“Was this a box stall?” He sat on the chair that was pushed against the wall because there wasn’t any more room than that.
I grinned. “Yeah. Ruth hated it, but I really like it.”
River thought for a moment, then smiled. “I can see someone liking being around the horses here instead of in the office with people.”
“People, ugh,” I replied, shuddering.
He chuckled, then got more serious again. “So, the funding issue,” he said slowly, quietly.
I hummed inquisitively. I wasn’t sure why he was here talking to me about it without Lake.
“So, here’s the thing.” He was quiet for a few beats, looking away from my face, before sighing as if in defeat. “Lake doesn’t want to talk about it, but we do have connections to some very wealthy LGBTQ+ people in New York.”
I nodded slowly. “I got a feeling it wasn’t a favorite topic of his.”
“Yeah. But I also think we should use those contacts to get funding because it would totally work.”
“But…?”
River grimaced. “We know a lot of wealthy gay men back there, because Lake and I met them while we were escorts.”
I guess on some level I’d figured that might be the case. It wasn’t unusual for kids like Lake to end up doing sex work, but having it spelled out for you like that, well, it…gave me pause.
“Ah,” I finally managed to say. “Is he…is he ashamed of sex work?” I hazarded a guess.
River huffed wryly. “Not exactly, no.” He went to lift his hand to rub his face, then seemed to realize he was wearing quite a bit of makeup, and his eyes darted to mine as he dropped his hand.
“I like it. The colors are really nice.” They were, I wasn’t just saying it. But another thing needed to be said. “To be honest, I didn’t pay attention to the makeup. It’s very…you, I think.”
River blushed even under the concealer and contouring—check me out, knowing all kinds of words because of the volunteers we had—and dipped his chin a little.
“Yeah, uh…so he doesn’t really think there’s anything wrong about the escorting,” he continued.
“But?”
River grimaced again. “One of his clients, this older guy called Anderson, he got infatuated with Lake.”
I squinted in thought. “Was he the savior type?”
“Not in the way you’d think, maybe. He’s a good guy, really nice and understands sex work. But he was awfully quick in promising any help he could give Lake at the first sign of him wanting out of the business.” He sighed. “Anderson is the CEO of a certain bookstore chain.”
“Oh…” I made a face. “I see.”
“Yeah. That.”
“He got Lake the job?”
“Kind of. He got Lake an interview at the store and likely made everyone know he was going to be a favored candidate.”
I understood now. Lake wasn’t ashamed of sex work, but he probably thought it was sketchy how he’d gotten the job.
“Will he be upset that you told me?”
“Yeah.” River slumped forward, elbows on knees as he ran a hand through his blond hair. “He will. But then he’ll be relieved that you already know.”
“I guess I can see that,” I admitted.
“He’s not good at believing people will want him around if he’s done something he thinks is wrong or that is perceived as wrong by others.”
