Helen turned very professional. “Two hundred dollars an hour, you can decide how long you want your escort. That way you can figure out your time.”
“Two hours,” Cherry blurted. “Two hours should be plenty.”
Helen pounced on the figure. “Excellent! Now, you can pay by credit card—”
“Cash. I want to pay the escort cash as soon as he arrives.”
“Fine. We do have some independent operators who work side-line for us, and they’ll accept cash on arrival. Now, Ms Jones.” There was a definite smile back in Helen’s voice. “Do you have a preference for your escort?”
Cherry knew exactly what she wanted, she’d thought of this ever since she’d listened to her crazy friends. In fact, she had the ideal man from her day dreams. If anyone was going to deflower her and hold her in his arms, it was going to be her dream man. Especially if she was going to be paying four hundred dollars for two hours with him.
“Tall, strong. Muscular but not overblown, you know?”
“You don’t want Conan the Barbarian.”
“Exactly. Dark hair.” Cherry started to feel her courage disappear as she reeled off what seemed like a shopping list, or a description for a pedigree dog. “Uh…good looking would be nice.” Nice? She wanted good looking. She wanted knock-me-down and stroke-me-out handsome. But she couldn’t quite get up the nerve to say so.
“No problems,” said Helen the Efficient. “Anything else?”
Oh yes, there was. Something really important. “He has to like plus-sized women.”
“Trust me, Ms Jones, our escorts are there to please you. Size means nothing to them.”
“I just…” Cherry bit her lip, mortified.
“Your escort will like you, Ms Jones, trust me. They are used to being with clients of every age and size. Their business is your pleasure, so don’t worry about it, okay?”
Easy for Helen to say. Cherry had no doubt Miss Twiggy was sitting behind the phone racking up the men like cue balls.
“Now, do you have a date in mind?”
The frown eased from Cherry’s face. “This Saturday.”
“Let me just check the schedule.” There came the sound of keys clicking. “Damien is free Saturday.”
Damien? Damien sounded like a hunky man’s name. Cherry chewed her bottom lip. Now she had a name, it seemed a little more real.
“Time and place of meeting?’ Helen queried.
“Indigo Hotel.” Oh the other side of the city. “Eleven pm.” As late as possible, so it was less likely anyone would see him – Damien – arrive and leave.
“Contact phone number?”
Luckily, she’d planned ahead. She didn’t want any way for this to backfire. She gave the number of the pre-paid mobile phone.
“Right,” said Helen. “Saturday twelfth, eleven pm, at the Indigo Hotel.”
“Yes.”
“Damien will be there. You will have a good time, Ms Jones. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No. That’s it.”
“Have a lovely evening and thank you for contacting us. Any problems, feel free to call back.”
Cherry put the phone down and stared at it. That was that. She’d just hired a male escort for two hours on Saturday. Perched on the edge of the chair, she nibbled her bottom lip. Her heart thundered a little in her ears and she felt hot. Not good hot, but jittery nerves hot.
She looked at Sugar. “I can always cancel, right?”
Sugar blinked and went back to grooming.
Cherry looked back at the phone. She couldn’t believe she’d actually done it. She couldn’t believe she’d actually listened to her crazy friends.
Three Days Before
“Which imbecile nurse did this?” A familiar roar rent the air.
“Bugger me dead.” Cherry looked around the corner of the treatment room. “It’s Ducks Arse.”
“Who?” Maxie looked up from where she was drawing up the intravenous antibiotics.
“Dr Drake. Harry. Ducks Arse.”
“Ah.” Maxie squinted at the syringe as she held it up. “What’s his problem?”
“I don’t know. He’s waving the obs chart around.”
“Maybe you should go and see—”
“And maybe I should go and play in the traffic.”
“I’m the senior RN.” Maxie carefully pressed the plunger of the syringe until the air was out of the barrel. “That means you’re under me.”
“And you’re above me. Which means you’re in charge.” Cherry smiled. “Dr Ducks Arse is waiting for you.”
Maxie glared.
Cherry smiled wider.