There was the bang of a door from somewhere outside the office. A few seconds later, the small, dark murky office's door crashed open, revealing a scantily clad woman standing fuming in the doorway. From the red blush of her face, the balled fists held by her sides, and the way her skimpy bikini top rose and fell over her panting bosom, it was clear that she was the source of the commotion. She stared into the room, strawberry hair unkempt, several errant strands streaking across her face like faux-scars, her eyes fixating immediately on the figure seated behind the small desk within.
'Adam!' The sexily-dressed woman growled.
Inside the room, the man behind the desk seemed particularly nonplussed, a slightly out-of-place reaction to the woman's fury. His mouth twitched, though whether in pleasure, frustration, anger, or mere perturbation, it was impossible to tell. He put his palms to his chair's armrests, sighing, just as another woman appeared behind the furious female's shoulder, the newcomer curly-blonde haired and wearing a neon pink latex boob-tube. It bounced as she ran with the springy weight of the body underneath, and there were two small protrusions in it's front, roughly where her nipples would be, beneath the material. She put her hand on the first female's arm, pulling gently backwards.
'June, c'mon,' she said, looking at the slightly taller woman's head as if addressing her eyes despite their fixation on the man, 'let's just leave it, they're not worth it—'
'No.' June said, shrugging off the hand. 'I've had
enough
.' She stepped into the office. 'Get back to work, Kel, I need to speak to our
employer
for a sec.'
There was a brief pause during which the blonde's line-of-sight was unhindered as June entered Adam's office, and, for a fleeting moment, the pair met eyes. There was a flash of something—a sort of silent, wordless energy—that passed between them, and for an instant, Kel—real name Kelly, stripper name Cherry Pop—seemed to stiffen, her sky-blue eyes widening, almost as if they were receiver dishes reading a radio signal from Adam's own. A moment later, without another word, Kelly turned and left, her similarly pink-clad backside wobbling out of view.
Adam sighed again and pushed himself out of his chair. He was tall, stocky, and had the first inklings of a pot belly coming on. At thirty-five, he looked older than his age, and was an eclectic mix of stereotypes; gangly, hairy, both nasal and deep-voiced, somehow both fat and thin, and most of all, a curious mix of creepy and attractive. He gestured to the door, brushing his greasy neck-length hair from his face.
'Close that, if you wouldn't mind, please, June.'
June studiously ignored his request, and he shrugged philosophically. 'Fine, we can do this as privately as you'd like.'
'What I'd
like
,' June said, pointing at Adam accusatorily, 'is for you to
step up
and do something about these fucking men touching us. I've just had the
fifth
"customer" of yours think he can pull down my pan—my
underwear
and cop a feel just because I'm putting it in his face. I thought we'd agreed, this is a
strip
club,
not
a brothel, right? Or are you just letting them get away with it as long as they keep throwing hundred-dollar bills on the poles? Keep them coming back for another feel?'
Adam's arms went out, palms forward in a display of defeat. He smiled good-naturedly and leaned forwards slightly as he responded. He was actually taller than June, but in her present set of heels—six-inch clear stilettos—they were the same height. 'You're
right,
of course, my girl,
completely
right. Here, why don't you take a seat, and let's discuss this properly. You deserve to be heard and your concerns appreciated.' He gestured towards a couch that reclined by the wall next to his desk, and, pausing for a moment to consider, June took it. Adam passed her, closed the door, and took a seat himself opposite her, on a gaudy meeting room-esque orange chair - the circular type with a low, mostly aesthetic backrest and slim metal legs made from one continuous metal beam.
Adam sat and crossed his legs, letting his loose, threadbare blazer jacket fall open in the process, gesturing with both hands for June to continue talking. As if absent-mindedly, he began fingering a small black necklace that hung around his neck, previously tucked just beneath his shirt by his blazer and released by his movements. He seemed not to realise he was doing it as he stared intently at June, apparently wholly focussed on her words.
'Well—look. I'm
sorry
I burst in like that, but
fuck
man! I signed on to fucking
strip.
I know stripping is an inherently sexual thing, but there's a difference between jiggling my tits in front of some dudes and letting them
get up in
there!' She sighed, aware that anger wouldn't help her get her point across, and took a fresh breath, regathering her emotions. 'Look. It's just that it's not the first time we've brought it up. I said to you last week when two different men, who paid for the all-access service, thought they could touch me - one of them started rubbing my thighs, remember, while the other one thought it was an all-out fuck-fest and tried to bend me over the table? And I said then that Kelly, Anna, Rachel, even Maisie had all had men do the same, and... And, I don't know, I mean now, I have two men do it in one night and you're not... Not available, and, um, then some guy's dirty hands, end up, uh—they end up, you know, I mean one second he's there and it's cool and then... Then he's pulling down my... My panties, and he's... Uh, he's, uh, he's—his hand is between my... between my legs... And...'
As June spoke, her eyes slowly drifted, eventually finding the black bauble rolling gently between Adam's fingertips. At first, she kept her train of thought, paying it little mind, but as she continued to try to focus on her words, she found the flickering, sparkling object drawing in more and more of her attention, until she was starting to find it hard to remember what she was saying in the first place. Slowly, without realising it, June's angry posture had softened, and she had begun to slump back into the generous cushions supporting her back as she continued to stare into the twinkling little crystal, words and focus trailing off as the curious, intricate thing dragged more and more of her focus into it. It was... Strange. Oddly captivating. It seemed to shine from internal spaces that were too big, too far away to fit inside that tiny...
'Go on, June. Tell me all about the way the man touched you.' Adam said, leaning forwards. Notably, he never stopped fidgeting with his necklace - indeed, it was now considerably closer to June's eyes as she tried to resume her train of thought.
'I... Uh, well, I was—I mean, he was... Sitting there, and I was... I was dancing... He had my—I mean, his hands... Uh... They were, on my legs, and then... I-I was giving him a lap dance... And he... His hands went up... And then...'
The black stone kept shifting in Adam's hand, rolling back and forth, catching the lights in Adam's office and sending thousands of tiny flashes like camera bulbs straight into June's eyes. It was an oddly deep object, June found herself thinking, almost involuntarily - distracting, fixating,
magical
. Every time she felt like she had its shape and motion worked out, another flicker would show off some sub-surface facet, making it look wholly new again, almost as if the inside of the object were larger and more complex than the simple round bauble it appeared to be at first glance. She forged on, but the necklace just kept twisting, and for every new word in her mind, another colour-filled flash surprised her optical nerves and short-circuited her mind, and as she spoke, her thoughts grew more and more scattered and her focus more and more distracted.
'Tell me about where the man touched you.' Adam said, his voice level, yet his words somehow insisting. It was as if he weren't asking June as much as he was ordering her, yet his tone was still conversational, his face soft. His eyes bored into June's even as hers remained locked on the necklace in his hand. She did not look up from it.
'He... Touched me... Between my legs...' June said, now sounding thoroughly distracted, like someone trying to talk while driving or playing a video game.
'Where.'
'My... Vagina...' June vagued.
'
On
your vagina?'
'Yes.'
'Did his fingers touch your asshole?'
'N... No.'
'Did his fingers penetrate you?'
'No.'
'Were you wet?'
This last question was a step above the ones before it, but if June felt it was more intimate than she was comfortable with, she didn't show it. Indeed, June seemed not to show anything anymore - she was now staring fixatedly at the necklace rolling back and forth in Adam's fingertips, her eyes wide as saucers. Something had changed inside June as she had gotten lost in the sparkling gemstone, and it now had her. There was a pause as June's brain conjured up an answer to a question it hadn't yet considered, working impeded around the growing portion of her mind that was locked, fixated, on the gemstone.
'Yes.'
'Good.' Adam said. There was a noise as he shifted his chair closer, and for a fleeting second, the gemstone lost focus before June. She blinked, but it was right there again, only now so much closer. Her mouth actually fell open as she saw it in wholly new intricacies now, more full, more impossible, more irresistible. It was so much larger than she'd thought, so much more powerful, so much more
irresistible...
'June, I want you to listen to my words and respond with simple "yes" or "no" answers, and repeat what I say when I ask it. Say "I will".'
'I will.' June replied distractedly.
'Good. Your name is June, is this correct?'
'Yes.'
'Good. You work at my strip club, is this correct?'
'Yes.'
'Good. And you enjoy working for me at my strip club, is this correct?'
There was a slight pause as June's brain surfaced the answer, but just as it did, Adam gave her the words. They instantly matched whatever it was that had been about to pass through June's lips.
'Say "yes".'
'Yes.'
'Good girl.'
The gemstone continued to shift and gleam in Adam's hand as he spoke. June had gone completely limp now, slumped on the couch, and Adam leaned forwards with his free hand, gently pushing June's knees apart. Her heels tipped, helping to lever her knees aside, and Adam could see the ultra-thin sliver of gaily coloured material keeping June's private parts separate from the larger world. June was about as far under as she needed to be, he knew, but he just wanted to be sure. Gently, he reached forth, placing his palm on her thigh.
'You are a stripper at my establishment. Say "I am."'
'I am.' June responded, her voice flat now, devoid of the emotion that had filled her ten minutes earlier. She sounded like she was running on autopilot.
'Good girl. You are my employee. Say "I am."'
