Catering with Benefits (2) - Second Course - 8. LOOKING FOR AN ANGLE

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In his office a few days later Thomas received a call from one of his associates at a high class escort agency. “Good morning Angela.”

“Good morning Thomas.”

“Have you got any good news for me?”

“You will be pleased to know I have two applicants to put on your short list.”

“That’s great Angela you always come up with the goods.”

“Goods?”

“You know what I mean. So tell me about them.”

“One is Peter, he’s been with us for two years and has good reviews, but mostly favoured by younger business women.”

“Is he prepared to take on an older woman?”

“No problem, in fact he said he is looking forward to the change and refining his techniques to suit the older client.”

“He sounds good, and the other applicant?”

“Before I put him forward, I need to know how your client feels about skin colour.”

“How black is he and where is he from?”

“His name is Kosala but known professionally as Equus. You will know why when you give him your intimate inspection.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“I thought you might be impressed by that. He is from Sri Lanka but not African black, probably cafe latte colour.”

“OK, after I meet him, if he has all the other qualities I need, I will run the idea past Mrs P. She does like variety and occasionally has had an exotic”.

“Can you give me their numbers or would you prefer to make the appointments?”

“No, that’s OK, I trust you and easier if you make the appointments yourself.”

“Thanks Angela”

“I’ll email you their resumes, photos and contact details.”

“You’re wonderful, you know, you should be declared a national treasure.”

“Well, I’m old enough.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know darling, talk to you soon, bye.”

“Bye, Angela.”

***

While Thomas was going through the two resumes, he received a call from Alma who said she heard about Marcel leaving and wondered if Thomas needed any help finding a replacement. “Of course Alma, did you have someone in mind?”

“I do have a possibility. The circumstances are a bit unusual but I would like to talk to you about him.”

“What do you mean unusual circumstances, what’s wrong with him?”

“Sorry, I’m confusing you, there is nothing wrong with him that I know of, it’s the circumstances of how I met him. Can you meet me at the studio at closing time and we can go for a drink at a local bar.”

“Sure, it will be great to catch up with you again; we really don’t do that often enough.”

“See you then, oh is it OK if Brenda joins us for drinks?”

“No problem and why don’t you ask Andy to join us also.”

“Will do, goodbye for now Thomas.”

“Bye Alma.”

Thomas was intrigued by Alma’s offer and was looking forward to hearing her story. He finished going through the two resumes and checked his diary to ensure he could get away early enough to meet Alma at 5.30pm. He sent Mrs P a text and assumed that if he did not hear from her then he was cleared for an early finish for the day.

He drove into the city and parked in the staff car park at the Price building. As he stepped out of the lift he saw Alma waiting for him in the foyer. They embraced and left via the staff entrance. “What about Brenda and Andy?” asked Thomas.

“Brenda will go straight to the bar from her work and Andy said he will be about another thirty minutes finishing up, and then he’ll join us”.

They walked to a nearby bar and found Brenda already sitting at a table. Brenda, Alma’s partner, stood up to give Alma a kiss and then air-kissed Thomas. “I’ll get the first round” offered Thomas and added “Do you think it’s OK to put it on the company account, since we’re here on Price business?”

“Of course” replied Alma.

When Thomas returned with the drinks, he could wait no longer and asked Alma to explain about the candidate she was offering for Mrs Price.

“I brought you to this bar, because this is where it happened.”

“What happened?”

“Last week Brenda and I were here to have a quiet drink. I noticed a guy sitting over by the bar and thought he was trying to get my attention, but I ignored him and hoped he was probably looking past me at someone behind me. When Brenda went to the ladies room, he came over and asked if he could buy us a drink. I told him that wasn’t necessary, but he insisted. I thought that a total rebuff might embarrass him, especially if he had other friends in the bar; and I thought that when Brenda came back he might get the message.”

“You mean he was trying to pick you up?”

“That’s what I thought. Anyway, while he was getting the drinks, Brenda came back and I quickly explained the situation to her before he returned. We all chatted over our drinks and he seemed like a pleasant and intelligent guy. He said his name was Roger, unattached and worked as a ride-share driver. We enjoyed the conversation, but he was not being obvious about making a play for either of us. After a few more drinks I figured he would soon have to make an approach so I took the initiative and told him that when I introduced Brenda to him I should have added that she was my partner. I thought that would shock him and he’d make an excuse to leave and move on to more likely prospects. Instead, he shocked me by telling us that he assumed we were lesbians and that is why he approached us. I could not think why he wanted to chat up two lesbians, so I asked him if he was really a journo or doing some sort of survey or research, but he said no, he just found us attractive.”

“I’m still confused.” said Thomas.

“Yeah, so was I at that stage. I looked questioningly at Brenda to see if she had any idea what was going on, but she just shrugged her shoulders and gave me a blank stare.”

Brenda then entered the conversation “When he went to get the next round of drinks I said to Alma that we needed to find out what he wanted, so we might as well ask him directly. When he returned with the drinks, I told him we enjoyed the conversation and he was overly generous buying us drinks, but we really needed to know what he wanted from us”.

Then Alma continued the story, “He told us that he found lesbian couples attractive, particularly us and asked if we were amenable to a threesome. I told him absolutely not, neither of us found men sexually attractive. He then said that was OK, he understood, so would we allow him to just watch us having sex. I nearly choked on my drink and sprayed it all over the table. That must have shocked him because he apologised for asking and said he wouldn’t press us any further on the matter.”

Brenda continued “He said he did not want us to think badly of him so would we allow him to buy us dinner as a way of apologising. I told him there was no need to apologise and we would not allow him to pay for our dinner. I then looked at Alma and said, maybe we could still have dinner together but we would pay for ourselves. Alma nodded in agreement, so I looked at him and he said he would like that.”

Thomas then interjected “Girls, as fascinating as this story is I don’t see how he is a candidate for Mrs P.” Before either of them could answer, they heard Andy say “Hello gang, sorry to be so late, can I get a round of drinks?” Everyone said they would have their usual and Alma added “Put it on the company account.”

“Does Andy know this story” Thomas asked.

“Yes, I told him yesterday at lunch.”

“Then you better get on with it for my benefit.”

“Over dinner there was no further talk of having a relationship with us, but he did indicate he found us interesting and would we like to be friends. I asked him about the ride-sharing business and he said it provided a living but was not going to make him rich. Then Brenda asked him what he thought would make him rich. He replied in one word, Sex. I then asked him if he intended to pursue this get rich plan. He said he was still looking for an angle. He did not want to be a prostitute or escort, but he really enjoyed sex with women outside of a relationship. He added that it was every man’s dream to job to get paid for what you love doing . I asked him if he had expected us to pay for his services when he asked for a threesome. He said absolutely not, but he was working on an angle, as he put it, that there might be a niche market of lesbians that occasionally wanted a man, just to see what is was like, but without any strings attached. He said he wanted to either have a threesome or watch lesbians having sex so he could get some idea what they liked and how he could adapt to servicing them.”

Brenda added “I told him I didn’t think there was a market there and even if lesbians wanted a man, they would probably not need to pay for it. He said thanks for the information, and maybe he should try his other angle. I asked what that was. He said he would look for a rich older woman that needed a man on a regular basis but not a permanent relationship. He said he had heard that in higher society that happens, but he did not know how to break into that community, as it was currently above his pay scale.”

“Ah” said Thomas, “Now I know where this is going.”

“Thought you would catch on eventually.”

“So, you must consider he is suitable, or you wouldn’t have raised it with me.”

“I don’t know what his experience is, but we both sensed that he is very genuine and keen person, so I thought it worth passing on his details to you. He left this card with us, I think it’s his ride sharing business card, but it has a number.”

“Thanks, now what’s taking Andy so long with those drinks?”

Thomas looked across the room and saw Andy chatting to the barman. Andy sensed three sets of eyes staring at him, so he terminated the conversation and took the drinks to his friends. “Sorry guys, I got sidetracked talking to Dean, when I told him to put the drinks on the company account he asked me about nipple jewellery. Apparently he is pierced and wants to know how much the ‘good stuff’ as he put it, costs. I’ll talk to him again another day and see if I can help him. Says it’s his first shift here, but his face is familiar. Here’s your drinks; better late than never. Now what are we talking about, any new gossip?”

Thomas answered “The girls have been telling me about the guy that propositioned them here last week.”

“Sounds quite ambitious from what Alma told me.”

“He might be just the guy I’m looking for.”

“For Mrs P?”

“Yes, Marcel will be leaving soon so I’m on a quest for a replacement.”

“Oh, how’s that going?”

“Not too badly, I have two referrals from Angela at Malebox and now a possibility from Alma. I would like a shortlist of four so I’ll wait a bit longer before the interviews.”