7. Visit
Faith
The next few days passed in a blur of lovemaking, cuddling, and tangled limbs. We didn’t leave the house. Cassius and I barely left his bed. When we did, we only made it as far as the pool house. We had sex in it. We had sex everywhere—in the kitchen, the study, the dining room, the pool, the hot tub. On every surface in the living room. In his incredible steam shower. I’d started playing a game called Count the Orgasms, but it seemed that Cassius had literally fucked me senseless because I couldn’t keep track.
For a CEO billionaire, Cassis didn’t seem to work too much. He was solely focused on me. We had food sent over, and his maid service visited daily. When the cleaners showed up, he took me upstairs and fucked me in the closet, clapping his hand over my mouth so they wouldn’t hear me scream as I came.
I couldn’t get enough of him. We were constantly next to each other—holding hands, lying side by side, sleeping curled around each other. Cassius was like the appendage I never knew I had or needed so much. When he penetrated me, I felt whole. When he climaxed and pulled out, I wanted to cry. At least until he brought me against his chest and kissed me tenderly.
I was getting in deep—way, way too deep. I feared I could never climb out of the well of feelings I’d uncovered inside of myself. In a short time, Cassius Blackwood had become my whole world. That wasn’t healthy, and I knew it. I knew it was dangerous to fall in love with him.
But it was already too late.
What we didn’t do was talk, not about the club, not about my non-existent contract, not about my pregnancy test. Cassius did ask me how Lucas was doing, which I appreciated. He encouraged me to call my brother every day. When I did, the billionaire checked his messages. Once we were both done, we were all over each other again.
Three days passed, or was it four? But one morning, Cassius said, “I’ve arranged for Macy and Tate to visit you. They’ve been worried because they haven’t seen you.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s nice. When are they coming?”
“This morning. I’ll go to the club to work in my office for a few hours so you can have some privacy.”
We looked at each other for a beat. Why was it that, faced with being separated from him for a short time, I suddenly felt like I might cry?
“Okay,” I said, trying to be brave.
“Okay,” Cassius said. He tenderly kissed the top of my head.
And then we made love again, slowly, before he left.
A short while later, Macy and Tate rang the doorbell. They both looked great, with eager smiles from ear to ear. Macy wore a white tank top and hot-pink athletic shorts, her curls up in a ponytail. Tate wore a white tennis dress and sneakers. They both looked lightly tanned, relaxed, and well-rested.
“You two look sporty!” I said, grabbing them each for a hug.
“Gina’s making us exercise.” Macy rolled her eyes. “Like we don’t get enough at the club!”
She released me and looked around. “Wow,” she said, taking in Cassius’s house’s luxurious, blindingly-white interior. “This is incredible!”
“Nice digs, unicorn.” Tate swooped in and hugged me again. “Faith, you feel too skinny. What’s Mr. Blackwood doing to you, huh? Fucking you so much you’re torching calories?”
“Stop,” I laughed, but my cheeks heated. I’d lost three pounds since I moved into his mansion—that was precisely what was happening.
“I knew it,” Tate joked. “Mr. Blackwood’s keeping you as his exclusive sex slave.”
“Ooh, sounds like fun!” Macy said.
“Come on, let’s go hang out by the pool. The kitchen sent over some snacks for us.” I led them out to the back patio, and Tate whistled.
“This does not suck,” she declared, looking around at the oasis-like setting. She helped herself to some fresh fruit the staff had set out for us.
“This is so beautiful. And look at this spread! The kitchen is so amazing,” Macy said. She grabbed some French toast with fresh berries and then added maple syrup. I grabbed breakfast, and the three of us settled onto shaded loungers. The aqua pool glistened next to us.
“This is the life,” Macy said, grinning at me. “Living like a billionaire suits you, Faith. You’re glowing.”
“Ha,” I said, but I wondered if it were true. Was I glowing from all the sex, or because I was actually pregnant?
“What’s new?” Tate asked. “Tell us everything.”
I longed to tell them about my test results, but I was keeping that to myself until I knew for sure. “Cassius bought out my contract,” I announced.
“We know that, silly!” Macy fake-punched my arm. “The girls have been in an uproar! It’s the hottest news. Everyone’s been wondering if you two will ever emerge from your love nest to come and see the little people.”
“How’s it going?” Tate asked. “Are you having fun?”
“Yes,” I said quickly, although it was so much more than that. “It’s been incredible.”
“Have you guys talked about the future?” Macy asked.
I shook my head. “It’s only been a few days. He asked me to stay, I said yes, and the conversation hasn’t gone much further than that.”
Tate nodded. “No need to rush things,” she said gently.
“Of course,” Macy said. “It’s all so new.”
“It is.” I nodded. “Last week, I was a virgin. This week…”
“You’re a sex goddess,” Tate declared. “And Cassius Blackwood can’t get enough of you. He’s got it so bad, he had to move you into his private mansion just so he can keep his dick in you morning, noon, and night.”
“Tate!” I wailed, embarrassed. But she wasn’t wrong.
“Did you hear about what happened with Elias?” Macy asked.
When I shook my head, she continued, “He offered to buy out my contract. He said he wanted me to be exclusive. Actually, he said he wanted to marry me.”
“Wow.” I blinked at her. “That’s a big deal.”
“I know.” Macy frowned. “I liked him a lot, and it was a very generous offer. But I said no.”
“How come?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Because I’m twenty and not ready to settle down yet. Plus, I barely knew the guy.” She toyed with a bite of French toast. “But really, it was more because I feel like I’m just starting my life. I’m young. I just lost my virginity. I want to explore, you know? I want to have sex in the grotto with two guys at once. I want a billionaire to fly me to Paris for a sexy weekend tryst. I want to break hearts, and have my heart be broken, and live a little. I want my own house and a tiny dog I can carry around in a tote.”
She laughed.
“I want to figure out what I like and who I like. I want to get to know myself better before deciding who to marry. Plus,”she continued, “I didn’t exactly have a great upbringing. My father’s an alcoholic, and things always got really nasty between him and my mom. Like, bruises and stitches and broken bones nasty.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
Tate nodded. “Me too.”
“Thanks.” Macy took a deep breath. “But I’m not ready to jump into a marriage before I get my own shit figured out, you know? I don’t want history repeating itself.”
“Macy is wise,” Tate said, nodding. “It’s so smart to think about those things. How we grew up has such a huge impact on us. We have to deal with it.”
I stared at them both. I’d never had friends I could talk to about this kind of thing, who were open, and seemed emotionally intelligent.
“What about you?” I blurted out to Tate. “What’s your family like?”
“Oh, they’re fucked,” she said immediately. “Well, my mother’s fucked. I can’t say about my dad—he took off when I was little. Last I heard, he was living in the desert in a teepee. He stayed there after he went to Burning Man one year.”
She shrugged. “My mother’s a hoarder. Like, you can’t walk into her house because it’s so crowded with stuff. She won’t let you throw it out, either. She goes crazy if I ever ask, so I just stay away. But it wasn’t fun growing up like that. Our house was filthy—rats were nesting in her piles of crap. I think that’s why I’m a Dominatrix, you know? I like having control. I never had that as a kid.”
“Wow,” Macy said. “I didn’t know that about your mom. I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” I said. Sheesh, I thought I had it bad.
“What about you?” Macy asked me. “What’s your family like?”
I’d already told them about Lucas, but I never talked about my mom if I could help it. “My dad ghosted us when I was little, too,” I said. “And my mom’s an alcoholic. Like, a mean one.”
They nodded. They both got it.
Tate sighed. “Look at us, huh? Three screwed-up kids working at a sex club.”
Macy laughed. “It’s a pretty nice sex club, though.”
“True.” Tate looked thoughtful. “I’m grateful to be here. With the money I’m earning, I’m going to buy a house with a pool, too. Maybe I’ll be Cassius Blackwood’s neighbor someday!”
We all laughed and then chatted some more. It was wonderful to see my friends. I hated to be separated from Cassius, but being around Tate and Macy reminded me of how much I valued their friendship.
We sat by the pool, hanging our feet in the water. “Faith, what about you and the whole relationship thing?” Tate asked. “Macy said she wasn’t ready for that, but what about you?”
“Um…” I bit my lip. Macy’s words were still ringing in my ears. I don’t want history repeating itself. But I’d be lying if I told them I hadn’t imagined living happily ever after with a certain mercurial billionaire.
“I would like to be ready for that,” I admitted. Truth be told, I lacked Macy’s adventurous spirit. I didn’t want to have sex with two guys at once, fly to Paris for a tryst, or break hearts. The last few days I’d spent with Cassius represented my ideal existence. Being with a person I loved, living a simple life filled with safety and affection… That was what I craved.
I shrugged. “But I don’t think a relationship is an option, so I don’t need to think about it.”
“I respectfully disagree,” Tate said. “Because you’re already having a relationship.”
“Huh,” I said. I hadn’t really considered that.
“We support you no matter what,” Tate said, and Macy nodded. “But just because this guy’s a billionaire, and he’s older than you, doesn’t mean he’s got all the answers.”
“Or that it’s only his choice,” Macy added.
“Thanks, guys.” Inexplicably, my eyes filled with tears. I was grateful for my sunglasses. “That means a lot.”
The truth was, I didn’t know what anything meant. I just knew that Cassius Blackwood had eclipsed the sun, the moon, and the stars in my world. He’d somehow become the most important thing to me, the most dear. But he was a billionaire. I was a sex worker. She grew up on an estate; I grew up on government assistance. He might as well have been from another world.
My friends stayed for the rest of the morning. We swam in the pool, sat in the hot tub, and had a lot of laughs. When I hugged them goodbye, we promised to see each other before the patrons arrived at the end of the week. My heart lifted as they left—connecting with them, laughing, relaxing, and confiding in each other was wonderful.
But once they left, I was alone. The interior of Cassius’s mansion suddenly seemed too empty to me, too cold.
And I knew that, all too soon, my own interior would probably feel the same way.