I’d walked up to many hotels over the years, but this one was different to most. Usually they are a little bit more upmarket than this budget hotel I’d been booked to attend, something much more in keeping with the price tag that my services attracted. It didn’t matter to me though, I was just here to do a job.

I step inside and I’m immediately blocked from going any further by needing a key card to access the lifts. Standing out of the way, trying to blend in, I take out my phone to recheck the booking notes. Sure enough there are instructions with the booking telling me to text the client, who I only know as ‘Os’, so that they can let me up to the rooms.

I send off the text, and within a minute received a reply simply stating, ‘Down in a min, I’ll be the one in a baseball cap’.

So I wait, glancing around to see if any of the staff have clocked me and worked out why I am here. It seems I don’t have anything to worry about though, they don’t seem to be that fussed about who is hanging around, let alone what for.

The door to the lift lobby opens and a man in a red baseball cap appears from behind it, keeping his face turned down to the ground. At first I think he’s perhaps nervous or shy, but then as he raises his head, I feel my jaw drop like a character from Who Framed Roger Rabbit .

Finding my voice again, “Olly?” I gasp.

“Hi,” he says, looking nervous.

“Wh-, what’s going on?” I can’t believe he’s standing in front of me, I haven’t seen or spoken to him in weeks and all I want to do is wrap my arms around him.

A few days after I’d confessed everything to him, the messages started. It wasn’t too bad at first, Olly would ask me to at least give him a chance and I’d reply with the reasons why we couldn’t. But then the messages become more insistent, almost non-stop. No amount of explaining seemed to be getting through, so in the end, I’d had to block him. But now, here he was, and I don’t know how he even found me.

“I booked you… surprise !” he shrugs.

I’m completely lost for words, Olly booked me? Olly is my client? No, he can’t, I can’t, I need to get out of here.

“ No ” is all I manage to say as I turn and practically run out of the hotel. Olly is calling after me and it’s not long before he catches up to me. He stands in front of me, placing his hands on my chest to stop me.

“Please, David, can we at least talk?” He asks with a desperate look in his eyes.

“We can’t, I can’t,” I plead, I need to get out of here.

“I’ve paid for the hour! If you won’t come up to hear me out, then you can at least come up to fuck me. That’s why you’re here isn’t it?” He was playing dirty now. He knew that if I cancelled the booking, he could ruin me. He knew that I was basically his for the next hour, whether I liked it or not. But that was the trouble really; it is what I wanted. I wanted to spend time with him, so much time, but not like this.

Reluctantly accepting my fate, I nod and he lowers his hands from my chest. We walk in silence as we head back inside the hotel. Using his room key to let us into the lift, neither of us look at each other the entire way to his room.

Once inside, he moves to sit on the bed, placing his cap down next to him. I just stand there staring at him, now he’s got the cap off, his beautiful curls are flowing freely wherever they want to go. I want nothing more than to climb on top of him and run my fingers through them once more while I kiss his beautiful lips.

I see his lips start to move and I realise he’s talking, “I told you I wouldn’t give up on you David. I’m sorry for tricking you into this, but I didn’t know how else to get you to talk to me. Your profile wasn’t easy to track down, Liam , really?”

“I could hardly use my real name, could I?” I smile.

“So, David, is your real name then?” he asks, a hint of nerves in his voice.

Ouch that stung, “I suppose I deserved that.” I move to sit down next to him, “Yes, David is my real name, I never lied to you about that.”

He looks down at his hands in his lap for a beat before looking back up at me again, “I’ve had time to think since you told me, a lot of time, and…” he pauses and it feels like it lasts a lifetime.

“I don’t care, David, I want a chance to be with you, whatever that looks like.”

I sigh and look down before I reply, “I told you why we can’t, it would never work. I’ve been doing this job for 8 years , if I give it up, no one else will employ me. To them I’d just be a lazy university graduate, that’s been doing nothing ever since.

“And if I can’t give up the job, you’d just end up resenting me. Even if it wasn’t the fact that I have sex with strangers for money, you’d resent me for constantly disappearing, sometimes at very short notice, to go to see clients.”

“I wouldn’t,” he sounds like a petulant child.

I look at him, and he’s facing away from me now. I tentatively reach for his cheek and turn his head towards me. I need him to see the truth in my eyes as I tell him, “I really like you, Olly. The truth is, I can’t stop thinking about you. But I also couldn’t bear it if I hurt you.”

When he doesn’t say anything, I think this is it, he’s finally going to kick me out of his life for good. I try to memorise every part of him while I still can, hoping that the memories I already have will be enough to ease the inevitable heartbreak I feel is coming.

I brace myself as he takes a breath before he speaks, “Who says any of that would happen?”

I’m confused now as he continues.

“Who says you wouldn’t be able to get another job if you gave up this?” He gestures around the room, “Who says I would resent you if you didn’t give this up? Who says that we wouldn’t work, David?”

There’s so much hope in his eyes, I’m just stunned, lost for words. Olly takes hold of my hands in his and asks, “Please can we at least try?”

Before I have a chance to think about what he’s saying, I hear myself let out a breathy, “Okay,” before our lips crash together.

All I can think now is ‘ Finally!’