Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
“Are you inviting me to your new daddy’s luxurious bathroom?” Ezra quipped back, kind of wanting to meet up with her after this was over. Otherwise, he was at risk of overthinking his conflicted feelings all evening.
“If you ever come back from California to grace us with your presence and the glow of your new tan.” She rolled her eyes.
Carmen was joking, but Ezra could sense a little bit of jealousy under the nonchalant comment. He’d lie if he claimed it didn’t give him some satisfaction. After all, he’d secured himself a rich guy in LA while she was stuck in the very city she started out in several years ago.
He ignored the little voice at the back of his head, which told him Frank was here as well, and that once he arrived in the promised land of sunshine and heavy traffic, he’d likely never see either of them again.
“I’ll keep that in mind. I just hope I haven’t forgotten anything. I worry what will happen if things don’t work out with my new guy. I only really met him once,” he said, rolling his shoulders to relieve the painful tension keeping them stiff.
Carmen pouted and grabbed herself a chocolate-covered strawberry from the bowl on the side of the bathtub. She didn’t usually eat sweets, so Ezra was pretty sure she was doing this just to show off what she had.
“If he’s a psycho, I’ve got his address. Other than that, what do you have to lose? I mean, you’ll be missing out on the pleasure of my company of course, but with a face like yours, you’ll find another guy, or several, if push comes to shove.”
Ezra tightened his grip on the wheel and sucked in air. Shades of green surrounded him from all sides, but they didn’t bring him peace. Not when he had so much on his mind. “I saw Frank last night. Said my goodbyes,” he said, and despite hoping that spitting it out would offer some relief, conflicted emotions only gained weight in his heart.
Carmen groaned, holding that damn strawberry instead of biting into it. She likely wouldn’t, instead using the dessert as a prop for an Insta photoshoot. “Not Frank again. Get a grip Ezra. You can’t live on good dick.”
She didn’t need to be so crass. “He isn’t the only guy who’s good in bed, okay? I like him as a friend, and it’s... weird to leave him behind like this.”
Carmen gave him a skeptical glance. “You’re not in love with him or something? From what you told me about him, he can’t provide you with the living standards you deserve.”
Ezra exhaled as his thoughts returned to the moment he woke to discover Frank had already left. The money resting on the bedside table had been agreed upon beforehand, but for once they felt like confirmation that the friendship they shared had always been only a business agreement.
It shouldn’t upset him, but it did.
“You know I don’t fall in love.”
Carmen rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard that before from girls who caught feelings for a client. I thought it doesn’t work like that for you boys.”
“That’s not the point. He’s a good guy, never haggled, and while he did pay for my time, he never made me feel like it.”
“He probably just doesn’t want to feel like he’s a John.”
Annoyance buzzed at the base of Ezra’s throat. “You never even met him.”
Carmen shook her head and put away the strawberry to rearrange a dark curl that fell on her wet shoulder. “Then go live with him if you like him so much. He can be your junkyard daddy, you can go dumpster diving together, and in the afternoons, hang out in front of his trailer on second-hand sun chairs as you drink lukewarm beers because his fridge broke. Is that really the life you want?”
It did not sound appealing, especially that changing course now would have been reckless. Ezra only knew Frank from their encounters every two weeks, and the occasional (okay, maybe not occasional) conversations on the phone, and couldn’t predict what kind of partner he’d be. Or how long it would take him to get bored of Ezra and kick him out with nothing.
Literally nothing, since there would be no way to accumulate any wealth in the situation Carmen had just described.
“Oh, baby, no, you are actually thinking about it,” she said, raising her voice and bringing the phone closer to her perfect face. “Look, if you want stability, you can’t be with a client. He’ll always remember how you met. Once the honeymoon period’s over, it will start bothering him. Ask me how I know.”
“Frank is nothing like Brian,” Ezra protested, because he’d smelled that man’s rotten attitude from the moment he’d met him at Carmen’s birthday party three years back.