Bradley liked making his clients wait. It made them hungry for him. And why wouldn’t they be? He was one of the best. He had a list of regulars, some of whom had offered to buy him a place of his own. But Bradley knew better than to fall for such offers. In his line of work, there was no such thing as love.

He tried to ignore the people staring at him, but he didn’t blame them for staring. At six feet tall, with a handsome face and piercing green eyes, he would have been offended if people didn’t stare. He was dressed expensively, and he knew they were wondering why such a man would take the subway. Bradley preferred traveling by train. He would have hired a driver to take him places but it was a risk he wasn’t willing to take, especially not with the way things were at home.

He moved his hand through his silky brown hair and noticed two women whispering to each other near him. He knew they were talking about him. Tough luck, he thought to himself. You’re not my type.

The train came to a stop and Bradley made his way through the crowd and onto the street. He felt his cell phone vibrate. It was probably a text from one of his regulars who had his number, but he wasn’t going to answer it. He never answered texts from any of his regulars, no matter who they were. His handler, Rick, was in charge of such things.

He walked through the carpeted corridor of the hotel, stopping at door number ‘512’ and placed his hand on the doorknob. The man’s name was Thomas Pierce, an accountant from a respectable firm. Bradley opened the door and entered with a confident air. It wasn’t something he hadn’t done before, so there was no need to be hesitant. Thomas, on the other hand, was someone who hadn’t done this before and Bradley looked forward to teaching him a few things.

Bradley was a master at kissing. It was a skill he had perfected through the years. He gently placed his arms on Thomas’s shoulders and made him lie down on the bed. He unbuttoned Thomas’s shirt and planted little kisses on his neck. Thomas felt little surges of sensual electricity as Bradley worked his way downward.

***
“Edward’s dead,” said Rick before Bradley could say anything.

What? Bradley didn’t know how to respond. It was as if his entire world came crashing down around him. He heard sirens outside his house, and he ran to the door and unlocked the gate.

“I’m Officer Kern and this is Officer Millhouse,” a man standing six feet tall introduced himself and his partner to Bradley. “Can we come in?” Bradley stepped aside and the two officers entered the house.

“I take it you were the last person who met Mr. Edward McCain?” asked Eugene.

“Yes, probably,” answered Bradley.

“Please, sit down,” said Kern. Bradley nodded and sat down on one of the chairs.

“Now Mr. Bradley, I need you to tell me about Mr. Edward.”

“He asked me to meet him,” answered Bradley, and he told him everything. He didn’t give away much detail about what they did in the room, but Kern got the gist of it. “After that I came back home. How…how did he die?”

“He was stabbed several times,” said Kern. “It was Rick who alerted us about the murder. He had called Edward to talk about payment but he didn’t answer. So he asked one of the hotel maids to check on him. That’s when she found him dead on the bed.”

“And you think I did it?” asked Bradley.