Chapter 7
Eden
Eden
Although she was quite embarrassed about meeting her boyfriend’s daughter in such a sudden manner, there was no going back. Eden had clocked the look in Drew’s eye and knew exactly what it meant.
“Oh, she hates you,” Blair said as they shopped for lingerie together. “At least when my dad got remarried, it was to a woman his own age. I would have thrown chairs if she were barely older than me.”
Eden checked for her size inside a display of lavender teddies, despite having zero interest in them.
They were mostly here for Blair, anyway, who had to keep a rotation of fresh undies and negligees for her job.
Between streaming on FansOnly, working at the Salon, performing in nightclubs, and moonlighting as a bartender at places like La Mariposa, the woman probably had a whole closet dedicated to lacy undies and silk kimonos.
“She was so disgusted when she realized who I was. Didn’t help that I was wearing a crop top and a short skirt. You’d think I went there to get laid.”
“Well?” Blair held a black teddy in front of her face. “Did you?”
“I mean… it’s never off the table…”
“She’ll get over it.” She must have meant Drew, who undoubtedly gave her father hell when Eden left.
“Especially if you’re around for a while.
She’s probably grossed out at her dad and feeling suss about your intentions toward his wallet.
If I were the young daughter of a man of Benson Smith’s means, I’d be worried about both, too. Mostly the money.”
“So, she’s thinking that he’s simultaneously taking advantage of me because of my age, while I’m fleecing him of his money?”
“You said it, not me.”
Despite having more money than she knew what to do with in her accounts, Eden was only interested in the clearance section.
Yet there wasn’t much that fit her cup-size-to-waist ratio, and what was there was either garish neon orange or made out of a material she wouldn’t be able to wait to get out of…
for the unsexiest reasons. Not knocking orange, but it looks terrible on me.
Blair, meanwhile, amassed about five bra-and-panty sets and full negligee sets. She didn’t bother trying anything on over her underwear, despite her having a fantastic rapport with the retail workers. Blair didn’t even have to brandish a credit card. She had one on file.
Well, her girlfriend did.
“That red is salacious,” Eden said while standing at the register with her friend. “Does it show up on camera well?”
“Oh, this is for performing off-camera. Audiences can see it better in the back.”
“Oh.”
The woman checking them out turned around to properly bag the items at a back table. “Also, the kind of thing you wear to bachelorette parties. You’d be shocked to know how many women hire us to entertain a happy couple before their nuptials.”
“Every time someone is agog about me being a Butterfly, I think about you.”
Speaking of…
They were on their way out of the boutique when Eden spotted something on the far wall she had yet to see.
Oh, my… No, she had not gone into the “bridal” section, for obvious reasons.
Yes, she was captivated by the solid white one-piece with intricate beadwork and the kind of top that could either go strapless or attach a single piece of fabric that looped over one shoulder or around the neck.
Both styles were on display, and Eden imagined herself in either.
“Ah, memories,” Blair said, before checking her phone while Eden stared at the $500 bridal negligee for sale. “Just like a certain paradise.”
With both of their bags at their feet, they stopped by the soup and salad place for a late lunch. It was there that Eden revealed she had been invited back to La Mariposa.
“I’ve got some time before they expect my response,” she said. “I’d say no, but… it’s so much money.”
“Just wanna point out that I haven’t been asked to come back and bartend,” Blair said with a pretend pout. “But they usually don’t ask until like two weeks before.”
“If I weren’t dating both guys, I’d seriously consider it.”
“Sounds like you already are, if you haven’t told them to take a hike already.”
“I mean… a hundred grand. I never thought I’d be invited to something like that once, let alone twice! I almost feel stupid for potentially turning it down.”
“Anyway, you said it’s because you’re dating both? What, is one guy gonna be okay?”
Blair jested, but Eden had already thought of that. “I honestly don’t think Liam would care too much if we discussed it. That man just does not get jealous about me around other men.”
“There’s being around other men, and then there’s fucking them anytime, anyplace.”
“I know. Believe me. But I’ve told you…” Eden dropped her voice to a whisper, “Me being with other men is his kink.”
“I thought that was the other one’s, too.”
“Ben likes watching and then participating. He’s old school with kinks like that.” Eden grabbed the salt for her soup that was just delivered from the kitchen. “Liam is… um…”
“Yeah, I get you. Lots of guys like that at the event.”
“Right. Besides, he’s way more open about his attraction to other men than Benson.”
“Still a shocker, but also not really. I shoulda seen it coming and warned you.”
“I didn’t need a warning, girl. Just a heads-up.”
“Hon, I’m gay, you know what I meant.”
“Anyway…” Eden stared at the soup in her spoon.
“I obviously haven’t talked to them about it yet.
Not unless I’m kinda sure I wanna do it again, but it would depend on so many things.
Even Ben, I think, would encourage me to do it just to make the money.
But that man has definitely never dated a sex worker before. Which apparently I am now.”
“You were a few weeks ago, too.”
“Yeah, but like… you’re a full-time sex worker. You stream, entertain, and do all sorts of sexy stuff in front of strangers every weekend. If anything, the island was a vacation from that!”
“Um, do you know how much dick I saw? Way too many people got frisky right in front of my bar despite there being big signs saying no fucking in the food and drink areas. Animals, I swear.”
Eden chuckled. “Imagine how much I saw.”
“At least you like it.”
Indeed. “What do you think I should do?”
Blair put down her phone and looked at her salad and minestrone. “Well, there’s what my girlfriend would tell you to do, which is get paid to get laid. But we’re talking about a lesbian who has male clients.”
“That’s gotta be a mindfuck.”
“That woman compartmentalizes for money like you would never believe. She’s fucking corrupted me.”
Eden took that flippant comment to heart.
Should I be chasing money when I’m seeing two guys?
From an outsider’s point of view, it was probably a no-brainer – one way or another.
Either Eden was stupid for not prioritizing her financial future, or she was stupid for risking her relationship with either Liam or Benson.
Or both! She didn’t know how long it would go with both of them, but why wouldn’t she try to push for as long as feasibly possible?
“I’ve got a lot to think about,” she muttered.
Blair glanced at the bags by their feet. “Says the woman who bought a Butterfly fit.”
Eden didn’t defend herself. Besides, not everything was what it seemed.
“She’ll get over it,” Benson said, sitting on Eden’s loveseat on Wednesday evening.
He had come straight from work with takeout dangling from his hand.
It was their first time seeing each other since she dropped by his place Sunday.
Which was the first time since Liam invited him over for all of us to have sex, apparently.
Eden occasionally thought about it while cuddled up to her boyfriend, their takeout boxes scattered around her small kitchen.
“Drew is at that stage where she is both a mature adult and a total teenager with poor emotional regulation. Surely, you remember. Because I do.”
“To be fair, I was also worried that our age gap could cause problems.”
“Well, it hasn’t. My firm knows about it and hasn’t said anything. Honestly, they were more upset about…”
Eden bit her lip. “Liam?”
He sighed. I know he doesn’t like talking about it, but…
The more Benson opened up, the easier it became to bring it up.
“You have to understand, my partners aren’t necessarily homophobic.
But our industry can be, and so are many of our clients.
I hate it. I hate that even my getting divorced lost me a few people long-term, but even Perkins has been divorced.
As far as I’m concerned, my business is my own.
My clients’ business is their own. But they make our personal business their business.
When I told them I was engaged to another man, and we were gonna move in together…
well, I won’t say my partners were unhappy, but they were worried. ”
“That’s so messed up.”
“So, no matter which one of you I’m openly dating, someone’s pissed off. That’s life. I can pick between work and personal, and I’ve long decided that personal matters more to me.”
Eden put her hand on his arm. “Which means…”
“Which means my business is mine. Doesn’t matter if I’m with a man or a younger woman.”
She cuddled up to him. “I think that’s quite noble.”
“Well, it’s easy for me to say. My daughter’s grown, I’ve been divorced, and I have been making great money for almost twenty years. I’ve learned lessons the hard way. I’ve also been smart with my investments. An ongoing income is preferable, but I’ll be fine if I lose my job.”
“But aren’t you a partner?”
“There are ways of pushing me out if they deem it necessary to keep the firm going. Granted, they’d have to buy me out, and that’s worth tens of millions right there…”
Numbers like those still barely made sense to Eden, who remained starry-eyed at a 100k paycheck. “Well, if you say everything’s going to be okay with Drew and work, I believe you.”