Chapter 7
Amelia
Iget home after work to find my mom passed out on the couch. She’s still in her waitress's uniform, and there’s drool coming out of her mouth.
It looks like she started drinking the second she got home. There are already four empty bottles beside her.
Annabelle is in the kitchen, trying her best to start dinner while leaning on her cane. I grab the bottles and dump them in the recycling before going over to her. She has her headphones on and startles when I touch her on the shoulder.
Her smile is contagious as she throws her arms around my neck and hugs me.
“How did it go?” she asks excitedly, but at the sound of her voice, my mom stirs, sitting bolt upright on the couch.
“Wuh?”
“Mom,” I say. She turns, her eyes bleary as she squints up at the light in the kitchen. “Mom, it’s okay, it’s just me.”
“You’re back,” she says, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch and running her fingers through her greasy hair. “How was your first day?”
I frown at her. I haven’t mentioned the job to either of my parents, and for good reason. If they found out what I was earning, they’d want a cut of it, and every penny is going toward saving for Annabelle’s treatment.
I glance at my sister, who gives me a guilty look. She must have been the one to tell Mom about the job.
“Good,” I reply simply. “You want some food?”
“Yes, please.”
Rising, she stretches her arms high in the air, showing off the coiling leaves of the tattoo that runs up her side. Yawning widely, she heads toward her bedroom.
“I’m gonna shower.”
She wanders away, already stripping off her top as she heads to the bathroom. She makes no attempt to clean up after herself and drops her top in the hallway for me to pick up later.
“Go sit down, Annie,” I say resignedly. “I’ll make you some food. You want spaghetti?”
Her eyes light up. “Yes! Are you sure you’re not too tired? How was it today?”
She sits on the barstool, her headphones around her neck. She looks impossibly young as I start to pull out the ingredients I need.
I’m wishing now I had grabbed another portion of food from the restaurant at lunch but I felt too much like a pig to do it.
The refrigerator is sparse, to say the least, but I think I can still whip something up. I’ll need to go shopping tomorrow. Usually, that would fill me with worry, as I squeeze it in around early shifts and sometimes a night shift, too, but with this job, it feels like I have hours to spare.
I fry some onions, searching for anything else I can use, and find some tomatoes at the back of the drawer. Slicing them, I look up to see Annabelle watching me expectantly.
My day was good. I got fucked and did some printing.
“It was okay. How was yours?”
“Nope!” she says, miming a zip over her lips. “You always ask about me, and this time I want to know everything about your first day at your swanky job. What’s Crawford like?”
Enormous.
“He seems okay. I didn’t see him much. He walked by my desk a few times looking very important and barked at me to hand him some files. Otherwise, I spent the day getting used to his schedule.”
“Is he super busy?”
“He had three meetings side by side today. Apparently, he sometimes does two calls at the same time.”
“How?”
“Beats me!”
Annabelle laughs as I throw the onions into the pan and place the spaghetti on to boil.
“So, what did you spend the day doing?” she asks.
“Mainly setting him up with packs for his meetings. It doesn’t seem too complicated, so far.”
“What’s the office like?”
“Huge. I’ll try to take a picture for you tomorrow.”
“Yes, please! I hope I can get a job one day. Once I’m feeling better, I might ask Mom about waitressing at her place.”
“That’s a great idea,” I lie, keeping my voice as bright and upbeat as possible, but I know Annabelle won’t be able to do a job like that for a long while.
Waitressing is far too physical. She can barely climb a flight of stairs without getting winded.
She asks me a few more questions about Kaitlin and Julia as the pasta cooks, but I keep the details light, not wanting her to get too excited about it. I have no idea how long this position will last. If the previous escort is anything to go by, I’ll be lucky to make it to the end of the week.
“I looked up your new boss online,” Annabelle says mischievously as I drain the pasta into the sink. “He is gorgeous.” I twist around to look at her, and her eyes are bright with amusement.
“Yeah. He’s kind of weird, though. He wasn’t wearing any shoes when I went in to see him today.”
“No shoes? Or socks?”
“Nope, I don’t know why. He does have nice carpet in his office though. Maybe he just likes the way it feels.”
She snickers to herself as I plate up the food and hand it to her. “I’m just gonna take this in to mom.”
When I go into my parents’ bedroom, my mom is sitting on the bed scrolling through her phone with a towel around her.
“Oh, you’re an angel,” she says, as I hand her the plate.
The room is disgusting, with an unmade bed and dirty plates everywhere, but I know better than to clean it up. The last time I did that, I threw out a cable my dad needed for his car, and he totally lost his mind over it. Ever since then, I just shut the door and let them be.
“So, how’d it go today?” my mom asks.
I pause in the doorway, in shock at her taking an interest. She never usually cares what I do as long as I look after Annabelle.
Sometimes, if my mom wins big at bingo, she’ll take us out for dinner and actually engage in conversation for more than five seconds at a time. But that hasn’t happened in months.
“Fine,” I say cautiously. “It’s a job, and it pays well.”
“Huh. Well, that’s good. Annabelle said it was a recommendation from someone?”
“A friend of Hope’s. You remember a few weeks back, I went to her bachelorette party?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, it was a friend of hers… Bethany…” My voice trails off as I see my mom’s eyes glaze over. This is more familiar. She has the attention span of a three-year-old.
“Baby, would you be able to bring mommy a beer?” she asks in a weepy voice I can’t stand.
I nod, backing out of the room and abandoning the conversation. I’m not bringing her a beer; she can get it herself if she wants one so badly.
I come out to find Annabelle has made a good dent in her plate of pasta, and I sit beside her, eating my portion.
After ten minutes or so, she gives a huge sigh, and I glance up at her nervously.
She’s using her cane a lot these days, more than she used to.
I bought it for her thinking it might be helpful when she was struggling with joint pain a few weeks back, but now it seems to be permanently attached to her side.
Getting up, she takes our plates to the sink. I stop myself from offering to help, watching her movements, trying to gauge if there’s a noticeable change in her gait.
She’s stiff, visibly uncomfortable, but I’m too afraid to ask if she’s feeling worse. There’s nothing I can do if she is.
Until I’ve worked this job for a few months, I won’t be able to afford the first round of treatment, and even then, it’s likely to be too expensive, but I have to try.
I head to the couch, slumping down and putting on the TV.
Flipping through the channels, I eventually find a show I know Annabelle likes. I put my feet up, pulling out my cell to check my messages. Idly, I open my banking app and check my balance, just waiting for the day when this will all be worth it and I’ll actually have some cash.
I sit up, my feet falling to the floor with a thud as I stare at the total in my account.
What the fuck?
“You okay?”
I look over at Annabelle, and she’s watching me with concern.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I just have to make a call real quick.”
I head upstairs, closing my bedroom door behind me, and dial Sterling House. It’s after eight and I’m not sure if anyone will answer, but it connects quickly.
“Sterling House, how can I help you?”
“Hi, this is Amelia Brooks. I was wondering if I could leave a message for Pippa.”
“Oh, she’s still around. You want me to connect you?”
“Uh, thanks, yeah. That’d be great.”
There’s a click, and then Pippa answers. “Hey Amelia, how are you doing?”
“I’m good. I’m really sorry to bother you, but I think there’s been a mistake with my pay.”
“Oh no, really? Okay, well, let me check that for you. What seems to be the problem?”
She sounds worried, like she’s expecting me to be angry. “Uh… I have too much money in my account. Like a lot more than I expected, and I’m not supposed to be paid until Friday.”
“Oh, I see,” I can hear her mouse clicking through the phone. “No, the money we sent is correct. Mr. Crawford was very pleased with you today. He confirmed your hire, which is fantastic, and there’s a bonus for the additional services you provided.”
I stare ahead of me, barely breathing. “But that’s five thousand dollars.”
“Yes, three for the successful interview and two for the additional services. Mr. Crawford is one of our more generous clients, and that’ll be a standard bonus for any extras you provide for him.”
I sit down on the bed, calculations running through my mind too fast to process.
“Oh. Great. Well, thanks for checking on it.”
“No problem. Well done today. If you need anything else, you can call me.”
“Okay.”
I hang up and stare at the shiny four-digit number in my account.
I’ll have to deduct taxes, but still, that figure is more than double what I was hoping for.
Bethany hadn’t been specific in how much I’d be paid, but if I don’t screw it up, I could be earning enough to pay for Annabelle’s treatment in a matter of months.
Six months down the line, she could be starting it. A grin spreads over my face, and I’m so elated and excited I can barely contain myself. I stand up, then sit down again, staring at the screen disbelievingly. It’s more than I’ve earned in a month with three jobs, and this is day one.
I lie back on the bed, a twinge between my legs reminding me just what I am being paid for. But I don’t give a shit.
Sitting back up, I go to Annabelle’s room to retrieve my battered laptop and bring it into my bedroom. Shutting the door and listening to see if anyone is coming, I sit on my bed and open it to a private tab.
Navigating to the porn site I tried a few nights ago, I glance at the door again, nervous in case somehow my sister finds out what I’m doing. I’m gonna have to be careful if she uses my computer—I can’t have her know what I’m doing.
I’ve never been more determined to do a good job in my life, and I’m watching a woman on her knees blowing a guy with a huge cock when my phone screen lights up with a call from Hope.
“Hey,” I say, pausing the video, the woman’s mouth open wide around the thick dick pushing down her throat.
“Hey, yourself. I just wanted to call and find out how it went.”
I sigh, relieved that I don’t have to lie to her. “It was… interesting.”
“So, what was the interview like? Did he ask you for your qualifications?” she asks, her voice teasing.
“Uh, not really. He just kind of… got down to business.”
There is a long, pregnant pause, and then Hope splutters in disbelief. “Did you have sex for the interview?” she asks, sounding as astonished as I was.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Holy shit!” and now she sounds excited. “Happy ‘losing your V-card day’! How are you feeling?”
I consider that question. The truth is, I’m okay. I’m sure I should feel some kind of shame, but I don’t. I’m elated that I can help my sister, and that’s all that’s ever mattered to me.
“Alright, I guess. I’m not sure I was all that good. I didn’t really do anything.”
“Babe, don’t be stupid. You were great, I’m sure. Did he hire you?”
“Yeah.”
“There you go. Guys don’t care much, in my experience. He wants a hole to fuck. Big deal.”
“Jesus, Hope.”
“You’re gonna have to be less of a prude about this stuff now, babe, because you know I’m gonna want all the details. How big is his dick?”
I clear my throat. “Big.”
“Hah! I fucking knew it. I figured it was gonna go one of two ways. Either he’s ugly as sin and can’t get laid unless he pays for it, or he’s some alpha billionaire with a supercharged sex drive who just needs a woman to service him. Are you feeling okay after?”
“Yeah. I’m sore, but, you know. I’m good.”
Hope sighs. “Is it weird to say I’m proud of you?
You know I don’t give a shit about the type of job you have, and I never will.
You’re my BFF for life, and I know you’re doing this for Annabelle.
You’re the best sister ever. All I care about is that he treats you well and you stay safe. Was he an asshole?”
“No. Well, not about that. He was pretty moody after, but I think that’s his MO. He took his time, didn’t force me. That kind of thing.”
“Good, because if he did, I would come and kick his ass.”
I laugh, feeling very lucky to have her in my life. “I kind of just…” I stop, not wanting to admit the truth.
“What?”
“Well, I kind of just stood there, and he did his thing. I wasn’t actually involved much. I’m worried that once I have to do anything, he’s gonna see right through me.”
“It’s all in the hips,” Hope says casually, “and you’ll get the hang of it. You’re like the smartest person I know, and you pick things up so fast. This is gonna be like everything else you do. You’ll have it down in a day.”
“I guess.”
“My little girl is all grown up.”
“I hate you.”
“I’m gonna buy you a card.”
“Goodbye, Hope.”
I hang up, a reluctant smile on my face as I restart the video, turning the sound down to nothing. I get a tingle of sensation between my legs as I watch the woman in front of me. She’s beautiful, sensual, and all the things I’m not, but imagining kneeling at Crawford’s feet is not unappealing.
Not unappealing at all.