...AND SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH A HOOKER

Chapter 13

After some searching, they eventually found Jenny standing by the bar, ordering drinks. She turned to them with a big grin when Rose sidled up beside her.

‘’There you are! I was beginning to think Adrian had whisked you off to have his wicked ways with you in the coat room or something,’’ Jenny winked saucily, and Adrian laughed at the blush Rose knew she was sporting.

‘’Not yet, anyway,’’ Adrian chuckled.

‘’So where does the little arm candy go, Jenny? No luck with this one, huh?’’ She challenged instead of dignifying either of the two with a response.

‘’Don’t know; care less,’’ Jenny shrugged. ‘’He was way too boring anyway. You know I like ‘em feisty. ‘’She elbowed Rose as if relaying an insider joke or something. Rose rolled her eyes.

‘’Would you stop being such a girl, Jenny? It’s distasteful.’’

‘’Only if you stop being a prude,’’ she replied casually before turning to collect the small tumbler glass the barman set in front of her on the bar top. Ice cubes clinked inside an amber liquid as she lifted it. ‘’Want to join me on the terrace? Ted brought a couple of nicely illegal Cubans and very generously offered to share. I’m sure there’s one for you guys, too, if you want.

‘’You know I don’t smoke, Jenny,’’ Rose answered at the same time as Adrian said, ‘’Sure, we’d love to!’’

Rose turned to give Adrian a questioning look and received a shrug in reply.

‘’What? I like a good cigar now and then. They smell nice,’’ Adrian smiled in explanation. ‘’Besides, you don’t decline when offered a Cuban.’’ He lifted his hand to wave at the bartender, and when he got his attention, he pointed at Jenny’s glass, indicating he wanted one too.

Rose silently considered her options. While she was beginning to relax enough to enjoy Adrian’s company.

‘’Okay, but I’ll blame you when I turn green and have to be sick in the bushes,’’ she warned, only half joking.

‘’I’ll make sure to hold your hair back,’’ Adrian chuckled and picked up his bourbon while handing Rose her third glass of wine before turning to Jenny. ‘’Shall we?’’

The night had turned chilly, or perhaps it was due to them leaving the warmth of the ballroom, but Rose still shivered as they stepped out on the big terrace running the length of the back of the building. While the area was softly lit by evenly spaced out sconces lining the wall, a stunning view of the yellowish lights of the busy city of New York twinkled in the distance beyond its bounds. The planning committee had gone all out on this night, being bathed in luxury, as Rose silently wondered just what the venue alone would have cost to rent.

‘’I hope you don’t mind, Rose, but I clued Ted in on your little deal with Adrian here.’’ Jenny’s voice pulled Rose out of her thoughts, and she frowned slightly.

‘’Your deal with Adrian, actually, but sure, it’s fine,’’ Rose replied and fixed her eyes on Ted, who was handing out cigars to Jenny and Adrian. ‘’I trust you can keep your mouth closed.’’

‘’Your secret’s safe with me,’’ Ted smiled back while helping Jenny light the end of her cigar, and Adrian stepped forward so Ted could do the same with his. Rose scrunched her nose as some of the resulting smoke whirled past her, and she waved her hand in front of her face to dissipate it.

‘’I still don’t understand how you can all enjoy these nasty things,’’ she complained, coughing slightly. ‘’Doesn’t seem pleasurable at all to me.’’

‘’Have you ever actually tried one?’’ Adrian asked while puffing lightly on his cigar, making sure to blow the smoke away from Rose’s direction when he released it.

‘’No, but I tried a cigarette once when I was, and I was sick for half a day after,’’ She argued and narrowed her eyes when Adrian dared to snigger at her.

‘’A cigar is not the same thing as a cigarette, Adrian. The taste is much sweeter, and you don’t inhale. You just let the taste of smoke linger in your mouth a bit. It’s quite relaxing. A bonus is that it makes a good liquor taste even better,’’ he said as he lifted his drink to his lips, smiling at Rose.

‘’Still not good enough reasons to willingly consume poison,’’ Rose said and crossed her arms against the cold that was now starting to bother her a bit. She was about to say as much when Adrian shrugged his shoulders and answered, ‘’Suit yourself,’’ quickly getting engaged in a conversation about different types of cigars with Jenny and Ted. It wasn’t a topic that Rose had an interest in, so she turned to look at the view instead, turning out their voices and letting her mind wander.

Rose was glad that Adrian had made her ask all those questions earlier, opening himself up to scrutiny. Rose had been curious, and Adrian was right about that, but some of what Adrian told her had not only shocked but also saddened her. Okay, sure, what did Rose expect- a glittery fairy tale? This type of way to make money couldn’t be many people's first career choice, and there was probably a rough back-story applied to most of those who did it.

But Rose understood what Adrian had meant when he’d said that there was a sense of security in his way of handling s*x. Without him saying as much, Adrian had indicated that he more or less used s*x to guard his heart, twisted as it might seem. He’d probably been hurt many times before he took his detachment on things, and Rose couldn’t help but feel bad for what Adrian must have gone through. Whatever it was, he’d locked it up behind a polished, well-spoken exterior and made it all look like it didn’t bother him. Rose could only hope that Adrian would eventually find something else to do with his life than giving himself- or at least his body - to the highest bidder. He deserved better.

When allowing herself to think about it, though, Rose couldn’t deny that Adrian had a point about the one night stand thing. Of course, Rose has had those too, like so many people her age. She’d let ‘em sow their wild oats, so to speak, when the allure of the bars back in Australia beckoned after her 18th birthday.

It was just that since waking up badly hungover after the Halloween party last year, Rose had been left with a bad taste in her mouth in more than the literal sense. Sleeping around wasn’t appealing to her anymore, and since she mostly kept to herself, she’d gotten comfortable being on her own. Perhaps Rose had convinced herself that she was choosing to be lonely because she couldn’t be bothered with the effort of trying not to be. Or perhaps she was afraid of being hurt- just like Adrian.