At the age of nineteen, wanderlust had driven Aaron to pack a rucksack and hit the byways and highways of America. He had planned on trekking through the country for a year, thinking about his future and what he would study, and seeing a few sights. He mostly travelled by hitchhiking or walking, and after two-months of roving he found himself in a small Mid-Western town after sunset.
He was tired and footsore from the day's walk. He'd been unlucky trying to catch a ride and had been walking for the past six hours. He was also hungry and wanted to find a motel to spend the night.
He found a good room easily enough, but they had nothing in the way of dinner. So carrying only his wallet and keys he took to the small-town streets to find a diner.
He noticed that for such a small town, it was oddly busy. Many cars drove past him. City cars as well as the farm pick-up trucks he'd seen all week. They all headed in the same direction towards the centre of the town. Curiosity got the better of him and he followed to see what was happening.
After a short walk he found the centre of the fuss. A large two-storied, free standing bar with a massive line stretching from the closed door. The bar looked fairly normal, although he judged it must be very roomy inside. The lurid pink neon proclaimed it as: "Cherry's Pie". Beneath the suggestive name in smaller blue neon: "Bar, cocktails and shows".
He reckoned one of the aforementioned shows was on tonight.
Curiosity sated (and knowing he'd never have the patience to wait in that line), Aaron walked past the bar and around the corner. As he did he noticed an alley leading up to the bar's delivery entrance. A large, heavyset woman in jeans and plaid shirt was standing just inside the alley with a lit cigarette and fretful look.
She glanced up as Aaron walked by. "Hey kid! Wanna make some money?"
He stopped and looked at her. He knew that one day he'd have to take on casual labour to pay his way, but he still had several hundreds in his wallet.
Years of politeness training kicked in before he could say no.
"Depends on the work ma'am."
"Well ain't you polite?"
"Good upbringing," he joked with a smirk.
"Believe me. Good upbringing ain't what you need for this job."
"What do you need done?"
"I'll cut right too it. I'm trying to put on a live sex-show , and the male half has food poisoning. Need you to take his place."
Aaron was taken by surprise.
"Say what?"
"Yeah, food poisoning. Musta ate summin bad."
"No," explained Aaron. "I got that part. Sex show?"
"Oh yeah," she said casually before sucking on her cigarette. "Do one every month. Fully legal, gets business all the way from Newtonville."
He remembered Newtonville. A much bigger town, he had lingered for a few days before drifting on. It was two-hundred miles away.
"How do you get it legal?"
"Look kid," she said impatiently. "If you want to see the papers and talk to the county sheriff, come in. Got 'em both in the office. But if you wanna have a hot bitch do crazy stuff to you on stage, for money, then quit talkin' and get inside."
Aaron thought about it for a second. "How much?"
"Two-hundred bucks," she said without hesitation. "Don't be misled, fucking is hard business. If you can't perform, neither can my wallet."
Another second of thought. "Is it safe?"
"Aw sweet Jesus! Do ya; want to do it or not? My girl is clean enough to eat off of! If you can't handle it, fuck off and I'll get someone else!"
"I can handle it!" he retorted. He had only recently lost his virginity to an older woman, but he'd taken to sex like a house to fire, and left a string of pleasured woman all across America.
"Good! So how about it? Ready to earn the best pay check of your life?" she said extending a smile and hand.
He shook it. "My name's Aaron."
"I'm Cherry. Own the place."
He internally recoiled. If this was Cherry, he had no desire to see her 'Pie'. Cherry tossed her cigarette (now burnt to the filter) and walked back up the alley. Aaron followed without question.
"So why me?" he asked.
"Cause you're young, pretty and I've never seen you before. So neither will the audience. They like to see new meat."
They passed through a red door and into the dark, yet well scrubbed store room. Crates of alcohol and sundries were stacked all around. Cherry locked the door behind them and ushered him into a brighter room.
This one caught him by surprise, because there were seven half-naked women dressing up for the show.
"Girls!" called Cherry. "This is Aaron. He's standing in for Bradley tonight."
Aaron raised a hand. "Hi there."
A few greeted back politely, one over-enthusiastically and one just flipped her hair and looked away. Five were dressed in sexy, colour-coded nurse uniforms, one in a white leather corset with a red cross over the breast and stethoscope around her neck. The last was dressed in black leather pants with an ordinary leather tank top. She was the one who ignored him.
"Lucy and the 5 nurses are putting on a doctor-breaking-in-new-girls act. Very hot, nice twist at the end. While Alexienna (her in the black) is stripping." Said Cherry.
"Who will I be with?"
"Oh, you're up first with Lily. She's in her dressing room. You'll see her soon." She glanced at her watch. "Jesus wept! Time to get you on stage! Alex, come with. You're best with knots."
"Knots?" He asked as they hurried away, girl-in-black following.
"Oh yeah. I wrote the act myself. You're a Marshall deep in Cherokee territory. You get captured by a hot squaw, who ties you to a tent pole. She comes back later and does shameful things to you...And no, I don't care about offending beliefs or cultures or whatever."
Aaron had to admit. He was getting pretty excited.
They stopped before a doorway that lead onto a small stage. The stage extended out a bit, like a catwalk. Near the end of the cat walk was a bright red stripper's pole.
"Alright kid," said Cherry. Lose the shirt, shoes and empty your pockets. Don't want to break the illusion.
He did as he was told, and by the time he was shirtless, shoeless and wallet-less Alex had returned with a pair of cowboy boots. He slipped them on, although they were a little tight.
"You look all set!" said the big woman. " You don't have to act much, they wanna see a fucking, not a Broadway musical. Just try not to look too into it, ok? Easy money, now go! On in five!"
Alex took his hand and lead him onto the stage. The large red curtain blocked out the sight of the crowd, but not their sound. It was making him nervous, but he was determined not to show it.
Alex led him to the pole, and beckoned him to sit down. She crouched behind him and gently (but firmly) pulled his arms behind his back. Using a nearby coil of rope, she quickly bound his wrists tightly together. He then tied them to the pole with another length of rope.
"Can you move?" asked Alex. Her voice was soft, sultry and had an Eastern-European accent.
Aaron wiggled the ropes, but they weren't going anywhere. "Not at all."
Alex didn't say anything else. Just moved to his legs and started tying them. Very soon his legs were tightly bound and immobile.