Learning the Hard Way Read online

  Ava pushed her glasses up her nose. “Yes, I understand everything except for one thing.”

  “What’s that?” Vonda asked.

  “What’s a Beyoncé?”

  Dina rolled her eyes and stood from the table. “There’s a whole big world out there, Doc. You need to start being a part of it.” She grabbed Ava’s arm to bring her to her feet. “Come on. I have one of her CDs in my car.”

  “Oh, she’s a singer.” Ava nodded.

  They said goodbye to Vonda. Dina pulled Ava out of the coffee shop. The summer sun baked Ava until she longed to remove her sweater. Since she didn’t want to show anymore of her flesh than needed, she suffered through her psychological road block.

  “I feel a bit hip now.” Ava tried to add a strut to her walk, but it came out like a stumble.

  “You’re getting there.”

  Although Ava appreciated the advice, she wasn’t sure how pretending to be something she wasn’t would help boost her career. It certainly couldn’t help her in her dating life. Wasn’t what Richard did a lot like what Dina wanted her to do, play a part, hide her true self?

  Thinking about that plan, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. She could immerse herself in a role to get what she wanted finally.

  Wait. No, she couldn’t. Ethically, it wasn’t right. Just like it wasn’t proper for her to goad her sexy male student into dropping out of her class so that she could date him.

  Date? More like have expensive, lavish dinners followed by hot, frantic sex, always at her place, for several months.

  At Dina’s car, her friend opened her trunk and pulled out a couple of items. She handed Ava a jewel case that had a picture of a gorgeous African-American woman on the cover. Then she gave her a white tank top and a pair of shorts, Dina’s normal workout gear.

  “It’s clean. I packed them in my car this morning.” Dina slammed her trunk closed.

  “And why would I need these? I’m dressed.” She scanned down at her professional attire, a black skirt, a white shirt, and a sweater.

  “You’re overdressed. Strip down. Get funky. Get loose.” Dina mussed Ava’s short hair by shaking her fingers through it. “Stop being so uptight. Although we all sort of look alike, the three of us are completely different.”

  “I’m starting to see that.” Ava held up the three things. “So if I play this disc—”

  “Preferably at an obscenely high volume.”

  “And I wear these clothes—”

  “Without a bra.” Dina nodded.

  Ava’s eyes widened and she wasn’t sure, but she thought she also gasped at the same time.

  “Come on. Let ‘the girls’ out and free for once. I’m telling you. You’ll feel so incredible.” Dina poked Ava with her elbow. “To bastardize a phrase from that Kevin Costner flick, if you strip it down, they will come.”

  “Who or what are they?” Now Ava started to feel ambushed. Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding since walking out to Dina’s car.

  “Job offers, men, new experiences, and what life has to offer. It’s all waiting for you.” Dina beamed.

  Ava wasn’t sure about that, but at this stage she would try anything, especially if it got her to stop thinking about past mistakes.

  * * * *

  “No, no, no.” Troy Whitten didn’t have to look up from his books to see his friend Gross doing his dance to ask for something he knew Troy wouldn’t like.

  His friend had gotten his nickname by chopping up his last name, but then the moniker became a reality in more ways than one.

  “Come on, man. You haven’t even heard what I had to say.” Gross plopped down on the couch in Troy’s home office. “Has Eli Grossburger ever steered you wrong?”

  Troy dropped his book on his desk. “You tried getting me to sneak onto Wrigley Field one night. I let you do that one alone. And what happened?”

  “That was one thing.” Gross scratched the back of his head. “I did my time, and my record is clean now.” Thank goodness summertime hit and he had shaved off his blond dreadlocks. A white guy with locks never looked good.

  Troy shook his head. “Then there was the harvesting honey from bee hives idea. Again, you did that alone. Training to win hot dog eating contests. Not sure why you tried doing that. And let’s not forget the date with the twins, the one time I did actually listen to you.”

  Gross had shown Troy pictures of the buxom blondes. As a Dominant, he rarely played with women who had augmented breasts. He feared during some rough breast play that he would accidently rupture an implant or the women wouldn’t have sensation in their nipples to know when something really hurt them beyond pleasure.

  “What? They were nice.” Gross shrugged his shoulders.

  “They were men. You sure do know how to pick them, don’t you?” Troy stood and retrieved one of his books from the couch Gross had occupied.

  Of course, his friend sat right on top of it, oblivious that he had a fairly expensive college book nestled under his cheek.

  “But you know what? In that last case, I got you out of it.” He smiled and nodded his head.

  Troy brought his attention back to his buddy. “You did. So now I’m going to do you a favor. I’m not going to do whatever it is you want me to do so you don’t have to worry yourself about saving me again.”

  Gross let the prospect bounce around in his head before a wide smile spread across his face. “You’re good, man. But listen here. I do have a huge favor to ask.”

  Tired of bickering with Gross on this, and actually curious to hear the favor, Troy placed his book on his desk and leaned back in his swivel chair. “Shoot.”

  Gross blinked and rubbed his hands over his thighs. “Really? Usually I have to fight you a lot longer on this.”

  Troy cocked his head. “My patience is wearing thin. So go on before I change my mind.”

  “Okay, you know I do the escort thing part-time, right?”

  Troy kept quiet. He didn’t even nod or shake his head to show any admission of Gross’s crooked dealings.

  “Anyway, I have a prime opportunity to go out of town with a lady I hit it off with on one of my dates. She wants to take me to Jamaica. Can you believe that, man? Jamaica.” He pumped his fist in the air like he had won the lottery.

  Troy sighed, already tired of this conversation. “Fine. Sounds great. You need me to water your plants while you’re gone?”

  Gross blinked again. “Who told you about the grow house?”

  “Jesus H., Gross, whatever you have planned, leave me out of it.” Troy started packing his books in his bag.

  “No, wait.” Gross bolted from the couch. “Look, the company I work for has me committed for the week she wants to go.”

  “At least someone has committed you. That should have been done a long time ago.” Troy snickered but stopped when he noticed that Gross hadn’t said anything.

  Again, his friend got that far away look in his eyes before the joke sunk in. He nodded. “Good one. Moving on. If I don’t cover my potential dates, I could get canned.”

  “Now in the escort business, what does canning really mean? Will your pimp slap you around, turn you out into the streets, cut up your beautiful face?” Troy dragged his finger down the side of his own face.

  As though a knife had actually sliced his flesh, Gross put his hand to his cheek. “Not funny, man. No, they won’t do any of that, and I’m not a prostitute.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” This time Troy zipped his bag. At this rate, he wasn’t able to study anyway. “You’re paid to take lonely women out and at the end of the date—”

  “I take them home and that’s it. Sometimes I kiss them on their cheek before I leave.” Gross shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked like an overgrown kid.

  Troy regarded his friend for a second before he said, “Bullshit.”

  Like a Boy Scout, Gross held up the first and middle fingers on his left hand. “God’s honest truth.”

  “If that’s the case, then why are you
the lucky recipient of a trip to Jamaica?” Troy had to hear this excuse.

  “Because, well, she enjoyed my company.” Gross picked at something on his fingernail.

  At this point in their friendship, Troy knew his buddy had lied about something in his story. Gross could never look Troy in the eyes when he lied.

  “I bet she did.” Troy snickered.

  Gross waved his hands in the air. “Forget all of that. What I need is for someone to be my backup. You can have the tips.”

  Troy put his hand to his chest and bowed his head. “That’s so gracious of you.”

  “I know, right?”

  At his age, Gross should have been a lot sharper. Maybe while Gross enjoyed his trip, Troy would do him a favor and get rid of the illegal substances growing in his closet or shed.

  “Like I said before, no.” Troy stared at his friend so that he understood he meant business.

  “Why? It’s not like I’m asking you to do something major.” A whine started creeping through his friend’s voice.

  Troy laughed. “No, prostitution is never a big deal. Just ask the cops.”

  “I’m not a trick. We have ads in the Yellow Pages. All we do is provide companionship to women who need it. Almost all of the time, the women are old, crusty hags who probably would need to be submerged in the Atlantic Ocean to get wet again.” He completed the statement with a shiver.

  “You are such a charmer. How is it that you’ve not gotten married yet?” He gave him a playful hit on his shoulder.

  Gross shrugged. “Lucky, I guess.”

  Troy shook his head. “God looks after babies and idiots.”

  Gross smiled. “Yeah, He does, doesn’t He?”

  Troy couldn’t take this conversation any longer. “Again, no. I’m not going to be your relief ho.”

  “It’s an easy gig. You’ll get a call from the office if anyone is interested in you. The woman pays upfront and decides what kind of package she wants, whether it’s the basic: you meet her at the event, be a little arm candy for her, and take her home. Or she could go for the deluxe, which means she pays for limos, a tux for you.”

  Troy blinked. “Tux? Wow. You’re kidding.”

  Gross shook his head. “No, she’ll do it. And she pays for dinner, if that’s what you all do, and that’s it.”

  “I don’t like for a woman to pay for dinner or anything when I’m on a date.” Call it a gentlemanly gesture or just his need to control, Troy couldn’t get past the idea of being a piece of meat on the arm of an influential woman.

  “Man, it’s just a job, not, like, a real date or something. They want to pay, let them.” Gross lowered his voice and nudged Troy’s side with his elbow. “That’s all that Master/slave stuff you do, right? I think the women would dig that. A few times a couple of them asked me to get rough with them.”

  The hairs on the back of Troy’s neck stood on end. “BDSM is more than just rough sex. Anything else is just kinky sex.”

  Gross held up his hands like he needed to calm Troy down. “Easy, man. Didn’t mean to offend your thing. I thought when you told me you were into that shit when we graduated high school that you would have grown out of it by now.”

  Gross talked about Troy’s chosen lifestyle like he had a disease or disorder. Growing out of BDSM would be like saying a person could grow out of heterosexuality. He wouldn’t apologize for his life. Since he hadn’t played with anyone in a while, he did have to lament his relationship status.

  Troy directed his attention back to Gross. “So you’re saying in all of the times you’ve done this, none of these ladies wanted something more from you.” Troy crossed his arms over his chest. “They pay for your meals and your tuxes, and they want nothing in return.”

  “Not exactly.” Gross tugged on his shirt.

  Troy shook his head. “That’s what I thought.”

  “There was one who wanted me to rub her feet. Another one wanted me to hold her hand while she got a tattoo.”

  Those things seemed pretty harmless. Maybe Troy blew this situation out of proportion.

  “Oh, and I guess my reputation of licking pussy has gone out to these ladies. They like when I do that.” Gross shrugged as he stared at Troy.

  “Get out.” Troy pointed to the door. “You just wasted five minutes of my life that I’ll never get back.” Even if he wasn’t trying to get a jumpstart on his upcoming classes for summer school, listening to his friend’s bullshit bored him.

  “Wait.” Gross held up his hands as Troy grabbed Gross’s shoulders to forcibly send his friend packing. “What else are you going to do since you and Meredith split?”

  The breakup from his longtime girlfriend had hit him hard. With his work as a contractor, Troy came in contact with lots of people. At one point, only women hired him. Meredith recognized the trend and accused Troy of cheating on her, which had no merit. She saw what she saw and assumed the worst. He couldn’t change her perception. Without trust, they had no strong foundation for a lasting relationship.

  Troy lifted his backpack. “Got that covered. I’m going back to school.”

  Gross scrunched up his face. “At your age? Dude, don’t you think you’re too old to be back in school again?”

  “Dude, don’t you think you’re too old to call someone a ‘dude?’ I’m just trying to better myself. That’s all.” He already prepared himself to be judged by kids half his age.

  That wasn’t all. Troy wanted to finally pursue his dream of becoming a teacher. He wouldn’t get paid as much as did now, but he wanted to follow his dream.

  “I’m in my thirties.” Gross chewed his lower lip.

  “What the hell? We’re both forty-five. As a matter of fact, you’re a month older than me.”

  “Hey, I don’t want anyone knowing I’m in my forties. Besides, the ladies would like your type.” He smacked Troy in his midsection. “You stay in shape.” Then he peered up. “Your hair hasn’t gone gray yet. And you have that distinguished, settled down look.”

  Troy rubbed his hand over his chin. “Oh, really? And what’s your look? Aging slacker?”

  “I’m dangerous and mysterious. I’m getting a lot more play now that I’ve shaved off the dreads.”

  “Wow, imagine that. A woman of our age finding a man who looks like a professional appealing.” Troy grabbed Gross’s arm and pulled him through his house to his front door. “Go home, Gross. Contact one of your other friends.”

  “Those kids? The ladies wouldn’t find them good-looking at all. Maybe the cougars would.”

  “Cougars?” Troy really had to get out more.

  “You know. The older women looking for younger men.”

  Troy rolled his eyes. “Why did I even ask? So what makes you think I’m their type?”

  Gross waited a beat before answering. “Because I gave the company a picture of you that one Halloween where you dressed up like James Bond and they loved it. It’s gotten the most hits on the company website.”

  The feeling of flames that started at Troy’s feet quickly moved up his body like a brush fire. Even his eyes felt hot, like he could shoot laser beams from them.

  If Gross knew any better, he would have kept his mouth closed. He didn’t. “And I told them about your…thing.” He waved his hand in the air like he didn’t want to say anything more.

  “What thing would that be?” Troy had a feeling this would slam the hammer on the final nail in Gross’s coffin. He had to hear what his friend had to say.

  “You know. What we were just talking about. The spanking thing.” He glanced around Troy’s living room. He stopped when he saw something in the corner. “Do you hit the women with that thing or do you chain them up to that bar and hoist it in the air? Tell me how it works.”

  Troy peered at the item Gross stared at in the corner. “Look down, man. It’s a broom. If you need help learning how to use a broom, you have bigger problems than with me.”

  “Fine. Whatever. They included on your ad that you like to take con
trol, that you dominate in all areas of your life.” Gross tapped Troy’s chest. “The women are loving it. What do you say?”

  Although it sounded good to be desired again, Troy didn’t want it this way. There had to be something more, something deeper. As long as sex stayed out of the equation, he could discern who wanted him for him and who wanted the image.

  “You son of a bitch. Get the fuck out of my house.” Troy opened the front door.

  “Before you say no, remember that you owe me.” Gross shrieked, but Troy didn’t want to hear it.

  Troy shoved Gross out but left the door open.

  “You know after everything that went down, you still owe me big time.” Gross strolled back up to the door and stood in front of Troy. “No brothers or sisters. Parents died. No real family to speak of. Who gave you blood when you needed it after your accident?”

  Damn, Troy knew he would go back to that. “You think that makes me obligated to you for the rest of my life or something?”

  “Not the rest of your life.” He put his hands in prayer form. “But it should be good enough for a favor. Have I ever used the blood card before?”

  Troy opened his mouth knowing that sometime after the accident Gross must have asked for some favor where he used the transfusion as his only leverage. In his memory bank, nothing registered. That didn’t mean Troy would do this stupid favor for Gross.

  “Goodbye, Gross. I’ll talk to you later.” He slammed the door in his face. As soon as he turned around, he heard loud cries coming from his porch. Troy ran back to the door and opened it, finding Gross looking like a lost child in his skater shorts, a torn up Motorhead T-shirt, and checkered sneakers.

  “If I don’t get a replacement in for me, they’re going to break my legs.” Gross covered his eyes then peeked through his fingers.

  “You are a piece of work, aren’t you?” Troy glanced at his watch and cursed. “I need to go check out the campus, see where my classes are. Go home, Gross. Tell your friend that you’re not able to go out of town with her to be her boy toy.” Troy snatched his keys from the hook by the front door.