The Hotel 01
1 The accident
The show finished and we exited the theatre. Everyone was buzzing and chatting away whilst making a beeline for their cars. For most people now came the boring bit to get home. Not for us though; this was a very rare night out and we were going to take our time getting home. So we just milled with the crowd, being pulled with the flow, enjoying the evening walk, then it hit me.
"Hah, we've gone the wrong way." We carried on walking, maybe slowing down a little.
Emily on my arm, pulling against me with concern, "What?"
"We should have gone right when we came out from the theatre, not left." I laughed as I realised our stupid mistake.
My laugh disarmed her somewhat. "Oh?" But her head was looking around worried.
"It's cool," and I fished my phone out bringing up the maps app to work out the best route back. Obviously we could just turn around and retrace our steps but we'd probably followed the crowd a good 5 minutes before it thinned out, then another 5 or so before my brain kicked into gear. I was slightly worried that we'd gone this far without realising, I guess I was chilled and enjoying myself, brain switched off mode.
Holding my phone up a bit to her, "It's all gravy, we can either backtrack to the car or pop this way," I pointed on the phone and indicated with my arm. She said nothing, deferring to me as per usual in our relationship. "Let's go this way, never been here before and it's a nice night."
"Yup," and a smile from her that earned a quick kiss.
We walked on, chatting about the show and taking in this different part of the city. It was a boring mix of mainly office blocks, some flats, a fair bit of greenery, nothing interesting really. I kept pulling out my phone to make sure we were heading in the right direction. There were still plenty of people and cars around, nothing noisy, nothing to cause concern. A backtrack was still easy if needed.
We then turned a planned corner to get us back on track when the street opened a little and the colours started to change. It was quite a contrast to the dark evening that we'd been walking through; there were bright window displays and hotel neon colours bathing the street. It was interesting and Emily even commented that it was a nice difference.
A few minutes into the street I noticed that we were starting to come up on a few different people. There appeared to be more women and their clothing was starting to become more, how'd you say it, provocative. I just assumed that there was a nightclub nearby or something. Emily and I were now quiet, both obviously taking in the new surroundings.
After we passed a small group of women, there was a lull and Emily pulled me closer and whispered to me, "They were prostitutes."
I almost stumbled at her revelation. It was suddenly obvious to me also and I almost turned around to double check the small group we'd walked past. I mean, I'd certainly been taking in the tight bodies and the degree of skin on display as I am a man after all, but I hadn't realised they were prostitutes until she pointed it out. I thought shit like that was illegal and only happened in Hollywood films.
A block later though, there were no more scantily clad women. We'd only passed maybe 5 that really stood out but it fit. "Shit I think you're right. That's crazy."
She answered me quickly, "I've never... I mean... we've... we close... it was... exciting." She squeezed my arm. Now that surprised me.
She was all a fluster, it was funny. "Those ladies of the night, upset your sensibilities, love?"
She lightly swatted my arm, "God, some of them..."
She didn't finish her sentence as we turned to see our car park, "There ya go."
"Ummm," she almost sounded disappointed.
I thought nothing more of it as we drove home. She was quiet, deep in thought, I only had one word answers from her. Before we went to sleep she initiated sex and was obviously somewhere else, which wasn't a problem as we both had great orgasms.
2 Revisit
A day or so later she brought up the fact that prostitution was illegal in the UK and asked how on earth a woman could do that. I didn't have the facts, it wasn't something I'd ever thought about, so we talked around a little. Still, nothing clicked in my head as to how it had triggered something in her.
A day or so later at work, a woman walked past in a short skirt and my mind somehow flashed back to the shorter ones I'd seen on the street that day. I found myself, for the first time, reliving the walk and picking up on more detail than I had before. It was strange, as I found myself getting inexplicably turned on.
That evening, it was me that bought up the sex workers again. Another obscure conversation that really planted a seed in my head that was only reinforced with another great sex session that night.
The next day at work, I street-viewed where we'd walked. There were no women on the cameras the day the car had gone down there but I did notice two hotels. One was right where the women had been together and another bigger one was directly adjacent. I guessed that one or both of them were where the action happened?
For whatever reason, I looked both hotels up and quickly had my answer. The smaller one that the women were at was a bargain, very basic, and cheap as hell. The one opposite was a lot more expensive and pretty smart inside. In a flash my mind jumped the view from the smart hotel windows. I half expected to see a camera on a tripod as cops looked down to catch people in the act. Instead, I saw myself and Emily sat there watching the girls work. Funnily enough, I didn't get much work done the rest of the day. I'd suddenly created a fantasy that we both needed to learn more about this new seedy underworld.