Chapter 5

As far as Paul was concerned, life could not get any better than it was. Twice a week, he spent the entire night at the home of Janet, the widow that lived down the street. Making love to her was outstanding, but it paled beside the simple act of holding her in his arms in the more intimate activity of sharing their feelings. That life was good scared him far more than he would admit. The last time life had been this good, he had lost it all to a drunk driver.

It was summer and school was out. Dolly had graduated high school, Lilly was going to be a senior, and Janet’s son, Bart, would be entering high school the next year. All three were sitting around the table, chatting with the kind of energy that young people possessed. Janet, spending her day off with Paul, sat back amazed at the lunch he had prepared.

Once everyone had finished eating, Paul cleared the table and put the dishes into the dishwasher. While he was busy doing that, Janet turned to Dolly and asked, “Would you and Lilly like to go shopping with me?”

Lilly, hearing the magic word ‘shopping,’ looked up and exclaimed, “Yeah!”

Laughing at her sister, Dolly said, “What she said.”

The idea of spending the day shopping with three females was the last thing that Bart wanted to do. Frowning, he said, “The opposite of what she said.”

Janet smiled at Bart and said, “I believe that Paul had some plans for the day that include you. I hope that prospect isn’t too horrible.”

She knew better than to believe that he wouldn’t have a good time and Bart knew it. He enjoyed the times spent with Paul. Paul didn’t try to replace his father, but dealt with him on his terms. He said, “I wonder what he’s going to do today.”

Dolly said, “It’s Tuesday. He always runs some sort of errand on Tuesdays, but I don’t know what he does.”

Paul came out of the kitchen and looked at Bart for a moment. Frowning, he said, “I think you should change your clothes.”

“What? They aren’t nice enough.”

“That’s not the point. They’re too nice. Get into some clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty,” said Paul with a wink knowing that the idea they were going to do something in which they might get dirty was going to intrigue the teenage boy.

Bart left to change into different clothes. Once he was gone, Paul turned to Lilly and Dolly with a strange expression on his face. It was concerned, sad, and embarrassed all in one. Licking his lips nervously, he said, “Janet is going to drop you off at the house of a friend of Jeff’s. We feel that you need to stay there for three days. When you are done there, she’ll take you shopping.”

“What?” asked Dolly surprised by the news that they weren’t going shopping right away.

“Fred, Jeff, and I talked about this for a long time.”

“Where is she taking us?”

“I won’t tell you that,” said Paul hating that he had to keep it from them. Shaking his head, he added, “I’m not allowed to tell you.”

“Why?” asked Dolly afraid to learn the answer. The idea that her protectors would send the two girls away didn’t feel right. She knew the three men were now involved in relationships with women, but did that mean they want to get rid of the girls? She hoped not, she loved them like fathers. Lilly had moved closer to her as though seeking protection. Despite their love for the three men, a deep-seated fear made them wonder if they were being sent back to slavery.

“There is something that you need to learn and we aren’t the ones that can teach you,” answered Paul. He wouldn’t look at her in the eye. Going over to a table by the door, Paul got a cell phone and handed it to her. He said, “If you want to know more, use the speed dial for the first stored number.”

She watched Paul return to stand by Janet and put an arm around his girlfriend. Dolly immediately made the call and waited to hear who answered. She jumped when the voice said, “You’ve reached Happy Harry. At the sound of the tone, please state your name. Beep.”

Confused by the strange ‘beep,’ she answered, “Dolly.”

“Hi, Dolly. How are you doing?”

“I though that was a recording,” answered the girl realizing that he had tricked her. Harry didn’t take anything too seriously, but he never treated anything more lightly than was necessary. It was a tight line that he walked, but he did it with amazing ease.

“Got you!” said Harry with laughter in his voice. “So what’s the matter? Are you concerned about the three guardian angels sending you and Lilly away?”

“You know about that?” asked Dolly.

“Of course, I know about that. I’m Happy Harry.”

“Paul won’t tell me where we are going and what we are going to do there,” complained Dolly.

“Good for them.”

“What?” screamed Dolly shocked that Harry would answer that way. There was no way that she would believe that Harry would have any part in selling them into slavery, but she was beginning to have her doubts. Allowing fears that she had long thought buried to take control of her, she accused, “You wouldn’t be planning anything bad, would you?”

Imaginations working over time, the girls approached the door of the apartment with trepidation. Lilly turned back and saw Janet watching them from a distance. The older woman made a motion with her hands indicating that they should continue on to the door. Holding her breath, Dolly raised her hand and knocked on the door. Without much of a delay, a very attractive woman opened the door and smiled at the two young women. She had been told to expect that they would be afraid, but hadn’t believed the warning.

In a kindly voice, she said, “You both look so terrified. Please, don’t be scared. I don’t bite.”

The woman was not what the two young ladies had expected to encounter. For the entire ride in the car to the apartment, they had pictured a slaver opening the door to take them away.

Lilly asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m Cindy,” answered the woman as she looked over the two young ladies. They were very attractive and could have put her out of business in a day. She stepped back from the door and said, “Please come in.”

Pretending a greater confidence than she felt, Dolly walked in and looked around the room for a minute. It was a very nice room, but a little masculine for her taste. On the one wall was a very large flat screen television that was showing the interior of an apartment. The door to the bedroom was open and she could see that there was nobody in the bedroom.

Convinced that the only other person in the room was Cindy, she said, “It looks safe enough, Lilly.”

Watching how Dolly was examining the room and how Lilly remained ready to flee, Cindy remarked, “My, you sure are cautious.”

Ignoring the comment, Dolly wandered through the apartment and looked in each room. It was a remarkably normal apartment with nothing suspicious other than the fact that everything in it was of the highest quality. She frowned and looked out the door at her sister.

Wondering if she was about to repeat the mistake by which they had become slaves she said, “Come on in, Lilly.”

The younger girl entered the apartment and looked around. Her eyes lit upon the large television and she took a moment to watch the scene on the screen. A person entered the picture and she gasped.

“Is that Eric?”

The question brought Dolly rushing back into the living room. She froze on seeing Eric sitting in a chair on the television screen talking to an extremely attractive woman. Poor Eric was hunched over as though he was suffering from a stomachache.

Dolly charged, “That’s Eric. What is going on here? What are you doing watching Eric?”

Cindy closed the door and turned to the young women with a smile on her face. She said, “Ah, you know the young man. Harry said that you might recognize him.”

“He looks ill,” said Lilly concerned for her next door neighbor. He was bent over, holding his hands across his lap. She wondered if someone had hurt him.

The sound of the Cindy’s laughter filled the room. She looked over at Lilly and asked, “Can’t you tell that he’s hiding an erection?”

The young woman blushed as the comment clarified the unusual position in which Eric was seated. His companion in the room was amazingly gorgeous and wearing clothes that screamed sex. Dolly was concerned about why they were able to see him.

She asked, “Does he know that you are watching him?”

With a graceful gesture, Cindy pointed to the sofa facing the television set as she said, “Please take a seat and I’ll explain everything.”

Lilly and Dolly sat down on the sofa, their eyes flicking between the scene on the television and Cindy. Lilly asked, “What is going on?”

Cindy seated herself in a chair that allowed her to view the two young women and the television. She paused to watch the action on the television and then faced them as she said, “The young man agreed to allow a select group of women to watch him for the next seventy-two hours. He is going to have sex with his companion many times while he is there. He knows that no more then three women are watching, but he has no idea that two of them are the two of you.”

Lilly looked over at Dolly in confusion. “Why would he agree to that?”

“Why? Harry promised him something that is priceless, but I don’t believe that is the reason he is here,” answered Cindy.

The two sisters looked at each other wondering what Harry could have promised him that was worth the degradation Eric must be experiencing. Cindy answered their unasked question.

“I think he is a remarkably lucky young man. Loraine is one of the most sought after women in the country. Over the next few days she is going to teach him the art of loving. He will learn how to pleasure a woman like few men ever learn. The women in his life are going to be truly blessed.”

“Do you mean to tell us that she’s a prostitute?” asked Dolly in shock.

“She is a courtesan and one of the very best. She knows six languages, has a photographic memory, and can discuss anything from art to science. The most important thing is that she absolutely loves her work. The young man is very lucky indeed,” answered Cindy.

“I don’t understand. Are you suggesting that she likes having sex with men for money?”

“Of course.” Cindy watched the action on the television. Eric was relaxing as he talked with Loraine. She turned up the volume on the set as she added, “You might want to listen to what they are discussing.”

Eric couldn’t believe that he was actually alone with this gorgeous woman. Her dress was slit up the side showing off her long legs. The deep v-cut promised glimpses of her bra-encased breasts, promises that were kept when she would lean forward to take her coffee. His excited state was making his erection hurt and he wondered if he should go into the bathroom to relieve some of the pressure before he started acting like a total jerk.

His thoughts were interrupted when Loraine asked, “So why did you really agree to this?”

“Three reasons, I guess. I’m eighteen years old and I’ve never even kissed a girl. I was getting tired of being a virgin,” answered Eric. He looked down at the table, embarrassed at having admitted that he was a virgin. He was having second doubts about this entire thing. Some strange women were watching him announce that he was a virgin. They must think that he was a jerk.

“A handsome young man like yourself must have had plenty of opportunities with the girls,” commented Loraine.

“That’s my second reason. I’ve been in love with a girl for three years and she doesn’t even notice me. Harry promised that I would be much more confident after coming here, confident enough that I would be able to tell her how I felt,” said Eric.

“Tell me about this girl,” requested the woman sitting back on the couch, tucking a leg underneath her.

“She lives next door to me.”

Loraine smiled and said, “Ah, the girl next door. Let me guess, a brunette with a nice figure and wide-eyed innocence.”

“Actually, she’s oriental. She’s small with long dark hair and a very compact tight body. There’s always a twinkle in her eyes. When she smiles, it is enough to light up the room. She has the cutest nose I’ve ever seen on a woman. I even like her name, Lilly.”

Lilly gasped when she heard what he said and covered her mouth with both hands. It was difficult to believe that he was talking about her. Eric was in love with her? He wasn’t gay, he was in love with her. That explained why he never dated any of the girls in school.

She asked, “How can that be?”

Dolly said, “Wow. I had no idea that he felt that way about you, Lilly.”

Lilly stared at the television, seeing Eric with fresh eyes. How had she missed the way he looked at her? If she had known, what would she have done? No nice guy deserved a woman with her past. She wanted to flee, but Cindy said, “Stay and listen.”

Loraine asked, “So what was the third reason?”

“The man that arranged this told me that two women and a therapist would be watching. That convinced me to do this.”

“You have an exhibitionist streak?” asked Loraine with a smile.

“Ah, I’m not sure that I understand what that means.”

“It means that you like to be watched,” said Loraine.

“Oh, no. I don’t. I’m rather shy, I guess.”

“So why?”

Eric fidgeted for a second and then answered, “He told me that the two women had been raped, tortured, and nearly killed. As a result of their abuse, they had lost knowledge about how to love, but he felt that I could help them learn how. The story really broke my heart. If being watched while learning about making love would help them resume a normal life, then how could I say no?”

“I guess,” replied Loraine as she took his hand. She kissed his fingers and received his total attention. She asked, “Doesn’t it sound kind of weird to you?”

“The man who arranged this is a Druid. The Druids are strange, but I know of no case where they have hurt a good person. I know of a bunch of people that this particular Druid helped. If he said it would help, then I know it will help,” answered Eric.

He knew about the three men who lived next door. They had been homeless and now they were not. He had watched as Paul stopped twitching and pulling his hair out. Jeff had gone from not being able to look at anyone to being very out going. Even Fred had become a more open person.

“So you are doing this for them?”

“I guess.”

“You seem very uncomfortable,” said Loraine.

“I would never take advantage of a woman. My parents raised me to respect women. I feel guilty that you have to do this,” answered Eric honestly.

Loraine had cradled his hand in one of her hands and was tracing the lines in his palm with the index finger of her other hand. For Eric, this was an amazingly erotic sensation and one that he would never have guessed would sexually excite him. She paused tracing his hand to look at him in the eye before she asked, “You feel that you are taking advantage of me?”

Eric didn’t know how to answer the question without being insulting. She hadn’t sounded upset when she asked the question, but how do you say that being a prostitute wasn’t exactly an honorable profession?

Hesitantly, he answered, “I feel like I am using you. I believe I understand what you do for a living and that I’m contributing to keeping you in that business by being here. That makes me a little uncomfortable.”

“Isn’t that sweet? You don’t want to take advantage of a fallen woman,” teased Loraine.

She was surprised at his answer. Some lady was going to get very lucky when he fell in love with her. Seeing from the hurt expression on his face that he had taken her humor as sarcasm, she explained.

“I am not a fallen woman. I do this because I love doing it. I make an obscene amount of money and give half of it to Harry’s fallen angels.”

Dolly, in disbelief, turned to Cindy. The features on her face were distorted by the confusion she felt. Uncertain that she really wanted to know the answer, she asked, “She loves getting paid to sleep with men?”