Secrets of a Gigolo

15

Zachary sat at the table reading the newspaper as he finished his lunch. Eliza sat beside him picking her sandwich apart while she ate it layer by layer. He watched her over the top of his newspaper as Eliza pulled the crust off her bread and discarded it on the edge of her plate. “Eliza.” He spoke softly, and she lifted her green eyes to meet his over the top of the newspaper. She looked at him questioningly. “If you want chocolate covered peanuts you have to eat your crust.”

Eliza huffed and then picked up her crust and put it in her mouth making a very displeased expression. Zachary smiled amused by her reaction and then he returned his attention to the article he was reading. Zachary read a few more pages while Eliza finished her lunch.

When they were both done, he closed his newspaper and folded it over placing it down on the table to the right of his now empty plate. Zachary glanced at his watch and wondered where Brianna was. She was late. The movie started soon, and if they didn’t leave right away, they would miss the beginning of the movie.

Eliza wiped her hands on her napkin and then wiped her mouth and tossed the linen napkin on the plate and then smiled at him. “Can we go now?”

He looked at his watch again. “Yeah, I guess we should.” They would have to go without Brianna.

Suddenly Chino appeared in the kitchen with Brianna behind him. “Señorita Parker, Señor.” He said happily announcing her arrival.

Eliza’s face lit up, and she hopped down from her seat and ran around the table. “Brianna!” She squealed as she wrapped her arms around Brianna’s waist and hugged her tight. “You came back!” Eliza turned to him as she took Brianna’s hand. “Uncle Zac, Brianna came back.” She then looked up at Brianna. “Are you going to come to the movie too?”

Brianna nodded yes, and the child got extremely excited. “Eliza,” Zachary called to her to calm her excitement, “go put your coat on.”

Eliza released Brianna’s hand and ran off to do as she was told. Even though their coastal winters were mild, it had been raining a lot the past few days, and he wanted her to be warm. “She seems happy to see me.”

Zachary stood up from his seat and walked over to Brianna. “You’re late.” He commented.

“I know. I overslept. I’m sorry.” He supposed he could understand that. “You don’t seem happy to see me.” She pouted playfully bringing a smile to his face.

Zachary dipped his head, and his lips claimed hers in a soft kiss. A kiss he had been fantasizing about for so long. Her lips were soft, and she smelled so wonderful. He pulled back slightly and looked down at her smiling eyes. Zachary reached up and caressed her face. She was so beautiful. It was crazy how happy he just had her here with him.

“Should we go?” She breathed with a smile.

“Yeah, let’s go, or we’re going to miss the beginning of the movie.”

They made their way to the front door where Chino was assisting Eliza on with her tanned felt jacket with the black buttons, her black rain boots already on her tiny feet. Zachary pulled on his designer leather jacket and took his keys from Chino. They walked out to the BMW and Zachary opened the back door for Eliza. She climbed up into her booster seat. She might have been seven, but she was small for her age, and the police insisted that until she got a little bigger, she be in a booster seat.

Zachary leaned into the backseat and helped her fix her seatbelt. Once Eliza was secure he shut the back door and opened the passenger door for Brianna. She climbed in, and he shut the door. Zachary got into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the property and out onto the street.

“So what movie are we seeing?”

“The new Disney princess movie,” Zachary informed her, and she turned and smiled back at Eliza who was now going on and on about the movie they were about to see while she bobbed in her seat her legs kicking back and forth kicking the back of Brianna’s seat. Zachary looked back at Eliza through the rear-view mirror with a stern frown. “Eliza stop kicking the seat.” He ordered, and she immediately stopped swinging her legs and looked apologetically at Brianna.

Brianna smiled when the child apologized to her. “It’s ok; I don’t mind.” She said.

“It’s bad manners, and I refuse to allow her to develop bad manners.” He said offering Eliza a smile to assure her he wasn’t mad at her.

“She’s the most well-behaved seven-year-old I’ve ever met,” Brianna told him. “My niece Clover just turned seven, and that kid is always running around and screaming at the top of her lungs. Her parents can’t ever seem to get her to calm down. It’s annoying. She’s nothing like the well-mannered musical prodigy Eliza is.” She smiled back at the child who smiled back at her. “You have done an amazing job with her. I commend your parenting skills. Honestly, you would never know she was a crack baby.”

Zachary’s brow furrowed quizzically. He looked at Brianna. “How did you know Eliza was a crack baby?”

Brianna looked at him surprised by the question. “What’s a crack baby?” Eliza asked from the backseat.

Zachary looked back at the child and smiled. “It just means you were special.” He lied to her. He’d never told Eliza the truth about her beginnings, and it wasn’t something he was ever sure he’d tell her. He’d worked very hard to help her rise above her traumatic first days. He looked at Brianna again. “How did you know she was a crack baby?” He asked again with a little more authority.

Brianna looked like she was thinking about her answer. “Well, I just assumed.” She said. “I mean I’ve seen Addie and know why she came to live with you. Addie didn’t strike me as the kind to have stopped using during her pregnancy. So, I just assumed.” He supposed that was plausible.

“Who’s Addie?” Eliza asked.

“No one,” Zachary said quickly. Eliza hadn’t seen her mother since she was an infant. She didn’t remember her and Zachary wanted to keep it that way. As far as Eliza was concerned her mother was dead. He then looked back at Brianna with a stern expression. “We don’t say her name.” He said quietly. “Ever.”

Brianna nodded her understanding. “Ok.”

They reached the theatre and Zachary parked farther from the doors to keep his car away from other cars to avoid dings and scratches from other doors. They got out, and Eliz rushed ahead of them a few feet jumping in the puddles that littered the parking lot splashing and having fun on their way to the door while Zachary and Brianna strolled along behind her hand in hand.

With Eliza a little way ahead of them Brianna lowered her voice so the child couldn’t hear them. “Eliza doesn’t know who her mother is?”

“As far as Eliza is concerned her mother loved her very much and died in childbirth; and I want to keep it that way. She doesn’t need to know that her mother is a crack addict who chose the pipe over her.” He explained his reasoning.

“So, she’s never seen her?”

“Never.”

“How do you get your mother to go along with the lie? Surely she must have mentioned Addie to Eliza a few times.”

“Eliza doesn’t know my mother either. Believe it or not, my mother is not exactly the grandmother of the year. She begged me to take Eliza but hasn’t seen her since she was two. I cut her off when she started showing up blackout drunk spewing profanity and breaking shit.”

“So, she doesn’t know Ansley either?”

“No.” He said regretfully. “I am the only family Eliza has. Well, the only family she knows about, and it’s going to stay like that. I won’t have those bad influences in her life.” He knew it might seem like he was robbing Eliza of family relationships but he honestly thought Eliza was better off without them. He was doing what he felt was best for his niece.

“I understand,” Brianna told him with a supportive smile. “I’ve met your family I would cut them out too.” Her confession brought a smile to his face.

He’d never sought out approval from the women in his life before, but it meant a lot to him that Brianna thought he was doing a good job with his niece. He tried, he did. Even if he never did anything else right, he wanted to do right by Eliza. He wanted to give her a life far better than the one he was raised in. He wanted to lift her and give her the best possible start in life. So that she could go on and be something she could be proud of and not end up as he had. If he had to sleep with a million women to do that he would, he’d hate himself, but she was worth every despicable degrading thing he had ever done.

Zachary released Brianna’s hand and rushed Eliza he scooped her up in his arms telling her they had to hurry or they would be late for the movie. Zachary handed Brianna some cash, and while he stood in line to buy the tickets, she and Eliza got in line at the concession to buy the snacks. Zachary caught up to them as Brianna paid for the food. He handed out the 3D glasses to each of them tucking his own into his pocket, and then he grabbed the cardboard tray of snacks and drinks, and they made their way to the theatre.

The previews were already playing as they walked into the theatre. They made their way up the steps to the back rows where they found their seats. Since it was an afternoon show, the theatre was only half full, so there were plenty of seats available. Zachary sat between the Eliza and Brianna. They put their 3D glasses on, and he handed out the snacks just as the movie started. He didn’t like these princess movies, but he saw every single one of them because Eliza loved them.

Brianna reached down and took his hand in hers while they watched the movie. He smiled at her and then looked back at Eliza whose eyes were glued to the screen. He liked this. Being here with Brianna and Eliza. For so long it had just been the two of them it was nice to have Brianna with them.

It felt like a real family. That was something he’d never had. It was something Eliza had never had. He liked these moments. They felt so right… so normal.

They watched the movie and then waited for the other patrons in the theatre to file out before they got out of their seats. They took their trash out to the garbage cans and tossed their glasses into the recyclable box set up by the doors; except for Eliza who wanted to keep hers because she liked wearing them.

Brianna and Zachary each took one of Eliza’s hands as they left the theatre. They were walking along while Eliza used their arms to swing herself back and forth like she was on a jungle gym as they moved through the parking lot. The theatre was located in a busy shopping complex with upscale shops surrounding them.

They were halfway back to the car when Zachary heard a woman call out his name. They all stopped, and all three of them looked around and then Zachary so her outside an upscale women’s boutique. A leggy mature blond bombshell in a designer blue dress with a white minx coat and shopping bags in the hand of her driver behind her. She smiled at him with a smile he was all too familiar with as a vision of his past crossed the short distance to him.

Zachary’s eyes were locked on Joyce McCoy as she made her way over to him. “Oh my god, it is you,” Joyce said lifting her sunglasses and perching them on the top of her head. She reached out her hands on his biceps as she leaned in and kissed one cheek and then the other. “Zac, oh my look at you.” She said stepping back and letting her heated gaze roll over him. “You look even better than I remember.” She purred. She then frowned at his shocked expression. “What? You’re not even going to say hello?”

He was stunned. He’d never thought he’d see her again. “Joyce, I thought you moved to New York?”

“I did.” She sighed as she rolled her eye. “But I moved back last month.”

“How’s your husband?”

She frowned. “Divorced.” She told him and then showed him the huge diamond on her hand. “Remarried.” She smiled. “Movie producer.” She said with pride. “He is, of course, diddling the women at his auditions, but we don’t mind so long as my allowance doesn’t suffer for it.”

“What’s diddling?” Eliza asked tugging on his arm. He’d forgotten she was with him. He’d been so surprised to see Joyce again he was completely caught off guard.

Joyce looked down at Eliza with a frown. “Oh dear, is she yours?”

“She’s my niece.” He told her. “I’m raising her.”

“Oh,” she said with a forced smile as she looked down at Eliza, “how… domestic.” She said it with some small level of disgust. She then looked at Brianna and then back at Zac. “So, does this mean you’re out of the game?”

He understood what she meant. “No.” He told her.

Joyce looked at Brianna again. “Is this one of them? She’s young.”

“No.” He said unsure why he felt he needed to explain himself to the woman that had made him what he was today. “She’s my girlfriend.” Joyce looked at him questioningly. “We have an understanding.”

“Oh, how progressive.” Joyce smiled. She then held her hand out to Brianna who was glaring at Joyce. “Joyce McCoy.” She introduced herself.

“I know who you are.” Brianna seethed.

Both Zachary and Joyce looked at her questioningly. How did she know who Joyce was he’d never talked about her before except briefly in passing, but he certainly had never mentioned her name?

“You’re a child molester.” Brianna hissed.

Zachary’s jaw dropped, and Joyce looked at her shocked by the accusation. “I am no such thing.” Joyce snapped her gloved hand over her chest in complete horror.

“Yes, you are. You took a despite young boy and abused him to satisfy your twisted s****l appetite.” Brianna hissed at her. Zachary was speechless and horrified by Brianna’s outburst. “People like you should be drug out into the street and shot. Your abuse is the reason why he feels worthless. It’s why he hasn’t had a normal relationship in his entire life. It’s why he lets women treat him like meat because you ingrained in his brain that he isn’t anything better. You took a sweet boy and made him a w***e. You disgust me.”

Both Zachary’s hands went to his hair as he stared at Brianna mouth agape and eyes bulging. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He snapped at Brianna.

“Uncle Zac, what is a w***e?” Eliza asked tugging on his jacket as she looked up at him with questioning eyes.

He looked down at Eliza. “It’s a bad word. Don’t say it.” He then looked up and glared at Brianna as she remembered Eliza’s presence and cringed apologetically at him.

“Zac what have you been telling this woman?” Joyce snapped.

“Nothing.” He snarled. “Although I am very interested in knowing where she is getting all her information from.” He glared at Brianna.

“You told me.” Brianna lied.

“No, I didn’t.” She knew way too much, and he wanted to know how. He’d never told anyone about Joyce in any detail.

Joyce opened her handbag and reached inside for a pen and one of her husband’s business cards. She jotted something down on the back of the card and offered it to him. “You have much to talk about. Why don’t you call me when you’re free? I would love to get reacquainted.” She said. Zachary took the card from her hand and stuffed it in his pocket. She then stroked the side of his face forcing him to look at her and not Brianna. “You were always my favourite.” She then glared at Brianna and walked back to the shop she’d come from.

“You’re not going to call her, are you?” Brianna asked.

“Get in the car.” He hissed through clenched teeth. Zachary put Eliza in the back seat, and they drove home in silence. Once in the house, Zachary yelled for Esmerelda who came running. He handed Eliza off to the other woman. “Take her upstairs.” Esmerelda nodded and started up the stairs with Eliza. Zachary turned to face Brianna and pointed to his study “You get in there.” He ordered following her into the room and shutting the door. Once they were alone, he snapped. “What do you know and how?”

She wouldn’t look at him. “You told me.”

“No, I didn’t.” He said walking over to his desk.

“You told me she was your first and you were with her for two years.” She reminded him.

“That’s all I told you. I never told you her name and I certainly never told you anything we did together. How do you know that?” When she didn’t answer, he got angry and slammed his hands on the desktop. “How do you know that?” He screamed at her making Brianna jump.

“Don’t yell at me.” She yelled back.

“You said you didn’t call anybody on that list.”

“And I didn’t.”

“Then how do you know about Joyce? I never told anybody about her. I never…” A sickening realization donned on him, and his gaze drifted to the drawer of his desk where he kept his journals. “I’ve only ever…” He’d only ever written about her in his journal. He stared at the closed drawer as he realized there was only one-way Brianna could know about the things that had happened between him and Joyce. He then looked up at her in disbelief. “Did you read my journal?” She wouldn’t look at him. “Did you read my journal?” He repeated with anger.

“Yes.” She confessed. “I took a copy when I took your client list. I know I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry. But I got to know you so well by reading it. It’s why I decided not to write the article. Because I understood you better.” She tried to justify what she’d done.

“My journal was private.” He seethed.

“I know I shouldn’t have read it, but it helped me understand you. I’m glad I read it. I’m sorry I lied to you about it. Please don’t send me away again.” She pleaded. He didn’t know how to react. He felt lied to and violated. Unable to think he pushed passed Brianna and exited the study. Still dressed for the outdoors he opened the front door and left the house. Zachary got back into his car and drove away. He needed to be on his own.