...AND SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH A HOOKER

Chapter 11

Adrian raised his eyebrows and murmured, ‘’Not yet, you aren’t,’’ while ducking his head to sip wine.

Rose didn’t seem to hear him, though, since she continued to freak out, now covering her mouth with a hand, making her words come out slightly muffled as she fixed her wide eyes on Adrian.

‘’He knows who you are. He knows what you are, and now he’s seen me with you, and oh my god-’’

Adrian rolled his eyes, ‘’Calm down, will you?’’ he said, looking back at Rose. ‘’Do you think he’d risk exposing himself by letting on that he knows who I am? Relax. You’re fine.’’

When Rose just kept shaking her head, Adrian reached up to delicately grip her arm, nodding encouragingly. Rose took a deep breath, dropping her shoulders when she exhaled slowly. Unsettled by the slightly dejected feeling that had settled in his chest at Rose’s rather violent reaction to the prospect of been seen with him. Adrian decided to try and lighten the mood again.

‘’You know, he was a total slut, anyway, practically begging me to f**k him the minute I stepped inside his door. As a matter of fact,’’ Adrian added as an afterthought,’’ this is the first ‘date’ I’ve been on in a long time where I don’t have to keep fending off incesant groping. Even if I wouldn’t mind some right now, it’s a nice change,’’ he laughed.

‘’This isn’t a date. Adrian,’’ Rose quickly pointed out, his repetition of the fact becoming predictable.

Adrian paused and fixed Rose with a firm stare. ‘’I know that,’’he answered calmly. ‘’And god forbid you’d let either of us forget it.’’ He knew Rose didn’t mean it personally, but he still couldn’t help beginning to feel slightly irritated at the way she refused to leave her over analyzing at the door.

‘’Are you seriously getting pissed at me for not allowing you to pretend that this is somehow real?’’ Rose said, her voice rising in volume and frowning at him.

‘No,’ Adrian answered, feeling his heart rate increase. ‘’But what is starting to annoy me is the fact that you won’t let go of your ill-conceived prejudice for long enough to allow yourself relax. I won’t jump you, despite how much I’d like to.’’

‘’And damn, would I like to,’’ Adrian added silently to himself. He was strangely pleased by the way Rose’s eyes widened at his suddenly brazen tone; Rose seemed like a genuinely good person, but she needed a wake-up call.

‘’No matter how we try to look at this, the playing field between you and I isn’t exactly even. Whether we like it or not, you’re the one calling the shots. If I had any say in this at all, it would be to ask you to forget about what you think you know about me and just enjoy yourself.’’

‘’You sound like Jenny,’’ Rose drawled, obviously trying to seem bored and failing miserably with her face flushed in anger.

‘’She’s a smart woman,’’ Adrian added casually.

Rose groaned in what sounded like exasperation. ‘’Alright, look. You can’t seriously expect me to be all fine and dandy with having to spend the night with a prostitute?’’

‘’I told you earlier, it’s esc-,’’ Adrian tried, frowning when Rose interrupted him.

‘’Escort, I know,’’ Rose finished monotonously. ‘’The difference being?’’

Adrian sighed, shaking his head and fiddling a bit with his glass before he lifted his eyes back to look into Rose’s startling blue’s. ‘’You know what? You’re right. I do have s*x in exchange for money. But at least show me enough respect to consider the hypocrisy of judging me for what I do. I enjoy s*x just as much, and I’m doing exactly what everyone else is, only I’m getting paid for it. While the rest of you leave a trail of sobering regrets, broken hearts, and STDs in your wake, plowing through meaningless one-night stands, my clients and I have no misconceptions about what we’re doing, and I am completely in control of what I’m prepared to offer them. And believe it or not, they respect that. Are you telling me you’ve never gone home with someone from the bar, just for the night? That you’ve never wanted to just f**k and leave, no feelings involved?’’

‘’No, but-’’ Rose began before Adrian interrupted her.

‘’Well, I’m a professional one-night stand.’’ Adrian shrugged, taking a sip of his drink and hoping that would be the end of it. ‘’Anything else you want to know?’’

‘’I’m not judging you,’’ Rose sighed, ignoring Adrian’s question.

‘’Of course you are, or you wouldn’t be so focused on the fact that I’m an escort.’’ He added a small smile of reassurance before continuing. ‘’It’s okay, though. You’re not the first and probably won’t be the last to do it anyway. I can only hope to leave you with a different perspective. I’m not ashamed of what I do, but it doesn’t define me.

Rose’s cheeks were flushed, and she had opened her mouth to speak again when a somewhat nasal voice came from their side, interrupting her.

‘’Rose? Is everything okay here?’’

Adrian just had time to register how Rose stiffened a fraction before both of their heads turned to locate the source of the question. His eyes were met by a fairly tall man with a narrow face and sloping shoulders, deeply set gray eyes, and thick eyebrows. The unruly, dark mop of curls on his head looked like it could use a trimming, and if Adrian could use one word to describe the man, it would be ‘plain’.

Similar to his scrutinizing look, the man was eyeing Adrian up and down, his nose scrunching up a bit as if he’d smelled something unpleasant.

‘’Kelvin! Hi!’’ Rose answered, her voice rising an octave, and Adrian almost cringed at the feigned amity in her tone. ‘’Um, yes. Why wouldn’t it be okay?’’ she asked, her fake smile stretching.

Kelvin finally broke the staring match he’d held with Adrian and turned to Rose, his expression softening quickly. Adrian just barely kept from rolling his eyes at the obvious infatuation in the man’s glittering eyes.

‘’I saw you from over there,’’ Kelvin pointed to somewhere over his shoulder, ‘’and I thought you looked upset, I suppose. I wanted to make sure that this man wasn’t bothering you…. is he?’’

Adrian was once again fixed with a steely glare. Kelvin was probably trying to come off as threatening, to which Adrian simply raised an unimpressed eyebrow. But before he could say anything on the matter, Rose let out a forced laugh, and Adrian felt an arm snake around his shoulders. The unexpected touch made him pause, but he quickly found himself again, smirking and letting one of his own arms wind around Rose’s waist.

‘’Oh, no! You’ve got it all wrong,’’ Rose gushed. ‘’Kelvin, this is Adrian- my boyfriend.’’