Athena's Pov

"Just bloody look at it!" I exclaimed, showing him all the nooks and crannies of my new room.

It's been an hour since we've been on call. Other than updating him on every occurrence in the last three hours, I've eaten his ears out by telling him how rich my hosts are.

"It's cool." He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What do you mean by 'it's cool'?"

"I mean..." He sighed. "I thought we hated those guys?"

Ever since grandpa told me the truth about how I was conceived and abandoned by three drunk teenagers and a prostitute, I hated each one of them. And Tristan being my best friend naturally loathed them just as much.

"We did. We still do. And that doesn't change if they give me a good room to stay in but I can enjoy it."

He looks at me for a moment before speaking again. "You know you have to leave this nice room, amazing car and gigantic yard, right?"

"Of course I do. Stop speaking like an old man who's seen the worst in life and doesn't find anything interesting anymore and is probably waiting for death as he tells young people on how meaningless material things are."

He chuckles. "Do I really sound like that?"

"Sometimes. When you're trying to be my dad."

"Trust me I have no intention of being your dad. I could be your daddy though." He playfully winks at me.

I raise an eyebrow. "Well I was particularly looking for a sugar daddy but I guess I could wait until you get rich."

"How much sugar are we talking?" He asks like we're negotiating.

I thought for a moment. "I don't know. What's the rate nowadays? I think a thousand euro every month doesn't sound too bad."

"Hmm... Wait till I'm eighteen."

"Sure, daddy." I whisper seductively.

I see his cheeks getting coated with red and I start laughing. This is how Tristan Anderson is, he would tease me but the moment I flirt back he gets all shy.

He doesn't look at the camera and decides to clean his messy desk. "Go get your breakfast, I have homework to do."

"Please do mine too, daddy." I say innocently.

He rolls his eyes. "I was already going to. You weren't any better before and now you have the excuse of unfortunate shady circumstances."

"Hey! Don't scold me now. It's not like I'm enjoying having my grandpa in bandages." I pout.

"I know." He pulls his desk chair and sits down setting his phone on the table. "Just don't get attached-" I cut him off.

"I won't. I hate them."

"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about everything that comes with the prospect of a relationship with them."

"You think I'm a golddigger?" I gasped, acting offended.

"You're not. But you're too affected by materialistic things."

"That's totally false information. It's not like I only like men for their money..." I tried thinking of a good example. "The guard!" I exclaimed. "One of the guards here is so hot and I would love to get with him. Although he totally ignored me but you know I love a challenge so I'm determined to atleast try." I sidetracked. "But that's beside the point. The point is, I'm pretty sure he earns less than my grandpa so you see I'm not after money all the time." I clapped my hands together.

"You want him for his looks, athena. That's still materialistic." He stated.

He's right. I'm always either after money or a good fuck. I never liked serious relationships and everyone I've been with yet knew it before signing up.

"But... look, the pedos I'm with, want a young girl and I want cash so it's like a win win situation for both of us." I explain giving him a toothy smile at the end.

"Athena," His voice was close to helplessness. "You can't use your body to get what you want. Maybe it's okay after some years but for now it's wrong. You're sixteen and those men are taking advantage of you."

"You know I rarely sleep with much older men and I have a very strict grading system to judge them before making a move so I usually stay in the safe zone. And when I do have sex with someone it's because I want to, if I get incentives then that's an added bonus but I'm not fucking for money."

"Doing something rarely or not doing it for the money, doesn't make it right." He puts down his point. "And your shitty criteria of judgment really needs to update because no matter how good the guy you choose is, he's still a pedophile and he needs to be locked up rather than get a chance to screw you."

My lips thinned as I heard the brutal truth. Tristan and I have a rule to always be honest with each other and speak our mind so I can't even be mad at him for it.

"Tristan... You don't know how good it is with them. They know what they're doing. People my age suck. And you won't understand because you're a virgin. Once you do it, you want better and once you taste premium, you can't resist it."

Despite having great options -which naturally come with a sharp jawline, blue eyes, brown hair, six foot two height and being the best scoring shooting guard on the school's basketball team- Tristan has still kept his purity.

He said he's saving himself for someone special. He's the guy any girl would take home and introduce to her family. That's the reason grandpa only trusts me with him because he's the classic good guy.

Tristan never judges me for who I am but he's always been clear that he doesn't want to have sex without feelings. He wouldn't ever sleep with someone he doesn't love.

It's funny that his only best friend is a slut.

I offered to find him a girl -not that he had any problem doing that himself- but he said he doesn't want to get into a relationship anytime soon.

Due to his unavailability and always hanging out with me, many people thought we were dating but we would never.

Tristan is like my gay best friend. He's someone I can trust to never make a move on me because he knows me so well that he could never think of me romantically.

I'm not the best of women out there.

And besides, I asked him to marry me when we were four but he refused saying if I ever say such 'inappropriate stuff' -I don't even know where he learned that word- then he'll break off our friendship. I'm pretty sure his opinion hasn't changed -not that I want it to.

We are good how we are. I would never want to date him and ruin our friendship when we break up -which I know will happen eventually. I don't think I'm made for serious commitments. I get bored too easily. And I would never wanna break anyone's heart or worse, cheat on them so I stick with casual hookups.

"I understand enough to know that sleeping or hanging out with guys twice your age is wrong at all levels when you're a minor."

"I haven't slept with a guy twice my age yet, don't give me new goals." I wiggle my eyebrows at him but when his eyes narrow down, I drop the amusement. "Most of them just want to talk or hug at most. And honestly I don't see anything wrong in making some side cash with flirting and hanging out with people who can take you to exquisite places."

"They're only doing that because they love to talk dirty with a teenager. They love the innocence that you fake in front of them. They want to corrupt you and lead you to the 'favors' part."

"You know I dump them when they get to the 'favors' part. So what's the big deal? Why can't I enjoy the perks of being a pretty girl until they start getting serious?" I argue.

"Athena, you're not hanging out in the right group. Remember Jeremy? He turned out to be affiliated with a gang. Do you have any idea how bad it would've been if you did get into a relationship with him for money? Most men back off when you tell them to because they're scared that they would get in trouble if caught with a minor. But Jeremy wouldn't have had those fears. What if he didn't back off when you wanted to end it? You understand how risky you're playing?"

"I do... How else can I make money beside the shitty waitress job I'm already doing which barely covers my hair appointments. You know grandpa wouldn't give me extra cash. If I don't find alternatives then I can't go to clubs, spas, fancy restaurants and... I don't wanna waste my life getting up to go to school then coming back home only to do homework and boring house chores. I want to enjoy. I wanna make my life worth living."

I was twelve when I sneaked out for the first time to meet a guy three years older than me. That same night I lost my virginity. I didn't regret it though, it was planned. I wanted to do it. I wanted to know what it feels like. What fun feels like. What freedom feels like.

But since that day Tristan and I started having contradicting thoughts. He didn't approve of what I did and so he started trying to persuade me. He's been doing this for four years now, but to no avail.

Soon I started to sneak out more and enjoying the night life of the city. When Tristan saw that I can't be stopped, he became my crime partner again.

He started doing everything that I did. Some might say I'm a bad influence on him and I would totally agree with them. I've had him try cigarettes, different alcohols and even weed.

I turned him into the rebel I am.

We always went out together and occasionally when I left him -because I had older company which he wouldn't like- he'd scold me for it as he wanted to always stay by my side wherever I went.

He once punched a guy six years older than us because I had given him a blowjob just a day ago -which he deserved since he got me premium tickets to a concert. But since then he promised to never get between my hookups otherwise I'll stop telling him the truth.

"Then earn by some other means. You're brilliant at photography and- and I could help but stop going out with such disgusting men."

"I have needs, Tristan. Both financial and sexual. And I want someone to fulfill them for me." I said frustrated. "And I'm not hurting anyone so why is it even wrong?"

"What about hurting yourself, amorcito?" He said quietly.

"Tristan, that's it. I don't wanna talk about it." I didn't have anything else to say in my defense.

"Alright but just... Just be careful." He mumbled.

"I know how to take care of myself, trust me."

"How? How do I trust you? You clearly didn't trust me enough to let me know you were sneaking out last night." He rightly accused.

"That was because it was a last minute plan. Grandpa said he'll be out with Oliver and you know that doesn't happen often so I took advantage of the opportunity thrown at me by the universe."

He shook his head. "You're supposed to inform me, Athena. I don't care if I was sleeping. We're best friends. I don't even interfere in your personal matters anymore. I don't care who you... date," I don't date but he still used a polite term. "I just want to make sure you get back home safe."

"I know I'm sorry." I said feeling every bit guilty.

"It's not your fault that you wanna have fun. But the world's a horrible place."

"The old man in you is coming out again, T-Rex."

When we joined kindergarten, Tristan always brought his toy dinosaur with him which he didn't share with anyone. But when he shared it with me, everyone got to know who he really belonged to and I nicknamed him after the same toy. We became best of friends since that day because he made me feel special -which he still always does.

"Is it?" He chuckles.

"Yup!" I smile at him.

No matter how much he scolds me or goes against me, I know he truly cares about me. And just like grandpa, I take advantage of his love for me and I hate myself for doing that.

"Shit! It's 7:35 already." His voice breaks my trance.

"Fuck! Hades was already saying it like it's a church bell. I should've been there already." I hastily got up. "I'll talk to you later, okay? Love ya ba bye."

"Bye." He cuts the call.

He didn't say 'love you' back. For me it was a casual sentence but it held meaning for him. He doesn't use it as goodbyes. I only had him say it to me on rare occasions like my birthdays or his or sometimes even Christmas.

As we grew older, our differences became more apparent. I wonder if we would've ever become friends if we didn't meet when we were kids and I was as innocent as a vegetable.

I know he wouldn't have ever liked the traits I have now. He would've never wanted a friend like me but since he isn't the type to leave old relationships, he's stuck with me now.

Among the two of us, I know he's the smarter one even if I'm four months older than him. He always understands everything better from school to people.

I know Tristan is right. I know he only wants to protect me and I know I should listen to him and grandpa. But what I do feels right to me under the context of happiness.

Still I always end up questioning my judgment after Triston's sessions on safeguarding myself. I constantly think about whether I'm the scammer or I'm being scammed.

What if my whole idea of life was wrong? What if I was throwing myself into the same hole the trio did when they were my age? What if I turn out just like them; emotionless and selfish.

What if I end up regretting everything?