Chapter 9: Painful Employment

Melanie trembled. The smoke from Max's cigar wafted slowly to the ceiling. His glare made her want to disappear. "Where did you come from?" His voice was strong and intimidating.

She shifted her weight nervously, "Kansas City."

Max never knew whether to believe these girls anymore or not. He could see the deprivation in her eyes. She was starving. He stood up and walked around his desk, gently pulling her by the arm to the center of the room. He wondered if she might fall over from weakness. Her legs wobbled a great deal, "Remove this," he said inserting his finger beneath the collar of her dress.

She was a modest girl by nature, so she closed her eyes briefly and slowly began to slide her raggedy dress from her body. A tear escaped the corner of her eye. Max noticed it.

She was young, Max had no idea just how young, but he wondered if she was much past the age of fourteen. "I hope you realize that in this establishment, I am in charge of everything," Max said firmly.

"Yessir!" Her voice was trembling.

"Take the rest of your clothes off," He said yanking slightly on her chemise.

She stifled her tears as the last of her clothing slipped to the floor and she held her arms up to cover her bare breasts.

Max felt his cock stir at the sight of her young naked body. "I can see I have my work cut out for me. This is a whore house, not church," He pulled her arms away from her chest and was surprised by how full her breasts were, compared to what he would have expected. He placed his cigar between his teeth and stood before her. He reached out and cupped both of her breasts in his large hands, flicking each of her nipples with his thumbs. He raised his eyebrows with approval as each of her nipples hardened from his touch.

His hands were warm on her cold flesh. He began to rub her body lightly. There was a thin thatch of hair covering her pubis and his fingers lingered there momentarily, feeling her soft fluff. Then his hand delved between her legs, and he inserted the tip of his finger inside her opening, just slightly. She gasped. She was wet and he was pleased by that.

He stubbed his cigar out on the plate atop his desk. He had been with so many women over the years that he knew a lot about them and he suspected the one standing before him now had never been with a man. He led her over to his bed, "Get on your back and spread your legs."

A sob escaped her mouth as she lay down on her back and spread apart her legs. She closed her eyes briefly.

Her sobs annoyed him, "In a minute I'm going to give you a reason to sob," He said sternly.

Lucy had told her Max would strap her.

Max frowned as he looked between her open legs, "What's your name?"

"Melanie," She gasped as he prodded her with his rough fingers.

"You have never been with a man before have you, Melanie," His voice was matter of fact and though she planned to lie and say she had, somehow she knew she better not. The tears began to flow more freely from her eyes. Max was disgusted by her virginity, she could tell. "You realize I will have to take away your virginity if you are to stay here and earn your keep. Unless of course I send you back to Kansas, still a virgin," He loathed the task of deflowering her. He had once reveled in deflowering innocent women, but now it was a chore to him. He much preferred the brazen ones these days, those who came to his employ after they were already filled with worldliness and sarcasm.

"Yessir," She said weakly, "I'm sorry."

He knew she truly would be sorry shortly, "Before I take your virginity Melanie, I plan to introduce you to something else," He walked over and retrieved his thick razor strop from atop his bureau. "Perhaps if this had been done to you more as a girl, you wouldn't be here right now," He mused. "In my view, any woman who wanders into a brothel still a virgin, with the intention of becoming a whore, definitely needs a good thrashing. But in truth, I would have thrashed you no matter what state you arrived in," He pulled her up off the bed and helped her plant her feet securely on the floor and bend at the waist with her hands on the bed, shoulder width apart. He yanked on her hips until her bottom was thrust out, "Have you ever been thrashed before?"

She began to cry a bit harder, "No sir."

Max shook his head in disgust, "Who raised you girl and where on earth did you come from?"

"My father raised me," She sobbed in anguish.

Max didn't want to hear her pathetic story. He was tired of all the stories he had heard over the years, "Well Melanie, you are about to be thrashed now and you will be thrashed again in the future if you ever fail to do as I instruct, or if you displease me in any way. You will learn to obey me without question while living under my roof," Max said, "Perhaps you should think of me as your father now and what I say goes and there are no exceptions."

All she could do in response was nod. Her sobs continued to annoy Max.

He raised the strop high in the air and brought it down with force against her lily white bottom, leaving a thick red stripe, "Ouch!" She screamed in agony, shocked by how much it hurt. Max hated it when his girls cried out when he strapped them, but he was becoming softer in his old age. He didn't reprimand her. He knew it must be hell for her to find herself in his house, near starvation, and with the grim prospects they both knew lay before her. He didn't know why he was being less stern than usual, and he no longer cared to figure it out.

SMACK! He brought the strop down hard again, "Owwww," she winced and sobbed in anguish. He shook his head. She was so young and naïve. She reached back with her hand to block the next blow from striking her burning flesh.

"If you put your hand back again and try to block the strop I will be forced to strap you double the amount I originally intended," Max said sternly, "Now hold your grip tight to the bed quilts and stay still."

Melanie sobbed in anguish and dug her fingers deeper into the bed quilts, "Yessir," She sobbed in anguish. She had seen her older brother take a strapping before, but her father had never strapped her. She had no idea how painful it actually was. SMACK! The strop struck her flesh again, the stinging unbearable. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She tried not to think of herself standing naked before such an evil man, nearly starving to death and barely able to stand on her feet. She tried not to think about what would happen when he was finished strapping her. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

She struggled to hold still as each hard lick of the strop continued to strike her tender flesh. After about ten hard smacks, her hips swayed from side to side in anguish as she wanted desperately to avoid anymore pain.

"If you continue to move like that, I'll have to start over," Max said with venom, then he continued to bring down the strap with great force. She locked her legs in place and willed herself to stay still. SMACK!

By now her bottom was covered with wicked red stripes from top to bottom. Each stripe was swollen and raised. Her hands twitched with longing, she wanted to block the strop and comfort herself by stroking her sore bottom. She shifted her weight uncomfortably, not sure how much more she could take.

Max let out a long sigh and shook his head. He was disappointment in himself. He knew he should be a lot sterner with her. She seemed so young and innocent to him and the sad truth was, he knew that would all change soon enough. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! She suddenly lost her poise and fell to the floor. She quickly curled up in a ball, sobbing hysterically and grasping her sore bottom, "No more, please no more."