Amply Rewarded

by Destiny Moon

  “You wanted my help, remember?”

  “I’m sorry, Kelly.”

  “Look, forget it. If you want my advice, marry rich. It’s the easiest way. Self-preservation, security. You’re not cut out for this.”

  I was insulted and hurt. I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t expected her to be so blunt and I couldn’t make myself come back with anything.

  Our food arrived and we didn’t broach the subject of my career again. All along, though, behind our surface conversation, I kept returning to her statement. I couldn’t figure out if she was trying to be nice to me—‘self-preservation’?—or if it was her way of telling me that she didn’t think I was good enough. If she really meant it was the easiest way, why wasn’t she on the lookout for herself?

  * * * *

  It was mid October, and I couldn’t get the jerk’s comment out of my mind that I should do something with my life and go to school. Did I really want to be doing this forever? The answer was no. Solidly. I was bored. I also couldn’t get Kelly’s statement out of my head. It was mean, like something my family would tell me. Marrying rich wasn’t what I wanted. If I’d wanted that, I could have just stayed in bloody Glendale and married some Idaho tycoon and sprouted out kids. How could she even have said that to me?

  I wanted to have as much of an idea of where I was going as Kelly had. On my days off, I browsed the bookstores for information. I hadn’t grown up with the idea of going to college but that shouldn’t stop me. I hadn’t even taken SATs because, well, why would I? I wasn’t particularly good at school, even though my dad had said I was smart as a whip.

  I bought a study guide and took it home. I perused the pages and read all of the words carefully. At first none of it made sense but, once I forced myself to sit down with that book for an hour a day, I found myself retaining the oddest information and actually enjoying reading the newspapers and magazines that Carla subscribed to. She was different from us, that was for sure. She seemed so accustomed to this lifestyle, as if it were just the most natural thing in the world to live in a beautiful house in Berkeley. I still couldn’t leave the front door without feeling as though I had somehow landed in the lap of luxury. What was so bad about giving a few blow jobs to earn my keep here? And that thought, I knew, was the fundamental difference between Carla and me.

  Here I was, miles away from where I came from, having simple interactions, all things I had done with Tommy. I wasn’t convinced that Carla wanted me to feel comfortable as much as I was convinced that she wanted to sell me to the highest bidder. Kelly was right about her—she was smart.

  But so were we. One of Kelly’s regular patrons had been waiting for the opportunity of two girls at once to come along. Josie, for whatever reason, had declared early on that she wasn’t into it. Kelly had arranged for him, Mr Rutherford, to take us to a hotel and pay us directly without Carla’s knowledge.

  Our job was to interact and fulfil Mr Rutherford’s desires. I embraced the principle of the task. Kelly, who knew him best, was to direct me and I would follow his orders. I never saw it as the financial opportunity it was, nor did I see it as servitude to Mr Rutherford. I really just did it the way I would have done absolutely anything for Kelly. We took a cab to the hotel, Kelly feeling smug about the whole arrangement.

  “We’ve gotta start doing this more. This is our ticket out of Carla’s. You know, we could just fuck Carla, leave that house, get an apartment together and work like this all the time.”

  “I suppose so.” I don’t know why I was hesitant. I guess when I thought about living with Kelly, which I did quite often, I pictured us each having moved on somehow. I pictured her wearing a loose, thin linen shirt and painting in our living room. I pictured coming home to her. I didn’t picture the two of us going out to meet Mr Rutherford. But here we were and it wasn’t bad at all. In fact, I was prepared to have my socks knocked off. I had never been in a fancy hotel room. And even though I had watched Kelly many times, I had never actually participated.

  She approached Mr Rutherford, who was waiting for us in the room, with her usual ease—made a bit of small talk, offered him a cup of tea as a joke. We all laughed. Though he had arranged this for her hospitality, tea was the last thing on his mind.

  Then Kelly immersed herself in his world. As though she could read his mind, she took her shirt off, revealing a tight corset underneath. She ordered me to remove my clothes—all of them—immediately. I did as I was told. I wouldn’t dare disappoint Mistress Veronica, whose tone and delivery were so skilled. I was to be her assistant and I wanted nothing more than to do the best possible job. Naked, I knelt by her as she gestured for me to do. We were mere inches from where Mr Rutherford sat on the king-size hotel room bed. Kelly took me by my hair so quickly that I let out a gasp. When she grabbed me this way, it was sexy. It told me I was in good hands. I wanted her to take charge, to hold on to me however she saw fit.

  She kissed me while watching Mr Rutherford. Her tongue pierced into my mouth as she held me with one hand. It wasn’t the soft kissing I was used to at night. This was ferocious, and everything I had imagined about Mistress Veronica. With her free hand, she caressed my breasts until my nipples were hard, then she stood up quickly, pulling me with her and forcing me, by my hair, to place my nipple in Mr Rutherford’s mouth.

  The sensation of his eager sucking went straight through me and my excitement dripped out of me. Held by Mistress Veronica and nibbled on by this older, almost startled gentleman, I was ready to do anything with them. I loved the attention the combination gave me. Mr Rutherford moaned as though he was the luckiest man alive, and I understood the sound with ease. Mistress Veronica unzipped his pants and held my head down to take his cock into my mouth. I complied, both because I had no choice and because there was nothing I wanted more than to see what she would think of next. I hoped she would force me onto Mr Rutherford’s cock, if only to appease my yearning clit.

  She used my mouth to harden him and just as I thought she was going to mount him in front of me, she merely sat on his lap instead, facing me. Her back to him, she took my hand and guided my mouth to her lovely, moist cunt. I wanted to devour her. She rose up and started writhing her way down his hard shaft. Both of them moaned. He put his arms around her, cupping her breasts and fingering her nipples, and her eyes stayed locked with mine the whole time.

  I sensed what she wanted and licked her with him inside her. She leant back on him, exposing more of her pussy for me. She spread her legs wide. I licked at her swollen pinkness and, even more so than with Tommy, I felt the sensation that I wanted more and more of her. I couldn’t get enough. She started to slide up and down rhythmically, almost jumping. Her breasts bounced beautifully and she moaned with delight as her body shivered with a powerful orgasm.

  I was in awe. I had never seen anything so seductive. It was different from what men did. I wanted to explore more of her, but she changed position. Her attention turned towards him…and me. He was massive, much bigger than he had been in my mouth. His eyes were large with disbelief. I wondered if she had ever climaxed with him before, or whether this was a special offering for me that had nothing to do with him. I chose to believe the latter. Just as I chose to believe that she was the one fucking me when she took me by my hair again, slid her fingers to my opening and guided me, slowly, onto Mr Rutherford’s glistening cock. He tried to grab my hips and thrust inside me, but Mistress Veronica slapped him on the side of his face.

  “This isn’t about you. It’s our first time together so, if you don’t mind, have the decency to be patient and we’ll make it worth your while.” She didn’t give him a choice in the matter.

  He complied with gratitude, leaning back and stroking my skin gently. “Whatever you like, Veronica. I’m just glad to be here.”

  “It’s Mistress Veronica to you,” I said to him. “And she’s about to fuck me with your cock so if you don’t mind…”

  “Sorry,” he said, cupping my ass with his palms and letting us sha
re the moment I’d been waiting for weeks to experience. He wasn’t in the way, though. I actually liked having his shocked face behind me. Picturing his expression was a huge turn-on for me, probably because I was equally shocked and pleased and in suspense.

  Kelly placed a soft cushion in front of me and knelt down where I sat, straddling Mr Rutherford’s cock. She brought her tongue closer and I could feel her saliva lubricating his shaft, making it easier for me to ease onto him. Her breath provided a rhythmic slowness that I needed, and I lowered myself completely and felt him stretch me in a way that I had wanted. Kelly was gentle and caressed me sweetly, which was pleasant and almost sentimental. For a moment, it seemed as though she slipped out of the Mistress Veronica character and touched me with the kind of tenderness specific to Kelly. I wanted this terribly and maybe I just imagined it. I wanted to see her as taking me.

  I lifted myself up and down and watched as Kelly licked my clit. Forcefully, I did exactly as she had done, pounding myself onto him harder and harder. He said he couldn’t take it any longer, held my hips in place and shoved himself deep inside me. He pulled out just in time to release his hot liquid all over my back. Then he sighed in utter relief and rested himself against the pillows propped up on the bed. Normally, this is where a session would have ended, the male climax being the most coveted of moments, but Kelly took me and tossed me onto the other bed in the room, as though Mr Rutherford were out of the picture completely.

  “I want you to come,” she said.

  Her words went straight to my clit and I almost felt myself tremble just at the sound of them. On the bed, I lay flat on my back and Kelly forced my legs apart and massaged my pussy with her tongue. She gave me the gentle touch I longed for. Back and forth, up and down she went until a massive explosion built within. I felt it surface, felt the world disappear once more as I gasped for air and felt my heartbeat race. Then waves of bliss came crashing over me. Kelly stayed with me, holding me.

  I felt triumphant. Kelly kissed me again and I kissed her back as best I could. It was my way of showing my dedication to her. She had done everything right.

  That night, Kelly and I each made Mr Rutherford come once more, which resulted in a heavy bonus. I knew from the start of the evening that any money we received would pale against the satisfaction of experiencing Kelly. A couple of hours later, we took a cab home and stopped off at the convenience store for instant noodles and fashion magazines. We stayed in her suite and slept together in her bed. She cradled me and held me from behind. I slept soundly against her.

  * * * *

  Sometimes, sitting at my dresser, applying powder to my face to cover the redness the last client had left in preparation for the next, I’d make eye contact with myself and, for a brief moment, picture myself at law school, or medical school, or business school. Then working at an office and taking care of Kelly, providing everything she needed. She wanted to be an artist, she’d told me once, while drunk, then had never spoken of it again.

  One evening, while we were hanging out in Kelly’s suite casually painting our toenails and flipping through magazines, as though we were just like the sorority girls on campus, I tried to tell her how I felt.

  “You know what, Kelly? Sometimes I just feel so grateful for knowing you.”

  “Aw, thanks, sugar.” She smiled. “Hey, what do you think of this colour?” She held up a peachy pink opalescent nail polish.

  I nodded. Talking about feelings is hard at the best of times. What had I been thinking, anyway? Kelly loathed that kind of thing. The closest I could ever come to her was sleeping with her.

  That night, when she crawled into bed with me, I kissed her. It wasn’t like the other time—the gentle, innocent time. And it wasn’t the over-the-top, exaggerated kisses she’d given me for Mr Rutherford’s benefit. It was better. It was firm, juicy and real. It was the way I had kissed Tommy, but more intense.

  Although she seemed to enjoy it, too, she pulled away. “What are you doing? There’s no one but us here.”

  It was heartbreaking, though I didn’t realise it at the time. I just felt awkward and clammy, as if I had done something really bad. The thing about Kelly was that she naturally called all the shots. She could do whatever she wanted. But it didn’t work that way for me. She looked at me quizzically, and I didn’t know what I could do.

  “Sorry,” I said, and got out of her bed. I went to the bathroom for solace. I didn’t know what I had been expecting. Was it sex? Was that what I wanted? Well, the short answer was a resounding ‘yes’, but the long answer was harder to fathom. Would we then be a couple? Would we do what normal couples did and build a life together, and buy a house together and all that stuff I’d loathed so much back in the Tommy days? I didn’t loathe thinking about doing all that stuff with Kelly. But it was pretty clear that she wasn’t thinking of me in that way.

  I sat on the toilet and cried. Part of me hoped she would come to the washroom and get me, and take me to her bed, and comfort me. Another part of me didn’t want her to know I was crying.

  I slept in my own bed that night, and every subsequent night thereafter. Like all the other things we never spoke about, we buried that kiss in a secret abyss. We didn’t do more evenings with Mr Rutherford.

  I couldn’t quit this job for another month without getting a heavy penalty from Carla. Kelly and I kept to ourselves after that. We still greeted each other and were congenial, but I had managed to kill the one thing I wanted more than anything else.

  My priorities shifted. I couldn’t wait to move on. I told Carla that I would be leaving at Christmas and that I’d help her find someone to replace me. She didn’t seem surprised. Then I pocketed as much money as I could and kept it in a savings account. I didn’t know what I would get up to after that. It was enough of a challenge, at that point, just to get through the days and nights.

  School finally let out mid December, and I was free to go without destroying Carla’s precious illusion.

  On the morning I left, Kelly came and knocked on my door. It was a strange sound, since we had been accustomed to leaving our doors open and, during that last month, just not talking. I opened the door and she came in and sat on my bed, next to my suitcase.

  “So this is it, huh?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me.” I was surprised by my own attitude.

  “Well, you’re leaving, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, well, so are you, sooner or later. So what?”

  “Well, Merry Christmas to you, too.” She shot down my belligerence with her more refined sarcasm.

  “Kelly, what do you want?” I asked, straight out.

  “I don’t know.” Her eyes were teary and she looked apologetically at me, even though I felt as if it was me who should apologise.

  “I don’t want it to end like this,” I said.

  She stood up and hugged me. We embraced for several minutes. Her hair smelt so familiar and so right to me, and I couldn’t understand what I was doing leaving her behind. I couldn’t go on and live my life without her, but I couldn’t stay here and work it out with her either. What was there to work out? What could I possibly say to her?

  “Take care of yourself, okay?” she whispered.

  “I will. You, too.”

  “You know I will,” she said.

  We both kind of laughed, but not really. It was the saddest goodbye I’d ever experienced. I’d felt no remorse leaving the farm I’d lived on my whole life, but leaving the room across the hall from Kelly’s, where I’d been for three months, made me break down and cry. But not until I’d reached the comfort of my hotel room, where I knew I was safe and alone.

  Chapter Five

  San Francisco, again

  I knew I would miss Kelly terribly. But I also knew that I would see her again. I knew that in a parallel universe we could be lovers, and that I might eventually convince her to come with me if I carved out the right situation for us. If not, she had also taught me—and would therefore understand better th
an anyone—that my own needs were foremost.

  I took a cab to the most exclusive hotel I knew about, had the attendant bring up my bags and paid, for the first time, for my own comfort. My room was luxurious and I decided that I would become accustomed to such luxury immediately. The farm was a world away and now Carla’s would be, too. I would not go back to the house. I was, after all, in the constantly changing and opportunistic world of plentiful gifts and trinkets. I knew how to get what I wanted on all accounts, except with Kelly.

  I stayed in bed the first night, feeling as if I didn’t have a friend in the world. It felt like starting over again. It felt as though I had just arrived in San Francisco and didn’t know anyone.

  I knew that, if I was going to survive this, I would have to thicken my skin, toughen up and move on. I couldn’t afford to dwell on possibilities. I had come here to make a life for myself and I was closer than ever. I had more money than I ever could have imagined in Idaho. I had a whole new set of skills and I had an extensive wardrobe to go with them.

  The next day, I went shopping. I was determined to find a rich man to marry.

  It’s a strange goal to set for yourself, but at the time it seemed my only option and, for that reason, I made it a good option. I ordered a cappuccino at the hotel, drank it slowly while reading the paper, and looked around for successful-looking men. Then I left the lounge and wandered up and down the streets, stepping into the fancy clothing stores. If this was my plan, I would have to look the part.

  That evening, dressed in my decadent new dress and upholstered with my false yet realistic eyelashes, I sauntered to the bar in the lobby where I not only belonged, but radiated. All eyes were on me as I entered the candlelit room, found myself a little table against the back wall and waited for a suitor.