by Sienna Hart
I wanted to ask more about it, but I didn’t want to pry on grounds that were sensitive, but Megan had no trouble with it.
“She has been trying to work with him for months now. The fact that he was hand delivered to you probably stabs her like a knife.” Megan grinned an evil grin. She always loved jabbing where people were wounded most.
“Megan, you’re a bitch.” Isabel squinted her eyes and pushed her chair back. “I think I’ll be going now.” She scoffed.
“Don’t go.” Lillian bounced. “We haven’t had dessert yet, and I hear they have a new wine selection this week.”
“I’m sorry, Lillian; I really don’t have much of an appetite.” She walked off, tossing her hair back as she turned around.
“Really, Megan? Why did you say that?” I glared.
“She’s just uptight. She’ll get over it.”
“You really need to get a filter on your mouth.”
* * *
“Thank you for meeting with me Elise.” Michael Chang stood and shook my hand as I entered his office.
“You’re welcome. I’m excited to meet you.” I sat across from him and waited for him to do the same. He stood there and watched me with his arms crossed and his thumb under his chin. I smiled an awkward smile as I felt my heart begin to race.
“Do you know who I am, Elise?” I nodded. “I can make you very famous and quite popular.”
“Yes, sir. I have viewed some of your work from the Sienna Collection and your gallery in the art studio downtown.”
“You’ve done your homework; impressive. So you know the kind of work I do and what I look for in a model.”
“Yes sir.”
“Will you be able to handle such itineraries when assigned to you?”
I took a deep breath and wanted to confirm the hell out of it, but I wanted to be honest so he didn’t have high expectations of me.
“Honestly sir? I am somewhat new to the modeling world and although acting is my passion I am willing to give my one hundred percent to you. The shoot you were at was only my second.”
“Again, impressive. You have raw talent and once those little butterflies settle down in your belly I can see a fire in you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I want to do some pictures of you today, if that is okay.”
My stomach flopped. Was this really happening? Was I about to become the next big thing?
Chapter 6
“Why don’t you follow me and I’ll show you around.”
Mr. Chang led me down the hallway and through a set of black glass doors. This building was so much nicer than Sean Cripton’s business. He showed me the dressing rooms that contained separate sectioned rooms and showers. The lights illuminated the place beautifully and seductively and the artwork on the walls were his own. Women in provocative settings beautifully poised and made up to become a part of the set.
“I will be your photographer for today but in the future you’ll be working with several of my staff who are very renowned and celebrated for their work. Please.” He motioned me to the dressing room and didn’t leave after handing me a very small deep green mini dress with black thigh high boots.
I stood and waited like a school girl before her teacher not knowing what to do or how to act. He raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat.
“I want to see your body, Elise. I want to see what I’ll be working with and what kind of work you’ll need to do to get yourself in shape. If you’re embarrassed to undress in front of me, it will be even more difficult for you to get through my photo shoots. Perhaps we should stop now, and I’ll send you on your way.”
“No, sir. I . . . this is all new to me.”
I began to realize just how direct and dominating he could be. This was just the beginning of a whole new world for me and if I wanted to be the best and work with the best I needed to learn to swallow my inhibitions and do what it took to get there. I turned away from him a little and stripped my clothes off. I stood in front of him for a moment before sliding the dress over my body. It fit me perfectly. The boots were real leather and absolutely gorgeous. I felt amazing as I slid them up my slender legs. I looked at him for approval and he nodded smiling.
“You keep fit. I like that. Follow me, please.”
He led me to a small room down the hallway. In that room were lights, umbrella shades around the lights, beautiful screens and all sorts of other equipment I had never seen before. He motioned me up onto the platform and got behind the camera.
“Elise.” He looked at me so seductively that my stomach flopped again. “I want you to imagine you’re in a jungle. You are crouching between big leafy bushes looking for your prey. You are hungry Elise and you want to fuck. You need to fuck. You see a man in your sights and he doesn’t know you’re there. I want to see you stalk him. I want to see you seductively sneak along to grab him and tear into him once you get to him.”
I nodded and tried to get into a character I had never played before. He began clicking the camera as I crouched down and narrowed my eyes. I looked off in the distance as if I was stalking my prey. It only took a few tries before I really began to love what I was doing. The clicking got faster and although he didn’t say anything, I knew he was loving what I was giving him. I grabbed the bottom of my dress and pulled it up just enough for a peek at what I had. I threw my head back and slid my hand up to my breast. I was getting aroused and wanted more. Sliding my hand in between my legs I started to touch myself. I looked off in the distance at my imaginary prey and licked my lips. Just as I was about to get down on my hands and knees and crawl toward the camera the clicking stopped and Michael walked over to me. He took my hand and helped me down off the platform.
“Very . . . beautiful.” He slid his hand into my hair and kissed me so passionately I could barely breathe. His tongue slid into my mouth, and I melted like butter in July. He let me go and just looked at me. “I haven’t seen raw talent like yours in a very long time. I want you back here tomorrow morning to continue this set.”
I was trying to balance myself and understand what the kiss meant as I listened to what he was saying. He kissed me so passionately and then went right back to his professional, yet direct manner. I supposed I should have been angry at his sexual advance on me, but I was too turned on to even think about that. I went into the dressing room and changed into my clothes. He stood just around the corner and continued to talk to me.
“Elise, we are going to be working together for a very long time. I’ll pay you two fifty for today because I plan on using the photos I just took. The shoot tomorrow will be contracted with an indie clothing company I want you to work for. You’ll be perfect for their alternative styles. You’ll work for them directly, so they will cover your pay when the campaign is completed.”
I came out of the dressing room and handed him the costume. I was so excited I wanted to fly.
“I’m going to make you very famous.” He smiled that brilliant smile again. He turned and led me down the hallway and out the door.
“Thank you sir, Mr. Chang.” I smiled. I walked out of the building and began running down the road screaming and jumping with so much energy I thought I would explode.
* * *
“Wanna go shopping? My body is screaming for some new lingerie.”
“I can’t.”
“Hot date?”
“I still haven’t gotten my money for the shoot I did for that clothing company last week, and my boss at the restaurant cut my hours. I think he knows I’m ready to quit.”
“How much do they owe you?”
“I think, the way Mr. Chang was talking, I should be getting around three thousand for the whole campaign, but I’ve called them a few times. They won’t return my calls.”
“Go down there. You have to live too.”
“Maybe I will. Come with? I’ll treat you to lunch if I can get my check from them.”
“Absolutely.” She grabbed her purse and we left.
The taxi let us off at the address on the contract and drove away. I pulled on the front door but it was locked. Confused I tried again.
“It’s Wednesday right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not understanding why they aren’t open?”
“Um. Elise?” I looked at Megan and she was pointing to a notice taped to the other door. I walked over to it and my heart sank as I read it.
BOHEMIAN STYLE IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
PLEASE CONTACT THE TAX FRAUD DEPARTMENT AT 1-800-555-6658 FOR MORE INFORMATION
“My money!” I plopped down on a stone flower garden wall. “Now what am I going to do? I was relying on this money to pay for my expenses.”
“Oh so now you won’t be able to pay rent again?”
“I don’t need your bullshit right now.” I took my cell out and looked for Michael’s number. I started calling him to tell him what happened and quickly hung up.
“What are you doing?”
“Michael Chang doesn’t want to listen to a new model whine about her bad day. I have a better idea.” I hailed a cab and we went back to the apartment after grabbing some take out Chinese.
“Look. These sites all pay for downloads.” I clicked on another one that came up in my Google search. I pulled my portfolio out and opened it. I showed Megan some of the pictures.
“I thought these were confidential?”
“They were until the company I was contracted with closed for tax fraud. Now they’re mine to do with what I want.”
“They’re pretty racy pictures, Elise. What are you going to do with them?”
I looked at the sites online and smiled looking back at Megan.
“I’m going to expand my internet profile.”
I worked well into the night getting familiar with adult websites, accepting online contracts and paying the starting fees with the little bit of money I had left. I posted my pictures to lure people to my profile and the downloads for more provocative pictures would be paid directly to my bank account.
While finishing up on one of the websites, I got a notification that an email was sent to me. I went to my email and didn’t recognize the sender. Clicking on the envelope I read it out loud.
“Miss Savannah. I am so turned on by your pictures, and downloaded all that you had on your site. Please, please, please post more.” I crinkled my nose. “Pervert.” I kept reading. “I would love to see you in a Shibori chest harness or black leather cat suit. Mmmmm. I will look forward to more.”
I thought about what to say and started typing a reply back.
“Thank . . . you . . . for . . . your . . . interest . . . in . . . my . . . profile. I . . . will . . . be . . . updating . . . my . . . selections . . . weekly . . . so . . . please . . . stay . . . posted. I . . . will . . . do . . . what . . . I . . . can . . . to . . . create . . . your . . . fantasy . . . pictures . . . for . . . you. Love . . . Savannah. XOXOXO” I hit send and then sat back. “God, this is so wrong.” I logged out and went to bed.
Chapter 7
The next morning, I woke up depressed and worried about what I was going to do for money. Megan was over by the kitchenette and offered me coffee.
“Thanks.”
“Let me take you shopping. It’ll take your mind off everything for a while.”
“No. I need to make a plan. I want to look into a few more sites that I can join for free. The more exposure I get the better my chances are.”
“Suit yourself.”
I logged onto my computer and had to look twice at my email account.
“Two hundred and thirty two? Shit, my computer has a fucking virus.”
Megan just smirked as she waited for her toast to pop up in the kitchen.
I clicked on my email and was ready to shut it down, but the emails were all legitimate.
“Holy . . .” I clicked on the first one and scanned it, then the second one, the third, fourth, and fifth.
“What’s up?” Megan crunched into her toast as she walked over to my bed.
“They are all legit.”
“You got over two hundred emails because of the pictures you posted last night?”
“Yes!” I quickly got online to check my bank account. “Megan! Look!” I pointed at my bank balance.
“Whoa. Is that right?” I started laughing and shaking my head in disbelief. “That says you have over a thousand dollars in your account.”
I nodded, still clicking on emails telling me I was gorgeous, how they were turned on, and asking me for more of this or more of that. The next email I opened was very different.
“Miss Savannah? More like granny Savannah. You look old and wrinkly, and I want my money back for wasting it on your shitty slut shots.”
“Delete that one.”
“How mean!”
“You’ll get that. Assholes who think if they send emails like that they can get a charge out of you. Some of them get off on that shit.”
I didn’t get too many of those emails but I did begin to get a sense of what I could do. I sat there and bit my lip as my thoughts began to turn.
“I need to talk to Mr. Chang. I need more pictures.”
* * *
“Elise.” His smile always lit up the room. Mr. Chang met me at the door and led me to his office. Even though he came off as very hard and direct, in his own way he was very sincere. “I heard what happened. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have hooked you up with that company if I had known they were going to get shut down.”
“It’s . . . it’s okay.”
“The people that I work with directly, they keep a certain status in this business, and I stake my reputation on that. When someone lets me down I do not take it lightly.” He motioned for me to sit down, and I sat in the same chair I was in before. He leaned back on his desk right in front of me. “So it’s definitely not . . . okay.” He took my hand and pulled me up. He buried his face in my hair and inhaled deeply. “You smell so good.” A shiver ran through my body, and I started to salivate. There was something about him. “Tell me how I can help you, Elise.”
“I . . . ahem . . . I used the pictures from the last photo shoot and uploaded them to several adult sites online after finding out about Bohemia Style closing down. I figured since they were no longer in business, there was no contract. I looked online this morning, and I have several emails and downloads. I wanted to find out what I needed to do for another photo shoot.”
“You want more pictures for those sites?”
“Yes, sir.” He stared at me with those eyes and I looked away from him as I felt the heat intensify. “I enjoyed the last session and my pictures were breathtaking. I am looking into some alternative modeling. I figure if I can add some different types of pictures to my portfolio, I could reach a bigger audience.”
“I like how you think. You have a good business sense about you.”
“So you’ll help me?”
“I think we can do better.” He walked around his desk and picked up his desk phone. “Sonya, get me Maxim on the phone please.” He hung it up and within a couple of seconds it rang back again. “Maxim. Michael Chang.” He laughed with a hearty laugh that went perfectly with his persona. “Yes. I want to send over one of my girls.” He looked directly at me. “She is the perfect fit for that project we spoke about . . . yes . . . you’ll love her. I’ll send her right over.”
He hung up the phone, and without getting up, he opened his cell phone. Within seconds my phone beeped.
“That is his contact information and address. He’s expecting you.” He didn’t get up or say anything else. He bowed his head over his paperwork and began working. When I didn’t get the hint that he was done with me, he looked back up and raised an eyebrow. “Is there something else, Elise?”
“Oh . . . uh . . . no.” I attempted a smile. “Thank you, sir.” I pretended to study the information he sent to me as I quickly walked out.
I dialed Isabel just to let her know where I was going and what I was doing.
“Have you ever heard of Maxim Gustav?”
“I have, yes. I have worked with him. He is quite eccentric. He does a lot of work in the BDSM world.”
“BDSM? Really?”
“Can you handle that? He is strict but fair.”
“I can. I have to. I’ve endured so much already; what’s a little more craziness, right?”
“Well, if you want to call that crazy . . . okay.”
“How did it go with Michael Chang?”
“Fine. He’s so odd, very hard to read. One minute he is direct. So direct that it’s almost like a third world leader, and then he has his hands in my hair and he’s kissing me.”
“A lot of the photographers will do that. They take what they want because they know most of the girls they work with would do just about anything to be there. Just be lucky a kiss was all he took. Anyway, good luck today.”
“Thanks.” Isabel’s words sort of stuck as I ended the call. I always knew I’d have to deal with special favors to get ahead in this business, but reality begins to get scary.
From the time I walked in to Gustav Studios to the time I got on set, everything seemed very normal and repetitious. I went through the motions very familiar to what I did the last few shoots I did. That was until I saw the costumes and props; leather masks, heavy ropes, brassieres with candy canes protruding out of the cups, and bright red plastic thigh-high boots.
“Eccentric isn’t the word for this.” I mumbled.
A large Russian man entered the set and looked very intimidating. He came up on the set and shook my hand.
“I am Gustav. You are Chang’s girl?”
“Yes, sir. It’s nice to meet you. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
He grabbed a hold of the leather chest harness I wore over the red leather bikini and pulled on it. He looked at the assistant and shook his head.
