Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The dim light, sweaty bodies, loud music, and cringeworthy sight did nothing to straighten out Sophie's anxiety. Her sweaty palm twitched occasionally, and while she grabbed her handbag for a moment of comfort, it did nothing to fulfill her wishes.
She just wanted to get out. The dress she had borrowed from Kayla felt like a prison on her body. It did make her look gorgeous and sexy, but it was very uncomfortable. She couldn't even breathe. Her left eyebrow twitched now and then, begging to be scratched. That was what happened whenever she put on makeup; her face always begged her to ruin the work. It always resulted in a burning sensation that she hadn't managed to learn how to ignore. Kayla was perfect with the art, and the girl knew how to work her way with the brushes, but Sophie's skin and makeup didn't just mix.
“By the time you enter that club, men will cream their pants at first sight,” Kayla had said after adding the final touches to the makeup. Yes, Kayla was right. Men were indeed currently undressing her shamelessly with their eyes, and it made her skin crawl at the unwanted attention.
She was still a virgin and new to all these s****l advances. Even with her nice curves carved into perfection, with a nice, slim waist and flat tummy to boast of, tan skin and cute freckles that dusted her face just a few inches below her green eyes, and massive, unruly, curly auburn hair, at age twenty-one, she had never had a boyfriend. And that meant never having s*x either.
She watched her friends get boyfriends and talk about just how perfect their relationships were, how perfect the kisses were, and all other smutty stuff. Not to forget the butterfly feelings they got in their stomachs. She never had her own stories to share, which was unbelievable because she was very attractive, and she had this strong gaze that would make any man kneel.
But little did they know that Sophie Harris's only memory of what could be described as a kiss was in middle school during a school picnic, when the school bully, a cute boy named Jamey, decided it was fun to steal her first kiss as sloppily as possible. The kiss could be described as no kiss at all. It didn't deserve to be her first kiss, but wishes didn't always get granted, did they?
And the only thing close to fluttering butterfly feelings in her belly she had ever felt was the mosquito bites she got on a camping trip. They had been all itchy and ticklish but felt incredibly great while scratching them.
Not that she didn't want to date, was unattractive to men, or preferred the other side. She was straight and could swear on anything about that, but aside from her pretty looks, a great body, and a nice personality that every guy would describe as a keeper, her life was the opposite. She had grown up in abject poverty, where she fed from hand to mouth every day.
It had always been hard, with her parents struggling to raise them on their minimum wages. Everything got worse when her mother suddenly died of high blood pressure. Her family went downhill with one source of income gone. Sophie started working immediately, even though she was still a high schooler. She had a younger brother, Noah, who was still in middle school, and her alcoholic father didn't help their situation either.
She had been picked on by her schoolmates for wearing faded clothes or not being able to afford lunch, but she held on to her life because of Noah and her once-loving father. She avoided boys like the plague because of what Aunty Mari always said about the other gender. She could remember getting an anxiety attack because a boy told her he liked her when she was eighteen.
She studied hard so she could apply for a scholarship, but she wasn't lucky enough to get one. She had to apply to the only university in her city. It wasn't her dream college, but it would do. Coupled with part-time jobs and all, she had been surviving and had been able to let her brother live too. She was going to college on a student loan, which she would have to pay back later, but everything skyrocketed back to square one when her father, the once-loving Mr. Harris, started gambling at the local club.
He spent all his money on alcohol after his wife's death, which Sophie had to assist with by working part-time. But he started gambling, and currently, he owed a gang the sum of ten thousand dollars, which Sophie didn't have and had nowhere to get.
The gang was known to be pretty ruthless when it came to their money. They had given Mr. Harris only a month to pay up, or else they would m******e their entire family. Her father had looked so ashamed when he told Sophie last Tuesday. She had been so disappointed and frustrated that her roommate, Kayla, noticed instantly.
Kayla had asked her what was wrong with her expression immediately after Sophie entered the dorm. Not willing to give all the details, she just stared at the ceiling and sighed.
“If only I could just see ten thousand dollars as my account balance right now,” Sophie thought aloud, which made Kayla chuckle and make a joke about getting a sugar daddy for Sophie. Sophie couldn't remember the joke, but she had grabbed the words, sugar daddy. She knew what sugar daddies and sugar babies did with each other, and she knew what that kind of relationship entailed.
If getting a sugar daddy would sort out all her financial issues and take her out of poverty for once, then she would look for one, but how? And if sleeping with men old enough to be her father would get her out of this looming crisis in a way that wouldn't affect her younger brother's life, then she was in. A sugar daddy she needed, and a sugar daddy she would look for.
The issue of her s****l inexperience hit her like a bucket of cold water on a winter morning. Her woman's dignity and pride shredded the mission away. She suddenly realized that she was going to be giving her virginity to an old man who wouldn't go gently or treat her lovingly or make her feel like a whole woman, but would make her feel like a lowly w***e.
But anything to survive. Her survival instincts kicked her bruised dignity and honor aside, and she took a deep breath before deciding to go to that newly opened club just in the middle of the city to try her luck.
It came as a surprise to Kayla when her “I am a workaholic student who avoids social gatherings like the plague” roommate suddenly wanted to borrow a dress to wear to a club. Kayla had wished she was hearing things when Sophie asked, but apparently, she wasn't. Sophie was loud and clear, serious even.
Kayla felt so bad that she couldn't tag along because of her menstrual cramps, just to see how Sophie—“I don't look at boys; they are not books”—Harris would behave at a club, but she had been eager to do the poor girl's makeup and find a sexy dress. Then she would proceed to lecture the club first-timer about losers who got girls drunk just to sleep with them and all the safety tips she thought Sophie would need.
“Don't forget to order Angel's shot if a man is acting weird,” Kayla had added.
According to Kayla, ordering a shot of Angel's shot was like telling the bartender, “Help me,” so Sophie made a mental note at the back of her mind to use it if a man tried stuff on her.
Now Sophie looked around the strange place. She felt alone and uncomfortable, with sweaty bodies touching her now and then. She stepped outside and almost cried out about how clueless she was about the entire situation. She didn't even know how to approach men generally, so how would she find a sugar daddy at this point?
“Remember, money needs to be made. Bills need to be paid,” she chanted in her mind while gulping the fresh air greedily. She took a deep breath and turned around to go back into the club but bumped into a massive wall of muscles instead.
She looked up to meet the strange man's gaze.
“Holy guacamole!” her inner voice voiced out loud. He looked as pissed as hell, but who in the effing world cared? The man looked like a model in one of Kayla's magazines. For the first time in Sophie's life, she felt a flutter in her rib cage. He cleared his throat.
“Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I, eh, hmmm... Sorry,” she scampered away, trying so hard to hide her blush.
“Hmmm, it's fine. You don't have to act like you saw a ghost.” Even though his voice sounded like that of an angel, it sent signals of all shades of wrong down Sophie's spine.
