Page 10 of Tequila & Lace
Jose and I walked side by side through the sliding glass doors and into the lobby of the hotel. A bellman or a valet (I wasn’t sure which) greeted us with a tip of his head and I wondered if he thought we were together. Jose was old enough to be my father. Tony was old enough to be my father and I was willing to bet Marco was old enough to be my father.
I thought about coming up with an excuse to use the phone to call Seth when I got up to the hotel room, but I didn’t know his phone number. I’d left it in my room under my mattress where Mother wouldn’t find it. I needed him—he made me feel safe. Could I call the D.C. Police Department and ask for Officer McKenna? Did it work that way? When I watched police shows, they had different precincts—was that how the real world worked? Every thought was running through my head at a million miles an hour.
As we stepped up to a wall of elevators, everything around me disappeared. I wanted to make a break for it, run through the lobby, run out the doors and run for my life, but I was in these damn heels and by the time I kicked them off, Jose was bound to catch me. I didn’t look at the button Jose had pushed. I didn’t remember getting on the elevator. Everything was a daze and I didn’t want to register thatthiswas really happening.
Finally, the elevator stopped and Jose gestured for me to exit. I stepped out, but he didn’t follow. I turned slightly, wondering why he didn’t move. “In two hours, I’ll meet you here, Miss Marquez.”
“Two hours,” I confirmed, barely audible.
“You better go or you’ll be late. If you’re late, then your pay gets docked.”
“My pay?” I questioned.
“Si,” he answered. “If you don’t show up on time, Tony will find out. You don’t want to disappoint Tony, yes?”
I nodded. “Yes.” I figured I shouldn’t question Jose. Like me, he was only an employee. Fuck—I was an employee. How did that happen? Oh right, my mother.
“If I hear from Marco that you were not cooperative in every way, you and your mother are going to pay.”
I gave Jose a tight smile and took the steps down the hallway to the single door. I could hear my heart beating in my ears and it took everything in me not to break down and cry. Instead, I took a deep breath and raised my right hand, knocking lightly. A moment later I was staring into the eyes of the man who hadboughtme for two hours.
“Bella. Please, come in.”
Bella? Really?I wanted to roll my eyes and tell him my name wasn’t Bella, but instead, I smiled a shy smile and entered, stepping around him as he closed the door behind him. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I was certain it wasn’t from the air-conditioning in the massive suite I’d just entered. Before I could get a good look at the space, Marco spoke, coming around me so we were face-to-face.
“Do you prefer red or white?” I scrunched my eyebrows at him. He laughed. “Wine. Do you prefer red or white wine?”
Maybe he didn’t know I was underage? Maybe this was how hookers got through the night? Hell if I knew. “I’m not sure. I guess white.” I shrugged. I assumed white since I’d just had white champagne in the limo. I didn’t even like that shit, but if I had to get tipsy to get through the next two hours, I was going to chug whatever I needed to.
As Marco uncorked and poured the wine, I stared at him. I wanted to get a good look at the man who was willing to pay a large amount of money to fuck a virgin. Marco wasn’t bad on the eyes. In fact, he was easy on them as I’d heard people say. He had a lightly trimmed beard that was more stubble than anything, brown hair that was spiked perfectly with specks of grey on the sides, and when he smiled as he laughed, the creases accented his cheeks as if they were dimples—but they weren’t. The lines traveled down to a straight jaw that was strong and manly. The thought of his age was enough to make me want to throw up in my mouth. Instead, I reached out and grabbed the glass of wine as he handed it to me.
“You want to hold it by the stem so the wine doesn’t warm from your body heat.”
“Oh… okay.” I slid my hand down to the stem.
“Let me take your purse.”
“I’ll just set it by the door and take my heels off—”
“No, bella. You leave your heels on.”
On my way to the entry table, I took big gulps of the sour wine. I still didn’t understand why adults drank such nasty shit. I was used to Kool-Aid since it was all we could afford. Wine and champagne tasted nothing like grape flavored Kool-Aid.
“You like?” Marco asked when I turned around after placing my purse on the glass top table. I looked down at the nearly empty glass. I didn’t need to hold it by the stem after all. I gave a tight smile and nodded.
There was a slight squeak from the cork as he removed it from the wine bottle and I handed him my glass. My head was starting to feel light as I had to focus a few times on the liquid coming out of the bottle. He handed me the glass and I grabbed it, holding the stem between fingers and that was when we touched for the first time. I wanted to jump back, run from the room and into the elevator—right… the elevator. He was bound to catch me. Instead, I smiled at him and he smiled back.
“You have a lovely smile, bella.”
I blushed at his compliment, even if it was coming from someone who’d paid to take my virginity. I wasn’t used to getting them. “Thank you,” I responded.
“Come. Let’s go into the bedroom and get comfortable.”
It sounded as if he did this sort of thing all the time.Maybe he did.Did he only do it with girls my age? Maybe some girls needed money for college and sold their virginity themselves. Maybe there were strippers who wanted to make extra money. Or maybe there were other girls like me who had no idea they were being sold until it was too late.
My legs felt heavy as I took each step, but I continued to take big gulps of the wine despite its taste. The more I drank, the more my nerves were starting to calm down. I started to slip my shoes off again, but Marcotsked.
“No, bella. You leave your heels on.”
