Page 24 of Dirty Like Me
I coughed, trying to clear my throat. Apparently I had some kind of allergy to other people having a high-stakes salary negotiation over me.
“Obviously,” Jesse said.
Then the two of them looked at me, like I’d suddenly just joined them.
“Uh, do I get a say in this?”
They waited in silence. Shit. I was kind of hoping they just wouldn’t let me get a word in, since I wasn’t even sure what the hell to say.
I turned to Jesse. “While I thank you for the generous offer and for thinking of me for the… um, opportunity… my answer at this time is going to have to be a no.”
“Give me a moment with my client.” Devi hooked her arm through mine and yanked me through the garden like a Muppet on a hook. Once we reached the farthest corner of the yard, she whirled on me. “Katie. Two hundred grand. Six weeks. Don’t be an idiot.”
“You don’t even know what he wants me to do!”
“Let me guess. More of the same? Make him look good and make him mad cash in the process?”
“Well… yeah. Except I don’t think he actually needs my help to look good, and incidentally ’whore for a rock star’ isn’t exactly something I’ve been dying to add to my resume.”
“Your resume could use all the help it can get.” I frowned at her and she waved her manicured hand in the air like it was no biggie. “Just tell him sex isn’t on the table. You pose for pictures, show up where he needs you to show up, look good on his arm. Done.”
“Right. You think he’s not gonna want to bang me as part of the deal?”
“If he does and you don’t want to, you sayno. You’re a big girl. We write up a contract and if he sexually harasses you, you walk away. What have you got to lose?Nothing,” she answered for me. “And what do you have to gain?”
“Let me guess…”
“Two hundred motherfuckinggrand. That’s enough to jump-start your life, Katie. You can get arealart studio. You can be an artist without having to starve for it. This is every artist’sdream. Just think of him as a crazy, wealthy patron.”
I sighed. “When you put it like that…”
She took me by the shoulders and gave me her serious face. “Look. That man out there is already living his dream, Katie. He’s making his money from it. A lot of money.Two hundred grandplus travel and expenses. He didn’t even bat his crazy-long eyelashes when I demanded a quarter million for your services, babe. He’s got money. You’ve got something he wants. Let him hire you. Six weeks is nothing, a blink of the eye. Then you get on with your life, with some big juicy bank backingyourdream.”
I knew she was right about at least one thing. It’s not like I couldn’t use that kind of money.
I’d already spent every penny of the forty-thousand dollars Devi had gotten me for doing the video—minus her agency fee, and after setting aside what I’d have to pay in taxes—on repaying my student loans. Which meant that the expensive art school education I’d received but hadn’t yet put to use was now at leastalmostpaid off.
Though the best thing I’d gotten out of the entire experience was the kick-start to my creativity. I’d been painting regularly again, which was totally priceless.
I looked over at my niece and nephew playing with my dog. I could smell coffee wafting out through the windows and hear the clank of dishes and the din of voices and laughter in the distance.
I tried to tell myself, like I always did, that this wasn’t so bad. What other job would let me bring my dog to work? And I got to hang out with my niece and nephew on my lunch break. And Jack, my awesome brother-in-law, had cleaned out a big space in the basement for my canvases and art supplies so I could set up a temporary studio space.
It wasn’t much, but it was what I had.
Which was kind of pathetic, actually.
Becausereallywhat I had was a pile of debt, an unused degree, a job I only kept because I loved my sister and I was avoiding getting on with my life, and the remnants of a shattered dream.
My best friend stared me down with her steady brown eyes. “You made me a promise to grab life by the balls,” she said. “Well, there’s a giant set of balls over on that bench, waiting for you.”
“Ew,” I said. “Fine. I’ll give him a big sweet maybe.”
“Yes!” Devi kissed me on the cheek, adjusted my bikini top to show a little more cleavage and marched me back over to Jesse Mayes.
“Way to make me not feel like a whore,” I grumbled at her, but she just smiled.
Jesse looked up at me as we approached, the sun catching in his eyes. The man was even gorgeous when he was squinting.
