Gentleman Nine(13)

“You’re selling yourself short. I’d kill for your body. Don’t let it go to waste. You’re only young once. We got to get you back in the game.”

Annabelle would often compliment me. With her frizzy, black hair, prominent nose, and stalky body, we were opposites physically.

“My problem is…I’m not ready for a relationship. But at the same time, I don’t want to just hook up with someone, either. There’s really no in-between. You know what I wish?” I looked around to make sure we were still alone. “I wish I had like a superpower where I could have sex with a man and erase the whole experience after, so that there was no aftermath or guilt. I would never run into him again. In fact, he would stop existing after that. But that’s just a fantasy.”

“Uh…no, it’s not. That’s called a one-night stand.”

“Well, you’d have to actually go out or online date to have a one-night stand. That sounds really daunting to me right now. I’m not ready for either one of those things.”

“You just want to get laid by the magically disappearing cock.”

I couldn’t help but laugh when I said, “You need to lower your voice.”

Annabelle squinted her eyes. She was giving me a weird look, making me think she was cooking up something in her brain.

“What do you have up your sleeve?” I asked.

“Who says you can’t have what you want?”

“What do you mean?”

“When you just told me about your little superpower fantasy, you reminded me of something.”

“What?”

“Okay, you know my cousin Shae, the single attorney who lives in Wellesley?”

“Yeah. You’ve mentioned her.”

“Well…the last time I saw her was at my sister’s wedding. She had a little too much to drink and began to open up to me at the reception.” Annabelle lowered her voice. “She told me that she went to see a male escort.”

Looking behind my shoulder, I whispered, “You mean a prostitute…”

“Technically, yes. But she said this guy was amazing both physically and personality-wise. She said it was one of the most enjoyable nights she’s ever had.”

“She only saw him once?”

“Well, it’s very expensive—like a thousand dollars for one night. Shae said it was worth every penny. Apparently, it was just what she needed to feel confident and sexy again. A little while after that, she started to put herself out there and began dating the man she’s now engaged to. But she attributes this escort with getting her out of the funk she’d been in. Not to mention, she said it was the best sex of her life.”

“Really…well, I could never do something like that.”

“Suppose you had the money, though…why would you say that you would never do it?”

She couldn’t be serious.

“Because he probably has some disease, for one.”

“Actually, I brought that up with her, and she said that they discussed it before they had any physical contact. He told her he gets tested frequently and is very rigid about practicing safe sex. He was very open about everything. They spoke quite a bit online before they met.”

“Wow. Well, that definitely doesn’t sound like what I envision a male prostitute to be like.”

“It wasn’t. I guess this company caters to the professional woman. They know that smart women want more than just a night of sex. They want to be with someone who is both sexy and intelligent. Honestly, if I were single and had the money, I would totally do it.”

I wasn’t sure I believed her. “Really? You would?”

“Why not? I agree with you that dating can be brutal. Sometimes, a girl just needs a good lay and nothing more.” She whipped out her phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m texting Shae for the information on the escort service.”

“Why?”

“Just in case you want to look into it.” She winked. “You can start saving now. Skip the gel nails and the lattes for a few months.”

“You’re crazy. Don’t bother.”

She ignored me and kept typing. “Like I said, can’t hurt to have the information.”

We’d been so wrapped up in this conversation, I hadn’t even heated up my lunch. I popped my bowl into the microwave, waited, and just as it dinged, so did Annabelle’s phone.

“Oh, she responded!”

I blew on the escarole soup. “What did she say?”

“Let me read it verbatim.” She paused. “It’s called Newbury Gentleman’s Club. They have a generic website. They obviously don’t advertise the fact that they offer more than just escort services. The woman who owns it has a direct email. Most of their business is through word of mouth, since they can’t be too blatant in their advertising. You contact this woman initially, and she gives you a password to a secure portal where you can choose the person based on physical attributes and a brief description of personality traits of the man you want to meet. For example, you can indicate whether you want to be with someone who’s rough in bed or someone who is more gentle. You can indicate preferences like blond or dark-haired, bulky or lean. They don’t show photos to protect the man’s privacy, but they guarantee that on a scale of one to ten on the looks ratio, all of their men fall in the ten range.” She turned to me. “God, this is better than being a kid in a candy store! Anyway, she just pasted the email address of the woman in charge but also gave me a password that she said might still work to bypass having to contact the woman in order to get into the secure site. I’m forwarding you all the information.”