Marco had called me, as usual, at the most rotten time. But I guess that's how ex-boyfriends are. I was on my way out for a night of clubbing with my friends so I was totally dressed to impress. Short skirt, high heels, low-cut top that just barely covered me. Yup, the combination of my breasts and my Asian looks were hard to beat.
But like I said, Marco called right as I was leaving my apartment and told me to come to some hotel. He said there was a problem and it needed to be solved right away. Maybe I was being dumb, but I agreed to meet him. It did make me a little nervous to meet him at a hotel though.
When I got there, I was a little surprised. The hotel was the nicest in town. I had heard the rooms were going for more than $300 a night. I was really wondering what Marco was up to. I went inside and found the elevators and went to the 8th floor. Marco had said the room was at the end of the hall and to just come on in.
I found the door and it was open a crack. I could hear soft music playing and it seemed like the lights were turned down low. I was thinking, great, I hope Marco isn't trying to pull some romantic stunt -- he and I were definitely OVER.
I pushed the door open and went in. The room was huge. And beautiful. There was the most gorgeous furniture I had ever seen. There were fresh flowers everywhere and candles all around too. And there was Marco, sitting at the far side of the room, smoking a cigar.
"Well Christine, welcome. I'm glad you made it. It's very important to me that we figure out a little problem that has come up."
"Marco, this is a very nice room and hotel. Why are we here to talk about some problem? And on a Saturday night too!! I have places to be so tell me what's going on."
He looked at me with an odd smile. Little alarms started going off in my head.
"Christine, Christine. You are so impatient sometimes."
"Okay, here is the situation. Do you remember the $10,000 that I loaned you so that you could but that Lexus you've been driving? Well, I have run into a situation and that money is kind of a problem for me now."
He saw the look of disgust on my face.
"Now just hold on," he said as he held his hands up at me. "It's not like you are going to lose your car or anything. I don't even want the money back from you."
I was hearing big alarms now.
"What do you want Marco?"
He looked at me very directly, right into my eyes.
"I need some help with my business, the one I have on the side."
Now I knew this was trouble. Marco had a little escort service thing going. It was small, he only had 3 or 4 girls at a time, but I knew he made a lot of money from it. I knew about it when we were together, but I didn't get involved.
"Are you in some trouble? What do you need me for?"
As the words left my mouth, a very pretty girl came out of the bedroom. She was blonde, very curvy, and had a very sweet smile. She looked about my age, 23 or so.
Marco stepped towards her and took her hand and led her towards me.
"Christine, I would like you to meet Cherie."
The girl stepped to me, put a hand on my shoulder and then kissed my cheek. It surprised me a little as I had never seen her before. I was thinking she was one of Marco's escorts.
"Nice to meet you Cherie. Do you work for Marco."
She smiled and looked down at the floor.
"No, no Christine. Cherie is not one of girls. In fact, Cherie is actually a very good customer of mine."
I looked from Marco to Christine. She looked back at me, still smiling. I could not help but be impressed at how pretty she was. I was trying to figure out how this girl could be a customer of Marco's. I had no idea he had any male employees.
"I'm confused. Why am I here and what has this got to do with my car? And why is Cherie here?
Marco took my arm and led me to the couch so we could sit. Cherie followed and took a spot behind me.
"Okay, to make a long story short," Marco began, "Cherie has been a customer of mine for about 2 years. About six months ago, she invested in a little project that I had going. In fact, she put in $10,000. Well, the little project didn't work out, it bombed in fact. And now I owe her her money back with interest."
"I still do not see what this has to do with me."
"Christine, I gave you $10,000 for your car."
I just looked at him, waiting to see where this was going.
"I need to pay that money back to Cherie, but thankfully, Cherie is willing to work out an arrangement so that everyone will be happy in the end."
"i'm still not seeing how this involves me Marco."
"Christine, I gave you 10 grand in cash."