Chapter 4
The girl with the brown hair clung to Francis’s elbow. She leaned in to his body when he spoke and when she laughed she would throw her head back dramatically. For Francis this was torture, but he had needs and for all intents and purposes this girl had what was required to take care of those needs. When, after just an hour of forcing conversation, Francis suggested that they go back to his hotel, she was more than willing. This surprised Francis as he had expected much more of an internal struggle as she rationalized her inner whore to her inner princess. It seemed that this one, no matter how reserved she might have seemed, had no qualms indulging in the darker pleasures. This made Francis very happy indeed.
As they rode back to the hotel, the girl, whose name turned out to be Valentina, chattered excitedly about music. She was raving about a heavy metal band that Francis neither recognized nor cared about. The only music that appealed to him was the mournful tone of the harpsichord. Still, he indulged her.
“You would just die if you heard them live! I mean, it's unbelievable! The bass is so deep that it rattles every organ in your body!” Francis couldn't help thinking of how he intended on rattling every organ in her body as well and he smirked silently to himself. She smiled back. “I’ll have to look on my phone when we get to your hotel, I'm pretty sure I have at least one of their tracks on there. I never take my phone out in cabs though, I'm always so afraid that I'll forget it. God, I couldn't live without my phone, could you?” She looked at him in the first moment of silence since they'd entered the cab. Francis wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to say because at some point in her rambling, he had just stopped listening.
“No.” He took the fifty fifty shot and came up on top.
“Right?!” She leaned her head over and put in on his shoulder, breathing in his musky scent.
Francis wondered if he hadn't made a terrible mistake.
When the cab pulled up in front of the hotel, Valentina leaned forward and ducked down to see the façade.
“Oh wow! You must have buckets of cash!” She said, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Francis opened the door of the cab and slid out. Once again, shoving a small wad of bills through the driver’s window, he waited on the sidewalk for Valentina to slide out of the cab too. She stumbled briefly in her heeled knee high boots and grabbed for his arm. Francis offered it and she righted herself with a silly laugh. “Oops! I can never walk in these damn things!” She said, looking down at the boots as if it were their fault that she couldn't balance in them. Francis smiled politely and after ensuring that she was steady on her feet, he led her up to the entrance of the hotel.
“Good evening, Mr. Holmes.” The doorman said. Francis nodded.
“Good evening.” Even his own voice sounded strange to him after listening to Valentina prattle on for the entirety of the cab ride back to the hotel.
“Good evening!” Valentina chimed in as they walked through the door and in to the hotel lobby.
Francis did his best to rush Valentina up to his room without her being seen. She, on the other hand did everything she could to ensure that everyone knew that she was there. By the time the elevator doors closed on them, Francis knew that Valentina was not going to work. Pushing the first floor button, he waited for the doors to open again and when they did he held the ‘open door’ button.
“You should leave.” He said brusquely. Then, reaching in to his pocket with his free hand he offered her a twenty dollar bill. “For your cab.” He said. She stood looking at him open mouthed.
“Are you kiddin’ me?” She said, looking him up and down. He shook his head silently. “Are you fucking kiddin’ me?” She asked again. Then she slapped the twenty dollar bill out of his hand. “I ain't no whore!” And with that she stormed out of the elevator, through the hotel lobby and Francis lost sight of her when the elevator doors closed. He breathed a sigh of relief. Not even sex was worth enduring Valentina for one more second, although Francis’s aching cock was apt to disagree.
When the elevator finally came to a stop at the penthouse, Francis stepped out in to the lobby. He was more than certain that he didn't have what it took to find a girl in New York and he was absolutely positive that ‘goth’ wasn't what he was looking for. Still, despite his narrow escape, he couldn't help but feel disappointed as he walked down the marble hallway towards his room. He had been so confident that New York would hold exactly what he was looking for.
As he reached the concierge desk outside his room, Francis noticed that the first of the two girls from earlier was seated there alone. He offered her a smile.