“No. I paid for her virginity.”
Coen seemed even more confused by that. He rubbed the back of his neck as his eyebrows furrowed. “And you haven’t done that yet…?”
“I did months ago. But I’ve enjoyed having her around so much that I keep paying her to stay.”
“So, she is a prostitute?”
“No.”
“A prostitute is someone who has sex for money.”
“It’s not the same, and you know it.” When Monroe was done with me, she wasn’t going to run out and find a new client. All of her debt would officially be gone so she could really start over. “She had some serious debt hanging over her head. So she came to me. She wasn’t comfortable giving it up right away, so I wined and dined her until she was finally comfortable. Then we did it…but I wasn’t ready to let her go. So I made another deal with her…for three months.”
“How did she know to come to you?”
I’d never told anyone any of this, except Monroe, but since it was going to be public knowledge very soon, it didn’t seem to matter. “I’ve been doing it for five years. I pay good money to pop a woman’s cherry. It’s an underground thing.”
My brother looked surprised but not judgmental. “So…how many women?”
“About a hundred and fifty a year.”
His eyebrows rose. “That’s over five hundred women…”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Now that I admitted the truth out loud, I understood just how repulsive I was. I was a rich asshole who took advantage of cash-strapped women just to get off. I paid them handsomely, but that didn’t mean it was right.
Coen struggled to keep a reasonable composure. He was floored by the knowledge, almost visibly disturbed. “That’s…a lot to take in.”
“Monroe is the only woman I’ve been seeing for a while. Her apartment got broken in to, and they took all her stuff. She had nowhere to go, so I’m letting her stay here until she finds a new place.”
“That’s nice of you…if she doesn’t mean anything to you.”
“I never said she didn’t mean anything,” I corrected. “I just meant our relationship isn’t romantic.”
He crossed his arms over his chest as his eyes focused on the surface of the table. “I’m surprised you told me that.”
“Simone knows. She’s going to tell the entire world when she realizes the trick I pulled on her.”
His eyes lifted again. “And you would take the ridicule just to help me?”
My brother really was stupid. He had a loyal brother who would do anything for him, and he’d taken it for granted for five years. “You’re my brother, Coen. I always have your back—even if you don’t have mine.”
As if I’d stabbed him in the chest, he winced before he looked at the table again.
“I don’t care if Simone tells the world. The cops won’t do anything, and I’ll just hide out in my penthouse until the next news cycle kicks in.”
“You basically operated a prostitution ring. That’s a pretty big deal.”
“And I give the cops a pretty big donation every year.”
He nodded. “Now I understand why you wanted to donate to the police department in the first place…”
It’d save my ass.
“How much did you pay Monroe?”
“Doesn’t matter.” I wouldn’t share Cherry’s financial situation with anyone. “But she was in some serious hot water. She had massive student loans from her undergraduate degree and her masters, but on top of that, she had a pretty serious medical bill attached to her name for her mother’s cancer treatment.”
“Shit…that’s too bad.”
“I made all of that disappear.” I gave her a chance to start over, to have a better life without the bank taking most of her paycheck. She would never have been able to buy a house, let alone a car. Finding a husband might even be difficult, since his name would be attached to nearly a million dollars in debt. “In exchange, I get her.”
He rubbed his jawline with his fingertips and sighed quietly. “I guess I would have done the same thing if I were in that much debt. Sex is just sex. It really doesn’t mean anything most of the time.”
“Yeah…” I hadn’t been with one woman in a long time, and the sex with Cherry was much better than it ever was with Simone. Even though I didn’t trust anyone, a part of me trusted Cherry. I never expected her to betray me because she seemed too innocent of a person.
“How does Simone know this?”
“No idea. She told Monroe when she threatened her.”
“Simone threatened her?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Man, she threatened everyone. You were too pussy-whipped to notice.”
“I’ll say…”
“Anyway, when you meet her tomorrow, it’ll come out.”
“I wonder what Mother will think…”
She’d be disappointed, probably disgusted. “Honestly, it’s not worse than what you did, so I think she’ll let it go.”
He winced like I’d punched him in the face. “I guess you’re right.”