Luca

I rolled over in bed after I put my phone down. It was the middle of the day, but I’d been up all night and hadn’t slept until the earliest hours of the morning. I didn’t have any classes today, and I planned to spend the rest of the day relaxing.

“Ugh,” I groaned to myself, buried my face in my pillow and curled up.

I was in my final year of school, and I didn’t have as many classes as I did in my first year, but I had a lot of projects to get done. Senior projects were the worst, because they were a lot more complicated and there was more pressue to .

My phone buzzed again, I wanted to ignore it, but it could be something important.

My hand stretched out to the nightstand without looking, and I patted around until I touched my phone and grabbed it. I squinted my eyes open, only to freeze when I saw it was Dad calling me.

Suddenly very awake, I sat up and answered the call.

“Dad,” I said, the single word so full of sarcasm that he could choke on it. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’ve got some really good news,” he chuckled.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. Dad was entirely too happy for someone that should be feeling guilty.

I sold my body for sex, because he gambled my college money. I’d come too far just to quit, and I didn’t want to wait another year to graduate, so I had to raise the tuition somehow. Taking on a part-time job wasn’t enoiugh, because I needed money for food, books and the list was endless.

I couldn’t put all the blame on Dad. He’d asked me for money, and I should have wondered why, but I’d lent it to him anyway during the summer. He’d promised to have it back when I needed it for university, only to be left with nothing.

“What is this so-called good news, then?”

“I’ll be able to give you all your money back, very soon.”

My eyebrows jumped up. “Where the hell did you get the money?”

The only reason Dad hadn’t gambled it all away before was because my tuition was paid out directly to the university. The plan was that I would receive an allowance until I turned twenty-one, and I would have full control of the remaining funds. I turned twenty-one handed it over to him, leaving me penniless.

Dad chuckled. “I met this woman a while back, and after meeting up a few times, we’ve hooked up! She’s rich, and I’m sure she won't say no if I borrow a little side money. I can pay you back every penny I took from you.”

“… seriously, Dad,” I groaned, and fell back onto the bed.

Then again, what I was doing wasn’t any better than him. I was having sex for money, and he was doing more or less the same thing. No, I was being hard on myself, I had a line, women knew what they were getting when they text it. Dad. This poor woman didn’t have a clue.

“Dad, tell me you’re not doing anything illegal right now. This woman isn’t married, is she?”

He made a rough sound. “Why would you think I would do that, huh? I don’t want to start fighting with anybody’s husband, of course, she’s not married! Don’t make it sound as if I tricked her.”

“Whatever,” I muttered. “I’m tired right now, and I have some work to get done, so I’ll talk to you later.”

I cut the call before he could say more, but I couldn’t bring myself to fall back to sleep.

What am I going to do about my old man?

He was my dad, I’d counted on him for a lot, and he didn’t always let me down. Since it was just the two of us and I had no other family, I wanted to believe him, but I knew deep down inside, that I couldn’t trust him. If I could, then I wouldn’t be selling my body for university tuition.

I’d already made a date with a new client tonight. She’d agreed to pay the ridiculous price, too, so I couldn’t just go back and cancel.

There was no way I could sleep now, so I decided to take a shower and start working on my assignments. The group ones would be the most troublesome since I had to track down my group members, then come up with an agreement that worked with my current schedule. I needed something to distract me, from being anxious about tonight.

* * *

The mysterious girl wanted to meet at midnight. We agreed on the time and place, and she’d already put in the payment. My curiosity about who it could be was even higher.

I double-checked to be sure that I had the right place, then lifted my hand up to knock. I only hesitated for a moment, before I gave a couple of sharp raps.

I patted myself down to make sure that I had my phone, keys, and wallet in one pocket. In the other, I had condoms and a small sachet of lube. It had only been a few weeks since I started doing this, and things were already getting out of hand.

Since my high school days, I’d been pretty confident with my looks. I’d lost my virginity as a sophomore, and I’d dated quite a few girls before, so I wasn’t self-conscious around women. I took the time between my knock and the door opening to compose myself. I’d have to be confident the moment I walked in there. When I was sure I had everything, I relaxed. Then, I had a thought and checked my breath. I’d eaten a mint just before I got there.

The door opened, and I looked up. The girl… was not what I was expecting.

She was a few inches shorter than me, with dark hair that fell in waves around her shoulders and matching dark eyes. She was in a simple dress with flats on, and she looked dressed up for a date. Her head tilted back as her eyes met mine, and I smiled. She blinked, then cleared her throat.

“Hi,” she murmured, her cheek went red in a blush. “Are you the one behind the sext me line?”

I grinned. “Yes, that’s me. I’m Luca; it’s nice to meet you.”

“Natalia,” she said as she took the hand I held out. She pulled hers away quickly as soon as I released it.

She fidgeted at the door for a minute, and I toned the grin down to a gentle smile. She probably regretted messaging me in the first place, but it was too late to turn back now. While I could feel sympathy for her blatant uncertainty, I needed the money. I had just about enough funds to pay the semester’s tuition, and the deadline was quickly approaching, so I wasn’t about to give her the money back and call it all off.

“It’s okay,” I murmured, and pitched my voice to a tone that I hoped would sooth her. “You don’t have to worry about anything. Do you mind if I come inside? We can talk before we do anything if it’ll make you more comfortable.”

She hesitated a little more, before she backed away from the door. I followed her inside, and she closed the door behind her.

It was a little risky meeting in the dorms. Luckily, the school had co-ed dorms, and because some students studied until the early hours of the morning, it wasn’t strange to see people out so late at night.

“Your roommate is out?” I asked and looked around.

She looked at me with wide, anxious brown eyes.

“Um, I don’t have a roommate,” she mumbled.

My eyebrows jumped up. “Really?”

That was so convenient. I shared a room with three other guys, and here was what I assumed was a freshman with a room all to herself. It was convenient for the tonight, but I was a little jealous.

Natalia didn’t seem to know what to do with herself. She glanced around the room, looking lost, then glanced my way, only for her eyes to flit away.

She looked so shy and uneasy; I figured she was a virgin, or very inexperienced, right away. None of the other girls I’d met through the sext line were like this.

I wasn’t disappointed, far from it. She was pretty, and I had a feeling that she didn’t realize the strength of her beauty, from her long eyelashes which fluttered every time I caught her looking at me, to the softness of her full lips. I couldn’t wait to taste them.

“You look nervous, Natalia,” I said softly, so I wouldn’t scare her.

She jumped, then whirled around and met my gaze again. She didn’t look away this time, but her hands clenched into the skirt of her dress. I wanted to ask if she was sure about this, to tell her that we could stop if she wanted, but a part of me didn’t want to.

“It’s just, uh… this is my first time,” she admitted with an apologetic smile. “So, I’m just, well, a little nervous.”

For some reason, her virginity really pleased me. I didn’t bother to ask her to clarify what she meant by first time, that was crystal clear already. Not a lot of college girls paid guys for sex, so that would be a first for plenty of them. She had to mean she was a virgin.

“Have you ever dated before?” I asked, realizing after the words were out that I was anticipating her answer just a bit too much.

Natalia didn’t say anything, but she did slowly shake her head.

Immediately, I wanted to grin. I held it back, because I didn’t want to scare her even further.

“You don’t have to worry,” I murmured.

I hesitated, before I slowly started to close the distance between us. She stiffened but didn’t move away. I stopped right in front of her and raised my hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. I lightly grazed my fingertips along her cheek.

“I’ll be very gentle with you, Natalia,” I promised.

She blinked her eyes rapidly for a few seconds, then took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She nodded her head and looked a little less uneasy, but I knew I could make this good for her.

It wasn’t my first time with a virgin, but I was going to take extra special care of the delightful Miss Natalia, as I’d just promised

, she wouldn’t regret payine me, and I wouldn’t regret coming. So, it was a win-win situation for the both of us.