Sins & Mistrust (30 page)

My father sends me on a last minute trip to California. He needs me to meet with some important people there while he stays here and meets with even more important people. That’s how I take it anyway. If he can’t be in a meeting, I’m sent in his place, and since the meeting in California was rescheduled at the last minute, I’m forced to fly out without more than an hour’s notice.

Fortunately, I have my own room at that hotel too, so I don’t have to pack anything. I’m whisked off to the airfield and put on a private jet, and I land in California an hour and a half later. I have just enough time to go up to my room change, shove some food in my face, and then be down in the conference room.

Before the meeting begins, I send a text to both Lincoln and Marc letting them know where I am, and then silence it and drop it in my purse.

Three hours later, I make it up to my room and kick my shoes off. I dig into my purse and pull my phone out, then I collapse onto the couch. I go to check my messages, but find that the phone died in my purse.

I drag myself into the room and plug my phone in. While I wait for it to charge, I strip my clothes off and flop onto the bed. Sleep swallows me up and I’m out before I can even think about doing anything else.

At seven in the morning, my phone rings, waking me up. I get up and drift towards my phone, my eyes partially closed still.

“Hello?” I say in a sleep-filled voice.

“Nathalia? Are you okay?” Marc’s voice asks.

“Yes, yes. Why?”

“I’ve been calling and texting you forever.”

“Sorry,” I reply, making my way back to the bed. “My phone died, and while I waited for it to charge, I just fell asleep. It was a long day.”

“I understand.” He pauses. “I need to talk to you.”

“Those are never good words, Marc,” I say.

“I know. I’ve already told Lincoln, and he’s not too happy.”

“Now you’re scaring me,” I reply.

He sighs heavily. “The reason I didn’t quit my escort job was because I still had a client on the schedule. She booked me way ahead of time, and has already paid the agency. She used to be a regular, but left town for a while. When she found out she was coming back, she booked me again. It was before I met you. Well, she’s back now.”

It takes a few seconds for everything to sink in.

“I uhh…I don’t know what to say. What does that mean?”

“It means I am scheduled to go out with her tomorrow. I’m on her time now. She’s paid for my company, and she’s friends with my boss. It’s such a mess. I’m sorry.”

“Are you going to sleep with her?” I ask.

He sighs again. “We always did before. I’m sure she’ll want to again.”

“You can’t say no?” I ask, my voice going up a couple octaves.

“Nathalia, look, I’m going to have dinner with her tomorrow. I will talk to her and inform her of my situation, and I won’t sleep with her.”

“Marc, I told you to never refer to me as a situation. Are we together or not?”

“Yes, you know that.”

“I’m not so sure.”

“Nathalia, what else am I supposed to do? I told you I’m not going to sleep with her.”

“I have to go, Marc. I have a flight to catch. We’ll talk later.”

I hang up the phone before he can reply and I instantly call Lincoln.

“Talk to Marc?” he asks as soon as he picks up.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And what, Linc? He’s going out on a date with a client! A client he’s had sex with many times before!”

“You don’t have to tell me, he already did. I was sure to tell him how I felt about it.”

“How do you feel?”

“Annoyed. Mostly because he didn’t mention this woman being on his schedule before. He knew she’d be back in town, so I’m wondering why she was never brought up.”

“Do you think he has feelings for her?”

“I don’t know, babe.”

“You sound too calm about this.”

“What can we do, Thalia? We both knew he hadn’t officially quit. I guess it can’t be too surprising.”

“We’re all together, though, aren’t we? I mean, I thought we were committed to each other.”

“We never had the conversation about what was going on. You two had your time together, and that seemed fine. When he came to see me at my house, we slept together, and then the following night we were at your place. Since then, we haven’t really discussed relationships or anything. We only have time to be together at night, usually, so it does seem like it’s just about the sex.”

“There’s no way it’s just about the sex!” I screech. “Marc and I have developed a relationship. I know we have, I can feel it.”

“Maybe you’re right. The three of us don’t do anything together publicly. When we’re able to be together, it’s at night, and we have sex. That’s it.”

“I know you have feelings for him, Lincoln.”

He blows out a breath. “Let’s just wait to hear from him after his date. We’ll see what happens.”

“How fucked up does that sound?
Let’s wait to hear from him after his date
? Really, Linc? Maybe I should go have a date. Maybe you should. This is such bullshit.”

“We all need to sit down and talk about this relationship—if that’s what this is—together, and figure out what the hell is going on.”

“Yeah,” I say softly.

“When are you coming home?”

“I’ll probably leave here in a couple hours. I might be back by noon.”

“Okay, good. I’ll meet you at your hotel. Text me when you land.”

“Okay, Linc.”

“I love you, T.”

“I love you.”

I just wish someone else loved us both as well. Isn’t it obvious that we love him?

Thalia and I pull up to her hotel around two o’clock, and we go straight to her room to talk.

“Lincoln, I’ve been thinking about this whole situation,” she says, stretching her legs out on the couch.

I sit on the opposite end and lift her feet and place them in my lap. “I’m listening.”

“Maybe we should let him do whatever he needs to do. Let’s just not commit to each other right now. I’ll still be committed, because I have no plans to go out and meet anybody else. I know that I want you and that I want him. But maybe he needs time to see this client, quit his job, come out to his friends, and all that. He has a lot on his plate, and I understand his stresses, so I don’t want to be another one.”

“So, it’ll just be me and you?” I ask.

“If that’s okay with you,” she responds with a small smile.

“It’s okay with me, but you and I both know that we enjoy having Marc around. It won’t be the same.”

“I know. I want him to be a part of
us
, but he’s still an escort, and his friends don’t even know he’s bi. That means we’ll never go out with him. We’ll never meet them. Not until he’s ready. So, we will continue to stay indoors and only have sex. It’s like we’re his hidden secret, his double life that he doesn’t want people to know about. That’s not fair to us.”

“I understand.”

“So, I think we need to tell him.”

“Now?”

“The sooner the better, I suppose. Maybe it’ll give him a push.”

“Okay, then.”

A couple hours later, Marc arrives at Thalia’s room. The atmosphere is tense, awkward, and uncomfortable.

Marc doesn’t even sit down before he starts talking. “Look. I’m sorry for not telling you before that I had a client scheduled. At first I wasn’t sure what was even going to happen with us. Everything was so experimental. Nathalia, you and I had a great time together, and I knew we’d have a great relationship. I never gave Lincoln the same chance, because after the first night of his and my time together, we were here and started being a threesome.

“Then I figured I would have more time to figure out how to tell you about the client, but she showed up early. I know I’m still in the wrong, and I accept that.”

Nathalia steps forward. “Marc, I get it. Okay? Lincoln and I talked about it, and we realized that even though we were all being committed to each other, we never really had a discussion about it. Nothing was laid out and put in stone. So, officially, we aren’t really anything. We have sex, and that’s been fun. However, I know I have feelings for you. My problem is, you’re still an escort, and while you weren’t practicing for a while, you’re back at it again. Also, your friends don’t even know who you really are. That means we’ll never be able to hang out with you when you’re with them. We won’t go to work functions together, we won’t be a part of your life, and that hurts. I don’t want to be your dirty little secret. I understand you have to work out things with your boss and friends, and I don’t want to add more to your plate. So, I think it’s best if we just give you a break, and let you take care of what you need to take care of.”

Marc looks between us both for several seconds.

“Okay.”

That’s all he says.

“Okay?” I repeat.

“Yeah. I get it.”

“You don’t have anything else to say?” I question.

“What am I supposed to say here? I’ve apologized. I understand this shit is on my shoulders. I’m the bad one here, right? I keep you a secret. I keep myself a fucking secret. I suppose I’m just used to keeping my personal shit personal. I never had to take into consideration other people’s feelings. It’s new to me, but I get it. I do need to figure shit out.”