February 2005
Ashley Saunders, a pretty, eighteen-year-old high school senior with soft, full lips and expressive brown eyes, which she worried were too large for her face, twirled a strand of wavy brunette hair around her finger as she stared out the car window.
"You nervous, Ashy?" the driver asked her, drawing her gaze. "Is it because Darren is such an asshole?"
"Yeah, kinda," she shrugged, and that was part of the truth. She was not sure she was ready to reveal the rest of what was on her mind to Corey.
Ashley and Corey had been friends in elementary school, but as middle school and high school had worked to separate them into different social groups, that friendship had dimmed. But now it was stronger than ever, and perhaps more than friendship. At the least, Ashley wanted it to be more, and she believed that Corey did too. There was just one problem. Over the last several weeks, Ashley had been accepting payment from some of her male classmates to take their virginity.
It had started with Corey. A rumor that she had engaged in sex for money with another classmate led Corey to approach her about losing his virginity. At first, she was offended, but then the possibilities of what Corey suggested intrigued her. It didn't hurt that she had known him a long time and that he was a decent looking guy, especially for the nerdy group with whom he hung out. She went forward with the deal, and to her surprise, she and Corey clicked physically as well as rekindled their friendship. That also made a deal—he would help her find other guys who wanted to lose their virginity and help her to get to her 'dates', as she had no car of her own. In exchange for his help, she would continue her sexual relationship with him.
In the ensuing weeks, she went on four more dates, all with guys Corey knew, all of them virgins. And while she had been aroused enough for sex with those guys, none of them brought her to orgasm like Corey did. So, after each one, she and Corey parked someplace inconspicuous where he fingered her to a much-needed climax and she reciprocated by going down on him. She would have preferred sex, but he was not comfortable doing so after she had been with another guy. Besides, they had been getting together at his house after school as often as they could, and those times he had no problem having sex with her or making her climax. And it was the afternoons they spent together, talking and fooling around, that made her think maybe there was more than friendship there. Or would have been, if she were not a whore.
"If he is too bad, call me. I'll stay close by."
"Thanks, Cor," she said, rubbing his arm and trying to not think about how much she wanted to tell him to find a secluded spot so she could give herself to him instead of going through with her date with Darren Connors.
It would also give her time to talk about Valentine's day, the other issue on her mind. Her mother, who Ashley viewed as far too controlling, and who had been steadfast about her not having a serious boyfriend in high school, loved Corey. In fact, she had suggested to Ashley that she could stay out past her school night curfew—Ashley did not believe she should even have a curfew since she was eighteen—when Corey took her out for Valentine's Day. The issue for Ashley was that since she and Corey were not really a couple in the way her parents and his parents believed, he had not asked her out. And that meant she would have to ask him, at least to keep up appearances.
"Or just kick him in the balls if he gets out of hand. He probably deserves it anyway."
Ashley laughed, then looked back out the window, chewing on her bottom lip. Corey was right that Darren Connors was an asshole and no doubt deserved a kick to the nuts. He was a senior like they were, and he had turned eighteen in November, just like Ashley. But while Ashley was popular and Corey was well liked in his own group and at least respected outside of it, no one she knew liked Darren. He was an arrogant, spoiled, pudgy young man with a round face, small, dark eyes, and longish slick, black hair. He also claimed to have been sexually active with several girls in their class, but Ashley and most everyone else believed that the stories of his alleged conquests were lies. And she considered the fact that he had contacted Corey about her services as proof that those who doubted him had been right.
"Well, it is the next block over. You ready?"
"I guess," the young brunette sighed. "I just hope he showered like I instructed in the email."
After her fourth 'date', Corey had created an anonymous email account for her, and she had started sending instructions to her new clients. The top of the list was showering right before she was supposed to arrive. That was because the young man who was her fourth client was drenched with nervous sweat when she showed up, so she had made him take a shower before they did anything.
"You'll be lucky if he did," Corey grumbled. "That guy always looks like he needs one."
"Thanks for the support, pal," Ashley replied, managing a weak smile as she rolled her brown eyes.
"That's what I'm here for," he said as they pulled up to a good-sized two-story house with a large, green, well-kept front yard.
"I know," she told him, her smile stronger. "Even if you were joking."
Corey started to object, but she silenced him with a kiss.
"Call me if you need me!" he reminded her as she exited the car.
Ashley waved, then strolled up a decorative stone walkway to the front door. She did not look back as she heard Corey's car pull away. She knew he would have preferred to wait until she was inside, but she did not like the idea of her clients seeing him do so.
Inhaling deeply, she rang the doorbell, wishing she had one last chance to check her makeup.
"Holy fuck! Ashley Saunders!" Darren said when he opened the door, his surprise obvious on his round face. It had been the same with all her clients after Corey.
"Yeppers. Can I come in?"
"Fuck yeah," the plump young man in grey sweats and a loose, black t-shirt chortled. "This is fucking fantastic. I've been trying to figure out who you'd be since Corey set this up, but I have to say I never thought you'd be you."
"Well, I'm me," the brunette shrugged, noting the way Darren's eyes had fixed onto her chest when she had taken off her dark gray coat.
As had been her practice on her previous dates, Ashley had dressed casually. For her date with Darren, she wore form-fitting jeans a blue so light it was bordering on white and a darker blue, button-up blouse. A pullover top would have been better for disrobing and dressing again afterward, but the button-up one allowed her to leave her house looking modest yet arrive at her date with enough buttons open to show off her cleavage. Her preference would have been to complete her look with calf-high boots, but her experience was that the low-top canvas sneakers she was wearing were much easier to take off.
"So, you got the email, I presume."
"Um yeah."
"And you've been told what to expect?"
"Uh huh. You'll suck me off then I'll fuck you."
"Exactly," Ashley nodded, although she had not phrased it like that in her email.
"Your first experience will include special oral attention to make sure you are relaxed and ready for the main event, with the stamina to make the most of your rite of passage into manhood," was what she had written. Corey told her it was too flowery, but she did not want it obvious what she meant if an email made its way into the wrong hands. Yes, Corey assured her the address he made for her would be anonymous and more difficult to trace for anyone who wasn't a hacker or IT professional, but she was still nervous.
"So, what're you standing there for. Strip."
"Wouldn't you rather go to your bedroom?"
"Nope."
"So, you want to, um, do it here, in your entry hall?"
"Nope."
"Then what do you want?" Ashley asked, trying to keep her mounting irritation out of her voice.
This part—when the guy had no idea what to do next—was her least favorite part of the whole thing. After she had been too direct with a young man named Grant, her first client after Corey, she had worked on helping her clients relax, taking them to their bedrooms after receiving her payment, then moving slowly enough to put them at ease, or at least at as much ease as possible. It was torture for her, as she would have like to have proceeded quicker, but it was what they needed. That was obviously not true with Darren, however.
"I told you to strip. Then you can follow me."
"Look, I hate to do it this way, but I'm going to need the money first."
"What if I decide I don't think it's worth a hundred bucks? That's why I told you to strip."
"I can just leave," the brunette snapped, her eyes fixed on Darren's small, dark orbs.
