Panties for Sale (16 page)

Joe opened one eye and looked at her. “I thought you wanted
to fuck me?
 
Why are you playing with
me?”
 
He pushed her off of him and rolled
her over onto her back.
 
“Now it is time
to stop playing games.
 
Spread your legs
and take it like a good girl.”
 
He
grunted as he pushed her legs apart with his knees and moved into
position.
 
“Here is what you asked
for.”
 

Chieko cried out as Joe pushed himself in deep.
 
It felt like something inside was being torn
apart. “Move your hands and let me fuck you properly,” he growled.
 
Chieko gritted her teeth but she removed her
hands from his shoulders.
 
Without any
restraint, Joe pushed in as hard as he could.
 
It felt like his penis was hitting the back of her pelvic bone trying to
smash it.
 
She arched her back and
squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the pain.
 
“Stop fighting it,” Joe grunted.
 
“Show me how much you like it.
 
I want to hear you moan.”

Chieko kept her eyes closed and tried not to notice Joe’s
sweat dripping onto her chest.
 
“Oh,
you’re so good.”
 
Chieko muttered, as she
rolled her fingers into fists and pushed them into the small of her back
lifting her hips and rocking them in rhythm with Joe’s thrusts.
 
“Yes, oh,” she gasped out through gritted
teeth, “oh yes.”

“Tell me you want me.”

“What?” Chieko eyes flashed open.
 

Joe was staring intensely at her from above.
 
“I need you.
 
Be a good girl and tell me how much you want me.”

“I want you,” Chieko gasped.

“Tell me you need me,” Joe squeezed the skin on Chieko’s
legs.

“I need you,” Chieko’s teeth were clenched.

“Again,” Joe pumped himself faster, his face turning red,
“louder!”

“I need you,” Chieko shouted.

“Don’t you feel it?” he panted, “the connection?”
 

“What?” Chieko looked up Joe’s red face and bloodshot eyes
in disgust and then turned her face away.
 

Joe slowed down and leaned on one elbow, gathering up her
long hair in his fist.
 
He pulled it back
hard, wrenching Chieko’s head back to face him.
 
Holding her hair in his grip, he lowered her face close to hers.
 
“You love me. Tell me you love me.”

“No.
 
I can’t”

“Tell me you love me!”

Chieko closed her eyes and moaned, hoping Joe would think
she was caught up in the passion of the moment.

“No!”
 
Joe slapped
the side of her leg. “Tell me you love me!”

Chieko’s eyes flickered but stayed closed. “Oh, oh, so
good,” she moaned louder.

“Say it,” Joe slapped her across the face.
 
“Say it!”

 
Chieko’s eyes
flashed open and she glared at him.

“Say it,” Joe traced the imprint he had just made on her
face and then reached down to wrap his fingers around her throat.

“I love you,” Chieko whispered.

“Again,” Joe’s fingers gripped tighter.

“I love you,” Chieko gasped.

“Louder,” Joe roared, his fingers squeezing tight as he pumped
furiously.

“I love you!” Chieko screamed.

Joe groaned, shuddered and then collapsed on top of
her.
 
Slowly he released his grip and
relaxed the full weight of his body onto Chieko.
 
She tried to catch her breath as she stared
at the ceiling, pinned by Joe’s body,
 
his sweat dripping over her.
 

“Damn.
 
Good
girl.
 
Very good Japanese girl,” he
sputtered as he rolled over, peeled off the condom and threw it on the
floor.
 
He leaned over, kissed Chieko on
the forehead then lay back and closed his eyes.

Chieko lay still, waiting until she heard his breathing
turn to heavy snores.
 
Then, slowly and
painfully, she got up and got dressed.
 
She took the envelope from the nightstand and quietly let herself out
the door.
 
She had just reached the
elevator when her cell phone rang.
 
“Ok,
I’ll be down in a moment.”
 
As she hung
up the call, her legs began to shiver uncontrollably.
 
Pressing the stop button on the elevator, she
sank down against the wall.
 
She tried to
hold back the tears as she looked up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of
what had just happened.
  
It had been so
intense.
 
Too intense.
 
And so painful.
 
Burying her head in her hands, her body
shook.
 
Sobbing, she realized where she
was again.
 
Trapped underneath a man.

“Alexandria.”
 
The very
sight of Joseph sent Alex’s already racing heart aflutter.
 
He took her by the shoulders and kissed her
slowly on both cheeks.
 
Keeping ahold of
her shoulders, Joseph stepped back and whistled between his teeth.
  
“Beautiful,” he murmured, “just beautiful.”
 
Alex was pleased that the hour she had spent
straightening her hair, doing her makeup and deciding on the perfect pale pink
sweater set had been time well spent. “So, how is Alexandria?”
 
Joseph wrapped his arms around Alex’s waist and guided her into his
suite.

“I am fine.
 
How are
you?”
 

“Busy.
 
These days,
very busy.”

“Really?
 
How so?”

“No.
 
Such boring
conversation, talking about my business.
 
No, not today, I want to talk to you, about Alexandria.”

“Ok,” Alex smiled.
 
She was happy to talk about anything with Joseph. She walked into the
hotel suite and headed towards the sofa, but Joseph stopped her.
 

“I am hungry.
 
Are
you hungry?”
 

“Sure.”

“Ok.
 
Wait a moment,”
Joseph kissed Alex on the cheek then dashed off into the bedroom.
 
Now what? Alex wondered as she wandered to
the window and back again.
 
Doesn’t he
want me today either?
 
Is he not
attracted to me?
 
But he must be,
right?
 
I mean, he did just say I was
beautiful.
 
And he did make this
appointment.
 
And his eyes, the way he
looks at me. No, of course he is interested.
 
She turned to walk back to the window when Joseph walked out of the
bedroom, pulling a black cable knit sweater over his head.
 
Damn. Alex’s heart skipped more than one
beat.
 
She hadn’t thought he could get
any more handsome, but there he was.

“We go?” Joseph smiled and reached for Alex’s hand.
 

They took the elevator down to the ground floor and walked
hand in hand through the elegant lobby of the Royal York hotel. “So,” Joseph
paused on the hotel steps basking in the warm afternoon sun, “where do we
go?”
 

The only restaurants Alex knew in the area were food courts
along the PATH where she used to spend her lunch hours while she worked at the
TD bank.
 
That and the Marché
Movenpick.
 
Which she only knew because
her ex-boyfriend took her there, before he took her to the Lion King.
 
That had been her big Valentine’s Day
surprise.
 
Ugh.
 
Well not completely ugh.
 
It had been a nice idea.
 
Too bad it was all his mother’s idea.
 
However, it was not what Alex had wanted to
do.
 
Especially since he had told her it
was a ‘black tie’ surprise.
 
Alex had
gotten all dressed up in a long black slinky dress with stiletto sandals and
their seats were in the second balcony!
 
Alex still shuddered when she remembered how she had to sit in all her
finery at the back of the theatre, surrounded by a Chinese tour group in jeans
and Toronto sweatshirts while her ex happily munched away on popcorn that his
mother had packed for him in a brown paper bag.

“This way,” Joseph wrapped his arm around Alex's shoulders,
pulling her closer and turned up Yonge Street.
 
“Ah Alexandria,”
he sighed, “when will you marry me?”
 
Alex laughed.
 
He was kidding,
wasn’t he?
 
Of course he was.
 
But it didn’t stop her heart from
flipping.
 
A girl can get used to this,
she thought, strolling down the street, the warm sun on her face and Joseph’s
arm wrapped protectively around her.

Alex mentally flipped through her other clients as they
meandered up the street wondering why none of them were so charming.
 
She had only had a few so far. She was still
working through her ‘first dozen’ or so, but why did no other client stand out
so much?
 
They were all relatively the
same.
 
Old-ish desperate-ish, over worked
married business men in suit who didn’t feel appreciated or sexed up enough at
home.
  
What was it that made all these
men go out and cheat on their wives?
 
And
pay for it?
 
Did they just outgrow their
wives?
 
Did they need to feel young
again?
 

Ok, she conceded it was probably difficult for a busy, 50
year old family man to pick up single interested girls.
 
I mean, Alex wouldn’t have looked twice at
any of her other clients if she had met them under different
circumstances.
 
They definitely weren’t
the suave night club type.
 
And how would
they explain to their wives the need to stay so late at work?
 
So, escorts were convenient.
 
But shouldn’t they be having sex with their
wives?

But then Alex had to remind herself, she wouldn’t have this
job if men didn’t cheat on their wives.
 
That’s probably how prostitution started anyways.
 
A day, ok maybe a week after the first
marriage, a brothel appeared next door.
 
Why bother with your own wife.
 
Too much work there.
 
What,
patience?
 
Love?
 
Forget that.
 
A quick visit during a long lunch hour.
 
No strings attached.
 
Satisfaction
and no guilt.
 
No jealous
mistresses.
 
No danger of angry calls to
their wives revealing everything.
 
Clean
and easy.

Alex wrapped her arm around Joseph’s waist.
 
Why was this one so different?
 
Her other clients were pretty obvious in
their expectations.
 
They had no interest
in getting to know her.
 
No need to
romance her.
 
One of her clients
literally hid behind the door when she entered and then checked the hall before
he closed the door to make sure no one saw them. He barely asked her name, just
got undressed talking about the weather.

Joseph stopped and stepped under a shaded alcove, opening
the small door.
 
“Let’s eat here,” he
smiled and pulled back a short blue curtain, leading Alex into a quiet Japanese
restaurant.
 
The hostess, dressed in a
beautiful royal blue kimono, appeared from behind the door and bowed
silently.
 
Motioning them to follow, she
led them down a narrow hallway lined with private dining rooms.
 
Small groupings of abandoned shoes stood in
front of each papered doorway.
 
Besides
the soft sound of running water, coming from some unseen fountain, and the
muffled padding of socked footsteps, the restaurant was still and
peaceful.
 
The hostess slid open a paper
door to reveal a private room with a low table surrounded by straw mats and
silk cushions.
 
She waited while Joseph
and Alex took off their shoes, and stepped inside the tiny room, sitting across
from each other, then silently slid the door shut.
 

Alex eyed the silk pillows that were stacked along the
walls.
 
Does he want to do something
here?
 
But Joseph already had the menu
open and was poring over its selections of sushi, sashimi and noodles.
 
Not a fan of raw fish, slippery eels, squid
or whatever else was on the menu, Alex sat in silence, admiring the Japanese
painted screen.
 
Two tall white cranes
soared through a sky of gold towards a landscape of craggy blue mountains in
the distance.

The hostess returned bringing two damp hand towel rolls and
a bamboo tray holding a square jade green tea pot.
 
She knelt by the side of the table and
gracefully poured the warm tea into two small cups and then stood by the door
with her head down.
 
Joseph closed the
menu and winked at Alex.
 
Then he turned
and spoke to the hostess in Japanese.
 
Alex was stunned.
 
This man knows
Japanese now too?
 
Smiling, the hostess,
took the menu from him, bowed and left the room.
 

“How do you know how to speak Japanese?”
 

“Ah, I went to university in Japan, Tskuba University, but
that was a long time ago.”

“And what did you order?
 
How do you know I will like it?”
 

“Oh,” Joseph had a dimple on his left side that showed when
he smiled, “but you will.
 
Here,” he held
up the pot of green tea and poured some for Alex “have some more.
  
It’s very good, no?”
 

Finishing his tea in one gulp, Joseph put down the cup and
reached for Alex’s hand.
 
“You must have
been a very pretty little girl.
 
So
blond, so white.
 
This color of your
skin,” Joseph caressed her hand, “it intoxicates me.
 
Tell me about yourself.”
   

“Well,” she blushed, “what do you want to know?”

“Anything, everything.
 
Why did you decide to escort?”

“I’m not exactly sure.
 
I was bored with my old job.
 
And
I couldn’t find an exciting job that I liked.
  
Plus, I really needed to make more money than I was making.
 
I don’t want to lose my car.”
 

“So, this is exciting for you?”

“Well, my current client certainly is.”
 
Joseph raised his eyebrows and she
laughed.
 
“No, I’m not sure yet, I
haven’t done this very long.”

“You are very interesting.
 
Ah, but seriously, will you do this for a long time?”
 

“I don’t know.
 
Honestly, can I tell you the truth?”
 

“But of course, you should always be honest.”
 

“Ok,” she hesitated.
 
“You were my first client.”

“What?
 
No, I can’t
believe it.”
 

“It’s true.
 
Angela
only hired me a few weeks ago.
 
My first
appointment was when I came to your hotel room.
 
Which may explain to you why I wasn’t sure what to do.”
 

“No, you are perfect.”
 

“You’re sweet,” Alex wasn’t sure if she should have just
told him that.
 

“No, this is the truth.”
 

The door slid open and two servers brought in several
platters of sushi, sashimi, and bowls of miso soup.
 
Joseph dropped Alex’s hand and they both
picked up their chopsticks.
 
They made
small talk about Toronto
and Joseph’s business as they ate.
 
Alex
hoped she wasn’t just imagining it, but she felt as if her confession had
lightened the air.

“I had a great day,” Alex kissed Joseph’s cheek as they
walked back to the Royal York.
 
She
twirled her new silver chain through her fingers and smiled.
 
After lunch, they had walked down

And Alex hoped that this summer would be magical, how could
it not with this exquisite man paying to spend time with her?
 
A man who could send a million little sparks
exploding throughout her body just by standing close to her.
 
Joseph had completely surprised her by taking
her into Tiffany’s after lunch. He had insisted on buying a silver chain for
her;
 
a small thank you for her honesty.

“It really is beautiful, you didn’t have to.”

“Stop, it’s for you.
 
Plus it looks perfect around your neck.
 
It couldn’t have been made for anyone else.”
 
Joseph leaned forward and kissed her
forehead.
 
“Again, a lovely afternoon, my
Alexandria.”

“Ok, then.
 
Thank
you.
 
I did have a great afternoon.”

“Yes,” Joseph stepped back to admire the way Alex’s hair
shone like pure gold in the afternoon sun.
  
He slowly swept his eyes down the length of her body and back up
again.
 
As his gaze reached her face,
their eyes met.
 
There was a slight
hesitation, Joseph’s head tilted to the side and his eyes flickered. Take me
upstairs. Take me now, Alex silently pleaded.
 
She could see a spark ignite in Joseph’s eyes.
 
Then he blinked, kissed Alex softly on the
cheek and walked away.