Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
I whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“For getting caught?”
“For lying to you.” He didn’t say anything, so after a pause I asked, “Are you taking me to jail?” I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted to be sure.
“How could you think that?”
“Because you’re all about law and order, and you just caught me committing a crime. Sort of. That actually was just a dinner date, which isn’t illegal.”
“But you do turn tricks for money, right? You didn’t spell it out on your website, but the suggestive nude photos made it pretty fucking obvious.”
Oh god. I felt my face heating up at the idea of Eden seeing those photos—him, of all people. I whispered, “I don’t think I should answer that.”
“Why, because you still think I might take you to jail? Right now, I’m endangering my career to keep you from getting arrested!”
“Was that man back there a cop?”
“No, but it was just a matter of time before vice worked its way to you. They’ve been conducting this sting for the last week. Lucky for you, they started with the bigger operations with lots of so-called escorts.”
Despite myself, I was starting to get angry. That was definitely the wrong call, but I couldn’t help it. “So what if two consenting adults decide to exchange money for sex? It’s puritanical bullshit to arrest them for it.”
“I’m not going to debate this with you. Prostitution is illegal. Period.” I didn’t respond. Instead, I turned away from him and stared out the passenger window. After a while, he said, “If you needed money, you should have come to me. I would have given you whatever you needed. Don’t you know that?”
I mumbled, “It wasn’t just about the money.”
“Then what was it about?”
I could barely explain it at the best of times, let alone when I was rattled and angry, so I left his question hanging in the air between us.
When we were within a few blocks of our house, I turned to him and said, “Don’t tell Casey.”
“You can’t expect me to keep something this big a secret from my best friend.”
“No, I know. I’m going to tell him myself. Once I do though, I don’t want you two ganging up on me.”
Eden asked, “When have we ever ganged up on you?”
“Every time I broke the law or fucked up in some way. Remember when I went on that joy ride at fourteen? Mom and Dad didn’t even bother to lecture me, because you and Casey did such a thorough job of it.”
“We only lectured you because you scared us, Seth. All of us were worried for your safety.”
I sighed and went back to staring out the window. After a minute, something occurred to me and I asked, “How’d you know I was at that restaurant?”
“Remember when we first moved to San Francisco, and we all installed that app on our phones for George’s sake?”
I’d actually forgotten about it. Eden had been worried his grandfather might run into trouble if he went out and became disoriented, so all four of us had downloaded a location app and connected our phones’ GPS. That was before we realized George was sharp as a tack.
I asked, “What if you’d found me naked in some hotel room? Would you have kicked the door down, dragged me out from under my client, and ordered me to leave like you did at that restaurant?”
“Jesus, Seth!”
“Well, would you?”
“I don’t know what I would have done.” We pulled up in front of the house, and he said, “We’re not done talking about this. If you’re asleep when I get home after work, then we’ll discuss it first thing in the morning.”
“What’s there to discuss?”
“Everything! I need to understand why this happened, and I need to know you won’t do it again.”
Anger flared in me, so intensely this time that it caught me off guard. “If I decide to continue as a sex worker, how is that any of your business?”
That ramped his anger back up, too. “Do you really think I’m going to let you go on breaking the law?”
“The law is bullshit! If I want to get paid for sex, that’s nobody’s business!”
“It’s still the law, and as long as you’re living here—”
“Are you serious right now? Were you really about to hit me with ‘as long as you’re living under my roof, you’ll do as I say?’ My dad used to say that to me all the time. It was manipulative then, and it’s even worse now, coming from you.” At least he looked embarrassed. I took a deep breath and held back my tears. “And don’t worry, I’ll be out of your granddad’s house first thing in the morning.”
“I shouldn’t have said that, and I don’t want you to leave. I just—”
“It’s time. I wanted to move out anyway.”
He paused and studied my profile before asking, “Where will you go?”