“Prostitution isn’t black or white. If our goal was just to get off, we could curl up with our hands and be done with it. Sex is about wanting something from the other person, whether it’s affection or intimacy, security or money. I’ll admit I owed Philip something, but I wasn’t coerced. If I had said no and meant it, he would have listened.”
She frowned. “When do you say no and not mean it?”
“We’ll save that lesson for another day, grasshopper.”
Chapter Six
I suspected Philip hadn’t left at all. He could have been at a meeting or at another one of his houses, but given his fascination with Ella, I figured he would stay close. Which meant he was probably in the basement. True to paranoid form, it was a fully decked-out storm shelter, probably designed to withstand a nuclear explosion. Probably filled with the latest gadgetry and every comfort. Though in my mind, the basement was darker and definitely damper, like canal-woven caves in The Phantom of the Opera, and there he dwelled, hiding his face, listening to the sounds from above and feeding off the gaiety.
With a closed-circuit audio feed, most likely.
So we would give him that. It gave me the opportunity to patch things up between Allie and me. I went downstairs to call her from the kitchen.
“Hello?” Her tone was guarded. Clearly she had checked caller ID.
“Hey, sweets. How’s my best girl?”
“Don’t let Ella hear you say that,” she said, though I could tell she’d loosened already.
“I was talking about Bailey,” I said, referring to Allie’s daughter.
“She’s fine. She learned the Hulk smash. The cat is not happy.”
“You let her watch The Hulk?”
“Nah, I think she learned it from a boy in school.”
I tsked. “Goddamn boys in school. They’re a nuisance.”
“Tell me about it. I think Colin’s going to have an aneurysm when she hits middle school. And the situation with Ella isn’t helping any.”
“Her name’s Claire,” I said absently.
“Oh yeah? So she’s talking to you.”
“A little bit. But I need my best girl on hand for tonight. Emotional support.”
“You need emotional support?” Begrudging curiosity laced her words. “This I’ve got to see.”
“Don’t sound so eager to see me fall, you bloodthirsty bitch.”
“I don’t want to see you fall, but if you tripped every once in a while, I might believe you were human like the rest of us. As long as I’m around, I’ll catch you.”
Pretty sentiment, but she wouldn’t be around on Saturday.
“Come over tonight,” I demanded. “Girls’ night in. Poor thing has been cooped up here for days with only Adrian for a friend.”
“Poor thing,” Allie said and meant it. She had never been partial to his formal charms.
I waited in the kitchen for her to arrive, poking at the contents of the fridge. Plenty of fruit, seedless grapes and chocolate-covered strawberries. Various spritzers and organic colas. Some homemade chicken salad in a Tupperware container. A far cry from fuzzy tacos.
“Need anything?”
I jumped and turned to see Adrian standing behind me. “You surprised me.”
“Sorry,” he said, contrite. “I forget sometimes.”
“Forget what?”
His smile was wry. “That this isn’t my room.”
I looked around the kitchen. It was more his room than anyone else’s. “It’s yours,” I said. “I just feel comfortable enough with you to invade your space.”
“Invade away. Are you hungry? I can make you something. I was about to get dinner started.”
“Let me make something for you,” I said on impulse.
“You can cook?” He sounded doubtful.
“I have lived alone for many years now. Surely you didn’t think I subsist solely on the fruits of my illicit labor.”
His face screwed up in disapproval. “I figured you subsisted on prepared foods from the grocery store with a frequent helping of takeout.”
Bingo. And men had called me mysterious. Ha! I was an open book. “Look, just let me give it a shot. There’s plenty of food in here. And you’ve cooked for me so many times. I want to return the favor.”
“That was different,” he hedged. “I’m paid to do that.”
“I’m paid to do things too, but sometimes we like to have things done for free.” He got a speculative and slightly lustful look on his face. “Don’t think too hard about that. I just want to do something nice for you. Is that so strange?”
“Frankly, yes,” he muttered, although he left when I shooed him away.