I had been lounging back, relaxing, while waiting for the clock to tick down until I could gracefully make my exit. But now that I’ve laid eyes on one of the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen…

I’m not going anywhere.

And that was before I heard the word “virgin.” Virgin? Virgin? Is that even possible in New York City – for a girl to be this beautiful and young, but still a virgin?

But I’m not seeing her as a mutant. Far from it. Instead, there’s this part of me – a part that is…growing, shall we say? – that wants to take her into my bed and show her what it’s like to be a woman. I’d start down at her toes and begin kissing my way up her legs, until I reached her pussy, which I’d lavish with my tongue until her back arches and she screams from ecstasy. 

“Victor? You okay?” Dominic’s voice cuts through the haze of my daydream and I slowly blink, turning towards him. He arches an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to say something, and so I do. 

I don’t know if it’s the fantasy of having Vivian’s legs wrapped around my head as I lick my way to an orgasm, or what exactly causes me to lose all sense of decorum, but I look Viv straight in the eye and say, “You should auction off your virginity,” cutting right through her worries about money and paying her bills without needing to rely on her parents. She stops mid-word and just stares at me.

“What?!” she gasps. “You want me to auction off my virginity?!?!” Her voice, which had started out the sentence appropriately hushed for this conversation topic, finishes the sentence by yelling.

Several tables turn to look at us and I can see Dominic turning and giving them all a “Nothing to see here; everything is fine” grin but I’m too busy trying to persuade Viv that I’m right to join him in that hopeless cause.

“Listen, it solves all of your problems at once, right? You can finally rid yourself of your virginity, this dreadful thing you seem to hate, and will make you a shit ton of cash at the same time. There are places where your virginity would go for—”

“Excuse my friend,” Apollo says with an apologetic smile towards Vivian. “He and I need to have a little chat.” He grabs me by the arm and yanks me up out of my chair, dragging me away from the gaggle of women who are all whispering and shooting glances at me as if I’ve suggested that we kill a beloved pet as after-dinner entertainment. I shrug my arm out of Apollo’s and cross them defiantly over my chest. 

“What?” I hiss. 

“Are you trying to suggest that you’re going to buy Vivian’s virginity?” Apollo asks, matching my crossed arms and raising me a death glare that my 3rd grade teacher would’ve been proud of.

“Me??” I feel like I just got punched in the gut. Me?! Why the hell would I buy a virgin? Or, more specifically, buy someone’s virginity? I run a software company and split my time between Silicon Valley and New York City. I am not on the market to buy someone’s virginity.

“Yes, you! You’re the one who brought it up.” I can tell Apollo is losing his patience with me but…there is just no way.

“Apollo, all I did was say that there are places where someone can put their virginity up for auction, and sell it. They can make damn good money doing it. I don’t run those auction companies. I don’t buy virgins! It’s just a place she can go check out if—”

“What place?” Ashley shows up at my elbow, scaring the shit out of me. For a woman in stilettos, she sure can move quietly. I just stare down at her, feeling that I’ve completely lost control of the conversation somewhere along the way, but not quite sure why. Or how to get it back.

“There’s a place she can go to do it?” Ashley prompts me and grumpily, I nod. I shoot Apollo a look. I don’t want to get in trouble with the guy over me upsetting his fiancee. Does he want me to continue this conversation with her? From the glare shooting my way, I’m guessing not.

I turn back to Ashley to tell her that I was mistaken – that I must’ve heard about it all wrong and there is no such place – just to realize that she is gone again. Damn, she’s scary quiet. But she’s already heading back towards me, dragging…Vivian along behind her?

Apollo and I exchange panicked looks. 

“What kinds of places?” she asks again, staring up at me defiantly. She isn’t going to back down until I tell her – her and Vivian – everything.

Note to self: Keep your big yap shut.