TATIANA

It all started as a game, a way to entertain myself and escape the occasional nightmare that is my life. But here I am, fully invested in the world of internet dating.

While it may not be the most conventional way to date, I'm doing it for two reasons and that's attention and money.

Yes, money. Apparently there are so many weird people out there who are so lonely that they would pay for a little affection. 

Here I was, resentful and bitter towards everyone who has it better than me when I have had the solution to have it just as good right infront of me.

"So Lily," Jeff, my lastest internet friend purrs from the other side of my laptop, his half naked body in full view. Well, at least he's not fully naked.

"Yes Jeff?" I briefly wonder if that's even his real name because Lily Rose is most definitely not my real name but who cares, he's paying and that's all that matters.

"Are you going to take it off?" 

He's talking about my bra. He asked me to remove my top and I did but now he wants to take everything off, typical men. "No estoy quitando  mi sujetador." I always get away with saying no when I use my native language.

Jeff groans. "It excites me when you talk like that." 

I'm not surprised that talking in Spanish excites him, almost everything excites him including this fake ass wig that I'm wearing.

"Really?" I ask him in a low seductive voice. "What else excites you?"

"You." He's practically panting. "Everything about you excites me. Especially the idea of touching you, being with you and making love to you." 

Ironically the idea of doing any of those things with him does the exact opposite to me. I would absolutely die if he put his hands on me. He strikes me as a pervert, a disrespectful one at that because he doesn't even bother to remove his wedding band when he's 'chatting' with me.

But who am I to judge? After all I'm taking money from lonely, possibly married older men who are looking for affection.

No one is a saint in this world and it's not like we are doing anything wrong and I'm most definitely not hurting anyone. There are worse ways to make money and this ain't one of them.

"Tell me you want me. Tell me what you fantasize about, in detail." I add as I play with the long strands of the caramel wig.

"Oh Lily," he starts but before he can go into the gory details of whatever perverted thoughts he has about me, I start to hear a commotion downstairs and knowing my family it's only a matter of time before that commotion erupts into something more.

"Sorry Jeff but I need to go." The walls thin and the last thing I want is for my two worlds to collide, Lily Rose doesn't need to come in contact with anyone who isn't on these dating sites, if I can even call this dating.

Jeff frowns. "What, now?" 

"Yes, now." I say, ignoring the look of annoyance on his face. "I will make it up to you, I promise. Bye." I log off the site before he can say anything else.

After removing my wig a pair of sweatpants and a sweater I rush downstairs to see exactly what has Marshall so pissed off now.

Well, as usual it's Santiago and Marshall having a pissing contest. They can never seem to be in the same room without bickering and since we all live under the same roof, it makes our lives pretty interesting.

"What the fuck is going on?" I ask, reacting to Marshall having my brother pinned against the wall.

"He's just being an asshole, nothing new." Santiago says nonchalantly even though Marshall is ready to kill you.

Marshall grips Santiago's throat. "You will not disrespect me in my own house you little shit!" 

"Stop it, you are hurting him!" I yell but as usual I'm ignored. I turn to my mother who is watching helplessly while her boyfriend assaults her son. "Aren't you going to stop him?" It's a rhetorical question really, because my mother will never stand up to Marshall.

"H-he won't hurt him." She practically stutters.

"Oh por el amor de Dios!" I shake my head at my mother before attempting to stop the fight myself.

"Get off him!" I yell at myself as I try to remove his grip off of Santiago. "You are hurting him, let him go!" I demand of him.

Marshall, obviously stronger than me, pushes me off him by slapping me with the back of his hand. 

The slap causes me to fall onto the floor but at least it gives Santiago an opportunity to get out of Marshall's grip.

"Tatiana!" My brother rushes to my aid. "Are you okay?" He asks as he kneels besides me.

I nod. "Yes I'm fine." This isn't the first time Marshall's hit me and it sure it's not the last so I'm used to it.

"I hope this teaches not to fuck around with me boy!" Marshall curses at my brother.

"You bastard!" Santiago starts to launch himself at him but I stop him.

"Don't, he's not worth it." I tell him.

"This is my house, I make the rules and whoever doesn't like them can pack their shit and leave!" Marshall practically spits the words at us. "Come on baby, let's go to bed." He tells my mother before  going upstairs to his bedroom.

My mother, after giving us a somewhat remorseful glance, follows him upstairs like the lost puppy she is.

Santiago helps me up even though I keep telling him that I'm fine. I guess he's just as protective of me as I am of him.

"I thought we talked about you not provoking him. Why can't you just avoid fighting with him?" I ask him once we are in my room.

"He was disrespecting mom!" Santiago says defensively.

I sigh. One of my brother's many problems is that he believes our mother is some victim in all these. He refuses to see that she's a not an innocent and helpless bystander who watches as her boyfriend abuses us. She can stop him and if she wanted to, she could but she doesn't because she just doesn't care enough.

"It's her boyfriend, why do you have to get involved?"

"She's still our mother!" He hisses at me.

That's another one of Santiago's problem, he believes that our mother is an actual mother. Somewhere in his head he actually believes that she loves us. If it wasn't so sad it would be hilarious.

"Okay." I have to agree to disagree otherwise we won't get anywhere. "But try not to get in so many fights with him, okay. Just look at what he did to you." I'm referring to the deep bruises on his neck though it's nothing compared to what Marshall's done to him before.

Santiago just shrugs. "Okay I will try but no promises." He gives me a quick hug. "I have to go out. Will you be okay."

"Where are you going?" I ask him even though I already know the answer.

"Out!" He repeats as he starts to leave. I swear his obsession with Max Genesis is going to be the death of him.

Anyway, now that things have settled down, for now at least, maybe it's time I log on to my sites and see if Jeff is still online. After all he did pay for the full experience and there's no way I'm giving him a refund so I might as hell just get this over with.

I log on to The Golden Cage and surprisingly Jeff isn't online. Maybe he got tired of waiting and decided to settle for the real thing, his wife.

Well, who am I to complain? I just made a couple of hundred dollars from talking to someone and pretend to want them while in the comfort of my bedroom.

I'm about to log off and call it a night when I get a notification about someone else who likes my profile.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I click to see who it is and boy am I surprised. 

Holy shit! It's Mr Hamilton aka my best friend's dad!