Economic Necessity

This economy is so precarious and there are so few jobs in my specialty. When my wife got laid off our debt load began to spiral. It didn't help that my job depended upon a pompous ass of a boss. When it came to finance he was a real wiz. I on the other hand while good, could never match the kind of money the other guys in the firm brought in. They claimed that I went after low hanging fruit and did not take risks like the big earners did. It was mostly true.

As the economy spiraled downward the low hanging fruit really dried up. There were fewer folks with an extra $10,000 dollars to invest while the guys at the firm with the $100,000 and million dollar clients had to hustle a bit more but they were thriving. Everyone at the firm knew I was superfluous.

I knew that a call to the boss's office was inevitable and it came a week before my fifth anniversary.

My boss's face was smug. Like it always was, as he had me take a seat in his office.

"Frank your not bringing in the clients or the money that you used to. That is not good."

"The economy is squeezing out the small investors." I replied.

"Your the only one chasing after small investors Frank. No one but you is stopping you from landing the kind of accounts your co-workers are bringing in."

I replied. "I know but I'm not really that kind of guy. I've always brought in the safest investors. I have steady returns for my clients and this company prospers in part upon my work."

"That was true once Frank but is not true anymore. If your not chasing the big bucks your of little use to me."

"Don" I said, "My wife was laid of six months ago. I desperately need this job."

"Ah yes Linda, How is she?"

My boss had always had the hots for my wife. Most men did. She was five six, 110 pounds with a heart shaped face, and lovely blue eyes. Her tummy was flat, her legs were long and lean and her tits were to die for Her long brown hair cascaded to the middle of her back.

"We'll be married five years on Friday."

"Too bad you'll be celebrating that happy event in the unemployment line."

"Boss I really need this job."

"I'm sorry there's nothing I can do."

In desperation I asked the next question, emotion thick in my voice. "Is there anything I can offer you that would convince you to keep me on?"

My boss was silent for a moment and then got a devilish look on his face.

"Yes Frank there is. You can offer me that pretty little wife of yours. If she spends a week at my house as my personal slave doing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I ask. I will keep you on here at full salary and will even spot you an advance against future earnings. When the economy rebounds you can pay off your advance and become again the valuable member of this team that you once were."

I was stunned. I knew that my boss was a bastard but I never imagined he'd pull this!

"You can't be serious, Don!"

"I'm serious as a heart attack, Frank. I don't need your piddling performance in this economy. What you do I can have three of the guys divvy up. They won't even feel the work load difference. They'd probably be a bit upset at me that I was giving them your loser clients. A week of pussy on demand however, THAT I could use. It would make me more favorably disposed towards you."

"That's illegal as hell Don and you know it!"

"And you," he glared at me, "are wasting my time and resources. This is MY company and there are a host of good reasons for firing you. What do you have to offer? Are you particularly gifted with numbers, No. Are you bringing in top dollar clients. No. Are you performing at a level like you used to. HELL NO! You have nothing to offer me other than your wife's sweet ass. If you are not prepared to offer that then you can leave my office, clean out your desk and be out of the building within an hour!"

I recognized the look on Don's face. The man was made of steel when his mind was made up. Maybe the other guys at the office are right, they say I have no fire in my belly. I've always been content to work just hard enough to get by. They say I never challenge myself or them. They respect what I do but I know that all of them think that they can do a better job then me. Linda was the only thing I ever exerted myself for. Even though she was my wife. I knew that she was out of my league. I SHOULD have stood up to him. I SHOULD have spat in his face and told him to shove his job. But I didn't. To be honest, the thought of unemployment scared me more than the thought of him pawing my wife.

"Wait ... wait," I said. "I'd have to discuss it with Linda. She has to OK this."

My boss had a gleam in his eye, "Certainly, she would have to consent Frank, I'm a bastard not a rapist. To be honest I can probably sell this thing to her better than you can. Why don't you two come over to my house for dinner tomorrow night at seven P.M.

When I got home that night I tried to explain what happened at work to Linda.

"Don said WHAT!" She said. "I hope you punched him in the face! Did you?

"Well no, I told him we'd go to his house tomorrow at seven P.M. to discuss it."

"Frank are you nuts? There's NOTHING to discuss. What kind of wimp are you, Frank? Look I know your unambitious I love you despite that flaw not because of it but you can't seriously expect me to believe that you entertained the idea even for a second. You agreed to the dinner so you could tell him off in person with me as a witness, right?"

"Look I said," trying to defend myself. We really need my job. With you out of work ..."

"Your pathetic Frank!"

Her eyes filled with tears and her voice caught as she asked me, "Does my honor mean that little to you that you would seriously consider prostituting me to your boss? I thought that you were more of a man then that, Frank. My father was right about you. He said you have a sponge for a backbone. I defended you to him. It looks like my father deserves an apology."

"Linda, I didn't know what to do. What can it hurt to talk about it?"

"You are such a loser Frank. Any man with integrity would have told Don to go fuck himself. You can always get another job. Yes it will suck, both of us being unemployed but marriage is supposed to build strength and character. So far in our relationship I'm the only one growing.

Then Linda got a very strange look on her face, like she was pondering something deep within herself. She wiped the tears from her eyes,looked at me and said. "Very well Frank, we will go to Don's tomorrow. I have half a mind to teach you a lesson. If I was positive it would change you ..."

Her voice trailed off and she was mostly silent for the rest of the night. She put up a wall of ice and she made me sleep on the couch. I had a troubled night's sleep.

The next morning as I got ready for work Linda kept me at arm's length. I'd never seen her angrier,

An hour after I got to work Don swung by my desk and asked if Linda and I were going to come to dinner that evening. When I said yes. He spent the rest of the day looking like the cat that ate the canary, The guys at work asked me what I had said to him. I told them it was a private joke.

Linda was waiting for me when I got home. She was dressed to the nines. She had on her little black dress, a string of pearls and expensive perfume.. She looked at me in contempt and told me to take a shower and put on my best suit.

After I got ready she met me at the front door. "Let me do the talking when we get to Don's," she said to me.

We drove in silence and I was getting a very odd feeling in my stomach.

Don's house is enormous and it is surrounded by an enormous lawn. I had been there regularly for summer parties around his pool. It was late September there was a cool snap in the air.

Instead of his maid, Don answered the door in person. He led us to his living room and had us sit together on a love seat.

Linda broke the silence. "I understand that you have a proposition for me, Mr. Henderson.".

Don seemed a bit taken back by Linda's forthrightness.

"Well, Linda I have a proposal that will keep your husband employed with my firm. It involves you."

He drew back for a second as if contemplating the enormity of his next words. "Essentially if you act as my slave for a week and fulfill all of my wishes and desires. I will continue to employ your husband. I will also give him an advance against future earnings. It is a benefit to you and your husband."

Linda looked at Don coldly and said, "What would my duties be?"

"Well," said Don you would cater to all of my sexual desires for one week. I have a week's vacation scheduled to start Friday and I would like to spend it in bed with the sexiest, loveliest woman I have ever met... you."

"I see," said Linda. She was silent for a moment and then said calmly, "I may be amenable to that."

I shock I said , "What? Linda!"

Linda looked at me as if she were looking at a dog or an infant and spat, "Quiet Frank!"

She then turned to Don and said. "I agree to those terms but I have several more for you. If you agree to them I am yours in any way you want me for a week starting on Friday.'

I interjected, "But that's our anniversary!"

Linda looked at me very coldly and said, "I told you to be quiet Frank!"

She continued to look Don directly in the eye as she spoke. "My husband is only concerned about his job. Apparently he prefers that to defending my honor. I, on the other hand, am looking for something more substantial." She withdrew something from her purse. "This is my private bank account I opened it today and only I have access to it. For a deposit of $800,000 I will give you the week of your dreams. I know that you can easily afford my price on such short notice and as a result my husband keeps his job and I have financial security."

Don only had to think for a moment, "And I will get my money's worth?" is all he asked.

"Unquestionably Mr Henderson. Or should I start addressing you as 'master' now?"

Don looked like he was about to pop out of his skin. He took the deposit slip from Linda and said, "The money is yours Linda ... or rather slave."

I don't remember what happened the rest of the evening. It passed like a blur. On the drive home Linda began humming to herself and refused to talk to me.

The next day was Wednesday and work crawled along. Despite my mind being somewhere else I was able to land a new client. Don strode around work like a caged tiger, He was short with everybody but for some reason was nice to me and took the rare step of complimenting me on my work.

When I got home Linda had dinner waiting but she was still cold and distant. I tried to engage her in conversation but she yelled at me and called me a loser. She never treated me like that before. I asked her if I had done something wrong and she just laughed at me. At bedtime she sent me to the couch again.

On Thursday I stopped by the flower shop on the way home and bought a dozen red roses for Linda and a sweet card for our anniversary. I did not know how Friday would shake out so I decided to see if she wanted to celebrate a day early. For the first time in days she said more than three words to me.

"The flowers are lovely Frank, but you have never given me what I really wanted, a man who would protect and defend me. I made the decision I made because I thought that you would respond as a real man should. I so misjudged you when I fell in love with you. I thought that you were somebody else. You have no idea how hard this week is going to be and it will all be for naught ... Oh my poor poor Frank."

She gave me a big kiss hugged me for a while and cried into my shoulder. I stroked her hair and told her that I loved her.

"If only that were true, Frank, if only that were true" She said. I didn't know what she meant.

I not sure how I thought things would go down but at midnight a cab arrived to take Linda over to Don's.

As she left Linda said, "He has me from Thursday midnight, which is when Friday begins. to next Friday at midnight when his week with me ends.Goodbye Frank and happy anniversary."

Why I went to work on Friday I'll never know. The rest of the guys slacked off with Don gone for the week but for some reason I decided to bear down. I got more done that day then I had in the last two weeks.

There was a package waiting for me when I got home. It had no return address. I opened it to find all of the clothes that Linda had been wearing the night before all folded in a neat bundle. There was a velvet box and when I opened it up I found her wedding and engagement rings. That hit me like a ton of bricks. There was a small cedar box I opened it up to discover that it was full of hair. Instantly I knew where it came from. It was her blessed thatch. She had always refused to shave for me but after a day with Don she was now hairless. Underneath the clothes was a CD and a DVD. I put the DVD in the player.

There was a title card that read "Day One Slave Processing." The video showed Linda on some sort of stage slowly removing her clothes and jewelery. Maybe I was imagining things but I thought that I saw tears in Linda's eyes as she twisted off her wedding ring and engagement ring. The camera followed her as she was bathed. There was a closeup of her snatch as her hair was razored away. The video closed with Linda on her knees servicing Don.

The CD was full of hundreds of pictures of Linda at every stage of her first day at Don's from the arrival in the cab to her stripping,her bath and shave. There were pictures of her and Don fucking The final picture was of Linda asleep, a blissful smile on her face.

It was with horror and realization that I suddenly knew what Linda had wanted in me as her husband.I cried myself to sleep that night knowing that even if could become the strong, commanding man who could defend her like a lion that after tonight, and certainly after this week, I had lost her forever.

The End