CHAPTER FIVE
Chloe sat on her bed reading the bio she had pulled up online: Derek Stark, thirty one years old, owner of Stark Real Estate, grew up in New York but now lives in Rhode Island where he owns the largest Real Estate group in the state. His father is a criminal lawyer in New York. Could that be the connection? Was his father somehow involved in the trial? He has one brother, Jake, who works with his father in New York. He’s a lawyer also. New York is a huge state. Is it possible that this guy’s father or brother was involved in Jesse’s trial that he would remember her or recognize her?
She searched site after site, trying to find out why this rich pervert would drop twenty thousand dollars, just to watch her dance. Did he think the obnoxious display of money was going to win him special favors? She certainly hoped not, for his sake. Rich and gorgeous weren’t enough for her. She’d had rich and gorgeous, and it had nearly killed her. If she ever wanted to forget that, her scars would always remind her that a nice cover definitely does not tell you how screwed up the book is inside.
Derek Stark…who are you, and more importantly, what do you want from me? She scrolled through more sites, reading basically the same information over and over again. The guy needed to give his publicist a raise, that’s for sure. If there were any skeletons there to be found, they were buried deep. Finally frustrated when nothing popped up flashing bold letters that said, “Pervert Beware,” Chloe shut down the computer and stretched out on the bed. What the hell does this man want?
“Hey! Are you still awake?” Lexi was knocking on her door, obviously with no regard to whether or not she was still awake, the way she was banging on it.
“Yeah, I’m up. Come in.”
Lexi pushed open the door. She had on her pajamas and was carrying a cup of tea in each hand. She handed one to Chloe as she sat up and she said, “So, did you find out who your gorgeous benefactor really is?”
She took a sip of the tea. It felt good going down. Although Chloe was a smoker, sometimes the thick atmosphere of it at work stuck in her throat and made it hard to breathe. “It would seem, that he is exactly who Roxi says he is. He owns a prominent real estate agency, the biggest one in the state. It seems like he may own half of Rhode Island.”
“Hubba Bubba!” Lexi said.
“You don’t find it creepy that he’s paying twenty grand just to watch me dance for a week?”
“Maybe it was love at first sight.” Chloe rolled her eyes, and Lexi said, “Okay, maybe not. But the real deal is that he’s dropping a butt-load of cash that I know you need to watch you dance. You don’t even have to take off your clothes. I don’t know if I would overthink it if I were you.”
“I have to over-think it, Lex. These guys are mostly scum, and there is always a motive. They’re well-dressed, sometimes. Like in Derek Stark’s case, good-looking but scum nonetheless.”
“Well you’ll be in a safe place and you know if he does try anything Roxi will kick him out, twenty-grand or not. Remember that slime ball that kept taking his dick out and asking the girls on stage to touch it?”
Chloe laughed, but it was to keep from retching. “It was a tiny little thing if I recall.”
Lexi laughed too and said, “Yeah, as long as he held it in his hand, it disappeared. But my point is that Roxi had him shown the door. She took his membership away, and I found out later on that his family owns the company that designs Yachts for most of the dickheads who come in that place. Roxi didn’t care. Rules are rules, and she’ll make sure you’re protected. At least you won’t have to dance for any of the other creeps this week, and you’ll have some mighty nice eye candy while you’re dancing for him. I’ll bet his dick wouldn’t disappear in his hand.”
Chloe picked up one of the small pillows off of her bed and threw it at her, “Get out perv!”
She stood up and smiled, “I repeat, don’t over-think it, Chloe. You’ve got an extra thousand bucks that you didn’t have before you went in to work tonight. The guy’s not a cheap skate either, and the money will come in handy. Look at it as a blessing in disguise.”
Chloe didn’t do well with blessings. She was much better at finding the devil in the details. “I’ll try,” Chloe told her.
After Lexi left her room, she reached into her dresser drawer and pulled out the box where she kept her journal and her pen. She opened the book to the entry she had made earlier before she left for work.
The first day of the rest of my life.
June 1, 2011
I got a thousand dollar tip tonight for doing nothing more than a pole dance. That was unusual itself, but then the same guy dropped twenty grand for me to be his “private dancer” for a week. Sometimes I get so annoyed with these men and the anger I feel at having changed my entire life because of one of them boils to the surface. Other times, like now, I have to wonder just how lonely does a man have to be to spend that kind of money on simple companionship…and companionship of the most superficial nature to boot.
It’s strange because if you look at this man and his life on paper, you would say he was the least likely candidate in the state for loneliness. I guess it’s another lesson for me on the virtues of not judging people based solely on first impressions…everyone has layers, like an onion. Some look fresh on the outside and the deeper you peel them back, the more rotten the layers become. I know the opposite is true as well, but that’s the side I have a harder time seeing, not because of the physical scars, but because of the psychological ones. Those are the ones that urge me to keep everyone at a distance, especially now. When Jesse gets out of prison, I’ll have to know for certain that there is nothing left of the old me to lead him in my direction.