“I’m REALLY good at my job,” she said. “Why shouldn’t I get paid?”
Cassie and Tony looked at each other and both laughed. What a perfect way to end an odd evening.
“Anyway, I’ve uh, I’ve got to get going,” Cassie said, texting her friend Jenny that she was headed home.
“Alright,” Tony said. “I guess I should get out of here too.”
“Look, I’m sorry,” Cassie said. “I know this didn’t turn out the way you planned.”
“It’s fine,” he said. “It kind of is what it is.”
“So I can keep the money then?” Cassie said, with a smile on her face.
“Nope,” Tony said. “I’m gonna need that cash back so I can buy as much alcohol as it takes to forget all about this.”
“Fair enough,” Cassie said. “I’ll Paypal you when I get home.”
“Cool,” Tony said, making his way back over to the bed to watch some TV while he waited for the coast to clear and make his way out of the hotel. “I guess I’ll see ya later.”
“Yeah,” Cassie said, grabbing the door. “I guess so.”
=====
Cassie walked out of Tony’s hotel for the second time and, somehow, felt worse than before.
Even though the conversation went great, and she wasn’t mad anymore, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. She was sad for him. What a shitty way to ruin a clients’ fantasy.
“He’s not a client, idiot,” she scolded herself. “He’s your fucking cousin!”
But what was she supposed to do? She wasn’t going to sleep with him and the few escort friends she had, all had their own booking processes. There’s no way she could call one of them to fuck her cousin — what a strange statement by the way– and she definitely couldn’t do so without raising red flags and making them think she was trying to set them up.
And, even if she wasn’t, who tries to get their FAMILY MEMBERS laid?
Cassie got back to her car and looked inside to make sure her luggage was still where she left it, a habit she picked up from living in shitty neighborhoods most of her life and never quite trusting those around her. It was. She felt relieved.
“I’m in my car,” she texted Jenny.
“How was it?” Jenny asked.
“It was a dud,” Cassie said. “Nothing special.”
“Bummer,” Jenny said. “Let me know when you get home. And if you want to hang out this weekend, I’m free Saturday.”
With that, Cassie ended the conversation and got ready to drive home. For the second time in the last 40 minutes, she had her key in the ignition. She started her car, carefully backed out of her spot and made her way to the exit. As she waited for the car in front of her to turn left out of the parking lot, she looked down on her phone one last time.
Then she had a thought that changed everything.
=====
The third knock nearly startled Tony out of his shoes. Literally.
As he stood close to the hotel room door getting ready to head out, the sound jolted him out of the mental prison he’d locked himself into since Cassie left the room minutes earlier.
“Shit,” he thought. “What now?”
Resigned, he opened the door to see his cousin standing there with her luggage in tow again.
“Okay, so this is weird but hear me out,” Cassie said, barging right back into the room without waiting for an invitation.