6. Chapter 6
A licia had never been so glad to be home. Home was a refuge. Even if Ms. Clayborn had transgressed that refuge by bringing Danica into her space, Alicia was still relieved to enter her quaint abode and remove her shoes by the front door.
Candice popped out of the kitchen holding a cocktail shaker. “Back already! Well, don’t get too comfortable. I made margaritas.”
Alicia wandered nearby, feet dragging across the carpet. “Good. I need alcohol.”
“I figured.” A martini glass was shoved into her hand. “No lime, just how you like.”
The alcohol burned a lot more than Alicia anticipated. As soon as the fire in her mouth and throat calmed down, she wheezed.
“Extra strong. For you.”
“Holy shit,” Alicia muttered, handing the empty glass back. “Get me another. Stat.”
She retreated to the living room, where the comfy couch awaited. Alicia didn’t bother to change. A cushion called her name. By the time she was comfortable, Candice emerged with another martini, a toothpick spearing a green olive clenched between her teeth.
“So. Tell me what happened.” Candice sat down.
She didn’t gulp down her alcohol like Alicia had, but that wasn’t Candice’s style to begin with.
The woman had been a bartender for years on top of hosting and waitressing.
It’s how we met . Both Alicia and Candice worked at Luxe, a bar catering to white collar workers, before it was bought out, and the original staff were laid off at once.
Some of the best tips in town . Especially since Alicia had been the only full-time hostess.
Benefits and tips! Who had heard of such a thing?
Sighing, Alicia dangled her martini glass over the edge of the couch, eyes pointed toward the ceiling. Her legs spread open, thighs straining against her pencil skirt.
“I…”
“Hey, weren’t you wearing tights when you left? Where are they?”
Alicia jerked up, gin and vermouth splattering. “You keep track of my outfits?”
“I am when you’re summoned to see some horny billionaire you’ve already fucked.”
What could Alicia say? Besides, “You done caught me. I wore tights out of here. I ain’t got them now.”
“Knew it.” Now Candice shot that martini down her throat. So much for appreciating her own mixology skills. “Knew that was a booty call. Just didn’t think it would be over so quickly.”
“What did you expect?”
Candice shrugged in her sweater. “Thought maybe she was taking you out on a date. You know. A real one. Not a fuck summons.”
“I don’t think Danica Moreau is the kind of woman to go on romantic dates. She would say she doesn’t have time for that.” More than likely, her idea of a hot date was picking someone up in her limo and fucking her curbside. That way, Alicia could be on her way!
“You ain’t her new main squeeze?”
“Why would I be? I guess she has some fascination with me. Certainly didn’t think she would go out of her way to send her assistant to pick me up for a round two quickie.”
“So, you did fuck her again!”
Alicia rolled her eyes.
“Please tell me you at least got a date out of it this time.”
“I should probably have more self-respect. I got in there, I get mesmerized by her icy, brown-eyed glare, and I spread my stupid legs.”
“Well, oh my shit, Alicia, you’re certifiably dumb.”
“If you were on the receiving end of that woman’s sexual strength, you’d be dumb, too.”
“Apparently, but I’ve gotta admire your long-term game here.”
Alicia turned her head. “What are you talking about?”
“Huh? You mean you’re not scheming a way into a big payday?”
“No. Do tell, though. I’m still unemployed.”
That grin was both maniacal and completely silly. “You gonna start offering your magical pussy services for a price, right? Make that woman your certified sugar mama?”
“For fuck’s sake, no!”
“Keep up your bad habits and you might be singing a different tune in a few weeks.”
Alicia put her hand on her stomach. “I don’t think I could do that, for any amount.”
“Ah, come on. You’re almost thirty! Pretty soon, your chance to be a sugar baby will dry up. Worried about having no career? Who cares when a billionaire pays for everything!”
Even though Alicia knew her roommate was joking – such was Candice’s humor – she still blanched in abject horror.
“I may not know much about this woman,” Alicia began, realizing how much worse that made the situation sound, “but I have a feeling she wouldn’t be the greatest for that.
For all I know, she’s got other girlfriends on speed dial out there.
If she does, I never once saw any pictures of other women in that apartment… condo… penthouse?”
“Apartment-condo-penthouse?” Candice rested her elbows on her knees, chin in her hands. “Tell me more. Tell me everything, you slut.”
“Hey!”
“Kidding. Kinda. I’m jealous.”
Alicia needed to finish her drink before divulging any details.
When she was properly tipsy on gin, she went into greater detail about what it was like to be the fancy of Danica Moreau.
Alicia talked mostly about her scent… did Candice remember that boutique they went to in New York?
Yeah! She was totally wearing that perfume!
What? What was so funny about that? Didn’t she get that it was burning hot?
Candice didn’t care about that, though. She wanted to know about Danica’s body, her manner of making love, and whether she lived up to all of Alicia’s virginal fantasies.
Her body was barely revealed to her, ever.
Her manner of making love? Even Candice would blush, and she did assistant work on porn sets.
As for living up to any fantasies… Alicia was aware that her first time having sex would probably be boring.
Hopefully not too painful, since she was well educated in how her body worked and had taken countless spins on silicone lovers, but that would be up to her partner, wouldn’t it?
But any discomfort Alicia experienced had only added to the moment.
Hair pulling and spanking? Well, shit. Sounded like a nightmare if someone else was telling her that.
“People getting too many so-called lessons from porn!” she would have spat.
She didn’t get that impression from Danica, though.
She was a woman who knew what kind of experience she wanted and how to deliver it to her partner as well.
So happened that Alicia was into it… and ready to succumb at any moment.
“That’s wild,” Candice commented at the end of the ten-minute spiel.
“Guess I would throw myself at a hot billionaire, too. Can’t blame you, girl.
Promise me that if we ever go clubbing again, you don’t go rubbing your bare pussy on someone’s equally bare ass because you got a taste for random hookups.
Shit ain’t safe under a certain income level. ”
“Would you come off it? I get it. I’m dumb. Think I don’t beat myself up over it?”
“Hey, hey, I didn’t mean it like that.” Candice put a reassuring hand on Alicia’s arm. “We all get caught up in the moment.”
“Even at twenty-eight?”
“Even at seventy, probably.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel better.”
“So jump headfirst into it.” Candice shrugged. “I’ll be here when you crash and burn.”
“Thanks.” Alicia leaned forward, halfway off the couch, but not committing to getting up.
Where would she go, anyway? Her bedroom to take a nap?
Pshaw. “Although you seem to have this inflated sense that I’m going to see her again.
She’s probably done with me now. Got me out of her system really good.
” She finally managed to smile. “Why do you think I hopped into it a second time so readily? Might have been my last chance!”
Candice had a knowing look, the kind she imparted whenever she dangled her years of emotional life experience over Alicia. “People like that don’t get over women so easily. I might agree if it had only been the one time. A second? She’s going to ask you out. Just you wait.”
“Ask me out to what? Become her side-honey?”
“What if she does? Will you say no?”
“That would probably be a good idea. The sex may be nice to have in my life, but I don’t get the sense it would end well for me any other way. She’ll get rid of me the moment she finds someone else who strikes her fancy.”
Candice sat back in a ponderous position. “Be that as it may, you could totally milk the situation for all it’s worth should it present itself.”
“What do you mean?”
A hand tipped in blood-red nails patted Alicia’s knee. “If she comes looking for a sugar baby? Give the woman a sugar baby… and by give, I mean make her pay for it.”
Alicia’s mouth dropped open. “I couldn’t…”
“Girl, unless you get a job in the meantime, what are you going to do about rent? Think about that.”
“I’m looking for a job!”
“I know you are, but you also know how hard it is to get jobs in our industry right now. I keep putting my feelers out for you, but that Midnight job was the first real one I had in a while. To be frank, you botched it.”
“I know!”
“So make the woman who made you lose your job pay for it. Think of it as getting a sweet severance package. Including a sweeter pussy.”
Candice was ruthless. Alicia knew she needed such a person in her life, but sometimes the things she said were too much!
Still. Food for thought. Not that Alicia had much hope that either Ms. Moreau or Ms. Clayborn would come knocking on her door again.
No. She wouldn’t count on it. Best to pick up the phone and start trolling Craigslist for job openings again.
She had a better chance at getting a hosting position in a family Mexican restaurant than she did of ever seeing Danica again.
Alicia spent the rest of her day either searching for jobs or listening to Candice give her plenty of “advice” on how she should milk Danica of more of her attention.
“ At least charge her a fee for your beautiful presence. She’s a rich bitch.
What does she care if you charge five hundred bucks a pop?
What? Why are you offended? Five hundred is respectable!
Fine, fine, go for a few grand if you think you can get it, honey! Shut up! I’m not a pimp!”
Alicia came out of that day with one promise to herself: follow her gut. Right now, her gut told her to email the owner of a Chinese-American restaurant and get herself a damn job.