Secrets of a Gigolo

1

Los Angeles California, seventeen years later…

“Give me another chance.” Brianna Parker begged. “I’m a good writer.” She insisted following her boss, Arthur Penstate, around his office.

“You haven’t brought me anything decent in six months,” Arthur said pulling out his desk seat and sitting down. “Your last two articles have been buried on page forty. No one wants to read them. I can’t keep you on the payroll if you’re going to keep giving me crap.”

She’d been writing for Millennium Magazine for two years. It was a high-profile magazine like People and GQ but local in America. They were trying to take the Magazine international. In four months Millennium would be in newsstands in four countries with its headquarters based here in LA.

“I’m sorry I can’t keep paying you. I have a job to do you pick up your severance package in HR on your way out.” He said returning to his computer.

Brianna ran her fingers through her blond hair and sighed. She was wracking her brain. She couldn’t lose this job. She couldn’t go back to waitressing in her brother’s restaurant. “What if I can bring you a front page worthy story for the big launch?”

Arthur sat back in his chair his tubby belly straining at the buttons of his suit. He was a man in his late fifties short and dumpy with thinning hair and designer glasses. He looked at her questioningly. “Like what?”

Brianna thought, but nothing came to mind. “I’ll do an in-depth exposé on… on…” Damn it she couldn’t think of anything. “Someone really interesting.”

He shook his head and returned to his computer. “Good-bye Parker.”

Brianna slammed her hands on the desk making him jump. “Damn it Arthur you know I’m good just let me prove it.”

He shook his head. “It’s not up to me I can’t keep you on the payroll.”

“But if I bring you a good story.”

Arthur folded his hands over his belly. “I’ll tell you what. If you bring me a cover story for the big launch, I will put you back on the payroll, but until then you’ll have to find other work.”

“If I give you a cover story you’ll give me my job back?”

“Yes, but the launch is in four months. I need a draft on my desk in three.”

Three months, she could do that. “Ok, you got a deal.”

“It has to be cover worthy, or I won’t print it at all.”

“Ok.”

“Now go.” He dismissed her. “Clean out your desk on the way out.”

She was still fired, but she had hope if she could think of someone to write about. Brianna cleaned out her desk and tossed it into her Pinto and headed over to Parker’s Barbeque House. She intended to get her job back, but three months was a long time to go without an income, and she had rent to pay, and she knew her brother Wallace was always looking for waitresses. It was a crap job, but at this point money was money.

She came in, and the place was packed for lunch it was a popular BBQ joint that her brother owned and ran with his wife. It wasn’t very big, and the turnover was insane they were always training new staff. She came in to find her sister-in-law Kate taking an order at a table. Kate saw her and offered her a sympathetic smile. She knew if Brianna was coming through the door she needed work. She left her table and walked Brianna into the kitchen where her brother Wallace was working as a chef.

Kate took a waitress apron from the shelf in the office and handed it to Brianna without being asked. “You can take over Violet’s station she has to slip out for a few hours, and with you, I can afford to let her go pick up her kids.”

Violet Martin was a long-time waitress and a friend. She was a single mother who had to pick up her kids and take them to her parent’s house so she could work the dinner rush. Brianna went right to work. She worked until closing at ten o’clock and then she helped clean up and took a seat at a booth counting her tips. There was a TV mounted in the corners of the room but muted. She was tapping the wad of bills on the table watching the TV and thinking of something anything to help her cause.

“So how long are you here for?” Violet asked sweeping up around the tables.

“Until I can get a cover worthy story to get my job back.” She sighed. “Only I have no idea what to write about.”

“How about struggling single mothers?” Violet suggested with a grin.

Brianna snickered. “I need something exciting. Underemployed single mothers don’t sell magazines.” She said turning her eyes back to the muted TV. “I need an interesting dynamic subject.”

There was a news broadcast on TV, and from the closed captions she gathered it was a scandal involving a Supreme Court Judge. It was a case of infidelity on her part the Judge had been caught with a younger man. With the way they were going on one would assume this scandal was as big as the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. They flashed footage of this man coming and going from his place of residence and pinned a stock photo of his face in the corner of the screen. He was a self-proclaimed sugar baby.

“He’s cute,” Violet said leaning on the broom watching the TV. “Must be nice not to have to work for a living. I wish people would give me money. But I suppose I’m not charismatic enough.” She said returning to her cleaning.

He would have to be charismatic, interesting, and dynamic. “That’s it.” She proclaimed. “He’s my ticket back. I’ll write an article about him. I even know what I’ll call it Secrets of a Gigolo.”

“I’d read that.” Violet agreed.

***

The next day Brianna found herself back in Arthur’s office trying to sell him on her story. “Zachary Cooper?” He said considering it. “You think you can get an exposé on the gigolo at the heart of a scandal with a Supreme Court Judge?”

“If I can, that would be cover worthy right?” She asked hopefully.

Arthur thought it over. “Yeah, if you can get it I’ll publish it. But it’s got to be a hard-hitting look into the man’s life. I want details. I want a five-page article. I want to know everything about him. You get that I’ll put you back on the payroll.”

Brianna was glad to hear that. They had an agreement, and as she left the office, she had to think to herself how she was going to meet the subject of her story. She had a friend in the DMV she could see if he had any vehicles in his name and to what address they were registered too.

***

Zachary came into the Oasis Lounge and walked up to the bartender with a smile. “Evening Oliver, what do you got for me?” Oliver Tag was the full-time bartender in the lounge which was popular with the cream of the crop of California high society. It was located in the Grand Hotel which for Zachary was convenient.

Oliver nodded his head to the table in the corner where a lonely looking woman was seated alone focused on the drink in her hand. She was in her late forties, pretty enough with a store-bought body and dark hair. “Amelia Aker,” Oliver told him. “Came in about an hour ago upset. My guess, hubby, has got a tart set up in an apartment somewhere, and she found out.”

“Aker,” Zachary repeated the name. It was familiar. He made it his business to know all the who’s who of this fine state. “Aldermen Jerry Aker?”

“That’s the one.” Oliver smiled. “I did well?”

“You did well,” Zachary said taking out a hundred dollars and slipping it across the bar. His tip for the tip. Oliver pocketed the money and placed a cosmopolitan, and a dry martini on the bar top in front of Zachary then went about his business. Zachary took the drinks and headed over to the table and placed the cosmopolitan on the table in front of her. “Such pretty eyes filled with tears. It should be a crime to make a gorgeous woman cry.” She looked up at him and lifted her fingers to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. “Sorry I saw you and instantly knew I had to meet you.” He said flashing his practiced dazzling smile. “Zachary Cooper.” He introduced himself offering his hand.

She placed her hand in his and smiled up at him. “Amelia Aker.” She introduced herself.

Zachary lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss to her knuckles. “Beautiful. May I sit?” He asked releasing her hand.

“Yes, please do.”

Zachary sat down and took a sip of his drink. “I know it’s none of my business, but I hate to see a woman cry. What’s wrong?”

She sighed and looked down. “My husband has a floozy.”

“What a fool. Why go out for a hamburger when you have prime rib at home? If you ask me, he’s totally out of his mind. He’s spoiled he doesn’t realize how good he’s got it.” She smiled and toyed with her hair again. “There’s that smile. You got a pretty smile.” He said taking her hand across the table and looking deep into her eyes. “It is my mission tonight to make you smile.”

“And how are you going to do that?” She asked playfully.

Zachary smiled and took his room key card from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of her. “Give me one night, and you’ll feel like a new woman.” He could tell from her smile and the light in her eyes that he had her.

He took her to the room he’d prepaid for and did what he did best. By morning he had another date scheduled and a cheque for two thousand dollars and four hundred bucks cash. He swung by the bank first and cashed the cheque then grabbed some takeout breakfast and some flowers before heading home.

Zachary had moved up in the world since he was a kid. He’d gone from the projects to a gated residence in Beverly Hills. He pulled up to the house in his Jag and punched in the security code. The gate slid open, and Zackary drove through parking his car in front of the three-car garage. He’d bought this house six years ago upgrading from his downtown apartment when he took in his lovely niece, Eliza.

She had just been an infant at the time, and he had taken custody of her when she turned one. His sister Addie had called him up and told him that Child Protection Services was taking her baby away because she was a heavy heroin user whose boyfriend was beating the hell out of her and selling drugs from their apartment. The cops had found a sawed-off shotgun in Eliza’s crib during a drug bust.

If Zachary hadn’t taken Eliza, the family would have never seen her again. It had been meant only to be temporary; until Addie cleaned herself up and got out of rehab but she never cleaned up. She had been kicked out of three rehabs, and frankly, her next fix was more important to her than where her only child was. So, for the last six years, Zachary had been raising Eliza in his home, and she was doing well.

Eliza and this house weren’t his only expenses. Zachary also paid his brother’s legal bills paying for his lawyer before he went to prison for aggravated assault. Jacob was now serving year six of his ten-year sentence in the state pen. He also paid his mother’s rent to be sure she didn’t end up homeless with his fifteen-year-old sister Ansley who herself was in and out of Juvenile Detention Centers for drugs and robbery. Then there were Addie’s drug dealers. Every few months his sister showed up on his doorstep looking like hell and begging him for money. He never let Eliza see Addie and Addie never asked to see her which was best. Zachary didn’t think Eliza should see her mother in her state.

Adding to his expenses, Zachary had been forced to hire on full-time help to keep house and raise Eliza. So, he’d hired a woman in her late fifties Esmerelda Rodrigues as his full-time maid, cook, and nanny. Esmerelda lived in the house with her husband Chino who also worked for Zachary. Chino worked as the butler, chauffeur, and perhaps most importantly Zachary’s assistant. Chino kept Zachary’s busy life straight and really; he didn’t know what he would do without either of them.

Yes, Zachary had a very expensive life, and he worked hard to keep himself and Eliza in the lifestyle they had become accustomed too. He learnt early on that women would pay for his time and as the years went on his time had become a pricey commodity. They paid his mortgage payments and his car payments, gym memberships. Some just gave him cars and took him shopping; he even got a few to pay Eliza’s tuition in the expensive all-girl academy where she was enrolled. There were gifted vacations, a boat he kept in dry dock at the marina, and he had three cars. Some women paid for the hotels they stayed at, they paid his land taxes, and many just gave him cash and cheques. At this moment he had over twenty-five million dollars in various investments. Yes, he was good at what he did and so long as he had a hard body and a handsome face he would continue to do so.

Of course, Zachary was a realist too; he knew he could only do this for so long. At some point, he was going to get too old, so he did what any smart person would do and ensured his retirement. He tucked money away in a retirement fund and invested in the stock market and various other businesses to beef up his portfolio. When he got too old, he would cash in and live on easy street. He was good-looking, but he was smart too.

Zachary got out of the Jag and picked up the white roses he’d bought on his way home and headed inside. As he stepped up to the door, Chino was opening the door for him with his PDA in his hand. “You had a successful night Señor?”

“I’d say.” He said as Chino shut the door behind him. “Where is Eliza?”

“In the kitchen eating breakfast,” Chino said following him through the house on his search for his niece. “Judge Donald called three times. She wants to see you again.”

Zachary grinned that surprised him, she was being crucified in the press right now for seeing him, but if she wanted to drive the nails into her coffin by continuing to see him, he didn’t care. “You said she called three times?”

“Si Señor.”

Zachary stopped and considered his next move. “Let her call twice more and then tell her I’m free Wednesday night, and I’ll meet her in the usual place.” That should be enough incentive to crack her pocketbook a few more times. He entered the kitchen to find Eliza sitting at the table eating the breakfast Esmerelda had cooked her. “There’s the most beautiful girl in the world.” He said coming to the table and kissing Eliza’s head. He then handed her the white roses in his hand.

“Where were you?” Eliza asked swinging her legs back and forth and smelled the flowers he’d bought her.

“I had to work.” He said honestly. Eliza was a lovely little girl with the same dark hair he had and her mother’s green eyes. She was dressed in her forest green school uniform and pigtails, and he couldn’t recall ever seeing a sight that made him smile more. She was a smart little second grader learning to play the violin. She would grow up to be an accomplished woman of high society if he had anything to say about it. “You get all your homework done last night?”

“Yeah.” She said finishing her breakfast.

Esmerelda took the flowers and put them in a vase then placed them in the center of the table. “Run along chica,” Esmerelda said handing Eliza her school bag. Chino would drive her to school.

“Will you be home when I get back?” Eliza asked.

“Probably not but you know what; I’ll be back for dinner, and we’ll rent a movie if you get all your homework done before I get back.” He promised. Eliza hugged him; her tiny arms wrapped tightly around his waist. “Ok get going, or you’ll be late.”

Eliza left with Chino and Zachary went up to his room and took a shower and a nap. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, and he was exhausted. He slept for a few hours when he heard a knock at the door. Zachary rolled over and bid the knocker enter. He watched as Chino poked his head in. “I’m so sorry to wake you, but there is a woman at the gate that refuses to go away without speaking to you. Would you like me to call the police?”

“Who is it?”

“She said her name was Brianna Parker. I don’t think she’s one of your regulars.”

“Call the police and have her escorted off the property.” He yawned and laid his head back down on the pillow.