Apparently he’d been telling the truth. Heavenly felt guilty that she hadn’t believed him.
“Didn’t he tell you how we met?” Gloria asked.
“No. I only knew your name and where you lived because I saw the petition for divorce fall out of his pocket.”
“Right after he popped your cherry. Oh, hell. No wonder you thought the worst.” Gloria sighed. “Honey, I’m a madam.”
Just like that, the weirdness got weirder. Heavenly gulped more vino. “You manage prostitutes?”
“High-class ones, and I prefer the term pleasure consultants. But at the end of the day, we’re working girls. Well, I used to be. It’s damn nice not making my living on my back anymore.”
Heavenly felt her eyes bulge. “You were a…”
“Hooker? Whore? Lady of the night? Yep. Don’t worry about offending me. I’ve heard them all.”
“And Beck knew?”
She nodded. “When we met, he was a kid living on the streets while I was working. And no, he wasn’t a customer.”
Beck had been homeless? “How old was he?”
“Sixteen. And before you ask me about his past, that’s his story to tell. I won’t break his confidence.”
“Of course not.” But as Heavenly sucked down the last of her wine, she wished she already knew everything.
“Here.” Gloria rushed to the kitchen, grabbed the bottle, then hustled back to pour her more. “Drink up. You need it.”
Heavenly didn’t balk, especially since she was beginning to relax in a way she hadn’t thought possible an hour ago.
“Anyway…” Gloria went on. “I couldn’t turn my back on him. He was young and had a massive chip on his shoulder. He needed help. After he extricated me from a sticky situation, we decided to stay together.”
“And get married?”
“It made sense at the time. Ken was always a strapping boy. Even at sixteen, he looked at least twenty-one. He was strong as an ox, angry as fuck, and always willing to fight. That made him damn good at keeping greedy pimps and violent johns from hurting me.”
Heavenly pressed a hand to her mouth. Gloria was so petite. Of course being with strangers in the sex trade was dangerous. “Oh, my goodness.”
“You know how fiercely protective Ken can be.”
Heavenly nodded. “He and Seth almost killed my landlord.”
“The fact they didn’t shows surprising restraint.”
After she emptied her glass, another wave of warmth wended through Heavenly’s veins. So many questions dive-bombed her that she wasn’t sure what to ask next. “So you married Beck…and then what? How long did he live with you?”
“About five years. But you want to know if we’ve ever fucked, don’t you? I’m not going to lie. We have. That boy needed someone to show him how to treat a woman, but we haven’t had sex in well over a decade and a half.”
Heavenly’s jaw dropped. “Even though you’re married?”
She shrugged. “We quickly figured out that we were better friends than lovers.”
“Why?” They both seemed kind, smart, interesting… “Did Beck think he couldn’t love someone in your line of work?”
Gloria laughed. “No, he never had a problem with that. Hell, his prom date was one of my girls. I was just never going to be who he needed.”
After the woman refilled her glass, Heavenly downed more wine. She had to have more liquid fortification for this conversation. “What do you mean?”
Gloria leaned in. “He’s always craved someone soft and sweet. Submissive. Someone like you. Besides, I never saw myself as the marrying kind. I mean, Ken and I were legally hitched, but neither of us ever considered ourselves committed. Hell, when I started dating Buddy, it didn’t occur to me to mention it until he tossed around the M word.”