“Oh. I see.Thatkind of hangover.”
Eden shrugged again. “Kinda weird to live that lifestyle and then suddenly go home to… well, let’s just say I’m not in a relationship. And I’m not a sex worker by trade, so…”
“Home to forced celibacy?”
“If you wanna put it that way.”
More people got on, including a couple of guys who had worked in the kitchen that weekend, proving Blair’s point abouthow it was a full flight. Blair texted someone on her phone before responding to her new friend.
“The moment I get home,” she said with a sigh, “my girlfriend will want to know about every dollar I made while here. Got a lot of tips, you know. The guests were extra generous, so I should be thanking you Butterflies for that. Happy guests are tipping guests.”
“As for coming back if I’m asked…” Eden continued. “Maybe. We’ll see how I feel about all of this after a couple of weeks. Ask me then.”
“Which reminds me.” Blair shook her phone in Eden’s direction. “Swap numbers? I need more gal pals in the city.”
After they traded numbers and confirmed they had the right ones with test texts, Blair fastened her seat belt right on time for the flight attendant to come through to check on things now that they were mostly full. She told everyone that they would wait to see if they could fill the last available seat before closing the door and heading out.
“What are you doing when you get back?” Eden asked. “Work?”
“Oh, yeah…” Blair blew her long bangs out of her face. “I’ll be camming with my partner on Friday and working shifts at the salon the rest of the weekend. With any luck, though, the days between now and then are all mine. You? Got a job you’re going back to?”
“No. I’m sort of in between stuff right now. It’s why this was such a great opportunity when it popped up. I’m set for like a whole year while I try to figure out what I want to do. Maybe go back to school. Maybe start my own business. I dunno. I just know I should try to be smart with what I got paid here.” Especially since attracting the repeat attention of not one, buttwomen meant a hefty bonus. And because of “taxy-waxygeography” (that was a real term, she swore), she barely owed anything on it. “No idea what I’m doing once it hits my account.”
“You’ve gotta get yourself a financial advisor, at least for the immediate future.” Blair had a sudden thought. “I can send you the number of the one my girlfriend and I use when I’m home. They’re a firm in our city that does not ask a lot of questions about where your money comes from. They just advise you on how to pay things off and how to invest it.”
“That would be great! I need this money to either last or make some more on interest for me. Otherwise, what was the point?”Besides the great sex.Except that had never been guaranteed. Eden never thought she’d be replaying those memories in her head for years.
“You might have to remind me this week, but I’ll get you that number.”
“Damn. You’re being like… so nice to me. Why?”
Blair stopped fussing with her hair as if Eden had asked her why they were both alive. “Um, because I just am? I honestly don’t know how to answer that.”
“Ah, sorry. It just kinda fell out of my mouth.”
The flight attendant came back through, asking everyone to buckle up and be prepared for takeoff “at any moment.” The last seat hadn’t been filled, but it looked like nobody was about to claim it.
“That’s okay,” Blair said once the flight attendant stopped speaking. “When I first got into this world, I was kinda navigating it on my own. My partner was an experienced Domme for pay, but she had fallen out of the rich kid crowd for a long time and wasn’t ever good at the rules to begin with, if you ask me. So, I had to get friendly with any woman in the scene who was nice to me. Kind of a habit I developed.”
“You’re the one who knows so much more than me now!”
“So maybe I want to pay it forward. I’ve had to cobble together a living ever since I graduated from school. Stroke of luck, my neighbor turned out to be the best thing that happened to me, thebitchshe was when we met.” Blair laughed. “Seriously, though. I fell my way up in this business. A lot of it was connections through my partner and us getting a lot of attention on the circuit. Not everyone can do what I did, but if I can offer some advice, I will. Talk to our advisor. Make that money work foryounow. That way, even if you never do sex work again, you’ll be set to do whatever it is you want.”
They spent most of the flight back to New England talking about this and that while Eden languidly kept her eyes half-open, as if she were about to snooze at any moment.I’ll have time to crash when I’m back in my studio apartment.Four hundred square feet would feel princely compared to the tiny hotel room she had inhabited for almost a week, but it wouldn’t be in paradise, that was for sure. And unlike Blair, who happened to meet a neighbor who changed her life, Eden doubted that the old lady who lived on one side and the single mom with a baby on the other would be changingherlife soon. She would have to forge her own fate with the money she had made at La Mariposa.
Would I come back again?
The island was far behind her by the time she seriously came back to that question.Maybe.The problem with returning was that, even if it were a pleasant experience again, she would probably not meet guests like Bryce and Neal again. They were a part of the equation.
I’ll miss them.Even long after Neal left the party the night before, Eden had spent time with Bryce behind their curtain, blissing out in the haze that they had helped create. Even though Eden knew she would never see him again, there was something aboutpretendingthey would that kept the fantasyalive.It was definitely a fantasy for him.That was part of the paradise the Butterflies sold on the island. Sure, they were more than sexually available to anyone who wanted them – but they also sold a particular girlfriend experience for anyone who searched for that.Both of those men were looking for that.Bryce’s possessiveness that weekend was balanced by Neal’s laissez-faire attitude about playing board games, joking around, and not taking things like sex seriously.Which only made me like it more.The fact that both men were passively into what theotherbrought to the table –me, I’m the table –created an unforgettable experience that Eden would not forget soon. She may have been Brim for a weekend, but Brim was following her home, wasn’t she?
“I don’t think I can date again for a while,” she said toward the end of their journey. “I can’t look at men quite the same way again.”
Blair studied her, but kept her mouth shut. Meanwhile, Eden couldn’t believe she said that out loud.I probably make it sound like I had a horrible experience.
Oh, well. The hangover was her new companion. And until it abated – be it in weeks or months – she wasn’t looking at another man the same way again. Her eyes had been opened… to endless potential.
She just wanted to hang on to “Brim” for a while longer.
