Discretion Read Online Free PDF

lifted her glass in salute. “Thank you,” Nicole mouthed. Belinda was the one who’d included her in the party.
    Belinda smiled, then leaned back to kiss the man behind her. The man in front skimmed his hands up her torso and caressed her nipples through her shimmery dress. She murmured like she was loving it. The men glanced at each other over Belinda’s head. They were wondering how far this could go. Nicole knew. If they continued to show interest in the arrangement, Belinda would lead them both to a bedroom and take one in her mouth while the other took her from behind. The men would go back to Michigan thinking they were sexual conquistadors, boldly exploring uncharted lands.
    They had no idea.
    Nicole glanced at Bill, the lobbyist lounging in a leather chair. He appeared satisfied, and that was what mattered. He was picking up the tab. Thank God for lobbyists. The auto execs might not even realize the girls were escorts, although they’d have to be pretty dense. But Bill was a pro, and he was trying to land their company as a client. If he succeeded, they would pay Bill exorbitant fees so he could use every means at his disposal—including girls like Nicole—to persuade certain politicians to pass laws allowing higher emissions, fewer miles per gallon, that sort of thing. Nicole wondered if anything would get done in Washington without professionals like her to lubricate the joints of power.
    Bill pulled a smart silver case from his breast pocket and set it up on the coffee table. A mirror, a razor, a heap of white powder. He cut the powder into generous lines, rolled a crisp twenty into a straw, and called to the dancing threesome. The two men and Belinda each had a bump, then Bill pushed the mirror toward Nicole. She wanted a line so bad her eyes itched.
    She loved the white stuff. She loved it so much that last week she’d blown her nose and found a chunk of bloody cartilage in the tissue. After she was done freaking out, she’d called a friend, who told her not to worry, it happened to everybody. It was her septum, the internal wall that separated her two nostrils. Too much cocaine had eaten it away. There was nothing she could do about it, but she couldn’t snort anymore.
    So she’d started freebasing.
    In fact, she’d smoked a rock in the ladies’ room of the Willard’slobby right before coming up here. She obviously couldn’t freebase at a party like this; it’d be like riding a donkey at a polo match. Her midwestern clients might not draw the subtle but important distinction between freebasing and smoking crack. Crack was for ghetto dwellers only; freebasing was a perfectly acceptable part of the high life. She knew they looked pretty much the same.
    Nicole shook her head at Bill. “No thanks, sweetie.” Ironically, she felt all prim and proper declining the coke. She felt like the girl in an afternoon special who just said no, the goody-goody A-student, the all-American golden girl.
    She felt like Caroline.
    Bill shrugged and hoovered a line himself.
    One of the bedroom doors opened, and a girl walked out with another dazed exec. Nicole snuggled closer to Tim (or Tom), pressing her thighs into his erection and stroking his thinning hair. She grazed his ear with her lips and whispered, “I want to show you something.” Her eyes flicked toward the bedroom door. His eyes followed.
    Desire and fear fought a battle on his face. His thumb instinctively tapped his wedding band, and he was perfectly still for a moment. Then he chugged the rest of his champagne and nodded. Chalk one up for desire. She led him by the hand into the bedroom. One of the other men hooted. Nicole shut and locked the door.
    A flat-screen TV, muted, provided the only illumination. Good. You wanted the room dark enough to hide imperfections but light enough to allow the visuals that would move things along. The girl before her had remade the bed, so the room looked fresh and new. Nicole had to hand it to Belinda. She ran a