Succulence (Succulent Trilogy #1) (9 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

The next morning, I rolled over dazed and confused. I realized I was still in bed with the engineer. And not only that, but he and I were spooning. I gulped nervously. I was going to be late to work if I didn’t get out of there. He hadn’t paid for me to spend the night; and I’d never just lost control of myself sexually when I was with a client to begin with.

Again, it wasn’t often that I had sex with clients. But when I usually do, I’m not into it. I’m pretending they’re someone else, because they’re never someone I truly want to sleep with in real life. I’m there for the money, and I’m gone the minute my time is up because my time literally
is
money.

Considering that the last time he wanted a really aggressive and dominant round of head and left after cleaning off his dick without a second thought, I didn’t see this coming. True, I liked the engineer – and his money – but I knew I was paid to do a job, fulfill a fantasy.

How did we end up in bed spooning?

I checked the nightstand. 8:00. I needed to be at work by 8:30.

“Shit!”
I gasped quietly.
“What time did I pass out?”

“We finished after midnight,” a sleepy baritone answered. Without trying to, I had wakened up the engineer. “Well after midnight.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you…”

“You didn’t. I was just laying here basking in the afterglow. I feel it in my legs already. You were awesome.”

“Thanks… I have to get going though. I never stay the night or sleep this long.”

“Me either. I usually leave right after I’m done.”

I scoffed playfully, breaking his embrace and sitting up to face him. “Yeah, we know, sir.”

As I peeled out of bed, I realized that I had two choices: call into work or call and advise them that I’d be late. Even in the grogginess of my first few minutes of consciousness, I knew I’d be feeling great today. It was as if our sex last night banged out all my worries, insecurities and frustrations from the past 24 years of life.

I weighed my options. We had a lot of work to do today at the office, but it wasn’t anything crucial. I’d never taken a day off, and I had
some
vacation time coming up. When you take a half-day, it’s cool, but only when you take the second half off of, not wait until noon to go in.

“Leaving so soon?” he stretched, from the bed.

“Yes, honey,” I said, relaxing into the girlfriend role he paid me so handsomely for. Adjusting my dress and slipping into my heels, I continued, “I have several appointments to make, and I really need to get going.”

He made a pouty face as he looked at me. I made a kissy face and went to the bathroom. After a few minutes of bird bathing, brushing my hair and swishing some mouthwash around, I cleaned off the Dior lipstick that had smudged around and replaced it with my signature baby pink gloss for a casual daytime look. I dreaded doing the walk of shame so late in the morning, but the sooner, the better.

When I emerged, he was sitting at the edge of the bed. Looking at me thoughtfully, he smiled a lazy smile.

“Thanks for last night, honey,” I said warmly. “You were the best.”

“The pleasure’s all mine,” he replied, reaching up to give me a hug and firmly squeezing my ass. “One more squeeze for the road.”

Shaking my head, I giggled. “You’re so naughty, baby. Have a great day at work!”

Picking up my rose, I winked on my way out the door. Once in my car, I checked to make sure I had everything. That’s when I noticed five $100 bills wrapped around a business card. On the card was his name – Justin Grenier – with his business information. On the back, “Until next time…” 

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I ended up making it to work at 9:30, after calling in and explaining I had overslept. Dean took it easy on me, telling me it happens to everyone and to get there when I could. He might have been a closet freak, but he was always awesome with me.

Dean’s wife, Lauren, and their daughter stopped by the office later that day. They were on their way out of town, and Dean was taking them to the airport.

Lauren was gorgeous, tall and stunning like Stacy. Clearly in her late 20s or early 30s, she retired to stay at home and take care of their daughter, who was a spitting image of her mother.

Must be the money,
I thought when I shook hands upon first meeting her. I felt a slight twinge of jealousy thinking about how nice it would be to stay at home while my man took care of me.

Then I remembered the nasty things Dean forced Stacy to do for him and shuddered. Did he request these things from his wife at home? Did Lauren even know about her husband’s twisted desires?

“It’s nice to meet you,” she smiled, genuinely. “Dean told me you do a fabulous job of keeping up with the communications load around here. Where did you attend?”

“Yale,” I blushed. “Thank you.”

Lauren’s statuesque body was hourglass shaped, with large breasts and hips. She was slightly curvier than most white women I’d seen, and her café-au-lait skin had a natural sun-kissed effect. The dark color made her bright blue eyes pop from her exotic features, which included curly black hair, full lips and high cheekbones. I wondered if she was Sicilian or Brazilian.

I didn’t want to be a creep, so I supported my ogling with a compliment. “Your daughter looks just like you. She’s adorable. What’s her name?”

Now it was Lauren’s turn to blush. “Thank you!” she said, kissing her daughter on the cheek. “Her name’s Ariana.”

As we spoke, I noticed Stacy behind us. She was sitting at her desk, pale as a ghost.

“Would you like anything to drink?” I offered Lauren. “We have water? Soda?”

“If you have Sprite, that will be fine,” answered Lauren. “Otherwise water too.”

“Great! Let me check. Stacy, come with me, please? I forget where the machines are.” I broke Stacy from her computer distraction. “We’ll be right back.”

“Are you okay?” I whispered as we stepped onto the elevator. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Well now I have a face to the pussy I’ve been tasting off his dick,” she said sarcastically. She sighed and threw her head back. “She’s fucking gorgeous and she has no clue what kind of freak her husband is. Seeing her in person, meeting her for the first time just shocked and scared me.”

“Be easy then,” I suggested. “You don’t want her to think anything.”

“I’ll try,” she replied, nodding her head. “She’s gorgeous. What does he need me for if she looks like that?”

I shrugged. “Who knows? Men are pigs sometimes.”

“Hehe. Got that right. Thanks for saving me.”

We returned just in time to give Lauren her Sprite and see Dean and his family off. He stated he’d be off for the rest of the day to take his wife to the airport. Stacy and I played up the positivity, telling her that it was nice to meet her and to stop by when she returns.

“Thank you girls!” She cooed. “You ladies are so sweet. I used to work in communications. Perhaps we need to get a girl’s night out going. It’s nice to know the women my husband work with.”

Stacy and I were caught off guard but continued playing up the role, telling her it’d be an awesome idea. Hearing her, Dean’s face whitened a bit. He coughed. “That’s nice honey, but discuss that when you get back. We have to go. Stacy, Amy – see you later.”

****

Later that evening, I called Jared. Though I was still heady from my night of passion with Justin, the high had worn off enough that reality set in to remind me where my heart was. I needed to hear his voice, if only to reinforce the fact that he was who I was falling in love with. Justin was simply for fun and money.

“My annual review is coming up. If all goes well, I’ll get a raise. I’ll also be able to take some of my paid vacation time to come see you also,” I told him.

“That would be nice,” he said. “I need you to come take care of it.”

“Take care of what?”

“My dick. I want it sucked, licked, fucked and ridden from every angle,” he said, unapologetically aggressive.

My heart fluttered and my cheeks grew warm. I didn’t have an immediate comeback. I simply moaned in response.

“Don’t act new. You know what I’m into.”

“I’m not acting new, J,” I said, regaining composure. “It’s just been a minute since I’ve heard you talk like that.”

“Oh, so I need to talk to you like that more? That’s what you’re saying?” he said, playfully. “Cause I can let you know about a whole lot of nasty things that need to be done to make up for lost time.”

“You’re too much.”

“Don’t say that until I’m balls deep in my pussy.”

I cringed when he said that. An anvil of guilt dropped over my heart. Laughing nervously, I told him he was crazy, and then pretended mom was calling me to get off the phone.

“Miss you babe. Mom’s calling. Got to go.”

Upon disconnecting, I lit some candles, placed my Beats by Dre pill on the granite counter, and set my iPhone playlist to a particularly relaxing one. After taking a quick shower and douching, I then started a rose milk salt bath using a mixture I purchased from Etsy. I lit a few vanilla rose candles and placed them at the edge of the tub while I waited for the tub to fill.

Easing myself into the steamy water, I lay back on my bath pillow, adjusted my high bun and thought about Jared, Justin, GemTech and my life in general. I was ready to be a normal woman, one who didn’t experience the highs and lows of escorting. The money was great, but my heart and body were in a relationship.

My heart was faithful to Jared, but my body was shared with men who had paid as much as $35,000 to be with me. Further, these men would continue to be a part of my life until I had planned out my exit strategy. I was on goal for my target, averaging $20,000 to $25,000 per month with my escort work, low months included. My plan was to have my student loan debt paid off before ending my career, but with Jared back in the picture, I’d have to make some adjustments.

Doing the math in my head, I figured I could liquidate $100,000 combined from my accounts and knock the remaining balance to $130,000. This would give me payments of approximately $1400 per month, which I could get lowered to $385 on a modified payment plan if I submitted paperwork showing my income and expenses required it.

I sighed. I’d read on the news that the economy was getting tighter and tighter. Even layoffs had started within GemTech. That scared me, because if it weren’t for all the night work I had been doing, my bills would have added heavier pressure to my soul. It was times like these where I remembered what escorting did for me. It paid bills nobody else could, nor would if given the chance. These days everyone seems to be focused on securing themselves and their family, fearful of the growing concerns about the government and the potential fall of the American dollar.

Sometimes I really hated being a sex worker. It was physically, mentally and emotionally demanding. It transformed your perceptions of men and shattered illusions about how men truly are. I made the most of it, but I was forced to live my fear of relying completely upon my looks and men’s lust for my money.

There were times when it’d really eat at me. I’d leave a client and want to swim in a hot pool of bleach to cleanse myself of the memory and experience burned into my soul and the fibers of my DNA. Other times I cried because even though clients didn’t always come out to say so, I was nothing but a huge cum bucket for hire. I was the sperm receptacle who participated in and performed sexual acts that I usually would love to enjoy for men I rarely felt any attraction or connection to.

Regardless, I was grateful because the truth was escorting was very good to me. I was lucky enough not to have been attacked. Many escorts, desperate for cash, have been vulnerable enough to get beaten, raped and left for dead. Some were even kidnapped, trafficked or killed.

I shuddered. There was a report on the news where a ring in Vegas was recently broken up. Twenty teenagers and women were locked into this sex trafficking ring. It was heartbreaking to learn a few of the teens taken weren’t even reported missing by their parents, who never cared enough to notice they weren’t voluntarily missing.

Indeed, I was lucky. Losing a few thousand to cheap bastards was nothing in comparison to their fates.

Despite it all, I had to say escort work wasn’t as horrific and bothersome as being broke and owing a debt you can’t erase, which was my other alternative. Student loans were nothing like regular credit card debt. Don’t get me wrong, all debt sucks, though Jared would argue about that. Nothing crushed me emotionally and psychologically than not being able to find good-paying work that actually helped put a dent in my student loans. Dealing with the tons of letters and phone calls from creditors like Sallie Mae asking for money I thought I’d never be able to repay made me feel like a highly educated loser.

During this time period, everyone told me to keep my head up, but those words never did much for me when the calls kept coming. Even though I had gotten some forbearances, time was still running out.

Though I groaned in memory of the less respectable moments of my escort career, I relished in the accomplishments my focus afforded. Being an escort paid off a lot of bills. It also put a significant dent into my student loan balance in a way that GemTech wouldn’t, so in spite of all the discomfort, I pushed on. As a result, my credit wasn’t the best, but it had improved greatly since I stopped running up credit cards. Those were now paid in full. I currently had about $56,000 in credit available between various premiere and department store cards, and seeing as I froze them in a block of ice, I planned to keep it that way. I was able to continue spending money for spa treatments, personal training and my wardrobe. And I had sizeable bank accounts that had over $100,000 combined in them.

Inhaling the subtle floral fragrance of the rose petals soothed my troubled spirit as the salts detoxified my soul, pulling the stress from my heart one melting grain at a time. I couldn’t live in secret with my behavior forever, but right now I had to do what I had to do. When it was time, I could see myself moving back home to New Haven, well, the Tri-State area. GemTech had offices in New York. They could find room in there for me, right?

I considered the possibility of moving closer to home. Not only just for Jared, but for my family also. I missed them as much as they missed me, and truth be told, outside of Stacy, it’s not like I was a Dallas socialite. I was a nobody here; just some blonde chick starting from the bottom as a communications employee in a large Fortune 500 company. My position was basic and decently paid, but unglorified.

Once
the day came and I moved home, nobody would know of my secret life here in Texas, and I could leave it all behind with a fresher start back where I belonged.