell me you were turned on by something in there—or someone?"
Shit, this girl knows me better than I know myself. I lower my eyes, sighing as I try to evade her again. She giggles and gives me a little nudge against the shoulder.
"You minx! I'm right, aren’t I?"
I smile at her, shaking my head, but lacking conviction. She's seeing right through me and there's very little I can do or say to make her think otherwise right now.
"Let's not make a big deal out of this, okay?" I say. "Maybe I just want to try it out."
"It?" she repeats. "You mean the rooms upstairs?"
I shrug. "Yeah. It sounds fun."
"Fun doesn't even begin to describe it. Just make sure you go up there with the right guy. My first dude was, ugh, such a loser."
"Sandi!" I caution her. "You know we're not—"
"Not supposed to talk ill about our clients, unless they mistreat us, yeah, yeah," she says, giving me a dismissive wave. "I'll rephrase it for ya: we just didn't click, like, at all."
I bite my lip, stopping myself from saying anything that would encourage her to think that I already have the perfect guy in mind.
If he even shows up.
There's no way for me to know if he'll be around tonight, and even if he is, that doesn't guarantee that things will go the way I imagined. He might still say no, despite his charming words from two days ago, despite his apparent interest in me. It might have been a lie, all of it.
But maybe it wasn't?
"Shit, we need to hurry," Sandi exclaims, eyeing the clock above the door. She scurries over to the vanity and continues working on her makeup, while I let out a silent sigh in relief, grateful for the diversion. She reminds me of a hectic squirrel sometimes, so easily distracted by anything, but right now that trait is a godsend.
I take a deep breath, standing up straight and assessing my black attire in the mirror.
I hope I won't regret this.