Chapter 6
Romeo
Julien follows me through the store and to the makeup aisle. I grab some cover-up, makeup sponges, and foundation in two colors to match my skin tone and his. I toss them into the basket and search for the bronzer I like. Once I find it, I put it into the basket as well.
“Can I get some toiletries? I don’t even have a toothbrush, and I don’t want to go back home.” I pat my wallet and smile. “Oh, never mind. I have cash now.”
“Save your money, Romeo. I’ll buy it. Grab whatever you need.”
Not about to turn down free stuff, I nod and head off to the toothpaste aisle, snagging some toothpaste and a toothbrush. God, to have money to throw around like that.
Soon, you’ll have tons of money. Soon, you’ll be away from Tito forever.
I’m not sure what I’ll do beyond running when this is over. It’s not like I have any job experience. I guess I’d still have to sell myself, since it’s the only thing I know how to do, but it’d be on my own terms, right? And I definitely wouldn’t let anyone hit me.
I also pick up some deodorant, facial scrub, and lotion for the face and body.
“Oh, we need some other things for you,” I say, rushing off to the next row. Since it’s Julien’s money, I snag some toner, cotton pads, and hyaluronic acid, though I can’t pronounce the word to save my life. Lastly, I grab a few hydrating masks and some sunscreen for the face.
“I see you take care of your skin, too,” he says as he pays at the self-checkout machine.
“Yeah, I have to stay attractive… or hide bruises.”
We bag everything and leave the store. Before Julien keeps walking, I grab his arm to stop him. “Hey, let’s do it over there.” I angle my head toward the curb of the sidewalk. “The light’s just right here.”
This time, I’m the one who takes his hand and leads him to the curb of the nearly empty parking lot, where we sit. He’s facing the sun, while I open all the packaging.
“We’ll start with a cleanser to wipe off any sweat and shit.”
Julien watches me with a tiny smile on his face.
It’s subtle enough that if you weren’t looking, you wouldn’t have noticed it.
His eyes never leave mine as I work upward, dragging the soft cleansing pads along his neck, over his chin, across his cheeks, and around his nose, before finishing with his forehead.
It’s kind of cool that this rich boy can sit in a dirty parking lot and let me put makeup on him.
“I like the dimple in your chin,” he says as I cleanse the other side of his face. “It’s cute.”
“Thanks.”
“I also like your silver hair.”
I smile shyly and tuck my hair behind my ears. “Thanks,” I say again.
I pour a dollop of facial lotion into my palm, dot it over his face, and then run my hands over his smooth skin to blend it in. I try to be careful with his nose. It looks like it hurts.
“But I especially like your eyes.”
I shrug at the compliment. “They look weird.”
“They definitely don’t look weird. They’re special. Unique.”
I actually do like my eyes. It’s my only interesting feature, but I’ve also gotten a lot of strange comments about them over the years. Men have told me it looks like there’s something wrong with me, while others couldn’t look at my face at all.
“Thanks,” I say for the third time because I’m dumb with words and I don’t know what else to say.
I hold up the peach color corrector for the bruising under his eyes. “You’re mostly purple and blue right now, so this color should work.”
“I guess you’ve had a lot of practice covering your bruises?”
My eyes meet his before I look away and nod. “Yeah, my handler enjoys it sometimes… all the time.”
“I swear to fucking…” He stares past the parking lot toward the street with a deep frown before he sighs and turns his attention back to me.
Our eyes meet again, but I can’t hold his stare the way he can hold mine. I glance down and focus on the eye that’s more bruised. I swipe the color over the delicate skin, tapping gently to spread it out. Then I do the other side.
When I reach for a makeup sponge, Julien wraps his hand around the base of my neck and pulls me close. He has a cute splash of freckles across his nose that I like. “I want to kiss you.”
“Now?”
He nods slowly.
“Then kiss me.” I almost make a joke about him being able to kiss me as much as he wants with what he’s paying me, but somehow it doesn’t feel right, like I’m making fun of him or something. He wants a companion, even if I’m someone he bought and paid for, not a person who teases him.
His lips land on mine, which are as soft as his hands. He’s tentative at first. I think this is his first guy kiss. Maybe. I’m only assuming. Julien doesn’t deepen it, pulling away as his eyes slide open instead. The kiss was tender. Delicate. Things I’m not used to at all.
My hands sit on my lap, holding the makeup. I don’t touch him because I’m not sure if I’m allowed to. But again, it’s like he can read minds or something because he grabs my free hand and rests it on his thigh.
Julien smells like a woodsy Christmas tree, mingled with the faint remnants of cigarettes. Despite that, he’s fresh and clean-smelling. It’s so much better than that strong and pungent cologne Tito wears, or how some clients just smell bad.
After working for the day, I’ll spend a good hour scrubbing my body of all the sex and filth. I hate feeling contaminated.
“Better than I expected,” he breathes when he pulls back. “I’m not sure why, maybe because it’s different. Exciting. I’ve always wanted a meaningful kiss, and I’ve never gotten one.”
“Your girlfriend never kissed you?”
“She did. It’s hard to explain. Maybe it’s how I felt when I kissed her. There was no love in it.”
I wouldn’t know.
“If she wanted a kiss, it was because she wanted something from me. People have always used me. They take and take. Of course, they’re takers. How does one get rich if they don’t? Not that I’m any better.”
Words and thoughts escape me, and I hope I’m not like that for the entire two weeks. He’ll get bored super fast if I can’t hold a damn conversation. I would’ve loved to have someone like Julien in my life—someone who was gentle and took care of me. But this is my life. I only belong to Tito.
I don’t get a chance to respond when Julien kisses me again.
Our tongues taste each other, which is so fucking intimate.
While I like it, my stomach twists with nerves.
But he paid for it, so I’m going to kiss the hell out of him in return.
Now, it’s me who deepens the kiss. My hand travels up his body, along his neck, and to the back of his head.
I gather soft curls between my fingers as his hand gently grips my jaw to control it.
Right when I’m getting into it, he pulls away. His lips are swollen, and he’s panting. I tentatively touch his upper lip, where he’s got a cut. “Does it hurt?”
“Not anymore.”
I smile shyly, catching his drift, as I pull out some sheer foundation to blend over his skin, watching the bruises slowly disappear. “I’ll give you a proper facial one day.”
“Like a spa treatment?”
I exhale a laugh. “Something like that. I’m not a professional or anything, but I like doing it. It’s one of the few things I get to do for fun. My handler doesn’t care as long as I’m pretty for the clients. Sometimes I do it for the other boys.”
Julien rubs his thumb over my cheek. “It works.”
My heart suddenly flutters along with my stomach. I brush it off as just being in a situation that I’m not used to.
When we wrap up the makeup, he pulls out his phone, turns the camera to face him, and looks at my handiwork on the screen. “Not bad. Not bad at all. You can barely tell I have any bruises. You did an amazing job.”
“Thanks.” I inwardly roll my eyes at myself for not being more clever with my words.
“What about you?”
“Yep, I need to fix myself up, too. If we’re going to nice places and shit, I don’t want people staring at us, or people assuming we hit each other or something.”
Julien holds his camera to my face to use as a mirror. When I’m done, I toss everything back into the plastic shopping bag and stand. “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
He holds the bag for me like a fucking gentleman, takes my hand in his free one, and walks us down the street a few blocks away.
We stop next to an old red-and-white-striped Bronco. It’s pretty cool-looking. I’m not sure why I expected he’d have something fancier or newer. I guess because he’s been tossing around his money like it’s nothing.
Julien opens the passenger door for me and helps me climb in. Shit, I need to remember to play my persona. I keep forgetting because he keeps throwing me off my game. “Such a gentleman,” I say and wink at him.
“Don’t do that.”
My smile instantly drops into a frown. “D-do what?”
“Look, I know you’re a sex worker, but I need a companion. I want you to be yourself around me, Romeo. You don’t have to pretend to be someone else to get my attention. You have my undivided attention already.”
“My life’s… depressing. You don’t want to know the real me.”
Before Julien closes the car door, he cups my face in his extremely soft hands.
They’re like velvet. “I really do. I don’t want to be around someone who’s pretending to be someone he’s not for two weeks.
That’s been my entire fucking life. I’m not only hiring you for sex, but for friendship, as I’ve said.
I know what you are. Who you are. It’s a hard job, no doubt.
But I want you to have fun, too, okay? Try to relax and go with the flow. I definitely plan to.”
Usually, my heart beats fast from fear. Now it’s beating from excitement, especially when his eyes land on my lips.
I know, right then, that he wants to kiss me again.
I do all that I can not to turn on my sex worker persona and accept his kiss, letting him lead the show.
He leans down, and his eyes flutter closed, those long and thick lashes fanning out across his cheek.
Mine stay open. God, I’m so fucking not used to this.