Nobody's (11 page)

“Yes, beauty,” Thomas said. “Angel certainly possesses that. But our business relationship is more important than anything else and I expect nothing less than the best from her.”

“Indeed,” Anthony said. “Looks and talent. Thomas, you really know how to pick them. I guess that’s why you’ve made so much more money as well. Some guys just have all the luck.”

Dinner continued without any further incidents in regard to my profession. Their interrogation was friendly and Alina and Anthony seemed to genuinely enjoyed my company. For the most part, I sat there and silently ate my food, while I soaked in the atmosphere. I had never been around people like this before. It was a fascinating experience even though it wasn’t one I particularly enjoyed.

I had eaten more than I expected to because I was so nervous. By the time dinner ended, the dress constricted my body more than it had before.

“It has been a lovely evening,” Thomas said as he stood up from the table. “Angel, if you would join me.”

He offered his hand to me and I took it. Just as he was about to lead me away, Anthony interrupted him.

“What? Are you leaving so soon?”

“Anthony, Angel and I have some business to discuss. My schedule is full for the weekend and I’ll need her help to manage it all.”

“But the night is still young, friend. I do believe Angel expressed an interest in dancing.”

“Have you?” Thomas asked me as he looked at me.

“No,” I said, turning my head to the ground out of embarrassment. “I-I was just watching them dance. I was curious, that’s all.”

“Oh, come on, Thomas,” Anthony urged his friend. “You just spent half a billion dollars. If you can afford that then you can afford to waste a little time on the floor.”

“Yeah, go on,” Alina encouraged me. “Just give it a try.”

When I raised my head back up, Thomas was staring back at me with his bright green eyes. I didn’t know what to do or say. I was curious about dancing but I didn’t think it was part of our agreement.

“Would you like to dance, Angel?” he whispered to me.

“My body is yours to do with, Mr. Livingston,” I whispered back.

He stared at me for a few seconds before sharply nodding his head. He then turned and led me onto the edge of the dance floor. Even though it was just a few feet away, I suddenly felt completely different. The slick wood underneath my heels felt slippery and I had to do my best not to fall over. It felt like the entire room was watching me.

“Do you know how to waltz, Angel?”

“No.”

“It’s simple. Just follow my lead. Start with your right foot and alternate between the two. That’s it.”

He placed one hand upon my back. Then he took one of my hands in his other hand.

“Just relax,” he whispered. “I’ll guide you through it.”

He pushed forward and I moved my left foot back. He responded by stepping lightly on my foot. I jerked my foot back and he started to chuckle.

“Your other right foot.”

I tried to regain my composure again as I took the position. With one foot alternating and the next, I did my best not to look foolish. Thomas carried me and whisked me around the ballroom floor. As he did so, I started to become more and more familiar with the steps. He didn’t do anything fancy and I knew that I didn’t look like everybody else who was dancing. But I quickly grew accustomed to his moves and I found myself no longer focusing on trying to guess where next he was going to turn me.

“Very good, Angel,” he said. “You follow very well.”

“You lead very well, Mr. Livingston.”

I locked my eyes upon him. His body pressed up closer to me. Through his tuxedo, I could feel the rigidness of his muscles against me. I found something inside of me making it more difficult for me to breathe.

All of this was causing me to lose my focus on dancing and turn my attention to him. He was so handsome and the way he danced made him even more charming. Physically, I couldn’t ask for anything more and to have him so close to me felt like a prelude of things to come. The way he wrapped his arm around me and led me around the dance floor was like some kind of elegant foreplay. I found myself trying not to let my desire cause me to lose focus.

This was what it was like. He held me in his arms and we danced without a care in the world. I remember just moments ago what it was like watching everybody dance. Now I was with Thomas and we had our own little cloud to glide around the sky with. The eyes that were upon me disappeared. The lights dimmed. We were alone. All I could see was the green in the darkness staring back at me. I was his.

He started to slow down before he finally came to a stop at the edge of the dance floor. The song ended and I found myself no longer in his hypnotic gaze.

“You’ve never danced before?” he asked me.

“Not like this.”

He nodded his head softly then leaned in and kissed me upon the cheek. I closed my eyes but before I could savor our moment, we were interrupted by our dinner guests.

“Well done!” Anthony said, clapping loudly as he walked toward us. “And you said you had no clue what you were doing.”

“You looked great out there, Angel,” Alina said to me.

“Thanks…”

I started to turn my head away in embarrassment, suddenly remembering that Thomas and I weren’t alone.

“Now, Angel, if you’ll do me the honor,” Thomas said as he offered his hand to me. “We have much business to go over.”

“Yes. Business,” Anthony smirked. “I’m sure you’ll get a lot of work done tonight.”

“That’s the plan,” Thomas said to him. “Alina, always a pleasure. Angel, let’s be on our way.”

I waved politely to the couple and made my way out of the grand ballroom with Thomas’s fingers intertwined with mine. As we left, the place looked the same as it did when I first entered.

“You’re just going to leave like that?” I whispered to him. “There are still people here. Isn’t this your party?”

“Yes,” Thomas said. “Don’t worry. Nobody ever notices I’m gone. Besides, tonight is a special night.”

He again kissed me softly on the cheek. Together, we made our way back to his penthouse suite. After my brief experience with his lifestyle, I was more eager to see what else he had planned for me.

Chapter 10

I didn’t know what to expect. I was anxious, nervous. There was an odd feeling swimming around in my stomach full of alcohol and a gourmet meal. Even up to this point, Thomas had kept it a mystery as to what his specific intentions for me were. I only knew that I would be by his side until I got the money we agreed upon.

I could hear music coming from inside of the suite as I cleaned myself up in the bathroom. I made sure that my makeup was perfect and the black dress I had spent so much on was the same. Taking one last look at what Thomas had spent so much money on, I exhaled a deep breath and walked back out to the living room of the penthouse suite.

Thomas was standing next to the large window wall, looking out into the city. His back was turned to me and next to him was a table with a candle burning brightly upon it. The rest of the room was dim with a few sparse candles spread throughout. Most of the illumination came from the fireplace. The flames danced like they had every time I had seen them, the heat emanating from them a familiar feeling upon my skin. My heels clicked across the floor like knocks on a door to let him know that I was here and ready to do whatever he wanted of me.

“I wish it wasn’t so cold,” he said.

“Why’s that?”

“I’d like to open the door to the balcony tonight. The night air is so refreshing, especially when you’re in a stuffy room like this all of the time.”

“A penthouse suite is the last thing I’d call stuffy, Mr. Livingston.”

“When you’ve spent as much time in here as I have, you would understand.”

I moved closer to him. I stood by his side and watched him. His eyes were locked upon the city as he looked down upon it from his self-proclaimed ivory tower. The reflection of the lights burned in the retinas of his green eyes. He stood still and patient, a calm over him that was infectiously peaceful.

“The room is warm,” I said to him. “The fire is burning. You have a coat. Just because the night is cold doesn’t mean you can’t handle it.”

“Perhaps. But what would be the point of going outside if the only way to find comfort is to run back in?”

“That’s quite the conflict, Mr. Livingston. The room is too stuffy, so you can’t stay. But outside it’s too cold, so you can’t leave. Your only option would be to choose the lesser of two evils.”

“That’s one option.”

“There’s another?”

“Yes.”

He turned and looked at me. He started to slowly move around me, pacing back and forth just behind me. Thomas eyeballed me up and down, doing more than just examining me with his eyes.

“You learn,” he said. “You adjust. You adapt to it. You see, this room is only uncomfortable because I’ve grown so accustomed to it. But it was specifically optimized for me. I put every dollar I could to ensuring that. I could say the same for you and the cold of the night.”

“Can you?”

“Indeed. You see, Angel, I know that you’ve worked nights. Cold nights when you didn’t want to be out there. A desperate young woman trying to make a living by revealing herself to the world despite common human sense. It’s a sacrifice you made. You’ve adapted to life in the city, real life in the city, unlike someone who spends most of his time in climate-controlled penthouse suites.”

“That must be why I’m more comfortable in this room than you are, Mr. Livingston.”

“Now you see,” he smirked. “I yearn for what you have. That toughness. That thick skin…”

He moved closer to me and gently trailed a finger down my arm.

“So delicate and yet so strong. You’re like a rose who has grown thorns to protect herself.”

“We all have thorns, Mr. Livingston. It’s just sometimes you’re too focused on the petals to notice them.”

He looked into my eyes and stared at me for a moment. His hand moved slowly up my arm and along my shoulder. I closed my eyes and remembered the feeling. The way he touched me the other night as his hand gripped my throat. The vibrations slowly emanated through the rest of my body as his hand moved around my neck. I tried not to swallow as he lifted his hand up, applying only enough pressure to let me know that he was there.

“Yes, we all have thorns, Angel. And I should warn you that mine are particularly sharper than anyone you’ve ever met.”

“I’ve bleed before. I will bleed again. And I am no worse off because of it.”

“It’s more than just losing blood, Angel. I cut deep. I leave scars.”

“Scars I can handle.”

I opened my eyes again and Thomas was once again staring hard at me. I wanted to ask him what he was getting at but this was his game. We were in his suite and I agreed to do his bidding. He was the one that was in control and I was doing everything I could to accommodate the man that just threatened to cut me.

He sighed and walked away from me, making his way toward the bar. I watched him open a bottle of wine while I stood next to the window wall.

“On the table, you’ll find a contract,” he said to me. “Please review it and look it over. Then we can make our arrangement official.”

“I told you I didn’t need a contract, Mr. Livingston. Your word is enough for me.”

“I know that, Angel. The contract is for me.”

He half-smiled at me as he poured two glasses of wine. I turned my attention to the contract on the table. Underneath the candle light, I saw the single sheet of paper with the text upon it. I inspected the contract closer to see what he was talking about.

There was no legalese about our specific arrangement. There were no dollar amounts. There were no numbers. There was nothing in regards to how long I would need to be in his service. There were only things about what we would do and how they were to be kept private.

“What is this?”

“It’s a non-disclosure agreement.”

“W-why would you need this? Your secret is safe with me.”

“I believe you, Angel. I really do. I suppose it is a bit of a formality. But for my own peace of mind, I’d prefer to have it in writing.”

“But this paper doesn’t mean anything. I could still tell. Would you sue me? I have no money.”

“Angel, when this is all over, you’ll have ten thousand dollars.”

Once again Thomas reiterated that he was serious about paying me the money that I had asked for. He walked over to me with the two glasses of wine in his hand and a grin on his face. He placed a glass on the table next to the contract and looked down at me.

“There are no guarantees in life, Angel. But I will compensate you as I’ve promised.”

I looked up at him as he took a sip of his wine. My eyes narrowed as I stared at him. There was something he wasn’t telling me. He was protecting himself because he didn’t want the truth to get out but what did he want to hide.

“The money isn’t important to you,” I said to him. “But this is. Why? Why must this be a secret?”

Thomas sighed as he placed his glass down next to mine. He paced back over to the window and looked out into the city before he answered my question.

“I have a reputation, Angel. One that must remain intact, otherwise, this, all of this, could be gone in an instant.”

“Is it really that out of the ordinary for a man with your wealth to hire a hooker?”

He jerked his head to me. His eyes widened.

“You think I’m ashamed of you?”

“Well, aren’t you? That’s what I am. I’m a prostitute.”

“No, no, no. That’s not it, Angel. I merely… I’d prefer to keep this a secret… Because…”

He suddenly became flustered for a reason that I didn’t understand. He made his way back to the glass of wine and gulped the rest of it before walking back to the bar to pour himself another glass.

“Mr. Livingston, what would you have me do? What would you expect of me?”

Thomas rested his palms on the bar and held himself up after taking another sip of wine.

“Thorns, Angel. My thorns are hidden beneath this expensive suit, these lavish parties and this luxurious suite. You will see them, Angel. No one else must know. That is why I need this, Angel. And that is what I expect of you. You will bleed. But you will be rich.”