"You don't need to be my friend to paint me," she pointed out. "I'm glad to be your friend anyway." Sonia took off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the bed now like a child would.

Darius shrugged. "When you're a rich guy like me, you don't meet a lot of people. You meet other rich kids and they are awful." He downed the bottle and now wished he had brought another. He really felt like getting drunk. "I had one friend in all my time before you. His name was Chris and... he was a complete monster. Poor people were just bugs to him. Even his 'friends' were toys and puppets to play with. I don't think he'd ever had a considerate thought in his life.' He wondered aloud as he stared at the ceiling.

"That is terrible," she said with her head tilted. "But it still doesn't make you a terrible person to befriend a terrible person. It just means you make mistakes."

Darius gestured to her with a nod. "But I always knew he was terrible. Never stopped me from hanging around him. And why? Just because. He was my friend. He let me be around him."

"And I was bedding your brother, the most terrible person I know. Does that make me a bad person?" she pointed out. Her eyes were on his face as she spoke, "Just because you associate with a terrible person, does not make you guilty of the same crime. Furthermore, you admit to your mistakes."

Darous smiled. "You didn't do it by choice though. May I ask, have you ever been with a man because you wanted to?" He didn't mean it in a bad way, he knew little of a prostitute's life. He wondered how often they did have men because they liked them or if that even was allowed.

"My first..." she said. "But he was a courtesan too." She was honest. "But since then, nobody, though there is the one I told you about and one other that I wouldn't mind rolling in the sheets with for free." If she was an innocent, she would have blushed at her own words. She was far from innocent though.

Darius nodded. "Well, how does it feel now to know every time from now on isn't about money and just your choice?" He looked at her and felt almost sad that even her first had been for the business. But what did he know? He had managed to avoid the brothels with Chris all his life.

"I don't know yet," she said. "I am not truly free until I have a plan." She sighed. Sonia stood up then and began to pace a little bit.

Darius nodded and watched her pace. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out. Just let me know if you need something from me. I'm not much of a planner." He kicked off his shoes and stretched on the sofa and let his head lean back.