Page 22 of Glass Wings

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“Well, you’ve been busy,” she said, watching Hector run over to the kitchen counter.

“Oh, do you want more champagne? Here, let me refill what I’ve spilled.”

She wasn’t prepared with a convincing enough lie about her job. She was grateful for Hector’s increased schedule since it provided her the grace she needed to not have to worry about covering her tracks.

She couldn’t tell him about her first client, Wes, and how, for a moment, it was the most romantic experience she’d ever had. She couldn’t tell Hector that the client could not have treated her better until that awkward parting of ways. She couldn’t tell Hector about the second experience with a middle-aged man who wanted her to wear animal ears and bark like a puppy, licking all parts of him.

She couldn’t tell Hector about the married couple who just wanted her to sit in the corner and watch them be together, no physical touch from her needed. The fourth and fifth jobs she took were nothing out of the ordinary, though Hadley still felt soreness in between her legs for days after.

No, she couldn’t tell Hector any of that.

“My boss owns his own business,” Hadley said, trying to imagine Grant as a big-time corporate executive.

“Yeah, yeah, everyone owns their own business these days. What does he do? What do you do for him?” he asked, putting a little too much inflection into the last part of the question, raising his eyebrows. Hadley giggled at the irony.

“He owns an online marketing business,” she lied, “and I work on call carrying out random tasks. I have helped him plan photo shoots, get people coffee, and sometimes I sit in the corner and take notes. I get paid daily and in cash under the table so he doesn’t have to deal with the tax implications. I think having an assistant gives him more prestige around his clients,” Hadley explained, pulling from at leastfour different movies that she had seen recently. Hopefully, none of it sounded too familiar to Hector.

“So cool, Hadley. I can’t wait to see what you can turn this into. Have you been writing lately? I saw a script writing contest flier posted on the board at the theater,” Hector said.

“Yes, well, kind of. The job has been keeping me busy, but I am working on something that I might enter into something. It’s turning into a comedy but was originally meant to be pretty dramatic,” she said, cut off by the beeping of her phone.

Can you take a new client right now? He is saying it’s an emergency. - Grant

“So, what are we doing today?” Hector asked, “It’s only noon. What is there to do at noon on a Tuesday?” He filled up his cup, emptying what remained in the bottle.

“That was my boss,” she said. “I’ve got to go to work. He’s sending a car to pick me up.”

Hector looked disappointed as Hadley replied to the text message.

“You’re going to leave me alone? Now?” he asked, his eyes wide and in disbelief.

“Sorry,” she said, hopping up and running into her room to put on some lingerie. To avoid suspicion, she put on her most professional-looking dress over her new pink lace bodysuit. The dress was black with white plastic buttons on the front near her collarbone. She threw a cardigan over it and tied her hair into a tight bun, rushing back out to wave Hector goodbye.

“I’ll probably be back in two or three hours,” she said. “I’m not usually out for long.”

Her phone buzzed, knowing this meant that Grant had arrived, now trusting him to have her home address. She rushed downstairs, already spending the money from today’s gig in her head and not thinking too much about what an emergency in her line of work looked like.

“Hey there, Hailey. How are we doing today?” Grant asked from the driver's seat when Hadley opened the door and sat next to him.

“Girl, you are on fire. There are at least twenty-five requests for you that I’ve been pushing out. Are you sure you don’t want to take on more clients? This one will be the third one this week and you said yes, so I’m sensing some flexibility.”

“I said yes to today because I might need to buy my roommate some new jazz shoes in a few months,” she said. “He’s got a big audition coming up. Otherwise, I just don’t have it in me for any more than this.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll respect your choices. You’re an independent woman, all empowered and shit,” he said, nodding his head to himself while he kept his eyes on the road.

“You know, Grant,” she laughed, “you’re slowly growing on me.”

“Am I?” Grant’s eyes lit up, unsure of what he did to get the positive remark. “Well, hell, darlin, you know I always got your back.”

A short time later, Grant pulled into an office building development, the exterior entrance sign announcing it as S.B.V. Commercial Space. It consisted of a large parking lot that circled three identical corporate buildings. He parked around back, towards the entrance of the one furthest to the right.

“This isn’t the usual motel,” Hadley said, her nerves kicking in from the unfamiliarity.

“You got this, the same rules apply. Let me know when you get in, so I know that no funny business is going on. You’ll walk into this building in front of us, go to the fifth floor, and check in with the secretary. The man you’re seeing is named David Sullivan. You have an appointment scheduled at two o’clock.”

Hadley took a few deep breaths, her fingernails flicking the door handle.

“Okay,” she said, getting out of the car. She shut the door behind her and did not let herself look back.