CHAPTER FIVE
I checked the closed-circuit TV screen beside the front door, then undid the door with my key. “Please come in,” I said to the man on the step.
I led the man, wearing a rumpled suit and carrying a briefcase, through to the lounge where the TV screen showed two well-hung guys blowing each other. “Please sit down,” I said to the man, and I handed him the price list. The man took it, and I was surprised at how relaxed the client was. If it were me, I’d be flustered and sweating. When I paid for sex, I was just nineteen. “I’ll give you a few minutes to think about what you’d like,” I said to the man, and he went out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.
When I pushed the kitchen door open, the room was empty, with only Rod and Chloe there. Chloe was painting her lips ruby red, and Rod was staring at the screen, watching the man in the rumpled suit stare at the porn on the TV.
The quietness of the room startled me after the earlier cacophony, and I asked, “Where’s everyone gone?”
Chloe looked up from her mirror and said, “Selene’s got three guys choosing, so all the girls went to hustle them.”
The doorbell rang again, and a moment later a handsome red-headed guy appeared in the kitchen and stood beside Rod and studied the TV screen along with him. “Hi, Rod,” the handsome red-head said.
“Hi, Shane,” Rod said back without moving his eyes from the screen. “OK, he’s read the menu twice, and gone back to the porn. Let’s go, Jude.”
Shane nodded and said, “Hi, I'm Shane,” as he stuck out his hand for me to shake it.
"My name is Jude, I'm running the front tonight," I replied. "Looks like I need to get back in there to move the sale along."
"We'll come with you," Jarrod said.
I led the pair down the hallway, leaving them outside of the lounge in the hallway. As I entered the lounge, I startled the poor man who was staring at the porn, causing him to jump. I smiled at him to calm him down and said, “Have you decided what you’d like?”
The man said, “Half an hour, full service, thanks.” He handed me back the price list.
I nodded and tried to remember what I was supposed to say. “I’ve got two lovely young men here for you to meet,” I said as I opened the door again to let Rod and Shane in.
I stood back in the doorway and watched them flirt with the man, one sitting on either side of him, touching his knee, his hand. I thought it was no contest, he’d take Rod over Shane any day. That boy was attractive with his dark brown curls and easy smile, and he looked hot in that mesh shirt with his nipples showing.
The customer seemed to agree with me because he chose Rod too. Shane slipped past me and headed back towards the kitchen. I took five crisp hundred-dollar bills off the man and handed Rod four condoms and two dams from my jacket pockets.
Rod took the man upstairs, and I went back into the kitchen to find Selene and find out where to take the money.
“Upstairs to the office,” Selene said, and she led me through the utility room to a back flight of stairs. “Up there,” she pointed. “You can’t use the front stairs while there are clients around.”
I climbed the flights of stairs, hurrying in case the doorbell rang again, and I found himself in a room with three women sitting behind desks, large telephones and computer screens in front.
One woman gave me a suspicious look as I entered the office. Autumn appeared behind me and said, “This is Jude. He’s working out the front of Club Jade. What can we do for you, darling?”
“I’ve got money to drop off,” I said, taking the cash out of my pocket.
“Sure, sweetie,” Autumn said, and she lifted down a ledger book. “Here, write who the boy is, what the customer paid for, and what time they started. You need to keep a record for yourself too, just in case the float doesn’t balance.”
I nodded, and spotted the cartons of condoms and dams, and restocked my pockets while I stood there. I wanted to stay and listen to the phone calls the women were fielding, but Autumn was glaring at me, so I put the cash into the cash box on one desk, and went back downstairs again.
By the time I’d taken a sheet of notepaper from the kitchen and jotted down the details, the kitchen had refilled with girls and I watched them, intrigued for a moment, fascinated by the variety of women in the room. There were blondes and brunettes, Asian girls and black. There was a tall shapely woman in a negligee and a short solid woman in leather. What impressed me most was that none of the women were thin. After working in an industry which insisted actresses were thin, it was reassuring to find out that men who came to brothels liked their women real and fleshy. Two women who looked like they were the same age as me, and another two of the blondes looked pubescent.
Selene came up behind me as he was surveying the room and said. “Don’t let Olivia and Holly fool you, they’re both nineteen. You’d better get over to your own side to let the customer out. When you get back, I’ll show you how to use the washing machine and dryer.”
When the customer had left, Rod was waiting in the hallway for me. “Here you are,” he said, and he held out another note.
I looked puzzled, and Rod said, “House gets 40% of the tips too. You need to write it down, or I get into trouble.”
“You don’t get to keep all your tips?” I asked, fishing for my piece of notepaper and writing the amount Rod had given me. “That doesn’t seem fair.” I looked at Rod, who shrugged.
“That’s the industry norm,” he said. “And it’ll seem even less fair the first time a happy customer slips you a hundred, and you hand over forty.”