Silver(10)

After all, she wasn’t the type of woman who would tempt men like them. She wasn’t skinny. No matter how much manual labor she did at work, she seemed to have the same chunky build. Like she was just made that way. Her face was squarish and normal with a wide jaw. She supposed she had a nice mouth and nose. She liked her lips, which were full, and her small, upturned nose. She thought her green eyes weren’t bad as well.

Her curls were nice, too.

But overall, she was plain and her clothing wasn’t nice and she wasn’t tall, and so she knew she would probably be safe here. Men like this didn’t have to take advantage of women like her.

“So how did you end up in this position?” Citrine asked.

She froze, embarrassed, a pastry halfway to her mouth. She set it down. “You mean homeless?”

He nodded.

“I don’t really feel I owe you my life story at the moment,” she said, popping the pastry in and chewing slowly, savoring every moment of its sweetness.

She was ravenous and wanted to take everything and just shove it in her mouth, but food like this was too good to simply scarf down. She’d never been able to eat anything this delicious in her life.

She expected a retort from Adrien but looked over to see him thinking to himself quietly, watching her with careful appraisal. “So what is it you guys do here?” She licked her fingers. “In this fancy building.”

Citrine watched her with amusement. “I guess we are a kind of dating club.”

She blinked, pointing at each of them in turn, brows screwing up in confusion. “Wait. So… you’re escorts?”

She let out a laugh. That all made sense. The fanciness, the beauty of the men. The way they seemed engineered to make women fall at their feet.

Not her, though. She had more practical things to worry about.

“Not escorts,” Adrien snapped. “And don’t look at us like we’re whores.”

She shrugged and went back to her pastries. It wasn’t her business what other people did for their jobs. Anything that earned a living was fine by her.

“What do you do, then?” she asked, more to Citrine than Adrien, who seemed to be very defensive.

“We rent out for dates, events. Things where women might like to have a date, but don’t want the complication of finding one in the usual ways,” Citrine said.

She dropped the pastry in her hand. “So women have money to just pay you to go out with them?” She brushed off her hands, getting rid of crumbs. “How rich are these women?”

“We don’t work with people only based on money,” Sever said, straightening uncomfortably. “We work things out on a case-by-case basis.”

“I’m sure I could never afford you,” Kelsey joked. “Then again, I wouldn’t have any fancy events where I’d need you.”

“Have you told Robbie about this?” Sever asked Citrine. “If our… guest is staying, she should probably know.”

“Who is Robbie?” Kelsey asked, perking up.

“Our manager,” Sever asked.

Kelsey grinned at that, wanting to meet the woman whose job it was to keep these men in line.

“Yes, I should tell Robbie and have her meet… What is your name? I just realized we never asked you.”

She shrugged. “Kelsey. I’m not offended, though. When you’re in my situation, people don’t care about your name. They don’t want to humanize you.”

Citrine frowned. “I’m sorry about that.”

She shrugged again. It was her way of pushing pain away, letting it fall off her shoulders, keeping it from hurting her. She’d never been entitled to a lot of the things other people took for granted, like family or a constant roof over her head or even consideration. She survived by convincing herself she was fine anyway.

“No, I’m really sorry,” Citrine said, scooting a bit closer on his stool. She looked up into his eyes and was grateful for the warmth there. And a bit stunned by it, as usual.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Well then, Kelsey,” Citrine said. “I’m off to call Robbie and ask her to come in and meet you. If you’re going to be hanging around, ‘helping’ Adrien, we should probably figure out exactly what you’ll be doing and set some ground rules.”

“And I can stay in that apartment?” she asked. She really loved that apartment. It would be the perfect place to land and get back on her feet, if only they would let her keep it for now.

Citrine nodded with a warm smile. “Of course. As long as you need it.”

She blinked and went back to her pastries, fighting back unbidden emotion. Who were these people, and why were they being so kind to her?