Rent Me By The Hour (21 page)

Jocelyn fell asleep on the way home and Jeremiah carries her inside the house. Jordan takes a quick shower as I try to wake Jocelyn up. It’s only six o’clock and it’s too early for her to be asleep already.

“
Baby wake up. You need to go take a shower. Jocelyn. Baby.” She won’t budge.

Oh well. I guess she isn’t going to wake up anytime soon. Jeremiah carries her in her room, and then I cover her with the comforter and give her a goodnight kiss. When Jordan was done, he joined Jeremiah and me on the couch.

“
Mom are we still going to Disney World this summer?”

I didn’t want the kids to know just yet but I guess I have to spill the beans, “Yes baby.”

“
When are we going?”

I look at Jeremiah hoping he made plans like he promised, “We’re leaving Thursday after you and your sister get out of school.”

“
Can Jeremiah come with us?”

“
Yes. Is that ok?”

“
Of course. That will be cool. Now we can ride all the rides.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Last time we went most of the rides were in pairs, it was uneven, so we couldn’t ride all the rides.”

Jordan does have a point. Now that Jeremiah comes along, we can take ride everything without me worry whose going to ride with who. “That’s right baby.”

I can see a smirk on Jeremiah’s face. He likes the fact the kids like him being around. And so do I. If my kids didn’t like him as much as they do, I wouldn’t even waste our time. I watch my reality show while Jordan and Jeremiah play cards on the bar. By eight thirty pm I follow Jordan in his room and tuck him in.

Jeremiah holds my in his arms as we sleep. I feel so safe with his presence. When my alarm buzzed, he kissed me tenderly with morning breath and all caresses my arm, “Sweetheart, it’s time to get up.”

I mummy walk into my kids room trying to wake them up. It’s always so hard waking Jordan up. He isn’t a morning person just like me. Jocelyn jumps up and starts to brush her teeth while I’m still shaking Jordan to get his butt up.

While the kids are getting ready, I brace my face with make-up and I slip into a white cashmere and silk halter top dress and finished the look with black and white stitched platform heels. Jeremiah is in the kitchen making me and him a cup of coffee.

When I walk out of my bedroom, he freezes, “Wow.”

“
Why thank you babe.” I’m blushing.

“
We’ll go in my car.”

“
What?”

“
I’ll drop you off to your car.”

“
Car? How do you know about my car?”

“
We’ll drop off the kids, I’ll drop you off to your car, you can stop by your office, go have lunch with your friends, and when you’re done, I’ll pick you up at your parking garage.”

“
How do you know about my parking garage?” I’ve always thought I’ve been really careful at switching cars. But somehow he knows I change cars and he knows the garage I use.

“
Are you and the kids ready?”

“
Jeremiah.” I want answers dammit.

He calls Jordan and Jocelyn so we can go. I guess he’s trying to avoid the question. But this isn’t over. How much does he know about me? We stop at McDonalds to get a quick breakfast then drop Jocelyn and Jordan to school.

This is weird. Driving to Houston, and I’m not driving. But instead I’m in the passanger side sitting by this sexy gorgeous loving man. We hold hands as he drives through Houston traffic.

“
What are you doing today babe?”

“
I have a business meeting.”
“You’re going like that?” He’s dressed in normal clothes.

“
I have my suit in the office.”

“
Oh. Do I ever get to see your office?”

“
Yes.” He drops me off to my Mercedes, “See you later sexy. Be good.”

I narrow my eyes at him before giving him a kiss. His lips are so sweet. “You be good.”

After I drive off, he leaves. I’m still wondering how he knows about me switching cars. How does he know where I do it? While I wait for the elevator, I see Tony outside. Why is he here so early? Since Carmen is still in Galveston, Denise will be taking her shift. I want to make sure I catch her up on all the new providers I recently hired. When I get to the office, I usually have a memo of all the things that happened for the incall appointments during Friday after I left and all the outcalls over the weekend. One memo really bothered me.

Paula quit

In a way I feel relieved because I don’t think I could see Paula knowing she’s fucked Jeremiah every week for five years. But then again I feel bad. I took away her source of income. Her livelihood. Even though prostitutes are known to be at the bottom of the barrel, women who are in this business still have proper etiquette that we go by. And one of those is to never steal a client from another provider because you’re robbing her from making her money. That’s just a really shitty thing to do. But I didn’t steal her client. And I am not stealing her money. I don’t ask Jeremiah to pay for my bills or anything else for that matter. I can support myself and my kids. I do not need him to do that for me. So would it still be considering stealing her client?

Denise and Tony arrive, and I’ve been dying to know why Tony comes to the office early, so I pull him to the side, “Hey every time I’ve came to the office, I saw you before we actually opened.”

He looks at me confused, “Ma’am?”

“
We’re you not outside earlier today? I mean of course you were outside. But when I can in an hour ago, I saw you outside.”

“
No ma’am that wasn’t me.”

I know it was him. Don’t tell me it wasn’t you. Is Tony lying to me? Why would he feel like he has to lie to me? Ok whatever. I tell him to continue what he needs to do so he makes his rounds. I give Denise the news about the new gals. The women start arriving and they get their selves prepped for the day. Usually on Mondays my women load up on coffee. I don’t know what it is about Mondays. Maybe they’re just so tired from spending time with their families during the weekend. Most of the women that work for me are mothers. So I know how they feel about providing for their kids. Half of the women that work for me have a husband or boyfriend who is overseas serving our country. The wives who are left behind to take care of their kids and household barely have enough money to do so. I don’t know how much our military men gets paid but I guess it’s not enough especially if their women have to sacrifice their bodies here to support their household and needs.

During lunch time Victoria and Cynthia was hounding me for details about Jeremiah. And even though real women don’t expose their deepest secrets, especially about sexual secrets, I give them enough information just to keep them from bugging me. They have been my best friends for years, but I’ve heard from other women’s experiences of their best friends screwing them over after they’ve told them how much of a good fuck their husbands or boyfriends are. I guess their best friends want to see for themselves. But I know damn well my friends will never do that to me. Aside from my friends wanting to know about Jeremiah, they haven’t been real chatty like they usually are. It’s probably crazy at work or their home. I didn’t want to ask until they were ready to tell me their selves. I pay for our lunch and gave them hugs before I headed back to my parking garage.

Jeremiah’s car pulls up so I get my belongings from my Mercedes and as I’m getting my stuff, Tony comes around from the driver’s side and waits by the car to open the back door to Jeremiah’s Knight.

“
Tony? What are you doing here?”

“
I’m sorry ma’am. You must have me mistaken by my brother Antonio. I’m Alexander. Alex for short.”

“
So Tony, I mean Antonio is your twin.”

“
Yes ma’am. Mr. Wyatt will be stuck in a business all day. He wants me to drop you home.”

He opens the back door and helps me inside. So it wasn’t Tony who I keep seeing. It’s his twin Alex. But what do I keep seeing Alex in the J & W Building. I put two and two together.

“
Does Jeremiah own the J & W Building.”

“
Ma’am I’ve been instructed to drop you home.”

“
Yes I understand that, but are you not allowed to answer my questions?”

He tightens his lips together. What is Jeremiah worried about? Why can’t I ask Alex anything? I pull my personal phone from purse and call him. As I’m calling him, a privacy glass rises separating the front seats to the back. What the fuck is all this security and no question bullshit.

“
Jeremiah what the fuck is going on?”

“
Sweetheart I will talk to you when I get to Baytown. Do not leave your house unless Alex is with you. Alex will take you to pick up Jocelyn and Jordan after school.”

Tears start to form I’m so scared, “Jeremiah what’s going on.”

“
Please just do what I ask and I will explain when I get there.”

After I hang up, my tears gush down my face. What did I get myself and my kids into? With my irrational thinking, I got us caught in some bullshit that is endangering our lives. Within five minutes after I get home, Jeremiah pulls up in some fancy sports car that I know I probably can’t pronounce the name off.

He hurries to me, “Are you alright?” He’s inspecting my body.

“
Jeremiah what the fuck is going on?” My face is soaked of tears.

He wraps his arms around me and I burry my head against his chest. “My office received a disturbing letter from Paula this morning.”

“
Paula? Letter?”

“
She’s angry about what’s going on between us and she’s threatening to hurt the people I love.”

I’ve heard him tell me he loves me, but now he’s confirmed he loves my kids too. He does care about us. “Someone will be here shortly to install security systems around the perimeter of your land, and Alex will be driving you, Jocelyn, and Jordan around. Alex will come to Florida with us just to be on the safe side.”

“
Jeremiah my kids aren’t used to this. Having to always watch our back. That’s not good for them. It’s not good for me.”

“
Sweetheart, I know. But I can’t bare see you, Jocelyn, and Jordan hurt? Paula is just pissed right now, but she’ll eventually calm down, and things will be better.”

“
And what if she doesn’t calm down? What then?”

“
I promise to take care of it. You guys will be safe.”

We go inside, and our dogs roam the yard. Alex stays outside, but I tell him to come inside. He will get a heat stroke standing out there. I walk into my bedroom, Jeremiah follows, and closes the door.

“
What didn’t you tell me you owned the J&W Building?”

“
It just never came up.”

“
Jeremiah, we’ve talked about my office plenty of times. You could have said, ‘oh by the way I own the building you’re renting.’”