Chapter 6

I'd had this explained by Darla after the previous party. The winner of the hand was due the service; anyone who had raised to that level or agreed to match the bet had to pay the split for it. The winner could take the service or could bank it and bet it at a later time. There was a side pot that the payments went into. Theoretically, you could win a trip around the world in a hand -- and you could take it if you wanted it. If you owned one and wanted to bet it later, there was no requirement for anyone to add to the pot -- it was paid for. The service just shifted owners. It was a little complicated and made my head hurt, but it appeared to work. I saw the blowjob -- I had three queens -- but a heaviset kid named Art won the hand. Five of us split the fifty bucks; it wasn't onerous. Mike asked the kid if he wanted it and the kid said yes -- big surprise -- so we settled back to watch the show.

Art picked Luz, who grinned her toothy grin, knelt up between his legs and proceeded to deliver her usual professional-quality cock-vacuuming job. Since Darla called her on it, they'd shifted gears -- pleasuring a john was more important than time. When you're a streetwalker, it's all about volume -- but an outcall girl can make big tips and create a following by making it good. By the time Luz was done with Art, every damned one of us wanted a hot mouth -- and the three girls who were not employed had been felt up pretty thoroughly.

Since everyone had a hardon, it should be no surprise that there was a blowjob in the pot before we even got to the draw, the next hand. Mike won and got Cheryl to suck him -- and had a ball with it. Darla and Luz could swallow most cocks without fanfare, but Cheryl wasn't there yet; she let him manhandle her and drive her onto him without a whimper -- although she DID slobber a lot and you would catch her gagging. I thought it was a pretty decent effort for an apprentice hooker.

There was no question that we were going to keep this up until everyone got their rocks off; Darla took the next load and Luz the one after that. No, there was only one open question...

A guy named Joe won the fifth hand after the festivities started. Mike gave him the eye and said, "Well?" and Joe looked guilty, but his eyes flicked. Everybody saw it; there was kind of a sigh that went around the table. Joe wanted his from Evelyn.

Evelyn was sitting on Art's lap, facing away from Ted, so she didn't see him mouth, 'Give her the money.' Several of us were surprised, but Mike stuck the fifty bucks under Evelyn's nose, poker-faced. Evelyn didn't look at Ted; she just flicked her eyes in his general direction without turning her head. "I'm keeping this," she mumbled.

"You lost your allowance," Ted replied softly.

"Tuck it in your shoe," Darla offered, helpfully. "That's what dancers and party girls do."

Evelyn nodded and braced herself, then said, "Excuse me," to Art and got up. Joe pushed his chair back, and Evelyn waved him up so she could take his pants down. We all sat there, heads going back and forth from Evelyn and Joe to Ted, sort of like a soundless tennis match. Evelyn never once looked at Ted; Ted, on the other hand, watched every move she made, poker-faced. Joe worried for a bit, watching him, but Ted mimed driving Evelyn down onto his cock and Joe put his hand on her head rather diffidently and Ted nodded and mimed it again, so Joe did it. Evelyn went "Urk!" -- but she didn't stop and she didn't bitch about it and Joe got to doing it regularly.

We all sat there watching it like it was an episode of some suspense flick or something. Ted beckoned Luz over and she crawled up on his lap and sat there, letting him feel her up distractedly while he watched his wife blow a guy for money. I couldn't make heads or tails of it and I wasn't alone...

After four or five minutes -- not quite long enough for anyone to get bored -- Joe got red in the face and grunted and you knew he was spewing. Evelyn didn't go anywhere; when he was done, she rocked back and opened her mouth to show him his load. Darla stepped up and said, "Working girls don't swallow, Hon; kind of let it dribble over your chin, if you're not working with a rubber, or try to get him to blow it on your face or tits like in porn." She took Evelyn by the arm and pulled her along, saying, "Welcome to the sisterhood. Let's get you cleaned up and prepped for the serious shit."

Once they were out of the room, I turned to Ted. "I don't get it."

Ted shrugged. "Like I told you -- Ev used to be a party slut. When she married me, she decided she had to clean up her act -- but she didn't ask me about it and she went too far. I'm gonna use this for leverage; if she looks in the mirror and sees a whore, she won't be inclined to act all stuffy -- and I'll have blackmail material to make sure she doesn't cut me off again. I wish I could get pictures -- especially of her taking money for it." He sat back in his seat. "She's a whore like the others -- but they admit it and she pretended to be something else."

Luz frowned at him and Cheryl looked unhappy; Ted said, "I have nothing against whores. Would you rather I called you working girls? I have nothing against working girls; I don't know a guy who does. Some might not want one for a wife, but these are different circumstances. I'm good with it."

Mike got up and waved him over to a corner and they spoke urgently for a moment, then Mike shrugged and left the room for a couple of minutes, coming back with a leather case. He turned to the guy on his left and said, "Deal," and we went back to playing poker.

By the time Darla and Evelyn got back, we were beyond blowjobs; one of the guys had Cheryl bent over a couch arm and was putting the meat to her and a fuck from Luz was on the table in the current pot. Darla looked around and shrugged and came and sat on my lap. "Did you miss us, Donnie?"

"Yeah," I admitted, pondering the pair of tens I had working and wondering if drawing three told everyone too much. "What took you so long?"

"We prepped her ass," Darla replied quietly.

"Oh." Enemas take a few minutes. "She going that far?"

"Now?" Darla grunted, "You betcha. She's got nothing to lose. Everybody even knows the price list."

Some guy named Pete won the hand; we all went into the next one without Pete and Luz, since Pete didn't feel like banking his fuck. He bent Luz over a barstool and went to town, taking over the racy background noise franchise from Cheryl and her customer, who had just finished up. Luz was just naturally louder, too, which ramped things up. Everyone knew who was up next and it wasn't Darla; Evelyn's pussy was in the pot before the draw.

Art won with three queens, ace-high. Mike dug around a bit under the table and nodded at the side pot; Art picked it up and offered it to Evelyn and she took it, getting up off Joe's lap. There was a quiet click and I looked over to see Mike with a digital camera up to his face. I don't think Evelyn noticed; she was too focused on Art and what she was about to do.

As before, this put a stop to things. The other three were hookers, but this was a guy's wife. After some quiet negotiation, Art dragged the couch cushions down to the floor in front of Mike's coffee table and Evelyn arranged herself on them on her back. Darla doled out a rubber and Art knelt and took Evelyn's knees over his forearms, slid home, and started poking. I heard a noise and realized it was a video camera; Ted was recording the whole thing for posterity using a camera that must belong to Mike. Once they were going good, Ted made himself obvious, coming in close and saying, "Hold up the money, Evvie -- make Daddy proud..."

Evelyn looked like he'd stabbed her, but she did it, waving the handful of bills -- then she got this look on her face and leaned up and started encouraging Artie to pour the meat to her. "Come on, Baby -- fuck me! I need some meat! Pound me!" Art went at it seriously and I wondered what sex the baby was; either way it was probably already a cocksucker from the way Art was pouring it to Evelyn. He was noisy and she was noisy and she wasn't faking it; she was getting off.

It only took a couple of minutes for Art to fill his rubber; Darla stepped in at that point to tell Evelyn, "It's cool to enjoy it as long as the john comes first." Evelyn just nodded and Joe gave her a hand getting up.

After that it was ALMOST business as usual; Ted got up to video any time Evelyn took a dick, and she took two or three more -- including mine. I got the inaugural butt-fuck; Evelyn had a cute little pink rosebud that was lubed so it wasn't a terrible fight to get into -- and she had Darla there giving her pointers on how to make a butt-fuck good for the john. Ted loved it, getting it all on video, including Darla's commentary. Evelyn humped back at me, moaning, a hundred and fifty bucks between her teeth; I'd like to have seen that video, but Ted no doubt has it hidden good, somewhere.

The party broke up around two; the girls and I staggered home, the girls having made probably two thousand between them in extras. Mike got a piece of every hole Cheryl had at some point; Cheryl's end of night comment was, "I really didn't know he was that into me..." She didn't leave, either; she crashed on my bed with the rest of us in one big exhausted tangle. She went home late Sunday morning, still tired and somewhat sore, but happy with her paycheck.

Mike called around noon and gushed about how great it all had been, saying that several of the guys were going to be calling for 'cleanings.' I offered him a break on the basic services, capping it at six hours, but he would have none of it. "The girls earned every cent."

"What about Ted and Evelyn?" I asked.

"I'm sure they're fighting, somewhere, but it's none of my business," Mike replied. "Hey, about Cheryl..."

"Yeah?"

"She didn't freak or anything, having to do me?"

"She was surprised you were into her," I related.

"Well..." Embarrassment colored his voice. "Is she busy Monday?"

"I'll check the schedule and let you know," I replied. "How long?"

"Two hours, I think."

"I'll check and pencil you in."

Luz went out at midafternoon, and Darla in the early evening -- both to guys who had been at the poker party. "Nothing whets a guy's appetite for sex like getting some," Darla observed, winking at me as she went out the door. The average single outcall was two-fifty to three hundred dollars, including the 'standard' fees, which ran twenty-five to thirty-seven fifty an hour, depending on how bad the cleanup was. I messed around in the nursery, cleaning and repainting the somewhat banged-up second-hand furniture. I called Cheryl and she was up for Mike -- but I was going to have to watch the girls...

Monday, I confirmed Cheryl's date with Mike and rushed home after work to cover; we had a steady flow of repeat customers, including Manny. Manny wasn't doing well with conventional dating; I was there during the day when one of the office girls hit Manny up with, "I thought we had fun last week..."

Manny frowned and said, "Yeah, well, dating you is a guessing game -- I don't know if we're going anywhere or not. I don't like that."

The chick -- who I considered to be high-maintenance anyway -- got this look and said, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm asking -- are we gonna get serious at some point, or am I just there to take you out?"

I stood there, thinking, 'At least he didn't say "Are we ever gonna fuck?" THAT wouldn't have been good...' This was bad enough, though; the girl asked him if he thought she was a golddigger and Manny replied, "I'm trying to find out." She went off in a huff and I made a point of explaining the 'three date rule' to Manny. In any case, Luz went out to his place around ten p.m. -- and stayed over again -- but came back with three hundred early Tuesday morning.

But before that, I had Cheryl's little girls while all three of my staff hit the door in the early evening, headed in different directions. Fortunately, they were disinclined to run all over the place tearing things up, preferring to sit with me and watch TV. I put my usual viewing on the DVR and tuned to more innocuous fare, not wanting to expose them to shoot 'em ups and murder mysteries at a young age. Faye went to sleep in my lap, effectively pinning me to the couch until Luz came back from her first appointment at seven-thirty. Luz put Faye to bed in my room -- and Donna crawled into my lap. Luz just grinned. "You're a daddy, Boss. Sugar daddy, anyway."

Cheryl came back about eight-thirty and dropped the basic fee with me; I didn't ask how much she made in extras. She was thoughtful. "We should have dated," she muttered, talking about Mike, "If I'd known, we would have."

"Mike's okay," I opined. "He can get past this."

Cheryl shook her head. "I can't. He would have to import a whole new crew of poker buddies, for one thing. I'm a marked woman with this bunch." For the record, she was right; two of them had called asking for appointments.

I shrugged. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know." She shook her head.

"You can talk to him about it," I opined. "You may discover that his poker buddies are expendable." She nodded, but said nothing; I helped her put the girls in their car seats and she pulled me up for a kiss in the parking lot. "You're a jewel, Don. We should have dated, too." She eyed me for a moment. "Which one of them are you gonna keep?"

I shrugged. "We really haven't gone there. Technically, I own them; okay, that isn't legal, but if you ask them, that's what they'll tell you."

"Both, then?"

"One of them will sprout wings, sooner or later."

Cheryl nodded, got in the car, and left. On my way back inside, the security guard cornered me. "So what's going on?"

"With what?" I asked.

"All those women you suddenly have trooping in and out."

"I started a cleaning business."

"Two of them live with you," the guard noted.

"It's temporary."

"Yeah, like five years I bet," the guard replied. "Look, the super is snooping around -- he could end up making life difficult for you, if you know what I mean."

I frowned. "What about the landlord?"

"They'll hit you up if the super doesn't like your answers," the guard replied. "In general, they don't like businesses being run out of apartments." He paused a significant period and added, "They could be hookers."

"Pregnant chicks?" I pooh-poohed him.

"I'm just sayin'..."

"Thanks." I headed up, thinking, 'More shit...' I was going to have to find a new place to live, undoubtedly.

Darla came in while I was briefing Luz on this latest development. "We'll look, Donnie," she assured me. "The place could be bigger, anyway. Maybe the guard just wants an occasional piece? You know -- a bribe?"

"Maybe," I grunted, "But if you're wrong and you make an offer, we'll be out even faster." Darla nodded. We had supper, then Darla and I surfed the want ads while Luz headed out to see Manny. "Are they serious?" I asked Darla, meaning Luz and Manny.

Darla thought about it. "Nah. Manny likes easy sex and Luz just likes sex -- but you're the Boss, and you have no idea how much weight you swing with her." She grinned and added, "Or me, for that matter."

I rolled my eyes. "One day you'll learn."

"I already have," Darla said, leaning against me. "I'm not scared of you anymore -- but I wouldn't trade you for three other guys."

Embarrassed, I muttered, "Yeah, well, whatever," and busied myself looking at ads. I wanted an apartment or a condo with controlled access -- but the downside was the nosiness directed at us that would go with it. Darla noticed a set of condos in a small strip mall above commercial properties and we decided to give them a call during business hours the next day. After that, we went to bed and had gentle sex, alone together for probably the first time in a while. I seemed to have broken through with Darla; she managed two orgasms, the second coming in concert with mine. We went to sleep happy.

By Tuesday, I was beginning to wonder why I went to work; everything in my life seemed to be happening after. The girls weren't making enough to support three or four people, though, so I needed a day job. I hadn't really recouped my outlay, anyway; the initial one, maybe, that bought Darla and Luz from Roscoe, but not the subsequent stuff like food and the car. It was close, though -- especially if you looked at the girls' slush fund, which I hadn't touched for anything not specifically approved, like the baby furniture. I made a 6 p.m. appointment to see the developer of Seacrest Village, the strip mall with the condos, and did a little research on the place.

A realtor friend of mine had a look at things and called me back pretty fast; the occupancy was about twenty-five percent and the developer was late on the mortgage. "Got any cash, Don?" my friend asked. "He'll probably take fifty cents on the dollar to get money enough to keep the bank away for a couple of months -- not that the bank wants the place."

"What happens if it goes under?" I asked.

"Theoretically, you get your money back," my friend Milo replied. "Certainly, you become a creditor of the developer and you have some ownership rights."

"Sounds risky," I opined.

"You could end up owning the whole place," he replied. "I do commercial -- I could help fill those storefronts."

I frowned. "Seriously, do I sink my IRA in this?"

"You'll take a loss the first year," Milo opined, "but things are slowly starting to turn around."

"What am I looking at?"

"He's asking two and a quarter per for two-bedroom townhouses on the second and third floors," Milo advised. "I'd open at one, and don't go over one and a quarter unless you get something."

"Not enough bedrooms," I grunted.

"Since when?" Milo wanted to know. "You get married?"

"Let's just say life got complicated."

"Hmmmm. Want me to come over and help out?"

"What's it gonna cost me?"

"Well... Three percent is the going rate for one side of the transaction."

"You'd better add value," I grunted. "I'm a skinflint."

"Yeah, yeah..." Milo hung up.

I took Darla and Luz and we rolled up on the place at six. It looked nice -- and empty. There were eight storefronts, one of which was a going concern and one of which had an 'Opening Soon' sign up that I was pretty sure had been there for four months. In the center was a Mall Offices storefront that opened on a large lobby with 'Mall Security' opening off one side and 'Owner/Tenant Services' off the other. There were stairs and elevators behind the reception/security desk parked in the center of the room. Milo was already there.

Milo took one look at the girls and was properly dazed and confused. "What's up?"

"Hard times," I replied. "And I'm a sucker. I'm floating a cleaning business for them to help pay the rent."

Milo eyed the pair and murmured, "You sleeping with them?"

I eyed him. "Does it make a difference?"

"It would for me."

The developer's rep was effusive; Milo had already softened him up. We went up in the elevators and turned right on the second floor. "Mr. Slavaskos says you need more than two bedrooms," the man said, eyeing my women. "Clearly, you have an unusual living arrangement?"

I eyed him. "Clearly."

"We don't have any threes, but we could put a door in the hallway just before the end units..." He eyed me sidelong.

I cocked my head. "And I would get two of several things I don't need... What's THAT gonna cost me?"

Darla sidled up and stepped gently on my left foot. I bent down and she whispered, "Hospitality suite. Also, it gets the kids out of your hair."

"It's a lot of money," I replied, also in whispers.

The rep and Milo were already at it, haggling. The guy was talking shit and Milo was letting him know he knew better. This went on all through the tour; we saw the condos, then went down a separate back elevator to a fenced corridor that opened on the owner's parking area, Truck parking, shipping and receiving areas for the storefronts sat to either side, but there were two drives punched through to the street behind. Between those two drives was a fenced playground and pool area. There were obvious compromises in the design, but the condo owners and their kids were fenced off from truckers and such. Video surveillance was highly visible looking both ways, too. "What kind of rules does the condo association have?" Darla asked, examining the plastic slats they used to make the chain link into a privacy fence.

"It hasn't really been set up yet," the rep replied, looking embarrassed. I suddenly realized that low occupancy had made it irrelevant. "We have floated some general guidelines, but with two condos, you would have a power bloc."

I grimaced. "Still on that, huh?" I knew my job; don't get excited and let Milo do his job. The guy was still talking about the one-forties and Milo was laughing at him.

Sensing an opening, the rep turned to Darla, "Why the question?"

Darla showed a lot of teeth, "I like to skinny-dip."

Milo chuckled. "I'm sure that will seriously improve the attentiveness of the security guards." He waved at the cameras.

The rep looked pained. "The owners pay for twenty-four hour security..."

"And it generally fails because it's off," I noted. "There is always a trade-off between security and privacy."

Darla merely grinned. "They can look. I expect them to protect me from those who want to touch without permission, though, not be part of the problem."

The rep nodded, off-balance, and we headed back and got in the elevator. The developer's rep got in last and turned to face the door; Luz sidled up to Milo and furtively rubbed his crotch, smiling her toothy smile. "You are taking good care of Boss, right?" she asked quietly.

Milo's eyes popped. "Yes."

"Good." She rubbed him again, smiling up at him. Milo turned his surprised gaze on me and I shrugged.

"She do that a lot?" Milo murmured.

"Only when she thinks she has good reason," I replied in a whisper. "I think maybe there was an incentive being offered."

"Huh..." Milo gingerly settled a hand on Luz's ass. Luz didn't complain.