Secrets of a Gigolo

13

Brianna sat at the desk in her room with her laptop on. She was printing off the contact list she’d e-mailed herself the other night. It had been days since Zachary had thrown her out of his home but this was the first time she checked her e-mail. She just hadn’t felt like looking at it. Every time she sat down to look at it she could only think of the betrayed look in Zachary’s eyes and all she could hear was Eliza crying that she was leaving. She felt liked she had lost something.

Even though she felt bad, she knew she had to look at the contact list. She couldn’t forget it. She couldn’t have lost Zachary for anything. She had to write an article. So, six days after she had e-mailed the list to herself Brianna sat at her desk printing off Zachary’s client list. It was a long list, seven pages so far and still printing.

While she waited for the list to print, Brianna plugged in her smartphone and transferred all the journal pictures to her laptop. She would print them next. Gee she hoped she had enough ink and paper for this. She opened the drawers of her desk and found another ink cartridge and another package of recycled printer paper. It should be enough, she hoped.

After the tenth page printed, the contact list came to an end. She couldn’t believe it was ten pages of names in small font and two columns on each page. There were just so many names. She placed the stack of papers to the left and began to print off the journal pages. While that printed, she picked up the contact list and a highlighter and began to read. Some of the names were male, so she doubted they were clients. Not all the names on this list were clients.

Which made her feel better it meant Zachary hadn’t slept with everyone on the list so maybe there hadn’t been as many women in his past as she had first feared. Still, as she went through the list, there were quite a few. She noticed notations and symbols next to the names of women. It was like some code, but she didn’t know what it meant. She wished she could ask him, although she knew very well that Zachary would likely never speak to her again. Hell, he’d probably call the cops on the spot if he ever so much as saw her face again.

She supposed she could contact some of these women and ask them some questions about Zachary but if they called him to complain it might end with him suing her. She didn’t want things to be worse between them. He was already so mad at her.

She put the list down and picked up the first few pages of the journal. Wow if Zachary were mad about his client list, he would surely lose his mind to find out she had this. She relaxed back in her desk chair and began to read. As the night went on Brianna became engrossed in the pages of Zachary’s journal.

It was a hell of a read.

His past was so exciting and yet tragic. There were moments she was turned on by the details of his encounters and other moments when she pitied the man. The entries that enthralled her the most were the first book which chronicled how he got into the lifestyle. He went into great detail about the woman that introduced him to the life and the two-year affair they had together. He’d been a virgin when he met her. She’d not only taken his innocents, but she had pimped him out to her friends.

She had done things to him that were deplorable moulding him into a living plaything. What she’d done to the poor despite confused boy he had been was nothing short of abuse, and things only got worse from there on. He’d write about his life with his family and the mistreatment of his mother, about his sister’s drug abuse and his brother’s criminal activity. He’d write about how when his mother found out what he had been doing to pay her bills that she had laughed and told him he was finally pulling his weight. How she would drink away his money and then scream at him when she ran out telling him he had to start working harder.

As she read on, she could tell in his writing that he was becoming jaded and disillusioned with women and life. He would write things like how he felt dirty and used. How he was good for nothing else and that he was coming to terms with the fact that no woman would ever love him. It broke her heart.

She read one page after the next unable to put the pages down. She stayed up all night reading. At some point, his sugar mamas wound up setting him up in a posh apartment giving him a lifestyle he had never had before. By the end of the first journal his first sugar mama had called off their affair, it was strange he almost sounded upset about it. Almost lost without her, abandoned. Brianna read the last page of the first journal and put it down.

Dear god, what he’d gone through was so wrong. She felt so bad for him. Brianna looked out the window to see the sun coming up. She was so tired, but she wanted to read the next edition. She was going to get some sleep and then read the next book.

Brianna wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep when her cell phone started to ring. She rolled over trying to wake up. She reached on to the nightstand looking for her cellphone but couldn’t find it. Oh yeah, she’d left it on the desk. Groaning she hauled her weary body out of bed and walked over to the desk. She dropped down into her desk chair and picked up her cell phone. She blinked trying to focus on the caller ID.

Brianna smiled and answered the call. “Hey, how was the honeymoon?” She asked.

“Amazing.” Her best friend Lenox’s voice came over the line. “Paris is so beautiful, but I am glad to be home.”

“When did you get in?”

“Our flight landed late last night. What do you say we get lunch, and I tell you all about it?”

“Well if Mrs. Money-Bags is buying then I am ordering the most expensive thing on the menu.”

Lenox chuckled. “I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes?” She ended the call, and she put her phone down. She had just enough time to shower and get changed.

Brianna and Lenox had been best friends for years. They had met years ago when they were both waitressing at her brother’s restaurant. They had become best friends even though Lenox was six years older than her and had four kids. They were partners in crime until Lenox met her new husband Gage Bryson a wealthy businessman who owned a popular chain of upscale hotels across the nation. Brianna hadn’t been too sure about Gage at first, but Lenox fell for him hard, and within a year of knowing each other they were engaged, three months later they were married, and for the last month, they had been in Paris on their honeymoon.

Brianna was so glad Lenox was back she’d missed her best friend so much. Besides she could use another outlook on her predicament. The more she learned about Zachary, the more she felt like writing her story was wrong. Was it right to exploit the tragedy that was his life? Sure, the public wanted to know but was it any of their business? She felt conflicted.

She showered quickly and then got dressed. She was pulling on her jacket when she heard the horn of Lenox’s car outside. Brianna went to her window and looked out waving down to Lenox on the street. It looked like she had a new car. Brianna grabbed her cellphone and handbag then made her way down to the new car on the street. She opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.

“I like the new ride,” Brianna commented as she pulled the door shut.

“It’s a wedding gift from Gage,” Lenox said leaning across the seat to hug Brianna hello. The women embraced, and then Lenox started to drive. Lenox had always been a beautiful woman. She reminded Brianna of Aurora from Disney’s sleeping beauty. She had a flawless figure, long golden hair, and big blue eyes. She was beautiful, so it was no wonder why her husband fell for her and fell hard.

They drove down to her husband’s beachfront hotel. They were going to take lunch in the hotel restaurant with a view of the water. Being Brianna was with the owner’s wife they were shown immediately to the best table in the place and served straight away. They browsed the menu quickly and then ordered. The waitress relayed their order to the kitchen and returned to pour them both a glass of wine.

As the waitress walked away, Lenox told Brianna about her extravagant honeymoon abroad. Their meal came out quickly, and the waitress refilled their glasses. After lunch they ordered dessert, and as the waitress walked away, Lenox leaned forward folding her arms on the edge of the table and gave Brianna that knowing look. “Ok spill?”

“Spill what?”

Lenox rolled her eyes. “I have known you for a decade. I know when you are this quiet it’s because you have something on your mind. What’s got you so bummed out?”

Brianna sighed softly. She never could hide anything from Lenox. “I got fired.”

Lenox’s smile faded. “Oh, honey I’m sorry. So, are you back at the BBQ shack?”

“Temporarily. Arthur promised to put me back on the payroll if I bring him a cover story for the international launch.”

“Well, that’s good. Do you have a subject matter?”

“Zachary Cooper.”

Lenox repeated the name as her eyes darted up and to the left as she searched her brain for the reason the name rang a bell. “Isn’t that the guy that was involved in the Supreme Court Judge scandal?”

“You heard of that?” She’d only been back for a night, and Brianna couldn’t imagine it was big news in Paris.

“Well, Gage likes to watch the news before bed. It was a leading story.”

“Yes, the man involved in that scandal. Arthur wants me to dig up dirt on Zachary and expose his lifestyle for the article.”

“And you’re having trouble digging up dirt?”

“No, I managed to get an interview with the man himself, and he invited me to follow him around, so I could see firsthand what his life was like. He’s a great guy in a very bad place. His life is so tragic. He is raising his niece alone. She’s seven. He supports his entire family, and they are horrible people that treat him badly. He didn’t open up enough for me, so I stole his journal. It chronicles his whole life from the first time he started this depraved lifestyle. He was just a kid and this woman she manipulated and…” She couldn’t even finish. “She did terrible things.”

“You feel bad for him?”

“The more I learn, the less I think I can write this story. I feel terrible. He trusted me, and I broke that trust. The look in his eyes the last time I saw him was so devastated.”

Lenox smiled. “Oh my god, you like him, don’t you?”

“He’s… I mean…” She sighed. “Yeah, I do. But he hates me now because I stole sensitive material from him to beef up this stupid story I can’t even write anymore.”

“You can’t get involved with him it will only end in heartache. I mean the man is a prostitute.”

“No, he’s…” She hung her head. “Yeah, he is essential. But he does it for all the right reasons.”

“It’s still wrong. How can you be content or happy in a relationship knowing your man is leaving you to have s*x with god knows how many other women. Not to mention the risks of contracting an STD is astronomically higher. Unless he’s going to stop doing what he’s doing, I can’t see you being happy with a man like that.”

Lenox was right. She couldn’t be happy knowing she wasn’t the only one. Being his favourite was not enough. The only way she’d be happy with Zachary was if he quit. But then what would he do? He had no education and no marketable skills. He’d be left out in the cold if he stopped what he was doing, and he had a child to provide for.

She wished she had some alternative to offer Zachary, but she didn’t. “I don’t think you should get involved.”

“It doesn’t matter; he isn’t talking to me anymore.”

“Consider yourself lucky.”

How could she? She missed him. She wanted to make right the wrong she did him. Dessert came, and the conversation changed to the food. After lunch, they paid the bill, and Lenox took Brianna home.

She had the apartment to herself since Robin was at work until five. She picked up book two of Zachary’s journal and climbed into her bed to read it. She couldn’t get over how well written his journal was. It was such a captivating story she literally couldn’t put it down. Before she knew it, Robin had come home and then gone out for the night. It was the wee hours of the morning when she finished the second book.

Wow, and she had four more books to get through. This journal was better than any article she could have written about Zachary and his lifestyle. Suddenly an idea popped into her brain. What if she could get his journal published? She was certain it would be a best seller. Zachary would be a published author. The royalties could offer him financial independence, and he could quiet what he was doing.

Luckily as a writer herself, she knew a few people in publishing, and she could get his journal fast-tracked to the top of the submission piles. Brianna wasn’t going to tell Zachary until she knew if the publication was a possibility. She didn’t want to get his hopes up nor did she want him to try and stop her because he was afraid it wasn’t good enough. She’d wait to find out if she could get it published before she told him about it.

In the meantime, she wanted to see Zachary again. She was going to return his client list and apologize for her betrayal. Getting him to speak to her was going to be the hardest part.