Chapter 2

“Hey! You’re on spring break, right? Any chance I can rope you into a road trip?” Nikki said to Colin over the phone.

“Sure, I guess,” Colin answered, not needing any details.

Nikki hadn’t seen Tom again. She had been satisfied with their evening together: it had been good as a one-time thing. Just what she needed. Her sense of satisfaction had waned over time, though. Her body’s restlessness for sex had returned in about a week.

Something, somewhere in her childhood, had programmed her to eschew masturbation. Sex was something shared between two people, period. It wasn’t rational - she actually envied people who could take care of their own needs that way. She had certainly made sure that her child knew masturbation was normal and acceptable. But when she thought about trying it herself, she just couldn’t.

She tried to create an online dating profile, but she ran into one mental block after another. There were no good pictures of her that didn’t scream, “Mom”. And anything she came up with for a biography either sounded creepy, or too truthful. “Young widow with no clue what to do with her life, looking for hookups but not relationships,” wasn’t how she wanted people to think of her, even if it was true. She pushed herself into a panic attack before she gave up on the dating profile.

Instead, she channeled all of her sexual agitation into her art. She started posting dirty pictures online under a pseudonym, and to her surprise, quickly gained fans. They left uplifting praise and observations for her and sometimes sent her private messages. Sometimes she had lengthy discussions through posts or private messages.

After a couple weeks, Colin had suggested that she collaborate with him on a dirty comic: he would write the story and dialog, and she would do the art. It sounded like a fun challenge. Colin had just given her the first draft of Stakeout with Sadie Volume 1 the night before.

“Here’s the deal,” Nikki explained. “I finally found a buyer for Jerome’s car and I need to deliver it to Reno. I figure with two of us driving we can make it in a day.”

“Don’t they have services for that?” Colin asked.

“Yeah,” Nikki answered, “but those are such rip-offs. And for a car like this, there are insurance hassles. I’d rather do it myself.”

“So, what, we drive there, drop the car off, and then fly straight home?” Colin pressed.

“Not exactly. I want to spend the day there,” Nikki explained. “I wanted to look at a house on Lake Tahoe that I’m considering buying as an investment. You don’t have to come - I just thought we could work on the comic during the trip. I could draw while you drive - that sort of thing. I figured we’d rent a car for the trip home.”

“Yeah - it sounds fun,” Colin agreed.

Stakeout with Sadie Volume 1 was the story of a beautiful libidinous female detective and her partner getting bored and horny while waiting for a jewel thief to meet his fence. The climax of the story comes when Sadie and her partner, having neglected their duties in favor of several rounds of sex, fuck so hard up against the side of the surveillance van that they tip it over. When they finally exit to assess the situation, they discover both the thief and the fence trapped beneath the van, mostly unharmed.

Nikki began making rough character sketches when Colin was driving, although using pencil and paper in a moving car limited her quality. Whenever they stopped for gas or snacks, they reviewed them together.

They arrived in Reno late at night. Nikki offered to put Colin up in a room of his own, although she clearly didn’t like the idea of the extra expense. They were practically family anyway, she explained. Sharing a room, he could have the bed - she was fine on the floor.

The next morning they picked up a rental car and handed Nikki’s husband’s car off to its new owner. Then, after a brunch buffet at a slightly tacky casino, they drove out to the house Nikki had her eye on. The real estate agent let Nikki in and left, having correctly guessed that Nikki was the sort of client who would be there for hours, inspecting every little thing.

Colin mostly admired the view and walked around the woods that shielded the house from its neighbors while Nikki made pages of notes. Eventually, he went back to looking through Nikki’s sketches.

“This one,” he interrupted her. “He should be doing her from behind, not face to face.”

Nikki climbed out from under the sink. “Does that really make sense, though?” She asked. “How could they tip the van over so close to the middle?”

“But the van wouldn’t be tall enough for them to be face to face,” Colin explained.

“Hmm,” Nikki mused. “Okay, how about they’re kneeling? Like, she’s up on one knee with her back to the side of the van, but her other leg is sticking out horizontally? He’s in front of her, holding her leg and pumping her.”

She tried out the pose against the kitchen wall. Her arms were above her head holding on to the counter for balance, which drew attention to her cleavage. Her long smooth leg stuck out gracefully. She rolled her hips, fucking the air experimentally. “Could this be a sexy pose?” She asked. “Imagine I’m naked and there’s a guy between my legs, of course.

“Ugh,” Colin gasped. “Uh-huh.”

“Okay, good,” Nikki said. She stood and took the sketchbook from Colin. Leaning on the kitchen counter, she began to make another sketch.

Suddenly Colin was behind her. She could feel his erection poking her butt while his hands moved in front of her, feeling for the button at the top of her shorts. Nikki broke away, spun, and slapped his face with a sound like a thunderclap.

“What the hell are you doing, Colin?!?” She glared at him until he was cowering on the ground, crying.

She let him stew for a moment before speaking further. “Stand up. Explain yourself.”

The teen boy reluctantly followed her command. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“Explain!” She demanded. Nikki’s hand was throbbing with pain, but the red half of Colin’s face suggested that he hurt more.

“I just thought, maybe, you were sending me signals. Like you wanted me to be assertive.”

“Colin, what you just did was not okay! Not with me or any other woman,” Nikki lectured. “Furthermore, let me be clear: I will not ever, ever have sex with you. Period!”

The look of shame on Colin’s face was practically unbearable. She believed that it really had been some hormone-addled failure of reasoning, and she was confident that he wouldn’t do it again. She was glad that it had been she, rather than some girl his own age who wouldn’t have known how to deal with him without involving the police.

“Okay,” she said with a mixture of authority and empathy. “You made a mistake, I corrected you. It’s done. We’re still friends.”

Colin obviously needed space, so Nikki left him to wander around outside while she finished her inspection of the house. When she finished a half-hour later she met him outside. “We’re good, right?” She asked.

“Yeah,” he answered, still with a glimmer of shame in his eyes. The red mark on his face was mostly masked by his acne. They got in the car and started to drive. After a while, Colin gushed: “It just makes me crazy. I honestly feel like I’m going to die if I don’t get laid.”

“I know it’s hard,” Nikki told him, “but everyone feels that way at your age.”

Colin shook his head. “Not like this. It’s not possible.” After a moment of thinking with his mouth hanging open, he asked, “They have hookers here, right?”

“I think they have hookers everywhere,” she answered with a touch of amusement.

“Yeah, but like, legal ones? You could drop me off at one?” He pressed.

“I guess I could,” she responded, “but are you sure you’d really want that? Friends and girlfriends will be asking about your first time throughout your whole life. Are you sure that’s an answer you won’t regret ten years from now, or thirty? You plan on going to college, right? There will be so many girls there who’ll want to date you!”

“I don’t think that’s true,” he said, hanging his head low. “Anyway, I can’t make it that long. I need this.”

She looked him over and sighed. It almost did look like he was somehow dying of virginity. “Okay,” she told him. “If that’s what you want, pull up an address on Apple Maps.”

Nikki waited in the rental car for twenty-some minutes before Colin emerged from the brothel and joined her.

“Well? Did you have a good time?” she asked, eyes sparkling with genuine interest.

“Um, we didn’t actually get that far,” he told her. “Excuse me - I need to make a phone call.” He stepped outside the car to make his call, but she could hear enough to get the gist. He was asking his dad if he could take a thousand dollars from his college fund. The answer was obviously no.

She stared at him when he re-entered the car. “What could she have possibly offered you that you need a thousand dollars for?” She asked.

“Um ... sex,” Colin answered bashfully.

“What? Just regular old sex?” Nikki asked, bewildered. “Just one time? Not like a monthly pass?”

Colin’s adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, but he didn’t answer.

“Hell no. Come on,” she said, exiting the car.

Inside, Nikki found herself in a dark bar. The bartender was an older man. The hostess was a fifty-something woman. The remaining four people in the room were women in their twenties wearing tight dresses and heels.

“Hi there!” The hostess stepped in front of Nikki, making it clear that she was the gatekeeper.

“Hi, I’m Nikki,” Nikki said in a business-like tone. “I’m here to negotiate.”

The hostess tilted her head sympathetically. “I’m sorry, that’s not allowed. Prices are worked out between the girl and client in private.” All of the working girls were watching, but the petite redhead with the tiny waist seemed especially interested.

“Look,” Nikki said in a take-charge voice, “Colin and your girl failed to make a deal. He doesn’t have enough money to make it worth her while, but I do. Work it out with me, or lose the sale.” She made a point of looking around the empty bar. “Or am I wasting time you could be spending on other customers?”

The redhead walked up, catlike. “It’s okay, Sue.” Colin had been looking supremely uncomfortable, but he relaxed when she touched his arm. “I’m glad you came back, sweetheart.” She glanced at the other girls. “I guess, let’s the three of us go to my room and talk. I’m Freya.”

The room was something like a small hotel room - a bed, a chair, a desk, a dresser, and a small bathroom - but various personal touches made it feel like a single girl’s bedroom. Freya was obviously a fan of Doctor Who and the Seattle Seahawks. She sat on the bed and crossed her legs conspicuously.

Nikki remained standing with a confident posture. “So, my understanding is that you were asking for one-thousand dollars for one sex act. I’m going to need you to come way down on that.”

Freya smiled sheepishly. “I’m glad you came back,” she said to Colin. “I felt kind of bad, giving you the full tourist price. I mean, you’re cute. But this is my job, and nursing school isn’t cheap! So how about we call it eight-hundred?”

“I was thinking two hundred,” Nikki said flatly.

Freya looked innocent. “I’m sorry, but that’s just not possible. I can come down to six-fifty but that’s honestly as low as I can go. House rules!”

“Mmm-hmm,” Nikki said, leveling a suspicious gaze at her. “And if we walk out of this room and talk to one of those other girls instead of you, they’re going to tell me that six-fifty is the house-rules minimum?”

“Bu ... but I don’t want the other girls,” Colin chimed in. “I want her.”

Nikki swiveled her head toward Colin, mouth open, giving him a what-the-hell stare.

“Okay, four-hundred - but that’s seriously as low as I can go,” Freya said. “The other girls are my competition, but they’re also my coworkers. When one of us starts charging too little, she’s likely to get a few drops of Visine in her 7-up.”

Nikki nodded out of respect for the girl’s honesty. “I get it. Three hundred but we promise not to disclose that price to anyone - not the Internet, not friends at home.”

Freya glanced at Colin and then back at Nikki. “Yeah, okay.”

Nikki smiled. “Good. Now let’s put a pin in that. Instead of one go at intercourse, let’s focus on the girlfriend experience. Kissing on the lips, groping, sweet talk. Maybe some lessons for the benefit of his future girlfriends. Like, an hour? And if he wants to do it again during that time, that’s included.”

Freya seemed to be done playing games. “In my experience, even with beginners, an hour isn’t enough time to do it twice.”

“Okay - two hours then,” Nikki agreed.

“Now we’re definitely back up to eight-hundred,” Freya said.

Nikki shook her head. “Tell me honestly - what are the odds that you would get another customer in that time? It’s the afternoon on a weekday. I didn’t see anything about any conventions in town.”

“Not great odds,” Freya admitted. “But it could happen - a bus could roll up with only fifteen minutes’ notice. If that happened, I could be missing out.” With a chuckle, she added, “On people who don’t put up as much of a fight as you.”

Nikki sized the pretty young woman up. “Hour and a half, six-hundred fifty dollars.”

Freya bit her lip and then nodded. “Agreed. We need to talk to Sue and have her run your credit card, and then we can get started.”

A short while later, Nikki and Sue watched Freya and Colin walk, arms around each other, down the hall toward her room.

“Do you get a lot of first-timers?” Nikki asked.

“More than you’d think,” Sue answered. She seemed thoughtful. “Somewhere along the line, America stopped teaching kids how to date.”

Nikki nodded, but to herself, she thought, Not my son, though. My son had a girlfriend. My son went to prom. He and Tiffany might have gotten married someday.

Now that deal-making, protective, pseudo-mom Nikki was no longer needed, other aspects of herself bubbled up. This was a house of sex, and she liked sex. For a brief moment, she actually found herself jealous of Freya: she was about to get laid.

She looked back at Sue, wondering if she should ask. No harm in it, she decided. “So are there any male, um, courtesans?”

Sue shook her head briskly. “Not here. I don’t think anywhere in Nevada. Nowhere legal, I mean. There are no laws against it - it’s just not economical.” She looked Nikki over. “There’s a bar about five miles up the road. Russell should be there this time of day. I bet if you lift your tail in his direction, you’ll get a reaction.”

Nikki chuckled, pretending she wasn’t interested. “And Russell is...?”

“ ... not gentle,” Sue answered with a wink.

Nikki spent forty minutes nursing a beer, listening and watching, trying to figure out who Russell might be. There were a few men there who appealed to her - who she wanted to be Russell - but she could never overhear a name. They all looked big and rugged, and probably worked at least part of their days outside. Despite her mental uncertainty, her body making itself ready. She couldn’t believe she was entertaining the idea, but her tongue wouldn’t stop licking her lips, and she kept unconsciously tugging at the front of her shirt to show just a little more cleavage.

She looked at her watch. She had fifty minutes before she had to pick up Colin. If she wasn’t on time, she mused, he might sell a kidney for a few more minutes with the Barbie doll-shaped prostitute. Was fifty minutes even enough time to meet a guy, go to his place or a motel, and get busy? Probably not. Still, she found herself asking the bartender if there was a Russell around. The bartender said no.

Ten minutes and a half-beer later, there was a deep voice behind her. “You sure don’t look like a process server.” She turned around to see a man with sky-blue eyes and a black beard. He looked friendly and curious, even if his words suggested he was trouble. He had been at the bar since she had walked in. “Julian said you were asking for me.”