Author's Note: Thank you again to Secretsxywriter for helping me edit this story.
***
"I could just order one online," Haley said.
Brie shook her head. "Really? Your man asks you to fuck him, and you're just going to with the run of the mill option?"
They both looked around to see if anybody was within hearing distance. The cafe was only half full. It was one of those classic places with pecan pie like Momma used to make it. No hipsters sipping soy lattes. It was past lunch, and they had met to catch up after the hectic week. Brie had been curious about how the weekend had gone. Haley had told her just enough to keep her guessing.
"Drink it and I'll take you to Rosie's," Brie said. "She's got what you need."
Haley took a sip of her tea and shuddered. Not enough honey. She knew she needed a strap-on. A harness. Whatever it was called. She had looked some while buying the ball gag. She had been in too much of a hurry to ask about them. And a bit too scared. "Do those also fall from the truck into Rosie's lap?"
"She's a professional. You'll see." Brie looked at her phone. "We need to run soon. I'm meeting Marco at the gym."
Haley took a deep breath and gulped the rest of the tea down. "We can go."
Rosie was, at best, an acquaintance, so Haley wasn't thrilled to meet her. Not when it had something to do with sex. It was easy to brag about not being a prude in front of Brie. Someone she barely knew was another thing entirely.
She had no idea what to expect, and still, she was surprised when Brie stopped texting in front of a seemingly random brownstone building. It reeked of old money, just not a lot of it. The façade was scarred, and the glass of the double doors had been repaired with duct tape.
"Not there," Brie said when Haley stepped up the stairs. She opened an iron gate leading to the basement door.
There were no signs of life in the upper floors as far as Haley could tell. From the basement, she could make out the sound of some machine.
Brie rang the bell, and the noise stopped. "Don't look like that. She won't bite."
"You sure?" Haley glanced up. "That's some haunted house shit up there."
"Rosie's aunt, or something, owns the place but is too sick to live here anymore. Rosie watches the house and gets to live down here for almost nothing."
The door opened with a creak, and Brie stepped into the dim room. Haley hesitated for a second then plunged after her friend.
The sharp but not unpleasant smell of leather hit Haley before she could notice anything else. She took her coat off, following Brie into the big room.
"I'll just finish this part." Rosie's voice came from the back. Then the noise started again. Now I could see it came from an old, industry grade looking sewing machine.
Brie threw her stuff on a worn leather couch and went to see what Rosie was up to. Haley garrisoned herself on a wooden chair and piled her hoodie and bag on her lap.
The only light was the spotlight over Rosie's workspace, so the size of the apartment was hard to gauge. All of the furniture was mismatched and seemingly second hand. Still, they were better than the ones Haley and Brie had in their place. The walls were full of weird curiosities like a woodcarving of a life-sized bald eagle.
The sewing machine clanked, and Rosie seemed to study her handiwork closer.
"Damn needle broke just before you came. Thought I could salvage the tear, but no." She threw whatever she had been working on into a big zinc garbage pin. With a clap of her hands, she made the lights turn on in the whole room. "You don't have to sit in the dark."
"Hi!" Haley waved her hand, unsure how to proceed. She felt like they were intruding. "Sorry about the interruption."
"I needed a break anyway." Rosie got a water bottle from the fridge and took a long sip. Her gaze stayed at Haley. "There's not much, but grab something to bite, if you want."
"Nah." Brie sat down and stretched her legs on the sofa table. "We just had coffee."
"I'm fine," Haley said.
Rosie slumped down in a quilt-covered armchair. "So, what's the deal?"
Haley had only met Rosie at a couple of parties. Without her party gear, she looked almost boringly mundane in sweatpants and a too-big T-shirt, her red mohawk drooping over one ear.
"Haley needs some gear to fuck her man," Brie said after Haley failed to speak her mind.
"That's not..." Haley didn't even know why she had agreed to this.
"Sweet." Rosie took another sip and sized Haley up. "What are you looking for?"
"Like, you know..." Haley felt her throat clamp up. Would it be impolite just to run away? She made a penetrating motion with her fingers.
Rosie turned to look Brie, one brow raised. "What did you tell her about me?"
"Nothing!" Brie waved her hands in surrender. "I'm innocent here."
"Yeah, right." Rosie leaned towards Haley. "You're among friends here. I'm not going to laugh or judge your kinks. So, go ahead, when you're ready. I can't help unless I know what ails you."
Haley nodded and twisted the strap of her bag in her hands. "There's this guy. He's not my boyfriend or anything like that. We just fuck, like, a lot. He likes to—wants to—be dominated. It's escalated, and I kinda promised to fuck him."
"That helps to narrow it down." Rosie leaned back and glanced at Brie. "No thanks to you."
"Hey!" Brie protested but was ignored. She looked at her phone. "I need to dash anyway. See you around."
"You can't leave me here!" Haley exclaimed before she realized how rude that sounded. "I mean, I thought you'd help me pick."
Brie patted Haley's shoulder on her way to the door. "Rosie's the professional. She helped me back in the day."
And with that, Brie was gone.
Haley felt like a bunny stared down by a wolf. "If you don't have the time..."
"Nonsense." Rosie waved Haley to follow her. "Brie's a bitch, and I say that with all the love."
"Yeah."
There were two more rooms and the stairs up to the first floor. Rosie had tried to close the door to the first room, but Haley saw it was a bedroom with a messy bed and piles of clothes littered around. They went to the second room. It looked like it had been a study with built-in bookshelves, but now it served as storage.
Narrow paths ran in between tall stacks of boxes. Some were dusty and had labels like "old photos," so they were probably from her aunt. Others were open. In those, Haley saw sex toys, like the ones Brie had.
Next to the wall stood a clunky cabinet made of dark wood. Probably old enough to have come with the house. Rosie opened the cabinet door.
Inside, Haley saw an impressive collection of harnesses, collars, manacles, and other assorted accessories made of leather. Every item had a compelling shine...and a look of quality handiwork.
"You did all these?" Haley asked.
"It's a part-time job." Rosie took a harness and caressed it. Her smile was playful, almost girlish. "A hobby, really. I don't have enough customers. Yet. A girl can dream. This is the basic model."
Haley took the harness. It was black leather with no embellishments. An empty metal ring was in the middle of the rounded triangle piece in front. The straps for legs were reinforced and had heavy-duty buckles.
"The dildo goes here." Rosie opened one of the snaps holding the ring. "You can get a bigger ring if that's too small."
"It's fine."
Rosie rummaged through the boxes. She threw a dildo at Haley. "Try this one for size."
Haley barely managed to catch it. The toy was pitch black with ridges along its length. It was about the size of the one Tom had bought, but this one was more intimidating. With some work, she managed to slip it into its place on the harness.
She could imagine Tom in front of her. The strap-on aimed at his mouth. With a single command, she would make him beg for it. To suck it. To worship both her and the toy.
She needed to stop. She was getting wet, despite Rosie standing right next to her.
"This is great." Haley swallowed hard. "In so many ways. You really want to part with it?"
"Not for free." Rosie looked at her. "Brie did tell you, you have to pay for these?"
"Of course. How much?"
"Hundred-and-fifty, for a friend."
Haley didn't know what to say. That was way more than she'd thought it would be. Sure, the quality was way better than any of the ones in the sex shop. But she couldn't cough up that kind of money. Should she ask Tom? No, definitely not.
Rosie's face grew grim. "So, she didn't tell how much it would be."
"I'm thinking. Like, I really want to get one of these, but it's an investment." Haley slipped the strap-on over her jeans. "It's a lot of money if we go our separate ways. Not every guy wants to be fucked."
"So, you're not into girls?" Rosie stepped behind Haley and tightened the straps around her legs. "There's a mirror in the corner. I've got nowhere to be, so take all the time you need. I need to eat something. You want a sandwich?"
"I'm fine." Haley marveled the craftsmanship and walked in front of the mirror. The dildo waved with the pace of her steps. It felt...inconvenient. Was this what men felt while walking?
Her reflection in the mirror looked hot as hell. She glanced at the door and heard Rosie in the kitchen. Slowly, she stroked the dildo. If only Tom could see this. She thrust with her hip, and the toy waggled.
With one hand, she pulled out her phone and let the other wander under her shirt. She wanted to take a photo and send it to Tom. That would mean she'd had to buy the strap-on. But she really shouldn't. She did have the money. It was just supposed to be spent on food and other necessary things.
Then again, it would be possible to eat noodles for a couple of weeks. Wouldn't be the first time.
She pushed her hand under her bra and caressed her breast. Hot jolts of electricity ran inside her body. "Do you need any help?"
"Nope," came the answer from the kitchen.
She unclasped her bra and wiggled it out from under her shirt. She let it drop on the floor and took the hem of the shirt between her teeth. Then she took a firm grip of the dildo and snapped a picture. The flash was on, turning the corner into daylight for a split second.
She sent the picture to Tom with a message: "Get your mouth ready, cocksucker!"
"There are more lights if you want to get a better..." Rosie stopped mid-sentence. The lights flared up revealing Haley's half-naked body in the mirror. "Oh, damn."
Haley turned instinctively. The shirt fell back down, but it was a second too late. One hand was frozen on the dildo, the other still holding up the phone. "I didn't..."
"My bad," Rosie said but did little to stop staring.
"I was just..." Haley stuffed the phone into her pocket. "I'm taking it, so like, a deal?"
"Sure." Rosie turned most of the lights off. "You could've just told me to mind my own business for a while."
"Oh, I wasn't..." Haley tried to take the strap-on off, but her fingers trembled, mumbling the rest of her sentence, "touching myself. Not in someone's place like this."
"That was tame. You see a lot of people in this line of work."
Haley stepped backward and felt something under her foot. Her bra was still on the floor. She swiped it up and hid it behind her back. "I got carried away. Sorry."
