Breaking Into the Business (23 page)

“Yes,”
I said. “At least until I can talk to your Aunt Pam and make sure it’s okay if
you stay with her for a few days.”

Both
kids groaned simultaneously.

“I
don’t want to go to Aunt Pam’s,” Jake said.

“It
will be nice for you to spend some time with your cousins.”

“They’re
okay,” Mallory said. “But Aunt Pam is not the nicest person.”

I
chuckled. “She’s always been like that. Seriously, it won’t be that long, and I
promise to come to get you as soon as this all blows over.”

“Why
don’t you come with us?” Jake asked. “What if something bad happens to you?”

“It
won’t. I have the guys here to protect me. I’ll feel a lot better knowing you
two are safe and out of harm’s way.”

“So
who is this guy who is demanding money?” Jake asked.

“I
have no idea.”

“So
you don’t know why he assumes you owe him money?”

“I
really don’t,” I said.

“It’s
probably something to do with Dad,” Jake said softly.

“Maybe,
but how would we know? He never told me anything about our finances. It took me
weeks after he left to track down all of our accounts and our money.”

“Dad
was an asshole,” Mallory said.

“Yes,
your dad was and probably still is an asshole, but we have to figure this out.
This may not have anything to do with him.”

“I
don’t see why you won’t come with us,” Jake said.

“I’ve
already told you. I have to straighten this out.”

“What
did the police say?” Mallory asked.

“I
haven’t called them.”

“Mom,”
Jake said in a chastising tone. “Call them. They might be able to help.”

“I
doubt it. They would only file a report. That would just take time and might
incite the stranger to do us harm. The police will only act if something is
actually happening.”

“But,
Mom, he’s threatening you. Surely they can do something about that.”

“I
would rather try to handle it on my own.”

“I
don’t agree,” Jake said. “I don’t like the fact that you’re going to be here
alone.”

“I
will have Greg and the guys. I’ll be safe. I promise.”

The
guys had already switched shifts before I got back downstairs. Since Greg had
already claimed the first guest room, I set Derrick and Ben up in the other one
downstairs. I offered to get an air mattress out of the garage for Mike. He
settled for taking the couch instead. The linen closet had a wealth of blankets
and pillows, and I removed some from the stockpile so that Mike and Ray could
each have one of the two sofas.

They
took turns walking around the house outside, inspecting every square inch. Mike
even went so far as to drive around the neighborhood for a while in hopes of
getting lucky and finding the silver sedan.

Greg
and Derrick went through every room of the house to make sure that the windows
were sufficiently secured. I accompanied them when they went into the kid’s rooms.

Once
all of that was seen to, I decided to call my sister. She would definitely be
in bed, since she was on the same schedule that she had been on for the past
fifteen years. But this was something that warranted waking her up and inviting
her wrath.

I
dialed her number on my cell and had to wait about six rings before she
answered.

“Lana,”
she growled sleepily into the phone.

“Hey,
Pam,” I said. “I need to talk to you.”

“You
realize it’s late, don’t you?”

“It’s
ten o’clock,” Lana said. “Even my kids aren’t in bed yet.”

“Don’t
question my routine and I won’t call attention to any of your questionable
parenting habits.”

There
it was. She always had that way of presenting her thinly veiled judgments.
Hell, half the time, she didn’t even bother with a veil at all.

“I
really need a favor from you,” I said. “Can you meet me for lunch tomorrow? We
really have to talk and I’d rather do this in person.”

“What’s
wrong?” she asked.

One
would have expected a sibling to be concerned, but Pam wasn’t like that. I
would have gotten a more appropriate response from one of my two brothers, but
if I called them, they would insist on helping in their own way. I wagered that
if I called either of them, they would be over here as soon as they could.

“I
can’t get into it tonight. Can you please meet me for lunch tomorrow?”

“I
guess. Where?”

“Let’s
meet at the salad place on 15
^th
and Main,” I suggested.

“On
another diet?”

“I
don’t need to diet.”

“Of
course, you don’t,” she said wryly. “You never diet, but even if you did, you
would never admit it.”

“Thank
you for meeting me tomorrow. Also, please don’t breathe a word of this to James
or Ryan. It’s probably not a good idea to tell Mom or Dad either.”

“I
won’t say anything. Now let me off the phone now so that I can go back to
sleep. I’ll already have trouble waking up tomorrow morning as it is.”

“Sorry
to call you so late.”

“Whatever,”
she said.

The
line went dead. I rolled my eyes and set the phone down.

I
checked my watch and saw that it was a few minutes past ten. If everything went
as it should, Ray should be getting back soon. I was anxious to see how his
first client went. In spite of all the shenanigans going on lately, I still had
to get my business off the ground so that I could bring in some money.

“Was
that your sister?” Greg asked as he walked in the room.

“Yes,”
I said.

“Did
it go okay?”

“She
agreed to meet me for lunch tomorrow. That’s the most I can ask right now. I’ll
just have to figure out a way to convince her to take the kids for a few days.”

“I’m
sure she will.”

“Let’s
hope.”

He
plopped down on the couch next to me. “So I’m thinking later tonight, after my
watch shift, I can come to your room.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“We
have talked about this so much, Greg. We can’t do this, especially with the
other guys in the house. They’ll think I’m playing favorites with the
appointments.”

“What
about Derrick?”

“What
about him?”

“Are
you going to ask him to come into your room tonight?”

“Absolutely
not.”

“If
you had to pick one of us, which one would you pick?”

“Neither
of you. Why?”

“Because
I know that you slept with him.”

“What
makes you think that?”

“For
starters, when I just made the accusation, you didn’t deny it. Your first
reaction was to ask me how I reasoned that out. The other reason I know you did
was how he acted towards you tonight. I saw him cut his eyes at you when he
mentioned sleeping with some of his pool cleaning customers.”

“Okay,
so maybe I slept with him,” I admitted. I folded my arms and stared at Greg.
“Is that a problem?”

“Not
at all,” he said. “Like you’ve said, we’re only friends. Plus, I go out
sleeping with other women all of the time, so how could I be upset about you
sleeping with another man.”

“So
you’re not upset at all?”

“Well,
I would like to know who was better.”

I
smiled. “He was great, but you were amazing.”

“So
that means I was better?”

“Are
you competitive?”

Greg
smiled. “With every fiber of my being.”

“I
don’t want to answer this question. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Whatever,”
he laughed.

The
front door opened and Ray strutted through. His swagger that he always had was
a little more pronounced tonight. The smile on his face stretched from ear to
ear.

I
stood up and motioned for him and Greg to follow me to the back patio where
Mike and Derrick were. We all took a seat in our little circle, which had
become, by default, our conference table.

“How’d
it go?” I asked, although I could already deduce the answer.

“That
was the most awesome night of my life,” he said, throwing one of his fists in
the air.

“So
the client enjoyed it?” Greg asked.

“Oh,
she enjoyed it alright,” Ray nodded. “And so did I.”

“That’s
great when you have those cases where you are able to get enjoyment out of it,”
Greg said. “But remember that they won’t all be like that.”

“Hey,
Lana,” Ray turned to me. “Do you keep client’s phone numbers on file?”

“Why?”
I asked.

“I
wanted to call her again,” he said. “We really had this connection and I think
there might be something there.”

“Absolutely
not,” Greg answered before I could. “Remember that the relationship between the
escort and the client must remain professional at all times. Under no
circumstances should that evolve into a personal relationship.”

“Why
not?” Ray asked. “What if she’s cool?”

Greg
cleared his throat and leaned forward. “There are two ways that this ends and I
am firm on this. The first and most likely is that you will freak the client
out by calling her. This business is a one-way street on communication. They
call us and we deliver. That’s it. We don’t pick up the phone and call them
back for any reason whatsoever. The other way this could end is that you find
out she really is interested in you as well. The two of you start dating and
then you are out of this game. There are extremely few women on planet Earth
who are okay with their boyfriend or husband in this profession.”

“But
she’s cool,” Ray said. “I think we could make this work.”

“Why
are you set on this?” I asked him. “What about her makes you willing to risk
this?”

“She
was really into me,” he said. “I’m not trying to be down about myself or
anything, but I don’t find many women who are really into big guys like me.
When I took my shirt off, she got so excited, and all during sex, she was
playing with my stomach. Most of the time, women ask me to leave my shirt on or
turn off the lights. This wasn’t like that.”

“Let
me break this down for you in a nice way,” Greg said. “Ray, she had a sexual
fantasy and wanted to fulfill that fantasy. If she wanted to be with a big guy
all of the time, then she wouldn’t have called us. That’s the thing about this
profession. It’s not a dating business, so they’re not calling to find a new
husband. Most of them understand that this is a finite event that occurs. If
she liked it enough to want to do it again, she will call and book you again.
Then she will be a regular for you. But you have to make sure that you don’t
get emotionally attached to every client you meet.”

“I
see your point,” Ray shrugged. “I guess I do get attached a little too easily.”

“It’s
not a problem,” Greg said. “It happens to all of us and will probably happen to
the others as well. Just get it in check early on and it will make this job
much easier. Once you’ve mastered your own mind, this will be a piece of cake.”

I
watched Greg as he talked; trying to sift through his words to see how much of
it he actually bought himself or adhered to. Because if I looked at my
situation from his eyes, he had once thought of me as a client, and I got the
feeling he had developed something more than professional feelings for me.

However,
like he said before, you can’t let the emotional crap get in the way of the
business.

Chapter Twenty-One

It was
well into the night before I managed to get any sleep. The guys set up an
hourly rotation to protect and patrol around the house, so that the ones who were
not on guard could get sleep.

I
wasn’t clear on why exactly the guys were going to such great lengths to help.
I counted them as friends, and I knew they considered me a friend as well. However,
what they had agreed to take on went so much further than a standard friendship
would require.

I
could only theorize why they were assisting. My best guess was that before I
came along, they were just plodding along through life, and I had offered them
something else. Each of the guys was either in jobs they didn’t care for or
were having financial difficulties. Ben and Derrick both had educational
aspirations, but those were endangered due to issues with money. My proposed
arrangement would offer them to blow through those hurdles.

My
pillow was soft beneath my head, and in any other situation, sleep would have
come instantly. I was so tired that my eyes began to water, and my head spun.
But there was so much going on in my mind that it was hard for me to fall into
slumber.