“Scott…”
“Or an ugly teenager.”
Thomas looked away.
“Or ugly in your early twenties.”
“If I’d have booked you for a night, you would’ve seen me and been disappointed. You would’ve shuddered at the thought of touching me and the thought of me touching you.”
Scott blinked. “That’s not true.”
“How do you know?”
“The vanity I have for myself does not extend to others. I like all shapes, and sizes. People from all walks of life. I like confident, and I like shy. I want to please whomever has hired me. If they have a good time, they’re more likely to want me again or leave me a tip. I’m the book they’ve picked up, and I’ll make sure they enjoy me, but it makes no difference who that reader is.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t judge a book by its cover…”
“Yes?” Thomas narrowed his eyes. “I’m familiar with the saying.”
Scott pointed at his face. “I want to be judged by mine. I need to be. It’s the cover that draws people in, and my pagesthat keep them. I’m a service to be bought by anyone, and I will do my damnedest to give them a great climax and a satisfying ending, no matter who they are.”
Thomas rolled his eyes. “Come on, Scott, there must’ve been someone who made your skin crawl.”
There had been only one. Even the night with the Viagra dick, Scott had been focused on giving his client a good time despite riding himself ragged, and the next morning, he’d been concerned about the blisters and wanted to stay.
“I knew it,” Thomas murmured before downing half of his coke. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, then crossed his arms. “Come on then,Mr Perfect, tell me.”
“There’s only been one night that I wanted to end quicker,” Scott said. “And it had nothing to do with the man’s physical appearance.”
“Was his dick too small for you?”
Scott flinched.
“Bad breath? B.O.? Did he have overgrown toenails or –”
“Thomas,” Scott interrupted. He couldn’t drag his gaze any higher than Thomas’s folded arms. “He scared me. That was the reason I wanted it to be over.”
Thomas relaxed his tightly wound arms. “What did he do?”
“Nothing, not really. I just…” He sighed. “Can we please change the subject?”
“Scott –”
“Please.”
“Sorry,” Thomas murmured. “I didn’t mean to –”
“If you’d have hired me, likethis” – Scott gestured to Thomas –“orbefore, I’d have made sure we had a nice time. I’d have made you feel beautiful just as you are because…you are, and there’s no doubt in my mind that you werebeforetoo.”
Thomas shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, I do. I have seen an ugly person, atrulyugly person. I’ve had their weight on top of me, their breath on the back of my neck, and their voice in my ear, but if you saw him, you’d never guess how ugly he was. You’d never see because ugly people hide behind charming faces and enticing smiles.” Scott looked down at his pasty. “Now…where was I?”
He continued eating in silence. Thomas didn’t ask any more questions, but he did briefly reach under the table to squeeze Scott’s knee.
Zara welcomed them inside the salon with a bright smile. She owned the place and had been working there for almost a decade. Every time Scott went to see her, she’d done something different with her hair.
