Page 68 of How We End
Margo waited for the waiter to set the wine down before she started.“I don’t think it’s that.”
“Then what is it?”I’d go down to protect Julian.
“You know Maverick.He doesn’t like to lose.You’ve canceled on him a couple times, and it looks as if he’s lost his favorite plaything to a better-looking, younger man.He’s pissed.”
I swirled the wine in my glass before taking a sip.“So this is about his ego.”
Margo rolled her eyes.“Everything Maverick does is about his ego.The Starlight Sands is some phallic representation of his ego.None of this should surprise you.”She twisted the stem of her wineglass.“I book your clients.You’ve either taken a long break or you are seeing Julian.And not as a client.”
Margo and I weren’t friends the way Anders and Julian were.I couldn’t tell her how scared I was of losing him.That I really wanted to stop, but I didn’t know where to start.I didn’t know how to be Wyatt.
That I had never been this scared in my life.Not even in LA.
“You are, aren’t you?”Margo sat back in her chair, watching me.
“What if I am?Are you going to run back and tell Maverick?”
“When are you going to get it through your fucking head, I don’t care?”
“Then why are you always in my shit?”
“Because it’s my job.You really believe that I have nothing better to do with my life than worry about who you’re fucking?”
I sat back in my chair.I felt so alone right now.This should’ve been a happy moment in my life.But it felt heavy.“What if I am?”
“Then we figure this out.”Margo thought for a moment.“There are a few things we need to wind down in the business.Starting with when is your last day?”
“I’m not quitting.I need the money.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Cut the shit.It’s me you’re talking to.You really can’t believe that you can keep working and seeing him?Wyatt, that’s not practical.”
“What choice do I have?I have no marketable skills.I haven’t had a job since I was sixteen.I have no references.You think Maverick is going to give me a letter of recommendation?And what would he say?‘To whom it may concern, Ms.Halliday’s cock-sucking skills are the best I’ve ever seen.Please hire her as your receptionist.’”I never really thought about what came after.I knew there’d be an after—I just didn’t know when or what it would look like.
“We could find a better way of wording that.”Margo rolled her eyes.“And what does Julian think about all of this?”
I shrugged, playing with my wine glass.“He’s fine with it.His life isn’t any more stable than mine.His contract is going to be up at the end of this season, and then he may be out of a job.One of us needs to work.”
Margo barked out a laugh.“He makes ten mill a year, and you have close to two in savings, plus your investments, and you think you two need to work.And if you did, it should be you, the prostitute, who does.Not the professional athlete.”
“Yes.I will not live like my parents.Like my sister.Struggling for every fucking dime.”Contrary to what everyone thought, I was young.Too young to retire.
“Okay.So let me get this straight.”Margo rubbed her brow, shaking her head.“You think that you and Julian are going to blow through his thirty-million-dollar contract in the next couple of years?What does he have, a ten-thousand-dollar-a-day cocaine habit?”
“I don’t expect you to understand.”My family had struggled with money when I was growing up.There were many times we went without.This wasn’t a hard life.I made in four hours what some made in a week.If I booked a weekend trip, I made more in two days than some people made all year.I loved my life, or at least the part where money wasn’t a concern.
“Right, because of that silver spoon I was born with up my ass.This is why you have a financial planner.Why you chose the cage Maverick offered you.But you can’t be in a relationship with someone and continue to fuck other men.”
“This is between Julian and me.It’s just a job.”I wondered if I was telling her or myself.I drained my wine, regretting this meeting.
“And you think you can put your feelings aside for him while you do your ‘job’?You’re not a waitress.You fuck people.”
“Thank you for clearing that up.That would explain the random men that show up in the hotel room.Where is that fucking waiter?”I snapped my fingers to get his attention and pointed to my empty glass.“Julian is fine with this, so why can’t you be?”That came out harsher than I meant it.I didn’t want Julian to make my choices for me.My whole life had been men telling me what to do.What to wear.How to fuck them.If I wanted to keep working, then I would.
“You can’t honestly believe he wants you to fuck other men.Come on, Wyatt.”
