The Barter System (49 page)

What is the primary trait that attracts
you to a member of the opposite sex?
 

Acceptance and generosity.  If someone
accepts you for all you are, you can truly be yourself.  If a lover is
generous, you know they’re just as focused on you as you are on them. 

When was your first sexual encounter? 

Max:  I was fifteen.  A young woman came
to the orphanage to teach science.  I looked older.  I was assigned to help her
clean out a storeroom and she made the first move.

Micah:  I was there, too.

Do you remember details of that
encounter?       

Max:  Teenage hormones.  She was wearing
a skirt and doing all this bending and stretching.  She looked over her
shoulder and asked if I wanted to touch her.  I wanted to touch her. 

Micah:  I wanted to touch her, too.  So
we did.  She was happy, our course was set.

Have you ever had contact with your
first sexual partner after the first time?
 

She was fired for trying to sneak into
our dorm in the middle of the night.  She didn’t rat us out and a few years ago
we looked her up, sent her and her husband on a cruise.  Nice closure.  

How often do you masturbate?      

Max:  Generally?  Once a day, I guess. 
Lately, not at all unless I’m asked to, love.

Micah:  Ditto, wanna ask us to?  Naughty
minx.        

Do you have a scenario to facilitate
masturbation?        

Max:  Limo, formal wear, a hot brunette
sucking my cock while she’s getting her pussy eaten.

Micah:  Being buried in said brunette’s
hot pussy and knowing she’s also getting her tight little ass fucked.  The look
on her face is priceless.

Have you ever engaged in sex with a
person you didn’t know?
 

Once or twice but it isn’t common.    

Where is the most unusual place you've
had sex?
 

Our club.  The entire atmosphere is
sensual and it invades the experience.   

How many casual sexual encounters have
you had in the last year?

Max:  Two.  One lasted a week, the other
a month.  Nothing about our
current
partner is casual.

Micah:  Three since I also had a solo
one-night stand.  It sucked and I’m tired of that kind of shit.  I want to come
home to one woman, know it’s long-term.

Chapter
Twenty-Two – The Musician

“You’re being silly, both of
you.  I’ll be
fine
.  You’ve stayed home from your companies for over two
weeks.  I know you both have things to do…other than me.  I’m going to handle
this then come back here for a couple of days before I have to make the trip to
Florida.”  Riya spoke soothingly because she could tell how panicked her men
truly were.

Micah was very stressed, “We
do not like sending you to Boston alone, Riya.  Let us send a couple of
bodyguards if not us…we’d prefer to go with you personally.”  Riya shook her
head.  “Baby, you’re being stubborn.  We’re not going to rough the guy up or
anything.  I swear.  We just want you to be safe, love.”  Micah was pacing
while she worked at the kitchen bar. 

Striving for a calm tone,
she replied, “I’ve seen every subject face to face.  I can’t just disrespect
this guy.  I need to at least explain in person.  I’m reneging on my end of the
bargain.  I was basically a cock-tease in this situation and I feel pretty
shitty about it.  I’ve never gone back on my word or not honored a contract in
my life.” She got up to look out at the skyline view from the living room.

Max narrowed his eyes
carefully, “You don’t feel shitty enough to
honor
the damn deal though,
right?”

She rolled her eyes, “Oh
sure, I have two men who feed me filet mignon nightly and I’m going to get in
line for a fucking corndog.”  Then she tapped the side of her mouth,
considering, “Hmm, wait, I
like
corndogs.” 

There was hysterical laughter
as she was tackled to the couch.  They tickled her all over until she swore she
hated corndogs then they carried her to their room and had their naughty filet
mignon way with her.

Two days later, she took a
look at Bobby’s profile on the plane to refresh her memory about the last
person she’d accepted to her project. 

Riya:

I’d forgotten how hot you are.  Meet me
at my gig and we’ll head out from there.  I get a few days off before the next
tour date but you can ride with me, honey.  Can’t wait to check you out in
person.

Bobby

SURVEY ONE

Subject Name:  Bobby

Subject Age:              27

Subject Career:  Musician

Marital Status:  Single

Children (Y/N):  N

Annual Income:  No clue

Location:  Boston, MA

What was your primary motivation for
applying to this study?
 

My manager found your site and thought
it’d be good for me.  I don’t care if you keep me anonymous.  Hell, the
publicity would probably be good for me.      

What do you hope to gain by your
participation?
 

Everyone in the music biz is fake.  You
seem real.  Looking forward to that part.    

What is one thing you wish the
investigator to know about you?
 

I’m not what people want to see, I’m not
who I used to be either.  Not real sure who I am anymore.  I know I sound like
a chick.    

Do you have any negative assumptions
regarding this study?
 

That you won’t be able to hang.  You
seem real sweet and not sure how you’ll handle the craziness of the road.    

What is your most secret sexual fantasy?
 

Having people watch while I fuck a hot
woman doggie-style.           

Have you ever told anyone else about
this fantasy?
 

No, groupies would do anything I
wanted.  I want to actually have to work for it.   

Have you attempted to realize this
fantasy in your daily life?
 

Not yet.  Maybe it will happen with you.       

How have you utilized the Internet in
your sexual life?
 

Porn and some chats with chicks on the
band site.  Some of those girls go crazy on webcam.  It gets old though.   

She landed in Boston at
sunset and sighed when she saw her name on a plaque near baggage claim.  She
approached the driver.  “Did my men send you?”  At his nod, she smiled and he
returned it.  “All right then, let’s get this over with.” 

“Do you have any bags,
ma’am?” he asked her.  He noted her expensive black leather pants, black
turtleneck sweater, and heeled black boots.  She looked like a supermodel, her
hair pulled into a smooth dark twist at the nape of her neck.  Almost no
makeup.  Beautiful and classy.  The black could have made her look severe, but
she carried it softly. 

He suddenly understood the
urgency of the men who’d called him.

“Oh no, I’m not going to be
here long.  I just have my laptop bag which I will happily leave with you while
I run a quick errand.”  He nodded again and opened the door for her. 

Once settled in the car, she
gave him the address and he whistled, “Ma’am, have you
been
to that
area?  It’s kind of rough.  Are you meeting someone there?”  At her nod, he was
silent. 

They pulled up to an
abandoned warehouse district and she asked him to please wait, she would try
not to be long.  She got out with nothing in her hand.  The tiny new phone
Micah gave her earlier and her ID was in a hidden pocket at her hip. 

Crossing the street she took
in the lines of people waiting to gain entrance to the club which had likely
materialized overnight.  She approached the bouncer, “I have an appointment
with Bobby.  He’s in the band Tryptophan.” 

The big man looked her over from
head to toe and smiled, “Baby, you so hot, I don’t care who you with.  Go on
in.” 

Riya thanked him and stepped
past the rope.  She wanted to meet with Bobby and explain.  Then she wanted to
get home to Max and Micah.  There were so many things to do. 

She wandered the front of
the building for almost twenty minutes trying to find the stairs down to the
lower level.  Man, this place was a fire trap.  It smelled like a combination
of gasoline, pot smoke, and sex.  The sooner she got out of here the better.  A
band was currently onstage warming up.  When they started to play, she wondered
absently how much of her hearing she’d be leaving with tonight.

She leaned over one of the
bars and had to practically scream at the bartender, “Can you tell me where the
band rooms are?” 

He blatantly checked her out
then smiled knowingly and pointed down a dark corridor nearly hidden from view
across the huge room, to the right of the main stage. 

Riya turned, dodging drunken
people and two girls who were obviously high and stripping for their boyfriends
while they made out.  If they were even eighteen, she’d be shocked. 

She kept as close to the
walls as possible, suddenly very aware of how out of her element she was.  A
straight line across the room would have been ill-advised; she would have had to
cross the mosh pit.  She was brave, not stupid. 

Finally, she made it to the
hallway.  She’d already seen so many drug deals and young women giving blowjobs
on their knees that she was ready to bolt with a healthy
fuck this
.  She
didn’t sign up for a scene like this.  Most of the people here were underage,
without a doubt.  The women were barely dressed and completely debasing
themselves.  She could count how many confident women there were in this crowd
with the fingers of one hand.  She’d been to raves and knew they had a seedy
side.  This was a meat market. 

Riya took a deep breath and
entered the hallway, marked every twenty feet with a dim fluorescent bulb. 
“Great, this is the part where the dumb girl in the horror movie thinks nothing
of walking down the scary hallway. 
Nothing is going to happen to me, I’m
perky!
  Oh hell, how I hate being the dumb girl.” 

There were handwritten signs
on the door, and after deciphering the chicken scratch of the first seven, she
found Tryptophan’s room.  She knocked but wouldn’t have heard someone say come
in if they’d been using a megaphone.  So she opened it.

Awkward. 

Her final subject was tilted
back in a chair, pants wide open, getting a blowjob from a woman who didn’t
seem aware of her surroundings at all.  She glanced up dazedly in the middle of
dripping her own spit all over the semi-flaccid penis she was apparently
servicing. 

All Riya could think was…
yuck
.

“Bobby…you seem busy.  I’ll
come back.”  Bobby’s picture had been cute.  Boy next door trying to get his
rock band going.  Wanted to live the dream.  He’d been dark haired, tall and
slender with a great build.  His once-pretty brown eyes were sickly and it made
her sad.  The man in front of her was skeletally thin.  He had brilliant white
streaks in dyed red hair, sunken cheeks, and bloodshot eyes. 

Even without Micah and Max,
she would not allow her body to come in contact with this guy. 

Bobby shoved the woman
between his knees back so hard she fell on her ass, looking confused.  She crawled
and then stood, wobbling past Riya in the doorway.