The Beginning (13 page)

Jonathan kisses me on the lips and I can taste the musky sweetness of myself. “Go back to sleep,” he whispers and I feel the covers coming over me, I turn on my side and fall back to sleep with a smile on my face. Yes, I will wait.

The bright sun wakes me up, and I am alone, covered with a duvet and a soft pillow under my head. I look up at the clock and see it’s eleven eighteen. I can’t believe how well I slept. I get up, grab my pants from the floor and go looking for Jonathan. I find him standing at the big picture window over looking the top of the trees of Central Park, he is on the phone. Quietly I walk over to the dining room table, which has been transformed since our dinner last night. All of the dinner dishes are now replaced with a full breakfast spread. I pour some coffee and walk over to the window next to him. Jonathan grabs me by my waist, pulls me in front of him, and keeps talking. He places one arm around my waist, and we stand there staring over the park.

“Yes, fifteen minutes, all of them, yes, yes, ok, talk to you in fifteen.”

He hangs up, puts the phone in his pocket, and put his other arm around me.

“Hi,”

“Hey,”

“You slept like a rock. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“No, I don’t think so, but I did have this amazing dream this morning. It made me feel great. I wish I could dream like that every morning” I smile at him as if we have a secret.

“Maybe you will have that dream again, if you are a good girl.” He returns my secret look “I ordered breakfast, but if it’s cold we can order again.”

“No I am ok. I’d rather stand here and look at this stunning view. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it last night.”

“Well, last night was out of the ordinary.”

“Did you go running this morning?”

“I did not, I didn’t want to leave you here alone. I’ll go later.”

I hear his phone ring in his pocket; it is a Maroon 5 song.

“Ellis. Ok she’s right here.” He hands me the phone.

“Someone wants to talk to you.” I am confused, but take it.

“Hello?”

“Yes ma’am I am Dean Anderson in charge of Fraternities and Sororities and I just want to apologize for my boys behavior last night. What they did was appalling and disgusting and I want you to know that they are suspended and this incident has gone on their college record. I know this is never going to be enough, but I just wanted you to know what I have done on my end.”

“Oh well, ok, thanks.” I am shocked but don’t know what to say either. I just want to forget all about it and put it behind me.

“Well thank you Miss for being so calm about it. I have someone here that wants to speak to you,” I then hear a shuffling noise  and then a different voice.

“Ma’am yes ma’am I just wanted to apologize for my behavior last night and let you know that I am ashamed of myself and have no excuse.” This goes on for ten minutes as several boys take their turn apologizing to me. I move to the couch, just sit, and listen. When they are all done, the Dean gets back on the line and tells me that my tip was messengered over to the club. I thank him and I hang up. How the fuck did that happen?

Jonathan is sitting at his computer, and I walk over, and stand next to him.

“Did you do this?” I ask him.

“Let’s just say that I let the school know this morning that this kind of thing looks really bad in the papers. Then they decided what to do next.” My hero. I sit on his lap, kiss his face, and wrap my arms around him.

“Now, I have something for you.” He takes my hand and leads over to the window ledge where I see many small boxes. “Take your pick.”

I pick one up and see it’s a phone. They are all phones. “I didn’t know what you would like so I had the guys in the office send over different ones to choose from.”

Wow, so cool. I’d love a new phone. Now he can call me and let me know when he is coming to town.

“What kind do you have?” I ask.

“I use two, the iPhone 6 plus and the Porsche Blackberry.”

“Are those here?”

“The blackberry no, but there is an iPhone 6 and 6 plus”

I look them all over, and decide on a gold iPhone 6 plus. I love the big screen.

“Thank you” and I walk over and kiss him lovingly on the lips.

“Your welcome kitten. I’ll have it activated this morning for you.”

“How much will it cost? I mean monthly. Who do I pay?”

“I’ll put it on my account and you can pay me in table dances.”

“Yeah! I can afford that.”

“Good now, I have to work, I am sorry to say, but you can do whatever you want. What do you want to do today?”

I am happy that he wants me to stay. I think for a minute. “I want to take a bath in that incredible tub and then I want to play on my new phone.” I give him a sheepish grin to see if he agrees.

“Done.” He decides.

I walk over and give him a kiss on the cheek and head for the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, I see my Ritz Carlton bag from Barbara and rummage through it for clean clothes. The bathroom has been cleaned up with the towels and soaps refreshed. I start the bath and pour in all of bubble bath and oils that I see. In a moment, there is a knock on the door. “You hoo! Lenox, can I come in?” It’s Barbara.

“Sure, come on in.”

“Hello dear, how are you this morning? I brought you a few things. First off, I have a nice large café mocha for you that I just brewed downstairs.” Yum! “Second, I have some more yoga pants, and undergarments for you. I’m going to take these dirty clothes and have them laundered. Now, do you need anything else?”

“No, I’m great and thank you for everything Barbara.”

“My pleasure dear, enjoy your bath and you know where to find me,” she closes the door behind her. I could stay here forever I thought. What is this? Are we dating? Are we together? A couple? I really don’t know, I mean this is unlike any relationship I have ever known. The kindness Jonathan has shown me changes the game for me, if he wanted me to; I know I would move to California for him. I have no reason to stay here in New York. I can quit my job, get one out there, doing something else, not stripping, maybe working in a coffee shop or bookstore while I figure out what I want to do with my life. Unbelievable, all this in a week, my life has been transformed.

I hear the doorbell again, I’ll bet it’s Barbara with more goodies for me. “I’ll get it,” I yell out. When I open the door to the suite, I come face to face with a tall, pretty, brunette dressed as if she is going to a fashion show. She looks very elegant, very rich, and very matchy-matchy. She swooshes past me in a cloud of expensive perfume and her heels click on the marble floor. “Hello?” I say as I have no idea who she is, she has not said a word to me, and acts like she owns the place.

She pulls her large black designer sunglasses off her face and peers down at me. “I’m looking for my husband.”

“I’m sorry but you have the wrong room.” I move to open the door back up for her to walk out.

“I don’t think so, the front desk told me it was this one. Are you an intern?”

“What?” I have no idea what she is talking about, and just then Jonathan comes around the corner, “Lenox was someone at the…” and when he see her he stops talking.

“There he is. Hello dear. Surprise” and she throws her hands up in a mock surprise gesture, and walks over to kiss his cheek. Jonathan looks like he has been sucker punched.

Husband? Oh fuck.

“So,” she continues, “Is this another one of your college interns that think you are a God for the code you wrote that changed the world or whatever it does?” This is a dig at him, and degrading to me. She looks at both us and then continues. “Aren’t you going to introduce us? NO? Ok then, hello intern I am his wife Alisha, and you are?”

I am stuck to the floor and my mouth is so dry I cannot move my lips together to speak.

Jonathan does it for me, “Alisha this is Lenox, Lenox this is,” and he takes a moment and looks away from me as he continues, “this is my wife Alisha.”

“Can I get a diet coke,” she is asking but really telling me. The three of us are standing in a triangle and nobody is moving, except for Alisha who is tapping her foot waiting for the diet coke. Jonathan won’t look at me, and isn’t saying a word. I don’t know if I want him to stay silent or explain. I have to settle for silence since he isn’t looking at me, or uttering a thing.

“I’ll be right back.” I have to get out of here. I walk into the living room, holy fuck, now what, I grab my workbag, and a diet coke from the mini bar. I head back to the entryway, “Here you go,” and shove the can of soda at Alisha, and keep going. Without looking behind me, I yell out, “See you later Mr. Ellis.” As I walk out the door.

Quickly I make it to the elevator and not until I am inside do I realize I have been holding my breath, I let it out. Then it creeps back in quickly, I push it out and the whole process repeats. I am hyperventilating. Soon I am sobbing. The tears are in big blubbering howls that shake my body and rack my soul. I am bent over crying so hard that I think I am going to be sick. I notice that I am not wearing any shoes, and I could care less. Thankfully, nobody else comes on with me. Once I hit the lobby, I scamper over to the bathroom and fall into the handicapped stall. I sit on the floor, and hold on to the assistance bars and squeeze them hard to try to stay sane, taking deep breaths and going over and over what just happened to me in my head. Wife. Married. It’s over. I thought something was starting and in two minutes it’s ended in the worst possible way. I am not angry, I hurt, desperately hurt. Distraught and devastated. I have to get out of here. I grab my workbag, pull out my Sperry’s, and leave the Ritz from the side door. I walk the entire way home. When I get there, I feed the kitty, take a long hot shower that I cry all the way through and crawl under the covers to weep and mourn.

I must have fallen asleep, as knocking on the door awakens me. Oh my god it’s him, it has to be Jonathan. He is here, my hero, to save me from this misery and tell me it was all a mistake, and that we will be together and everything is going to be ok. I throw on my robe and run to the door, I grab the handle and fling it open, excited to see him and instead of Jonathan, I see Marcus standing there. I feel my face plunge to the floor in disappointment. He knows how I feel as it’s written all over my face.

“Sorry Miss, I was asked to bring this to you,” and he hands me the Ritz Carlton bag that Barbara had put together for me.

“Thanks,” I mumble inaudibly. I take the bag, and since we have nothing to say to each other, he retreats and I close the door. I drop it on the couch and go back to bed.

When I wake up it is dark outside. I haven’t even spoken to work and I didn’t show up. I don’t care. I feed the cat, and order Chinese food. It is 10:30 and I slept all day, my eyes and face are red and puffy from crying. While I am waiting for the food, I pour a glass of wine, sit in the dark, and wait. Sitting in the dark, I keep hearing a buzzing sound. Buzz. Buzzz. Buzz. Then it stops. Two minutes later, it starts up again. It is driving me crazy so I start looking for the source. In the silence, it is easy to locate. It is coming from the Ritz Carlton bag. I take everything out and on the bottom, I see the gold iPhone plus I had picked out earlier. It lights up and starts to buzz. When I pick it up, I see a text on the lock screen. It says “passcode is 1674”. What does that mean? I press the main button and it prompts for the passcode, I type in 1674 and it unlocks. There is a little red number one in the green envelope that tells me I have a text message. I open it up and it says it’s from Jonathan. It only says one word. Sorry. Yeah, I’ll bet. I start to cry again. I check the contacts and there are two listed Jonathans and the club. I decide to call work.

The manager answers,

“Hi its Lenox.” It’s all I can say without crying.

“Lenox my dear, I, we are all so sorry about last night. It was completely out of hand. I have no excuse, I just hope you can forgive me, us.” Then he is silent. I can hear music in the background.

I can hear in his voice that he feels terribly.

“What happened? Where was my security?” I ask.

“We had a guy come in that one of the girls has a restraining order against, she started screaming, and the guys just heard it in their headset and reacted. They both should not have left, trust me they feel horrible. In fact, they brought you really nice flowers tonight, but nobody knows where you live, so I have them for you. I also have a fat envelope of cash in the safe from those frat guys. Again everyone was so worried about you.”

“I’m ok. I just need a few days off.”

“Take all the time you need, just come back when you are ready to work.”

“Ok, thanks.” I hang up and eat my Chinese food in the dark. I drink two more glasses of wine and fall asleep crying on the couch.

Saturday

When I wake up I decide to go to the club and get my flowers and my money. The club opens at noon, so I hang out in the coffee shop on the corner and try to eat. I order food but I am not hungry. When I see the doors open I walk in, it is empty, but the day manager is here. I walk over and introduce myself and he is very nice. The security guards bought me a huge beautiful bouquet. He looks in the safe and hands me an envelope and it is thick. Since I feel safe in here, I open it up. There are fifty one hundred dollar bills. I never expected five thousand dollars. I could do a lot with this money, but then I get a brilliant idea.