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  After I dried myself, tying the towel around my waist, I grabbed my cell phone and found Stacia in my contacts.

  “You know it’s seven o’clock on a Saturday, right?” she answered.

  “I need your help with something.”

  I heard her yawn. “Does this have to do with a certain sexy, dark-haired woman with an ass every woman in Chicago is envious of?"

  I bowed my head like a little boy in confessional. “Yes.”

  I could nearly hear her rolling her eyes. "Chris, you understand she's an escort, right? They're probably trained to get you to fall in love with them."

  "If you don't want to help me …"

  "Shut up," she said. "You know I'll help you. There's nothing I enjoy more than watching a person who always gets everything they ever wanted finally crash and burn."

  "You always say such loving things to me."

  "I'll be over at your apartment in twenty minutes. Start brewing some coffee."

  Chapter 6

  Sarah

  “It went fine,” I said. Linc picked at a scab on his face as we sat in his cramped office. His office was significantly less professional than the front of his business. His desk was a wooden table. He sat in a swivel chair while I sat on a stool.

  “Come on. I need a full report, Sarah.” He leaned back in his chair, interlocking his fingers behind his head. "Tell me everything from the moment you arrived."

  I sighed. “I arrived at the hotel. He was standing outside. We walked in together.”

  “Did you kiss?”

  “What?”

  “Did you kiss when you saw each other?”

  “No.”

  “When did you kiss?”

  “We didn’t.” I bristled. “Anyway, I acted like his girlfriend. I met his co-workers. We drank. At one point, we danced together.”

  “Grinding?”

  “No. Slow dancing. It was Christmas music,” I said. “And he decided we’d stayed long enough after two and a half hours, so he called me a cab, and I left.”

  He stared at me. I knew he was concocting a thousand scenarios in his head, most of them ending with me naked. One of the girls who used to work here—the idea of having Linc as a past employer was a fantasy I could barely fathom—and dated Linc said that he would roleplay the dates the girls would go on. But a lot of the other girls slept with their dates, so for me, Linc would have to dream up scenarios, and from the lust in his eyes, I know he did.

  He ran his hand over his crotch, squeezing it for a second. “You know, if you slept with these guys, we could put on a surprise fee. Maybe not with this guy since he paid cash, but for anyone with a credit card. I mean, what are they going to do? Tell the police the escort they fucked charged more than they agreed on? It will be an easy way to help pay off your debt.”

  “I’m not going to sleep with any clients,” I said.

  He leaned forward, his chair making a loud snapping noise as it did. “That’s good. I like that about you. I don’t like to share.”

  “You didn’t seem to mind sharing with Mandy.”

  He shrugged. “Mandy never meant anything to me. We’ve known each other for what? Seven years? Lucky number seven. That's longer than I ever knew Mandy. I remember the day I saw you, a newly minted twenty-one-year-old, a college dropout with daddy issues."

  “I was a twenty-one-year-old who wanted nothing to do with you,” I said.

  “Oh, come on, Sarah, you don’t have to lie to me now. You know you love all of this. The game. The long tease. That’s why you won’t fuck any of these other guys, isn’t it? All you want is me. You want me crazy for you, and it's working.”

  He put his hand on my knee. I put my hand over his hand and slowly lifted it away from me. He smirked.

  “One day, you’ll give up this game, and we’ll have a great time together. It will be the most epic night of your life.”

  “One day, you’ll get a hint,” I said, standing up. I turned toward the door. He lurched forward grabbing my arm. I looked back at him, feeling how tight his grip on my arm was. He rarely became truly angry, but when he was, it was best to get as far away from him as possible.

  “Remember,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m the only thing keeping some very bad people from tearing down your door and having their way with you. You better treat me with some respect, or I’ll tell those people you aren’t agreeing to their terms.”

  I carefully pulled my arm out of his grip and nodded.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to sound disrespectful."

  “You have another date tomorrow with a guy named James Richter. His girlfriend broke up with him. He says he wants to fake a date to post on social media to make her jealous. You’re meeting him at six at The Oval Connection.”

  “Fine,” I said. “I’ll be there. But I’ve got to go now. I told Melody I’d go see her.”

  He released my arm. "Then leave."

  I opened the office door, stepped out, and closed it behind me. I left the Linc Platinum Company building as fast as I could. I didn't slow down until I was a block away. I wasn’t even certain these bad people were real, but I wasn’t going to test it.

  I walked the four blocks to my house, trying to ignore all the shops decorated for Christmas and the kids making snowballs only to watch them turn to powder as they threw them.

  Christmas was all a lie created to sell products. It made me even madder now than I had been yesterday. Why fool kids into thinking good behavior will be rewarded and bad behavior will get them punished? It was all a lie based on a falsehood based on fiction.

  When I got back to my apartment, my recording machine was beeping. The number two flashed on the screen. I pressed play.

  "The following message was from Saturday, 10:36 a.m."

  “Hey, Sarah,” Melody’s voice said. “How was the date? You usually text afterward, and you haven’t answered my texts, so I was a bit concerned. Call me or text me soon! Merry Christmas! I guess it's not actually Christmas yet. Merry almost Christmas!”

  I grabbed my cell phone and started typing a text to Melody to tell her I was fine.

  "The following message was from Saturday, 11:02 a.m.."

  “Hey. This is Chris. From last night.”

  I stopped texting and set down my phone, my heart beating harder. There was no way Linc gave him my home phone number. Not only would it be dangerous for me, but he would be too jealous to even think about doing it.

  “I thought last night was amazing, and I was hoping we could see each other again—just not as a business transaction. If you're interested, you should call me back sometime.” He left his number before the message ended.

  His voice was so deep and sensual, I replayed the message. It made me feel hot all over again. I wouldn’t call him back. Definitely not. For all I knew, he was a psychopath who got a new escort every night, and Linc would freak out if he ever found out. But I could keep his message. I could play it over and over again until my life didn’t feel as empty as it did.

  Chapter 7

  Christopher

  I completed my seventy-fifth push-up as Stacia tapped away on her laptop. I wasn’t watching her, but I could hear her fingers flying over the keyboard so quickly, it sounded like one monotone note with an occasional half-second pause. It was nice having her here in my apartment that was usually eerily silent, but it was nowhere near as good as it had been having Sarah here.

  I would owe her a lot for this, and she knew it. I figured maybe I could buy her and Maggie’s kid one of those AI robot dogs or something. Not the cheap ones, but one of the ones that could practically outperform a real dog.

  “Found her address,” Stacia said, lifting her hands off the keyboard and cracking her fingers as I stood up. I looked over her shoulder.

  “It’s on the poorer side of Chicago.”

  “Did you expect her to live a life better than you?”

  “Well, she wasn’t exactly cheap. She definitely earned more than I do an hour,�
� I said. “Maybe she only works a couple jobs a week or something.”

  “You always say such charming things. It’s a wonder she hasn’t called you back.”

  “She must be busy,” I snapped. I got back on the floor and started doing push-ups again. Stacia sipped from her coffee mug.

  “What are you going to do now that you know where she lives?”

  I held a plank position. “What do you mean? I’m going to go see her.”

  She laughed, setting down the mug. “Okay. Sure. At what time do you want me to bail you out of jail after she calls the police on you for stalking her?”

  I rolled over to sit on my ass. She was right. She was seeing a lot more clearly than me right now.

  “Okay. I’ll send over some flowers.”

  “They won’t be cheap during the winter.”

  “I don’t care.”

  She let out a low whistle, turning back to her laptop. “Okey-doke. You do whatever your dick desires. As for me, I'm going to keep digging here. This man’s information is fascinating.”

  “Linc’s?”

  “Yeah. There was a lot of information about lawyers in here, especially letters from lawyers being represented by other people. From some of the saved letters, it sounds like there were two allegations of various crimes against him by two women. One woman was Danielle Stoker. She stated she didn’t want to be an escort, but Linc threatened her life. The letter alleges that Linc Johansson pretended to be her boyfriend for a few months, got her addicted to drugs, and then let her debt grow for the cocaine she was addicted to. He told her he received the drugs from a local gang called the Ouroboros and if she didn’t work for him to pay off the debt, they would go after her. She only left because she was certain she had paid off her debt after getting clean, but Mr. Johansson had told her she hadn’t. So, she went to the police. The other woman, Natalie Carrio, has a similar claim, but there's no gang involved. Linc got her to work for him and essentially paid her with cocaine.”

  I stood up, looking over her shoulder again to peer at the letter sent by Danielle Stoker’s lawyer.

  "Why the fuck does this guy still have a business then?"

  "There's no proof of the allegations," she said. "I guess the police looked into it, and they found out the girls were being paid to be legal escorts. From some emails I found between Linc and his lawyers, it sounds like the girls were paid a low percentage of what they earned, but the police didn't think that was worth any further investigation. One of them is a drug addict and the other is a former drug addict, so I suspect both the police and the lawyers didn't think they had much of a case. It does sound like the police are still suspicious of Linc though. The lawyer is essentially telling Linc to keep a low profile and avoid doing anything illegal."

  "Linc doesn't seem like the type to listen to that advice."

  "Yeah, I don't think he would either."

  “Do you think this is why Sarah is doing it? She didn’t seem too happy about being an escort, and that could be why she doesn’t live in a better area in the city. She isn’t actually getting most of the money she earns.”

  Stacia shrugged. “It would make sense.”

  I got back onto the floor and continued my push-ups. There was a rage growing inside me, and I wasn't certain what to do with it. I stopped after hitting one hundred and twenty push-ups.

  “I have to see her,” I said.

  “And we’re back to the stalking problem,” Stacia said. “Besides, you can’t really bring this up to her. What if she isn’t being held captive and tells Linc that we hacked into his computer? She’s probably already suspicious how you got her number.”

  “I can’t let her be held captive by that asshole.”

  “You don’t know if she is being held captive."

  "I know, Stacia," I snap. "I don't give a shit. I need her to be safe."

  "Then play this safe," she said. "We'll find some dirt on Linc. Once he's in police custody, she'll be safe no matter what. If you go into this like a raging bull, she could become collateral damage. The Ouroboros is a real gang. Linc might not be connected to them at all, but I wouldn't risk it. If you're going to bring wrath down on anyone, let it be the professionals. I'll keep searching for you. I need you to breathe and think about everyone's safety. Including mine."

  I paced around the house, taking deep breaths.

  "Okay," I said. "But she still needs to know someone is looking out for her."

  "I'll look up some flower shops."

  "Thank you."

  Chapter 8

  Sarah

  When the delivery man told me he had flowers for me, I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t blue orchids in a glass pot. After I closed the door and set the flowers near the window, I stared at them for a few seconds. They were such a deep blue, they reminded me of Chris’s eyes. Then again, everything reminded me of Chris now.

  Linc had sent me flowers in the past, especially after a client paid him a lot of money to spend time with me, but it was always red roses and usually only two or three. They were also usually crushed by the time they got to me because he handed them to me himself.

  There was a card stuck between the two stems of the flowers. I took it out and opened it.

  To Sarah,

  Let’s talk.

  -Chris

  So, it wasn’t from Linc, but if Linc found out a client was sending me flowers, it would only bring up more questions. He would not enjoy the competition of another man, and I didn’t like the idea of having to quell his jealousy. I’d have to call Chris back at some point. Tomorrow. I had a date in less than half an hour.

  I dressed in a short black dress. The Oval Connection was the kind of place that made itself out to be elegant with velvet booths and dim lighting, but all the waitresses looked like hookers, and I’d seen some pretty lewd acts committed there. I supposed, in theory, it was the perfect place to make an ex-girlfriend jealous if she was stupid and wouldn’t see her ex-boyfriend’s acts as desperate.

  I pulled my hair into a ponytail. Men seemed to love the appearance of bare shoulders. When I looked into the mirror, with all of the makeup on my face and the short black dress, I felt like some large part of me had disappeared. I had played an act for so long, I wasn’t certain how I could return to who I used to be.

  Except for my night with Chris. That was the one time I’d felt real, and I could never repeat what we’d done together.

  ***

  As I sat in the booth, James kept his hand on my thigh. No matter how often I switched between crossing and uncrossing my legs, he kept his hand on me. His hand was sweaty and had barbecue sauce on it. He’d already tried to kiss me four times, and he started going in for his fifth time.

  “I’m sorry, but you understood the contract you signed right?” I asked, leaning away from him.

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” he said. “Of course, I understood it.”

  “There’s minimal sexual contact. Only what’s required to fulfill your specific need.”

  “I paid enough that I think I can do what I want,” he said. “But you’re right. I came here to show that bitch what she’s missing out on. Get on my lap, so we can take a pic together.”

  This was where these setups could get messy. Technically, that kind of contact was perfectly fine. It wasn’t explicitly sexual. But, of course, implicitly, it was.

  But, maybe, if he decided he had gotten what he wanted, it would get better.

  I swung my legs over his lap. He grabbed around my waist and pulled me over until my ass was on his lap. He pulled out his phone. As he messed around with it, I felt his legs shifting back and forth, so my ass rubbed against his groin. I placed my hands on either side of his legs to lift myself up and off his lap, but he raised his hips up. He also raised the phone up. As I saw the screen, I realized he was taking a video instead of a photo.

  “Hey, Layla,” he said to the camera. “This is my new girlfriend, Sarah. Isn’t she a lot hotter than you? Isn
’t she sexy? We also fuck like rabbits.”

  He grinds up against my ass. I slapped the phone out of his hand. It clattered against the table.

  “What the fuck?” he spat out, grabbing his phone. I slid off his lap, sliding my legs back under the table. “Why the hell did you do that?”

  “I told you that the contract doesn’t allow that. I’m going.”

  I grabbed my bag and scooted out of the booth.

  “If you leave, I better get a fucking refund. You didn’t even do what I hired you to do.”

  Everyone was turning to look at us. I could feel heat flooding my face. He was right, and I knew that if Linc got a demand for a refund, he would blow a gasket. He likely already spent the money on something.

  “Okay,” I said. “Fine. Just … could we only kiss in the video instead?”

  “Fine. Great. Let’s do that,” he said. I moved back into the booth and sat back on his lap. “You damaged my phone.”

  There was a large plastic case around the phone.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “You’d get in a lot of trouble if I told your boss you damaged my phone, wouldn’t you?”

  I stared at him. “Not as much trouble as you’d be in if you broke his contract.”

  He made a grunting noise and posed the phone above us again. He clicked record.

  “Hey, Layla,” he said again. “This is my new girl, Sarah. She is so fucking hot. When I want to fuck, she fucks, and when I want a BJ, she gives it to me.”

  He turned to me.

  “Don’t you, babe?”

  “Of course,” I said. He moved forward and kissed me. It tasted like barbecue and gingivitis. He ended the recording.

  “Let’s get some beer,” he said. His arm wrapped around my waist. “You can stay here until the waitress comes. That’s not breaking the contract, is it?”

  “No,” I said. I bowed my head, noticing how high up my dress’ hemline was. I pulled down on it, but it didn’t make much of a difference. I wasn’t sure why I thought it would.