"Or wherever they want to meet. I’m told where to go based on what the client wants. It can be a bit more inconspicuous that way."
What she’s describing sounds like an underground club, and I'm curious about it. I also know most underground happenings are usually illegal and eventually get busted. But being told I could make a minimum of eight thousand dollars in three hours is hard for anyone to turn away. I shouldn't be intrigued, but I am, and I want to know more.
Glancing around her room, I take in the wall she recently redecorated. White lights are strung from corner to corner, pictures of friends—no family—hang on clothespins, and there's a minibar with a tall lingerie dresser next to it. She loves to paint, so her artwork hangs in the empty spaces. It's all very shabby chic and gives nothing away to this mystery life I never knew she apparently had.
"Who's they? Who tells you where to go? I'm so confused right now. How do you meet these men or women?"
"A woman named Christine."
"And what does Christine do?" I ask, enunciating every word like I do when the toddlers I nanny cause trouble.
"She sells your dignity."
My head angles to the side and I give her a smirk. "I'm serious."
"She sells a good time with happy endings," Natalie says, and her face lights up.
I laugh because that isn’t what I expected.
"Oh God, you give massages? What's so hush, hush about that? Honestly, that's lame, Nat."
Her eyes lift to the ceiling and her lips pucker to the side. "I guess you could say I go the extra mile."
I sigh, getting peeved with playing twenty questions and getting one-word answers.
"Can you just be out with it already? You're killing me here."
She averts her gaze to the ugly wood floor covered in her clothes. She has to know by now that I wouldn’t judge her, if that's what she's still worried about. Her head falls into her hands. I watch, wondering how I can ease her stress, because now I feel bad about how she feels.
"I've never said this out loud." Her voice is muffled as she sits staring at her crossed legs. "I didn't think it would be this hard, and now I wish I hadn't even brought it up."
I lower my voice to a more sympathetic tone. Whatever she's about to tell me is big and I want her to know her secret is safe with me.
"Said what?"
"What I do for the money I get. No one knows, Aub. It’s definitely nothing to be proud of, but it has to stay a secret, even if you decide what I do isn't for you. Promise me."
I feel like I can hear her heart beating, so I try to lighten the mood.
"Fine. Deal. Scout’s honor. Be out with it already. You know I'm good for it," I say.
Natalie picks up her head and looks straight into my eyes. She takes one deep breath, then slowly exhales. "I sleep with men for money, and I'm good at it. Really good at it."
I blink and debate with myself how I'm supposed to receive her words. Naturally, I spit out a joke.
"Nat, are you trying to tell me you're a rent-a-hoe?"
Eight
Her mouth twitches as she tries not to laugh, but she does in the end. I know I did the right thing, even though I'm stunned as fuck.
"Yes, I guess I am."
Lines crease my forehead. "For real, though? You really sleep with men for money? Like have sex?"
"Well, I sure as fuck don't cuddle or give foot rubs, but name your price and I just might."
I stare at her, lost somewhere between speechless and stunned because it's almost too crazy to fathom that what my best friend just told me is real.