Hollywood Harlot

Bella took a deep breath before knocking on the door of Room 3. “Housekeeping,” she called out half-heartedly. Hearing nothing in return, she used the dull metal master key to open the lock and pushed the door open. The stench of stale cigarette smoke instantly overwhelmed her. She began coughing and hurried to open the windows along the back of the room to air it out. She pulled a can of air freshener out from her cleaning bucket and sprayed the entire room, and then turned around and left as quickly as she’d come. She walked into the office to find Sara sitting behind the front desk as always. “Gary’s been smoking in Room 3 again,” Bella called over her shoulder as she headed to the supply closet to grab a new can of air freshener. “I’ll speak to him, but there’s not much we can do,” Sara replied without looking up from her latest romance novel. Bella nodded. Other than herself, Gary was the only permanent resident at the Highway 78 Motel, and she’d had plenty of run-ins with him in the few months she’d been working there. She had no idea what he did, other than smoke in his room, watch game shows, and try to hit on her. “I’m going to let it air out before I make up the room,” Bella said. “I’ve already done all of the checkouts. Any rooms that are staying over again that need a quick clean?” Sara looked up from her book barely long enough to glance at the computer screen. “Room 6,” she said. “He’s staying another night. Hopefully you’ll bump into him because he is one fine specimen of a man.” Bella laughed. “Couldn’t be less interested in that,” she said as she headed back out the door. Before letting it close behind her, she turned back to Sara. “You shouldn’t waste your time reading that junk, you know,” she said, “It’s all lies and fairy tales. None of that’s real.” Sara opened her mouth to say something in return, but Bella left the office to go clean Room 6 before she could say anything. * * * Standing in front of Room 6, Bella sighed yet again. “How did my life end up like this?” she wondered aloud for the millionth time, but then purposefully pushed the thought from her mind. Wondering what had gone wrong would never change her reality, and her reality was spending her days cleaning rooms at the Highway 78 Motel, to earn a very meager salary and a room at the same rundown motel. She knew there was nothing she could do about it until she had raised enough money to buy a car and get out of there, and she had made the best of it by sprucing up her own room with a few trinkets she’d found at yard sales or on the side of the road. “Housekeeping,” Bella called out, already pushing the door open. When she stepped inside, her heart fell. The room was an absolute disaster. Pizza boxes, empty beer cans, and discarded clothes littered the floor. A pair of heels lay half-hazardly in the middle of the entry way. Piles of blankets and pillows, much more than came standard with the room, covered the bed. The room smelled like s*x, beer, and cheap perfume. “Ugh,” Bella said out loud as she kicked the stilettos out of her way. She pulled disposable plastic gloves from her cleaning bucket and a large, industrial size trash bag. “Disgusting,” she muttered to herself as she began picking up trash and dropping it in the bag. She walked around the edge of the bed to the nightstand and was grabbing half a dozen empty cans from the table when a hand suddenly reached out from under the bed and grabbed her ankle. “What the—?!” she screamed while simultaneously dropping the bag and stepping on the mysterious wrist with her free foot. “Argh!” a voice shouted from under the bed. “Get off me!” Belle stepped down harder. “I don’t think so,” she replied. “What do you think you’re doing?!” “I didn’t mean to grab you,” a deep male voice answered. “I was just about to try to crawl out of my hole here, and it was unfortunate timing.” Bella pursed her lips. “Okay, I’m going to let go and back up. But you better not try anything because I have a g*n on me.” “Good God! I promise I won’t,” the voice said as she cautiously lifted her foot up and stepped back to the foot of the bed, never taking her eyes from the arm sticking out. Growling and groaning, a man slowly crawled out from under the bed and stood up in front of her. The first thing she couldn’t help but notice was that he was shirtless, and his toned chest and abs were smooth and soft looking. Standing up, she had to look up at him, so he had to be over six feet tall. Though his sandy brown hair was disheveled from his apparently wild night, it was still adorable in a shaggy way. Striking blue eyes, a strong nose and chin, and a lopsided, guilty grin completed the admittedly extremely handsome face. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled his crooked smile again. “Sorry,” he said, “I really didn’t mean to startle you.” “You didn’t think grabbing someone from under a bed would be startling?” she asked dryly. “Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I’m sorry about that, I really didn’t mean to scare you. Can we just move on now?” He paused and looked her up and down. “You’re not what the agency usually sends, but if we clean you up a bit, I guess you’ll do.” Belle dropped the trash bag and put her hands on her hips. “Excuse me?!” “The agency. The escorts they send me are usually a little more… dolled up. You’ll need new clothes and make up because nobody would ever believe we’re dating as you currently are. But it’s fine, I know it was a last minute booking this time. You were probably the only one available.” Bella squinted her eyes at him. “There are so many ways I’m offended by your statements, I don’t even know where to start!” Bella turned on her heels and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. As she marched back to the office, she heard him call out to her, “Come back!” But she had no intention of doing any such thing. Bella stomped into the office with enough anger rolling off of her that Sara looked up immediately. “What’s going on?” She asked. “What do we know about the jerk in Room 6?” Bella asked. Sara leaned forward expectantly. “Not much, but I knew something was up with him. He came in last night with a couple of girls, paid for two nights up front all cash. Gave me the name John Doe but I wasn’t going to ask, especially after he slipped me an extra hundred.” “Well, he’s an entitled, pompous piece of…” Bella trailed off when the office door opened again and the man walked in. His presence overwhelmed the small office, making it feel even tinier. Bella took a step back and crossed her arms. She simply stared at him, waiting for him to speak. He cleared his throat. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier. But I need you to come back down to the room now.” Bella laughed out loud. “Zero percent chance.” “Listen. I already paid for you. Now you need to come down to my room and fill your end of the contract.” Bella’s mouth dropped open. “What?! Under NO circumstances did anyone PAY for me! I’m not a w***e!” The man shifted on his feet uneasily. “I never implied you were! But you are my escort, and I need to go over details with you so everything runs smoothly from here on out.” Sara and Bella exchanged glances. “There’s been a severe misunderstanding. I’m not your escort. I work here.” “Here?” The man looked around the office, “As in, this motel?” “Yes,” Bella replied, raising her chin up in the air just a bit. “And I’m not the escort you apparently already prepaid for. So I suggest you go down to your filthy room and wait for her there. I’ll clean your room once you’ve checked out.” Silence filled the tiny space as the two stared at each other. After a long couple minutes, he finally turned around and walked out. Bella let out a long breath and glanced at Sara. Sara let out a low whistle. “Well. If you ever wanted to be an escort, that’s the man to do it for. Did you see those eyes? And that hair? And those arms?” Sara grabbed a stack of papers from in front of her and started fanning herself. “They don’t come much prettier than that.” Bella rolled her eyes. “And I couldn’t be less interested.” Sara sat back in her computer chair and looked pointedly at Bella. “What exactly is it you are interested in? You’ve been here six months now, but I know basically nothing about you.” Bella glanced away, tears stinging the corners of her eyes, the way they always did when she thought about her past. She pushed the thoughts out of her head and looked back at Sara. “I’m interested in being completely independent and living on my terms. I need to save enough money and scout out a place to settle down in, and then I want to open my own pottery studio.” “Pottery?!” Sara sounded shocked. “Yeah, one of those little places where you paint your own pottery. Birthday parties, classes, girls’ night out. All that fun stuff.” “Well, I never would have guessed that.” The ladies were interrupted when the door to the office burst open for the second time that morning. The guest from Room 6 popped his head back in. “I’m really sorry to interrupt. Again,” he said, “But I was wondering if I could please talk to you for just another minute. Please.” His baby blue eyes seemed to be pleading with her, and it was hard to ignore their intensity. And there was an air of desperation about him that had not existed just a few minutes before. Bella could identify with that sense of panic, and she looked at Sara and nodded almost imperceptibly before walking to the door. “I’ll give you two minutes,” she said, following him back down the outdoor corridor. His shoulders seemed to sag with relief. “Thank you,” was all he said. She followed him back into the room, which was just as disastrous as it had been when she left. She turned and put her hands on her hips. “I’m listening.” “We got off on the wrong foot, and I’m really sorry about that. I mistook you for being the escort I had arranged for from an agency I’ve used before, but clearly, you are not an escort.” Bella didn’t know if she should feel insulted or complimented by that remark, so she just let it go and stood there waiting for more. The man ran his hand through his hair in exasperation, glancing at the door. “But I need to get going. Now. I can’t wait any longer, and I don’t have time to wait for the girl the agency is sending. But I also really, really don’t want to go alone. So I am hoping…begging you, really, if you would come with me. Please.” Bella’s mouth dropped open. “There are so many questions I have for you right now, I don’t even know where to begin.” He reached out and grabbed her hand. Bella was shocked at how warm it felt, how nice it felt to be holding his hand. Her heart involuntarily sped up a bit and she felt a blush begin to creep up on her neck. He said, “I’m sure you have a million questions, and that’s completely understandable. But you have to believe me when I say we don’t have time to answer them right now. But if you come with me, I’ll explain everything on the way.” His beautiful blue eyes stared deep into hers, and she was once again a little thrown off by his extremely handsome looks. For the first time since they’d met, she had a niggling suspicion in the back of her mind that he somehow looked familiar, but she couldn’t place from where. All she could see now was the desperation in his eyes, and also, a little bit of sadness deep down inside him. She understood both of those feelings, desperation and sadness, and she felt connected to him somehow in a way she hadn’t felt for a very long time. “Okay,” she said. His eyes lit up. “Okay? Really?!” He stepped toward her and scooped her up in a giant hug, lifting her right off her feet. Even though he was disheveled and dirty, he still somehow smelled good to her, the scent of pine and the ocean and a hint of citrus. Being held in his arms, for one brief second, Bella felt like she was finally at home. She quickly shook her head to get rid of that ridiculous thought as he set her down. She had just met this guy, and she had decided long ago that nobody else would ever feel like home to her. She could only count on herself at the end of the day, and it was naive to think anything these. Brushing those feelings off, she returned her attention to the man she’d just agreed to accompany as he grabbed her hand and headed toward the door. “I have a car waiting out front, we need to leave now,” he said, pulling her along. “But I haven’t packed a thing!” She protested. “You don’t need to. Anything you need, we will pick up along the way,” he said, quickly stepping outside into the bright day. Somewhat dumbfounded, she suddenly stopped in her tracks and stared at him. “What?” He questioned, still not letting go of her hand. “I just realized, I agreed to go away with you for an entire week, to who knows where doing who knows what, and I don’t even know your name.” He burst out in a goofy grin. “Jake,” he answered, “Just call me Jake. And what’s your name?” “Bella,” she whispered, feeling slightly dazed from the fast turn of events in the last few minutes. “Bella,” he flashed her that goofy grin again. “Bella. I like it. Well, my dear. Your chariot awaits. And it’s going to be quite the week.” As Bella slid into the back of the fancy black town car, she somehow knew, without a doubt, that it was going to be quite the week indeed.