Damaged Goods (29 page)
Authors: Lauren Gallagher
Tags: #Fiction, #Erotica, #General, #Literary, #Romance, #Erotic Contemporary
While my boyfriend and ex-husband discussed the strategies and
idiosyncrasies of the game and how they would one day beat Mikey, I went upstairs
to make sure the kids got everything together.
The last year or so had been challenging to say the least. It was still weird,
being a prostitute"s girlfriend, and some nights were harder than others. There"d
been a few times when I"d caught myself thinking I couldn"t deal with this anymore,
but we"d gotten through it. Every night he was with me, Austin made sure I knew
what we had was worlds apart from the strictly business interludes with his clients.
It was a job to him, nothing more, and with time, it was easier for me to accept it.
It had taken Michael a month or so and several conversations with Austin and
me before he finally decided he was okay with Austin meeting the kids. Mikey had
immediately taken to Austin, particularly when they found a few favorite video
games in common. Mikey was also enamored of Austin"s artistic talent, and the two
of them spent hours at the kitchen table discussing the intricacies of composition,
shading, and a few million things I didn"t understand.
Alexis wasn"t so quick to warm up to him. She was definitely her daddy"s little
girl, and after a few weeks of icy hostility toward Austin, Michael and I finally sat
down with her to see what was up. Turned out she was afraid Austin was somehow
trying to encroach and fill Michael"s role. Once we explained he"d no more do that
than Carrie had taken over my role, she relaxed.
In fact, just the other night, I"d caught Lex and Austin sitting out on the back
deck, staring up at the stars and trying to convince each other of the existence of
bullshit constellations. At some point, right around the time she"d been explaining
to him that a certain collection of stars formed the constellation SpongeBob, his
work phone had gone off.
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He never took his eyes off the stars. Without missing a beat in their
conversation, he casually reached into his pocket, pulled out the phone, and kicked
the call over to voice mail. It didn"t ring again. To my knowledge, he never returned
the call, because he spent that night with his arm around me and his soft goatee
against my neck.
“You guys have everything you need?” I asked from the hallway.
“Almost,” Lex called from her room.
Something shuffled in Mikey"s room. Then he came out with his backpack over
his shoulder and a rolled-up poster in his hand. “I"m ready.”
A second later, Lex appeared with a stack of books and her school bag. “Me
too.”
“Off we go, then,” I said. The kids followed me downstairs.
When I came around the corner into the living room, Michael and Austin
abruptly halted their conversation and glanced at me.
I looked at one, then the other. “What?”
They exchanged glances.
“Nothing.” Austin cleared his throat. “Just video-game crap.”
I raised an eyebrow, but before I could voice my skepticism, the kids brushed
past me to greet their father.
“You both have your school bags?” Michael asked.
“Right here.” Alexis held hers up.
“Got mine,” Mikey said.
“Good Lord, child,” Michael said to Lex. “You"re going to break your back
carrying all those books.”
She held them up to her father. “You can carry them.”
“Hey, now,” Austin said. “The deal was you could check out as many as you
could carry.”
She batted her eyes. “I can, but if he doesn"t want me breaking my back…”
Austin and Michael laughed. Then Austin looked at Mikey. “You"ve got your
poster, right?”
My son held up the rolled piece of cardstock. The two of them had spent hours
on that thing last night and this morning.
“When"s that due?” Michael asked.
“Tomorrow,” Mikey said. “It"s done, Dad. Austin helped me with it.”
“Can I at least see it?” Michael asked.
Mikey slid the rubber band off and unrolled the poster. It was a timeline of the
American Revolution with intricately drawn pictures depicting key events. Of
course Mikey had done the bulk of the work, but Austin had helped him with the
layout, not to mention offering some pointers on the detail work and the wording for
the labels.
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“This looks great. If that doesn"t get an A, I don"t know what will,” Michael
said.
Mikey beamed, grinning at Austin.
Then Michael rolled the poster back up and put the rubber band on it. “Well,
we"d better get going. You two ready?”
“Yep,” they both said. The kids hugged Austin and me good-bye. Then Michael
and Austin shook hands, my ex-husband and I exchanged a quick hug, and they
were out the door.
Once they were gone, Austin and I went back into the kitchen.
“Ah, we have the house to ourselves for the week.” I put my hands on his
shoulders. “What ever will we do with it?”
“Oh, I could think of a few things.” He kissed me lightly, but when our eyes
met again, his expression was suddenly serious. “Before we do, though…”
My blood turned cold. “Something wrong?”
“No, of course not.” He cleared his throat. “But before we do, I…” He dropped
his gaze.
“Austin?”
He took a deep breath. “Listen, I"ve been doing some thinking.”
My heart pounded, and I waited while he searched for the words.
“I"ve been doing some thinking, and I think you deserve better than a
prostitute for a boyfriend.”
White-hot panic surged through my veins. “Austin, don"t—”
“Just hear me out,” he said softly. “Listen, I"ve never been ashamed of what I
do, but I"ll be the first to admit it"s not compatible with certain things.” He paused,
shifting his weight. “And I think you deserve better than a prostitute for a
boyfriend, so I hoped you might consider a semi-starving artist for a husband.”
My heart stopped. “Are…are you…”
One hand left my waist, and I couldn"t breathe when he reached for his back
pocket. He slipped his other hand into mine, and my breath caught when he went to
one knee.
He held up his other hand, and the slight tremor added to the sparkle of the
diamond between his thumb and forefinger. “Jocelyn…” He took a deep breath,
moistened his lips, and whispered, “Will you marry me?”
I couldn"t speak, but without a second"s hesitation, I managed a nod. Austin
slipped the ring on my finger. Then he stood and put his arms around me, kissing
me gently.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too,” I said, struggling to keep my emotions in check.
“And I swear,” he said. “I didn"t use a penny that came from the escort service
to pay for that ring.”
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I wiped my eyes and shook my head. “I don"t care. As long as it"s from you, I
don"t care.” I looked up at him, swallowing hard. “What did you mean about your
job? Are you…” I paused. “Are you quitting the agency?”
Austin nodded. “I"ve been working for the last few months to get some other
income rolling. More design gigs, that kind of thing. And I may have found someone
who"s willing to help me sell some of my other artwork.” He ran his fingers through
my hair. “It"s going to involve some creative budgeting on my part, but I"ve got
enough money saved to tide me over for a while.”
“Are you sure about this?” I hesitated. “I haven"t made you feel like—”
“No, baby, it"s nothing you"ve said.” He touched my face and kissed me lightly.
“In fact, I think that"s a big part of this decision for me. I know it hasn"t been easy
for you, even when you"ve tried to pretend it was, but you"ve never once asked me to
give it up.”
“I wouldn"t ask you to give up your job,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “But I will.”
“Austin, you…”
“I want to, babe. I"ll work out the finances, but if we"re going to be in this for
the long haul, I just can"t do both at once. And I"d rather be with you for the rest of
my life than try to get a few more years out of that job.” He didn"t give me a chance
to protest—not that I would have at this point—before he kissed me again.
When he broke the kiss, I combed my fingers through his hair, my heart
fluttering when the diamond on my hand caught the light.
“You know,” I said, “if it"ll make things smoother for you financially, you could
move in here sooner than later.”
He nodded. “Let"s see how the kids adjust to us being engaged.” He tucked a
strand of hair behind my ear. “I still have a few months left on my lease anyway.”
“Good idea.” I grinned. “Well, can I at least talk you into staying tonight?”
Austin laughed and trailed his fingertips down the side of my neck. “Like you
even need to ask.”
I raised my chin to kiss him but pulled back at the last second. Eyeing him, I
said, “Is this what you and Michael were talking about when I came into the living
room?”
“What?” He batted his eyes. “Uh. No. It… We were talking about…”
“Video games?”
“Yeah. That.”
I laughed. “You are such a horrible liar.”
He grinned. “Okay, yes, that"s what we were talking about.” He raised his
eyebrows a little. “You don"t mind, do you? That he knew before you did?”
“Not in the least.” I smiled. “I"m too excited to care about any of that.”
“Good.” He cupped my face in both hands and kissed me.
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“He"s not going to tell the kids, though, is he?”
“Hell, no. He promised me he"d keep it quiet.” His smile turned shy. “I just
needed a little preproposal encouragement, I guess.”
“Encouragement? You didn"t think I"d say no, did you?”
“Well, not necessarily, but…” He bit his lip, and his cheeks colored. “I was
nervous, and let"s just leave it at that.”
“You had nothing to be nervous about,” I whispered and drew him down for
another kiss. That was definitely the truth. Standing with him now, his ring on my
finger and my arms around him, I couldn"t imagine not marrying him. I"d secretly
hoped for weeks, months even, that he"d ask, and I"d still have said yes if he hadn"t
told me he was giving up being an escort. I was in love with him regardless of his
profession.
It was hard to believe that a year or so ago, I"d been so disillusioned and
frustrated with the dating world that I"d resorted to using an escort. Seven years of
aggravation in the dating pool had led me up to calling Elite Escorts, and more than
once afterward, I"d regretted making that call.
I had no regrets now, because now I had everything.
Loose Id Titles by Lauren Gallagher
Damaged Goods
Lauren Gallagher
Lauren Gallagher is an erotica writer who is said to be living in Okinawa,
Japan, with her husband and two incredibly spoiled cats. There is some speculation
she is once again on the run from the Polynesian Mafia in the mountains of Bhutan,
but she"s also been sighted recently in the jungles of Brazil, on a beach in Spain,
and in a back alley in Detroit with some shifty-eyed toaster salesmen. Though her
whereabouts are unknown, it is known that she also writes gay male erotic romance
under the pseudonym L. A. Witt.