Desperate Measures Read online

  Sandra has long hair and big breasts and dark skin. That isn’t her real name, it’s her working name. Her real name is Sai. She’s from Surin, in the east of Thailand. She had a good-looking English boyfriend who drives a red Porsche. They came into my restaurant and she talked to me, asking how old I was and where I was from. The second time she came in was about a week later and this time she kept talking about money, about how expensive London was and how it was impossible to save money if you worked in a restaurant. She had a lovely Louis Vuitton bag and Gucci sunglasses and Prada shoes and a lovely dress that she said had cost her £400.

  I asked her what job she had and she said she worked for an agency. I didn’t understand at first and I thought she meant a travel agency. Sandra and her boyfriend laughed. Then she told me about the agency she worked for. I thought she was joking but she gave me a card which had the agency’s website on it and said I should have a look at it.

  The next day I checked out the website on my phone. I was so shocked. There were twelve girls on it wearing very sexy clothes. The website said that some of the girls were Vietnamese or Chinese but to me they all looked like Thais. Sandra kept coming back to the restaurant and telling me how pretty I was and how much money I could earn. She said that I could go and talk to her boss and he’d tell me about it. I was stupid earning £80 a day serving food, she said, when I could earn so much more doing what I would normally do for free with my boyfriend. I thought about it for a long time before I decided to go and see Oliver. I didn’t want to have sex for money but I have to take care of my son and my family.

  The last customer on Wednesday came just before midnight and he stayed for two hours. He had been drinking and as soon as he came into my flat he asked if I could give him a beer. He ended up drinking three beers. His name was Andrew and he worked in an office. He wore a nice suit and a tie with rabbits on it. He made love to me in the bedroom then he asked me if I had any sexy movies. I didn’t but I said I had Netflix so we watched a horror movie. I almost fell asleep but he kept touching me and kissing me on the neck. When the movie finished he wanted to make love to me again but his two hours was up. He said that was okay and that he’d pay for another hour. I phoned Oliver and asked him if that was okay and he said of course. Andrew gave me another £150 and we went back into the bedroom. He wanted me on top and I did that and pretended to come, then I lay down on top of him and said ‘thank you’. I could see he was pleased. He grinned and stroked me and called me his baby. I kissed him on the lips when he left. He had paid me £450 and £300 of that was for me.

  Chapter 6

  Saturday March 7. My boyfriend called me yesterday from Thailand to talk about my house. Well, it’s our house really. And he’s my ex-boyfriend. He works in a car showroom in Udon Thani, selling Toyota cars and trucks. He’s a manager and has a good salary. He also has a wife and two children. He’s the reason I’m in London. It’s a long story.

  His name is Kung and he’s old. He’s fifty next year. His wife is thirty-five. I was his Mia Noi, his second wife. He helped take care of me and my son, and came to see us several times a week. Sometimes he would tell his wife that he was going to Bangkok on business and he’d stay at my house. It was a really small house, just two small bedrooms, and he said he would build a house with me. He arranged a loan through his bank and we paid every month, half-half. We hired an architect and a builder and spent ages talking about the home we were building. We had a plan. We were going to build the house and then he would leave his wife and live with me and Ice.

  I have known Kung for four years and I was his Mia Noi for three years. Then his wife found out. She told Kung that if I didn’t leave Thailand she would have me killed. He believed her. Her uncle has killed people before. He went to prison once for seven years for shooting a local politician and isn’t scared of anyone. Kung said that I had to leave and that he would help me.

  I applied for a visa to study English in London and Kung acted as my sponsor. He has a friend in the embassy and it was easy. That’s why I left Udon Thani and why I left my son. Kung still goes to see Ice and he helps to take care of him. My mother went to a fortune teller and the fortune teller said that Kung will never marry me. When I left I told Kung it was better that we finished because I would be away for at least a year but he cried and said that he loved me. I don’t think he does. If he really loved me he’d leave his wife and live with me and Ice, wouldn’t he?

  Kung called to say he needed money to pay the builders and that the bank loan payment was due. He kept asking me when I could send him money and I said soon. He kept saying that he loved me and missed me but he kept asking me for money, too.

  When I hung up there were two messages from Oliver on my phone. He had a customer for me at four o’clock this afternoon. His name was Nick and he was very handsome. He was about my age and had a great body. I smiled and kissed him a lot but all the time I was with him I was thinking about Kung and the money. I wasn’t sure when I could send him any. I had to pay Oliver what I owed him.

  Nick wanted sex really quickly and then he asked me to give him a massage. He lay face down and closed his eyes and I spent the last half an hour of his time rubbing his back and shoulders. He was wearing a wedding ring. I felt sorry for his wife. Why couldn’t she do for him what I was doing? He was handsome so I am sure he had a pretty wife. He should have been with her and not with me.

  After Nick had gone, John phoned from the school to ask how I was. I said I was still a bit sick. He asked if he could come around to see me and that he’d bring some fruit with him but I said no, I was going to sleep. I said I would go to school next week. I am sure he wants to have sex with me. Why do so many married men want to have sex with other girls? Why do they get married if they want to be butterflies? That’s what we call men who have lots of girlfriends. Like butterflies, they fly from flower to flower.

  Nick was the only customer I saw so I only earned £150 and £50 of that is for Oliver. If no more customers come tonight then I will go to sleep early. Tomorrow is Sunday so even if I get up early the school is closed. I haven’t been to school for more than a week now. But I am practising my English by talking to my customers, so that’s good. I hope I get another customer tonight.

  Chapter 7

  Sunday March 8. I had one customer today. He came at just after eleven o’clock at night and he was so drunk that he fell into the flat. He was quite young, younger than me I think, and he had shaved his head like a monk and had an ear-ring in one ear. He had funny tattoos on his hands. On the knuckles of one hand he had ‘HATE’ and on the other hand he had ‘LOVE’. When he phoned me about the booking Oliver told me that his name was James but when he was in my flat he said his name was Vince. I don’t know why customers lie about who they are because I don’t care. So long as they pay the money I don’t care. He was so drunk I could hardly understand what he was saying. I asked him for the money first. Cat said I should always do that because sometimes customers didn’t have money and they would try to have sex for free. Vince had a big roll of £50 notes in his pocket and he gave me three. He saw me looking at all his money and he laughed. He said did I want to know where he got all the money from and I said okay and he laughed again and said that he could tell me but then he’d have to kill me. He was joking but I didn’t understand the joke. I wanted to tell him that I had more money than him but I didn’t. It’s best not to tell people how much you have because you might make them jealous or they might try to take it off you. I have hidden my money in the kitchen, in the drawer where I keep my knives and forks and spoons.

  I asked Vince to shower but he said he didn’t want to and he took off all his clothes and lay down on the bed. I was wearing my pink nightdress over stockings and suspenders and looked very sexy, but by the time I had taken off my nightdress he had fallen asleep and was snoring. I shook him but he wouldn’t wake up. I lay down next to him. After an hour I shook him really hard and he woke up. He asked me if we had had sex and
I said sure, it had been great, and he got dressed and went. He could barely walk. It was so funny. I wish all my customers were like Vince.

  Oliver said that Sunday is always a quiet day because all the married customers are at home with their families and the ones that are single usually spend all their money on Saturday nights. I woke up early and phoned Ice and talked to him for more than an hour on FaceTime. Ice kept asking me when I was going home and I didn’t know what to say. I miss him but I need money and the longer I stay in London the more money I’ll earn.

  I spent the morning sorting out my money. Since last Sunday customers had paid me £2,100. Of that I get to keep £1,400 and I have to give Oliver £700. And I got £150 in tips. So in one week I have earned £1,550. I can’t believe it. I would have to work in the restaurant for a month to make that much money. I know Oliver will want me to give him most of my money to pay back what I owe him, but I still feel rich. I put the money down on the bed and counted it again and again. I put Oliver’s money in one envelope and my £1,150 in another envelope. I put the £150 in my purse. I wasn’t going to tell Oliver about the tips.

  At lunchtime my phone rang. I thought it was Oliver sending me another customer but it was Sandra. She said she and a girl called Nancy were going to go to Chinatown to eat and then buy sexy underwear and did I want to go with them and I said sure.

  Nancy is young, about nineteen I think. She is from Korat and is quite dark and has really large breasts. Actually she is a bit fat. Her real name is Noy. She has a very loud laugh but she never smiles with her eyes. We went to Chinatown and ate dim sum and noodles and then we went to a shop called Ann Summers which sold underwear, sexy movies, and sex toys.

  I bought a lot of underwear because it was much cheaper than the shop that Cat had taken me to when I first said I would work for the agency. Sandra said that Cat got a commission from the shops that the girls used to buy their clothes and underwear, and from the photographer who took the pictures for the website. I don’t think Sandra likes Cat very much.

  Chapter 8

  Monday March 9. The flat where we had to meet Oliver was in Sloane Square. We are all to go to the flat every Sunday night with the agency’s money. Cat was already there when Sandra and I arrived, and there were another five girls with her. Cat was cooking Thai food in the kitchen. Pad Thai, Khao Pad, fried chicken and slices of watermelon. Sandra and me were the last to arrive. Nancy was there and she looked a bit drunk. The other girls were Alice, Wanda, Candy, and Vicky. They all smiled at me and said hello but I could see that they were all weighing me up. I suppose we are in competition and the prettiest girls will get the most customers. Sandra is pretty but had very dark skin. Nancy was young but a bit fat and had really big breasts which she says are real but which I think are implants.

  I had met Alice before with Sandra once. She is very sexy but she had tattoos which I don’t like and she is always smoking. Wanda is fairly pretty but she has crooked teeth so she keeps her lips together when she smiles. Candy is pretty but she’s a bit too thin. Vicky is almost forty, though she looks a lot younger and has a really good body. But I think I am the prettiest. I could see from the way that the other girls were looking at me that they thought I was the prettiest, even though I had deliberately not worn make up and was wearing my hair tied back in a pony tail. I know I’m pretty but I also know that sometimes people can be jealous.

  When we were all in the flat Cat telephoned Oliver and after fifteen minutes he arrived. He had brought some beer and some bottles of Thai whiskey and brandy. We all handed our money over in envelopes and on the envelopes we had written how much was inside. My £700 was the smallest, and it was for eight days when everyone else was giving him their money for seven days.

  The girl who gave the most was Alice. She gave Oliver £2,100 which meant that she had earned £6,300 during the week and she gets to keep £4,200 for herself. The next biggest was Nancy. She gave Oliver £1,800. Oliver put all the envelopes on the table and one by one he opened them and checked the money inside. I have never seen so much money in one place. There were seven girls and I think in total Oliver got about £9,000. Can you believe that? He got £9,000 for one week. I could buy a house in Udon Thani for that.

  After Oliver had counted the money and put it in a briefcase, Cat brought in the Thai food and we ate and watched Thai soap operas on the internet. When we’d eaten the girls started playing cards. They played like crazy. They started playing at midnight and they were still playing when I went home at five o’clock in the morning. Alice lost more than £2,000. I couldn’t understand that. She must have slept with loads of men to make her money, yet she was throwing it away by gambling. The girls kept asking me to gamble but I said no. I said I didn’t like gambling but the real reason was that I had worked hard for my money and I didn’t want to lose it. I was going to send most of what I’d earned back to my mum because I had to pay Ice’s school fees for next term. That was why I’m doing this. For my son. Ice is so handsome and so smart and I love him more than anything. I phone him almost every day and he tells me how much he misses me and how much he wants me to go back to Thailand. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep because I miss him so much.

  I went home with Nancy. She stays in an apartment close to mine, close to Bayswater Tube station. I didn’t want to sleep alone so I spent the night at her place. She had drunk a lot of whiskey at the flat in Sloane Square. Nancy said the flat in Sloane Square is where Vicky works. No one knows where Oliver and Cat live. Nancy said she wasn’t sure if that was their real names. I asked Nancy what had happened to the other girls, the ones who were on the website but who hadn’t gone to the flat. I was the thirteenth girl on the website but there had only been seven girls at the flat. Nancy laughed and said Oliver didn’t take a girl’s photograph off the website when she stopped working for the agency. If a customer rang up and asked for a girl who wasn’t working any more, he would lie and say that she was on holiday and recommend one of the girls who was working. Most customers just wanted sex and didn’t really care which girl they saw. One of the girls on the website had left more than a year ago, she said.

  While the girls were playing cards in the flat, Oliver took me to one side and asked me how much I could pay him back. He and Cat had loaned me £6,150. I asked him if it would be okay to pay him back £500 and he said he wanted more. I said that I only had £1,150 and I had to pay for a lot of things for my flat plus £20 every day for my mobile phone. Oliver said it wasn’t his fault and that if I only paid him back £500 a week it would be almost three months before I had paid back all the money that I owed him. Three months was a long time, he said. He couldn’t wait three months. I asked him if £700 would be all right but he said no, he wanted £1,000. I almost cried but I knew he was right. He had loaned me the money and I should pay it back as quickly as possible. But if I gave him £1,000 I wouldn’t be able to send any money back to Thailand. It was as if I had worked for the whole week for nothing. There was only one way I would be able to pay Oliver back and send money back to Thailand. I would have to work harder and that means sleeping with more men.

  When I first started working for Oliver I only did incall, where the customer comes to me. But Cat taught me how to visit hotels. You have to be confident as if you are staying there, and you have to walk straight to the lift as if you are going to your room. If you are dressed well and have an expensive handbag, no one will stop you. I’m glad I started to do outcall. I get more money and I’m getting more customers. I feel really confident now. I can walk into any hotel with my head held high. I smile at the porters and the people at reception and they always smile back. Sometimes after I’ve done a job I go to the hotel bar and sit and have an orange juice. People always smile at me. I think it’s because I’m young and pretty. Most of the people you see in hotel bars are quite old. Most of the outcall customers are quite old, too. Usually more than forty.

  Chapter 9

  Friday March 13. People in England seem to be g
etting more worried about Covid now. There are almost six hundred cases they said on the TV. They said that anyone who had a cough or a fever should stay home for seven days. I had a bit of a cough but I don’t think I have Covid.

  I had only one booking yesterday, for one hour. His name was Peter, at least that was the name that he used when he booked me. After we’d had sex he said that his name was really David and that he wanted to be my boyfriend. He was quite good-looking and he had a good heart but I told him that I didn’t want a boyfriend, I just wanted customers. He said he’d take me to the movies or to dinner or we could just go shopping. I said that we could do all that but he had to book me through the agency first. He seemed to get a bit angry then and he left. Cat warned me that a lot of customers would want to be my boyfriend because they want free sex. She said that Oliver would get very angry if he found out that I had a boyfriend, especially if it was a customer. Oliver worked very hard to make the agency a success so it wasn’t fair to steal customers from him. I said that I would never do anything like that. I didn’t come to London because I wanted a boyfriend. I had two boyfriends in Thailand and they didn’t work out, and the last thing I wanted was another boyfriend. All I want to do is to make enough money to take care of myself and my family.

  No other customers came to see me yesterday. I am not so busy now because Sandra and Nancy are working again. Sandra rang me for a chat and she told me that she had lied to Oliver about having her period. She just wanted two days off so that she could have fun with her boyfriend. I don’t want to lie to Oliver, I just want to work hard and pay back the money that I owe him so that I can start sending money back to Thailand.

  Chapter 10