Tuesday Night
My husband gets a condom. I silence a sigh, part my legs and mentally put on my mask of calm. Without groping me, without foreplay, he lowers his fat middle-aged body onto mine. His three inches enter me, motions slow and predictable enough that I can maintain a serene stillness.
In a sense, Gordon is my perfect mate. Ideally, of course, nobody would ever be inside me. But then I'd have to work for a living. Being kept in luxury is worth momentary unpleasantness now and then. Best that the intruder be the smallest and least bothersome.
Wednesday
If Gordon's negotiation goes well today, the contract should make us a millionaire couple. But that evening, his face is all tension and guilt. It takes me a while to coax the truth from him: as a condition of closing the deal, Theodore Long wants me in bed. Gordon insists he'll refuse, then drinks himself into a stupor.
I can't sleep. It's a horrible prospect, but I married Gordon expecting one day he'd be very rich. I'll be damned before I let that escape.
In the morning I get straight to the point. "When you call him today, tell him--" I force myself. "We agree."
Despite his protests I take the phone from his discarded jacket. I call Theodore Long from the contacts and arrange to arrive at seven on Friday. I must wear my hair up.
Friday
Gordon blusters, forbidding me to do this. "I don't consent to you being unfaithful to me!"
"Well I do, Gordon, and only my consent is required."
"If you f-fornicate with Theodore Long, you're doing it against my wishes!"
"You'll thank me for this when we're millionaires, Gordon." He looks oddly satisfied with this, and stamps off.
In the afternoon I shave every hair below my neck, shower, dress, drive, arrive. A black maid conveys me to a man of around fifty.
"Arabella. I must say, you look lovely."
"Th-thank you, Mr. Long." Stammering, am I? Don't act like some naive schoolgirl! I'm a sophisticated lady who's done this with plenty of men before, back when I was fishing for a lifelong provider.
Pop!
I jump, then see the dark girl filling two flutes with champagne. Oh, very graceful, Arabella, startled by such a thing.
He raises his glass. "To Gordon's prosperity."
"Yes. To.... Gordon's prosperity." I find myself gulping instead of sipping. I rarely drink, but now I need it. But I make myself slow down. This is hardly elegant.
"Something stronger? Vodka and tonic, perhaps? You seem to need something to relax you."
I mean to say no, but somehow the word "Yes" emerges. I swiftly follow with "Yes please, sir."
Sir?
Well, I'm here to please.
The servant mixes my drink, and I make sure to sip it this time. Then Mr. Long gestures toward my midriff. "Let's see what you have to tempt me."
The maid eyes me with insolent amusement. My shame being witnessed by the domestic help, that stings. Will she joke on Twitter tonight about how she watched a white lady degraded? Will she use my name?
Forget that. Don't delay compliance. I put my drink down on a table, trying to bend with grace, but my hand shakes and I spill some.
Behind my back, my quaking hands can't grasp the zipper. In my mind I reach for the mask of calm I've refined over years. I spread serenity through my whole being, stilling my fingers enough.
First I push off my shoes. Then -- time to unveil the goods. The zipper's rasp seems deafening as the dress slackens. I drop it to show off basque, stockings, lacy panties.
He kisses my shoulder, caresses up my spine. I imagine prostitutes can somehow turn off or ignore physical sensations. They'd go insane otherwise. But I am blessed with no such gift. I feel every touch, agonizingly vivid.
"Why are you here, Arabella?"
"To be, be your plaything, sir."
"And what does that involve?"
"It.... sir, I must obey you without question, sir."
He waves at my chest. I unclip the basque from my stockings, reach behind myself and undo its fastenings one by one. The last released, it pings forward, leaving me bare above the waist.
Next are the panties, and when I slide them down my pelvis turns sideways in concealment, which won't do. As I straighten up, I can't stop my knees pressing together, as if they hope to protect my interior from being pierced -- a forlorn hope, surely.
He fondles me more, then sits on a couch, before which is a cream-colored rug, and pats between his legs. "Foot here."
Guessing what he wants, I slide off one stocking then the other, dangling my bosom close to his face. I'm only wearing hair clips now. Oh, and my wedding ring.
He beckons and I place my knees on the couch, his legs between mine, and put my arms behind my back. He toys with my waist, neck, my collarbone, then moves down to my breasts, stroking and squeezing. My hands want to push him away, and to keep them in check I interlace my fingers. I will myself to dignified stillness, which grows more difficult as he entertains himself with my nipples. He takes one between his lips, and I feel myself grimace. He can't see my face now, so I my expression can't offend him. I concentrate on holding my position.
When his teeth close on my nipple, it's like an electric shock. My head jerks to the side, and I can't quite stay silent.
His hands stray lower: waist, navel, the mound I've so carefully made hairless. The fronts of my thighs, their inner surfaces, then the worst place of all. He slips in a single digit, and my jaw clenches. The finger-joints feel huge to the sensitive inside of my passage. I'm shuddering, face aflame.
He flexes the finger and a spasm of distress ripples up my whole spine, snapping my head back. An ungainly cry bursts from my mouth, crude, guttural. It takes all my discipline not to flee. My torso convulses like some demented dancer who can't keep time. I lock my throat tight to keep silent, but my breath scrapes out in a sick rasp. I abandon the effort, and let the cacophony escape.
After he withdraws, it's obvious he found my shameful display amusing. I wipe the tears from my eyes and do my best to smile, but it must be a wan effort.
He pats my thigh. "Off me now, Arabella. Down on the floor."
"Y-yes, yes sir." I descend to my hands and knees.
He undresses revealing a giant, easily longer than anything that's ever filled me. This just gets worse and worse. He perches on the very edge of the couch, thighs wide apart, rampant phallus angled upward. Points to the floor immediately before him. On all fours I crawl until the angry beast is horribly close to my face. His eyes look straight into mine, then down at his rigid enormity.
I open my jaw and inch myself forward. But as the tip is about to touch, my head twists to the side.
"Arabella? What's the matter?"
"I -- I -- sir, I -- I've --"
"You've never had one in your mouth before?"
"N-no sir."
He laughs as if this is the best joke he's heard in years. "How on earth is that possible in the modern world?"
"I -- sir, Gordon's never asked for it, sir."
"Don't tell me Gordon's the only man who's had you."
"No, sir, there were others, but.... sir, whenever a man asked for that, I.... I ended it, sir. I didn't want to marry a man who'd want that."
"And the only men you've ever been with, you saw as prospective husbands?"
"Yes sir."
"Arabella.... have you ever enjoyed getting poked?"
"No sir."
"It's only ever given been a means to secure a man's wealth."
"Ye-yes sir."
"You're a prostitute with only one customer."
"Yes sir."