Chapter 30

It had been more than a week since I’d seen Crystal. That was intentional. I wanted to increase her desperation and stoke her desire, and I didn’t want to push her too hard too fast. But now, with life rolling along smoothly, I decided it was time to ramp up the corruption of Crystal. That’s how I found myself back in a room at the St. Regis Hotel, which had become the preferred venue for Jess when clients didn’t want to use the Hooker House. I also knew Crystal’s suburban sensibilities would be blown away. She just wasn’t very worldly, and I was going to exploit that.

It was a Friday morning, and Crystal had become increasingly persistent in begging to see me. Stringing her along had worked beautifully. She had told work she was meeting clients that morning and would be in after lunch. She knocked on the hotel room door five minutes before nine o’clock. She was early and eager. We would have almost three hours before I was due to have a celebratory lunch with Kat and Jess in