The Brand: Part One
NATASHA
The curtain blew into the room through the screenless, third-floor window. The cool night breeze filled our little dorm suite with sweet fresh air on that Friday night. I sat on her bed, keeping my roommate, Dani, company as she curled her hair at her extravagant makeup table.
Daniella Day was a tall girl with long, dark hair and eyes. A real exotic beauty with slender curves that made men weak at the knees and do things they wouldn’t normally do. That evening she was babbling on and on about a party while I was studying for my midterms. With a major in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Publications, I didn’t have one easy class. I really needed to get some studying accomplished.
I was trying to tune her out, as she’d insisted on having someone around her while she got ready, in order to give her any constructive criticism necessary for her to get as close to perfect as possible, but she wasn’t taking the hint. She’d been droning on and on about the rich men who’d be at the party she was going to. Her scene was not mine, even though we were pretty good friends.
“Tasha, it’s a fundraiser for God’s sake! And I promised I’d bring another girl this time. I know this isn’t your kind of thing. But you know you need money and you’ll make money doing this. The other girl I had lined up forgot to let me in on some pertinent information about herself that excluded her from going. But I know you have everything up to date and you take care of yourself in the birth control department. Since I took you with me to our last clinic visit, I know you’re STD free so you’re a natural for this.” She plopped down on her bed, wearing a thin, pink, silk robe. I had no idea what type of skimpy get up it was covering but I knew it’d be more than a little risqué. When she donned the little robe, it meant she was headed to an exclusive place, a members’ only type of club. I’d never been to one of those places with her, despite invitations to join her almost every time she went to one of the functions. And the fact you needed to be on birth control and STD free was a definite red flag for me.
“Listen, Dani, I told you I have a paper to do. I swear I would consider it if I didn’t have midterms,” I said, looking over my reading glasses at her pouting face.
“Please, Tasha! I swear I’ll do anything to repay you for this favor.” She gave me a sly grin.
I had nothing I needed her to do for me. But I did need money. My parents had strict rules about taking care of one’s self. I was a bit short that month. The bills were coming due and I was on the verge of begging my mother for the extra money I’d need to make ends meet. That would cost me plenty. A lecture from her, then my father and I’d have to be their slave, essentially, for at least two weekends. But still, the party wasn’t gelling with me. “I don’t care, Dani.”
Thinking she was done, I returned my focus back to my laptop. Then I felt a ton of weight on me as Dani had jumped on top of me, knocking me to the side of the tiny twin bed. “I promise you’ll only be there for an hour, two at the most!” The onslaught of tickle torture began, making me giggle even though I did not find it funny in the least.
When her assault ended, I gave her a look as she had her arms wrapped around me and her leg over mine. After being pestered and wanting her to shut up, as well as needing money, I gave into her and decided to go with her to the party. There was a tiny part of me that wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I knew it had to be on the darker side of life. I had no idea how dark it was, though. I had no idea the depth of darkness it would bring out in me either.
She said it would only be two hours at the most, which would give me time to do more studying. I didn’t know what type of fundraiser it was but she gave me a red silk corset with lace inlays and a masquerade mask covered in black velvet. Tossing a pair of fishnet pantyhose and some black high heels on the bed, she meant for me to get dressed for the evening, igniting my curiosity and a spark of danger inside of me.
Instead of asking questions I’d get answers to that I’m sure would’ve made me change my mind, I just went along with it, for her, and the money, of course. Plus, my damn curiosity!
“Okay, so there are some rules,” she said as she tied up the corset in the back of the sexy, yet slutty outfit she’d made me wear.
“Rules, for what?” I asked with confusion. I wasn’t a freak by any means. The get up was one thing, I was prepared to be the men’s eye candy but nothing more than that! What else could there be?
“This is a BBC fundraiser. The reason we wear the masks is so no one knows the identity of anyone there. The men wear them too. Except, you have to tell them your real name, if they ask for it. And if they ask you to remove your mask, you need to do it. As a matter of fact, you should do just about anything you’re told to. Within reason, of course. It’s all up to you how much of yourself you give,” she said, which didn’t make any sense to me.
“Wait, so you mean to tell me I have to tell some man, that I don’t know, my name? But I can’t even see his face or know his name?” I turned around to look at her with a raised brow. “And just what does BBC stand for, anyway?”
“Billionaire Bad Boy Club.” She pushed me back around so she could finish tying me up. “It’s nothing really bad, Tasha. These men are well to do business men. Some of them have wives and families to protect, even their careers. So just go with it and play by the rules. Don’t ask any man who shows interest in you what his name is or what he does to make his money. Don’t ask anything except maybe what he likes to drink so you can fetch him a drink. You’re to play the part of a sexy, doting, submissive woman. Kind of like a waitress, only you get to touch the handsome devils, if they let you, of course. Never touch anyone unless they tell you to.”
“What kind of fundraiser is this?” I asked as she began to apply makeup in a generous fashion to my face.
She ignored my question. “They pay handsomely for us to entertain them. The less you know, the better.”
I nodded my head in utter confusion. In hindsight, I should’ve opted out of that so called fundraiser. Instead, I felt a sense of obligation to help her out as her friend and an obligation to myself to get the money I needed to pay the bills without getting into debt with my parents. And even an obligation to my curiosity. A thing I’d done little to appease in my life.
After she curled my hair and piled it on top of my head using hairpins with tiny diamond-like beads all over them, making me look pretty great, she pulled out black cloaks for us to wear to cover our sexy outfits. Then we left our dorm and went to a long black car that was waiting for us in the college dorm’s parking lot.
The driver was a tall man, wearing a chauffeur’s uniform. His face was long and pale. My instincts told me to go back inside and forget the thing she wanted me to do. But the money made me push that down and I got into the car.
Dani opened the mini fridge inside of the limo and handed me two, short, crystal glasses then took out some kind of amber liquor and filled them to the top. “This will ease your nerves. The men do not like the women to be nervous. They prefer them supple and yielding.”
As she sat back on the long, black leather seat next to me, she took one of the glasses from me and held it up. I clinked mine to hers and we both took long sips. The drink burned all the way down my throat and into my stomach. “You make it sound as if we’re to be some kind of hookers,” I said.
Her laughter peeled through the air and her dark eyes danced. I saw her turn into a woman I didn’t even know. “Hookers? No, nothing that trashy. Just be nice, fun, sexy and let them do to you what they want to. They pay nicely. A pat on the ass can earn you a hundred-dollar-chip in your bra. That kind of thing. It’s nothing terrible.”
It might sound easy the way she said it but my morals were beginning to come to the surface at a rapid pace. Then her hand was pushing the glass to my mouth. I took the drink to dampen those pesky morals of mine and finally, it seemed I wasn’t so worried about what some man or men might do to me. I hardly felt a thing, anyway!
We finally arrived at a huge building in the middle of nowhere that looked abandoned, yet the parking area was full of expensive looking cars. I instantly felt nervous. All the alcohol seemed to have burned off with the nervousness. I was shaking like a leaf.
“We’re here. Please remember what I said.” Dani looked over at me with a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. It did nothing to comfort me. And I contemplated asking the driver to take me back home. As Dani tugged my hand, pulling me out of the car with her, I found that was not an option as the driver sped away.
“Wow, he took off quickly, didn’t he?” I asked as I could smell the burning rubber from the tires as he peeled off.
“Some of the women who come to these types of things get cold feet and climb back into the car. He has other women to pick up and there’s not time to take anyone who gets a sudden attack of the morals, back home,” Dani told me as she pulled me along with her to the large, rusty looking, metal door.
She knocked three times as I stood nervously, looking around for any signs of danger. It just wasn’t a place for two young college girls to be at this time of night.
A small window opened and a pair of blue eyes looked out at us. “BBC entertainment,” Dani said. The door opened and a stocky guy with a falcon mask on let us inside to a dimly lit small entrance.
“Day, you brought a new friend,” he said as his eyes ran up and down the length of my body.
“Greenwell is her name,” she told him.
I held my hand the same way Dani did and he stamped it with a black X. Our cloaks were taken, then we walked into the darkened hall to a stairwell. Some creamy colored candles made light which bounced off the wet muggy stone walls as we walked down the spiral stairwell. Our shadows bounced around as the muffled sounds of music and a draught of cool air came crawling up the stairs.
With a few more flights we were standing outside of a big red door where the music became louder. She knocked again, this time, four knocks on each upper corner of the door. “BBC sex,” she gave as another code, sending a chill through me. A small window was slid open and a pair of brown eyes looked at us.
The door opened. There was a small-framed woman with perky breasts which were exposed in a leather bustier. She wore a leather slave choker around her neck and a simple black mask hid her identity. “Day,” she greeted my friend then her eyes turned to meet mine.
She held her hand out but I hesitated a bit before taking it. Dani nodded in approval. “This is Greenwell,” she introduced me. “Take her hand, and she’ll take us to where we need to be.”
After taking her hand, she led us to a dimly lit room with men everywhere playing blackjack, chess, and poker. Women were at every table, half naked with masquerade masks on, wearing lingerie like Dani and I were.
“I’m going over here to the poker table.” Dani left me in the middle of the room, making me furious at her. She’d just abandoned me like I knew what the hell to do!
I watched in complete shock as she was immediately fondled by a man in a tuxedo and black mask then she let him kiss her without so much as a word being said between them.
Someone bumped into me, bringing me out of my stupor. I walked away without looking to see who it was. I was afraid it’d be some man who expected me to allow him to touch me in private areas and put his tongue down my throat without so much as a hello said between us first.
I made my way to the chess table as I loved playing. I still felt nervous as I was half naked in a room full of people who I didn’t know. I could feel the eyes on me and it was the most uncomfortable thing I’d ever felt. But I was stuck there for at least a couple of hours, if what Dani told me was true, which I was beginning to doubt.
The night had barely started and I was ready to leave. I chided myself about my swift decision to make money doing this. It was a mistake and my friend was into some shady shit!
But I had no choices. I had to play by the rules. It seemed they were obvious. Let the men do whatever they wanted to you and act like you liked it. But how was I going to pull that off, was the constant thought which roamed all over my mind.
This wasn’t who I was!