The King and the Courtesan (11 page)

“Roger informed me of this, to some degree.”

“Um, is that okay with you?” I asked. He was so stoic that it was nearly impossible to know how he felt.

Ezekiel pursed his lips. “I’d prefer if you didn’t socialize with those whores anymore. You’re not one of them any longer.”

“But—
technically
I’m—I—well, I
am
getting paid for this—”

“I’m not paying you anything.” Ezekiel’s sharp stare forced my eyes to meet his. “I’m not handing you cash for an hour of pleasure in a cheap hotel room. I’m providing for you, and in return you are my companion in bed and outside of it. You are an employee in charge of my image and my pleasure, and as such I expect a higher caliber of professionalism and behavior than any middle-aged accountant cheating on his wife could ever expect from a floozy on the street. I fail to see the similarities between what I’ve made you and what you used to be. Do you see them?”

I struggled to speak. With each word, his flat expression chipped away to reveal an incredibly passionate man, one who cared deeply about separating his own desires from those “beneath” him. He wouldn’t convince me that our arrangement was much different from what I used to do, but if he wanted to think so, then I’d let him believe it. His hypocrisy was not mine to negotiate.

“No,” I said with a dry mouth. “No, I don’t.”

“Exactly. I don’t object to the profession of whoring. Whores are as necessary as any other worker who does a dirty job no one else wants. It’s just that I prefer their lives remain separate from ours.”

“They’re my friends,” I whispered.

“You can make new ones.”

“I
can’t
.”

Ezekiel blinked slowly, as if having trouble processing my words. “Is that so?”

“I can’t imagine I’d have anything in common with other wealthy women,” I admitted carefully. I wasn’t sure how honest I could be, but I also didn’t want to give up my friends. “I come from a different place. The women I visited understand me. I can trust them.”

“A man or woman is only as great as the person he or she acquaints herself with. I understand what you’re saying, Melissa. I understand completely. And I’m sorry, but I still stand by what I say. I suppose you can meet with your friends occasionally, but it would be healthiest for you to break those bonds. They probably don’t want much to do with you, now that you’re with me. Women in their position don’t trust me. They probably shouldn’t.”

I took a deep breath and decided to brush off my acting skills. Ezekiel was a good manipulator, so why couldn’t I take a shot at it? “With no one to visit and you gone, I’ll be lonely.”

He eyed me carefully. “Is that so?”

I stared at the floor and nodded.

Ezekiel stood there for a moment. He was probably mulling something over, but I wasn’t sure what. At last, he took a step toward me and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“You know, Melissa, you’ve been good these past few days. Most women I meet are incompetent, but you really do aim to please, and I appreciate that. You don’t know how much.” He paused, and I looked up. His eyes latched onto mine, eyes that hid a thousand secrets and told a million lies. “I’m going to the southern coast this evening. I’d like to take you with me. I was unsure on whether to trust you so soon, but I think I can.” His eyes grew in intensity. “Can I, Melissa?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

A hooker’s job is confidentiality. She has to keep secrets. The more you pay her, the better kept the secrets are. The more Ezekiel gave me, the deeper his trust could run. My lips were sealed.

“Good. Pack what little you need for three days. Don’t worry about the eveningwear. I’ll buy that when we get there.”

* * *

I’d never been to the airport before. I had never had anywhere to go. I’d left Metro twice in my whole life, and one had been a weekend trip with a trusted regular. The other had been to pick up Mimi at a boyfriend’s mother’s place. Her boyfriend had broken her arm and she was terrified for her life. Both trips had been behind the wheel of a broken-down sedan.

Now I was taken straight to Ezekiel’s own private airstrip in his limo, where a sleek black jet was waiting for us. I wasn’t shocked by its color. I had a feeling this thing was going to travel a bit faster than your average commercial plane.

I’d stopped being surprised by the sudden appearance of faceless men in suits. It seemed they were infinite, emerging from every shadow and doorway to do whatever Ezekiel asked of them. They were all men, all tall, all fit, all wearing shades and black ties. One couldn’t be distinguished from the other, and I knew that Ezekiel meant for it to be that way.

Our door was opened and Roger helped me out. Roger was the only one I could really recognize, but not because he looked any different. It was because I’d spent time with him, and he was the only one who regarded me with any expression. From what I could tell, he liked me well enough.

Ezekiel waited for me to round the car. Then he took my waist and led me to the plane.

The inside of the plane should have shocked me, but I was done being shocked by the extent of Ezekiel’s wealth. There was a big screen TV, a few leather couches, and a table already set up with champagne glasses. The only proof that we were standing in a jet and not a five-star hotel room were the porthole-shaped windows letting in the afternoon light. There was no stewardess, either—I was the only female on the plane.

Ezekiel collapsed onto a couch at the far end of the room, snapping his fingers at one of his men. They seemed to understand this gesture, because one immediately appeared with a champagne bottle. He filled up two of the glasses on the table and set them down on the stand beside the couch.

“Come sit, Melissa,” Ezekiel ordered.

Briefly running my hands over the back of my skirt to make sure I wasn’t going to flash anyone, I strode to the couch and slipped onto the armrest beside Ezekiel. His arm slipped over my back, his thumb grazing my bare shoulder blade. With his other hand, he gave me a champagne glass, which I took and sipped gingerly.

“Is Roger coming with?” I asked softly.

“Yes. He’ll be up front.” Ezekiel motioned to the small room right behind the cockpit, which was kept secret from the luxury of the main cabin. “He, Garrett, and Bruce will be accompanying us and have been provided accommodations. I treat my employees very well.”

“I noticed.”

He smiled at me.

“And my—um—supplies? Are they coming, too?”

Ezekiel waved me away. “Believe me, there will be plenty of street dust when we get there. Didn’t I promise to provide? Do you doubt me?”

I shook my head.

“Do you like movies?” Ezekiel asked, eyes darting momentarily to Bruce—or Garrett—who stood near the television.

“Um, I guess.” I didn’t have much time for movies. Mimi loved the tearjerkers and the romantic comedies, few of which I could tolerate, so I stayed away from the television when she was home.

Ezekiel picked up a remote and aimed it at the TV. It flickered on and showed me an extensive list of movie titles.

“All those are stored on the TV?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s called technology,” he said with a smile.

“Um…”

“Here. Scroll through what you like.”

I took the remote from him and ran through the list carefully. I tried to keep Ezekiel in mind when making my selection, but I had no idea what kind of movies he liked. Maybe he was into the super artsy indie films. Many of those were over my head, though. Yet if I chose some silly comedy, would he think I was an idiot?

Picking out a movie had never been this difficult.

Eventually, I decided to go with what Ezekiel would expect from me. He’d assumed I liked shopping because I was a woman, so maybe he’d approve of Mimi’s favorite romantic comedy. I’m sure she loved it because it was a happy and simple story, one that could transport her away from her reality. Right now, maybe it was what I needed.

The movie was mercifully short, as was the flight. Ezekiel had not been very specific about how far we were going, and he hadn’t told me we’d be going to the capital of all vice and pleasure, Goddess.

The city was actually named Goddessa, but since a few ambitious young entrepreneurs bought up that particular line of the coast a hundred years ago, no one called it Goddessa anymore. Goddess was the place where people went to pretend. A janitor from a middle school could hit the jackpot at a multi-million casino. An accountant could hire a hooker for five hundred bucks a trick and pretend she was his girlfriend. A taxi driver could go to a hip bar and get drunk on neon drinks that came in five-ounce glasses and cost twenty a shot. It was a stage, and everyone there was an actor. They were all there to live in a fictional tale of wealth, sex, and pleasure. The motto of the city was, “Everyone is a Goddess
.”
Everyone
thought
they were goddesses. Only a select few actually were.

The plane landed at night, but I could see the neon lights of Goddess stroking the velvet blue sky. Taking a deep breath, I followed Ezekiel down the steps of the plane and into a waiting limo, this one much longer than the one at home. Roger sat across from us, but Bruce and Garrett rode in an SUV behind us.

“And so we embark on a new adventure,” Ezekiel said. “Goddess should treat us well, as she usually does. Roger, I expect that all arrangements at the hotel have been made?”

Roger nodded. “I reserved the presidential suite.”

“Excellent. I want us to enjoy our time in Goddess.” He turned to me. “I would have told you we were coming here, but I wanted it to be a bit of a surprise.” He smiled graciously, as if his intentions were only honorable. “Are you excited to be here?”

I’d always heard the shows were spectacular and the beaches gorgeous, but I’d never foreseen a visit with a limo and a presidential suite. I put on a smile and nodded like a good girl.

Ezekiel might or might not have seen through my forced expression, but he didn’t seem to care. We were turning onto one of the main stretches of Goddess, and I was struck with awe.

Lights were
everywhere
. They danced, twirled, rolled, and climbed up buildings, colored every hue along the spectrum. They spelled words, drew pictures, and spotlighted the arches of fountain spray. With so many lights keeping the night alive, I wondered how depressing this place would look in the daytime when they weren’t needed.

People swarmed the streets, far more interesting than the people back at home. It was like some kind of twisted costume party, some glittering in evening gowns while other women wore tiny bikinis and peacock feathers on their heads, pausing to take pictures with chubby men in flannel. Why pay for a show when you could watch the pedestrians? My nose was practically glued to the glass as our limo crawled through traffic. We briefly rolled up beside a pink limo that sparkled with diamond accents, and the two women poking out of the top yanked up their shirts to flash us.
Classy
. I looked to see if Ezekiel had noticed, but he was absorbed in his phone.

With each block, the buildings grew taller and wilder. I was used to the skyscrapers at home in Zinya City, where each building was restricted to its own geometric block and the only way to build was up. In Goddess, the buildings grew more organically; sprawling out in whatever direction they could manage until they required sky bridges and tunnels to connect. One casino was called The Peacock, built in the form of fanning feathers, each “feather” spanning thirty stories. Another, Sharky’s, had its own waterfall and a twenty-foot animatronic shark out front with a life-like mannequin crushed between its jaws. My eyes were drunk with fascination, and I’d never felt such a child-like curiosity. Ezekiel watched me in amusement as I stared out the window.

We turned into the cobblestone driveway of a hotel with three towers, each highlighted with strips of red neon. The limo stopped and a white-gloved hand was offered to me. I stepped out onto a red carpet underneath the blaze of a thousand lights running along the canopied entrance.

“Welcome to The Red Velvet Hotel, miss.”

Ezekiel joined me at my side, sliding his hand around my elbow. “So? What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful,” I said truthfully.

“This way, sir,” the bellboy said, waving us toward the gold front doors. Roger stayed behind to help with the luggage. We crossed the threshold into the lobby. Inside, each glass column contained a fire, though I couldn’t tell if the flames were real or not. Long swathes of red velvet were draped across the ceiling and walls. Apparently, subtlety was not something anyone worried about in Goddess. Two barely dressed women hung from trapeze ropes above, and fire jugglers entertained the small crowd that swarmed around us. Most of them were headed toward the gigantic
CASINO!
sign that pointed to the left. We went to the desk at the right.

“Ezekiel Maltrick,” he said to the man at the desk. He was given the key without a second thought. Ezekiel and I proceeded toward the elevators.

“Ezekiel,” I asked as we entered the glass-encased elevator and slipped our key card into a slot to access the presidential suite’s floor. The elevator jerked and we started our ascent. Ezekiel and I watched the city fall below before I continued. “I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“You love things
classy
, am I right?”

He nodded, his eyes digging into mine with frightening intensity.

“Well, this hotel seems more—I don’t know. It’s beautiful, of course, but I expected something more…reserved.”

“Let me remind you that we aren’t here for leisure,” Ezekiel murmured into my ear. “I have business to attend to, and this hotel puts me in the most advantageous position.”

I swallowed with apprehension. Just when I forgot I was involved with a dangerous man, he reminded me.

The elevator reached the peak of the hotel, and I was able to look out across the skyline. I could see the tip of the ocean now—a dark splotch amongst a million lights.

“Your suite, sir,” the elevator operator said, bowing slightly.

Ezekiel nodded. We both stepped into the suite, and the elevator doors snapped shut behind us.