Chapter 4

For all of her concerns regarding her career and her age, Chiara Zellicotti was a confident woman. She had been feted and the centre of attention for close to a decade so Andrew do not know if she was innately confident or had just become so used to attention that she permanently exuded it. Either way Chiara made no attempt to be low key and discreet. At the same time, she also didn’t go out of her way to court attention, she was a striking beautiful woman who did not bundle up and try to be anonymous. The evening and night were an education for him.

Andrew was attracted to smart women, he had been at school, and it had become more pronounced at Cambridge. And a lot of his partners over the years had been defined by their intelligence, not by their looks or sexuality. He also had been with women without a lot of experience, or if they had experience it was not great. Apparently his type was sexually inexperienced, brainy women. Chiara Zellicotti was not that.

Now Chiara was not stupid but like Heloise she had common sense, life smarts. An understanding of how the world really worked, street smarts rather than book smarts. But more than anything else she understood the power of her sexuality. This was a woman who had been hit on, harassed, exploited, all as part of her job. Lying in bed later she was honest but blunt about some of the things that she had done. People that she had fucked for the chance of a job, to get on a shoot, to make the cover. Sex was part of her job, and it meant nothing to her. That was too harsh; it meant very little. It was a physical act not an emotional one. Chiara was genuinely grateful for Andrew’s help back in December and this is how she thanked people. That is a blunt summary, it was not as transactional as that. Was it more that Chiara thought he expected it and she had no issue with fucking him? Again that seems too stark. However often they talked over the years Andrew could never capture her motivation. She just did not over think sex and did not agonise over the meaning of different acts to different people. And therefore utterly unlike Andrew.

For dinner they went to a nice restaurant only a few blocks from the hotel, four blocks from the Hermès headquarters on Rue Saint Honore. But there was no doubt that Andrew was dining with a model. She was not showy yet you knew she was there. And it appeared to be effortless. He was the gauche fool sitting next to her, not that he was receiving much attention. Andrew became guilty of people watching the people who were watching them, but he was fascinated by how people’s eyes were drawn to Chiara in a way that they were not to Heloise. Heloise slinked around, never really stood out, at least when Andrew was with her, whereas Chiara struck a pose, had a presence. The only time he could think when he and Heloise had some of that attention was the very first night when they walked arm in arm through the Tuileries, equally tall. But it was noticeable on this night with Chiara both how Andrew lived his life in the shadows, and even more importantly, liked to live his life in the shadows. The attention on them was not completely uncomfortable but it was very different for him.

“Have you had any second thoughts about your plan?”

“No I don’t think so. I will wait to see how Hermès react tomorrow. They may not want to have me as an exclusive model and it all becomes moot. Is it wrong to hope just a little bit that it all falls apart tomorrow?”

Chiara looked surprised at the admission but only for a moment.

“Now that I understand that this is not important to you Andrew, I can understand that. It looks to me as if you are doing this out of a sense of obligation to Heloise, me and Manon. Is that true?”

“A combination of obligation and friendship I suppose. I like to plan ahead and so I am pleased to lay it all out for the next two years. It also allows everyone time to make alternate plans. I am not going to do this as a career after I graduate. It does not interest me.”

The first course of our their arrived and it allowed Chiara a moment of reflection before the conversation continued.

“Because of the shoot in December I did not believe that you were like this. I thought that, although you were different in your thinking, you enjoyed the attention just like all the rest of us. Especially as you spent the whole weekend naked. But now I can see that it is not who you are. Even here this evening you are uneasy at the attention. The reluctant naked model, who would believe such a thing.”

When she put it that way she had a point.

“I do not want to come across as too pushy but by talking about this I suppose I am. Have you thought about an agent? And specifically me as your agent?”

“After listening to you and Heloise I am convinced that I do need an agent but more to deal with the planning of the individual shoots during the week rather than negotiate a contract. Heloise talked about the reality that I could model with up to 50 different women during this time and I won’t get on with all of them. Having someone who is familiar with the industry, the models concerned, just somebody who can be the bad guy in negotiations, all of that makes sense. But Chiara, how can you be my agent? I don’t want to be mean but you are a model and will be in several of the shoots, at least I assume so. I have to trust you 100% and if you are working with Hermès at the same time then you will always have divided loyalties between your job as an agent and your job as a model. Does it not make sense to have a bitter old man or woman, more than 50 years old, that has seen every type of scam, that is not prepared to put up with any crap from anyone, me, the director, Beatrice, whoever? I think that person or type of person makes more sense. But I have no idea how to find them, evaluate them or trust them.”

Chiara sighed, more in frustration of the truth of his words than anything else.

“You are right Andrew, it would be difficult if not downright impossible. I think you would be a good person to be an agent for because you are not able to be pressured into doing ‘favours’ for the client, the photographer, whoever has taken a shine to you. I would like to be associated with someone who is a nice person and still can get ahead.”

Their main course arrived and they ate in silence while Andrew thought about what she said.

“I can’t change the world Chiara, you know that. I am not in a position to judge people who have to make awful choices. I hate people that exploit others but I am not naïve, or at least not too much. The world is full of scummy and shitty people. That I have the chance to act better than that does not make them disappear. So you are right, I do not feel any pressure. But I also am a complete beginner at this. What if Hermès want me to turn up to one of those Salon evenings and smile politely at those bejeweled, self-absorbed women. I hate the entitled and those that think they can take what they want from the world. There is no way I am going to do it, and even if I was guilted or forced into doing it, there is no way that I could hide my contempt. That is the reality of not caring about doing this or not. I do not have to pretend once the shoot is over.”

“I love it when you get fierce, there is a fire in your eyes. We may have to see if we can capture some of that in a shoot. I see your point. You don’t have to make a decision this week but will you think about it. I will think about how I can deal with some of the issues as well.”

Chiara had taken Andrew’s hand and was giving him her full sexy stare.

“Stop that, bad Chiara. How am I meant to deny you anything when you look like that?”

Her smug smirk was tinged with pleasure. She squeezed his hand and carried on.

“Why do you not have an agent already? Did your model agency not assign you one?”

This should not have been a surprise but he was caught completely unawares when she asked.

“Er.”

Exactly.

“No I don’t have an agent.”

Let’s go with less is more, that might work.

“Why not?”

Okay, fat chance. It would come out eventually.

“I do not have an agent because the agency only exists on paper. I created it so that I had some privacy.”

“You created an agency? How?”

“I asked my lawyer to set one up. She created the agency so that there was a barrier between me and anyone that wanted to contact me.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes. It did not take very long, and other than a separate phone number, did not cost very much either. Her secretary will answer the phone if anyone calls wanting to book Andrew Bressay, my modelling name.”

This appeared to have confounded Chiara.

“You make this sound so matter of fact.”

“It is Chiara, but it is not real. There is no Shetland Models, it only exists on paper. It is me and a phone line. And the phone line is to keep everyone away from me. There is no office, no agents, no money. It is just a corporate identity to protect my privacy.”

“Merda. You were not joking when you said you did not like or want the attention. That is, is.”

Chiara stopped and drew breath.

“That is the most unusual thing I have ever heard of. You are trying to hide. We all want to be seen, to be noticed, to get work, and you are like a spy.”

They moved from the dining room through to hotel lounge. Chiara greeted several people, although she did not stop and talk to them before they found a table off to the side. Once the waitress had taken the order she continued.

“There is no one like you in the whole industry. It is a huge pile of people and we are all crawling over each other to try to get to the top and then stay there. You talk about people exploiting us, but for a lot of us all they are doing is providing a stepping stone on the way to the top. The exploited are also exploiting the people around them. And this is not just modelling and fashion, it applies across so many different industries. It is the human condition. And then there is you who just plays by a different set of rules. How can you be so different?”

A shrug was not the most eloquent of replies. But Andrew was not about to tell her that he was rich enough to live life on his own terms. Still do all this ridiculous craziness but at the same time not care about it. He was incapable of not giving 100% but this was a lark. It fell firmly into the category of ‘can you believe they are paying to do this shit’.

“I want to be an engineer Chiara. I am going to be in the reserve forces as an Army Engineer. That is what is important to me. This is the job that I have done and I am going to do on my university breaks. It does not diminish its importance and how it is the way that so many people fulfil their dreams and make a living, but it is not my dream and it is not a life I have any interest in pursuing after university.”

There was not a fortune to be made in male modelling, but there was glory. Couched as fame, renown, celebrity, whatever you wanted to call it, within a segment of society it was great to say you were a male model. Andrew was not sure Chiara ever totally understood. Or forgave him.

The hotel was a three minute walk away, just the other side of the Place Vendome. There was no discussion of whether or not Chiara was coming back to his room. In her mind it was already settled and so as usual Andrew accepted his good fortune.

To get a reputation as a good fuck is a very odd thing. There was no point in deluding himself, Andrew knew that he was a good fuck. From Leslie’s theoretical teachings through the practical with Kenzie, Mar and Moira, Andrew’s early experiences had given him a lot of confidence around women and with sex in particular. And with that confidence came a reduction in the pressure on the event. This was no different than mastering any activity, the better you become at it, the more relaxed and enjoyable that activity is. Andrew laughed at himself thinking about his experiences immodestly. He was a self-proclaimed good fuck, a legend in his own mind, and there was no one to contradict him. With his partners over the years there had been several that got to the point where the two of them were a great fuck. Allison, Suzanne and Helena were probably the most obvious of that group. During his time with them sex became relaxing, fun and without pressure. There were all the games they played during sex but they all knew they had sexy bodies and knew how to use them to please Andrew and themselves.

What he had never experienced was a woman who was even more confident than he was that she was a good fuck. All the examples cited above, were women who became confident in their sexuality, who went from nervous and unsure to relaxed and uninhibited. What Andrew saw with them was the start of the journey. Chiara Zellicotti was the finished article. And it was a first for Andrew. She knew what she wanted, knew that she was spectacular, and was demanding of her partner. At 29 she was more than nine years older than him. He had never been with anyone older than 22, and that was Heloise the previous evening, and although a lot of his partners over the years were older, none were much more than three years older.

Andrew had acted and modelled with Chiara and knew what she looked like naked. There was no mystery. But just as he couldn’t explain why a naked woman who had just left his bed looks hotter in a swimsuit 10 minutes later, so he couldn’t explain why a naked Chiara in his room was different than a naked Chiara in the studio. While modelling Andrew had brushed against her tits all but cupping them, held her in his arms supporting her with his hands on her arse, he had her thighs on his shoulders with his nose pushed against the modesty patch barely covering her pussy. But lying beside her running his hands across the firm expanse of her stomach, feeling the underlying strength, the overall fitness, it was very different. Now there is the obvious of what they were about to do, but it was more than that. Chiara was relaxed and feminine but it was mainly in his head. She was an experienced lover and Andrew didn’t want to disappoint her. Lying there, smiling confidently as she watched him caress her body, this was a real woman.

Chiara fucked him dry, she was demanding and relentless and Andrew loved it. She was not much of talker during sex but liked to kiss. Being just tall enough that they could kiss without too much strain, they kissed most of the time, especially the twice that she was on top. The last time was more kissing than fucking as he was done but it was intense and very satisfying. Between their bursts of fucking she would lie beside him and they would chat. It was during these moments that she confessed some of what she had endured and had willing done over the years. The harassment and borderline sexual assault in the early years does not need to be glorified here, and Andrew could tell that the first two years had been about survival. As Chiara said there was a reason why there was so much turnover in the industry. But from 21 onwards she had played the game on her terms. She had used sex as a weapon in her battle to rise within the industry. She was matter of fact when talking about seducing both men and women. Andrew ignored the ethics and morality of her stories and lay there and listened. What struck him was that she was not jaded or bitter about it. She was not proud of what she had done but she was also not ashamed. It was fascinating to listen to her experiences.

“When you started modelling did you feel you had no choice when dealing with the demands of photographers and others?”

She thought for a moment.

“I suppose I did. Three things immediately come to mind when I think about it. The first and most easy to understand is I was young, in my case free from a very controlling mother, and there was the chance to have sex, a lot of sex. So a third of it was completely mutual, there was no forcing, it was two people relaxing at the end of the day.”