Somehow, I still have a job at Penthouse, but I didn’t get off easy. Tina reprimanded me for striking Josh and removed me from the weekend schedule. She also reminded me to let the bouncers handle problematic patrons. Yes, Josh was in the wrong, but I’m an employee, so it falls on me to behave professionally with guests. At first, I was devastated and cried on the way home from our meeting, but now, I watch the clock tick as I prepare to be Enzo's significantly younger girlfriend.
A YouTube for styling curly updos plays on my tablet. So, I follow along and gather my tendrils with a hair tie and pin a few ringlets.
“Mara.” Lydia taps on the door and steps into my room, holding a sizeable pink gift bag. “This was dropped off.”
“What is it?”
“You tell me.” She hops onto my bed.
“Ok…” I take the bag, push aside the tissue paper, and remove a dress.
It’s a rich shade like cocoa dust on top of Tiramisu and soft like a flower petal, so it has to be expensive silk. But that’s not all. A fur shoulder wrap thingamajig sits at the bottom. I pull it out.
“Holy shit!” Lydia jumps off the bed and rubs the material between her fingers. “I think it’s mink.”
“I hope not!” I check the label and breathe a sigh of relief. “It’s faux.”
“Well, someone paid top dollar because it looks and feels real.” Lydia narrows her eyes at me. “Mara… where are you going, and with whom?”
“Mind your business.” I snatch the faux fur and shove it back into the bag, along with the dress.
“How about no.” She plops onto the bed. “I am thirty, divorced with two kids, and live with our parents. Spill the beans so I can live vicariously through you.”
“Alright, fine! I met a guy at Penthouse. He’s nice.”
“Nice? You have to give me more than that! What does he look like? But more importantly, what does he do because, judging by these gifts, the boy is rich.”
“Man,” I correct.
“Oh, please. A twenty-something-year-old is not a man. Trust me.”
“He’s not twenty-something.” I turn away and pin another curl.
“How old is he?”
But I ignore her and move on to do my makeup. She places her hands on her hips.
“Mara! How old?”
“Fifty…”
“Did you say fifty?”
“Yeah.” I shrug nonchalantly.
“Fifty, Mara? FIFTY.”
“Keep your damn voice down!” I hiss.
“Oh, no.” Lydia begins pacing and wagging her finger. “Only old perverts like Leonardo DiCaprio date twenty-four-year-olds. What the hell are you thinking? Actually, I take that back. What the hell is he thinking? Wait, no. I take that back, too. I know what he’s thinking, and he clearly wants sex and is buying you off with gifts.”
“He’s not like that.”
“How do you know? You met him at Penthouse. Why is a fifty-year-old man at a nightclub?”
“I don’t know. Closing business deals?”
“What kind of business?” She arches a brow.
“I don’t know. I didn’t interview him.”
YOU ARE READING
Sugar Daddy Season (ONC 2024)
Romance𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 | 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 When Mara Santiago is laid off from work and dumped by her boyfriend, she moves in with her parents. Struggling to find another job as a ballerina, she begins go-go dan...
