The Billionaire's Beautiful Mistake(43)

When the tide finally started to abate, she leaned back, her head resting on the cushions as she stared up at the ceiling. “What a night,” she said out loud. She sniffed and plucked a tissue from the table beside the sofa.

She looked around, still astonished by all that she’d learned tonight. “I’d gone over to talk to him, to find out why he’d just stopped calling me. I thought I’d done something to insult him or maybe that I was bad in bed. It never occurred to me that he just didn’t want to pay for my services any longer,” she said, and hiccupped a laugh.

Tyla handed Violet the cup that had been abandoned during the crying spree, suspecting that another wave of sadness was still coming. “Here. This will help. At least for tonight,” she promised.

Violet took a sip and felt the warmth seep into her bones. She had no idea if it was from the tea or because of the alcohol, and at this point, she didn’t care. She was exhausted and hurt. And angry!

“He bought me,” she said on a hysterical laugh. “He actually bought me!”

“Yep!” Tyla said and they clinked glasses.

Violet took a long sip of the powerful tea and shook her head. Details were starting to filter through her muddled mind and she was…shocked. Angry. Shocked. Hurt. Oh yeah, and shocked! “Five thousand dollars!” She shook her head. That was such a huge number, she was having trouble wrapping her mind around it!

Tyla chuckled as she took another sip of her own coffee. “You must be doing some pretty amazing tricks in that bedroom for him to have come back for the next four nights!” she teased.

Violet’s laugh was horrified. “Stop!” she gasped on a burst of appalled laughter. “I can’t even imagine what a sexual trick is!”

Tyla shrugged then. “He was duped. Maybe George promised him some acrobatics.”

Violet leaned back and laughed, holding her stomach as the hilarity of the possibilities hit her hard.

Tyla kept going, trying to ease her new friend’s pain and laughter seemed to be getting her through it. “Hey, don’t knock it. If a pole arrives in the mail, or even better, a trapeze, then you’ll know that George was promising something that just was delayed in the mail!”

Violet was laughing so hard she was gasping for air. Shaking her head, she wiped her tears again. “A trapeze? I can picture what to do with a pole, but what would someone do with a trapeze?”

Tyla shrugged, and took another sip of her vodka-laced tea. “I have no idea. You’re the one earning five grand for a night in the bedroom. I’m just trying to get tips.”

That comment started off another burst of laughter in both ladies, and they were almost on the floor when the humor finally subsided. Violet walked over to the counter and got the teapot, making another cup for both of them. “Goodness, what a sucker,” she said, but the idea still hurt. So she poured an extra dose of vodka into her tea this time. “Or maybe I’m the sucker. I’d sure like to know what George did with all of that money. I don’t think even he could spend that kind of money so quickly.”

Tyla sipped her tea, shaking her head. “Boy, I know what I would do with five thousand dollars.” She tilted her head with a suspicious grin. “I wonder if a man really would pay five thousand dollars for sex!”

That caused Violet to sigh. “Apparently, Creek did. With me!”

“It sounds awful, that he would think that of you, but turn it around and look on the bright side.”

Violet’s head fell back against the sofa cushions. “There’s a bright side to someone thinking I’m a prostitute?”

“Sure!” Tyla laughed. “He must have really wanted to have sex with you.”

Violet thought about that for a long moment. “Yeah. I guess that’s pretty nice to know. But five thousand dollars? That’s crazy!”

Tyla shook her head. “No, that’s not crazy. Not with how much those guys are worth. They do crazy things, like surf the bore tide or ski down mountains that are inaccessible except by helicopter, zip line across mountains, and climb seemingly smooth cliffs that a sane person would stay away from. But when it comes to money, five thousand dollars isn’t really all that much to them.”

Violet couldn’t imagine that kind of a lifestyle. “Sounds dangerous,” she commented and then took a long sip of her vodka-laced tea, feeling the warmth all the way to her toes now.

Tyla shrugged. “Like I said, they do crazy things, but this really is the stupidest.” She snorted slightly. “So far,” she finished off.

Violet had to agree with that.

Tyla tilted her head as a thought occurred to her. “Of course, that’s really odd. Those guys are all brilliant when it comes to business.”