Chapter 3 - Donna and Suzi

Donna was having a frustrating day! Three clients made noises about moving to a new firm, a failed bid to take over PR work for a new client, and a call from the IRS about her ex-husband. “What a messed-up day!” She thought to herself as she tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and turned her head to back out of her parking space. She clicked on a small tape recorder at the same time and started to list some approaches for her clients who wanted to leave. “Goddamn economy, my clients need this service, but want to cut their nose off in spite of their face.”

“HONKKKKKKKK!”

“Oh my God!” She waved her hand in an apology and accepted the raised finger as a rebuke for almost backing into another car. She shook her head, her hair created that halo-effect cameras always loved to capture when she was modeling, as she got her mind back to focus on what she was doing. She killed the tape and decided to kill a couple of hours before addressing work again. Carefully she drove towards her home and passed one of her favorite stores. “Yes, this is just what I need, a dose of Jessie’s!”

“Donna, how are you?” The lady at the front greeted her warmly. Jessie was more than just a clerk although most would never have guessed it. She was in her mid-thirties but looked barely twenty-five. Even though she was the majority owner, she preferred being on the floor. There was something about customers that she just loved. She took a personal interest in many of them, some more personal than others —like Donna! The former model had helped Jessie with her business plans in return for a nice discount in the shop. Jess knew that Donna was not only beautiful but smart and a very elegant lady, just the kind of client she wanted to attract into her shop.

“Hi Jess, I am doing OK, just a little stressed.” She said with a smile and that got a hug from Jessie. Several other customers noticed and the smiles ranged from loving to lustful as each person felt their own reaction to the tall gorgeous blonde holding the beautiful, but much shorter, brunette.

“Well, I think we can help you with some stress relief. What did you have in mind?”

“I’m not really sure, can I wander a bit?”

“Of course, Suzi is here if you need anything. I have to do some manager stuff in the office for a while.” Jess indicated a very pretty Asian girl who started quivering in place as soon as Donna came in. Jess smiled to herself, she knew how ‘gone’ Suzi was over Donna. “Come to think of it, they would make a striking couple!” she thought and not for the first time.

Donna interrupted that thought. “Anything pressing, something you need a hand with?”

“How about a sounding board before you do your own shopping if you don’t mind?”

“Sure!” Jess led Donna to her office and smiled again to herself when she saw the look on Suzi’s face. She sat her down and poured herself and Donna some coffee. “I am having distributor problems, nothing overly serious, but kind of annoying.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“My usual distributor is refusing to accept the return of a pile of movies and magazines. They aren’t selling at all and the normal deal is that after so many weeks I can return them to the publisher for at least a partial refund.”

So what’s the problem?”

The distributor can’t seem to get hold of the publisher, so if he takes them back, he may get stuck for them. If I keep them I get stuck for them.”

“Did you order it?”

“No, they were tucked in with a larger order that got signed for. By the time we realized it, they were on the shelf already. I think out of 240 movies we’ve sold 2, and none of the magazines.”

“Crappy stuff?” Donna asked.

“Real amateur work, lousy lighting, supposedly hidden camera stuff, but what I looked at was poorly staged and obviously a put-up job. The magazines are nothing but still images from the movies with some pretty poor text tie-ins. Crappy isn’t the word. Once I realized how bad it was, I pulled it from the shelves. Actually, Suzi pulled it, since she is more in charge of the movies lately.” There, Jessie did what she felt was appropriate and worked Suzi’s name into the conversation -- twice!

“Well, it sounds like you did everything right, but if your distributor can’t return them to the production company, one of you will get stuck, if the production company sends a bill.”

“Right, I usually pay through the distributor, so if I keep them, I have to pay them. They pay the production company.”

Donna smiled a much more relaxed smile, happy to help out a friend. “Is the distributor pushing for payment?”

“Now that you mention it, no, which is very unusual.” Jess looked a little puzzled.

“To me, if the distributor isn’t pushing that means...”

“It means the publisher isn’t either and it probably means they haven’t paid for them. I feel so much better!” She leaned over to her desk and hit a button.

“Suzi, can come in for a second?”

Pretty Suzi came in, all smiles and to Jess it was easy to see that she was trying not to look in Donna’s direction. “Suzi, those crappy movies you pulled, where are they?”

“Boxed up in the basement, except for the few I gave you to look at.”

“Oh, yea.” Jess opened a bottom drawer and pulled them out. “Donna, take a look at how bad the covers look and then give them to Suz. Suzi, add them to the boxes and keep them separate in the basement. I don’t even want customers to know we have such lousy merchandise!”

“Sure thing.” Suzi finally looked at Donna. “Donna, what is it?”

Donna’s face was pale as she looked down at the DVD cover. “Suzi, Jess, I swear this is Frank!”

“What?”

“I really need to see this movie, because this looks like my ex.”

“You’re kidding, no, I can tell by your face you’re not. Why would he get involved in ... Oh never mind. Suzi honey, take Donna down to the small break room and put in this film. Also, get a copy of some of the others and the mags from the boxes for Donna to look at.”

“Sure thing!”

“Thanks, Jess.” Donna hugged the smaller woman again and followed Suzi out of Jessie’s office.

Suzi is a very attractive girl who has had a serious crush on Donna for months. “She is so perfect, beautiful, successful, and hotter than hell!” She told Jess, Ronnie, and anyone that would listen to her, on more than one occasion. But there was something that kept her from trying to be more than a salesgirl to her. Suzi wasn’t shy, but there was a wall around Donna that didn’t give her any indication a pass would be well received. She knew it wasn’t a problem about her being a girl. As they went across the shop she remembered the first time she laid eyes on Donna...

“Who is she?” Suzi asked Nadine, who was on monitor duty for the party.

“That, sexy Suzi, is a lady named Donna. Pretty magnificent, isn’t she?”

Suzi watched Donna administer several smacks to the upturned ass of the naked girl lying across her lap. Suzi squirmed with each smack, wishing it was her ass. “I’ll say. She looks familiar? Is she a customer?”

“Not that I know of. Now scoot or at least be quiet or you’ll distract me from monitoring.”

Suzi slipped behind Nads, leaned over cupped her breasts, and kissed her neck. Nadine’s hands came and covered hers as she leaned into the kiss, all the while keeping one eye on the screen at the blonde.

Nadine swatted her arm. “You ain’t helping.”

Suzi left with a smile, “It’ll give ya something to think about.”

She considered asking Jess about getting a copy of the party but knew she would never agree. The action in a private party like that one was monitored for safety and recorded for security reasons. More than one claim of rape disappeared when a copy of the recording was played for a defense lawyer and client. It’s hard to justify rape when the client walks into the party room, strips her own clothes off, and demands to be fucked like a slut!

Damn few paid any attention to the warning at the front door about the recording, and even fewer ever learned about it, as long as they just don’t get stupid and try to blame the shop for their own actions. Jess started the party room after some friends complained about not having a truly private place for a ... shall we say ... wild party. It proved very popular!

Suzi went into Jessie’s office and flicked on the monitors behind two large panels. Nadine still had one camera pointed right toward the blonde. “Damn she IS gorgeous!”

Monitor three showed Nads was taking advantage of the view and had one hand in her pants. Suzi sat down on Jess’s coffee table and opened her legs wide as Jess walked in.

“Damn I have some horny girls working here!”

Suzi jumped up. “Jessie, I...”

“Oh relax baby, go back to what you were doing. I like your taste in women.”

“Do you know her?”

“Just her first name, Cecelia, the bride-to-be, introduced her when they came in to make the arrangements. Her name is Donna.”

“Which one is Cecelia?”

Jess looked at another monitor. “I think she’s buried under that pile of bodies off to the side.”

At this point, Donna stood and Suzi saw how tall and strikingly beautiful she was. The harness and 9-inch toy she was sporting looked good too.

Jess turned up the volume.

“Where is that bride? Cec, I have a present for you.”

The crowd parted revealing an equally tall and gorgeous woman on the floor.

Donna slowly advanced on the bride whose pussy was recently the target of a pretty redhead’s tongue. The girls on each side held her legs open. Her sweet-looking pussy was making Suzi sweat.

“I’m gonna fuck me a lawyer, I’m gonna get me some lawyer-sex.” She taunted as she stroked her cock while she advanced. They became the focal point of the room.

“I’m gonna sue you for sexual harassment if you don’t get down here and fuck me. The goddamn model has gotta make everything a show.”

“You can’t sue me; I already own you. Your soul is mine!”

“That’s my ass you own ‘cause I work for you. My soul is still a virgin.”

That cracked the whole room up.

“Turn the wench over, up on her knees.”

Kneeling behind her, Donna sank the nice big latex toy deep into her lawyer, much to the delight of her and everyone else in the room.

“Damn Jess, that’s a wild bunch.”

“More than most, that’s for sure! Cecelia told me this was party number 2, the first was a typical bridal shower. This one was a much more ‘select’ crowd.”

“So I see. No strippers?” Suzi looked for any of the usual male strippers and didn’t see any.

“Two, Kat and Joy got them going good. They are in there somewhere.”

“Lady Strippers, how come I didn’t get invited to that party?”

“You don’t, my little slut, you stay for this one.”

Suzi turned from the screen and looked at Jessie, her top and bra were gone and her secret nature tenting her skirt. Suzi knelt down and didn’t think about the blond until she came in as a customer a few weeks later.

Back to the present, on their way to the basement, the front door opened, a handsome man and one very familiar to Donna, came in. “William, Elise’s husband” was her first thought. She flushed at her second, remembering that sweet Elise was in a bad car accident and died a while ago. She hadn’t seen Wit, as he is nicknamed, in that long. He was more than a decade older than Donna and she remembered his lively sense of humor during the many neighborhood parties. In fact, Donna remembered a barbeque at Rob’s when...

“HONEY!!!”

Donna looked up and saw Jess rocketing toward Wit. She jumped up on him and hugged and then kissed him in a very forceful manner. It was touching and comical at the same time.

Donna felt Suzi behind her as they both watched Jess drag him to her office. Suzi smiled at the scene.

“I guess Jessie has a guy.”

Suzi smiled wider. “You have no idea.”

“He’s a good guy!”

“Do you know him?”

“Yea, he lives in my Platte. Nice guy, good head on his shoulders, do you know about his wife?”

“He’s married?” Suzi’s temper flared, making her look sexy as hell, but in a very dangerous way.

Donna grabbed her arm before she could run to the office to interrupt. “No, Suzi, she died in a car accident last year. It tore him up pretty good for a long time. Actually, now that I think about it, it’s good to see him smiling.”

Suzi went from mad to sad to happy faster than an instant-read thermometer. “He is a good guy and I think good for Jessie.”

“He’ll always be straight with her, unlike my ex.”

“Frank, yea I remember him. He wasn’t one of our favorite customers.”

Donna looked surprised. “He hurt anyone here?”

“No, nothing like that; I don’t know how to explain it. Donna, what do you think of this shop, compared to other adult stores?”

Donna looked around at the professional decor, bright lighting, and huge windows. It was clean and manned by a bevy of beautiful girls who were engaging, helpful, and always smiling. Compared to a dark, hole in the wall run by a sweaty fat guy... “Oh!”

“Right! Some customers try and make us feel dirty for working here, even as they feel dirty buying things here. Frank was a little worse and tried to treat Ronnie like a hooker. Jess had to kick him out and told him never to return.”

“When was that?”

“He used to come in once in a while when you were married. He got ugly after you two split up. We haven’t seen him in a while.”

Suzi took Donna downstairs and into a small room. It was furnished with a couple of chairs, a couch, a table, and a plasma flat panel on the wall above a small cabinet. She sat Donna on the couch and grabbed a remote control. The cabinet contained several devices including a DVD player. In went the movie. It started with a cheesy title sequence that insulted the professional in Donna and the woman in Suzi. Donna turned her attention to Suzi.

She was blushing slightly as Suzi fast-forwarded through scenes in the movie. “Suzi, I can do this.”

“No way, Donna; first off I want to see your reaction to the actor when I find him.”

Donna smiled at that. “And the second reason?”

“If you think I am leaving your side while you watch a dirty movie, even a lousy one, you’re nuts.”

“Suzi...”

“Shhh, Donna. You have to know that I like you. But while I think I tempt you, there are serious complications that mean I can only lust after you from afar. If I got it wrong, then just leave me to my illusions”

Donna was amazed at how easily she summed it all up. She was older than her years, that’s for sure.

“No, Suzi you hit it right on the head.” Donna hung her head a little and Suzi slid close.

“Hey Donna, don’t feel bad. I just wanted to make sure you know how I feel. No worries, no pressure.” She touched Donna’s shoulder. “Here, it should be soon, isn’t that the house on the cover?”

Donna redirected her attention from her internal emotions to the screen.

The screen showed a house in some darkness. In some bushes stood a woman, she was in her late 30’s or early 40’s, older than the usual porn actress, full breasts, a little extra weight in the belly and hips, but too much make-up to be attractive. Without it, she would be prettier. In fact... “Oh My God, I know her!”

“What?”

“That looks like a former neighbor of mine, a real tramp named Sylvia”

A man joined her on-screen and Donna looked shocked. “That certainly is Frank.”

“Oh wow, are you sure?”

“Oh yes, even in that lighting. That’s him and the Platte slut.” Donna looked more carefully at the screen. “I even know where that is. A small copse of trees and bushes between two properties in my neighborhood. That’s the back of the top of the Becwraithe house, you can tell from the custom roof structure, very distinctive.”

“Fucking wow!”

“This is incredible. Sylvia doesn’t even live there anymore, well, neither does Frank-less. It’s been over a year for her. Can I see the other packages?”

Suzi handed her the DVD covers, cheap plastic with a single printed page on the front. A crappy picture of some other woman who looked a little familiar to Donna, done up in a ton and a half of make-up and leather. The title was “Subdivision Amateurs: part 10” and ID’ed the production company as a really weird-looking backward ‘S’, but stretched vertically with a small horizontal dash in the center of it. The distribution company was partnered with another firm, one Donna had heard of. She looked hard at the image on the front swearing she could almost see her without the make-up. It wasn’t Sylvia; this woman had long black crappy hair, probably a wig. Full figured, in a Wagnerian way, but that could also be all camera work. Donna was an expert on how the camera can make you look good or bad.

“Suzi, can I watch the other parts of this series?”

“Sure, let me call Jessie and tell her we’ll be down here a while.”

Suzi picked up a phone and dialed a two-digit number. “Hi, Jess. What? OK, what happened? Now? Alright, 10 minutes.” She hung up.

“Donna, I hate to run you off but the cops are on their way. They will want to talk to everyone in here and Jess thought you might like to leave now before they get here.”

Donna stood up quickly. “I know I’m not doing anything wrong by being here, but I appreciate your thoughtfulness. This could be tough to deal with professionally. Can we talk about this another time?”

“Of course. Does Jessie have your number?”

“Yes, but here it is anyway.” Donna pulled out a business card and scribbled her home number on it. “Give me a call later and you can tell me what happened. Is everyone OK?”

“Oh yea, it’s not serious but Nadine saw what might be a stalker in the parking lot. I’ll let you out the back and you can get going before the cops get here.”

Donna leaned in close and kissed Suzi’s cheek. She felt her face warm-up and when Suzi’s hands touched her own face, she blushed.

“You better leave now before I refuse to let you go!”

Donna paused for one more second and said “Call tonight anyway, about 8PM. Just call for me, please.”

Suzi was speechless as she led her to the back door. She watched her go around the corner to the parking lot. Suzi paused and leaned against the doorway surprised as things seemed to take on a life of their own. Tonight she was going to get herself a glass of wine, just one, and at 8PM on the button, she would be on the phone with a woman who has haunted her fantasies for months now.

Suzi went back in and started sorting some stock, she waited for the police and an explanation of what the hell was happening! What she was really waiting for was quitting time. The clock seemed to move at half speed.

She moved through the curtains from the upper stockroom into the main floor and saw two cops as they talked to Nadine. One was a young man with a raw look to him. The other one was one of her favorite people on many levels. Ann Lee was a regular customer and guest here at the shop and knew most of the inner workings. She was a close friend to Jessie and knew all the intimate details of Jessie as well. Donna was a good customer, but she wasn’t that involved.

Like Suzi, Ann was Asian, short, but there the resemblance ended. Where Suzi would always be seen as perky and cute, Ann was beautiful but in a very different way. Ann’s body was harder and she moved with the assurance of someone dedicated to working out. Her face had many more angles to it; sharp planes that made her attractive in a severe sort of way.

Everyone also assumed she was into martial arts, but she wasn’t. She was strong enough to handle criminals the way most cops do — with overwhelming physical force. The one time Suzi saw her in action was enough. Ann literally stopped a guy in his tracks with a punch in the middle of his chest, not a martial arts move, but a solid pure power punch that started from her toes. She broke three of his ribs, cracked his sternum, and the paramedics had to re-start his heart twice.

She was also a sharpshooter with her 9mm pistol and frequently outshot rifles at surprising distances. She was beautiful, dangerous, and thankfully a good friend of Jessie’s because she would make a dangerous enemy.

The raw-looking cop came over and looked at Suzi before he spoke. Like most guys, he started from her face and looked down to her hips, then stopped at her chest on the way back up. When Suzi put a hand on her hip he finally met her eyes. He was cute, in a young and inexperienced sort-of-way, but that attitude would need adjusting.

“Uhh, the lady upfront says you were in the storeroom?”

“Yes, putting up some new items for sale, what happened?”

“There was a guy in your parking lot, just parked there for several hours. The lady called us when she realized he was just sitting there.” He held out his phone, to show an image. “Do you know him?”

The small picture was of an unpleasant-looking guy, “No, I don’t think so. He doesn’t look like any customer I’ve ever seen.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, we get lots of guys, but most of the sleazy ones hit that adult bookstore down by the highway and he looks sleazy to me. If he had come in, we would remember him.”

“Yea, I agree, he does look more like their customer than one of yours. We get more trouble there than here, that’s for sure.”

“Who is he?”

“A small-time thief, the Sarge is going to run him in. He popped on a list wanted for questioning. He won’t bother you. Since we caught him here, even if he gets off he’ll be looking somewhere else.”

“Thanks!”

The young cop wandered off and found his Sergeant coming out of the office. “Let’s go. It looks like he was casing the place and hadn’t come in yet. I think we may have prevented a crime here.”

“Sure thing, Sarge.”

Ann looked at him for a second and shook her head. “Rookie, you call me Sarge one more time and I will kick your ass for the next month – and trust me, you don’t want me kicking you around the gym in front of the entire squad!”

He swallowed guiltily; “OK Sergeant.” and she preceded him out of the building.

Jessie closed the front door and pulled everyone together for a brief huddle.

William stood by the counter, Ronnie, who had just come in. was next to him. Nadine and Suzi sat on the floor. Jessie paced between them.

“OK, we need to quiet things down for a bit. No private parties, no ‘specials’ in the basement, and I’ll move our special stuff offsite. Ann told me the cops are going to be looking at us again. Apparently, a lady cop, not Ann, was at a party here a few weeks ago. She’s been running off at the mouth. Dupreaux is talking about us, Lt. Dupreaux.”

“Crap, they made Dupreaux a Lieutenant? He was crooked enough as a Sergeant.” Nadine commented sarcastically. “A couple of years ago Dupreaux tried to strong-arm me into planting drugs on the premises, a way to close the shop or at least force Jess to sell. Some fast footwork, support from friends like Ann, and a ton of luck got us through it. We were told Dupreaux was reprimanded, but I guess that didn’t stick if he got promoted.”

While Nads ran through her story for William, Jessie thought things through. Dupreaux was a bad apple, but she never could figure out why he was doing it. He wasn’t some Christian fundie bent on saving her soul. In fact, when he worked the streets the prostitutes talked about how crazy and kinky he was. The street girls loved it when he started working a desk and investigated white-collar stuff. Ann told her that he really was a genius with computers.

What had made him target her store and not the one by the highway? She was no closer to figuring that out now than she was then. She looked at her ‘family’ and realized that it didn’t matter. This group, and a few others, was her family and she would fight to protect them!

Suzi broke in shyly and with a small blush, “On a lighter note, some of you saw my favorite customer come in and go downstairs with me.”

Nadine and Ronnie cheered while Suzi’s blush deepened.

“Nothing like that, she wanted to see a movie.”

“What one?”

“Remember those lousy vids we got in a couple of months ago? She saw the cover of one and thought the actor was her ex. Believe it or not, it was Frank and that’s not all. She recognized a lady named Sylvia and thought she knew a third but couldn’t put a name to her. She also thought the one we looked at was filmed in her neighborhood. She saw at least one landmark she knew. Isn’t that a riot?”

Jess asked, “That’s interesting, does Donna want to know some more about the movies?”

“I think so. She asked me to call her tonight.”

Amid the teasing, Jess replied, “She’s a good customer and really good people. I’ll copy the invoices for that stuff for you and give her a copy of each of the movies in that series. In fact, check for anything else we might have from that production company. We have some print stock besides the videos; they didn’t do toys or clothes that I can recall. Let Donna see anything she wants to see. I remember when Frank was around too, anything we can do to help her will be to our benefit one way or another. One of her concerns was Frank finding a reason to take the kids away. She and I discussed it over lunch one day. It’s not that Frank gives a damn about the kids, but it would force her to support him. She’s a great mom, surprising for someone works her ass off with her own company, but she is what those kids need.”

“Suzi,” William spoke up. “Frank was married to Donna and got involved with a lady named Sylvia, right?”

“Yes, that’s what she said today.”

“It might be a coincidence, but I think I know them.”

“You do Wit. Donna recognized you when you came in, but you had eyes only for Jessie. She did say a couple of nice things about you, and then we got sidetracked to Frank, who she calls Frank-less.”

Wit added, “Frank was a character. Remember Leisure-Suit Larry from the old computer games, well that was Frank. He would hit on anything if he thought Donna wasn’t looking and if he got drunk even that didn’t matter. Once she dumped him she closed herself off a bit from the neighbors. She’s still tight with a few, but while the gossip ragged on her for a while, it was like she became a hermit. She is a great Mom, Elise and I thought the world of her and her kids. I was surprised how closed off she got after the divorce, I would have expected her to live it up without that asshole Frank.”

Jess added a bit more, “Yes, she and I talked about that too. Her position with her firm and the fact Frank was always trying to get something on her made her really, really careful. I doubt she’s had a real date since the divorce.”

The little sit-down broke up. Suzi took the counter while Nadine did an early dinner run. Ronnie headed off to the basement and the clothing sales area when Susan came on shift. Suzi gave her a rundown and Susan, who was also their security expert, re-checked all the cameras, alarms, and recording devices. She added another cam in the parking lot to give a different angle. She also ordered some panic buttons, wearable ones, for the staff. She finally met William and was suitably impressed by his knowledge. He took a look at the computer system and offered a few suggestions. He said he did know a real computer security expert and if Jess wanted he could probably get her to check over the system.

“Who?”

“Her name is Amethyst Azure Stone.”

“You know Amy Stone?” Sue got really excited.

“I didn’t realize I would be name-dropping, but yes I do. Actually, she was a friend of my wife’s. She did some consulting for my firm, that’s how I met her.”

Jessie smiled. “So, Sue who is Amy Stone?”

“She’s a legend! She wrote a couple of books while at MIT on computer security and more since. She’s brilliant and so far no system she’s set up has been cracked from the outside. I had no idea she worked in this area. She will be expensive, but she is the best to make sure our stuff doesn’t get hit. Damn, Amy Fucking Stone!”

Suzi at home

Suzi went finally went home at 7 and was more than a bit of a nervous wreck. The clock seemed to slow down even more as each minute passed. To kill some time she organized the material Jessie had given her. Copies of all the invoices that contained anything from that production company, twelve discs in the suburban series and some others, some glossy magazines full of still photos from the movies.

Jess was right, none of them sold worth a damn, but they all had one thing in common, they advertised what was supposed to be a huge porn website. Out of curiosity, she tried to access it from her home computer, but the site required a credit card and she wasn’t all that interested in giving it to them.

She ran a few of the teaser clips, eight to ten-second shorts designed to entice you to join. It also advertised discreet chat, picture sharing and video chatting, plus discounts at online retailers. She jotted down a few notes about a website for the shop. Jess had a nice one Susan had done up and links for e-commerce that actually went to one of Jess’s distributor sites so Jess’ site didn’t do the e-commerce itself.