I forgot to mention that there would be a Part 2 to this story! I am fighting my way through midterm preparation. As always, thank you for your support! Especially now as I try to balance school and work, your support makes a significant difference in my ability to support myself and the people I take care of. Thank you thank you thank you.
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“Rose told me she wants to do a double dance! What do you think?”
I wasn’t sure what Adam would say. It’s expensive hiring two strippers for a private dance. For one, there’s the dance price, then there’s the tip expectation.
“Should we do it? How do you feel? Isn’t this what you wanted?” Adam asked in one breath.
It was clear we were equally shaken by the development. What would a double dance look like? Would it disrupt our ritual? Who would it be for? Would it all just be to appease me, and if so, how did I feel about being the center of attention?
“I mean… I’m into it. You know how I feel about Rose, but it’s expensive. What do you think?”
“I think we should go for it. C’mon, how long have we been talking about this? How long have you been wanting to be intimate with Rose?”
“For over a year,” I sighed.
“Will she be okay with us having sex?” Adam asked.
“I think so. Let me talk to her.”
In spite of Adam’s clear support, I was nervous. I didn’t know Rose’s boundaries. It’s one thing to know that a friend is a full service sex worker, it’s another to know what that means in a practical sense. Maybe penetration was fine for her, but the rest of the intimate stuff, like kissing and touching were off the table. How much would she expect in return for participating, even if her role didn’t involve much interaction with Adam? I needed to use my pro-hoe negotiation tools and find out Rose’s boundaries and expectations.
I fast walked over to Rose, my questions practically bubbling out before I reached her.
“He’s down! Are you okay if I have sex with him? You wouldn’t be expected to participate at all. What kind of tip do you normally expect? What are you comfortable with?”
Rose smirked at my overzealous delivery.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Um, what do you think? A thousand? What do you normally charge him?”
I felt my heart sink. Adam is rich, but he isn’t an excessive spender. The room itself already was likely to cost him nearly a thousand, an additional thousand for a tip would be a hard pass for him.
“Well…” I waffled, “It’s complicated. He’s not going to do a thousand.”
“What do you think? You know him better than I do.”
“It’s just that–”
Sometimes the truth gets stuck in my throat. I’ve never been particularly good at honesty when there’s a cost involved, but in this instance, there was no getting around the truth. The only way to explain why I wasn’t charging Adam fully price for full service sex work was to be honest.
“He’s one of my partners, and this is a thing that we do. You wouldn’t need to have sex with him or anything. I just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable. That’s why it’s hard to put a price, because it’s a personal thing.”
“Oh,” Rose replied thoughtfully, “Well, I mean… A couple hundred dollars then?”
“That’s totally doable! Let me tell him!”
Rose gave me another amused smile as I rushed back to Adam. My flush of excitement was hardly concealed by the dim club lighting. The only tell was the subtle droplets of sweat trickling down from under my breasts. Fear Sweat. After a year of waiting, it was all happening.
“She’s down. She initially said she wanted a thousand dollar tip, and I was like, ‘there’s no way Adam would go for that,’ but I told her you’re my partner and she understood. She said a couple hundred dollars for a tip would work.”
“Are we gonna do this?” Adam asked, his eyebrows high with disbelief.
“I think so. Are you okay with this?”
“You know I’d do anything for you.” Adam said, stopping short of kissing my arm, “I mean, we have to do it.”
We stood and exchanged a look of excited apprehension, then walked over to Axel at the dance register. I flagged Rose who took her place beside us.
“I like how you roll, my friend!” Axel remarked, eyeing Rose and me, “I wish I was you. You chose two of our best! All the rooms are open, so pick whichever. Let me know if you need anything.”
We selected one of the thirty-minute rooms without any windows. I stripped down. Rose removed everything except for her panties. It was a clear boundary, and I admired her quiet way of setting it. She pulled me into her arms and we kissed. It wasn’t a cautious, quick peck like the first time–it was slow and deep. I felt her warmth against me. My hands explored her skin as she explored mine. Adam sat behind us, mostly watching. He caressed my thigh, but kept his distance. For a few minutes, I didn’t worry about him.
But I knew it couldn’t last. I knew he wanted to enable me to have the experience that I’d been wanting for so long, while I simultaneously couldn’t help but feel an awareness of the rules of the game. I was at work. Rose was working too. Adam was paying for our time and attention, and while we could have ignored him, it would have felt wrong.
I forced myself to pull apart from Rose so that we could relocate to at least makeout over Adam. She and I knelt facing each other on the couch above him. I touched his chest and massaged his groin while simultaneously kissing Rose. Adam kissed my side and gathered my nipple into his mouth. Rose reached down to rub my pussy. I didn’t know how to inhabit my body at that moment. I didn’t know how to be present to my own pleasure. I could hardly feel anything, let alone erotic sensations. My lips were where all of my desire and pleasure were focused. I lightly grazed Rose’s pussy over top of her protective thong, and she made no indication that she noticed. There’s something uniquely deadening about being a full service sex worker. Of course, it’s not the same for everyone, and I’m always happy to hear about completely bodily present whores who channel their erotic energy even into commercial work, but that is not the case for me. More often than not, I’m surprised if I feel anything when I’m working. At that moment, I felt a joy quite separate from my physical sensations. I felt connection and desire for something deeper than sex. I felt a satiation of a desire for closeness that I knew would only be temporary.
My internal clock ticked, and I sensed we were nearly halfway through the dance. It was time to focus on making Adam come. I pulled down his pants and slipped him inside of me as I faced away from him, still lip-locked with Rose. Adam tried to guide her hand to stimulate my clitoris, but it felt beyond the point. I didn’t want to come. I just wanted Rose to go on a date with me.
But I knew she wouldn’t.
Adam came, and I handed him napkins to clean up. There’s no pretty way to tidy jizz. There’s a smell, and a residue that sticks to your skin. I knew that Adam needed a moment to decompress, just the two of us. It was part of our ritual: before a flight out he liked to stop by the club for one last moment of intimacy.
“Would you mind giving Adam and I some time?” I asked Rose, “I’ll bring you your tip once the time is up.”
“Yeah, of course! No worries!” she said, excusing herself.
I collapsed across Adam’s damp chest. We had both participated in something remarkable, and yet it had all transpired in what felt like the blink of an eye. I couldn’t articulate how I felt. It was sex, but was it sexual? It was intimacy, but was it intimate? It was for me, but had it been about me? I felt as if I was hovering over my body, dissociated from myself and yet able to enjoy from afar. I felt confused, yet accomplished. We had done something significant, and yet I couldn’t feel any tangible feeling of significance. I couldn’t feel much of anything.
“I’m glad you asked her to go. You know how much I needed time, just the two of us.”
“I know.”
“You’re the best.”
“Thank you for making it happen.”
“Oh Selena. We did this.”
Adam kissed the top of my head, and I floated nearby.