I thought it would feel empowering to just sleep with whomever I wanted to, but I wasn’t built that way. I just wasn’t honest enough with myself to know that at the time.

A man who wants a woman who’s uncomplicated doesn’t truly want love, because he doesn’t truly want a woman. Because all women are complicated. Girls are complicated. The only things not complicated are transactions, and that’s what Matthew and I had. And with our arrangement, I realized, he wasn’t paying for sex. He was paying for me to be uncomplicated, and I accepted the money to hide who I really was.

I would no longer open my soul to people undeserving of it.

The other houses in the neighborhood had Christmas lights up and trees visible in their windows, but not Shae's. She and I were the only ones who didn't care anymore, and I liked that about her.

My name is Jasmine Lewis, and this is my story. It’s a cautionary tale about money, sex, and power, but I guess those words are redundant. Money is always about sex and power. And sex is always about power. And why have power if you can’t have sex and money?But anyway, this is a story about money, sex, and power. This is the story of The Sugar Baby Club.

Relationships are never complicated. You’re either together or you’re not. If someone says it’s complicated, it really just means someone’s killing time until something better comes along.

You never knew this, but I was in love. Okay, infatuated, but it felt like love at the time.