The Rental (19 page)

I knew my instinct was right.

The thought of doing things with another man made my tummy queasy, yes, but on the other hand, Rick knowing the naughty things I’d be doing, and me putting on the show
for
him made my sex contract. We were in sync, turned on by things a couple shouldn’t be. Yet we responded against it.

“How about you watch,” I said, wanting to make things easier for us. “Don’t participate.”

He kissed my forehead, reluctant to pull away with hesitation. Rick wasn’t the only one of us frightened. I didn’t want him to misread my signals for our relationship. They were signals that, in fact, I’d pulled from his dominance and desire when jealous. How would I tell my boyfriend I wanted to work at The Rental?
Enjoyed
it? I’d quit if I didn’t need the money because it’d make him happy, but I loved how passionate and possessive he was with me there, and I swear silently, he did too.

We would eventually find long-term careers elsewhere, but for now, why not embrace what we had?

“We’ll take each booking as it comes.”

“Okay,” he said.

We parted, Rick standing with his semi-hard cock. It was hidden in seconds as he pulled on all his layers. I remained naked in bed, laying in the scent of our sex, and the heat of where his body had just been.

With my eyes following his path back to the window, I blew him a kiss in the air. He caught it before he climbed out, and then sunk below my view.

13

I
STUDIED MYSELF
in front of the mirror of the dressing room, sans lip colour. I laid out my new welcome-bag cherry red lipstick and brought it to my lips, but hesitated. It was a bold colour¸ and I didn’t want to mess it up. And my hands were shaking. I wasn’t terrible with nerves, and I’d been pretty collected leading up to my first time with Jimmy, but this time was different. Rick and I purposely planned to defy the rules Amber set out for us, and I consequently felt our dark fates looming like angry, low clouds.

So I grabbed Nix to do the deed. My lips were parted for her, and I looked up through my darkened lashes as she applied the lipstick. After she was done, she signalled completion by slapping the side of my butt and rose, kissing my cheek, then left the room.

I looked over the rest of my outfit, which centred on those big red lips. My brown-haired wig was pulled back and to the side in a classy, matching look. I wore an industrial grey pencil skirt to mid-thigh and a draping black top, hinting cleavage, though elegantly showing off my delicate shoulders and upper chest.

With my hand gripping the door handle, I inhaled, sucking in until I could draw no more, and then I let it out slowly.

Better.

I opened the door to find Nix sitting on a bench seat in the hall propped up by the wall, her legs crossed and arms flung out over the back.

“My sexy fox,” she purred.

I licked my teeth, raising my eyebrows simultaneously. In that moment, I owned my sexiness. “You ready?”

“If you are.”

Nix wore thigh-high black suede boots and a bold white strapless dress. I wondered what Jimmy’s fantasy tonight would be. Was I his demure partner and Nix, the slutty mistress?

“Are
you
ready?” she asked me.

“Me?” I pointed to my chest. “Course. Why?”

She licked her lips and stood, rising taller than me. “Because you look like you want to run back in that room. Are we on in twenty?”

“Yup.”

“Kitchen?”

Nix walked by my side, sliding her fingers in mine, sleek as a snake. Like this was her territory. I couldn’t tell if Nix was attracted to males or females or both, but she was a woman who knew herself. She held me without asking permission, or hesitating, and I liked that confidence.

We sat down at the long sofa, Nix backing up against one side and sprawling her legs out so I had to thread myself around. Nix’s foot was an eyebrow-raising distance from my panties, but again, she didn’t so much as give me a sidelong glance. Our booking tonight, no matter what we had to do, wouldn’t phase this woman one bit.

“I’m not sure why you’re here in a place like this,” she said, “but I’m glad, yet saddened. I can sense you want it, but something’s holding you back.” Nix reached out and cupped my calf, a strangely intimate yet soothing gesture.

“Nix …” I looked away, overwhelmed with an emotion I couldn’t pin down. It was just something … something great. Maybe it was the strange feeling that, besides where we were and what we did for a job, it felt more genuine than Cara ever was. I didn’t want the spotlight she directed at me, so I opted for a conversation detour. “What was it that made you start here?”

“My sister had cancer. There was a drug available that wasn’t subsidised by Medicare and it seemed like the best shot we had for her. The doctors gave her a year. She got seven.” Nix bit her lip and looked down to her lap. “I’d have done anything else to get more time, but it seemed we squeezed a miracle out of her, and knowing we got that blessing was enough for us in the end. I’ve never felt death was beautiful before, but with her … it was like someone was guiding us, reminding us we received so many more blessings than any regular person had. I was being selfish—wanting her to stay—when she left. But I was happy for her afterward. After a
long
time. We extended her life as much as possible in peace. It was only the last few months she was in pain, and by then, I’d had several years to let her go.”

Silence.

It was a tangible weight between us. Heavy like being handed an object when you didn’t anticipate its weight.

It was true then, my inkling before. Nix and I were more alike than appeared on the surface. We’d come here out of desperation. Probably ten years separated us biologically, but on another level, we were months, even weeks apart.

Nix looked up flushed, but without a trace of tears. Truly, this place had changed her life—it wasn’t a sob story, not that I felt that at all. “You?”

“Well …” I started. It would be the first time I spoke aloud about what happened. Even as I began, I worried for the words, that they’d run, disappear as if my mouth were the axe murderer doing the killing. But I wasn’t killing a part of me by spilling this. A sense of lightness floated under me in anticipation of sharing the sadness—no, I was beating wings that had lay dormant all this time, providing my own freedom from the dark and the caged life I led.

“My dad died the same night my boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend. I lost so much and was in a work-sleep-work-sleep cycle for the last few months. Then I bumped into Rhett. And that’s when I met Amber. I couldn’t help but be intrigued that night. My mum wasn’t coping so well either, nor could she find much work, even still. My dad was all she knew, and we were struggling to keep our heads afloat, both financially and emotionally. She needs a break before she
breaks,
and I’m willing to do anything my clients want to get that cash to let us have some well-deserved peace. Mum wasn’t even able to take time off work to take it all in. It’s been a whirlwind, and I want to slow it down before it gets to be too much.”

There.

It was all said, and I hadn’t balled up and sunk to the ground.

I looked over my body; perhaps I expected to discover this was all a dream. Or maybe relief felt this good.

“I’m here for you, Victoria,” Nix said, reminding me someone else was in my presence. It had been too easy to slip into my own thoughts. “Sometimes it takes something horrible in your life to ground you. I think you’ll do just fine here. Keep your eyes on the prize.”

And what was that?
I wondered.

• • •

B
EFORE
I
ENTERED
the hotel room that night, I separated myself from Nix for a few minutes. With a spare office door clicked shut behind me, I closed my eyes and dreamt of a line, double-glazed, one-inch-thick glass. It was transparent but firm and impenetrable. On one side I kept Vee Wyland, on the other was Victoria. And Victoria had free rein while Jimmy asked her to do things.

I would not flinch or sour in the face. And I wouldn’t look at Rick or else I’d fling myself onto him instead.

Three of us arrived, but Rick was distant. He shook out his arms and muttered something I couldn’t hear, then thought better of the whole thing and strode off. Jimmy answered the door and raked his eyes over us girls before calling over to Rick. He asked where the hell he thought he was going.

“Come sit. The girls and I are putting on a show. If I recall, you like to watch as much as you like to participate.”

Rick’s nostrils flared, and whether Jimmy was disillusioned or careless of the jealousy that rose in him, he grinned and let us all pass through.

I gulped hard when I took in Jimmy there welcoming us into his world. He had on a crisp white shirt, no suit jacket, and it was the perfect size for his medium frame, a startling fit. His brown hair was mildly gelled back although a few loose locks hung over his forehead. His hair was sleek and poised—like I’d learnt
he
was in our brief history. A black tie draped below a cheeky undone button and tapered leather shoes peeked from under his pressed slacks.

Rick had the goods to please me from hands to face to mind and beyond, but I wished Jimmy were more ogre-like in this moment.

Inside, the TV was on in the background, and the hotel room looked more homely than it had last time. There were placemats out on the small dining table, but no dirty dishes, just sparkling glasses set out on a tray for use, and drying glasses and plates in the rack, water droplets sliding down. The king bed was made up with the same set as last time with pillows on each side.

Rick made himself a shadow in the corner, but I knew he was in need. My concerns were right there with him while I was a shell of a body with Jimmy, and Nix and I doing the things our client needed of us. I had to keep my mind on the job or else I’d destroy the act.

Jimmy heated things up soon after we settled, asking, “How was your day, darling?” and I replied, “It was so rough, I need your loving, baby. Can I suck your cock? I need some release after the shit day in the office.”

Jimmy said no, I had to work for it, so I called Nix in to help persuade him.

We stripped our layers to the beat of the music. I rolled my nipples between my thumb and finger, and plunged a finger inside, with Nix doing the same next to me, both our eyes locked on Jimmy.

More than anything else, I wanted to see Rick, but Jimmy had me in a way I couldn’t. Was that part of his kinky game? Keeping Rick away? I’d trade the air in my lungs to see if Rick was groping his lap, head hung back onto the wall, breathing heavy with building desire. I suddenly wanted all my oxygen supply cut-off, and to swirl into that hallucinogenic state I’d experienced when I tried to hold my breath underwater. I bet, combined with an orgasm caused by Rick, nothing would top that.

We took turns hopping on Jimmy, and I whimpered at the thought of my fantasy with Rick, using that to fuel my imagination. Nix and I had dry sex with Jimmy, our panties and his pants preventing any contact. But that, of course, didn’t work as part of the game. So to ‘convince’ him, I dropped my panties and wiggled my ass inches from his face.

It was then, spun around and facing my boyfriend, a primal need clenched my sex so viciously I cried out.

Rick had scooted his butt forward in the chair, almost off the end. His shoulders leant against the back support, and he petted his lap with angry strokes, gaze locked on me in a way I knew he’d followed every move, every execution or hesitation in my actions all this time.

I’d almost forgotten what I was
meant
to be doing until Jimmy decided I was good enough to come back to him. He reprimanded Nix, ordering her to get off alone as punishment.

She spread her legs wide and made herself come with her fingers—no toys—while Jimmy watched her over his shoulder. I straddled his lap. Through his pants, he jerked himself off, pumping soothingly in a way I assumed he’d come to learn how he needed it. His final release spread a pool of warmth through his pants to me.

It signalled the ending to our night, and my body throbbed knowing I was done holding back. I was horny as fuck knowing my boyfriend was watching all this time, and how horny he was, too.

At that moment, I couldn’t describe us in any other way than primed mammals ready to go.

When Jimmy left us, I turned to Nix and asked, “Are you sure he didn’t feel weird Rhett tagged along again?”

“No, he liked it,” Nix said. “Trust me, my little ol’ Jimmy gets stiff instantly with more people around. He always wants more.”

“All right then.”

We were near the bed, and Nix grabbed the end of the duvet off me as I fiddled with it. I didn’t have to clean the room after we were done with it, but I started to fuss at that point anyway. I didn’t want to clean, but there I was, about to smooth it over. “Leave it, hon. You can leave with Rhett if you want.” She hinted a grin. “My gift to you for your first proper booking.”

As if I needed to be reminded Nix was the tag along this time. That
this
time, my
boyfriend
watched it all. I thanked her and headed to the door to exit.

Now where’s Rick?
Eyebrows wrinkled, I backtracked to remember where he went while we said goodbye to Jimmy. I heard his feet shuffle along the tiles in the bathroom adjoined to our room.

There I was struck so wordless, I leant on the door until it closed beneath my fingers and it faintly clicked. Rick greeted me by looking up at the vanity mirror, his corneas stark white against the colour of his face. His jaw was set rigid and his lips a thin line.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled down to my feet.

The silence was loud, the buzzing of the quiet volumes greater than anything he would have said.

“It’s just a job. It’s not like I’m a prostitute.” I glazed over my red nail polish, remembering how they once matched my cherry-red lipstick. But that was before Jimmy had wiped it off me, made me plant my imprint on his shirt. I pulled off my brown wig and shook my head to spill my blonde hair out over my chest. “Okay, maybe that sounds stupid,” I said, correcting myself. “I get it, but I’m keeping him company. He’s a nice man, everything aside. He hasn’t been in me where you’ve been.”