Awaken (18 page)

Penelope grabbed Lacey’s hand.
 

Lacey stood, transfixed on the scene in front of her.
 

He’s the Master,
Lacey thought as she watched Cooper fuck a woman toward bliss.
He is never going to give up that part of his life. He couldn’t have been more crystal clear. That’s why he keeps saying sex with him is complicated. I’m so angry. I wish I could be like Penelope. She’s able to separate the physical from the emotional. But standing here, watching Cooper give another woman pleasure, I realize I will never be like her. I can’t separate the two. For me, they are intertwined. Cooper is making this woman roar with pleasure and my stomach is turning, racked with jealousy and pain. I’m getting sick. I have to get out of here. Now!

 
Lacey quickly turned and left the room. Penelope ran after her. In the hallway, Penelope grabbed Lacey’s hand.

“Lacey, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” said Lacey, shaking her head. “I just don’t feel well all of a sudden. I need to get home.”

“Okay,” said Penelope with a sympathetic look. “Let’s go.”

Although he heard the woman cry with jubilation, Cooper’s worst fears had been confirmed. He didn’t feel a thing. Over the last three years, he had pleasured countless women at Nectar. His greatest enjoyment came from hearing them orgasm loudly and watching the rush of joy overwhelm their faces, as they reached the mountaintop of bliss. But tonight, as he worked his cock into a beautiful woman in front of a large crowd, there was only one thing on his mind: Lacey Winters.

He couldn’t stop thinking about her. It was her warm flesh he wanted to grip, her lavender scent he wanted to inhale, her tight silky cunt he wanted to fill.

Shit, are you falling for her?
Cooper questioned. The woman he was fucking was about to climax, but Cooper’s mind was elsewhere.
Could you really commit to one woman for the rest of your life, Cooper? Remember the pain you went through last time? Do you want to risk going through that again? It nearly killed you.

Cooper came to Nectar tonight to see if he could go back to being the Master. That’s where he was safe. No commitments. Just Sex. But as Cooper heard the woman’s moans grow louder, he wondered if he wanted to continue inhabiting the persona he had created so long ago.
 

Was it time to take off the mask permanently?

“Chad, can you tilt the light to the left a little?”

Lacey’s new assistant moved the light, following her direction.

“Perfect,” said Lacey as she looked through her camera’s viewfinder.
 

Lacey was in Southampton, in a 7,000 square foot mansion on Meadow Lane, also known as Billionaire Lane due to the number of billionaires who had homes on the street. With her new photography assistant, Chad Asbury, she was taking photos of the mansion’s owners, Julie and Christopher Nicholson. Now in their early 80s, the elderly couple had amassed a fortune in real estate, primarily by investing in Manhattan over several decades. To Lacey’s delight, they weren’t snobbish in the least and were very approachable.
 

“Lacey, make sure you get my good side,” said Christopher Nicholson.

“Sweetie, you lost that side twenty years ago,” remarked Julie with a chuckle, his wife of fifty-five years. She reassuringly padded her husband’s arm.
 

“Mrs. Nicholson, could you scoot a little closer toward your husband?”

“Come here, honey bunch,” replied Christopher, as he threw his arm around his wife.

“Perfect,” said Lacey. She snapped some more pictures of the couple. They were sitting on a whale of a couch situated in their massive, and ornately decorated, living room.

Satisfied with the photos she had taken, Lacey told them they could move on to the shots in the backyard. “Just give us a moment to break down our equipment,” Lacey added.

“Take your time, hon,” replied Julie Nicholson. “I’m going to get us some iced-tea.”

Lacey watched Mr. Nicholson gingerly help his wife off the couch and walk with her toward the kitchen. “They’re so cute,” Lacey whispered to Chad as he approached.

“I didn’t think that existed anymore,” replied the young assistant as he lowered the lighting rig.

“What do you mean?” asked Lacey.

 
Chad leaned in, so the elderly couple didn’t accidentally overhear him, although that was most unlikely. “You know, people actually loving each other for their whole lives. It’s nice to see.”

“Yeah,” said Lacey with a nod as she watched them slowly walk out of the room. As they broke down the lights, Lacey wondered if her future held that kind of relationship in the cards. One thing was for sure, after what she witnessed at Nectar, Lacey knew she wasn’t going to find that with Cooper. Watching him have sex with another woman made her sick with jealousy. She hated how it felt, especially since she had no way to justify it. Her and Cooper didn’t have a relationship: it was just about sex. Cooper had made that perfectly clear. But watching him with another woman made Lacey realize just how badly she yearned for something more. And she also realized she couldn’t share a lover. She couldn’t be in a relationship like Penelope and Nico. It just wasn’t in her DNA.
 

“Iced-tea is ready,” shouted Mrs. Nicholson from the kitchen.

Lacey and Chad finished breaking down the lights. Then they joined the couple in their kitchen.

“You have a beautiful home,” said Lacey.

“It’s too big,” complained Julie. “I can never find him.”

“That’s because I’m hiding from you,” replied Christopher with a wink toward Lacey and Chad.

“Is it just the two of you?” asked Chad.

They both nodded. “Our two boys live in California,” said Mr. Nicholson “One in LA and the other in San Francisco. We thought about moving out there to be closer to them, but we’re just so busy.”

“I just started doing watercolors,” chimed in Mrs. Nicholson. “And Christopher started learning the piano.”

Mr. Nicholson nodded. “I’m terrible, but it’s always good to stay curious, learn new things.”

Lacey was surprised. She assumed they meant busy with work, not pursuing hobbies.
 

“How about you two?” asked Julie. “What do you like to do when you aren’t working?”

“I knit,” said Chad. Lacey wasn’t expecting that answer. He was slightly on the heavier side, and Lacey had a hard time picturing the young twenty-something-year old sitting on a couch, knitting.
 

“How about you, Lacey?” asked Mr. Nicholson.

Lacey was about to tell them how photography was both her work and her hobby, something she was very grateful for. But then her cell phone rang. When she saw who it was, her stomach dropped. She thought about sending it straight to voicemail. But to her dismay, she couldn’t.

“Excuse me, I have to take this,” she said to everyone in the kitchen. She stepped into the hallway.

“What?” she asked, curtly.

“Hello to you too, Lacey.”

His voice sounded smooth; and as usual, confident. Lacey hated herself for loving the sound of it.
 

“I’m busy,” she responded. “What do you want?” She knew she sounded like a bitch, but she couldn’t help it. Cooper had riled her up.

“Well then, I won’t keep you,” said Cooper in a relaxed manner.
 

He wasn’t at all ruffled by Lacey’s harsh tone. That just annoyed her even more.
 

“I want to have our next session tonight,” he said.

Lacey didn’t know if she could handle seeing Cooper again, especially after watching him at Nectar with another woman.
I should just end this completely – and forget about our contract and any remaining sessions.

“I can’t,” said Lacey. “I’m in the Hamptons on a shoot. I won’t be back in the city until late.”

There was a long pause.
He’s probably annoyed he’s not getting what he wants. Good,
thought Lacey.

“Well then, how about tomorrow night, 7pm?” Cooper asked. “I have something very special planned.”

Lacey was about to say no to Cooper’s invitation, but her curiosity got the better of her.
 

He has something special planned. Like what?
she wondered.
Every time I’m with him, he’s introduced me to another sexual experience that has blown me away; raised the bar on everything I’ve known about myself. If I stop now, I’m always going to wonder what’s been left unexplored. He might not be “the one”,
Lacey told herself
, but he’s definitely expanded my world, awakened my sexuality. Take that for what it’s worth. I can’t let jealousy ruin my self-discovery.

“Tomorrow night can work,” Lacey finally said with a sigh. Then she whispered into the phone, “But can I wear underwear this time?”
 

“Yes,” said Cooper with a slight laugh. “You can wear underwear. In fact, you should be fully dressed.”

“What do you have planned?” Lacey asked, curious.

“Now, Lacey, you know I can’t tell you that. It would ruin the surprise. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

He hung up. Lacey looked at her phone, annoyed.
I hate how excited I am for tomorrow night,
she told herself.
Damn you, Cooper West!
 

When Lacey stepped back into the kitchen, Julie Nicholson asked, “So, Lacey, do you have anyone special in your life? Chad was just telling us how he’s marrying his partner in the fall.”

Lacey was delighted. Camilla, at
One Percent,
was very pleased with the photos she had taken of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson. And earlier that day, Savannah informed her that several members of Nectar expressed interest in participating in the shoot. Savannah offered Lacey use of the club next Wednesday as a location. Her childhood dream had finally come true: she was a professional photographer. Her mom would have been so proud. Her professional life had at long last fallen into place.

As she got ready for her night out with Cooper, Lacey realized things in her personal life were on shakier ground.
Ah well
. She reminded herself that her session that evening with Cooper was just about sex.
Enjoy it but don’t get caught up emotionally,
she told herself.
Once my sessions with Cooper are over, I’ll have to find someone who can give me what I need emotionally. I won’t settle for anything less.

After checking herself one last time in the mirror, Lacey stepped out of her building. She saw Clyde standing next to the limo. Lacey also saw the old lady – the one she ran into the night she left her apartment with nothing on but a coat. The old lady had made another trip to the grocery store and was staring at the limo, trying to get a glimpse inside.
 

“Come on, give me a hint. Whose inside?” the old woman asked Clyde.

Clyde smiled. “I can’t do that, Ma’am.”

The old woman turned and saw Lacey standing on the front steps.

“This is for you?” she asked pointing to the limo and its driver.

Lacey nodded with a smirk.
She most definitely thinks I’m an escort now
.

“Ha!” said the old lady, shaking her head. “To be young again. Last time I was in a limo, it was with Jack Kennedy. Enjoy it while it lasts, honey!”

Lacey helped her bring her cart up the front steps again. Clyde ran to aide them.
 

“Thank you,” said the old lady to the two of them. “Now go have fun chasing the wild life,” she said. Then she turned to Lacey and looked at her very concerned, “But watch yourself, sweetie. Men in limos should never be trusted.”

As the elderly woman stepped through the front door of the building, Lacey turned to Clyde.

“She thinks I’m a hooker. I’m sure of it.”
 

Clyde laughed. “She’s a character, that’s for sure,” he said with a shrug. They walked down the front steps, toward the limo. He opened the back door for Lacey.

“Thanks.”

“My pleasure, Miss Winters.”

When Lacey stepped into the car, Cooper was typing furiously into his phone. He didn’t bother to look at her. Apparently, he had not seen the run in with the old lady outside. Cooper finished typing and sighed. He finally looked at Lacey. Then his eyes widened.

“Damn,” he said. “You look fantastic.”

Lacey broke into a smile. “Thanks.”

Lacey had chosen to wear a black-leather, pencil skirt with knee high boots, and a black blouse with a red-fitted jacket. She wasn’t sure what Cooper had planned for the evening. But she hoped he would appreciate her stylish selection.
Unless he plans on taking me bowling or something.

When Lacey noticed Cooper was in a midnight-blue Armani suit, she didn’t think bowling was on the agenda. Then again, Lacey got the impression Cooper wore suits for every occasion.
 

“I hope you’re hungry?” said Cooper with a smile.
 

“For food?”

Cooper rolled his eyes. “Yes, Lacey, for food. I’m taking you to my favorite restaurant.”

“Oh,” Lacey said surprised. “I didn’t realize tonight we were just having dinner.”

Cooper turned to her with a playful smirk. “Don’t worry, I have something else planned, too.”

He turned to Clyde, who was sitting in the front. “Let’s get going, Clyde. Or we might miss our flight.”

“Wait, what?” said Lacey, not sure she heard him correctly. “Did you just say flight?”

Cooper nodded. “My favorite restaurant happens to be in Boston. It should only take us an hour to get there. Can you wait that long?”

Lacey shrugged. “Sure.” She just couldn’t believe they were going all the way to Boston for dinner. She was also surprised to see Cooper smiling so much. His face appeared softer, kinder.
I guess he had a good day,
Lacey thought to herself.
Ever since we’ve started our sessions, he’s been so rigid and demanding. But tonight he’s more relaxed. It’s hard not to be drawn to him when he smiles like that. I have to remind myself that this is just about sex and keep my guard up.

When they arrived at JFK airport, Lacey was even more surprised when Cooper reached for her hand. They walked hand in hand through the terminal.