“I'd better get going.” Liam turned toward the door. “Sunday brunch meetings will be the death of my free time.”
Drew followed him to the door to say goodbye and to force him to promise to take her out to dinner sometime soon. Benson remained in the kitchen, wanting to smack his head against the stove and pretend none of this was happening.
Yet I’m the only one to blame.Liam, Drew… Sydney… Eden…
They all suffered because of him and his stupid, arrogant ego.
The fact that Liam had walked back into his life… and that Eden was already there between them?
Well, it almost felt like fate. And Benson hated nothing more than the feeling that his life was not his to control.
Chapter 17
Eden
If there was one good thing about being by herself for a week, it was that it forced Eden tofocuson herself. Not just her present, but her future. She stopped by the Ike & Sons office on Tuesday to do a deep dive into her finances and the options before her. Her advisor – one of Ike’s sons, of course – highly suggested that she find some kind of employment, even part-time, that allowed her to stretch out the hundred thousand that she received once her remaining debts were paid off. It wasn’t enough money to buy even a condo, though, and as Mr. Simmons reminded her,“HOA fees and property taxes are still a thing even if you buy your home outright.”His biggest suggestion was that she find employment to pay her billsnowand put the other money away into a safe investment fund that would eventually buy her an early retirement in ten to fifteen years.
It wasn’t sexy advice. He didn’t think she should start a business if she didn’t have her heart set on something, and unless going back to school was guaranteed employment, she was still better off simply investing the money. So, she aspired to put some in a high-yield savings account and invest the rest.
As soon as she got a job, anyway. Until then, that money would pay for her living expenses. Her lease wasn’t up until late summer, anyway.
Her friend, who worked at The Dark Hour, said there were no openings she qualified for. She hadn’t been automatically invited back to the next weekend at La Mariposa, although it was still a couple of months away, and she wasn’t convinced she would sayyesornoyet.Guess it depends if I’m single again.Outside of agreeing to meet with both Benson and Liam Friday night, she didn’t hear much from them. Nor did she send them flirty texts or pictures.Man, am I PMSing again already?Everything kinda pissed her off, and she couldn’t stop eating pasta.
“There’s lots you can do if you’ve got the entrepreneurial spirit,” Blair said when they had lunch at a coffee shop on Wednesday. Eden was supposed to meet the Mistress girlfriend, but Mira canceled at the last minute because she wasn’t feeling well. Instead, Blair showed up with offerings in the form of free “sexcapade” party favors they had picked up at a bachelorette shindig the weekend before. Where they had been part of the entertainment, of course. In the bag were tiny, USB-powered sex toys, lube, and jokey shit that ran the gamut of boobie erasers and vagina-shaped popsicles.
Eden loved them, of course. The fact that Mira and Blair just took all the leftovers from the party home to give out to clients and friends was the best.
“Like what you do?” Eden asked as she nosed through three different sample-sized body lotions. “Because that’s a bit of aleap for me. Being a Butterflyoncedoes not qualify you like the Summit does, apparently.”
“Plus, you’re still wet behind the ears. I benefited from having a partner who already knew the biz. No, I’m saying if you want to do sex work, there are a few avenues that don’t even require full service. Like the Salon. I think someone is gonna put in their notice soon. I could get you an interview.”
“That’d be great…”
“You’d be fast-tracked because you’ve been a recent Butterfly. Monica is one of the owners of La Mariposa.”
“If you think it’s something I can do…”
“Get one of those boys to bring you by to see what it’s like. Just don’t tell them you’re thinking about working there.”
“Why not? Jealousy?”
Blair shrugged. “Men can be weird, I hear. More than one girl who works there had to break up with her boyfriend because he was more weirded out by her workingtherethan as an independent escort.”
“Yeah, not sure I wanna go that route right now.” The thought of being an escort, either by herself or through an agency, was kinda terrifying.I just wouldn’t know what to expect.At least in places like La Mariposa, the rules were heavily enforced. The veneer of safety was stronger than if Eden simply “put herself out there.”Besides, that’s not something I should be doing while dating two guys…
But she hadn’t told Blair about what happened. She still wanted to see how that played out first.
The only thing shedidtell her was that she was going on a double date with them, of sorts, but it was more about hashing out how things would work between the three of them going forward. Blair was not fazed.
“I’ve heard of crazier shit around here,” she said.
Perhaps it was apparent that Eden’s loneliness for female friendship reared its head, because before she left, Blair invited her to a luncheon featuring women who were in their lines of work and navigated the pratfalls together. It wasn’t the same as the guild for submissive partners in high-profile BDSM relationships who relied on each other for friendship and “get out of jail” cards. Sometimes literally.
“I always knew stuff like that must exist,” Eden said with a chuckle, “but never thought I’d be involved.”
“That’s how they get you,” Blair said. “Those dominant types set their eyes on you, and that’s it. You’ve gotta be theirs.”
“Is that how it worked for you?”