Page 4 of Claiming Kenna

“Hello can I help you?” A busty woman with larger hips and long blonde hair greeted me.

“Um,” I squeaked, looking around again.

“Business or pleasure?” She asked, looking me up and down with a sensual look. I swallowed a large lump in my throat.

“I am here to see Crystal?” I responded, trying to ignore the hungry look in her eyes.

“Shame,” she mumbled and picked up a phone on the desk.

“Tell Crystal there is someone here to see her,” she slid out then hung the phone up.

“Take a seat over in that corner and she will be right out,” she gestured to a red suede seat to the right.

I perched on the edge of the seat trying not to stare and contemplating bounding up the stairs forgetting this ever happened. After a few moments a familiar face came into view. She passed between some half naked bodies and made her way to me. “You came!” Crystal declared with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah although I don’t really know what I have come to,” I admitted feeling out of my depth. Crystal sat down beside me and crossed her long legs, eyes scouring the room.

“Well, ask me anything and I will answer all your questions the best I can,” she soothed.

“I am starting to forget why I came here. I feel so out of place,” I grumbled more to myself then Crystal. She grabbed my hand and placed it in hers on her lap.

“Something made you come here tonight. Tell me what that was then maybe I can help,” Crystal insisted.

“I sort of walked out of my job tonight. I am a full time student and barely cover rent for my run down studio apartment in the city. I guess I just had an epiphany that I am over living like that,” I confessed to her.

“I can understand that. That was my position I was in five years ago until I came here.”

“Five years?! You have been here that long?” I was in shock.

“Yeap, I am not ashamed of what I do for work. I told myself years ago I will only be here until I had paid my debt off but the money is addictive and I won’t make this kind of money at a 9-5 job,” she murmured.

“So is this a sex club or something? I mean I don’t think I can have sex with strangers for money. I have only slept with two men before and that was me on my back drunk when I was at college.” I muttered scanning the room again. I glanced at two men half naked massaging an old middle aged woman’s feet while she was sipping on a cocktail. This club really had something for every body that was sexually inclined.

“I only sleep with men and women if I like them and if they offer me enough money. Otherwise I get rented out for dates. There is a huge business for men and women who come here for work or are lonely and just want someone to keep them company. There are some people here that only have sex and don’t like going out on dates. It’s all about personal preference and what you are comfortable with.”

I swallowed the thick lump in my throat and took a deep breath in. “So I could really get paid to just go for dinner? And only men? I’m not a prude but I only like men,”

“Of course. As I said in the club I don’t normally hand out business cards. But you have a natural beauty and innocence about you that I think we need around here. Men will be lining up to take you out,” Crystal announced while my face went a deep shade of pink. I did not see myself as beautiful and I was more of an anti-social hermit rather than innocent.

“I will go talk to my boss and get the employment contracts for you to fill out. But you could start tomorrow night?” She suggested.

“Ok. But just dinner?” I repeated, making myself very clear on my terms. Crystal started laughing loudly and patted my hand.

“I promise no one will be dragging you into a private room unless that is what you want,”

“That will never happen,”

“That is what we all say,” she left hanging between us as she got up and swayed her hips through the crowd to get my paperwork.

Ten minutes later I was climbing into my uber that they had ordered and paid for under the business account and I had my contracts tucked away in my backpack. I wonder who they will have lined up for me to go to dinner with tomorrow night. My mind was blown away that I get brought a nice dinner and get paid to eat it and create conversation with a stranger. It’s like a blind date but I go home with a weeks worth of rent. It wasn’t quite midnight and I was already on my way home to bed. Maybe this could be my answer to my problems and near mental breakdown. I praised myself.

Myfirstclassinthe morning was legal theory and history. I had slept like a dream and actually got to school on time today. I slipped into the grey plastic chair and put my writing pad on the desk in front of me. I stared at the aged man sitting in the black desk chair at the front of the room and noted that I didn’t find this professor attractive at all. His thick framed black glasses and grey beard may be attractive to some but not me. Maybe yesterday was a moment of weakness on my part and when I see professor Cullen next period I wont feel the twinges anymore. But my cheeks reddened at the thought of having to see him again, so I wasn’t counting on that.

The hour passed quickly because I was immersed in my work. I was trying hard to stay on task so I wouldn’t over think tonight. I had nearly grabbed my cell phone and messaged Crystal so many times during the night to quit. Claire and our other university mate Kyan were huddled in the back with me comparing their notes when the entire class got dismissed. We had a lunch break before our next psychology seminar and my stomach was starting to turn in knots. I hoped I could stomach something from the cafeteria.

“You coming to lunch Ken?” Kyan asked me stealing me away from my strained thoughts. I scrunched my nose at him and scowled. He knew how I felt about being called the male barbie. Kyan giggled and started following the steady stream of students out of the classroom.

“Yeah right behind you,” I quietly replied, throwing my books into my bag and trailing behind them. We walked through the busy halls at New York Law University with most students and staff making their way to the cafeteria. We strolled through the threshold into the cosy cafeteria whilst I was listening to Claire and Kyan argue about who had the hottest hook up last night. Sometimes I wondered why they didn’t just get with each other because then it would save them wasting their money going out most nights and trying to find randoms to take home. I followed them through the sea of occupied tables until we got to the front where food was in the warming cabinet.

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