"How much is an hour Iris?" "Well, it is your birthday right? I suppose I can give you the birthday special... $800 an hour. I usually charge a thousand or more per hour for what you want."
I used to make a thousand dollars an hour and now I am settling for under six hundred dollars for an entire month and left to rent run down shacks. I used to eat in the finest restaurants and now it is looking like my daughter and I are going to live on Kraft dinner and Mr. Noodles. After I pay the four hundred dollars these horrible places want for rent each month, I will be left with nothing to buy food.
I had begun doubting my decision to leave Ronnie and Las Vegas. I had started feeling like we were better off where we were. All the fighting and struggling for nothing. I escaped one bad situation and walked right into another one and this one seemed far worse than the first. I had already been back in Vancouver for almost a month and had absolutely nothing to show. We still had no clothes, no money and no home. We were still sleeping on Shannon's couch and I had finally borrowed enough money to get my identification replaced.
Finally, I had enough of being broke and started working in a massage parlor called Madame Cleo's. The prices were ridiculously low, compared to that which I was used to earning, but it was an income - one that would get me off of Shannon's couch and into a proper home. Within two weeks I had earned what I needed for a deposit and first months rent. The second two weeks I earned enough to buy some furniture for the apartment. I didn't make the money as fast as I would have if I was in Las Vegas, but at least I was getting on my feet. I was not proud of the fact that I had taken a few steps back to get ahead, but I knew I didn't have much of a choice at this time. My options were limited and time was of the essence.
"You need to get out of the hotel and get an apartment if you're going to be here all the time." Tim thought it was ridiculous that I was paying so much for a hotel room each month. He wanted me to move in with him, but I knew that living with him would be a really bad idea because Ronnie was liable to pop up at any given moment. I met Tim at the MGM after working, during my breakfast. Him and his friend were coming out of the club and heading towards valet when they saw me sitting alone at my table. "I need to know you." "Well, I don't want to know you." I turned my back on him and he persisted. He handed me his phone number and walked away. I took the piece of paper he had written his number on and crumpled it up with my napkin and put it on my plate that I had now set to the side for the server to take.
"Why are you throwing my number away sweetheart?" "Cause I have no intentions of ever using it. Why are you bothering me? Can you please leave me alone?" Tim sat himself down across from me at my table. The server came and took the plate, dropped the bill and asked Tim if she could get him anything. "No thanks." He was staring intensely into my eyes and it caused a deep discomfort, like he was reading my soul. I went to grab my bill so I could pay it and leave, but Tim took it and threw money into the billfold without taking his eyes off of me. "How do you know that you put enough?" "I saw what you were eating, if your bill is more than that then this place is ripping you off and you should eat at my favorite place down the street from now on." "And where exactly is that?" "My house of course!" "Of course... your house." "My chef is the best chef in all of Las Vegas." "Now you have a chef, huh?" "I have had a chef for six years, actually." "Well, I'm sorry, what is your name?" "Tim." "Well Tim, it's been a slice, but I have to go."
I got up and walked away from the table and out of the restaurant. Tim followed. As I turned the corner I saw the man that was with him when he handed me his number standing with a few other guys. They all looked like they were part of a secret service. Tim grabbed my hand and said "slow down babygirl, what's the rush?" "Listen, Tim, don't grab me, first of all. Second, I'm in a rush to go home and get some sleep. It's late and I'm tired. And by the looks of their postures, so are your body guards." "I am not worried about them. They are doing what I pay them to do. I want you to come with me." "That's fabulous, now can you let me go so I can go home?" Tim let go of my arm and I walked towards the main entrance of the hotel through the casino and asked the valet to get me a cab. Tim handed the same valet his parking tickets. A cab never came, but two black Escalades with tinted windows and a green Mercedes 600 did. Tim opened the passenger door on the Mercedes and waved his hand for me to get in. I hesitated, but then I obliged.
I had no idea who this man was and he didn't even know my name. That didn't seem to matter to him. He was rambling on about what it was that he did and I have to admit, I was bored out of my mind. It seemed as if he thought all his riches and all his fame were going to win me over and make me his girl. I was slightly annoyed. "Where are you taking me? I live that way." "Relax doll, we're going to my house. You're safe, don't worry. I don't want anything from you at all. I got everything I need." He headed west towards the highway and went north. We were by the lake. He entered a gated community and that was when I noticed the two trucks were still behind us. The garage to one of the houses opened and Tim pulled in. There was several other cars in the drive way and the house was huge. He came around the car and opened the door for me. "Come on baby, it's alright."
I watched the garage door go down and the guys that were in the trucks behind us went to the house to the left. I took Tim's hand and stepped out of the car and followed him into the house. He could see that I was frustrated and told me I needed to calm my nerves. He offered a drink, but I wasn't about to take anything from him. We walked through the foyer into a dinning area. His kitchen had a swim up bar and movie theater. The pool extended outward into the better part of the back yard. The entire back wall was all glass and over looked the lake. "Do you want to see the rest of the house?" I suppose he could see that I was enthralled with what I was seeing. "Come on, let me show you." I could see his ego growing as he grabbed my hand and led me through the living room to a projection room with movie theater type seating. "It's hard for me to go out in public, so sometimes I get movies brought here for me." Next, we were in the basement and he had an entire wine refrigerator and storage down there. Wines from all over the world, some labels were in other languages. He had a french bottle dated 1910 and I was impressed. "Oh, you like that one? You want to pop it?" "No, it's alright!"
He drug me back upstairs, through the living area and back to the foyer to the stairs that led upstairs. Quickly he stopped and turned around... "first I want to show you this!" He opened a door to a study. The entire room was done in mahogany, the desk, the tables, the stools, the book shelves, all mahogany. The paint was between a forest and emerald green. He had paintings of scenery all around the room. The drapes were a Bordeaux colored velvet. He had one of those psychiatrist couches off to the side, it too was mahogany, but had the same wine color leather cushioned on for comfort. The chair behind the desks was like something you would have seen in a movie and the only thing missing was Al Pacino. "Beautiful, isn't it? I had this room done myself. Every other room I had designers do, but this room, I picked everything and placed it."
Beside the couch was a door and behind it was a mirror. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but he opened the door and on the other side was a recording studio. It was then that I realized there were speakers in the study. His desk opened up and had all the electronics for recording songs. It was beautiful and really well thought out. Tim managed to impress me again.
He walked me out of the room, turned the lights off and directed me up the stairs. There were two master bedrooms and four other rooms, all complete with their own bathrooms and walk in closets. The master bedrooms had king size beds, while the other four had queens. Each had it's own distinct appearance from the other, but all were very commercial. They all looked like they were pictured in a catalogue for some furnishings company. They weren't that interesting to me, but when I saw the bathroom attached to his room I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. He had the biggest tub I had ever seen and it was complete with jets. I wanted to climb in and load it with bubbles.
"I need to go." "You just got here." "I know, but I shouldn't have come." "I can take you away from that life. You don't have to live like that. You can live here with me" I chuckled and walked down the stairs to the garage entrance as I was putting on my shoes I turned to him and said "We just met and you know nothing about me. You don't even know my name. Can you take me home?"
Tim grabbed his jacket and slipped on his shoes. As he opened the door to the garage I could sense that he was disappointed. He opened my door and let me sit down and went around the car and got in. He waited for the garage door to open before starting the engine and looked at me and said, "I don't need to know what this world has done to you or what it calls you. All I need to know is the way you make me feel when I'm around you. If you need time to feel it for yourself then I will give you that time, but don't shut me out." When we got to the hotel, he walked me to my door and left. I thought it would be the last time I saw him, but it wasn't.
Tim and I spent several nights doing many things. We would go to his house and his chef would cook for us. I spent many days lounging in his pool. He would walk over and bring me drinks and fruit plates. One time he jumped in the pool with all his cloths on and forgot that his keys and phone were in his pocket. We spent the rest of the day at the mall trying to get him a new phone, but he ended up buying me some clothes. Tim was good to me and he never even tried to get sleep with me. A few times in public girls would stop him for an autograph, but he wasn't that big of a celebrity and we were able to avoid daily interruptions.
"I want you to have this." "Tim, I can't take this. You're crazy!" "Seriously, I want you to have it and we will try to get your license into a Nevada state driver's license so we can put the car in your name." "Tim, you have lost your mind!" "Baby, you keep wasting money on these shitty ass rentals and you are too beautiful to be driving around in Corollas. You belong in this car girl, stop playing. You know you want it!" And I did, but I didn't want the title that came along with taking his car or the responsibilities. Thus far, we had maintained a friendship level type relationship and if I took his car, I automatically assumed he was trying to take the relationship to another level... a level I couldn't go.
"Who the fuck is this?" "Nigga, you dialin my number, who the fuck is this?" "This is Ronnie. Are you fuckin my bitch?" "I don't know no bitches dawg." "Well, if you been dealin with Corey, you been fuckin my baby mom and I suggest you step the fuck back."
Ronnie showed up in Vegas without warning. He found Tim's number in my phone and threatened him while I was in the shower. "Who the fuck is Tim?" "He's a trick Ronnie. I really hope you didn't just fuck up the money!"
I don't know what happened. I woke up to someone knocking on the door and my eye was swollen. Ronnie was gone and I was afraid to answer the door cause I thought it was him or the police. "Corey, open the door, I know you're in there!" It was Tim. I wrapped my towel around me again and opened the door. "Hey." "Don't hey me, give me the keys to my car." I looked over his shoulder and the car was already gone. "Let me explain..." "I don't want to hear your bullshit, go back to your life. You're obviously happy there. Can I have my keys please?"
I watched as he drove away. I wish I had told Tim what Ronnie had put me through. I wish I had been honest. Maybe he could have gotten my daughter for me and we would be happy together. Maybe. I know I wouldn't be going through all this bullshit of working in a parlor in Vancouver. Things would probably be a lot different, wouldn't they? How could I have been so foolish?
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