CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Going to work Sunday night was a little disconcerting, but Selene called me, “Jude,” when she let me in and that set the tone for the evening. I guessed they were all used to people having other names and secret lives, I was no different.
Eamon did slap me on the back and say, “Loved the nude scene, Jude, you really should come and work for me. I could get you a couple of porn contracts, and you’d be a big earner like Glenn.”
I shook my head. “No thanks. I’m not planning on a career change.”
Apart from Yuki asking with wide eyes if all the tattoos were real, no one else mentioned anything about my movie and the TV was showing reruns of ‘Friends,’ not one of my dodgier movies as I had feared. It went to show that I had an over-inflated opinion of my own importance, I figured. My exposure as a has-been actor couldn’t compete with Yukmy stories of her first day on a porn set.
The man at the front door was nervous and I stood back and let him walk into the lounge. “Here’s our price list,” I said, handing the sheet of laminated card over to the young man after he had sat down. “I’ll leave you to think about what you’d like, then I’ll bring back two our lovely young men for you to meet.”
The kitchen was quiet, so I stepped over where Chloe was doing yoga on the kitchen floor and put my head into the TV room. Clay and Jarrod were studying the guy on the screen, and I said, “Two minutes.”
Yuki reached out and took the remote out of Jarrod’s hand and changed the channel back to the movie she was watching, and I waited while Clay and Jarrod got themselves organized.
Jarrod was in low-slung jeans and tight cut off T-shirt, and I had to work to keep his eyes from lingering on Jarrod’s belly. Jarrod didn’t meet his eyes, instead of chatting to Clay over his other shoulder, and I had to tell myself that that was just how it was at work.
Which was no consolation at all when Jarrod took the hand of the guy and went to lead him upstairs, pausing in front of me to collect the usual bundle of latex? He was still wearing his smooth artificial customer smile when he took the dams and condoms, and it made me want to scream or something.
Instead, as soon as Jarrod had closed the bedroom door behind himself, I climbed halfway up the stairs and sat in the blind spot in CCTV coverage. I could hear Jarrod’s voice, talking to the customer, then laughing a little, and I closed my eyes.
I was gone before the half hour was up, I made myself leave as soon as the man started groaning; the only thing that stopped me from climbing the interminable stairs to the office and finding Eamon and quitting was that I didn’t have enough to cover the latest child support check yet. An extra $200 in my bank account and I would have been out of there, and Daniela could go fuck herself in regard to the following payment. In fact, on the whole, Daniela could go fuck herself, anyway.
Chloe had finished her yoga stretches when I came back into the kitchen, and she was painting Yukmy toenails at the kitchen table. I stacked the dishwasher and transferred a load of wet towels from the washer to the dryer, then came and sat down at the table too. I had ten minutes before I had to go let the guy out, and I could justify spending them chatting with Chloe and Yuki.
I went to let the nervous guy out, and Jarrod slid past me in the hallway carrying the soiled towels, and I made myself smile at the customer.
~~~~~~~
When Jarrod had showered and redressed, he joined Chloe and Yuki at the kitchen table. He must not have been doing too good a job of hiding how he felt because Yuki said, “You OK, honey? Did you get a bad one?”
He shrugged. “You know.” That was all he needed to say because he knew that Yuki and Chloe understood.
“Think of the money, love,” Chloe said, and she took his hand and uncapped her nail polish. “What you need is Dark Plum. It always cheers me up.”
He chuckled. Chloe was right, of all the nail colors Jarrod had ever seen, Dark Plum might be the least unhappy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He had both of his feet propped up on the kitchen table and Chloe was painting his toenails when I reappeared from my hiding spot, the main stairs; and Jarrod found a smile for me.
“You, have to do Jude’s nails too,” Jarrod said. “Everyone here needs to have happy nails tonight.”
“Oh yes,” Yuki said, and she caught hold of my shirt and tugged on it to make me sit down.
I sat down beside Yuki and said, “Are you absolutely sure?”
Yuki tutted at him and reached for the brush. “Oh yes. You’re moping around the place so much, anybody would think it was you having sex with weirdos, babe,” she said, and she painted a fingernail.
Jarrod laughed, he couldn’t help it. “She’s right,” he said, and I smiled back at him, perhaps for the first time that shift.
“That’s better, love,” Yuki said to me. “Now, hold still.”
Eamon appeared as the doorbell for Club Jade rang and made his what the hell are you doing on company time? throat clearing noise and Jarrod had to laugh at me disappearing off to answer the door barefoot because the polish on my toenails hadn’t dried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eamon went back upstairs, and Chloe patted Jarrod’s arm reassuringly. “Maybe it’ll work out,” she whispered and Jarrod looked at her in surprise.
“What will?” he asked.
“You know; you and Jude.”
Jarrod shook his head. “Forget it, Ella,” he said, and Chloe shrugged. She’d know, since he’d used her real name, he was serious.