“What’s stopping you!?” she burbles. “Oh, you just have to do it! I can help you too because God knows, I need some excitement in my life.” Teasingly, she places her hand softly over Harlow’s ear as if to stop her from hearing what she is about to say next. “I love my kids, but I could definitely use some time out of the house with grownups. I can help you brainstorm and get things off the ground.”
“Eeek! Okay. Let’s do it!” I happily exclaim. “Thank you so much Lucy, I’m so glad I have you in my life. It’s nice to have a friend I know I can always count on.” She smiles back at me.
“Of course! I love you Rose. I’ve gotta get the kiddos to bed now but we’ll talk soon okay? Mommy life! Ugh,” she says laughing. “Have a great rest of your night.” We hang up the phone and I fall back onto the couch once more, only this time I feel much lighter.
I’m not sure when or how, but it has been decided. Come hell or high water, I am going to build my own New York City escorting agency.
2
Rose
I’m sitting at a table for two at La Rizza downtown waiting for Johnson to get back from the men’s room. It’s another City Girls date, my third one so far this week. At least tonight is going much better than my previous date with Mitchell. For one, this client isn’t sweating like a pig and letting the droplets fall into his eyes.
Johnson arranged for us to have dinner and drinks at a renowned Italian restaurant. The establishment is intimate yet stunning. There are large wooden beams running the length of the ceiling adorned with vivid green grape vines. Whether the plants are real or not is beyond me, but they sure fancy the place up. The walls are painted to look like the streets of Italy and we sit kitty corner from a magnificent painting of the Trevi Fountain. Each table is topped with a gold tinted candle. The ambiance transports you abroad the moment you walk through the large double wooden doors.
To be honest, my date isn’t so bad looking himself. Johnson is a mix of high and low. His body is firm and muscular, yet his face and hands remain soft and supple, almost feminine. He has bleached blonde hair and glowing baby blue eyes, which I suspect are from contacts. He is intelligent, well-spoken, and of course, filthy rich.
In short, Johnson is the whole package. The only problem is that he knows it and clearly thinks the world revolves around him. You can tell by the way he looks down his nose at the wait staff, as if he’s a god and they’re his servants. Ugh. This kind of behavior always disgusts me. We’re all human beings. People are just doing their jobs and we should respect that.
But this is nothing new because we get his type every once in a while in the escort business: guys whom you’d think would have no need to pay for female company. The problem isn’t a lack of women. No, not at all. I’m sure many ladies would swoon to spend a fancy night out with a man like Johnson. He’s here because he doesn’t think it’s worth it: the effort, the caring, and the thought it would take to win over a woman with a great first date is too much for him. He’s too wrapped up in himself to maintain a relationship. He sees no value in demonstrating affection or making any kind of an investment in a relationship. And his kind would rather put forward money than time, especially since he’s only interested in attaining one thing from this dinner: lust.
The awful thing is that I think I might give him what he wants anyways. How hypocritical of me, right? But I haven’t had a good-looking man booked in a while. So what if Johnson’s full of himself? I can make even more money and maybe if I avoid looking in his eyes, the sex will be good. It’s not like I’ll ever have to see him again.
“Sorry about that, where were we?” Johnson says as he sits back down at the table. He takes out his napkin and places it in his lap.
“You were telling me about your work. The financing firm you started with your brother,” I respond.
He nods, his skin a bit too tanned.
“Oh yes, well anyways the moral of the story is that we take small companies in the start-up phase and basically parent them. When a business comes our way that we know is going to be successful, we give them capital to get off the ground and consultant services to keep them on the right path. In essence, we jump-start the inevitable and in turn, get to keep a hefty chunk of their profit.”