Chapter 8

Author’s Note: Thanks for reading, everyone! Looking forward to further development on this debaucherous ride. Keep voting and keep the feedback coming!

Jess smiled as she considered the two thick, long lines of cocaine in front of her.

“Getting ready for work?” I asked with a laugh.

“Mike likes when I show up high,” she said, referring to her client that Thursday evening.

“Coked up Jess is still my favorite Jess,” I said and kissed the top of her head.

With incredible ease, the first line disappeared up her delicate nose.

“Oh, god, this is such good shit,” she said. “It’s hard for me to believe that I used to put up with mediocre coke for so long.” She inhaled the second line, unphased that almost a gram of cocaine had just gone up her nose.

“Money and connections always work out,” I told her.

“Rita is a great connection,” she said.

“Your Uber is here,” I said. As was our tradition, I walked her to the car.

Jess’s escort business was small but bustling. She had six clients, if you counted her sugar daddy Jonathan Summers, who she still saw once a week. Three of the others were Summers’s business associates, and the other two were referrals from that original core of three. So, as it stood, Jess usually had three to five appointments per week. She had dropped to part-time at the plastic surgeon’s office because her side hustle provided ample money, and she wanted flexibility to schedule her appointments so it didn’t interfere too much with our relationship. On average, she cleared about $7,500 in cash each week during the three months she had been operating. It was our epic, dirty secret.

Work had been a grind for me lately, so I took the opportunity while Jess was gone to have a little wine and zone out watching TV. I was on track to retire in nine months, and I was fastidious about ensuring nothing derailed that goal.

I was absently scrolling through my phone when a surprising number popped up. I accepted the call and put it on speaker.

“Kelly!” I said. “It’s been such a long time! How are you?”

“Good, John, I’m good,” she said. “Just living that LA life. You know how it is.”

“I wish I did!” I said with overt enthusiasm. “But maybe one day soon.” I laughed. “It’s actually fantastic that you called. I had some ... business related advice I was curious about.”

“Oh?” Kelly said. “Are you branching out into a cash business?” It was her turn to laugh.

“Something like that,” I said. “So what’s up?”

“We need to talk, John,” she said.

My heart dropped through my stomach. “About?” I said.

“Kat,” she said.

“Okay,” I said. “But you know I haven’t really talked to her in more than a year. Jess does, pretty regularly actually, and Rita does. But it’s been a long time.” I didn’t mention that I watched her broadcasts most mornings, and it had seemed to me she was doing just fine. There was no crack in her bubbly TV facade.

“She was just out here for a visit,” Kelly said. “She is miserable and in a bad place. I need your help.”

“Okay,” I repeated.

“Is now a good time? Because I could really use you,” she said.

“It’s a great time,” I said, clicking off the TV and pouring a fresh glass of wine. “Jess is out ... working on that ... business opportunity.” I could almost hear Kelly’s eyes pop wide open.

“Oh my,” she said. “We do have a lot to catch up on!”

“Get me up to speed,” I said. “You know how much I love Kat. What’s going on?”

“Well, I know you know about the pregnancy and the miscarriage,” she said.

“Right,” I affirmed.

“It crushed her,” she said. “She was in a funk for a long time, but she started to pull out of it. She’s been doing pretty well. She got baby fever, and she and James have been trying again for most of the year.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said, and it cut more than I had expected.

“They have,” she said. “Well, a couple months ago, they went to a fertility specialist, and it turns out that James is nearly sterile.” She paused and let that hang there for a moment. “Not completely. But his sperm count is incredibly low.”

“So that means,” I said and trailed off.

“Right, we both know what that means, or what it almost certainly means,” she said. A heavy silence came over the call. “James is Mister Optimistic. He says that if it happened once, it can happen again.”

“He doesn’t have a clue,” I said.

“Totally clueless,” she said.

“And?” I said.

“Kat spiraled when she found out,” Kelly said. “She had stayed clean the whole time. She’s off the wagon. She wanted to do some really crazy shit while she was visiting me. I was able to keep her in check. But I can’t do it for long. And I can’t do it alone.”

“I can help,” I said instantly. It was a reflexive response.

“Thank you,” she said. “She’s not happy, John. She misses you. Now she knows for sure it was your baby, and she’s longing for you more than ever. She feels like she’s made the wrong choices.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I remained silent.

“How is Jess?” Kelly asked.

“Really good,” I said. “Amazing, actually. She’s got a little entrepreneur inside her.”

“Sounds like that’s not all that’s inside her!” she joked.

“Touché,” I said with a laugh. “How is your business holding up?”

“Oh, you know,” she said in her easy manner, “there’s never a lack of interest for whores in LA.”

“It’s a town built on free trade,” I said. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we catch up on the business front another time. I’m just going to reach out to Kat now. Maybe I can see what’s going on and just jump feet-first into this.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I debated whether to call or text Kat. I opted for the latter.

“Hey stranger,” I wrote, “just talked to Kelly, and it made me miss you more than I do every day. Maybe we can catch up when you get a chance?” I put down my phone and waited for a response.

I sat, lost in thought, until Jess returned. She had worn a skin tight white cocktail dress. Her makeup was whorish. She looked the part so brilliantly. She walked inside with a million-dollar smile and straddled my legs on the couch. She dropped a wad of $100 bills in my lap.

“Do you want to count them?” she said in a seductive tone. Her skin was hot to the touch. “See how good a whore your girlfriend is.”