This is the last chapter for now, thank you so much for reading and voting! I still have material for a few more chapters, but I'm worried that it might become a bit repetitive. I hope you enjoyed the story so far and please let me know what you think.
Contract
Last month's whipping had taught me to take my bureaucratic duties more seriously, so with another tax deadline looming I was sitting in the office filling in forms when Sylvie and Carla walked in.
"Could we talk to you, please?" asked Sylvie.
"Sure," I said and dropped the data pad on the desk. "Anything for a distraction. Gods, this stuff is killing me."
I had procrastinated and pushed this bureaucratic bullshit off as long as I possibly could. After scrubbing the oven and washing out the fridge I had finally started and ten minutes in I was ready to gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon.
"You know," started Carla, "I hit my milestone this morning. One hundred anal tricks, and I took some really big ones, too."
"It's true," said Sylvie, nodding and supportive as always. "We checked the register."
"And I've done a few face fucks, too. Without puking, I can show you."
I chuckled. "No need, we've all seen it."
She had played the video of that particular achievement on a loop on the break room screen until Anahí finally put an end to it.
"Cassie, I've been working two part-time jobs for almost six weeks now. Does your offer still stand? I mean, taking me on, full-time?"
"Like I said, any time when you're ready. You should have talked to me earlier, you could have made a lot more money than at the agency."
"I wanted to make sure that I could do it. And I still earned quite a bit."
"Buy yourself something nice," I said and leaned back in the uncomfortable office chair. "You worked so hard, you should really treat yourself once in a while."
"Oh, that money is long gone."
Gods, I thought and took a long hard look at her. Had I missed any signs? They were both just twenty years old, I had a responsibility for these girls.
"Sweetie," I said and took her hand. "Are you taking drugs? You can tell me, I'll get you all the help you need. You are not alone in this, I promise."
Carla laughed. "No, it's nothing like that. I was two months behind on rent and five on the citizen tax."
"Five months?!" Sylvie was shocked. "You should have said something! You can't cut it close like that!"
Six months behind and the government would assume that you were unable to take care of yourself. After two years of penal slavery you would get another chance at becoming a tax-paying member of society.
"Yeah," said Carla, grimacing. "That was way too close. I sleep a lot better now that I paid off most of it."
"Alright," I said and picked up the data pad. "Let's use Anahí's contract as a template. I'll send it to you, just let me know if you want any changes. And tell me how much you still owe, I'll give you an advance. Deal?"
They both stared at the floor.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I, err, talked to Sylvie," said Carla, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers like she always did when she was nervous. "She gets to eat and sleep here for free-"
"Everyone gets to eat and sleep here for free," I said.
"But as a serf she doesn't pay citizen tax or income tax or anything. And the business saves on taxes, too. That does sound like a pretty good deal."
I rubbed my temples. "Financially maybe, but you'd sign away your rights. Do you understand that? This is serious, I wouldn't do that in a million years."
"But I trust you! You always take care of us and teach us stuff. It's so much fun staying here and hanging out, I have never had anything like that. And I like the job, too."
I sighed. It sounded like she wanted a break from adulthood and its responsibilities. Not that I could blame her -- it was a hard, unforgiving world out there, especially for a young woman who hadn't found her place yet. If she had struggled that much to make ends meet, she must have been under a lot of stress for a long time. On the other hand, this was her freedom we were talking about.
"We already went to the Slave Emporium and picked out a collar," said Sylvie quickly. "They reserved it for us."
I rolled my eyes. "Of course you have."
"It's really pretty and comfortable," said Carla, "and it's on sale. Not expensive at all."
"What about your parents? What would they think? Did you talk to them?"
"My dad left before I was even born and my mom has been in and out of collars her whole life, she'd understand. Girls like me get collared by the millions, it's no big deal."
I scratched my head. "So you didn't talk to her?"
"I can't reach her, she's currently on a contract, but I left a message through her owner and gave them our business address just in case."
"How about you wait until you hear back?"
"I'm an adult, this is my decision. But she'd be happy to hear that I'm taken care of. She'd tell me to go through with it."
"The collar will come off when your term is up," I said, rubbing my own registration number above my pubic mound, "but the tattoo, that's nanite ink. That one's for life."
"Where I'm from most women have one. A lot of men, too. And it's not like it's in my face or anything."
"You know," I said, desperately fishing for arguments, "I'd have to pay your salary up front. Our numbers are okay, but that's a chunk of money."
"No, no," said Sylvie, shaking her head. "The salary could be just one credit with a variable performance component. You know, the seventy percent per trick, like my contract after we changed it."
I took a deep breath. Talking them out of it was a waste of time, these girls were relentless when they set their minds to something.
"If you agree to this," said Sylvie. "I'll do the taxes from now on. I study law, I'm good at reading all the fine print. There will be zero problems, I swear."
*
Carla had given notice at Everton's and moved in with us, which was a rather quick affair. All of her worldly possessions fit in a small, half-empty gym bag that she stashed under the bunk next to Sylvie's suitcase. I moved over to the small cage to give the girls some space -- as far as that was possible when all the walls were made of steel bars.
Now that I knew about the tax debt that had been hanging over her head, a lot of things made more sense. She had always come to us for her meals and even on her days off from the agency she had worn her work uniforms because the rest of her wardrobe consisted of one pair of pants, a skirt, and two t-shirts. Apparently, she had been living with eight other girls in a cramped one-room apartment, sharing three beds, so it was clear why she had stayed overnight after her shifts.