“Do you?” I ask Vivian.
“No, I don’t. I have plenty of male friends, but nothing serious.”
“What do you mean by male friends?” Em asks. “Like friends with benefits?”
Vivian has a smug smirk on her face. “Something like that. I make sure to get what I want, when I want.”
When she says that, I’m instantly reminded of Jace. He said the same thing. I assume Vivian thinks of herself as a queen.
“Must be nice!” Emilie barks out. “I don’t have many guy friends, and none that I’d be willing to have sex with. Adrienne was able to get lucky not too long ago, but for some reason she’s not wanting to have a repeat performance with the guy.”
I shoot Em a warning look, telling her to shut up, but she only shrugs her shoulders.
“Oh? Why wouldn’t you want to be with him again? Was he terrible?” Vivian asks, while flagging down the waiter.
“No, he wasn’t terrible,” I say before Emilie interrupts me.
“He was the best, or so she says. He’s fucking hot as hell, too! Super tall, probably rich, beautiful blue eyes, oozes confidence. Yumm.”
Vivian tilts her head slightly like she’s trying to figure something out. She looks to Shelia who’s looking into her menu, and then back at me.
“Sounds like a catch. Something must be wrong with him if you’re uninterested.”
I try to shrug it off and leave it alone. I don’t really want to talk about how Jace is a man-whore, or how I’m actually considering being one of his many fuck buddies. I don’t know these girls, and don’t really want them knowing my business. Emilie seems to be unaware of my demeanor, because she just keeps talking.
The waiter comes by to take our orders, and refill our drinks. Once he’s gone, Em opens her mouth.
“Adrienne’s not wanting to be with a ‘playboy.’ She actually used air quotes like it wasn’t a true statement and rolled her eyes.
Vivian looks shocked. “Playboy? How do you mean?”
“He’s got lots of chicks on his dick, apparently,” Em answers bluntly.
Shelia chokes on her drink a little, and I try to kick Emilie under the table, but only get the chair.
“I’ve just seen him out and about with different women. That’s all,” I say.
“Hmm. So you were with him sexually, but don’t want to be in a relationship with him because you’ve seen him with other women?” Vivian asks.
I’m not sure if she’s being rude, or genuinely curious.
“I’m just saying that a monogamous relationship with him is something I don’t see happening. If I want anything from him, it will be sex.”
“But you don’t want to have sex with him again?” she asks with a small laugh.
I let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know. I’m not worried about it. Let’s just hurry up and eat and then get out of here.”
Luckily for me, the conversation about Jace ends and we’re able to talk about other things. After we all finish our meals, we go catch a cab and make our way to a club that Vivian had insisted on us going to.
When we arrive, we all slip out of the cab, and Vivian leads us to the front of the line. She speaks with the guy at the door, exchanges a few quiet words, and then with a kiss on the cheek, he lets us all in.
“Have a good time, ladies,” he says as we pass him.
We’re ushered in so quickly that I don’t have time to see what the name of the place is. It’s away from The Strip, and looks like a small, hole-in-the-wall type place. From the outside, I definitely don’t see a chick like Vivian frequenting here, but who knows.
Once I get a look on the inside, my jaw drops. It’s absolutely gorgeous. The room is dimly lit, a few tables around the bar area, which is several steps up from the main floor. There are larger, and more comfortable looking seats scattered along the sides of the walls, and a dance floor in the middle. When I look up I see that there is a balcony overlooking the first level. With it being so dark I can barely make out what’s up there, but I think I see a few doors, so I’m assuming they’re rooms that play different music or something. This is definitely more of a posh type place, and one that is well hidden. I’d never expect it to look so fancy on the inside from what the outside looks like.
Vivian and Shelia are in front of Emilie and me, leading us to a corner section of the room.
“What the fuck? How have we never heard of this place?” Em whispers to me.
“I don’t know. It’s like we’re in a secret club or something.”
“Vivian’s probably a rich bitch.”
I laugh and look up to see that we’ve reached our destination. We’re sitting in a corner booth that has a view of the whole place. The seats are a gorgeous burgundy color and when I slide across the seat, I feel the soft velvety material rub across my legs.
“Wow, this is nice,” I say.
“Yes it is,” Vivian responds.
“How do you know about this place? I’ve never been here before.” Em asks.
“I know the owners and nobody would come here unless they’ve been told about it. It’s not advertised a whole lot.”
I see Em about to ask another question, but a guy steps up to the table.
“Ms. Winters, how are you?” he asks with a charming smile.
“I’m fine, Charles. How are you?” Vivian responds.
“Perfect. Can I get you ladies anything?”
I see Emilie looking the guy up and down, and notice she’s biting on her bottom lip. Oh God, here she goes.
“When you say
anything,
Charles, do you really mean
anything?”
she asks and goes back to biting her lip, giving him her best seductive look.
He glances at the rest of us for a brief second, but then turns his attention on Emilie. He leans down and brings his face closer to hers.
“By asking me for
anything
, are you prepared to handle anything I give you?” His voice is a deep, husky whisper, but his message is definitely loud and clear.
Emilie clears her throat, probably not expecting his response. “Well, that depends on what you have to offer.”
He stands and smiles at her. “Maybe you’ll find out later.” He turns to Vivian. “Vivian, please be sure to find me before you leave.” With a nod and polite smile at us, he turns and walks away.
I lean into Emilie and whisper in her ear. “Holy shit. That guy was pretty hot.”
“I know, right? I’m prepared to do anything he wants. I think my panties are wet,” she whispers as she wiggles in her seat.
We both start laughing. “Oh God, you’re too much,” I say.
“I wouldn’t bother looking into that too much,” Vivian says.
Em and I turn our heads in her directions. “What do you mean?” Em responds sharply.
“I mean you getting excited about Charles. He’s like that with everyone. He’s paid to be that way.”
My eyes narrow. “He’s paid to flirt?”
Vivian laughs and inspects her nails. “No. I mean, he’s an escort.” She cuts her eyes to me, then back at Em.
I turn towards Em, whose eyes are probably as wide as mine. “Escort? Like gigolo, escort? As in gets paid to sleep with women, escort?”
We both look back to Vivian. “Well, they aren’t paid to have sex with anybody. They are paid for their time to hang out with women. Go to parties, go out of town for a weekend, and go to dinner, stuff like that. If sex happens, and that’s a big if, then that’s between them.”
“So I’m sure he’s made a lot of women’s panties wet,” Em says.
“How do you know about the escort business?” I ask Vivian.
She shrugs and looks around the club. “I just know.”
Shelia has her face in her phone, ignoring the whole conversation. I turn back to Emilie.
“That’s crazy, right? I mean an escort? You don’t just hear about these things in everyday life. Who would have thought we’d have met one.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, too. With a job like that, you have to gain lots of experiences and learn new things. Ooh…I’m intrigued,” Em replies, looking around for Charles, I assume.
“Em! You can’t be considering sleeping with him. He sleeps with everybody. That’s kinda gross.”
“Adrienne, let’s talk about this a minute. Number one,” she says as she holds up one finger, “I haven’t had sex in a long time. Number two, you yourself said you think Jace is a player and you’ve seen him out with several people. What if he’s slept with all those women? You slept with him! It’s the same thing. Number three, that guy is hot as hell! Number four, at least with an escort it can be no strings attached, and I’m sure they have to be tested. If you sleep with some random guy from the bar, he could easily be a man slut and have had sex with all kinds of people. And probably doesn’t even get tested regularly! Number…”
“Okay! Stop with the counting. I get it. It’s just weird.”
“So Adrienne, you’ve never had fun with an escort?” Vivian asks with a smile on her face.
“Uh no.”
She tilts her head. “Really? Why don’t you try it out? You might have the time of your life.”
“No thanks. I’m good.”
“Oh that’s right, you have someone you can sleep with, right? What was his name again?”
Shelia finally gets off her phone, and nudges Vivian with her arm. “I gotta go pee. Will you come with me? I don’t know where it is.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Vivian responds.
“What the fuck is up with that chick?” I ask Em.
“Who? Vivian? I don’t know.”
“She just rubs me the wrong way. She seems kind of bitchy. Poor Shelia is like her puppy, and what’s up with her knowing escorts and the escort business?”
“Yeah, she won’t be a close friend of mine anytime soon. She said she came here a lot, so I’m sure when she would visit Vegas, she’d also visit escorts. I don’t know.”
“You think she’s been with Charles? He did come up to the table to say hi to her.”
“Ugh, probably.”
“So, really. Are you okay with sleeping with an escort? He probably charges a shit load!”
“If I flirt enough, and show him I’m interested, maybe he’ll want to sleep with me for free. He doesn’t know I know he’s an escort. He can’t sleep with me and then be like, ‘oh by the way, I’m an escort and you owe me three thousand dollars.’ I don’t think so!”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Are you gonna find Jace?”
I let out a groan. “I don’t know, Em. I told you I don’t know how to get a hold of him besides going to his house. I’m not that much of a creeper.”
“But you want that dick again, don’t you?” she says with a devilish smile.
I can’t help but smile back. “It was soooo good, Em. You have no idea.”
“I know! I want an idea of how any dick feels.”
Shelia and Vivian return with some drinks and all talk of escorts and dicks subside and we enjoy our night. With each drink, Shelia begins opening up a bit more and is actually pretty funny. Vivian isn’t as much of a bitch when she drinks, but she’s definitely sluttier. She dances with any and everybody on the dance floor, grinding her ass on men’s crotches, putting her face in women’s cleavage; it’s entertaining that’s for sure. Em and I dance and ogle some eye candy. We play a game called ‘who do you think’s an escort?’ and laugh the night away. We never see Charles again, which disappoints Emilie a little.
At some point we lose track of Vivian and Shelia. We wander around the place, looking for them, but they seem to have left. It’s late and Em and I want to get home, so Emilie shoots Shelia a text, hoping she’ll see it eventually. We leave the club arm in arm and find a cab. As we’re getting into the back seat, I’m pretty sure I see Jace get out of the cab ahead of us, and enter the club we just came out of. But I’m drunk, and my eyes are tired, so I don’t bother thinking about it.
Come Monday morning it’s back to business as usual. I spent my weekend recovering from my hangover. I had no desire to do anything but lie around in pajamas, eat junk food, and watch movies.
Now I’m back at the office, listening to messages, responding to emails, and getting ready to meet with Mrs. Roberts again. Her daughter’s wedding is this Saturday, so she’s become even crazier. I wonder if they call brides bridezillas, then what do they call the moms of the brides? Momzillas? I’ve only spoken with her daughter a handful of times; she seems to be letting her mom do whatever will make her happy.
The phone on my desk rings. “Hello?”
“Hi, I’m not sure if you’re the person I need to talk to or not, but hopefully you can help me,” the deep but playful voice says on the other end.
“Well, I’m not sure, but I’ll do my best,” I respond.
“Great. I’m looking for somebody to help me with a grand opening of a club.”
“Okay, Mr…”
“Edwards. Sorry.”
“That’s fine. Mr. Edwards, I can definitely see what I can do for you. If you don’t mind, I’ll patch you through to my assistant and she’ll take down any information you have. I have a meeting with a client very soon, otherwise I’d do it.”
“Oh, that’s perfect. Thank you so much, Ms…”
“Miller,” I laugh. “Sorry about that.”
His deep laugh echoes over the phone. “It’s no problem. I look forward to working with you, Ms. Miller. Have a good day.”
“You too. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I patch him through to my assistant, Cindy, and two minutes later Mrs. Roberts walks in.
“Adrienne, dear! Please tell me that everything is going according to plan. I’m about to have a nervous breakdown.”