Chapter 1
“How the hell do you use this thing?”
Nala turned the smartphone upside down, wondering if that was the key to getting it to turn on. For being twenty-one, she was woefully a Luddite. Her flip phone had lasted her a good few years, and she still saw no reason to upgrade. Yet here she was, sitting at the dining room table trying to get a phone to boot up for the first time.
“It’s about time a 21yo join the 21st Century,” said the note on top of the box, hand delivered by one of Lane Technological Solutions’s best and brightest couriers. At least it wasn’t Andrew, the young assistant who always regarded Nala with disdain whenever she stopped by her sugar daddy’s office.
“Wish he would butt out of my life.” Nala continued to mutter as she smashed buttons and futilely searched the instruction manual for a simple answer. She felt like a senior citizen at a computer class at the local library. If she were an old man, she would go outside and yell at some clouds – and in Portland, there were plenty of clouds to yell at.
She finally turned on the phone by accidentally pushing a certain button on the side. The fuck? What was it doing there? Holy crap! Why didn’t phones have real buttons anymore? Her old phone had a lovely dial pad begging to be touched and played with, like a frisky wife after a lot of wine. Also, the startup sound the new phone played when it finally got going was liable to make her jump out the window because she was so startled.
Vincent told her that everything was set up, and all she had to do was customize it and make sure it was in her name. “Don’t worry about the bill. I’ll take care of it.” Oh, joy, and probably keep track of her. Nala may have been a Luddite, but she saw the stories about parents tracking their teens through parental switches and doohickeys and whatever. Vincent was a good ten years older than her. Did he think he was going to snoop whenever he felt like it? Read her texts? (To him?) Check out her pictures… if she ever figured out how to take them?
Nala wasn’t stupid. She would keep the old phone to talk to everyone but Vincent. Better safe than sorry. Especially now that he gave her enough money every week to pay off her dumb-phone bill.
Still, playing with a new phone and getting acquainted with functioning technology gave her something to do on a rainy Thursday evening. It would be even better if her roommate Patrick weren’t hosting a “party” for all his pothead friends.
At least they weren’t smoking. No, all their cannabis was consumed via a healthy batch of brownies that had baked all day. At first Nala thought they smelled delicious. Herby, but delicious. Then she made the mistake of sampling some of the batter and gagging, flushing her system with heaps of water in the hopes of not becoming high. I think I avoided it. Maybe. The default background on the phone was sort of trippy.
“I feel like… man, life is so much more than whom you’re boning, you know?” That was Steven. Or was it Stephen? Patrick’s best friend, at any rate. He often came over to get high, but today he had his girlfriend – or was it fiancée? – in tow. And another girlfriend. And the other boyfriend his two girlfriends shared. This shit doesn’t happen in Carson City. Nala could barely handle her fake boyfriend right now. Who expected her to deal with more than one? Let alone a girlfriend on top of that…
“Totally,” one of Stephen’s girlfriends piped up. “I’m so glad to be poly, man. We can chill without any drama. So many cuddle dates…”
Nala’s new phone buzzed with life. And buzzed. And fucking buzzed.
Everyone in the living room turned around to look at her before going back to their super cool conversation.
“Am I queer if I’m into kink?”
“Oh my God, man, don’t say queer. The lesbians don’t like it.”
“But I am, like, totally a lesbian. Or at least I was born one. I love women! Loooooove.”
“Ahahah Steve, oh my God, you are not queer for being into kink. You are totally a lesbian, though.”
“Aw, my boyfriend is genderqueer enough to be a lesbian!”
“We should have, like, more kink in this world, yo. Wouldn’t it be great if we could come together for some BDSM?”
“There are so many clubs around here for kinksters. I’ve thought about joining them, but I’m shy! Someone go with me!”
“What do you like, Kathy? I’m sure we got some whips and feathers around here.”
“Oh, I’m not so much into that. I want a man or woman to tell me what to do and then have their way with me.”
More phone buzzing. Nala was vainly attempting to text Vincent, but all that was happening was randomly opening apps she had never heard of. Instagram? Snapchat? What the fucking fuck were those?
“Hey, Nala, come hang out with us!”
She perked up, seeing Patrick wave his hand over the back of the couch. “Oh, no thanks.”
“Come on, hon, we wanna know about your hot boyfriend!”
Nala bristled, but not because she hated people assuming Vincent was her boyfriend. Why wouldn’t they? She dressed up super fancy for him. He picked her up in the evenings and sometimes didn’t bring her home until much later – eventually, he would probably drop her off the next day. Whenever Nala was seen returning, it was always with that “Back off, I’ve just been fucked” face. There was no doubt that Vincent was someone to her. No, she didn’t want to talk about it.
“There’s not much to say about him,” she mumbled, trying to look focused on her phone.
“What’s his name?”
“Not telling.”
“Ah, come on! I see that guy out there all the time in his nice car! You’ve gotta spill.”
“Yeah, spill!”
“Her? With a hot boyfriend?”
“Patrick’s bi. He totally knows what a hot boyfriend is.”
“Damn straight.”
“You mean damn queer.”
“See, this is why the lesbians don’t like it.”
“Fuck the lesbians.”
“I’m sure you’d love to.”
Nala had enough. She stood, happy to take her new toy into her closet of a bedroom. Don’t give these people all that satisfaction. She turned toward them, boxes in hand.
“You wanna know about my boyfriend? All I have to tell you is that he’s a Dom.” Nala waited until their eyes lit up in curiosity, especially that Kathy girl who was talking about wanting to be bossed around, or whatever. “Yeah, he doesn’t take shit from anyone, least of all me. You wanna know what it’s like to be tied up? To be punished because you stepped out of line? You should wish to know a Master like him. Pshaw. You wouldn’t be able to handle him. Now, excuse me, sugar daddy bought me a phone so we can phone sex in the closet. Bye.”
As if on cue, the phone in her hand rang. Kathy jumped up, startled. “Oh my God, is that him? Is he omnisexual?”
“Dumbass, you mean omnipotent.”
“Yes. And yes.” Nala opened the closet door and popped in, turning on a fan she had clipped to the rod above her. She hoped it would be loud enough to drown out the stoners while not being too loud to talk to Vincent.
“I see you got the phone working.” Amazing! His voice was so much clearer – and louder – on the new phone. It almost sounds like he’s right here. Boy, that would be cozy. “Congratulations. I thought I would already be leaving you a voice mail, and then hoping you figured out how to access it.”
“Haha. Very funny. What’s up?”
Vincent cleared his throat. “I have an unusual favor to ask of you. Are you available tomorrow night?”
“Yeah. Why? Last minute Aviary meeting?” As far as Nala knew, there wouldn’t be another one until Sunday.
“No. Something more personal. I’m having a business dinner with clients and another couple. It would be rather awkward for me to be the only one there without a partner, so…”
“Vincent,” Nala growled, taking a hint from his manner of speaking when they were alone. “I know you’re not asking me to play your girlfriend for your business deals.”
“Well… not quite.”
She could have reached through her shiny new phone and throttled the man. “What if that starts some gossip? What if Xavier Crow finds out who I really am? I don’t think I’m even on his radar right now, other than him probably wondering what my tits look like.”
“Nala… I will make it worth your while.”
Great. More money. Make her feel even more like a sugar baby. Why not? It’s what I’m good for. Her mother would be so proud.
“To put up with that shit? You better.”
“How does five-hundred sound?”
“Five-hundred what? Thousand dollars?”
“I see your point. I’ll give you an extra thousand, and treat you to some shopping.”
“What kind of girl do you think I am? You think I can be bought for dates like that? You really are my sugar daddy.”
“Wow.”
“Wow, what? You suddenly got a conscience?”
“Not at all. I never thought of myself as being old enough to be someone’s sugar daddy.”
“You’re thirty, Vince. So old.”
“Uh huh. Anyway, call me whatever you want. I would be very grateful if you came as my date tomorrow night. Nothing serious, of course, but the others there don’t have to know that. Besides… the man I’ve proposed to – now hold on, not like that – is also in town doing business with Crow. You might want to come and use your wiles to get what he knows out of him.”
“Use my what?”
“Never mind.”
Nala flopped back on her thin mattress and stared at her clothes hanging above her, at her tote bag swinging back and forth above her feet. “All right. I’ll go, but only because I don’t have anything else to do and because I like money.” She had over three-thousand sitting in her account right now. That wasn’t including the several hundred she made from her shitty job every month. “This doesn’t mean I’ll do this regularly, though. Like you asked, I’m mostly doing this as a favor to you, got it?”
“Got it.”
“By the way…” This was Nala’s chance to ask, since she hadn’t talked to Vincent in a few days. “Did you ever find out the source of that note I got?”
“Not yet. I mean, there wasn’t much to go on, but I’ve been doing some clue hunting in what spare time I have.”
“Before or after you fall asleep playing Fallout?”
Vincent didn’t miss a beat. “Before, of course. I’m a responsible man.”
Says the dude who stuck it in unprotected. Nala wasn’t going to go there right now, though. “What should I wear? The lavender dress?”
“No. Nothing from The Aviary. Sends completely the wrong message.”
Oh, I bet. Vincent probably didn’t want to be constantly reminded of sex while they ate dinner with business associates, anyway. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
“I figured. That’s why I’ve gone ahead and sent someone over with my credit card to take you out shopping and to get your hair done.”
“What?”
“You heard me. It’s my treat. There’s a spending limit, of course, but it should be sufficient to get you a few nice things and some pampering.” Vincent chuckled. Nala did not care for his chuckles. “Unless you don’t want pampering. You could suffer for the sake of it.”
“Shut up. Okay, I’ll go, but not because I particularly want to.”
“Of course not.”
“It’s not Andrew coming, is it?”
“It’s not Andrew. It’s someone you’d much rather go with, if you had to choose.”
“Oh, well, if I had to choose.”
“What time is it? They should be there any minute.”
“Wait, what? You went ahead and sent someone over to take me shopping, even before I said I would do it?”
She could practically hear him shrugging on the other line. “I didn’t think you would end up saying no. Anyway, the worst that could’ve happened was that I had to call and tell them to not bother. Then pay for their time. It’s not a big deal.”
It’s a big deal to us little people.
“Don’t worry about anything today, or tomorrow night. Pick out something nice but safe, and I’ll come pick you up around six. Come hungry. It’s a five-course meal.”
“Of course it is.”
“I hope you have some fun, Nala. Even if you’re not too into shopping, it will be a different experience downtown.”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”
She hung up before he could say anything else. At that lucky moment, the doorbell rang.
Nala burst from her closet before any of the stoners could get to the door. Oh hell no! She had no idea who was coming. She didn’t want to know, but here she was, huffing it to the door before Patrick could stumble off the couch and answer with a cheese dust-infested grin.
The door opened with nary a squeal of the rusty hinges. When Nala looked up from the closed-toe heels greeting her, she almost lost the ability to speak.
“Gale!” Robin took up the entire doorway, sunhat flapping with raindrops on the rim. “Look at you! Let’s go shopping!”
Nala began to close the door again before realizing that was a very rude thing to do.