“I messed up… big time,” I admit. “Something happened at the hotel.”
Her eyes widen. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“What was me?” I say, even though we both know what she’s referring to.
“Brix Wilson! You stroked your cherry on his bed,” she accuses.
“I didn’t mean to,” I wail. “I had no idea I was in the wrong room. In fact, when I saw him, I thought he’d walked into my room by mistake but then I realized the hotel gave me the wrong room. And now it’s all everyone’s talking about. I can’t get away from it.”
“I can’t believe that was you. Everybody is talking about it. You’re famous,” Lou says with a chuckle. “Hey, did you see the reenactment on TV?” She sniggers. “I think Jimmy Fallon played you better than you do.”
“You’re not helping, Lou,” I growl, close to tears.
“I know, I’m a bad friend,” she says, trying her best to sound sympathetic, but even then, I can see she’s holding back her laughter.
“It gets worse,” I admit. I might as well tell her everything.
“Worse?” Lou asks, her eyes full of glee. “How much worse?”
I close my eyes. “I left a dildo on his bed,” I whisper.
“You fucking didn’t.” She gasps. She laughs so hard she loses grip of her glass and it lands in her lap, but she doesn’t even blink. She’s too caught up in laughing at my misfortune. “Oh, Hannah. Jimmy didn’t do that bit.”
“But wait for it,” I groan. “Because that isn’t even the worst bit.”
“No.” Lou holds up her hand. “I can’t take it anymore. Stop. Please, just stop.” But then she looks at me expectantly. “Well?”
I sigh in defeat. “The high-profile client I told Mom about—”
“It’s him?” Lou gasps, cutting me off.
“Yep.”
“Oh my God, Hannah.” She giggles hysterically. “This is fucking fantastic.”
“No. It’s a nightmare,” I correct her. “Nothing about this whole scenario is fantastic. There’s no way I can face him, which means I need a new job.”
“I hear there’s a great job going back home at a pet salon.” Lou grins.
I scowl at her. “Not funny.”
She cracks up laughing. “Come on, Han. You’re being silly,” she chastises between giggles. “This is hardly worth leaving your job over. Even if it was, you couldn’t afford to. You said so yourself that things were getting desperate—”
“Not that desperate,” I cut in. “I mean, there’s still prostitution. Or anal play. And I give a mean hand job—”
“Really? I’ve heard the opposite,” Lou sniggers.
“What, did your father tell you that?” I retort. “Look, I know leaving is not an option, okay? But how the hell do I handle this?”
“Tomorrow will suck. Hard core. It will probably be worse than him catching you in his room. But once you’re through that, the rest will be easy. It can’t get much worse, right?” she assures me. “I mean really, what’s left?”
I wince. “See, you’d think that it couldn’t get worse, but earlier today, I proved it could.”
“Hannah. What did you do?” Lou asks sternly.
“He may have caught me climbing out from under his bed,” I admit, my voice hoarse.
“Oh God,” Lou groans, laughing helplessly. “What the heck were you doing under his bed? Looking for your dignity?”
“Something like that.”
“Did he say anything?”
“He asked me if I’d lost something,” I confess.
“Crap,” Lou says after she’s recovered from another round of laughter. “It’s almost like you’re doing all of this just for my amusement. I love you so much, but you can stop torturing yourself now.” She gurgles through her laughter, then she takes a few deep breaths as her expression turns serious. “This will only be as bad as you let it. If you act like it’s no big deal, then how much shit can he give you?” She glances at her watch and curses. “Shit. I’m late. Come with me if you want? My new job starts tonight.”
“They won’t mind if I tag along?” I call out as she disappears into her bedroom. She comes back out a few minutes later and shrugs.
She shrugs. “It’s just deliveries.”
“Oh, like Uber Eats?” I ask. “Which reminds me. I had an awesome idea for a business. Uber Eats, but with sex toys.”
She gives me a sideways glance. “The random things that come to mind while whacking one out on a rock star’s bed,” she jokes.
“What’s more important? When I got the idea, or that the idea is awesome?” I ask, irritability creeping into my voice. “Hey, aren’t you hot in that?” I add, mildly amused that the girl who wears a tee shirt in fifty-degree weather is sporting a trench coat on one of the warmest days of the month.
She shrugs, not quite looking me in the eye.
“I’m good. Trust me.”
I narrow my eyes, because if I know Lou at all, something is up.We drive to the outskirts of town, stopping in front of a small strip of shops, one of which is a pizza place. I stay in the car while Lou goes in to collect the order.