- Chapter 12
THEO
My gaze quickly turned serious as I stared at Roger and then Sandra in a desperate attempt to get them to realize Abby had no idea what I did for a living. It wasn’t easy, but I eventually caught Sandra’s eye and shook my head back and forth as she finally got what I was saying.
“Oh, Roger you’re such a jokester,” Sandra said as she leaned into him and whispered in his ear.
The whole reason I had introduced Abby as my girlfriend was in an effort to subtly show them that she was not part of the industry and they wouldn’t be able to talk about those things around her. Apparently, that had not been deliberate enough for their tastes.
“Yes, yes, I’m sorry, Abby. Sometimes my humor is a little dry,” Roger said.
“It’s alright. I don’t have anything against escorts either. Seems like a better way of making a living than being a go-go dancer like myself,” Abby said as she took a sip of her drink.
I was surprised to see her willingness to understand the escort industry. Surprised and excited. If I was going to be able to continue any sort of real relationship with this girl, she would eventually find out about my business; her statement had me believing that it would be possible for her to understand those choices I made.
“Escorts are women just like the rest of us,” Sandra said as she and Abby continued the conversation.
“The people I have a real problem with are the men who pimp out the escorts. I mean really, they take all their money and don’t do a damn thing. Those men should be ashamed of themselves for using women like that.”
Everyone at the table was silent as they looked between Abby and me. Abby’s words were heavy in the air, and I felt them fall flat into the pit of my stomach. Whatever hope I had had of her understanding my work was gone. She clearly was not going to be alright with me and the VIP Escort business I had made my fortune with.
I had to do something quick to change the subject; I really didn’t want to hear any more about how much she hated me and had to hope when she finally found out the truth about me she would know me well enough by then that she would understand and not be upset.
I actually worked really hard for my portion of the money that came in. I had to find the clients and make sure they were guys who had enough money for my level of girls. I also did background checks on them and worked to ensure the girls’ safety at all times. In some instances, I required a bodyguard to go with the girl and always tried to keep them safe. The incident with Kimberly made me sick, and it was exactly what I worked so hard to make sure didn’t happen.
“So Abby, tell me a little more about yourself. Are you from New York?” Roger said as he tried to save the conversation.
I liked Roger. I had liked him from the second he called my agency looking for a woman to travel with him. Typically, a man will first tell me what his ideal woman looks like. They go into a physical description of hair, height, breasts and waist size. The men always have an inflated idea of what their perfect woman should look like. But when Roger called, he was clearly looking for someone a little different. He wanted a woman that was funny and easy to talk to. Roger had specifically asked me to find him a woman who was laid back and chill; who could laugh at the day to day grind of his life on the road. Sandra was the perfect woman for him.
Sandra had worked for me for two years, and I only set her up occasionally because she didn’t like the typical guy who called for an escort. She didn’t care about age, money, or how long they wanted her with them. Sandra only wanted to go out with men who were interesting. She once told me that she would rather not go out at all than go out with a guy who was utterly boring. I had hoped that the couple would hit it off enough to go on a few dates, but I had never even imagined that they would get along well enough to get married. It was my first real life couple matchup, and I was pretty damn proud of it.
“I’m actually from Wichita, Kansas,” Abby said with a huge smile. “I feel really out of place in New York City.”
“Wow, that’s certainly going from small town to big city girl really fast.”
“Yeah, I’ve loved living in the city, though. It’s my dream, and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”
Abby lit up when she talked about New York City, but I couldn’t help wondering why she had left Kansas without her sisters. Sure, it sounded like she had a rough childhood, but her sisters were both adults now, and I wanted to ask her why she didn’t have them come out to New York with her. But then I remembered that Abby might not have a place to live. I wasn’t positive about it but was sure that she had lied to me about the apartment and went to the storage unit, instead. I hoped that someday she would feel comfortable enough with me that she would tell me the truth, but I wasn’t going to push her for it.
“I love New York City,” Sandra added. “I lived there for about four years before I met Roger. Now, we are hardly in the same city for longer than a few weeks. At least, we are together, though,” Sandra said as she hugged and kissed Roger.
The two of them genuinely seemed like they were getting along well, and I was so happy for them. I really did like seeing my girls get their happily ever after, no matter what their dreams were.
“You love the travel, and you know it,” Roger said as he kissed Sandra.
“I do actually like it a lot,” Sandra said, kissing him back.
Then the moment started to get a little awkward as Sandra and Roger started to gently kiss each other and didn’t seem to notice that Abby and I were even at the table any longer. I looked awkwardly over at Abby, but she was watching the couple and didn’t seem to care at all that they were making out.
“Sorry, it’s a little awkward,” I whispered in her ear.
“No, it’s sweet. I love seeing real life romance.”
The rest of the evening went by fairly fast as we talked and spent the night like we were a regular group of longtime friends. It wasn’t very often that I got to hang out with people and feel normal, so it was a treat for me. Typically, I didn’t have a woman by my side, or if I did; she was a new and upcoming escort. It was strange to have a normal girl with me because I had never really had one around long enough that I wanted to travel with them.
When the evening was over, I gave Sandra a hug, and she slipped me my final payment from Roger. I hadn’t been worried about it at all and had actually considered them caught up. At some point in their relationship, the two of them were seeing each other all the time and obviously had moved out of the escort payment arrangement. I was happy for them and didn’t need any sort of reimbursement. But Roger had insisted on paying me. He was grateful for my introduction and wanted to remain friends, which to him meant that he wanted to pay me for taking one of my girls out of circulation. I thought he probably knew a little more about my business than he was letting on and was just afraid I was going to come after him or something. But taking a girl out of circulation because you loved her was a far different thing than beating her up. I was happy for them, but of course, I still took his payment.
“That was such a fun evening. Don’t you think?” I asked Abby as we made our way to the room.
“Yep, it was a blast. I’m tired, though,” Abby said as she walked straight toward her room without further comment.
She was upset. I could tell by the tone of her voice and the way she looked at me. I knew enough about women to see when one was angry with me. The problem was, I had absolutely no idea why she was angry at all. I didn’t say anything specific to her and couldn’t recall anything else being said at dinner that would have upset her.
Normally, I wouldn’t chase after a woman and try to figure out why she was angry, but I couldn’t let it go with Abby. I had to see just what I had done. She didn’t strike me as the type of girl that would get overly emotional for no reason at all, so I had to assume I had said or done something stupid.
I knocked on her room door gently and waited for her to come to the door. Earlier in the evening, it had taken every bit of self-control for me not to walk into her room while she was showering and trying to relax. She had left the door open, and I thought she wanted me to come in after her, but then I second guessed myself and wasn’t sure at all what I should do. A gentleman wouldn’t go in after her, is what I finally decided and I stayed out of her room. It had been incredibly difficult, though.
“Abby, what’s the matter?” I asked from the doorway.
“I’m just tired.”
“Open the door,” I said firmly.
Within a few seconds, Abby had the door open, and she was standing in front of me in just a T-shirt. Her hair was down, and she looked totally innocent and sweet. I fought the urge to kiss her and certainly didn’t want to push myself on her when she was angry.
“I’m just tired,” she said again as she tried to look me in the eyes.
“Alright,” I said as I leaned in and gave her a gentle peck on the cheek. “Sleep well.”
Abby quickly closed the door, and I had no idea at all why she was so angry with me. As I climbed into my bed, I tried to think about what could possibly have changed her mood so much, and the only thing I could think of was that the conversation about escorts hadn’t sat well with her. Although, she had seemed perfectly fine throughout the whole dinner. It hadn’t been until we were coming back to the room that I noticed she was in a bad mood. But if there was anything I had learned about women, it was that they could pretend better than any actress in the movies. She could have been angry all dinner and just waited until we were leaving to show it.
By morning, I woke up and hoped she would have stopped being angry with me. Or at least, hoped that she would tell me what was going on and why she was upset. I honestly had no idea what I had done that had made her turn so cold toward me, and I didn’t think Abby would act like that for no reason at all.
“Good morning,” I said, pointing to the large breakfast feast on the table.
It, at least, made her smile as she made her way over to the table and found a seat near me. I loved watching her smile. It was a simple pleasure that made my own face light up. As she joined me at the table, I wanted to ask her again what had happened the previous night, but I didn’t want to bring it up if she was no longer angry with me. I felt like a kid trying to figure out his teenage girlfriend’s feelings and absolutely hated it.
“Morning.”
“Did you sleep well?” I asked.
“God, yes, I slept like a rock. Best sleep I’ve had in a really long time. Thank you.”
“We are going to catch the plane in about an hour. Should be enough time to eat and gather our things without too much of a hurry.”
“Great, sounds good. I know Isabella is excited to talk to me. She seems to really like Jack. Is he a good guy?”
“Yeah, he works with me, but I consider him one of my best friends.”
“Oh, so what was all that talk about me being your girlfriend?” Abby asked as she smiled at me.
Again, that smile, it was so dangerous. I felt my body react with excitement though when I saw that she wasn’t angry any longer. Or at least, she had calmed down from whatever she had been upset about. Women were such mystical creatures; I never truly felt like I understood them.
“I’m sorry. Is that why you were mad last night? I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. I just knew that they were engaged and didn’t want to introduce you as ‘my friend,' I thought that sounded weird.”
“I wasn’t angry, just tired. I haven’t been sleeping well lately, and I was exhausted.”
“Well, then I’m glad you finally got a good night’s sleep.”
“Where are all my dresses? Did you throw them over the edge?” Abby asked as she jumped up and made her way to the balcony.
I had to laugh at what had happened with her shoes the night before. I really hadn’t intended to throw them over the edge, but in the moment, it just happened.
I followed her out as she looked down to the fountain in search of her clothes, and I couldn’t help laughing at the memory of the women fighting over the shoes. Those women were downright nasty as they tried to get their hands on the hi-heels that had fallen from the sky.
“No, I just had them packed up and taken to the plane for us. It’s easier that way. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, yes, that’s fine. I still can’t believe you threw those shoes over the edge,” Abby said as she started to laugh. “Those could have seriously injured someone.”
“I know! The second I threw them I thought ‘oh crap, I hope I don’t kill anyone,' those heels are dangerous weapons.”
We laughed, and I felt whatever Abby had been upset about before was finally out of her mind. She didn’t seem angry at all now that we were standing on the balcony together. Perhaps she was telling the truth and really was just tired the previous evening, but I felt there was more to the story. I felt something had happened at the end of the evening which had turned her emotions upside down.
It only took us about thirty minutes to eat breakfast and get ourselves on our way to the airport. Abby quickly changed back into her black slacks and T-shirt and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She looked fantastic, even in such casual clothing. I suspected she would look fantastic in pretty much anything she put on.
The flight back to New York was smooth and relaxing. The two of us sat together on the couch, and I pulled her in close to me and put her head on my shoulder as she fell asleep. When we started to descend into New York, I felt the worry building up inside of me. Aldo was going to be taking her out on a date in only two days, and I didn’t like it at all. I certainly didn’t want her to think I was alright with it. Although, I couldn’t exactly tell her no since I knew Aldo would kill me for interfering with what he wanted. The only thing I could hope for was to put enough doubt into her mind about Aldo that she didn’t actually sleep with the guy.
If she wanted to use him as a way to make money, I was more than happy to allow that. Aldo was a great guy to his escorts and often paid them very well. He did truly like the company of a beautiful girl who could hold a conversation. But he also really liked to sleep with those beautiful girls at some point. Sure, he liked the chase and enjoyed when girls denied him sex for a little while, but eventually, he wanted to have the girls in his bed. I needed more time to think of a way to persuade Abby not to sleep with Aldo, no matter how convincing he was.
“Would you like to go out with me again later tonight? I need to work for most of the day, but we could go out for a late dinner.”
Abby thought about my offer and seemed to contemplate if it was what she wanted to do. I knew she wanted to talk with her friend Isabella and certainly didn’t want to seem too eager. But I was going to need more alone time with her before she went out with Aldo.
“I need to meet up with Isabella, and then I could meet you at your place if you’d like.”
“How about you come over whenever you’re done, and you can hang out for a bit until I get home. I know Kimberly would love some female conversation after being left with the nurse for the last day. Do you mind?”
“Oh, sure. I’d love that. I can’t imagine what she’s gone through. How about I come over around six o’clock or so?”
“Perfect. I might not be home until nine or ten, but then we will go grab some dinner.”
I couldn’t tell if she was actually interested in having dinner with me or if she had just decided it would be better to stay at my house than wherever she had been sleeping. I knew she kept her things in a storage center and certainly wasn’t going to bring that up. But if she needed a place to stay, them my apartment was there for the taking. I would be happy to have her there.
Over the years, I had taken in many escorts who didn’t have a safe place to sleep. They would stay with me while they started working and saved up the money they needed to get their own place. But having Abby stay with me was going to be something entirely different. Despite what I had said at dinner, she wasn’t my girlfriend. She also wasn’t an escort, so we would be in unchartered territory if she stayed at my house for another night.
I felt a need to be close to Abby and couldn’t stand the idea of her sleeping in a strange man’s house or at a shelter. Abby had totally flipped my world upside down, and I wasn’t about to let her slip away now. I was going to do my best to keep her close to me.