Descent From Grace: A Luxe Novella Book 1.5 (17 page)

Wanting to alleviate his boredom, he kept talking. “He a cool guy?”

Again, her eyes rolled and she made a snarling face into the bathroom mirror.

  “Yeah, I like him.”

His voice got closer. “Ian know him?”

  “Yeah, they’ve met,” she said bucking her foot back to close the bathroom door; she hoped that’d shut him up.
I didn’t. “We all need to get together again. Maybe bring him. What’s his name?”
  “Shaun!” she blurted, then put her hand to her mouth, closing her eyes.
  “Cool.” He laughed at her abruptness. “You gonna be at Ms. B’s party?”
  “Ms. B?”

  “Aurora. Ian’s mom.”
  “Uh, yeah, I think so.”
  “Cool, bring Shaun. We like to know everyone in the fam, ya know? If he’s with you, he’s part of the family.”
Lilith stuck her head out the bathroom door and smiled at him. “K.” Ducking back into the bathroom, she closed the door completely. That shut him up.

On their way out, she tugged on the skirt. “This is short,” she muttered, pulling at it after every step she took.

He looked over at her with a shrug. “Not that short.”
  “Hi there,” a woman called from the condo next door. Lilith looked over and smiled, turning beet red from her slutty attire. “I’m Marie.” The middle-aged woman jogged over in a windbreaker tracksuit.

  “Hi. I’m Lily.”

Marie looked to Tony for his name, assuming they were together.

  “Uh, this is Tony, he’s a friend.” Lilith kept a smile on her face, disguising her humiliation from being dressed like a stripper.

  “I saw you moved in not long ago. I’ve been living here for the past year. It’s so nice.” She looked up then down the street; Lilith nodded. “What do you do?” Marie looked over Lilith’s getup but kept a cordial smile.
  “I’m uh. I’m just sometimes—” She froze and Tony grinned.
  “She’s a model, a very humble model.”
  “Oh!” Marie began to laugh and looked her outfit over again. “Then it’s perfectly comfortable for you to wear this when it’s only sixty degrees out.” She laughed louder. “I tell ya what, if I had the body, I’d do it too. Have a good evening, I’m headed for a jog.”
  “Night.” With embarrassment, Lilith watched her jog off. “God,” she mumbled as Tony opened the door for her, laughing. “It’s not funny.” The encounter made her stomach sick.
Still laughing as he got in, he said, “It was. Always go with you’re a model.”
  “That’s a little farfetched,” she mumbled, and he looked at her in the mirror with raised eyebrows.

  “Not really, Lily.”

Lilith put her hand to her stomach and grabbed her phone. She was nervous about the job and definitely uncomfortable in her clothes. The awkward encounter with her neighbor topped the cake though. Hoping Ian could calm her down, she text him.

MY FREYJA:
I’m nervous. Sick to my stomach

While at dinner with Karen, his phone beeped. The haste he used to pull his phone from his pocket made Karen furrow her brows.

IAN:
Don’t be nervous, it’s only my father

MY FREYJA:
That’s the main problem! I respect your father but Ian he’s a demeaning jerk. This skirt barely covers my butt, I’m just uncomfortable AND had a very stressful introduction to our neighbor.

IAN:
Would you like me to cancel the job baby? It’s not a big deal, it’s only my father. I have no problem ruining his party.

Letting out a chuckle, she already felt better.

MY FREYJA:
No, I’ll be fine. I miss you today

IAN:
You better. I love you

MY FREYJA:
You better.

  “What’s funny?” Karen scowled at his smile.
Putting his phone away, he muttered, “Ashley.”

  “What’s the plan for your mother’s birthday this year? Is it at her house again? I hope not because when we’re in a restaurant setting I’m more comfortable around those people—”

He interrupted her with a simple solution. “Don’t go.”

Thinking he was kidding, she let out a laugh, but when he didn’t so much as crack a smile, she looked at him with a dramatic exasperation.

  “Of course I’m going!” she snapped.

  “Then don’t complain. I’m giving you the option to not go. Yes, I will probably be staying there. You don’t have to. I can get a cab to pick you up when you’re ready—”
  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she gasped, not understanding why he was so lax about her presence at the party. Normally he’d beg her to go with him. “I will be staying with you, Ian.”

He shrugged impassively and lifted his menu.

  “How are things with Lily?”

He could hear the venom in her tone and unsure what she meant, his heart rate picked up.

Without lowering the menu, he placidly responded with, “As far as what?”
  “She was upset the other day and came to you for comfort, I’m just wondering what happened.”
  “You know we aren’t going to discuss that, Karen,” he groused.

  “It’s not work related, so we can discuss it.”
He lowered the menu, trying to subdue his irritation. “It was work related.”
  “She wasn’t on the books that day.”
  “That’s because she hasn’t properly been set up in the system. She was on a last minute job that morning.”
  “Was she raped?” she whispered.
  “Karen,” he sternly snapped with a glare that could burn down a village.

***

  “Lily.” Ed approached her. “Honey, please show Danielle here where the Dom is.” He leaned into her. “And stop tugging on your skirt.”

She smiled politely, then brought the new arrival into the kitchen.

  “Aren’t you uncomfortable?” Danielle tried to hide her malevolence, but it was there.
  “Very,” Lilith huffed, handing her the bottle of champagne. “He doesn’t want more than five glasses on the tray at a time.”
  “That’s stupid, I’ll be back in here every few minutes.”
  “Yep.” Lilith rolled her eyes, then picked up her tray, leaving the kitchen.

She was stopped more than any of the other three girls, none of which were dressed like her; they worked for a caterer, not an escort service.

A short round man with rosy cheeks stopped her. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”
His term of endearment irked her, but she replied with a smile, “Lilith.”

  “What won’t you do?” he quietly asked her.

Playing coy, she questioned him, “What do you mean?”
  “I mean do you go all the way?” Unrelentingly, he stared her in the eyes.
  “No.” She smiled and turned to walk away, but he touched her elbow.

  “I’d like you to meet my son.” He looked to his left, toward a group of men.

Lilith quietly let out a sigh. The excitement she had once felt to build clientele was long gone; she felt bloated, exposed, and stiff in her five-inch heels.

The round man seemed flustered as he waved a man over, calling his name. “Justin.”

When Lilith finally looked at the man whose father had pulled him from a dull conversation, she felt a small flutter in her stomach that started traveling downward. Her eyes went from his deep blue eyes to his full lips. The second Justin approached, the small circle the three of them tightly stood in filled with the intoxicating smell of his cologne, or body wash, or aftershave. She couldn’t figure it out, but it caused an unexpected burning need between her legs.
  “She’s one of Jacks’ girls.”
  “Nice to meet you.” Justin pulled out his flirty smile and looked her over.

  “You too.” She smiled the tamest smile she could muster through the want to bite her lip, then his.

  “Justin attends many functions where he needs a girl by his side. We’ve been waiting for the right one.”
Pulling her attention away from Justin’s mouth, she fixed her eyes on the red-cheeked man.

  “Mr. Jacks has a nice variety of women to choose from.”

With a flustered scoff, the old man blabbered, “You’re one of those women, aren’t you?”
  “Yes. I’m sorry.” Her eyes went to Justin’s. “I am and I’d be more than happy to accompany you to any of your functions.”
  “He’s more worried about my public image than I am.” Justin chortled.
  “What do you do Mr? . . .”
  “Justin. He’s Mr. Borg, I’m Justin.” Justin looked at his uppity father.

  “We’re looking for a cleaner girl,” the old man blubbered, and Justin put his hand to his face to hide his embarrassment of his father more or less calling, quiet possibly the hottest girl he’d ever seen, a diseased whore.
Lilith’s eyebrows rose from insult. “Cleaner?”
  “I know what those girls do at Luxe,” he grumbled like it offended him, yet he would set his son up with one of
those girls
.
  “I assure you, we’re all clean.”
Justin couldn’t take it; he was offended for her. “He means wholesome. He thinks you look like the all American girl. Personally, I think you should be in a magazine I’m flipping through and keep going back to your picture, but he’s old, losing his eyesight.”
  “Will you shut up, boy! This is how you get into the trouble you do. You’re constantly yammering. Close the mouth, open the ears!”

Lilith’s discomfort emanated from her, until Justin stifled a grin while making a playful face like he was in trouble.

To keep from laughing, she quickly asked, “What do you do again?” She wanted to run into the kitchen to get away from the old man.
Grinning, he responded, “I’m a lawyer.”

Ready to make her escape, she smiled and politely said, “Well I’m Lilith and like I said, I would be more than happy to accompany you.”

  “Thank you, Lilith.” He grinned that irresistible smile at her, taking the last glass off her tray.

Shifting foot to foot, the round man muttered, “We’ll be in contact with Jacks.”

  “Enjoy your evening.” She smiled at both of them, lingering on Justin, then headed toward the kitchen.

Walking away, she heard his father ask, “What do you think?”

  “She’s hot.” Justin watched her plump ass in the little skirt.
  “Ohp!” the old man clamored. “Hot! Life’s not about hot, it’s about respect!”
Lilith grinned, walking through the kitchen doors. While in the kitchen, she sat down, but as soon as she started getting too relaxed, she quickly refilled her tray and went back out.

Justin was the youngest man at the party, appearing in his late twenties and she wasn’t sure why he’d be there. That was not where he wanted to be, until meeting her. Since their encounter, she noticed him everywhere she went and he was constantly staring when she looked his way.

She had walked around with one last glass on her tray for fifteen minutes and desperately wished someone would take it so she could go in the back to rest a minute. Finally, a tall, lean, gray haired man took the glass, stopping her.

  “Let’s look you over a minute,” he insisted.

Cocking an eyebrow, she held her tongue from going off on him and stiffened under his gaze. Only standing a few feet away, Justin noticed and it immediately pissed him off. It pissed him off kind of like when his father insinuated she might be diseased.

Spinning his upward pointed finger, the gray haired man asked her, “Could you turn and bend a little?”

Lilith’s lips parted and her eyes went wide; he was observing her like a dog at a dog show. About to object, she saw Ed watching her from across the room; her stomach flipped. Letting out a quiet sigh of defeat, she lowered her hand that held the tray and began to turn, when Justin grabbed her wrist.

Without an ounce of care, he pulled her away from the slimy old man.

  “Ya know.” He grinned at her. “I’m not telling you how to do your job, but maybe if you brought out more than five glasses at a time you wouldn’t have to keep going back and forth so much.” His smirking lips were taunting.
With grateful relief, she breathed, “Thank you.”

  “For?” He played dumb.

  “Oh,” she stammered. “I thought. Were you just? I thought—”
Laughing, he dropped his head unable to take how incredibly cute she was. “You’re welcome.” His eyes locked on hers and the smile he wore wasn’t flirty or charming, it was genuine.

With an unstoppable grin and blushing cheeks, she looked away, saying, “And this isn’t my job. I’m just doing what I’m told.”

  “Ahh.” He chuckled with a nod. “One of those. So you’re one of Ian’s new girls?”

  “I am.” Hearing Ian’s name, she suddenly felt guilty for being attracted to him. “This is my second week.”
  “How you liking it?”
  “It’s fine. I enjoy people’s company.”
  “Like mine?” He pulled his flirty smile back out.
  “I think I would. It helps when your client is attractive too.” She flashed him a seductive smile and eye, then said, “Excuse me,” and walked away, noticing Ed was still staring at her.

Justin watched her until she was in the kitchen. Finding his father, he pulled the round man away from a group while he was mid-sentence.