Chapter 4.

When Lydia was first hired on at Mia Novella’s escort services she was a bit intimated by Theo. He was 6ft3 and had short brown wavy locks, and piercing blue eyes, and he looked to be about 250 lbs of pure muscle. He was also covered from head to toe in tattoos. But underneath his rough exterior, Theo was a teddy bear. He was every girl’s dream gay guy. He loved to shop, talk gossip, and he knew how to make a woman feel good about herself. Theo was one of Lydia’s friends and she was happy that Mia had selected him to chauffeur her today.

They’d spent most of the afternoon chattering away about Lydia’s newest assignment in between Lydia’s appointment, and Lydia could feel her excitement start to grow, even though she knew nothing about Drake, she was looking forward to an all inclusive vacation, even if she did have to pretend to be the girlfriend of some rich billionaire.

“What do you think I should do with my hair?” Lydia asked as they pulled into the salon.

“Umm leave it as is, I love the natural blond, maybe just add some platinum high lights and some caramel low lights and frame the face.”

“Okay.” Lydia said relieved Theo had made the decision for her. “Then that’s what I’ll do.”

A few hours later Lydia came walking out of the salon.

“Wo-ow!” Theo cat called at Lydia as she walked out of the salon. “Girl, you are fire!”

“Oh stop it Theo” , Lydia giggled, “you’re going to make me blush.”

“Your billionaire will not be able to resist you.” Theo said. “If I wasn’t gay, I’d take you right here right now.”

“Oh shut up.” Lydia said getting into the car playfully punching him.

“Is there anywhere else you need to go my Queen?” Theo asked sarcastically.

“Actually there is one more place, If you don’t mind. I used up all my cash or I’d just take a cab, but can you take me to the hospital real quick before dropping me off at home. I just need to say bye to mama.”

“Sweetheart,” Theo said seriously, dropping all theatrics, “Anytime,  you want, I’ll take you to see your mama. It’s not a burden at all.”

Theo pulled out of the salon and headed towards the hospital.

“Thanks Theo,” Lydia said when they pulled up to the hospital doors. “It really means a lot to me.”

“Of course darling, it really is no problem at all. Just call  me when you done with your mama. I’m going to head over to Starbucks and get a Carmel macchiato.”

“Will do.” Lydia shouted as Theo sped off.

Lydia walked into the hospital and went straight to the receptionist desk to pick up her visitors pass. Her favorite receptionist Mell was on duty tonight.

“Oh Hey Liddy! I was wondering if I was going to see you tonight.” Mell smiled up at her, passing her the visitors badge.

“Hey Mell, how’s it going? How are the kids?”

“Everything’s swell. And They’re doing good. Brookie lost her very first tooth, and Jameson just started pre-K yesterday.” Mell bent down and grabbed her phone from her purse, opening it up to her photos app. She flashed a picture of Brookie, smiling with a missing tooth, her arm wrapped around her little brother Jameson, who had a shirt on that said “My first day of Pre-K.”

“They’re beautiful Mell. How’s the situation with Austin?” Lydia asked.

Mell sighed. Austin was her scumbag ex and also happened to be the father of the kids.

“Believe it or not, his ass is back in jail. He was caught selling drugs again. Hopefully he stays in there for a long. At least I don’t have to worry about visitation anymore right now.”

“Oh that’s too bad. Not for you, but for the kids.” Lydia replied.

She knew what it was like having an absent father. Her dad knocked her mom up at 16 and left. It’s the reason why Lydia and her mom had such a close relationship. They were all each other had growing up. When Lydia’s moms parents found out she was pregnant she was given two choices, to get an abortion or to get out. And so she left. And the minute she chose Lydia, her mom worked her ass off to give her a good life. And Lydia’s life was good growing up. They weren’t rich, but Lydia had everything a girl could need. Which is why Lydia continued to fight so hard for her mother and took the career path she did.

“Well I better get going. My ride’s  waiting on me.” Lydia said waving goodbye to Mell as she started walking off towards her mother’s room.

“Hey mama.” Lydia greeted her mother as she walked into the room. “I know you’re still sleeping but I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be gone for about a month or so. They have me traveling for work. I just didn’t want you to worry about me, while I was gone. We will have to pick back up on ***Hybrid Aria*** when I get back. Hopefully you’ll be awake by then.” Lydia smiled at her mom. “Mom, everything’s finally starting to look up, since the night of your accident, I can finally see a brighter tomorrow. Anyways, I got to go. I love you mom.”

Lydia turned and quickly left her mom’s room before her tears could start spilling. It was really hard to see her mom in such a comatose state. Lydia pulled out her phone and called Theo letting him know she was done.

“Perfect timing. I’m at the hotel entrance. Oh and The Madame called, Change of plans, you’ll be meeting with Drake tonight.”

Lydia hung up her phone not bothering to say goodbye, her heartbeat had started to speed up rapidly. She wasn’t ready to meet Drake yet. She wasn’t ready to spend an entire month with a stranger. She had wanted to go home and do some research on him. And now instead she’d be leaving tonight and living with someone she barely knew anything about.

Lydia walked out to the car and opened up the passenger side door.

“Oh honey,” Theo said leaning over and giving her a side squeeze. “You look like shit. Here take this.” He passed her his Starbucks napkin and leaned over pulling down the passenger side visor. “Cleaning up your face girlfriend. We can’t have mister billionaire, feeling like he lost the lotto with you.”

“Thanks Theo.” Lydia managed to force a small smile on her face, as she took the napkin and began dabbing at her eyes removing the smeared eyeliner and mascara.

“You’ve really got to invest in some smudge proof makeup girl.” Theo said. “No guy is going to want you choking from slobbin’ on his knob, with mascara running down your face.”

Lydia chuckled. Theo always knew how to brighten the mood.

“Awe much better.” Theo said. “There’s My girl. Now Mister Billionaire is going to feel like he won the jackpot.”

Theo pulled into the entrance of Mia Novella’s office building. “Go get ‘em tiger.” Theo said shoving Lydia out of the car and smacking her ass as she got out.

“Thanks for everything Theo.” Lydia smiled before shutting the door.

She inhaled deeply before walking inside. If everything went as planned and Drake liked her look, then tonight was the night her whole life would change.