My Deadly Escort

3

   I wake with Luna walking over my face, this is how she wakes me up every morning if I don't lock her out of my room. I groan and push her off, I sit up and stretch. I'd fallen asleep on the couch again, this was becoming a regular occurrence for me. I stand and open the curtains, letting more sun shine in. The street was already full with traffic, Luna jumps up on the window sill and looks out.
   I fill her biscuits up and grab an apple, I had no idea what time it was. I go into the bathroom and grab my phone, it's eleven thirty. I rub my eyes as I check Caity's snapchat, a photo of her and Mack with a face swap filter on. They must have made up.
   As I walk back into the living room I scroll through my other notifications. My heart speeds up when I realise I didn't send Kayden the details, I'd completely forgotten. I begin to panic. Do I just call now? Do I text? I hit the call button before I can talk myself out of it; it rings three times before he answers.
   "Hello, Kayden speaking." His voice is just as deep as yesterday and still sends butterflies through me, I fiddle with my apple as I tuck the phone between my shoulder and ear.
   "Hey, I'm so sorry its Shay. I forgot to text you the details yesterday. I had extra work to finish and my boss was on my case about it. Is it too late?" I ask, rushing the words out.
   "No it's fine. I understand that things come up, just send me through the details now. I'll see you tonight, Shay." I smile as I hang up, I quickly save the number and send him my address, I mention it's a formal event and all the males wear suits.
   I put my phone on charge and go through my cupboard to look over my options. The event room we hire out has heating so I wouldn't need an overly warm outfit, I pull out a rose gold playsuit. It's short and shows off my long legs and my deer tattoo on my right thigh, I throw it on the bed and go and shower quickly; shaving my legs and armpits in the process.
   I pull on black lace undies and go back into my room and slip into the playsuit. It's front rose gold plain suit is covered with a layer of flower lace, its long sleeves flow open at my wrists. I zip the small back up, it reveals most of my back. I pull the front two lace strips behind my neck and tie them into a bow. I pull on my black lace up heels and shut the cupboard to look at myself in the mirror.
   I look over my figure as I stand there, the lace sleeve reveals my snake tattoo and the two roses that are on the inside of my left arm. I run my hands over the material, this would do. It was formal enough, what were they going to do? Kick me out? I'd laugh and leave voluntarily.
   I undress and hang the outfit over my door, it'd just hit twelve. I had enough time to cram some more work in and get ready. I go to my desk in my undies and grab my laptop. I sit on the couch, open it and turn the hottest hits on and get to work.

*

I'm just applying the last touches to my makeup when I hear knocking on the front door, I'd had three drinks in the last hour to calm my nerves. I check my phone, six fifteen. He was early.
   "Come in! Just don't let the cat out please." I shout from the bathroom, I hear the door open and close; I grab onto my drink and gulp the contents. I look back into the mirror, I'd curled my hair into soft waves and put makeup on. My smoky eyeshadow brings out my green eyes, I'd decided on a light brown lipstick. I didn't want to overdo it.
   I fiddle with the gold ring I had on my left hand, it'd been my grandma's wedding ring and was passed to me once she passed away. I could do this. I turn out of the bathroom and shut the door behind me, I look up slowly to see Kayden squatting down and petting Luna.
   This man is so handsome I have to squeeze my thighs together.
   He's wearing a black suit, with a white shirt underneath. It hugs his muscles perfectly. His dark brown hair is combed back with product, although it curls at the ends. It shines from here in the light. His jaw is sculpted by a god, he's freshly shaved. His gold watch creeps out from under his sleeve as he reaches out a hand to Luna. She purrs as she rubs against it.
   He seems to notice me ogling and looks up to me. His grey eyes pierce mine as he breaks into a smile, his white teeth take the attention away from his plump wet lips. I gulp. He was handsome, no one would think he'd come with me without being an escort. I'm so screwed. His eyes trail over my quickly before focusing back on my face, he straightens his suit and pushes his hands into the pocket of his pants.
  "Um, hi." I offer, the alcohol had hardly dulled my nerves. I was a live wire.
   "Hey, I'm Kayden. It's nice to meet you, you look stunning." He walks over and offers me his hand, each step radiates confidence. He's good at this, he must do this regularly. Which does nothing but make me feel worse about myself.
   "It's nice to meet you too. Thank you... I like your hair." I offer a small smile. I shake myself from my thoughts. I had to get my things together. Had I just said I'd liked his hair? Dear god.
    "I just have to grab a few things, um you can make yourself at home or whatever." I gesture around the room as I walk into the kitchen with my small black clutch in hand. His cologne follows me and it takes all my restraint not to drool.
   I grab my pack of smokes and lighter, phone and my keys. I steady myself as I walk back out; I nod to him and follow him out of my apartment. We walk in silence until we get out of the building. The cool nights breeze bites at me as he flags down a taxi. He opens the door for me and gestures in.
   "Such a gentlemen." I tease, but smile in thanks. He smirks as he gets in the other side of the taxi, I tell the driver the address and sit back. I was wound up tight and badly needed a drink. I can barely feel the bite in the air, my nerves too strung to care.
   "So, what's tonight for? Is there anything specific I should know?" He asks, capturing my attention. I focus on his grey eyes in the dim light from the passing city lights, they were stunning.
   "Um, not particularly. It's just a work formality, my best friend was the reason I called you actually. I don't really do...this." I gesture between us, not sure how to explain it. He quirks an eyebrow.
   "This as in...?" He trails off, his right hand rests effortlessly on his leg; his fingers drum a rhythm out. Was he nervous? Or had I had too much alcohol? I go with the latter.
   "I don't date, not because I don't find anyone interesting. I mean I'm sure I could but no one finds me interesting and after my last break up I just haven't had enough energy to try and make myself appealing to the male specimens in this city." I say pathetically, if he didn't think I was a loser before I'm sure he would now. I may as well be honest considering I'm paying for his time.
   "So what does your friend have to do with this?" He asks, amused. I catch the smile he fights as he watches me. I feel self-conscious, I should have worn a cardigan or something less leggy.
   "She found your website and said she was sick of seeing me show up alone because it's, in her words, depressing. My boss came in after she left and gave me a hard time about tonight and I caved in and called you." I huff, crossing my arms over my chest. Maybe I liked being alone, she didn't know that.
   "I just find it hard to believe the male specimens as you call them, don't find interest in you." He says, I look away and out into the city streets. Ha, he had no idea just how boring I am.
   "Eh, no big deal. I have my cat and my crime shows, I doubt I'll be living here much longer anyway so there's no point putting my heart out there yet." I say, I'd been thinking of moving to LA. I'd have more range of job opportunities and I could take some real steps in my career. I wouldn't have to see my dreadful boss every day to rub in how she ruined my life.
   "Where are you planning on going?" He asks, genuinely sounding curious.
   "LA if I can sort everything out, I've had a few job offers but I'm waiting until late November to go down." It was only July, I had four months left to get my portfolio looking better than ever; hence why I was doing the extra hours and going the extra mile.
   "It's a nice city, a bit dirty but all the people are nice enough."
   "You've been there?" I ask, turning back to him.
   "Yeah, I still go there occasionally for work. I only moved to Manhattan because my family's company started here and is biggest in this city. It's all boring stuff that you don't need to know, but yeah I think you'd really enjoy LA." He plasters a smile on his face that doesn't meet his eyes. I'm about to say something when the cab pulls up, I sit for a moment and stare silently out the window. Maybe if I stared long enough, I'd evaporate into nothing and this would all go away. The large building was alight, people milled in and out of the convention centre. I sigh, this was it.
   Kayden opens my door and offers me his hand; I take it and hold onto it as I step out. The softness and warmth take me by surprise, the cab door closes behind me and the cab drives off.
I look up to see Kayden standing over me, looking down at me. Our hands linger for a moment; we're standing nearly chest to chest. His warm breath hits my face, minty. I clear my throat and drop his hand.
   "Come on, let's get this over with." I groan, walking around him and towards the building. He catches me quickly, he slows down and matches my pace. We enter through the main revolving doors and I grab his hand, to lead him through the crowd. That is the only reason.
Not because I liked how soft his hand was in mine, or the warmth that spread from my arm and into my body. We reach the closed door with private function written on the small white strip beside it.
   I take a deep breath and open it, allowing him to go first. He drops my hand as he walks in and looks around at the people, over a hundred people had shown tonight and I have to stifle my whine of dismay. The taxi ride had taken longer than usual and I hadn't arrived in time to do more prep, Mahlia would have my head for this. The door shuts behind me; I single out the bar and head towards it. Kayden follows behind, we move through the people easily. The girls stop to ogle at him as well, their eyes widening when they realise he's following me.
   I reach the bar and take a seat, the bar tender comes over to me.
   "Bacardi and coke please, double shot." I hand him my card, wine and beer were free but I needed something harder to start me off if I was to last for the next two hours here. Kayden comes up behind me smoothly sitting in the seat beside me.
   "Want anything?" I ask, the bartender looks at him patiently as I take my drink. He watches as I take a mouthful, his eyes trail down my throat as I swallow and my skin lights up.
   "I'll just have a water with ice please."
   "Pft, who even drinks water." I tease, smiling around the rim of my drink. They were finally starting to hit me and I felt giddy, I was here with this stunning man who was turning all heads and he seemed to have eyes only for me.
   "Humans, Shay. Humans." He muses, fighting a smile. I sigh dramatically.
   "Oh the horror it would be to be your kind, lucky I'm not." I wink, sitting my drink down. Just as he's about to reply Caity comes over, she's wearing a stunning red dress that hugs her figure and sparkles in the light. Her blond hair is down and straightened, flowing like a waterfall around her.
   "Hey! I thought you'd almost bailed." She jokes, she double takes Kayden. Her eyes widen as she looks at me with a silent question, I nod once to assure her that, yes, this is my escort.
   "Holly shit hey." She huffs, raising her eyebrows.
   "Hey, I'm Kayden. Nice to meet you, I'm Shays date." He nods, but doesn't offer her his hand.
   "I know you're an—" she leans in closer so no one else will over hear her next word, "escort." She leans back with a grin on her face, she was enjoying this. He smiles and nods before looking back to me, I clear my throat and look around the room.
   "Mahlia in range?" I ask, looking around.
   "Oh yeah, she's trying to find you. She's bitching about something in the column you submitted. I'm sorry sis but I think you're gonna get in trouble." Caity says sympathetically, last week she'd been yelled at for bringing her the wrong coffee. Now it was my turn.
   Great, just great. I throw back my drink and sit the glass down.
   "I had five hours to complete it, errors and editing as well as the other column and every other job I had to complete. What could I have missed? I stayed back to make sure I was up to speed." I groan, I lean my head in my hands. I feel a warm hand rub my back, releasing some of the pressure that had already started to build.
   "Hey, it's alright. I'm sure it's no big deal?" He offers, I peek up at him and he gives me a large smile.
   "Uh oh, she's coming. I'm off, tell me everything later." Caity disappears into the crowd, Kayden lowers his hand back to his leg; taking all warmth with him. I straighten in my seat and turn to see her coming directly for me, she's wearing a three quarter black tight dress with black simple heels. Her black hair flows around her in waves, she narrows her eyes at me but before she can do anything she sees Kayden. Her steps falter, her honey brown eyes widen in disbelief.
   "Is that her?" He whispers, leaning in close.
   "Unfortunately." I mumble. I plaster on a fake smile as she stops in front of us, wanting to gag at her overload of flower perfume. Did she aspire to be a damn garden?
   "Shay, it's wonderful to see you. Who might you be?" she asks warmly, offering a delicate hand. Much to my annoyance he takes it and gives her a warm smile, he then takes me by surprise by holding my hand and intertwining our fingers.
   "Kayden, it's nice to meet you." He offers, his thumb strokes the back of my hand and it calms me. She fakes a smile and her eyes flick to our hands and back to me.
   "I had a few issues with the columns, I've re-sent you the errors back through. You'll have to fix them Monday; I've also taken you off the weekly column. Your tardiness tonight has proven that you aren't as time managed as you'd made me believe." She says sweetly, I clench my jaw and my hand tightens; my nails digging into Kayden's hand.
   "You can't take me off that column; it's one of my biggest pieces I work on." I grit out, she's being unfair and cruel. She couldn't do that, could she? What would I know; apparently to her I know nothing.
   "Ah well I'm sure you can work your way back there can't you." She says sweetly, batting her fake lashes at me. It takes all my strength not rip them off of her. Kayden tenses beside me. I look down, defeated. I couldn't say anything, she was my boss.
   "That's a really unprofessional thing to do, by the way. I would never treat my employees the way you treat yours, especially considering you didn't even ask her why we weren't running on time." Kayden says with ice in his voice. She tilts her head as she looks over him.
   "And what would you know about being a boss?" She muses, tapping her nails against her wine glass.
   "I'm the leader of Branchwood Industries, so I actually know a lot about being a leader and how to respect my staff. I'd be thanking Shay if anything for staying back to get the work done, instead of tearing her down even more." My eyes widen as I realise he is Kayden Branchwood, the son of the top CEO of the biggest lawyer firm we have in Manhattan. I look down at our clasped hands and to his handsome face, he's staring Mahlia down. He had far more ranking than she did, she must be realising the same thing.
   "Well Mr. Branchwood, this is my company and I will run it how I see fit. Shay, I expect those errors to be fixed by Monday afternoon before you leave for the day." She turns and strolls back into the crowd, swaying her hips as she goes. I pull him in so my lips rest near his ear.
   "You didn't tell me that." I whisper harshly, he pulls back with a smirk and I stare at him accusingly. Here I was thinking he was just an escort, it didn't occur to me that he had another job.
   "We all have our secrets."