Strictly Business

Saying goodbye had been harder than she expected.

But after packing her personal belongings, she didn't have much time until she was supposed to be sitting in seat 14B alongside Felix on a plane to Sacramento. He was very cheerful throughout the flight, while Scarlett sat sulking in her seat with her legs crossed and her arms closely hugging her body.

She was thankful when their flight landed so that she could finally get more than six inches away from her new boss, but all that was shot to hell when he announced that there was still an hour long car ride before they reached their destination.

A sleek black car was waiting for them at the airport. Felix allowed her to slide into the back seat first, probably so that he could get a good look at her from behind. She slid to the far end of the seat, as far away from him as possible, but as soon as he got in, he slid over to the middle so that they were touching.

"Ready to see you new home?" he asked cheerfully as the car pulled out from the curb.

Scarlett frowned in response and turned her focus to the darkness outside her window but he didn't seem to notice. In the silence, she took the opportunity to do some thinking- about home, about the future, about her own well being. She wasn't sure that agreeing to come to California was the best thing, but really what choice did she have?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a cold hand on her upper thigh. "Welcome to Sterling," Felix announced just as they reached the city limits.

Sterling wasn't much of a town from what she could see in the dark. There were hardly any lights, even though it was only ten minutes til midnight. It looked like one of those picturesque small towns and she wondered to herself how a brothel could ever prosper in an area like it.

They kept driving until they reached the other end of the town. A few miles after they'd passed the post office and an old grocery store, there was nothing. As far as she could see in the moonlight, there were no lights and no buildings, except for one.

The car slowed as it approached the huge house and turned into the gated driveway, pulling directly up to the front doors. "This is it," he told her as the driver opened her door. She got out of the car and looked up at her new home.

It was beautiful; nothing short of a million dollar mansion. He led her through the glass front door and she was immediately greeted by a chorus of hellos from the score of women casually lounging in the "great room," as he called it.

A few of them attempted to make their way over and introduce themselves but Felix shooed them away and kept walking, pulling Scarlett along with him. He led her up an elaborate staircase and down a hallway. "The bathroom is shared by all the girls," he mentioned as they passed the only white door on the hall. They passed many more black doors before he stopped at the last one on the right and finally let go of her arm. "This is your room. Go on in and get some sleep. My partner will be by tomorrow."

She watched him walk all the way back down the hall before she opened the door to her room. It was just as exquisite as the rest of the house. She locked the door behind her and dropped her bag in the chair by the bed, digging through it to find a tee shirt and some shorts to change into. She folded the dress and laid it next to her bag then fell onto her bed, pulling the extra pillow into her chest and drifting off to sleep almost immediately, not even bothering to turn off the lamp.

She was still sound asleep when there was a sharp knock on her door that jarred her awake. She yawned as she slowly shuffled across the room and swung the door open, finding herself face to face with a man she'd never met. He smiled warmly at her as he extended his hand. "I'm Vince. I hope you were told I was stopping by."

"Oh, right. Yeah, of course," she shook his hand then moved to the side of the door to let him in. He walked inside her room and took a seat on the bench at the foot of the bed while she sat down on the other end, attempting to pull her tiny shorts farther down her legs.

"I apologize if I woke you. I would have come by later but I'm on my way out of town." Vince was younger than Felix, and seemed like much less of a pervert. He was dressed in a nice suit and had a warm, relaxed smile. "So has Felix filled you in on any of the details?"

"He didn't say much at all actually." She hoped he didn't pick up on the somewhat bitter tone in her voice. Just thinking of the other man made her shudder.

"I've heard that a lot so I'm not surprised. I guess it's a good thing one of us is serious about this business." Vince shook his head. "Anyway, so the details. First things first, this is your room obviously. The bathroom is the white door down the hall. The main floor where you came in last night is where you'll find the great room, the front desk, the kitchen, and the dining room. This of course is the second floor, where all you ladies live. Then there's the lower level where you take clients. And basically what we want you to do is the same thing you were doing at Trish's."

"You want me to be head whore."

He chuckled. "Essentially yes. But we prefer you use the word companion instead."

"Companion. Right." That was the word Trish had liked to use too, but Scarlett never referred to herself and the other girls that way. They were whores plain and simple and she called them such.

"You'll be something of a trainer for these newer, less experienced girls. And you'll also be working the desk. When clients come in, they come to you. You decide who you think is ready and who would be a good fit for the client. You can take the client for yourself if you want, but it's not necessary. Your room and board is free as long as you work here and the meals you eat from our kitchen are free."

"But if I ever want to leave the house for, like, anything, I'll need money."

"One or two clients a week should be sufficient. And you can be as choosy as you want. The newest girls are $150 an hour, and the rest vary from $200 to $300. You can charge as much as double. There's no limit to how many clients you can have, but the house takes 50%."

She wasn't sure what to think about this new arrangements. At Trish's, Scarlett had double the customers that the rest of the girls had. Now, here Vince was saying one or two clients per week? That was a huge change for her. Plus they wanted fifty percent of the money she made, when Trish's cut had only been forty percent.

"You'll be expected to be downstairs at the desk from 5pm to 5am but you'll be on call 24/7. It's not very often we get clients during the day, but it does happen. I'd say 99% of our clients come during your work hours so you don't really have to worry about it. The other girls have the same work hours, so whenever we're done here, you can go down and meet them all. I hear they're very excited."

Scarlett wasn't really sure why they were so excited to meet her but she nodded her head anyway.

"Well, do you have any questions for me?"

"No, I think you covered everything."

"Alright then. I'll let you go get acquainted with the other girls. I'm off to Boston." He stood up and stuck out his hand for her to shake before he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Scarlett pulled on some cuttoff shorts and a tank top before going to explore the house and meet the other girls.

She had already made fast friends with three of the girls before she realized how late it was. She rushed upstairs and went through her routine as fast as she possibly could in order to make it back downstairs on time.

Most of the night there was a steady flow of clients in and out, but around four in the morning, it began to get slower. Two of the girls she'd become friends with, Tiffany and Angel, were sitting behind the counter with her while the rest of the girls were with clients. Felix was passed out drunk on the sofa in the great room and it was all quiet on the main floor.

The front door opened and all three women turned to see who had come in. The man would have been very intimidating in the leather he wore and the tattoos on each side of his mohawk and down both arms. But all that was trumped by the nervous look on his face. He looked around for a moment before he finally spotted the three of them and made his way over to the counter.

Scarlett stood up from her seat. "How can I help you, sweetheart?"

"I have money," he informed her, quickly reaching into his pockets and pulling out a stack of cash, setting it on the counter.

"How much?"

"How much does it cost?" he countered.

"$250 for the hour."

"I'll take two." He slid the money toward her and she picked it up from the counter, casually counting it before nodding her head at the girls behind her.

Scarlett turned her head to the girls behind her, both of them appearing very willing to take the new client. "Tiffany, you can take this one."

"Actually-" Tiffany froze to her spot and Scarlett looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish his sentence. "I, uh-....was kinda hoping for you."

Scarlett raised her eyebrows at him and bit down on her dark red bottom lip. "My rate is double," she informed him sadly. She wouldn't have minded taking this one for herself.

"Done." He reached into his pocket again and pulled out another stack of cash, handing it over to her.

She had honestly expected him to just say okay and let Tiffany take him downstairs, but his reaction had surprised her. She recovered quickly as she took the money from his hand and handed it to Angel before coming around the counter and lacing her arm through his with a smirk.

"Right this way, sweetheart."