Page 33 of Kings of Desire
‘I just got a letter, and I need to leave. You’re the last here, so I suggest you drag your eyes to fully open and watch the door. Laura already called Julie and Maria from home so that we won’t have to deny any pleasure, but the next one is yours.’
That was a comforting thought, though in whatever way I added things together, the money would still not be enough, especially since I won’t have another chance any time soon of getting three Pleasures in three single days.
‘Ok, bye,’ I waved her goodbye, then got up to pace the length of the room, like a wild cat trapped inside a confined space. My heart didn’t want to be there for a second longer, just needing to run back to my old city and at least get to see them, while my reason was keeping me grounded, waiting for the knock on the door that would contribute to the fund that I needed so badly.
And it didn’t wait long to arrive, letting the red envelope that I both feared and expected to slip under the door.
Company throughout the night
Woman early to mid-twenties
$2000
9 pm
The sum was a little over the average, giving me more reason to be worried about this, especially after rereading the title. But that didn’t matter. None of it mattered. I didn’t matter anymore.
‘Is the contract ready?’ I knocked on Vanya’s door.
‘Yes, come in.’ Laura seemed to be buried in papers but shortly managed to provide me with the agreement that I needed to sign. ‘Just be sure to pack something to sleep in,’ she added before I got a chance to leave.
‘I didn’t see that in the request, but I will pack something.’
‘The guy asked for Pleasures before. I know from the other girls.’
‘Oh, then why didn’t he ask for a particular person?’ It was kind of strange since the clients that return usually return to the same person who they worked with in the past.
‘They don’t work here anymore. The last left a few days before you arrived. Just be careful with this one.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Now I was scared, perceiving it as a warning, and combined with thecompany throughout the nightwasgiving me a strange vibe.
‘I’m not sure how to explain it. I’m not sure even if I should say, but the girls that took his Pleasures seemed to have fallen in love with him.’
‘Do you think they went further? Slept with the man?’ The thought unsettled me, especially coming after the two Pleasures where the guys wanted the bar raised.
‘I’m not sure. I didn’t ask and they didn’t tell, but one of them I knew for sure that she usually took the Pleasures further. So, if he offered, then the chances are that she accepted.’
A precedent didn’t sound good to me. Precedents create expectations and there wasn’t any way that I was going to live up to them.
‘Thank you, I’ll leave you to it. I need to get dressed anyway.’
I left for the dressing room, not necessarily because I was on a tight timeframe since I had almost an hour and a half to wait, but because Laura seemed to be busy enough, and my presence there would have just dragged her work on.
Dressing up was becoming a routine so it didn’t take long for me to get ready and pack a pair of silk pajamas to bring along. The rest of the time didn’t pass quite as easily since the same math was still circling in my mind, adding the sums that I needed and always coming up short, needing much more money than I could ever raise in the given time frame.
The clock eventually hit nine, and it was time to walk out the door, though what I found in the street managed to surprise me. A regular yellow cab was waiting for me, no limo or glitter and gold luxury transportation. And it suited me just fine, feeling a lot closer to my true condition than to the person I needed to pretend to be. Though the feeling of relaxation didn’t last long since after we took a few turns, I realized that we were heading straight to the Hills. The top of the Hills, to be more precise, watching the luxury and opulence grow proportionally with the altitude.
And still, we weren’t stopping, going higher and higher, passing almost every house and heading for the rooftop of this world.
‘Mr. Ayers’s delivery is here,’ the driver announced to a security booth that stood at the gates of an overwhelming estate.
Great, now I was nothing more than pizza.
‘She can go straight up.’ The answer didn’t keep us waiting as the car continued its journey for almost half a mile before its wheels pulled to a stop in front of a gothic mansion. Maybe even a castle.
‘Have a nice evening,’ the man that drove me here opened the door, waiting for me to get out.
‘Thank you,’ I murmured, heading away from the car, overwhelmed by the grandeur of the place.
