My Not So Little Secret. Part One {short story}

I never planned on becoming an escort.

              “So, why did you?” Masie asked.

Masie was an old friend from high school who was in Auckland on holiday from London. I hadn’t seen her in ten years, but she’d surprised me with a visit. Despite not seeing each other for such a long time, we’d connected in a way I hadn’t done in a long time with someone. She was staying in a hotel not far from my house and I’d seen her almost every day so far in the week she had been here. She reminded me that maybe it was time for me to make new girlfriends because talking to her was liberating. When Masie had first told me she was coming to visit I assumed I would never tell her about my secret. And yet, here I was, telling her everything. She was shocked, admittedly, but she was possibly the least judgemental person I had ever met. So, despite being surprised, she also wanted to know everything. She was the first person I had told so far, after five months of being on my escort journey, and it felt so good to finally speak freely.

              “Are you sure you don’t hate me?” I asked before answering her question.

              “Kelly! Of course I don’t hate you. I do, however, want every little detail. And I also promise not to say anything. Especially not to Tom. But wait, we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Take me back to five months ago. Why did you start?”

I took a deep breath and told her my story.

I had been a legal assistant in one of the most prestigious law firms in Auckland for twenty years. I was forty now. So that’s half of my life. Which means I had been unhappy for half my life. I didn’t like that thought at all.

              “Why didn’t you just leave?” Masie asked.

              I sighed. “The million-dollar question. Honestly? I’m not sure. I guess I was comfortable there. Unhappy, but comfortable, which I realise now makes no sense at all. I made good money. And you know what Tom is like. Well, I assume you do judging by what you’ve seen of him.” I gestured around the grand room. “He likes opulence. He’s already bringing in some decent money as a broker, and between the two of us we have always done quite well. I kept telling him I wanted to leave and do something more creative with my life and he would tell me that I was crazy to leave this good life behind.”

              Masie frowned. “Why can’t you make good money doing something creative?”

              I shrugged. “He’s very linear. We found a formula that suits his lifestyle, and he doesn’t want to change that. I get it. And don’t get me wrong, I like having money. Who doesn’t? It’s easy. And sure, I had to sacrifice a lot. But it wasn’t all bad.”

              “So, what happened? I assume you no longer work there? Either that or you’ve kindly taken all week off to be with me.”

              “I don’t work there,” I said.

              “Does that mean you finally quit?”

              “I wish,” I said. “Quite the opposite. I was fired.”

              Masie gasped. “You were fired? Why on earth would anyone fire you? You’ve always been the hardest working person ever.”

              “Well, my boss, ex-boss, got married, and the wife took an instant disliking to me. She convinced him to fire me.”

              “But surely you could’ve disputed that? Did he actually tell you that?” Masie asked.

              “Not in so many words. Oh, don’t worry, they’re a very clever bunch. They’re a law firm. They know exactly what they can say and what they must keep quiet. They found other reasons to fire me. But everyone at work knew the truth. Nobody likes his new wife.”

              “That’s awful,” Maisie said. “After all you did for that company. I guess in some weird and twisted way it’s a compliment. You were fired because some woman was jealous of you. There’s a positive in that. You are absolutely gorgeous. I bet your ex-boss wishes he was sleeping with you.”

              “And he almost did.”

              Now Maisie was on the edge of her seat. “What? What do you mean? Don’t tell me he tried to force himself on you at work. Because that means he should’ve been the one who lost his job. Not you.”

              “No, he didn’t do that. He did, however, request my services as an escort. It was the craziest coincidence. I didn’t realise it was him. He didn’t realise it was me. I have no photos of my face online so he couldn’t have known. Anyway, I get to the bar and see him sitting there and I immediately want to punch him.”

              “Please tell me you did,” Masie asked.

              I laughed. “If only. But no. I told him I was there to meet a friend, and then I watched as he got stood up by his escort agent. Me. In a way it was great karma.”

              “What a story,” she said.

              “Oh, I have plenty.”

              “But you still haven’t told me how you went from legal assistant to escort.”

              “The day I was fired, another girl who was working there took me aside and gave me a card. She said she was an escort in her free time and made a ton of money. I went home, about to tell Tom that I was fired. But when he got home, he was going on and on about how important it was for us both to have high-paying jobs, and he even told me that I should ask for a raise. He had his eye on a new car, you see. Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. So, the following day, I got out that card and I phoned the agency. A week later I had signed up with them. A week after that I got my first client. And now, five months in, I’ve got regular clients that I see almost daily.”

              Masie’s eyes were huge. “Wow. This is crazy. And, what about Tom. Surely, he knows by now?”

Click here for part two.