Because it was rather late when our tattoos had finally been finished, I invited Lily to stay over at my place. Not to do anything… sexual… but to actually eat and sleep. Like a normal couple.

Except nothing about us was normal.

Either way, we undressed carefully, and I winced as I listened and watched Lily whine and grimace.

“I’m sorry, Lils,” I said quietly as I helped her take her shirt off. “It hurts to heal more than to get it.”

“Th-thanks,” she said as I dropped her shirt to the floor. But before I could turn to walk into the bathroom to take a shower, she looked up at me with twinkling eyes and said the most shocking word I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

“Rae.”

I think my jaw dropped as she smiled brightly and skipped past me into the bathroom. But I couldn’t follow her. Fuck, I couldn’t even fucking breathe.

It took me a good while for my brain to trudge through the sticky thoughts that had pooled in the bottom of my brain because of my sudden brain-deadness. I only managed to finally get thinking and moving again when I heard the small, quiet cry come from the bathroom, just loud enough to penetrate the sound of the running water.

I jolted back to reality, pivoting on my feet to rush into the bathroom. I knew how painful showering with freshly added tattoos was, but it had to be done. To prevent infection and such, so I quickly opened the door and walked in asking, “Lily? You okay?”

“Y-yeah,” she replied, and my hesitancy to believe her was solidified when she gave a hiss. “It just… really hurts.”

“I know, Lils,” I said. “Can I come in?”

“S-sure?” she answered, the inflection of her voice making it sound like a question.

I laughed quietly to myself because Lily was always Lily, even when she was scared or in pain or happy or angry or anything. Lily was always Lily.

I pulled open the glass door of the steamy shower and entered tentatively. I immediately saw Lily, sort of hunched over as she hid her chest from the hot spray of water as best as she could. I flinched a pained smile as I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer to me before pushing past her. I reached for the water nozzle and made the water cold, not even minding as the hot, fast water hit my own freshly inked chest. I was used to it, after all.

“There,” I said as the water cooled significantly. “This should feel better.”

Carefully, Lily stepped closer to the lukewarm spray of water, shivering slightly as it hit her skin. It must feel cold compared to the hot water from before, but it would hurt a lot less.

I watched as she slowly but noticeably relaxed as the water touched her skin, and she smiled up at me. Her hair was wet and her skin was glistening with drops of water as she told me, “That is much better! Thank you.”

“Of course,” I told her, dropping a kiss onto her lips ever so carefully. “Do you mind if I shower with you?”

She blushed as she looked up at me. “N-no, I don’t mind.”

I smiled as I reached up to grab my shampoo bottle without looking. I took her hand and squeezed some into her palm before squeezing out a much smaller amount for myself. I had shorter hair, so it only made sense for me to use less of it.

“It’s shampoo,” I told her as I lathered it up in my hands and began to scrub at my hair.

She began to do the same, and it was so insanely domestic that I couldn’t help but chuckle a light laugh.

Once we were clean, I quickly dried my body and hair with the single towel I owned before handing it to Lily for her to use. After all, her hair was longer than mine.

So, naked and as dry as I could be at the moment, I walked out of the bathroom to find something comfortable for Lily to wear for the night. I dug through my various drawers and piles of clothes until I came across a plain black short sleeved shirt. It was thin but not too worn, so I brought it out for her.

“Here,” I said, holding it out as I walked back into the bathroom. “You can wear this for tonight.”

She looked up from where she was, hunched over as she dried her hair with my towel. “O-oh,” she said simply. “Th-thank you.”

I chuckled as I left the folded shirt on the counter beside the sink and left her to do whatever it was that she needed to do. I took that time to get myself dressed, pulling on a simple black tank top and a plain pair of black underwear.

Once I was no longer naked, I knocked on the bathroom door.

“You can come in,” Lily called from inside, so I opened the door and stepped inside.

“How do you feel?” I asked her as I entered the room. “Your chest feeling okay?”

She looked down at her chest, though she couldn’t see her new tattoo because of the shirt, before looking back up at me and saying, “I feel good. It hurts a bit, but it’s not too bad.”

“It’ll be quite a bit sensitive for a while,” I told her as I took her hand and led her into my bedroom. “I bet you’re tired.” And as if on cue, she yawned, making me laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes,” I said as I sat us down on the bed, prying back the sheets and climbing under while also helping her climb under.

“Thanks for all of…” she gestured at the bed and her chest and the bathroom, “this, Rae. I-I really appreciate all of this.”

“Of course,” I said quietly, kissing her once on the forehead before flipping off the light switch. “Good night,” I whispered in the dark as I gathered her into my arms.

“Good night,” she whispered back as she leaned into me.

And we fell asleep like that.

…

It was probably about seven in the morning when Lily eventually woke up. She looked so cute when she was just waking up, her eyes slowly opening and blinking in the bright sunlight, her limbs clumsy and awkward as she stretched.

“Morning, Lils,” I greeted from beside her, setting my phone down on the bedside table. “Sleep well?”

She nodded as she gave a yawn, swiping at the tears that gathered in the corners of her eyes. “Good morning, Rae,” she murmured as she brought her arms back down on top of the covers.

“So,” I asked as I leaned on an elbow and propped my head up on my hand, “what time do you have to go to work?”

She yawned again, but then paused in the middle of it. She blinked over at me, her eyes suddenly alert. “What time is it?” she asked.

I leaned back and brought my phone back over to my face to check the time. “About seven,” I told her, showing her the time on my phone.

“Oh, okay then” she said, relaxing back into the bed. “I have time.”

I smiled down at her as I dropped my phone back onto my bedside table. She was adorable and I had a little bit more time with her, apparently.

“So,” I started as I leaned down to give her a kiss on the forehead, “anything in particular that you want for breakfast?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “I’m really fine with anything,” she told me.

I sat up in bed and extracted myself from the warm sheets, making sure to be careful enough that I didn’t rustle Lily. “I’ll go see what I have, then,” I told her with a smile.

It turned out that I didn’t have much. A few eggs, some milk, ham, and cheese, a couple of fruits and vegetables, but that was about it. It made sense because I didn’t usually cook actual meals for myself, but this time I would be cooking. So I decided to male omelets for the both of us.

I whisked the three eggs I had together in a bowl before slicing up a tomato, the ham, and some fresh basil I managed to find and added it to the mix.

I set this aside as I turned the stove on, and as I waited for it to heat up, I grabbed the milk and poured a little bit into the omelet mixture before sprinkling in some cheese.

After mixing it together one last time, I poured most of the mixture into the pan. It sizzled as soon as it hit the pan and the smell that came off of it was delicious.

When the omelet had finished cooking, I scooped it onto a plate and set it out on the counter beside the stove.

And right when I started on the second omelet, Lily entered.

“Mm, that smells amazing,” she said as she took a seat opposite me.

“That’s for you,” I told her, nodding at the plate.

“Thank you,” she said with a blush as she pulled the plate towards her and began to eat.

I was silent between us the entire time she ate and I cooked. That is, until I finished cooking for myself and began to eat. That was when Lily began to talk.

“So, uhm,” she said as she paused her eating. “H-how is this… going to work?”

I hesitated as I ate, thinking about her question. How would this work?

“I… don’t really know,” I told her truthfully.

“I-I mean, I don’t want you to quit your job, but like… can you date me with all that is, uh… happening?”

I sighed and set down my fork. “Lily, I…” I began, unsure of what I was going to say. “I can’t make any promises about my job, but I can say that I do want to be with you.”

“So are we going to keep dating like this?” she asked. “Keep going on dates and kiss and be together?”

“If you’re alright with that,” I told her with a smile.

I knew this wasn’t really fair to her. That was why I didn’t want to start this whole ‘dating’ experiment. I knew that it would be painful for the both of us, and I never wanted that for her.

But she smiled and nodded. “As long as I can be with you,” she said. “We can figure out the rest later.”

It was silent again as we ate, and it stayed that way until we had both finished and we began to wash the dishes. Lily insisted on helping.

This time, I was the one that spoke first.

“I changed my name to Raven the week after I graduated college,” I told her. “My mother hated and still hates it. But I don’t really care what she thinks.”

It was silent for a moment before, “I don’t have a great relationship with my parents, either. My parents just tried to use me for money and shit,” she said.

I paused as she let her head rest on my shoulder. Then I said, “Did I ever tell you I have a little brother?”

Her head whipped away from me so that she could look up at me with shocked eyes.

“What?”

I laughed. “Yeah, Dylan Paek. He’s turning twenty-one this year.”

“What the fuck?” she said, and I laughed again.

Eventually she joined me and I told her, “He’s the favorite because he’s a boy.” Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say, seeing as Lily sobered, so I changed the topic. “But that means that my parents don’t really care about what the fuck I do. Anyway, I became a prostitute when I turned twenty-three, after I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree. My brother’s still in college for law, I think.”

She went silent, watching me as I talked about my past. It was nice, actually, almost like therapy but it wasn’t scary. It was relieving. So I kept talking.

“I went to college because my parents told me that I had to. I finished my four years before I decided I’d had enough of that shit. That was when I bought this place,” I said, gesturing around us as I led her over to the couch.

“I live with my sister and our friend,” Lily told me as we took a seat. “Diane and Isaac. Isaac’s boyfriend, Nathan, comes over a lot, so there’s really four of us. Diane and I rented the place when we first started college. We met Isaac nearly a year later. He’s a year younger than us, and he came out to his parents as trans and gay when he graduated high school. They disowned him, so we took him in.”

“I know how that feels,” I told her. “My parents and I lost contact when I decided not to continue college. My mother still calls me every now and then, hoping that this ‘phase’ has passed. I haven’t seen her, or any of my family, in a really long while, actually.”

“I’m sorry,” Lily told me, leaning on my shoulder again.

I lifted my arm up to wrap it around her shoulders. “I am, too.”

…

After Lily had left, I stayed wandering around my house, waiting for time to pass. And when it inevitably did, I went to the brothel wearing some of my regular whore clothes.

I leaned against that spot on the wall, illuminated by the light above me. This was now my usual spot ever since I met Lily. She was reorienting so many things about my life, I felt like I’d be unrecognizable to myself soon.

Either way, I leaned back and as people passed by, throwing curious glances. It only took a few minutes for clients to approach us. A client for me came just a few minutes before seven.

“Hey,” he said me in his deep voice.

His voice seemed to ring a bell in my brain, but I ignored it. He was a client.

“Good evening,” I greeted, pushing off of the wall.

This man was shorter than me, thinner than I would have expected with his voice, but he seemed to have some muscle.

“I can get sex here, right?” he asked bluntly as he strode over. “I’m looking for a bitch to fuck.”

My eyebrows raised beneath my mask at his bluntness. He was the bitch, and it was pissing me off, but I couldn’t let that show. I had to please him, even if it made me want to throw up.

“Of course,” I said with a fake smile. I turned and motioned for him to follow me. “Right this way.”

I shared a look of disgust with James.

This guy was a total dick, but this was my job after all.

I opened the door into the brothel and walked up to Doe. Regular procedures for new clients was to get their information and shit. To make sure that the whores here wouldn’t be in danger because of them.

“Hello!” Doe began as she smiled at the man beside me. “Welcome to The D-”

“Yeah, yeah,” he interrupted, brushing her off with arrogance. “The name’s Grayson. Grayson Wanless.”

I shared that look of disgust with Doe before I paused.

Wait… Grayson?

I looked down at the short man standing next to me. I scanned his face, and oh my mother fucking shit ass bitch-!

His nose was crooked and looked a bit reddish-purple, though it was mostly covered by a thick bandage. His eyes had bruises under them, which I might have mistaken for dark circles if not for my knowledge of breaking his nose. He was ugly, too, just as ugly as I remembered him from the last time I saw him.

This was the same exact Grayson that had molested Lily, the one I had beaten up, the jerk who I was going to-

“Okay, then,” Doe said, interrupting my thoughts. “I’ll need you to sign these and fill out these.”

“Ugh, whatever,” he said as he snatched the pen from Doe’s hand and began to fill out the papers. And when he finished, still completely unaware of my glares, he shoved the papers and pen back at Doe. “Here.”

“Alright, then!” I said with another artificial smile. “Come on up.”

I led him upstairs to my room, already disgusted about what was going to happen. What I would have to do.

I waited until he came into the room, too, before turning and closing the door, secretly locking it.

“I take payment up front,” I told him, holding a hand out to him.

“What sort of bullshit is this?” he asked, but I just raised my eyebrows at him.

“I cost $700,” I told him.

I smirked as he growled and pulled out the cash.

“Fine,” he snarled. “Here.”

My smirk grew as I replied with, “Thanks.”

I flipped through the cash, checking that it was the right amount and wasn’t counterfeit.

It was all real and the actual amount I requested, so I told him, “Alright, get stripped.”

He finally smirked that gross smirk of his as he ripped his shirt off and began to undo his pants.

"This'll be fun," he said with a sneer.

I knew that. It would be fun.

But for me…