His

Chapter 24

When we arrived at the little cafe, my anxiety was through the roof. The fact that I'm meeting Ryder's friends (whom I know nothing about) has me going in basically blinded. He claims I'll like the other girl since we will be able to "relate" to each other whatever the heck that means.

Ryder took me to the back of the restaurant where two men sat with women who looked to be my age. "Gentlemen."

"Ryder! How are you doing bud?"

"I'm good. This is Tally."

"Nice to meet you."

The man looked at me and smiled. "I'm Robert. You sure got yourself a good one, Ryder."

Ryder rolled his eyes. "Ignore him. Mind go sitting with her?"

I saw a blond sitting alone at a table in the corner. "Umm sure."

I approached her and sat down. "Hi."

"You must be Tally, I've heard a lot about you."

"What kind of things?"

The girl smiled. "I am Maria."

"Which one is yours?"

She pointed at the man talking to Ryder. "Robert. He sure pays me well."

"How is it?"

"How's what?"

"Getting monthly cash from him."

Maria smiled. "I do what he says, it's weekly now. 15,000 dollars every week, I definitely can't complain."

It felt weird talking to another girl about money, but I really had no choice considering that Ryder made me sit over here.

Robert approached Maria and smiled. "You girls can go shopping or whatever you'd like. You have my card in your purse, go have fun."

I passed by Ryder, thinking that he would kiss me, but he ignored me. "What an asshole."

I chuckled. "They sure can be."

"I am sure we have a lot in common, Tally."

"We'll have to find out!"

*** After Maria and I went shopping, we went to a coffee shop and ordered two lattes. "So, you don't like Robert at all?"

Maria shook her head. "Not like that. I give him what he wants, and he pays for all my bills, it's a win-win situation I suppose. How about you?"

Did I really want to be honest with her?

"Ryder has his moments, but he is a really sweet guy."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Robert only pays for my college and my daughter."

"Your daughter?"

"I had to leave her behind with my parents after I moved in with Robert. I miss her so much, he's actually allowing Gemma to come around now which is shocking."

"Why's that?"

"He hates kids."

"Why'd you agree to be with him then?"

"Like I said, to pay my bills."

"How'd you guys meet?"

"I worked as a stripper at a club, and he was there with some buddies and went from there. He seemed to accept me for who I was and after he offered to pay me in exchange for sex and emotional support, I couldn't say no."

"Fair enough."

"How about you?"

"I worked as a bartender and he showed up one night and after that, we started seeing each other."

"Seeing each other?"

"Well, not like that but having luxurious dinners and things like that."

Maria nodded. "Same here."

After I got a phone call from Ryder telling me that the driver would take Maria and I back to the houses, I knew I couldn't argue with him. "Well, it was nice to meet you!"

"Likewise."

Around 11, Ryder had finally showed up. He noticed I was irritated and sat on the bed. "You, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Baby girl, don't lie to me."

Shaking my head, I laid down and pulled the covers up. "I'm fine."

If only that were true. I knew I was not the first women, nor will I be his last.