Rhapsody (Butcher and Violinist 1)

“I can’t wait to taste you, beautiful.”

Shalimar showed up at my apartment twenty minutes later, panting, and out of breath.

I let her in. “What’s up?”

“You left some things out last night.” She strolled and wagged her finger at me. “He wants to fuck you.”

“Well—”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“You were the one adamant that I wasn’t his type.”

“Well, I was wrong. Clearly.” She shook her head. “Wait. What the hell are you wearing?”

I stared down at my get-up. “It’s an elephant onesie.”

“Jesus Christ.” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me that he wanted to have sex with you?”

“I was still processing it.”

“And he wants a GFE, of all things.”

“GFE?”

“The Girlfriend Experience.” She let out a long breath. “I don’t know what his game is, but we have to tread carefully on this.”

“I don’t think I could do it.”

“Of course, you can’t. You have no idea how to be a prostitute.”

“Exactly.”

“You could do it, but would you and I be alive after you did it? That’s the question. Because if your aunt finds out—”

“We’re not even going to think about that.”

“And the length is crazy. He wants you for thirty days.”

“Thirty days?!”

“The whole time you would live in his penthouse with him on the other side of the city. You’d be expected to do everything he desires from cooking, to sucking his dick as many times as he requires.” Shalimar folded her arms across her chest. “The Girlfriend Experience sounds easy, but most girls can’t do it. Especially with a man like Jean-Pierre.”

I sat down on the couch. “Why can’t some girls do it?”

“When doing a GFE, they either despise the man too much to be around him, or they like him too much to pretend that what they’re doing isn’t fake. What you have to understand is that…” Shalimar dropped down on the couch. “GFE blurs the boundaries between a financial transaction and a romantic relationship. The only way it works is if everyone’s head is out of the moment.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” Shalimar raised her eyebrows. “Jean-Pierre is a sociopath or something. I’m no psychiatrist, but that’s the only type that works with the likes of the Corsican.”

It was hard to see Jean-Pierre that way, but I didn’t know anything about it. Shalimar knew about him and these dealings. It was best to hear her out at least.

“You don’t think I should do this?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Just because they’re French, don’t take the Corsican for punks. They do everything from money laundering and prostitution to arms and drug trafficking. You would have to get a strong stomach around him. You might see something, and you better be prepared to keep your mouth closed.”

“At Jean-Pierre’s party there was a guy that looked like his boss. He had a large scar on his cheek.”

“That’s Rafael. He’s considered a legend, escaped jail twice. The last time was with dynamite and a helicopter. There’d been an international manhunt long ago.”

“And now he’s just walking around Belladonna?”

“You didn’t see him. In fact, you don’t even know who he is.”

I sighed. “You’re right. I shouldn’t do this.”

“Well, I’m not saying that.”

“What? But you were saying all the bad things about this.”

“Because I want you to know what you might be getting yourself into.”

“He’s paying for me to be his girlfriend. What else does this GFE involve?”

“It could be reciprocal sexual pleasure. Have you ever come before?”

“Of course.”

“Many women don’t experience an orgasm with a partner until they’re at least thirty. If a guy is buying a GFE, he expects you to know your body, know how you like it to be pleasured. He wants you to show him how you orgasm, and he’ll definitely want to see it.”

I blushed, thinking of the ways I could come in front of Jean-Pierre.

“For a man like Jean-Pierre, he isn’t supposed to feel in his job. And I don’t think he allows himself to feel when he’s off his job.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “So, with GFE he pretends to still be human.”

I scrunched my face in confusion. “What?”

“I don’t know why he does it, but it’s never real for him. You have to understand that part the most. That’s why I’m worried about having you do it. This was why your Aunt Celina forbade him from coming to the brothel.”

“He did GFE with someone else?”

“Yes. And it went bad for the girl. She came close to quitting and almost committed suicide.”

I stiffened and studied her.

Were you the girl?

Shalimar looked away. “And this girl was a pro. She had some clients under her belt. So…if he could get in her head, then. . .”

I leaned back on the couch. “I don’t think I should mess with it.”

“Yeah,” she muttered with a frown and ran her fingers through her hair. “But. . .”

“What?”

“You know how people have a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other?”