"I know." I wasn't going to tell him that my parents were trying to impress him by changing their entire house and wardrobe. He seemed to like them, and that was good enough for me, even if they hadn’t been themselves. We had two more days to spend with them—Christmas Eve and Christmas Day—before we went home. I was curious if they were going to keep up the ruse.
I yawned as my sister knocked on the door. "Do you guys want to make drinks and sit out back by the fire pit?"
I looked at Douglas, and he gave a quick nod, so even though I was tired from traveling, I replied, "Yeah, we'll be right there."
We finished hanging up our clothes and then met Everleigh in her kitchen. She had numerous bottles of whiskey, tequila, rum, gin, and vodka.
"What? No champagne?" I teased.
She grinned. "That's for Christmas day."
"Ah." I chuckled. "Well, Douglas likes his whiskey, and I'm good with a vodka cranberry or something like that."
"Perfect." She grabbed all the ingredients, and we each made our drinks before taking them out back to sit around the fire pit.
"When is your next pageant?" Douglas asked Everleigh.
"Next month," she replied.
I yawned, and they looked at me. "Sorry. Just a long day."
They went back to talking about Everleigh’s upcoming pageants. Every time I turned around, she had another pageant. It wasn't a surprise to me since that was how it was when we were growing up.
I yawned again. "Sorry. I think I'm going to head to bed." I started to stand, expecting Douglas to say that he was going to bed too.
Instead, he said, "I think I'm going to have one more drink before calling it a night. Another one, Everleigh?"
I blinked. It seemed Douglas was really getting along with everyone in my family.
"Yeah, I could go for another," she replied.
"Okay. Well, I'll see you in the morning then."
I turned and went back inside, putting my glass in the dishwasher on my way through the house. Needing to wash off the day, I jumped into the shower before crawling into the bed. When I woke in the middle of the night, I reached for Douglas, expecting to find his warm body next to me. Instead, the bed was cold. I got up and walked into the living room, which was dark and empty. Thinking they might still be outside by the fire, I went to the back door, swung it open, and found out they were. Except what I saw wasn't what I was expecting. They were both naked, and Everleigh was in his lap riding him while throwing her head back in pleasure.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Present Day
I wasat another fucking wedding. This one was for my man Brad and his girl, Cassie. I really didn't understand how any of my friends wanted to be tied down to one woman for the rest of their lives, especially since we were paid to fuck. Yeah, okay, that wasn't technically the job description, but we all knew what went on behind closed doors, and I had no desire to ever be with only one woman again. I had done that when I first started as an escort, and my girlfriend at the time didn't understand that it was just about money and sex. So, after we broke up, I decided never to go down that road again. At the time, I was twenty-one and just wanted to have fun. I was the life of the party, and having an old ball and chain didn't work with my lifestyle.
I had no elaborate backstory like my friends. I wasn't ex-military, or a cop, or an aspiring athlete who got injured. I was just a cocky, sexy, tattooed dude who liked to fuck. I also had no crazy story about how I got hired by Saddles & Racks. I’d known escorts existed, so I’d searched for a service online, found S&R, called up Mark, and got an interview.
That was six years ago, and the rest was history.
"If you're fucking next, I will cut your dick off," Mark whispered next to me as we watched Brad and Cassie say their vows before a Bruno Mars impersonator.When in Vegas …
"Do you really think you need to worry about me?" I chuckled under my breath.
"I didn't think I needed to worry about any of you, and now the fourth guy is about to be a married man."
Brad and Cassie had been engaged for almost a year, and therefore, Brad had been out of the game for a year, working with Gabe and Autumn at their self-defense business. Cassie had recently gone back to work at the jewelry store where she had been employed when Brad had been shot. Gabe and Autumn had a kid and another on the way. Paul and Joss were badass FBI agents, and Vinny, who was still teaching special needs kids, and Tessa, a stay at home mom, had two kids who were their world. Seth—who was never an escort, but worked undercover with Joss on a case—and his wife, Cat, a dentist, were expecting their first child. Needless to say, everyone was having kids or getting married, and that would never be me. Not only did I not want to settle down with one woman, but I also couldn't imagine having a kid.
"You don't need to worry about me," I assured him. "I'm not a sucker like them. No woman is going to tie me down."
"That's what they've all said."
"Yeah, but they've all been in love before. They clearly wanted it again." I hadn't loved my ex. That was why it was so easy for me to pick my career over her.
