I didn’t think it was possible for me to cry any harder than I already was, but I did. I burst into uncontrollable tears. ‘Yes, yes, I am.’
To my surprise, Austin moved to sit beside me. He held my hand.
‘Do you hate me? I don’t blame you if you do. Please know that I am a good person. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, I just wanted you to get to know me first.’
‘I don’t hate you, I love you.’
We cuddled for the longest time. I cried for hours even after we finished talking, even after we made love, even after he had fallen asleep. Had I found pure acceptance? Had I found love again? Had I found someone who could care for me as Ben had? I know I thought I had. Within three months we were living together, which posed a problem: I had nine months remaining on my lease.
32
Madam Erica
Upon moving in with Austin, I now had two homes. One opposite Parliament House that still had nine months remaining on the lease, which I only needed weekdays between nine and five, and my home on the beach with Austin. I really only needed one bedroom for my antics, so I decided to rent out the other rooms on a daily basis. I advertised the rooms at $50 per shift—day shift and night shift—and a share in receptionist charges. Renting rooms to other working girls fell within the blurry rule of the law. I was not really living off their earnings, because I was not demanding a cut of their wages. Basically a very semantic technicality.
There was no shortage of applicants, but I had to be selective, I didn’t want my clients to hear my address and say, ‘Oh no, I went there once and was greeted by a beast with breasts, no thanks, I think I’ll pass.’ I eventually decided on three girls who were very attractive but only did rub-n-tug.
Eliza was an amateur body builder. She needed the money because she had put her new breasts on her credit card and was ten grand in the hole. Louise was a single mother who had the body of any supermodel. Little did I know that she had a long and dark history with heroin. Then there was Stephanie, who was also a single mother, and had just recently regained custody of her son. She had a body to die for and breasts to pay for, but was not overly striking. Stephanie was the fussiest sex worker I’d ever met. She refused any client she didn’t like the look of and needless to say, she made the least of all of us. She’d also try to insist that because she had made no money that day, she should be excused from any or all charges. It got to the point where she owed me $300 and I had to dismiss her.
Stephanie was replaced by Donna, who described herself as twenty-one years old, tall, a natural blonde, and busty. So you can imagine my surprise when a scrawny 35-year-old brunette knocked on my door applying to rent the room. I gave her a crack, but she soon went the same way as Stephanie.
Advertising is a funny business. There were so many coded messages in the adverts you saw in the paper and so many tricks that agencies pull on clients to rip them off. For example, any girl advertising a Greek name—Athena, Eleni—meant that she offered anal. If the ad read that the girl was eighteen years old, it really meant she was underage. A catchphrase like ‘naturally stunning’ meant that she offered a natural service, and usually she was a junkie.
The ads in the paper made it sound like everyone was potentially a Miss Universe contestant, but the reality was that very few of these girls existed. A punter would answer an ad for Tracey, a Barbie lookalike, be quoted a price and given an address and a time. Upon arrival, he would be told that he just missed her: ‘Another client just walked in and booked her out for the next two hours, so sorry.’ By way of compensation for his long journey he would be offered any of the other three girls on the couch for a cheaper rate. He would be taken to another room and be introduced to Fat, Ugly and Menopausal. The agencies figured that he wouldn’t want to waste a trip. You wouldn’t believe the amount of times I had seen girls advertise, ‘Luscious Such-n-Such, Former Model,’ and think to myself, Was she a hand model?
Loads of girls came and went from my place. But Eliza and Louise were the stayers. They worked hard and made a killing, but come Monday they were always penniless again.