... especially considering that it's exactly the reaction I wanted you to have." "Oh," I said, sullenly and with a bit of venom. "Wonderful. I'm so glad to know that," I spat. So perhaps my original suspicions were correct after all about her and Mary. "Don't take it so hard, Al. It's nothing personal," she said coolly but still with kindness in her voice. "This is business. I make a lot of money off of you here, and I want you to stay." "Well," I said, feeling a strange calmness come over me, presumably because things were now more out in the open. "I guess I can understand it from your point of view -- sort of. But, well, I mean, I'm not used to ... to, well ..." I was resentful and feeling bold "... to someone prostituting themselves in this kind of business deal." I wanted the words to sting, but to my dismay, Rachael was totally unfazed. "That's no big deal to me, Al. You see, I _am_ a prostitute." I assumed that she meant that she acknowledged that she used sex to win business deals. "Well, in that sense, many women are, I guess. |