Amply Rewarded (6 page)

“I’m glad I met you, Julie,” she finally said. “I was getting a little lonely.” There was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“I’m glad I met you, too. Thank you for everything. I’ll be out of your hair soon… As soon as Josie leaves, in a few days.”

“You’re not in the way. I like having you here,” she said.

I got up out of the tub after nearly an hour. I was pruny and soft. Kelly passed me a towel and I wrapped it around myself.

“Come on. Let me put some lotion on your back,” she said.

I followed her to her bed where she lay me down and massaged my back with pink cream.

“It’s peony.”

“It’s lovely,” I purred, absorbing the sensation of her touch.

“Sleep with me, okay?” She kissed the back of my neck. Her lips were so soft they made my neck tingle, and my whole body felt as if I were floating.

“Okay.” I turned. She was sitting on the edge of the bed above me. Lying there, looking up at her, I was floored. How had I found someone so beautiful?

She leant down and I sat up a bit. Our lips met and we kissed. It was so gentle and so sweet. I had kissed Tommy, but this was different. We opened our eyes and backed away from each other. Kelly smiled at me and I’m sure I beamed right back.

She crawled into bed, pulled her plush covers over us and turned away from me. I put my arms around her and my legs against the backs of hers. She fell asleep innocently and sweetly, like an angel. I stayed awake a little while. I couldn’t shake the thought that I had just kissed a girl, and that it was Kelly, and that she was great and felt so good.

* * * *

I can’t say that it was easy to become accustomed to the work. I had no real difficulty with the idea of it. I certainly didn’t care much about the religious implications that my mother and sister would have been horrified by. That stuff didn’t bother me. What was much harder to take was the monotony of it.

I had barely started and I was bored. Bored. Of sexual talk, flirtation, sexual attention. Everything. It seemed so formulaic with men. I could feel their hearts pounding before I even came into the room. I could practically hear their massive gulps when they saw me. It was so predictable. It was unsatisfying how utterly simple most men were.

I guess when I’d fantasised about my brilliant career, it had included all sorts of exotic perversions. I thought I would be repulsed, titillated, engrossed. I thought I would find fascinating folks with secret lives. But I had been a naïve country girl. These men weren’t any more special than the ones back home. They were following convention, having their perfunctory extramarital sex. The single ones were filling their quota, as if taking their vitamins. I had duped myself. The most exciting part about working was the money, the way the cash just kept coming. But the main reason I was there was Kelly. If I left, I wasn’t sure how I’d hold onto her and keep her in my life, and I wanted her to stay.

I became more and more enamoured with Kelly. The days melted into each other and I barely paid attention to my work. I lived for the time Kelly and I spent together. It seemed as though she saw something that I didn’t. It was as if she had an insight into the profession, or the men, or the setting. Maybe she liked it more than me. Or less. Or maybe she had got past her interest in liking it. Maybe her experience of it was much more profound than a matter of mere liking versus disliking.

Either way, I wanted to learn from her. I wanted her to show me what she knew. I sort of hoped that, by virtue of her showing me, I would see something of her, too. I guess what I really wanted to know was her, but I didn’t get that then.

Kelly was generous with her knowledge. She wanted me to sit in on her sessions and was disappointed when I didn’t. It started to bother me watching her with men, seeing her eyes glazed over, watching her calculated moves. The more I got to know her, the more I wanted to watch her experience pleasure, not what she called a means to an end. I had been at it for long enough to know what to do and so for me her lessons were redundant—except, of course, for the fact that I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible and I was glad that she allowed me to do that.

Another one of her regular clients, Mr Collis, had been away for a few weeks. He was usually such a regular that he claimed he couldn’t go a week without seeing his beloved Mistress Veronica, or at least that was what Kelly told me.

We were in her apartment on a sunny Tuesday morning. Kelly slipped her feet into those shiny boots of hers and donned a tight, black, PVC dress. I helped her lace up the corset portion. Carla had yet to give me any of the submissive clients. They were the coveted bunch, the ones who didn’t want sex as much as they wanted to worship feet and get spanked. Kelly had kept those clients sort of discreet, letting me sit in on all her standard sessions but not those ones. For that reason, I was particularly thrilled to be privy to the reunification of Mr Collis and Mistress Veronica.

“It’s easier for me to get into this character,” Kelly said. “I’m tired of the costume thing. I hate doing the standard stuff. I hate the guys who come here for tenderness. It’s like, jeez, get a girlfriend, I don’t want to massage you. God.”

“Yeah. They always want that.”

“In this business, the customer’s not always right. In fact, he’s almost always wrong. That’s what I like about being Mistress Veronica. I get to speak my mind and it’s fine. In fact, it’s mutually beneficial. Just watch.”

I did, and it was amazing.

Mr Collis approached Kelly’s room as if he were entering a shrine. He was so careful and considerate. As soon as Kelly opened the door and emerged from the adjacent room, he dropped to his knees and greeted her with a kiss on each boot. She reciprocated with a kick to his face—not a violent kick, but a firm one nonetheless. The room was dimly lit with a few scattered dark red candles. Despite the sunny morning outside, Kelly had made sure to close all the blinds and close the blackout curtains. Kelly said she liked to go all out for Mr Collis because he went all out for her. He always came with a bag full of presents, and not sick stuff like crotchless knickers. Usable, good stuff, like really fancy chocolate truffles, a cashmere scarf or a lovely gold bracelet. One time he bought her a full day spa treatment at one of the most luxurious hotels in San Francisco. Mr Collis was a rich, middle-aged man. According to Kelly, he was a real gentleman.

After kissing her boots and bowing down and thanking her for kicking him in the face, Mr Collis offered Mistress Veronica a foot massage. “Anything to please Mistress. Please forgive me for having been away from you for so long.”

“I might forget, but I’ll never forgive and you know it,” she said.

“May I please caress those gentle, beautiful feet of yours, Mistress?”

Mr Collis sat on the floor while Kelly seated herself like a Persian cat on a throne. He slowly sniffed at and undid the zippers of her boots, carefully brought out her feet and sat there staring at them for a long time, as though he were afraid of touching her. From where I was, behind the divider again, I felt his pain. I, too, would have been afraid to touch such a majestic creature. As Kelly, at night, she was my best friend and I slept in her bed, holding her dearly and tenderly, but in this light she was a goddess and a force beyond my comfort zone.

Mr Collis eventually held her feet, one at a time, in his palms the way one holds fine, antique silk. I couldn’t blame him for his zeal. Kelly thrust her toes at him almost as though she were attacking him. She opened his lips and mouth with her big toe and prised her way into him. It was oral pleasure like I’d never seen it before. She was rougher on him with her toes than any man had been on either one of us, and watching how much Mr Collis enjoyed it was more than a little stimulating. My panties dampened inside the dark room as I watched, anxiously anticipating what would happen next.

What happened was beyond what I could have imagined. She became angry with Mr Collis, for not getting her off, she said. Mr Collis apologised profusely. Instead of accepting his supplication, Kelly brought out a leather whip and instructed him to pull his pants down, because she wanted to see his bare skin and teach him how to treat her properly.

He followed the order and she went at him like an angered mother at a busy supermarket. She was relentless, and Mr Collis thanked her and bowed down so that his face was hidden in the carpet. His sounds were muffled but it seemed as though he was crying. It went on and on until finally, twenty minutes later, Kelly seemed as though she was satisfied—or bored—and stopped. He thanked her again and she put her whip down, kicked his ass and told him that he could have relief. She passed him a tissue. He thanked her again and took his cock in his hand. He jerked himself back and forth a little bit, then moaned in pleasure and collected his seed in the tissue in his hand, which he immediately crumpled up and put to one side. He fell forward, deep into the carpet in a final stupor. Kelly looked pleased with herself and sat on the sofa next to him, watching him intently. There was nothing indifferent about her this time. She looked engaged and happy.

Mr Collis dressed himself and said, “Thank you, Mistress Veronica. I’ve brought you something in the hopes of appeasing you. I understand your anger over my bad behaviour and I promise not to stay away this long again.” Then he went to his jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny box.

She opened it. “Diamond solitaire earrings. They’re lovely,” she said. “But don’t think that you can buy my affection.”

With that, she took the box and walked away, back into the adjoining room, and closed the door. Mr Collis, stunned, let out a massive sigh, put on his jacket and sat down on the sofa with his face between his knees. He sobbed slightly. I couldn’t hear it—I knew because of the way his body jerked ever so delicately and he grasped his legs in a foetal position. After a few minutes, some composure came over him and he got up and left.

Chapter Four

We never locked the bathroom door. I’d only ever had that kind of intimate relationship—where I could sit on the toilet in front of someone—with my sister, and even then I’d resented her presence. Kelly seemed so comfortable in her own skin. She didn’t care if she was taking a bath, shaving her legs or her armpits or if she was changing a tampon. I was always welcome in front of her and that felt special.

I had come to the city looking for money, and I’d found it. But I think the novelty of my job would have worn off if it hadn’t been for the friendship—or what I then
called
a friendship—with Kelly.

Carla kept me on standard, straightforward clients. One evening a man in his mid-twenties, a well-to-do academic type, came to see me. He wanted to see Josie, actually, but I was the one who met him downstairs in Carla’s lounge. I tried to make conversation with him but he was stand-offish, which I thought was strange. Maybe he was just afraid of talking to girls. I reckoned that he had been turned down so often he had become all too familiar with the feeling of pretty girls being mean to him. He was the kind of guy who hadn’t danced at the prom.

“I just need to relax,” he said, as though I was somehow in his way.

“Okay.” I was calm. “Is that something I can help you with?” I winked. Flirty, I thought.

“Listen, you’re pretty and I’m sure you want a good tip—and I’ll leave you one—just stop talking and massage me.” The tension oozed off him and I wanted to kick him out. I wanted to tell him what an idiot I thought he was, but I didn’t think Carla would be impressed so I didn’t say anything. I kneaded his shoulders and back and thought about what might happen if I just took charge the way Kelly did. Instead, I promised myself a walk along the harbour later. I thought about dying my hair. I thought about how I was going to tell Kelly about him. Half an hour passed with our silent interaction.

Then he turned over on the table and revealed his semi-erection underneath the thin white sheet.

“On second thought,” he started, “I changed my mind.”

It was perverted. He was an asshole, a spoilt brat. I might have been able to get into it if he had been nice about it, but he didn’t think I mattered enough to have to be nice. He thought all he had to do was shell out his money, and any service he desired would follow.

“You changed your mind about what?” I asked. My voice was stern.

“I think I want a little something extra,” he said, looking down at his cock.

“Too late.”

“What? I thought you wanted a nice tip.”

“Oh, I’ll get my
nice tip
.”

“Honey, you have to earn it,” he whispered. He put his hand on my shoulder and vaguely tried to pull my head down.

“Get a girlfriend,” I sneered. I could tell he was just the kind of insecure mama’s boy who expected that everyone would cower to his wants. Well, not me. And I knew that calling him on it would anger him.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? I’m a paying customer.”

“For a massage. That was what you wanted. You said so yourself.” I was prepared to stand behind my statement even to Carla. Nothing was worth being talked to like that. I could walk out on this job and find another.

“That’s a bad attitude.” His response was so predictable, but his actions surprised me. He grabbed my hair and pulled me towards him, not aware yet that one mustn’t take what is not offered. I grabbed his wrist and twisted it.

“Let go of me.”

“I could have you fired,” he said. “I’d be doing you a favour. You’re young. You should go to college or something.”

“And how do you know I’m not?” I asked.

“Are you?”

I didn’t want to tell him that I wasn’t so I didn’t say anything. Instead, I decided that I would lose him as a client and I’d be doing him a favour. He couldn’t rely on his parents’ money forever and this was no way to talk to a lady.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to walk out that door and you’re going to go down to Carla and tell her that you had the most incredible experience of your life with me, and then you’re going to pay twice as much as she tells you to. You’re going to insist. And why? Because you learned the most valuable lesson of your life here today. Then you’re going to go home and think about what you’ve learned. You’re going to start being good to people and treating women with the respect that we deserve and then, when you’ve worked it all out, you’re going to come back here and tell me about it and maybe, if I believe you, we’ll go for dinner—on you, of course—and you can have the pleasure of my acquaintance in public, which I know is actually what you really want.”