True Love
(Book 3) – Chapter 87

-We’ve been walking for hours, aren’t you the least bit tired?

A very petite brunette with half slanted eyes and straight hair complained next to her friend.

-Of course I’m tired, silly, but we have to find a job if you don’t want to live on the streets.

-Zoé! We’ve been looking for hours, and everyone says no because we don’t speak French.

-Then we have to look for another kind of job, maybe because we only look in cafés they won’t give us work.

-For heaven’s sake! Nobody will want to hire two American women. Resign yourself.

-Maya, please… don’t be pessimistic.

Zoé and her childhood best friend had been travelling all over France every day since they arrived, looking for work. But misfortune followed them, as everywhere they went they were turned down. Speaking French was a prerequisite.

And as they were American, they were having a hard time finding a job. These girls were desperate to earn money, as the rent didn’t pay for itself.

Zoé, can we stop for a moment?

-No, Maya! Let’s go on. Look, there’s a café over there. Let’s try it.

-Gods! -You’re insufferable. You’re insufferable.

-Rent doesn’t pay itself, my friend. We’ve got that annoying landlord on top of us, as if we don’t manage to pay next month on time. I promise we’ll sleep in the street.

-Don’t remind me!

The brunette picks up the pace, following her friend to a very nice coffee shop. The girls enter the place with enthusiasm, but a few minutes later they leave with their heads down.

-I knew it! This is the sixth coffee shop of the day. How many times do you want to be rejected?

-As many times as it takes until someone gives us a job. Or at least one of us.

Zoé was very worried. The last thing she wanted was to have to sleep on the streets. Besides, she felt so guilty for having dragged her best friend into this madness. The girl was having a hard time. And it wasn’t like she was living like a queen in America. But at least she had a steady job… it had been two months since they arrived in France and no work.

Her best friend had lost everything, because of her?

-I envy your height, you’re tall and I’m a dwarf… your steps are longer.

-Don’t complain. Zoé laughs, hooking her arm around the young girl’s neck. -You’ll see, we’ll find a good job!

-I hope so, because I’m starving. And this once-a-day eating thing is killing me.

An hour later, and after a couple more rejections for the same reason… Zoé Bonnes was beginning to lose hope. As she walked out of the cafeteria, her friend followed behind her. And she knew she was already pissed off.

-Come on Maya! She turns to see why she was so late.

The young girl looks at her, she had stopped at a large mural full of leaves of all colours.

-Come closer. The brunette asks her. And so she does.

-What is it?

-Look! She points her finger.

Zoé picks up a cherry-coloured piece of paper stuck to the wall. The message was clear and direct.

“Looking for girls to work as a dancer in night bar.”

She blinks a couple of times, and then she’s looking at her friend wondering if they’d gone crazy. Or the lack of food was making her sick.

-Have you gone crazy?!

-No, have you? He looks at her mockingly.

-Of course not. But what is this? He points to the paper.

-Well, I work…

-In a bar? And at night… Maya, we’re not prostitutes.

-I know that… -The brunette rolls her eyes. -But maybe they don’t mind that we don’t speak French. -They just need us to dance, that’s all. They just need us to dance, that’s all.

-Naked? she asks sarcastically.

-Semi! She raises a finger. -It’s a new place, they’re just opening. How bad can it be to go and ask.

-I’m not going to dance naked, you’re insane.

Zoé crosses her arms, looking at her friend with a frown. She was desperate for money, but she wasn’t desperate to be a prostitute either.

-We won’t be prostitutes Zoé, if that’s what they offer us, we’ll just turn it down. Let’s at least ask.

-We’d better look for something else, I really don’t want to do that. Look! They’re looking for people to wash dishes, that could be useful for us.

-Okay! Her friend answers resignedly. -We’ll go there, but if they don’t accept us, we’ll go to this club, OK?

-All right, but I can’t promise anything.

The girls leave the elegant restaurant, where they had been treated with a kick. Of course they had been turned down for the job.

Maya just watched her friend with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. Zoé knew they had a deal, sometimes her friend was a bit impulsive. She always ended up dragging her to places she didn’t want to go.

Zoé sighed heavily… she just nodded and followed the brunette.

[…]

A month later…

-Brother!

Adrien Dubois’ voice caught Jean Dubois’ attention… the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy was entering the office that belonged to his older brother. J.D., caught that smile on his lips, characteristic of a good night’s sleep.

-What’s the matter? Jean answered grumpily.

-Oh, what’s with that face?

-I’m very busy Adrien, if you haven’t come for the order I gave you, then go away.

-No! I didn’t come for that… last night, where did you go? The red-haired girl who was with us was waiting for you.

-I found a better one to f**k. She gives a half-hidden smile.

His brother sits in the chair in front of him denying… the Dubois brothers were the sexiest, most famous, millionaire and Playboy men in all of France. Hundreds of women had passed through their hands, witnesses to their powerful masculinity.

-I had to take that girl to bed, the other one didn’t like it.

-What a sacrifice you had to make! He says sarcastically.

-That’s right… he smiles.

-Adrien… I’m busy, you’d better go.

-Yeah, yeah… I’m going now. See you tonight at home. Dinner! You know.

Jean dropped the pen as he leaned back in his chair… those dinners were so heavy. Sharing one night a week with his father was an ordeal. The old man was a pain in the a*s, mostly because he always wanted to be in control of his life.

Sometimes he hated the idea of being the eldest son…