Lola joined them for breakfast dragging the Colonel by his hand.
"Join us Colonel. I'm sorry we haven't got the dining room set up yet," Georgina said.
Lola looked at Reggie, she was squirming.
"How many?" she said.
"Three."
Everyone but the Colonel laughed. Reggie had been physically behind the lens and had witnessed their tryst.
While the girls were laughing the Colonel whispered to Roger, "I say old boy, it's a mistake to let 'the girl' run the show. She's only a woman."
Before Roger could intervene the Colonel had a lap-full of tea, which was fortunately tepid.
"Oops sorry," Lola said working hard to suppress a laugh.
"Let me help you," Reggie said, as she accidentally elbowed the old boy in the eye.
"Reggie, don't be careless," said Brielle, as she mopped his lap and tipped the rest of the jam to join the tea.
The Colonel stared hard at Georgina.
"Well?" he said.
"Well what Colonel?"
"If you're planning on joining these strumpets better do it before I clean up."
"Oh no Colonel, I'm only a woman," Georgina said, successfully imitating his comment.
Roger manged to keep a straight face, "My goddesses are emancipated by their skill and courage, they will not be disparaged by anyone. Nor will I allow them to be demeaned."
The Colonel who had scraped most of the jam from his lap, straightened his back.
"Quite so, sorry Lad. I'm sorry gal and goddesses."
If he was surprised by their initial action he was more so now, the girls snuggled around him. Being fussed over by three beautiful women quite pleased the Colonel. Even though they shared their breakfast with his trousers he promised to refer as many of his friends and associates as he could.
"I'll see you out Colonel before they gang up on you again."
"Quite so, lad."
"We shouldn't really send our members away with damp trousers," Roger said on his return.
"I thought we had to share fluids?" Reggie said.
"Erotic, not tea, jam and elbows."
Georgina changed the subject.
"Reggie, are your prints dry?"
Reggie just stood from the table and disappeared. She returned shortly with a handful of prints.
"I like this one the best," she said, as she handed the photo to Georgina.
"So do I Darling, this is beautiful."
She passed it around the table, to gasps and giggles.
"That's the Aphrodite position," Lola said, with a smile that was bigger than her face.
Roger expected anything but what he saw, he understood the reaction the photo had gained. It failed as pornography but excelled as pure art.
"That isn't the way that extortion is supposed to work," Roger said. "Most men who saw that photo would want to buy it. Do you have anything a bit... pornographic?"
Reggie thumbed through the remaining prints.
"Here!" she said. "Is this more suitable for extortion?"
She passed it to Roger.
"Is this to most base you have?"
Reggie nodded, then glanced guiltily at Georgina.
"I'm sorry Georgina."
Roger quickly moved to undo the damage before Georgina attacked him.
"Reggie, you are too skilled for this work. I wish I had your talent."
He passed the photo to Georgina. It was definitely pornographic, the Colonel was rutting Lola doggy style, it was their first encounter and was pure sex.
"Reggie, you capture the emotion of the moment. We could extort with that but it too, is art," Georgina said.
Reggie had captured the carnal look on Wilson's face. He was reaching greedily for Lola's breast. Lola tongue was licking her lip in anticipation.
"But, are they OK?" Reggie asked, with a little more confidence.
Brielle had taken the wad of photos and passed them around, there were gasps from everyone, most of them from Lola. She stood, walked to Reggie and pulled her to her body.
"Reggie, they are beautiful."
Lola had too many scars to weakly show emotion, she hoped that no one saw her tear.
—<~>—
Georgina returned from an afternoon and evening handing out business cards to girls on the street who looked hungry and cold. She returned alone Roger was staying at his club.
"How did it go?" Brielle asked, she had lived that life and was pleased that Georgina had decided to staff the Hogarth Club with girls selling themselves to avoid starvation.
Georgina sighed, the look in the faces she had seen today ranged from fear and desperation to feral confidence it was a visual lexicon of a slide from innocence to immorality. She had seen hope in so few faces.
Reggie was the first to get to Georgina and pull her into an embrace but only just. Cosseted by her coterie Georgina had never felt more loved.
"I'm OK," she said, brushing away the tear which had caused the show of solidarity.
"How can society allow this to happen?" she asked.
"Cunts are currency," Brielle said.
The girls were quiet, an unusual event. They thought about Brielle's words. She was the expert amongst them she had traded that currency for sustenance.
"Roger was my first client away from the circus, even with someone as nice as him I felt depraved.
"Is it truly horrible?" Reggie asked Brielle.
"Even though Gabby was just a mobile cunt," Brielle said, speaking of her street persona.
"Gabby was less depraved than the pimps who prey on women who are weakened and desperate."
She looked Georgina, hard in the eye, "Can we get the Flesh gangs and their pimps?" she asked.
The tear in her eye did not elicit the same response that Georgina's had. Although the tear was evoked through passion, the girls knew that if acknowledged Brielle would feel weakened in their eyes. Instinctually they knew, despite her tough exterior, she was so damaged that dealing with weakness, however occasioned, may damage the wall she had created to protect her psyche.
Georgina smiled, reading Lola's and Reggie's faces. She pondered where this deep knowledge and care, of and for each other, came from but reveled in its existence.
Georgina sought to change the subject which was too close to Brielle's raw core. She reached for Brielle's hand, looked her in the eye and said, "Let's crimp the pimp!"
It was a perfect circuit breaker, the girls were now able to support Brielle they hugged her. She tolerated it for a few moments.
"OK, fuck off, I don't want to be crowded with girls with their clothes on." she said.
Georgina pointed to boxes on the side table.
"Your business cards, if you see any girls struggling on the street and they still have hope in their eyes, give them a card and ask them to visit us."
To Georgina's surprise the girls rushed to the table. With quick cooperation they soon had their own business cards.
"I have a business card," Reggie said proudly. The grin was repeated on the other faces.
"Athena, The Hogarth Club," she read.
"Dione," Brielle repeated.
"Aphrodite," Lola echoed.
Again Georgina was mobbed.
"Only the aristocracy have calling cards," Brielle said.
Georgina had not realized the power of the cards until Brielle captured the mood with her comment,
"We are even beyond royalty we are goddesses."
—<~>—
Georgina escaped for bed early, her day was wearing but it was not the cause of her tiredness. She had been woken regularly by Reggie whose room was next door.
Reggie was experiencing nightmares. Georgina's soft touch seemed to be the easiest way to break the terrors Reggie was experiencing. She always woke and grabbed Georgina's hand which was only released when she regained quiet sleep. Although Georgina returned to bed, cold and feeling more tired than she did when she first went to bed, these physical discomforts were a minor price to pay for Reggie's comfort.
Georgina was in deep sleep when Reggie slipped into her room. Reggie knew she was the cause of her weariness. She had tried to stop her nightmares, even setting the alarm every hour only seemed to make them worse.
Reggie felt guilty about the cost, to Georgina for her selfless care. She decided to stay at her bedside, if she didn't sleep she wouldn't disturb her.
Georgina's eye's flew open, Reggie's screams seemed so close. She saw her asleep in the chair next to her bed. She didn't worry about the logistics she climbed out of bed on Reggie's side and gently lifted her from the chair to the bed, then snuggled in behind her.