Chapter 02 - The Night
"Forget it," the voice told me, forcing me to return. I knew who it was. "It's not your time anymore," it told me, or I told myself. Maybe I didn't really know who I was. Not at that moment. "Come on, Amelie. Give it up soon. Or else you know what to do," she finished. And then there she was, EVE, or me, or us.
I opened the door to the red room. It had only been a few nights since I'd been in it. I didn't like it very much. I mean, it wasn't a bad room, but a good thing, misused, can be bad. That was the case. My work proved to me every day how incapable men were of giving me pleasure. All except Axel. We'd used that room a few times, but because it was so big and complicated to organize, we decided it was more worthwhile to keep it for clients, after all, it was expensive. EVE was expensive. My price was high, and adding it to that room was a great value. In a way, Dorian, Axel, and I had a lot of money. Lowe's and OWeLL's made a lot of money.
The smell of lavender permeated the air. Amelie hates lavender. EVE loves lavender. I love it. Amelie isn't here now.
"Is he here yet?" I asked the maid, who was leaving the room as I entered. I liked to be polite to all my employees. I mean, I hoped that would apply in the morning too. There were so many things about Amelie and EVE. Amelie is still secretly in love with Dorian. I'm hopelessly seduced by and attracted to Axel. Amelie is kind, polite, and seems normal in the eyes of ordinary people. And me? I'm not Amelie.
"I heard his car was parked a little while ago," she replied, still leaving the room. "I don't think it will be long before he arrives," she said. "Do you need anything?" she wanted to know.
"I don't know much about who he is," I told her, trying to see if I could find out anything. "Admittedly, I don't usually know much about anyone, but there's something about this one in particular that makes me want to know," I commented.
"If you're not comfortable, EVE, please tell me," the waitress volunteered. I sensed that she was going to mention the incident, so I disagreed. It was annoying for me and horrible for Amelie. I cared about her, though.
"Did he specify anything?" I asked, focusing on my work. "Any clothes, position, or drink for when he arrives?" I wanted to know.
"Actually, yes. Everything is ready. You're dressed accordingly, too," she warned me. "The stage in the living room is also ready."
"And what kind of dance did he choose?" I asked as I walked around the room, analyzing what kind of taste that guy must have. The waitress just said that that was one of the things he didn't specify. "Is there anything in the red room that he plans not to use?" I asked. There wasn't much time for beating around the bush, so if I really wanted to know something, I should get straight to the point. To my surprise, or not, he hadn't ruled anything out. I thought about asking her if she was sure, but I didn't.
A short while later, I was alone in the living room. I had already set the small table and poured the wine. If there was one thing I knew about customers in general, it was that they loved to drink and that it was usually wine. I liked it, but when you drink it every day, it all ends up tasting the same. Men didn't like a lot of fuss, so I had no reason to make a ceremony of long conversations until I poured the wine and waited for the work to really begin. In fact, I think that if the men had their way, they wouldn't have had anything to drink and would have been ready to get down to business. Someone who chose that room wouldn't waste a drink. It was a lot of money thrown away.
OWE's clients tended to be wealthy men. The club also had a female clientele. EVE received several offers from women, but to their misfortune, she was straight. Maybe a threesome at some point, but nothing exclusive with women.
I waited for Axel's signal. Whenever a client wanted me to be in the room waiting, I would get a signal, so I would know exactly how to behave in front of the client. For those who wanted me to arrive later, I didn't have to worry.
"A few meters away," Axel's message said. So I sat down provocatively and took a sip of wine. My work was about to start, and there was nothing better than wine to face another long night of complicated desires. "Careful, Amelie," he said, before hanging up. Axel cared about Amelie. In fact, if I were to illustrate it simply, Amelie liked Dorian romantically, and she liked Axel as a friend. EVE liked Dorian as a friend, and Axel as a sexual partner, since romance never really crossed my mind. Everything indicated that Dorian had romantic feelings for Amelie, but not for EVE, although he cared a lot about her. Axel, on the other hand, seemed to have an interest in Amelie and only had EVE as a sexual companion. I wasn't sentimental enough to care about that. Amelie lived longer than EVE. It wasn't as if I had the right to be angry or anything. She had given me life, that is, as far as I knew.
When the doorknob turned, I knew he would appear. I mentally confirmed that Amelie wasn't there. "Good evening," I said while visualizing a part of the man's body already in the room. The formal, cheating-husband look was present. Most men were just like that, and judging by what I'd seen in the store, he seemed to be another one of those cases. I took a provocative sip of wine as soon as I noticed him staring at me. It was always a surprise to see how a man would react to teasing, especially when it was a new customer, not a steady one. OWE had an excellent number of loyal customers.
"EVE," he said, as the door closed. He spoke in a completely different way than in the store. He sounded like someone else. For a few seconds, I identified with him. "It may sound disrespectful of me, but if I just wanted to drink wine, I wouldn't come here," he said, serious but not rude. "Show me what you're hiding," he asked. So I began my work.
"Well, in that case, you're going to have to come closer and convince me," I said, as I purposely knocked the rest of the wine from the glass onto my breasts, which were screaming to get out of my dress. "With your capital, you don't mind spilled wine, do you?" I asked rhetorically. "Oh, that's right. You didn't come here to drink. But as long as you're here, why don't you taste some of this harvest?" I said, spreading my legs in invitation, but at that moment my vision blurred, and then another man appeared.
The man looked at me in a way I couldn't describe. He was no ordinary customer. He didn't behave like an ordinary man. "EVE. I don't want to taste you, I want to eat you," he said, undressing.