Breaking Into the Business (17 page)

I
went through every title in hopes of finding something on the business of
selling sex. The only one that was close to what I searched for was the memoirs
of a prostitute from the 1980s. I’m sure that would have been an interesting
read, but I didn’t think that would be the least bit helpful.

After
half an hour of carefully searching, I gave up and stopped by the romance
section. I grabbed a few titles that caught my eye and carried them to the
register to check out.

Timing
couldn’t have worked out any better, because I got to the sandwich shop just as
Mike was pulling in. I didn’t know what he drove, but I could see his face
through the windshield of the large red truck.

We
met on the sidewalk, and I greeted him with a hug. We walked inside, ordered
our sandwiches, and found a table near the back. At thirty minutes until noon,
the lunch rush still hadn’t bombarded the area yet.

I
bit into my sandwich and swallowed the bite, and then started my spill. “Okay,
so I have a business proposition for you.”

“It
wouldn’t take much right now,” he said. “My job sucks bad.”

“So
what I’m about to tell you is kind of crazy. Hear me out before you pass a
judgment, and I must insist on your absolute secrecy.”

“You
got it.”

“Recently
I met a man who is an escort, and I agreed to help him with the organization
side of the business.”

“Like
a pimp?”

Chuckling,
I said, “No, I actually hate that word. I prefer the term madam.”

“Okay,
so madam.”

“Yes,”
I said. “He’s got ads posted around and can give out his business card at
clubs. Apparently, he makes two hundred dollars per hour and works many hours a
week, so he’s doing quite well for himself. I take twenty percent for managing
his bookings and a good deal of the advertising.”

“Wow,”
he said. He had stopped eating part of the way through my speech and had set
his sandwich down. “So how did a nice lady like you get mixed up in this?”

“I
met this guy at a bar and then we hooked up.” When I saw his eyes staring wide
at me, I feared that he was judging me, so I added, “I was drunk.”

He
held his hands up defensively. “Nobody’s judging, Lana.”

“I
know, but it sounds better if I add that. Anyways, we hooked up and the next
morning, he mentions his fee. We sort of formed a friendship after that, and he
told me that he has trouble with keeping his appointments straight. I’m in a
tough financial bind right now, so I could use the money.”

“So
you’re out rounding up a bunch of men?”

“Actually,
I am. I have two problems right now. Number one is that I can’t make as much
money because my cut is much smaller, so I actually need to manage a few guys
before I can start to rake in the money like he will be able to. The other
issue that I’ve noticed lately is that I’m surrounded by all of these good
looking guys, like yourself, who are having similar financial hardships.”

“I’m
not really hurting for money.”

“But
you hate your job.”

“It
seems like I’d be trading one challenge for another.”

“But
think about the money. You get paid to have sex.”

“I
do like to have sex.”

“Really?”
I asked. I realized that my tone came across as a little too interested.

“Definitely,”
he said. “My girlfriend and I broke up a month ago because she wouldn’t have
sex as much as I wanted to. If it were up to me, I would go three times a day.
The most I could talk her into was in the morning before work and at night when
we got home from work. She refused to meet me for lunch to do it again.”

“Wow,”
I said. At first, I tried to hide my amusement, but then gave up.

“Yeah,”
he said. “But it’s a big stretch to go into prostitution.”

“I
know, and I don’t want to pressure you. I just talked to another friend of
mine, and I will tell you the same thing. It’s all up to you. I won’t pressure
you at all because this is a deeply personal decision to make.”

“So
two hundred dollars an hour, right?”

“Yes.”

“Damn,
that’s a lot of money.”

“It’s
a whole lot of money.”

“So
if I sign on, how many hours would I work?”

“As
many as you want. The peak hours are of course the evening and late night. At first,
I will probably be able to get you a few clients, but it will take some time to
build up your client list to reach twenty hours a week.”

“I
can do it twenty hours a week at two hundred dollars an hour?”

“Yes.”

“I’m
in.”

“Seriously?”

“That’s
a lot of money. I’m definitely in. I’ll have to keep my day job until I can
start making enough to quit.” He smiled confidently at me. “But I’m really good
at what I do, so I think I can get a lot of repeat customers.”

“That’s
great,” I said. “Greg said that he would help out any newcomers, so I’ll talk
to him and get a meeting scheduled. I have one more person to ask, and my
friend I talked to this morning is supposed to get back to me when he has
decided. If all goes well, then it will be four of you.”

“I’m
anxious to get started,” he said.

“I
bet you are,” I smiled.

Once
we had finished with lunch, I raced home because I still had a lot to do before
the kids got out of school. I brewed a pot of coffee and when it was ready, I
poured myself a cup.

I
sat in my usual spot at the kitchen table and started through the list of
websites that Greg had texted me that would allow me to post advertisements for
their services.

Now
that I had at least two men, I could post ads that are more general. I wanted
to create an ad and thought the best thing I could use would be a picture of a
shirtless man. That was a great idea, I told myself, but I was a little short
on pictures of naked men. It would certainly be illegal just to rip one off the
internet since most photography was copyrighted.

I
decided to text Greg with a request. In less than ten seconds, I got a reply.
When I opened the photo he had sent, I gasped, followed by giggling. He had
taken his cell phone and pointed it down the front of his pants. That I could
definitely not use on the personal, although I had a feeling I could get a lot
of business with a picture of that monster. A few seconds later, I got a second
one of him in a pair of skimpy underwear. I stared at the picture for a little
while before I did anything with it. He was the most gorgeous man I had ever
seen, even better looking than Jeremy and that was saying a lot. His body
seemed perfect, and in the photo, I could see every line of muscle definition
and an enormous package in the front of his briefs.

Now
I had to figure out what the name of the business would be. It didn’t have to
be anything official, but I had to come up with something to put on the top of
the image I would create. I scrawled down a list of words that might work and
started mulling them over in my head. They sounded either too cheesy or not
sexy enough. I had a picture in my mind of a lonely, desperate woman who was
seeking male companionship. That wasn’t a hard fete to manage.

Then
it hit me. We lived in suburbia and that would be our primary clientele. And I
was specific in that I wanted to be referred to as a madam. What better way to
reinforce this idea than to put that into the name. From this point forward, I
would be the Madam of Suburbia.

The
idea was perfect, and from the moment the name came into my head, I knew that
this was what we had to go with. It would also help when people called the ad,
and a woman answered, it would make sense. If I put Greg’s info on there, and
then a woman answered the phone, there was no telling what would go through
their head.

 I
used a graphics-editing program to create an eye-catching image that I could
use to post on the internet. Using the photo he had just sent me, I cut off his
head and his lower legs and then inserted that photo into the image. It was
perfect, and more importantly, it was sexy. If I saw that on the internet, I
might just call.

I
ran through the list of websites, creating a username and profile, and then
inserted the advertisement. I created a document on my computer to track all of
the websites that I was tapping into.

When
I clicked upload on the final set up, the work cell rang. My heart started
beating, and I got really nervous. I still hadn’t come up with a good work
track to make the client feel more at ease. I would have to wing it again and
hope that I sounded okay.

“You
have reached the Madam of Suburbia,” I said. “How may I assist you?”

“Hello,”
a trembling voice said on the phone. “I’m calling about your ad I saw online.”

Damn,
that was fast, I thought to myself. I just posted the first one a few minutes
ago, and already we had a hit. Maybe this would take off faster than I thought.

“I
would be glad to schedule you with one of our professionals,” I said. “What
sort of man are you interested in.”

“Just
a normal guy,” the caller said. “But he has to be hot. And nice,” she added as
if an afterthought.

“All
of our men are extremely good looking.  Do you have any specifications?”

“Not
really.”

I
decided to schedule her with Greg. I couldn’t consider Mike officially a part
of the business until I met with him and went over the rules and got his
schedule. That might be another few days, so I would simply book Greg for now.

“When
are you looking to have your session?”

“Is
tonight okay?”

“Of
course,” I said. “What time?”

“How
about midnight?”

“I
have a guy available then who will be perfect for you. Shall I book you for two
hours? That is the recommended minimum.”

“That
sounds good.”

I
took down the details of the location. Apparently, Greg would have to drive to
her house. I knew the address and it wasn’t that far from here.

After
I hung up the phone, I got a text from Greg. He was on his way over with the
money he had made last night. Before I could even react or text him back, my
personal cell phone rang. It was Ben calling.

“Hey,
Ben,” I said.

“Hey,
Lana.”

“What’s
up?”

“I’ve
thought a lot about your proposal and I’m in.”

“That’s
great!”

“Yeah,
I think this is going to be good. The more I thought about it, the more I saw
how this could change my life for the better. Frankly, I’m a little excited to
get started. I need the money very bad.”

“Good.
I’m going to talk to Greg to try to get something set up for a tutorial for the
new guys.”

“How
many new guys do you have?”

“Right
now, it’s just you and my delivery guy,” I said. “I’m hoping to have one more
signed up soon, so it will be four total.”

“Great.
Just let me know.”

“Thank
you for doing this, Ben. I know this will benefit you, but it will help me a
great deal, too.”

“No,
I appreciate you bringing this to me. I need the money very bad, and it was
great of you to think about me.”

“Well,
wait until your first client, and then see if you still want to thank me.”

He
laughed on the other end of the call, but I could tell that it was a nervous
laughter. Up until now, our friendship had been strictly professional and this
was crossing a new line. It might take some time for us to settle into new
boundaries.

I
was about to go to the bathroom when the business cell phone rang again.

“You’ve
reached Madam of Suburbia. How may I help you?”

“Yes,
I want to book a session with one of your men.”

This
caller was much different from the one before. Where the first one seemed
scared of her own shadow, this one came across as confident. Even the way she
used the word “session” made me think she had done this before.

“Sure.
What kind of guy are you interested in?”

“Well,
I’ve tried a few different services, and none of them have been able to provide
what I’m looking for. You see, I have this fantasy, and it’s a little strange,
but I’ve been thinking about this for the past four years, and it’s time to
make it a reality.”

“Tell
me about it, and I will see what I can do.”

“I
want a big man.”

My
mind instantly went to Mike.

She
continued. “And I don’t mean that he has to be muscular. But he does have to be
big around the middle. I want a large gut, like he’s drank a twenty-four pack
every day of his life.”

“Okay,”
I said. “So a large man. Any other specifications.”

“In
my mind, he’s black and maybe a little older.”

What
the hell? This had to be some trick. Maybe Pearl had found the number to the
service and was trying to help her cousin Ray out. It was as if the caller had
a picture of Ray up and was just describing him.