The chronicles of a high profile gigolo

All the lessons I learnt from my thing with Georgina have always stayed with me; at least not now. I never had anything to do with girls my age or younger; they came with too much baggage, the very thought and possibility of a prospective future with you did things to their head as I was quick to find out. Even if it started out as a completely physical relationship with the terms and conditions clearly spelt out, women within one’s age range are always quick to complicate matters by introducing feelings into the mix. In fact things got to a point where I would have nothing to do with a woman who wasn’t at least ten years older than I was. My women have so far been an integral part of my business and my finances and these are two things one can never afford to toy with. So far things have been just fine.

I had my reservations when I met Yvette, but I was too quick to find out that she had some of the most powerful contacts I could have ever wished to meet. I mean getting into the same room with the minister of finance was hitch free and it was not even something that took her forever to arrange. She did not brag about it, did not procrastinate, she simply mentioned that we had to see him in the course of our conversation and next thing I knew, I was in the same room with him; getting introduced to him and also getting acknowledged by him.

She, I was certain would begin to look for ways to salvage the situation. Her number was not going through; it was switched off, very unlike her. My phone screen lit up, it was Pope, I dared not pick up and when the phone stopped ringing a text message came in from him; “Where are you Faruk?”. It was just one line but it spoke volumes and the fear I felt was actually more than that which I had felt when I was shot at. I needed to reach Yvette urgently; I sent her a text “Please call me”

Yvette never pushed me, never asked where “is this relationship headed?” never asked where I was last night or who was that who just called, but the looks she gave me never left me in doubt as to how she felt about me. I rationalised that she was probably giving me as long a rope to pull as possible, leaving me to come to the realisation that sticking with her only was the best option I had for the kind of future I was looking forward to. Well I was going to pull the rope as much as it was possible and even if I would end up with her, it would be on my own terms. I had to be properly set up or reasonably on the way to being where I wanted to be before making that decision.

Where did I or do I want to be? Well I have asked myself this question over and over again and apart from telling myself that I want to be wealthy beyond comprehension, I really do not have an answer. Okay I want to be powerful too but that’s about all I have been able to tell myself. All I know is that there is this hunger in me that needs to be fed and the fodder for it is heights attained.

Yvette slowed me down, not in the sense of dousing my ambition. She made me realise that maybe; just maybe I might someday need a permanent woman. Well for now I still would keep my alliances with Frances, Senator Mary, Janet and whoever else came along.

Janet, now that’s a complicated one, Janet did not really have contacts per-se or at least did not have contacts I could use. She however had money, loads of it and was always willing to “lend” me some whenever I had a shortfall during the execution of contracts. It was a strange relationship; the one I had with Janet because… well let’s just say we had the same lifestyle. She had her men who funded her every need and more, men who made sure her accounts were overflowing with funds, men who competed to buy her first class tickets to every destination in the world. She is of mixed race and
indeterminate age, well she looks twenty five but she actually is not twenty five. I think it was the sex that actually stood me in good stead with her and she never hid it, she needed me for that but she was also very fond of me. She found my company entertaining she said “Unlike these old fools who think money is the only thing a girl needs.”

The first time I met Chief Jacob was at her place, it was a bit awkward but i thought nothing of it really. Janet simply introduced him as Jacob and me as Faruk. He looked really familiar but I couldn’t place the face and I would not place it until a couple of days later when I came across a picture of him and one of the governors from the eastern part of the country in a newspaper. Jacob is a political Godfather!

Our second meeting was not so palatable. I was with Jessica; Jessica is another woman who has only money to offer. “I’m married, but you don’t know need to know who it is I am married to, the less you know, the better for both of us.” Jessica was a referral and not a mark. I got some of those occasionally, all they wanted was sex and all they had to offer was money. I did not want only money but some of these started out as just sex for money and then I worked my magic and got the contacts and contracts. Jessica saw me at a society wedding and I walked up to her, we struck up a jovial conversation. It was harmless enough in the eye of an ordinary passerby; I had mastered the art carrying on public conversations with my many women whenever we met at social functions. It was a key survival tool in this thing of mine.

Her husband was Chief Jacobs and the hostile recognition on his face was not hidden. He knew me and I felt fairly certain that he knew what I did, what my relationship was with Janet and therefore he would have an idea of what my relationship with his wife could be. She introduced us saying something about me owning the boutique where she shopped and how she was surprised to meet me here. He did not believe her and his eyes said as much. He said “hello,” while ignoring my outstretched hand. His eyes said it all, he knew who I was, knew my relationship with Janet and had already come to the conclusion that I had the same relationship with his wife. He was not a political Godfather for nothing, he was intelligent, knew when to make inferences and what inferences to make, he also knew which conclusions to come to when necessary. He would not ask me any questions and probably wouldn’t ask his wife either but this had to be the end. These people had thugs and assassins at their disposal. I wasn’t planning to die anytime soon, I also couldn’t afford to look any less handsome due to a brutal beating either. I would cut this off.

I nodded slightly and walked off. I was still at the venue, socialising with some other guests when the text came in. He couldn’t even wait till later, something must have transpired between chief Jacob and Jessica immediately after I left them.

“Do you know who I am?
You are getting burnt
I am running you out of this town.
Two of my women?”

He had my number already, I didn’t have to ponder on it, I knew who it was. Was I scared? Not really. All I had to do was stop seeing Jessica, well Janet too, his temper would be doused soon and the only thing that would probably incense it again was seeing me with either woman. Jessica I could understand but Janet? Why would anyone take a mistress so seriously?

I hate my phone ringtone in the mornings, particularly when it wakes me up. And it woke me that morning, I squinted at the screen, it was dad; strange, he hardly ever called these days.
“See me in my office; NOW” he sounded upset. Well he was always upset with me whenever we speak these days but his tone this time was different. I was not really bothered, I took my time in the shower, making sure afterwards that I was properly groomed and that I was impeccably dressed, the need to impress dad has risen since I moved out of home. I got to the “Office” about two hours after I got the call. It really couldn’t be called an office; it was more of an elaborate study set apart from the main building that was his home. He kept an eye and a tight rein on his companies from here. This is where he would have completely kept control over my life if I had joined the firm. His secretary; a new one, he changed them every so often “He’s going to get rid of you once he’s bored with you.” I thought as I gave my name, it had been a while since I came here.

“I know who you are sir, he’s expecting you” she smiled brightly as she got up and walked me to the door.

“You are screwing Jacob’s wife Faruk, are you out of your mind?” No greetings, no preamble, nothing, he didn’t even wait for the secretary to shut the door behind herself.
My mouth dropped open, how could dad have found out? I wondered.

“I asked you a question Faruk. Please tell me it’s untrue.”

Under any other circumstances, I would have been tempted to point out that his question was about my soundness of mind and not about Chief Jacob’s wife being “screwed” by me, but these were not any other circumstances, this appeared larger than I had envisaged. For my dad to have heard about this in less than 12 hours, something was definitely brewing.

“It’s not dad.” I mumbled.

“It’s not what? Not true or not untrue?”

“It’s not true dad, why do you always…”

“Just shut it!” he snapped “Listen to me and for your own good, take my advice this time. Jacob is not someone you want to cross, he is a mad man.”

“Dad…”

He held up his hand as he continued “About ten years back, he took me on, I bided for a contract and almost out-bided him. In fact I did outbid him and he came to me, he didn’t beg, didn’t cajole, or even try to reason with me. He told me to pull out my bid or he would make this city too hot for me to bear.” He paused for breath “I called his bluff; I didn’t pull out, not only was the contract cancelled, it was cancelled after I had spent a considerable sum setting up its execution, I never got paid a dime, the three government parastatals we did auditing jobs for dropped our firm that year, a number of private organisations also dropped us.” He sat forward, his stare intensifying as he did so, “It was a rough year, I had to move mountains to pacify him, I spoke to people, friends and foes alike, he was going to stop at nothing. I have avoided him since then, Jacob is a mad man Faruk. I cannot afford another run in with him. You do not have anything worthy of bringing down and by now I am sure he knows you are my son. I am washing my hands completely off you, I have worked too long and too hard for this…”

“Dad?” I was angry.

“Yes?” He snapped.

“This has nothing to do with you, I will handle it don’t worry.”

“You are even more of a fool than I realised. First of all you have nothing worthy of him bringing down, and when he realises this he’ll come after me, after all you are my son and his thinking would be that everything I own will someday come to you.

“Dad” I began to speak again.

“Shut it and listen!”

I spun around and walked out. Who the hell did he think he was “…his thinking would be that everything I own will someday come to you…” Who the hell did dad think he was, what made him think my life plan was getting everything he owned someday. Having come so far in so little time without his help and having brought my bank balance to its present state, I was not going to stand and be insulted like a little boy who needed help wiping his butt. I walked away with my head held high, imagining the look of shock on dad’s face as he stared at my retreating back. I would talk to one or two people and get this sorted I was confident about that.

My phone rang, it was mum. I sighed, why did he have to involve her in this?

“Hello mum.”…

Continues next week Friday. Stay tuned for Episode 6. Please like and leave a comment below.

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