Adelle's Girls: Erica Ch. 02

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"Wow."

"Yeah."

"So he just said it ilke that?" Cleo asked, her hazel eyes wide.

Erica had just finished explaining everything that had been going on between her and Chris: bursting into tears at his place, their newfound intimacy, calling him on the phone, and their latest date and all the romantic fallout from it.

"Well he didn't just blurt it out or anything. And it's not like I did anything to dissuade him either."

"And what does that mean?"

"I, uh, I kinda said it back to him," Erica said, jamming a cookie in her mouth.

"You what?! Erica, c'mon, you know how bad an idea that is. I know you like him and all, but he's still a client and-"

"Oh don't go and get fucking judgmental on me, Ms. Cleo," Erica said, her back up. "Maybe I should call Andrew and see what he thinks about your new opinion on professionalism in the call girl business?" Cleo was about to say something, but shut her mouth with a grump. "And like I don't know it was a stupid thing to do?"

"So you're in agreement at least."

"Yes. But... I dunno, I know I'll probably regret it, but at the same time it's like I'm finally admitting something that I've been feeling for a while now."

"How long?"

Erica shrugged. "I dunno. Some time since melting down in front of him, obviously. I mean I've always liked him, you know that. But ever since then there's been... More."

Cleo nodded. She had suspected that there was something going on between Erica and Chris for a while now, and was glad that her roommate had finally decided to let her in a little.

"So then what?"

"Hm?"

"You both confess your undying love for each other. Then what?"

"Oh. Well he ate my ass out for like twenty minutes before plugging it with his cock and..." Erica stopped, dissolving into laughter as Cleo choked on her coffee. "You okay?"

"Sure, sure," Cleo croaked, clearing her throat while Erica laughed away. "I was just expecting something like you two talked all night or made out or something. But not you. Butt sex. Kablammo."

"Shut up. Like you don't like it."

"Shut up."

"And then," Erica continued, deciding to needle her roommate some more, "I woke up in the morning with him poking me in the back. So I decided to wake him up with a nice relaxing beej."

"Well I'm sure he enjoyed that," Cleo responded, over any of her apparent squeamishness. "I hope you at least cleaned up first?"

Erica rolled her eyes. "We showered before bed. But he woke up, pulled me up and we made love one more time before we had breakfast sent up and... And I left."

"And you guys didn't talk about the L word or anything."

"Lesbian?"

Cleo sighed in exasperation.

"Fucking with you is too easy," Erica giggled, going to the sink and putting her mug away. "But no, we didn't talk about it."

"So tried to act like it didn't happen."

"Kinda."

"Very mature." Erica shrugged, not disagreeing. "So what are you gonna do?"

"Not a clue," Erica said, her head sinking. "He's on a flight this minute and I bet he's still smiling. I mean he won't even be back in town for like six weeks."

"Kick the can down the road. That's a good plan."

"Works in Washington," Erica said, her head down, worrying at the floor with her toe. Cleo was about to press further, but stopped, knowing that pushing her friend wasn't going to help her with her problems. That's when an idea occurred to her.

"You know, you need a break, some vacay. Want to go to Vegas with us?"

"I dunno..." This wasn't the first time Cleo had suggested Erica come along. Andrew had a convention in Las Vegas in a few months, and Cleo wanted Erica to come along so they could spend their days enjoying the city together. Erica was tempted, but didn't want to be a third wheel. "It would be too weird to have a threesome with you two."

"Oh ha ha. C'mon, it'll be good for you, get out of town and away from the drama. And the heat will remind you of home!" This earned her a laugh, and Cleo was pleased to see a smile. "Think about it."

"I will, I will. Shit," Erica said, seeing the time. "I need to get some work done or I'm in the shit tomorrow." She was halfway out of the kitchen before Cleo grabbed her arm.

"You okay."

"No. But in a good way."

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Adelle's how can I help you?"

"Hello, this is Mr. Allen," Chris said, looking around uncomfortably. He knew that no one knew what he was up to, but he still felt funny using the airplane phone to set up a date with Erica.

"Oh hello sir. And what can I do for you today?"

"I was hoping to make an appointment with Erica for this Friday, the sixth."

"The sixth... Oh I'm so sorry, but Erica isn't available that evening." Chris' heart sank to somewhere beneath his feet. "The closest I can do is two days after that, the ninth."

"Uh, yes, I suppose that would work," Chris said, quickly checking his schedule on his phone. "Yeah, yeah that should be okay."

"Should I pass on anything to Erica? Any instructions, perhaps some sort of dress code, fancy night out?"

"No, no nothing like that. Just a quiet night in."

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Josh, I'm happy with my guy."

"What are you getting? I can shave four or five points that, easy."

"Four? C'mon..."

Josh Fitzgerald's mark seemed dubious, but it only took a few more minutes of badgering before they were agreeing to a lunch later that week. It was the fourth such appointment he'd made. Erica was impressed: She'd never seen anyone hustle as much as her new client.

The night so far had been fairly uneventful. She stood by his side and looked pretty, only occasionally answering a direct question or laughing at their jokes. She was regretting the three inch stilettos she had chosen; They made her legs look endless, but she would never have picked them if she knew she'd be standing in this cocktail party the whole damn night. That, and she towered over her client, which she could tell annoyed him. The party was some sort of fundraiser for cancer research. Erica had been to a few of these in her career, and knew that these events were usually just grand excuses to network.

Josh obviously agreed. She wasn't entirely sure what his business was; he seemed to offer something different with every person he met. Sometimes it was financing, sometimes it was a supplier or specialist, and later it was a potential client. Whatever it was he did, he was quite good at it.

"This is going pretty well," Josh muttered between glad-handing.

"Great," Erica said with a smile, hoping that she'd get a chance to sit down. She was about to ask something else when Josh saw someone else and called him over.

"Allen! How the hell are you, I thought you were still in Shanghai?"

Erica turned and it took everything she had not to gasp in shock. Chris was standing before her, his eyes locked with hers for a long second before he managed to shake it off.

"No, no I uh, I landed this morning." They shook hands, Chris turning his eyes away from Erica, ignoring her presence. "I just came back from a long trip looking for clients."

"Still looking for 'em?" Josh laughed. "A friend of mine, frat brother, works for Tyan systems in Taiwan. They'd be interested in that... What is it again? Special drive controller component?"

"Uh yeah, for networked media storage applications. We've had a lot more interest then we expected. It might be a feature on the next Nintendo system, actually."

"That's great!" Erica blurted out, surprising herself and everyone else. Oh dear god please keep it together Erica.

"Absolutely!" Josh agreed, briefly thrown off. "But I've got an interest in some server farms in Northern England, it's a very fresh market..."

Erica was too busy going insane to keep up. As she kept her smile frozen on her face her brain was racing trying to figure out what was going on. Chris' walls were up: he wasn't looking at her, and although he seemed at ease, Erica could tell that he was uncomfortable. The more he tried to escape Josh's clutches, the more Josh tried to hang on.

"I'm not sure if it's-"

"Listen, it'll be a couple of thousand units, easy! Just let me set up a meeting."

"Fine, fine. I'll put Leon in touch with you," Chris said, becoming visibly uncomfortable. "Now if you'll excuse me..." Chris nodded curtly to Josh before walking quickly away, grabbing a champagne as he went.

"Fucking faggot. What crawled up his ass?" Josh spat, finishing off his drink. Erica had to bite her lip to keep from tearing him a new asshole, and managed to say nothing as he moved on to his next target. Erica glanced back as she followed him and caught Chris watching her. She could feel her face heat as she turned away from him to stay at Josh's side.

The rest of the night was like that: Josh would be hustling his services to anyone he could get to hold still long enough while Erica tried to maintain her façade of the loving date. She knew she wasn't pulling it off as well as before, but she knew that Josh barely cared either way. She kept seeing Chris out of the corner of her eye, talking with other partygoers and generally mingling. She tried to catch his eye without success.

"I think this shit's about done," Josh said nearly two hours later, checking his watch. "I'll call the car."

"Of course. I'm just going to use the lady's room." But Josh was already on the phone with his driver and Erica stalked off with a roll of her eyes. She didn't see Chris about, and was worried for a moment that he'd left without waiting to speak to her. Just as she turned down the hallway to the bathrooms she found him leaving the men's room.

They both stood there dumbly for a few long seconds. Glancing back into the party, Erica grabbed him and pulled him into the bathroom without a word.

"Erica-"

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean... I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I know that. I know you aren't on Fitzgerald's arm because of his winning personality." It was said with a smile, but Erica knew he was putting on a brave face for her. She wanted to say something to make it better, to make it all okay. But there wasn't anything that could do that. So she hugged him instead, squeezing him tight, her breasts flattening against his chest. She could feel him soften, his hands coming up and hugging her back as his lips pressed against her neck.

"I'm sorry."

"Sh. I'll see you Friday." She nodded, her face against his shoulder. "C'mon, you've got to go back to your date."

She frowned, but she knew he was right.

"Well I did really have to pee."

"Ah."
"I'll see you Friday Chris. And I'll be there early, like noon. We'll spend the day together. I'll make this up to you, I promise."

Chris opened his mouth to respond, but stopped, only nodding as he slipped out of the bathroom. Suddenly alone, Erica sighed angrily before pulling up her skirt to use the toilet.

Later, she found Josh waiting for her by the door, badgering an underling on his phone. He barely glanced up at her as she approached, only signaling with a thrust of his chin to follow him. She risked one look back into the party, but she couldn't see Chris anywhere. She followed Josh out to the street and his waiting car. Josh climbed inside, still on the phone, closing the door behind him. Erica frowned, walking around the back of the car to get to the other side.

"... yeah, that's what I told him. Well line McGill and Davis up for that meeting. Uh huh. Right. Well whatever they decide I want my cut. No... Right, obviously." Josh was still haranguing his assistant when Erica slid into her seat and shut her door. "Uh-huh. Right. Cam? Around the park if you please."

The driver nodded, pulling away from the curb and heading uptown. Erica was about to ask where they were going when Josh started pulling his pants down and fishing his dick out.

"Uh huh. Uh huh. Just a sec," he said into the phone before covering the receiver. "Suck it. I'll drop you off at your place after."

Erica managed not to react, but it didn't matter anyway: Josh was already back on the phone, his half-hard dick laying across his pants. Swallowing her pride, she shifted in her seat and lowered her head to his lap.

~~~~~~~~~~

Erica half-ran from the subway station and headed towards Chris' apartment building. She knew she was early, but she was desperate to get to Chris' and start making up. She had planned a nice day for them, having found a cool little toyshop to go to on their way to Chris' favorite beer bar downtown. She'd been on the Internet the whole day before plotting out a walk for them to take so they could window shop and enjoy the day.

And then there was what she planned to do to him in his apartment. She had packed a small clutch of sex toys this morning, and was ready to rock Chris' world. A vibrating cock ring, a string of anal beads, flavored lube, and her secret weapon: A small vibrating egg with a remote control. Her plan was, after fucking him stupid, was to coyly ask him to insert the egg before they left for their day, handing him the remote. She'd never done anything like it, and certainly not with a client, but she wanted to do everything she could to make Chris feel special. Because he is special.

Erica had felt utterly miserable after her night with Josh. She wasn't under any illusions: She made her living selling her body. She'd been doing it for the past two and a half years and was damn good at it. She never planned on doing it forever, and as the end of her degree program loomed, she knew she wouldn't be doing it that much longer at all.

She had never felt the way she felt on her date with Josh. It wasn't entirely his fault, a lot of it had to do with the juxtaposition of how she felt when she was with Chris and the way Josh made her feel: A little worse than a whore, a little more than a walking fuck-thing. She had never felt humiliated or shamed by what she did for a living before, and she wasn't happy to have started.

She also never had fallen for a client, not in the least. As she rounded the corner to Chris' place, she questioned herself for what felt like the thousandth time. Did she really love him? And then she saw him sitting on the steps of his apartment building. His eyes moved to her and he smiled, standing to welcome her.

Yeah, I really do.

"Hey," he said when she reached him.

"Hey yourself." She slipped into his arms for an easy hug.

"I, uh, I wanted to talk. I think we need to talk."

"Oh, okay." Well that's never good.

They sat together on his stoop, their thighs pressed together. Erica waited for him to start, and Chris seemed to need a minute to put his thoughts together.

"So, uh... last time you were here, I said some things. And, uh..."

"We both said some things." Erica took his hand in hers. "And I meant it. Are you-"

"No! No, I meant it too. I did. But I've just been thinking and... and we can't keep doing it like this. I can't, anyway."

"Oh." It came out very small.

"Oh god, not like that! I'm not... I just mean, like... if I love you, I want to see you. Like normal people. I don't want to have to call someone else and book time with you. I mean... I think I know what I feel, but this way it's hard to know what's real, you know?"

"Chris, I know what I am. But that doesn't change how I feel about you. I didn't say it just because you said it. I know it's not typical but-"

"I know, and I believe you, but that's not it. Like... Like right now, you're here and I'm happy, but I'm still out a couple grand for you being here. That's why you're here. I mean this is business even if this," his hand moved back and forth between them, indicating their connection, "has moved beyond that."

"So..."

"I don't know what I'm trying to say, I'm sorry. But I needed to talk about the other night. It hurt seeing you on that asshole's arm. I know it wasn't for fun and I know it's not like you had much choice but..." He exhaled grandly. "It's fucking with my brain. Clearly."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. An idea popped into Erica's head and she spoke before she could have a chance to talk herself out of it.

"You know I'm thinking of going on vacation at the end of the month."

"Oh?" Chris was a little thrown by the apparent non-sequitor.

"Uh huh. Going to Vegas with Cleo and her boyfriend. You ever been?" So he wants to see me outside of work. Let's do that.

"To Las Vegas? No, no I haven't."

"You should go. I'll get there the 29^th. I'm staying at the Wynn."

"That's great. I hope you have a-"

"You should go."

"Maybe I will some-Oh. Oh!" Chris said, finally getting it. "How long are you staying?"

"Till the 8^th. It'll be nice hanging out with Cleo but who knows who I might run into?"

"Yeah. You never know."

They held each other's gaze for a long moment before a small grin started to pull at the corners of Erica's mouth.

"So what do you want to do today? You still want a date, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean I booked it, didn't I? But I, uh... I didn't really plan on anything."

"Leave it to me then. Can we go up to your place for a bit? I have some things to show you."

As Chris turned to open his front door, he missed Erica's broad smile.

Just me and Chris in Vegas. Alone. Her foot paused in midair. And Cleo. And Andrew. Oh for fuck's sake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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