- Chapter 19
ABBY
In the span of one evening, we had gone from arguing and I totally didn’t want to see him again to making love and cuddling. I had to laugh a little at that moment. But despite knowing that Theo had lied to me, I couldn’t stand the idea of staying mad at him. Then when he brought up knowing that I had stayed at the shelter, it just made me realize that he was really a good guy. I knew more than anyone that sometimes you lied to people you cared about.
I had been lying to my sisters for years. Every time I’d call them, I would tell them how well things were going. I would lie and say I had extra money that I was sending back to them when the reality was that I had no money at all. It was like I would rather know that they were going to eat and be able to pay their heating bill than if I had food the next day.
When I worked at the restaurant, I knew I would always have at least one meal there. Plus, I could sneak food from dishes that they were going to throw away, and I always had plenty of bread. But the days I worked at the dance club only, well, sometimes on those days I just had lots of olives from the bar or sometimes a protein bar from one of the other girls.
Lying was sometimes a necessity, and I knew that. I couldn’t fault Theo for doing the exact same thing I had been doing for years.
It was weird that I felt so comfortable with Theo, and that was another reason I was so willing to forgive him. I just didn’t feel like he was judging me at all. When we were together in that room, it felt like I could have said I was an ax murderer and he would have still wanted to be with me. Not that I would ever murder anyone, but it was reassuring to know that the man you were with would still love you if you did.
“Good morning,” I whispered, pulling Theo’s arms tighter around me.
“I’m still dreaming,” he said.
“Nope you’re here, with J-Lo, this isn’t a dream,” I joked.
His hand slid down to my bare ass, and he squeezed it.
“I think this is Abby; J Lo doesn’t have a sweet ass like this.”
Theo lightly slapped my ass and then let his hand slide around and cup one of my breasts as he kissed the back of my neck. I wasn’t normally a cuddlier, but it actually felt comfortable there with Theo. Everything felt different with Theo. I had to assume that’s what it was like when people actually had feelings for the man they slept in the same bed with.
“Do you want some breakfast?” I asked, starting to sit up.
Theo held onto me and wouldn’t let me go. He wrapped his arms even tighter and pulled me close to him.
“I need to tell you something. I hope you’ll understand and hope you won’t hate me.”
The tone of his voice was not reassuring, and I pushed away from him and sat up in bed to prepare myself for what he was going to tell me. How much worse could it be than the fact that he ran an escort business?
“Please don’t tell me you’re also a drug dealer? You actually said that you weren’t right to my face.”
“No. God, I hate that stuff. No, it’s about Aldo. I need you to go out with him again if he calls you.”
“Why on earth would you want me to go out with him again? I thought things were good with us? Wait, do you actually want me to be an escort?”
I wasn’t mad at the moment, but I really didn’t understand what was going on. He said he didn’t want me to be an escort, and now there he was telling me to go out with Aldo again. I didn’t even know if Aldo would ask me out again. It seemed like he really wasn’t all that interested in me when our date ended.
“I’m going to tell you the truth. I mean all of it. The only reason I’m telling you is because I care about you and want you to hang around. Do you understand?”
Theo was starting to scare me a little. His voice was so serious that I felt like he was talking about something deadly, not another date with an attractive, respectful older man. And the truth was, I would go out with Aldo again if it was alright with Theo; $10,000 went a long way to helping my sisters, and Aldo didn’t try to have sex with me or anything like that. I still didn’t know what had changed toward the end of the night, but overall it was a good night.
“I can handle the truth much better than I handle lies,” I said with a sweet smile, grabbing his hand.
“When I first came to New York, I ran into Aldo, and he offered to help me with my business. I was naive at the time and didn’t really know what the long-term effects of my decisions were. So I agreed to let Aldo loan me some money so I could start my business.”
“Your escort business?”
“Yes, it’s a good business, and I know it sounds horrible, but I can tell you more about it if you’d like. It’s really not so bad.”
“Finish the story about Aldo.”
“So over the years, I have let him go out with girls that I wanted to work for me. He would take them out and help me decide if I should invite them into the business. But I absolutely did not intend for him to take you out. I only wanted to date you for myself. I’ve been working to get out of the escort business and build up my legitimate world. I thought, possibly, I could avoid telling you the truth while I did that. I’m sorry about that.”
“OK, so you’re saying he just asked me out because he wanted to?”
I didn’t really understand what Theo was trying to get at. Was Aldo in charge of the business or something? Did Theo let Aldo make his decisions for him? But I did like hearing that Theo wanted to get out of the business. It was certainly something that made me happy. Obviously, we hardly knew each other, but if things were ever going to move forward, I didn’t want to have any involvement in his escort business. It did make a lot more sense why there were so many women handing him envelopes full of money.
“He asked you out because he could tell it bothered me when he was talking about you. When the two of us went to the back room, I told him you weren’t going to work for me and not to mess with you. But when you said you had family back home, he couldn’t resist. He knew I wouldn’t refuse him.”
“That’s fine, so I won’t go out with him anymore. Problem solved.”
“No. Actually, I really need you to say yes if he asks you out again. I can’t afford to have him pissed off at me. Apparently, something happened on your date that he thinks is my fault.”
I had to think for a minute as I tried to figure out what that could possibly be Theo’s fault. Nothing had happened at all that would make Aldo think about Theo; I really couldn’t think of a thing. The only thing that happened was I kissed Aldo, and we talked to one last client, then Aldo decided he wanted to take me home. He switched how he dealt with me after the kiss. But I couldn’t see how that would be Theo’s fault.
“I can’t think of much that really happened. What does he think is your fault?”
“I’m not sure. Please don’t get mad at me when I ask you this, and I absolutely know it's none of my business, but did you sleep with him?”
I had to laugh. I was naked in bed with Theo, and he was asking me if I slept with Aldo, and he actually expected that I would answer him. But the look on his face was serious, and I felt compelled to answer him.
“No, I didn’t sleep with him. I did kiss him, though.”
“You kissed him? He didn’t initiate it?”
“Yep.”
“Ah, that’s what it was then. He thinks I told you about the whole escort thing and that that was your first job. He has a thing for unwilling women, and you kissing him made him think you were more than willing, or you knew about the escort business.”
“I’m so confused. So he wants to help you with new girls, but he doesn’t want them to know what they are getting into?”
“He’s the typical dirty old man. He likes the naive girl who he can teach everything. If you kissed him, then he probably thought you were well versed in the escort world.”
“All from a kiss?”
“He likes to be denied what he wants, and usually, young naïve girls will do that. You threw him off his game with the kiss.”
It was weird to be sitting there talking with Theo about my kiss with Aldo. But it was freakishly comfortable. Again, I didn’t feel judged at all by Theo for kissing Aldo. I felt safe talking to him, and I liked that.
“So what do you want me to do? You want me to go out with him?”
“Yes, if he asks you out again, I’d love it if you’d say yes. Of course, you keep all of the money, and it would be a business deal between the two of you. I definitely don’t want to be involved in it.”
“So you don’t want to come and have a threesome,” I joked.
“You’re such a troublemaker,” Theo said as he grabbed me and pulled me back down on the bed. “I’m really trying to get away from him, but he holds so much power. I’ve got to figure out a way to break free without getting myself killed.”
“Wait a minute? Aldo would kill you? I don’t think so. He seems like a pretty cool guy.”
“Abby, he’s killed more people in the last year than I have my entire life,” Theo said and my eyes opened wider than I ever thought possible.
“You’ve killed someone?” I said, sitting back up and looking at him. “With your hands? Or did you shoot them? Did you mean to kill them?”
Theo laughed at first, and I could tell he was trying to decide if he wanted to tell me the story that was on the tip of his tongue.
“I killed a guy once a long time ago in a fight. But he was going to kill me if I hadn’t killed him first.”
“Wow, I slept with a killer, that’s pretty freaky,” I said, plopping my head onto the pillow next to him.
The funny thing was, I didn’t really care at all that Theo had killed someone. It seemed normal to me in my jaded mind. I had seen so much while in New York the last few years; nothing really phased me much at all anymore.
“Yep, I’m a killer and so is Aldo; so you be careful and don’t make him mad.”
“Why shouldn’t I just blow him off? Certainly he’s a grownup who can take no for an answer.”
“No, he’s not able to take no for an answer. Except when flirting. He likes it when you tease him, flirt with him, get him all worked up and then deny him. That turns him on. But it’s a balance, and you can’t actually say the word no to him.”
“This is so complicated.”
“I know it is, but you’re good at this back and forth game. I know you can handle him. I’ve got to get my affairs in order with my restaurant and my gym before I try and cut off ties with Aldo.”
“So you want me to help you get away from Aldo. Does that mean you’re going to give up the escort world? It seems like that’s a lot of money. Why would you want to give that up?”
I saw the look of confusion on Theo’s face at my question. Of course, I didn’t like the idea of the escort business for myself and wasn’t even that fond of going out on a date with a guy that ran such a business. But I was a realist and knew that money like Theo had must have come from his escort business. Unless he really was a whiz at investing, but I doubted it based on the new recollection of his illegal business.
“Um, you want me to keep doing it?” he asked with a bewildered expression.
“I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t keep doing it. But from the amount of cash I have seen women handing you over the past few days, it seems like a lucrative enterprise. Why would you want to stop?”
I knew in my mind why someone would want to stop, but I really was interested in seeing what Theo had to say. Turning over a new leaf wasn’t easy, in fact, most the people I knew who said they were going to change, never did. Perhaps Theo was just really good at persuading people, and this was all just a lie to get me into the business; I had no idea for sure, but my eyes were open now at least, and that made it much easier for me to move forward with whatever was going on between Theo and me.
“It’s illegal. I will never be able to find a nice woman and settle down while I’m in this business.”
“You found me.”
“But I had to lie to you right away. I don’t want to worry about getting arrested and going to jail. It’s a stressful life. Plus, look what happened to Kimberly. I’m tired of dealing with jackholes like that.”
Theo’s life was starting to look more and more like a soap opera to me. But at least, it was all making sense. Kimberly worked for him as an escort, that’s why he felt bad for what happened to her and had her at his house. At least, Theo had a conscience.
“I need some time to think about all of this. I don’t know if I’m up for it. Maybe I am, but maybe I’m not. Do you mind if I take some time?”
“Sure, but let me know if Aldo contacts you. Or if you don’t want to talk to me about it, that’s fine. Just don’t tell him that you know about the whole escort thing.”
I didn’t like the idea of lying to Aldo, but I also didn’t like the idea of a guy as deadly as Aldo being angry at me. Surely it wouldn’t matter too much if I just went along with the innocent thing for awhile. Before I knew everything that Theo had told me, I really did like Aldo. Perhaps it was the dangerous side of him that made me drawn to him. I wasn’t sure, but for the time being, I would go along with it. Aldo had no reason to be angry at me or try to kill me, so I felt relatively safe around him.
“I’ll keep in touch with you. I’m going to stay here with Isabella and Jack, though, if you don’t mind.”
“Yes, I think that’s a great idea.”
We were both still naked in the bed and things were getting a little awkward now. I wanted to keep talking to him, but I also didn’t want to keep talking to him. He had unloaded a ton of information on me, and it was highly likely that I was going to need to take some notes if I wanted to keep everything straight.
“I’m going to hop in the shower. I’ll call you if I hear from Aldo,” I said as I got out of the bed and walked naked to the shower.
“Do you want some company?”
“Not today,” I said with a smile.
I really did want him to come in the shower with me, but it didn’t seem like the right time. The strange thing about spending time with Theo was that I always wanted to spend more time with him. He drove me crazy, made me angry, stirred up all kinds of emotions inside of me, yet I still wanted him there with me.
If this was what went on for women in relationships, I was glad I had skipped out on most of that throughout my life. My stomach was in knots as I thought about all the information that Theo had given me and everything I now knew about him.
When I had first met him, he was like a celebrity to me with all his money and his plane. I idolized him as we went to Las Vegas and he bought me everything my heart desired. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to be with me more on the trip; I still didn’t know why he hadn’t joined me in the shower of our luxury room in Las Vegas. But what I was certain of more than I had been before, Theo was just a normal guy with some extraordinary problems in his life. He was just like the rest of us; trying to make lemonade out of the lemons life handed him.
- Chapter 20
THEO
Life sure had a way of twisting things around and making them as difficult as possible. When Abby walked into my life, I had quickly gone from a guy who was thinking of getting out of the business, to a guy who needed a plan to get out right away. There was no time to wait, and I had to figure things out quickly. I really wasn’t sure how Aldo was going to react when he heard I really wanted out.
Sure, he knew I had been considering it. But I think he always expected I would stay in the business a little bit, perhaps like he had. To him, getting out of the business simply meant that you didn’t do the front end stuff anymore, but you still got the money from the work that everyone else was doing. That wasn’t what I wanted to do; I wanted out totally. If Jack wanted to keep the business up, he could buy it from me. But I wasn’t going to take a monthly stipend from him and wasn’t going to be involved at all. I really wanted out.
“Good morning to you,” Isabella said as I walked out into Jack’s living room. “Someone got lucky last night.”
Isabella was more like the typical woman I dealt with. She had attitude and nothing really phased her. I could see why she and Abby had gotten together. Abby was quiet, and Isabella was boisterous. Abby seemed like she was shy, and Isabella seemed like she could talk to anyone at any time. Isabella also seemed much more street smart than Abby; Isabella was the typical woman I recruited to be an escort. Abby was not the typical escort, but that’s why she would make so much money in the business if I had recruited her. Abby’s ability to be real with people set her apart from girls like Isabella.
“Morning Isabella, how are things with you?”
“Things … they are good. I really like your friend, Jack. He’s a cool dude.”
“From what I hear, he likes you too and thinks you’re a groovy chic.”
“Psychedelic.”
“Now, why exactly are we talking like we are in the seventies?” I asked, grabbing a cup of coffee.
“No reason, I just like to add color to my vocabulary every now and then.”
“Okay then. Where’s Jack at?”
“I think he went for a run.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yeah, he said he wanted to start working out and getting into shape,” Isabella said as we sat at the table.
I had known Jack for a long time and working out wasn’t really his thing. He liked to party, drink and pick up women. But I figured there was a first time for everything, and I was living proof of that.
“So what’s up with the two of you? Are you a thing?”
“I guess a thing is the best way to describe us,” she joked. “How about you and Abby, did you two make up?”
“I think we did. Sort of, at least. I’m pretty sure she’s going to stay here and not at my house, but that’s better than hating me; right?”
“It’s surprising that she actually forgave you. She does tend to hold some pretty intense grudges. But Abby’s a good girl, Theo; she’s not meant for this kind of business. Please don’t drag her into it.”
“That’s what my hope is in all of this. I don’t want her in the business, and I’m not going to stay in it much longer either. I think it’s time to move on with real life.”
“Now that sounds like the kind of man I can support dating my friend.”
“Speaking of real life, I need to head to my gym and straighten some things out. Tell Abby I’ll call her later, and when you see Jack, tell him to stop by my gym if he’s getting into the working out thing. I’ll set him up with a trainer so he can do it right.”
“Sounds good. Have fun in the real world.”
“Have fun here, I guess,” I said as I grabbed my things and left Jack’s house.
Jack was a ladies’ man that was for certain, but I liked Isabella, and she seemed to be someone who would fit well with Jack in the long run. She was street smart, laid back and funny; perfect for Jack. I wondered if Isabella was going to start doing escort work or not but decided not to ask her. I wanted out of the business, and that meant I was going to let Jack deal with as much of the day to day work as possible for the time being.
The top floor of Merck Towers was the perfect place for my gym, but it also cost millions of dollars per month to keep that spot. To make a profit, we were going to have to start taking in much bigger names, and I was probably going to have to hire some more trainers. Luckily, I already had an amazing manager for the gym, so I didn’t have to worry about that aspect of the business.
When the elevator opened, I took in the view of the city, like I did every time I visited my gym. It was simply awe-inspiring to see the entire skyline from that floor. We even had a deck you could go out on and workout equipment out there as well. My gym was my dream long before the restaurant, and I paid much more attention to the numbers behind the gym. Unfortunately, I was losing about a million dollars each month in that business and hadn’t put in the time or effort to figure out how to make it profitable. Certainly, there had to be something I could change to quickly make a profit and turn my money pit into a way of actually surviving.
With a name like Sunrise Sanders you would have expected to see my gym manager on a stripper pole somewhere instead of behind a desk. Sunrise was a vibrant woman who had hippy parents and no real structure growing up; so she compensated by keeping her entire life as structured as possible.
“Ms. Sanders, how’s the gym doing?” I asked as I knocked on her office door.
“Things are great. We have a steady increase in clients and some interest from a few celebrity trainers.”
“Tell me more.”
“About the trainers?”
“Yes.”
“Well, one of them has a reality show and wants to bring camera crews here. I wasn’t sure about the legalities of that since we have other clients and other trainers so I said we would talk about it and get back to them. The other trainer works primarily with celebrities, but he wanted to know about the safety of our balcony.”
“Why? That seems like a weird thing to worry about,” I asked as Sunrise handed me the accounting books from the last month.
“Apparently, one of his celebrity clients has bipolar disorder, and he didn’t like how easy it would be for her to jump over the ledge.”
“Oh, Jesus. No, I can’t have a client like that around here. That would ruin us for sure if someone committed suicide from our club.”
“That’s what I thought at first too, but he is willing to pay a premium fee, and with him here we will get some other high name trainers from the city. I agreed to look into the cost of some sort of fencing or safety mesh or something.”
That was exactly why I loved working with Sunrise, she knew we needed the money, but she also knew we couldn’t afford to have anyone committing suicide from our building. I trusted her implicitly with the gym.
“Good idea, but I don’t want something that’s going to ruin the view for everyone. Maybe we could do a Plexiglas extension of two feet up? That should be a good deterrent, and it won’t impede on the view at all.”
“I’ll see what I can find. Is there anything else you wanted updating on?”
I had come in prepared to ask a ton of questions, but most of them had been answered before I could even ask them. I looked through the books from the last month and tried to pretend I knew what I was looking at. Certainly I knew the basics but could never really tell if things were going well or not. It was like looking at a foreign language; even if I understood a little bit of what I saw, I couldn’t understand everything.
“I really want to start building things here. I think we have the groundwork set pretty well, so it’s time to grow. Is there anything you need to make that happen?”
I saw the instant surprise on Sunrise’s face at the notion that I wanted to grow things. Normally, I just looked at the books and didn’t have much else to offer. But I needed this company to do well, and that meant I was going to be more involved. Because the alternative was letting Aldo continue to control my life, and I couldn’t do that. I already felt horrible that Abby was going to have to go out with him again. I needed to do my part to get out of the escort business.
“Oh, my God, I have so many ideas,” Sunrise said, pulling out a notebook that she had tons of scribbles in. “I’ve been taking notes and preparing for this day. Oh, gosh, there are so many things,” she said as she flipped through the notebook.
“How about you decide what you think are the number one and number two items on your list, and we can talk about those things first?”
Sunrise continued to flip through her notebook in a never-ending effort to find the notes she was looking for. It was actually quite exciting to see that she was so eager to help the company grow. I hoped she would remain that eager.
“Okay, okay, first of all we need to advertise. But not in regular newspapers or anything like that. We need a full page add in the Robb Report, do you know that magazine?”
“Yes, but are you sure that would be best? Isn’t that more for people who don’t live in the city?”
“Yes and no. But here is the second thing, and it will all tie in together. I think we should offer a monthly membership that includes personal training. That way people who are not already connected with a trainer could come in and workout with whoever is here. Of course, we will have to talk it over with the trainers and give them a cut, but it would be a more manageable amount each month because the trainers would just cover certain times but might be working with more than one client during those times. It will also help the trainers to gain new clients too. Because if someone likes one particular trainer, they could sign up for time with them at a discounted price. Does that make sense?”
It actually did make sense to me and sounded like a great idea. I even thought our trainers would enjoy the idea. Anything that would help bring in more money for them as well as increase their brand would be helpful.
“Go ahead and put together a proposal for me and I’ll talk with the trainers next week. Set up an all staff meeting for me.”
“Oh, man this is epic. This gym is going to be insane!” Sunrise said as she stood up and started pacing the room.
Her energy couldn’t be contained, and I didn’t feel like watching her pace the room so I said my goodbyes and went out to the balcony. It was going to be weird to have a safety wall out there, but it was probably a good idea, even if we didn’t have that new mentally ill client. The wall we had now was regulation, but I still found people trying to lean over and look at the ground sometimes. I had been scared plenty of times that something bad would happen.
When my phone rang, I grabbed a chair and pulled up to the edge of the balcony so I could enjoy the view. It was Aldo again, and I expected he was still angry and I was going to have to do some sweet talking to calm him down.
“So what’s the story?” Aldo asked.
“Aldo, what? I told you already.”
“I just called her, and she is going to help me look at apartments and go to dinner with Briggs. Everything is good on your part?”
My stomach instantly felt like releasing all the contents from my breakfast. Briggs was one of Aldo’s friends that wasn’t very nice to the girls at all. He liked to get rough with them, and sometimes things got out of control. Briggs tried not to leave marks and never meant to hurt the girls, he just liked it when they fought back. He was certainly not going out with Abby, and I was going to make sure of that.
“Aldo, she’s not interested in being an escort. There really is no need for you to take her out. She’s just a sweet girl from Kansas that I picked up in a club.”
“Since when did you go so soft? She’s the perfect escort and will make us tons of money. I’m moving forward with grooming her. She might take a little longer than others, but she’s got the chops for it.”
“Aldo, I like this girl. I like her so much I’ve been thinking of getting out of the business for real and trying things with her.”
Aldo was silent, and that was a bad sign. It was a risk telling Aldo that I actually liked Abby. He could decide to help me out or he could decide he was going to take her out anyways despite my feelings.
“This is the problem with you young guys, you live in a fairytale world where women can love you for more than just your money. I’m doing you a favor by taking her off your hands. She would have just caused you heartache.”
“Aldo, come on man. You know me, I don’t get all sappy with the girls, but this one is different.”
Abby was different, and so was I. The time had come to get out of the business, and it was going to be a bit messy if Aldo didn’t decide to just cut me loose. I wasn’t exactly sure how messy things were going to get, but I was ready to get out now. My mind was made up, and when I made my mind up, that was all there was to it.
“I don’t give a fuck if you like her or not. This girl is money, and I’m not about to give up money so you can play house. I’m also not about to let a good business go up in smoke. You can step back a little if you want to, but you’re not closing up shop. Let’s remember that I made you. It was my money that gave you your start. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have a goddamn thing!”
I knew at that moment that things were going to get ugly if I really wanted to get out. For as much as Aldo talked about going straight, he wanted to make it look like he went straight while everyone else around him was doing all the dirty work.
“Aldo, I’m sorry, but my life is mine now. I’ll be happy to pay you a million dollars to offset your losses from me for the next year or so. Would that work?”
“Who the fuck do you think you are? You think you can just decide when you’re going to cut me off? It doesn’t work that way kid.”
I could tell by the tone of his voice that Aldo didn’t want to talk about it anymore, and I certainly wasn’t going to keep pissing him off. If I was going to get out of the business, it wasn’t going to happen by just asking him. That was clearly obvious.
“I’m sorry, Aldo. It was just something I was thinking about. You’re right; it is probably best to just stay put for awhile. Maybe somewhere done the road, we can talk about it.”
“Just remember who made you, Theo. This isn’t some game. I’ll take you out as quickly as I brought you into this.”
“Yes, I understand.”
I wanted to ask more about Abby, but I figured it wasn’t the best time to push him on that. It was going to be best for me just to tell Abby not to go out with him. He would get much less angry at her if she decided she didn’t want to see him. Certainly, he would be pissed off still, but at least, no one would be getting murdered.
“Let’s not have this conversation again anytime soon.”
“Okay,” I said just as Aldo hung up the phone.
I quickly dialed Abby’s number, but it just rang and rang without an answer. I hung up and dialed Jack.
“Jack, is Abby still there?”
“No man, she and Isabella went out. What’s up?”
“I need to get hold of her, do you know where they went?”
“Not sure, they were too busy with all their girl talk to tell me. Do you want me to call Isabella?”
“Yeah, if you get hold of her, please have Abby call me. I have to talk to her before Aldo gets to her.”
“It sounds serious.”
“Jack, if I left the business, would you want to take over?”
“You’re leaving?”
“No, I mean it’s just an idea. I’m just throwing it around,” I said, trying to downplay the idea.
“No man, I wouldn’t want to do it without you.”
“Alright man, I’ll let you know. For now, please try to call Isabella,” I said as I hung up the phone.
I had to find Abby and talk to her before she agreed to see Aldo again.