Heart of Darkness - A Standalone Bad Boy Romance Novel

by Gabi Moore

  Then her star faded and she was no longer the flavor of the year. Monique sat on the deck chair, a towel under her bare ass, and tried to remember why she was no longer the hot item she’d been ten years ago. The public’s taste changed every so often and Monique wondered if Anita Finn wasn’t victim to the demand for fresh faces every month. Only a select few ever lasted and the churn was terrible, she was told, on women who performed sex on video. This was true for hardcore or softcore.

  It was something to do with a scandal. Then she remembered. Anita’s earlier videos were shot when she wasn’t legal. She’d been a desperate teenage runaway who used an elaborate fake ID system to get work on videos where she couldn’t legally work. No one found out until years later when a TV show exposed her and the sleazy mother who helped her find fame. Her earlier videos were exorcized from the Internet and the people who had the unfortunate circumstance to see them conveniently forgot they existed. Even the ones on DVD were sent immediately to the trash, lest anyone possessing them be found guilty of owning illegal videos. However, this was only a small part of her overall work.

  But the shadow it created cast a black cloud over everything else she did. Suddenly no producer wanted to have a thing to do with Anita Finn. Several people went to jail over their stupidity and people remembered it for a long time. Everyone in the adult video industry regarded her as toxic and would have nothing to do with the woman. Her career vanished into the ocean. Monique read somewhere she’d done a few slasher horror movies under a different name, but couldn’t remember the titles. It was years ago she even saw her name mentioned.

  Monique wished she was allowed Internet contact, but the only connection was in Eglise’s office and it was off-limits to everyone in the mansion. Only Eglise was allowed to use it. She could find a way into it, this was not hard to do with her training, but Monique wanted to save it until she had to call in an extraction. All it would take would be the right code and an entire assault force would show up to get her out of the mansion, but best to save that one until she needed it.

  Monique stepped off the patio and walked across the travertine stone that lined it. The stone was cool on her feet, but it was excellent for the patio since it didn’t absorb heat, or so she was once told. She stepped out into the cool grass and went over to look at the fountain the workmen installed last week. As she walked around it, she noticed one of the groundskeepers working on the flowerbed. He was paid not to notice anything, she understood. It was part of the contract Eglise had with the company who provided them. They weren’t supposed to notice or stare at any of the people who worked or visited the mansion. The workers were paid well, Eglise made sure the money they earned went to them separate from what he paid the referral company. She had the same arrangement, although Monique was at a different level and considered one of the staff. She watched the small man expertly replant a flower and go about his work without raising his eyes to her.

  Monique wiped her feet off at the doorway and saw the latest match cuddled up with her lover in one of the parlors. She was a small woman from Chicago they managed to place with a Torzinite man from one of the colonies they had outside the solar system. Monique watched them sit there on the couch and talk. They seemed so into each other, she wasn’t sure how well these women did long term in the off-world colonies. From the few women who had returned to the mansion after leaving Earth, they didn’t have a lot of trouble. The issue was more in loneliness and missing things they remembered from the world they left. There was the entitlement issue as well: once a human woman learned she could have anything her heart desired from her Torzinite mate, they tended to expect it. This created a bit of tension in the newlywed interspecies couples. The Torzinites were in touch with marriage counselors on Earth who had some experience dealing with rich families.

  Monique stopped by the mirror and looked at her nipples. She would need to put a little rouge on them later to bring out their contrast to her dark skin. Funny how a person adapted to not wearing clothes. Other than a thong, she really never wore anything. She didn’t have any clothes other than a casual robe. She meant to ask Eglise what they did in the winter. The snow would pile up deep in these mountains and skiing in the nude was not her idea of a fun activity.

  After she walked away from the couple, Monique wondered just what the hell the government had against these women marrying Torzinite men. It wasn’t as if the government had done much to make a difference in their lives. Most of them had a decent education, but nothing for the future. They had dead-end jobs where all they did was push paper around all day. Matched with an off-worlder they could leave Earth and live a luxurious life they could never have on Earth. And be with a man who cared for them.

  Monique hadn’t seen Nossa in a few months. She was allowed to sleep with him too, but he seemed to have other concerns outside of the mansion. She’s spent several nights sandwiched between him and Eglise. It was the closest thing to heaven she could imagine, but triads were as rare on the Torzinite worlds as on Earth. They didn’t have any moral qualms against it, but women were so rare in their society it was almost never encountered.

  She wondered how the Torzinite women were accepting the influx of human women into their society. She’d asked Eglise about it and he just shrugged his shoulders. So far, she’d only met one Torzinite woman who was considered to be some matriarch. She was a regal woman who had several young men with her in attendance. Monique noticed the way the Torzinite men with her never once turned their back on the matriarch and made sure she had every comfort she needed. She was interested in birth statistics, Monique remembered, and spoke to her through a translation device. She watched some TV in one of the lounges and seemed shocked by the amount of women versus men on Earth. She went nude in the mansion, but found it amusing Eglise made her and the other human women go natural.

  Monique decided that she would do everything she could to see Anita Finn was placed with a Torzinite man. Although the government wanted her as some kind of expert witness, she was sick and tired of sending coded reports at drop points about the women who passed through the mansion. To see these women leave and sometimes return so happy made her question her place in the agency. If there were sinister reasons the aliens wanted the women, it wasn’t evident to her. She’d watched a Torzinite-human couple even play in the backyard with a young child who was no more than nine months old. The child possessed the features of both species. What harm could there be in bringing both groups of humanoids together?

  She suspected if the women of Earth knew what they could have off planet; it would bring down the government of every country in the world. It might even bring about the end of the human race. Women would desert Earth and leave the men with nothing. Earth would find itself in the same situation the Torzinites had endured for centuries. Somewhere, a person of authority had decided it wouldn’t happen to Earth. Well, fuck that. She might have to spy on the Torzinite matchup mansion, but it didn’t mean she had to ruin the lives of people who just needed a little happiness.

  She stopped in the hall and a smile came over her face as she thought about last month. Nossa was in the mansion for a few days. Eglise arranged it so that all three of them could spend an evening together. After they pleasured her on both ends for hours, she slept peacefully between her two lovers. It was a night she could use again.

  The next day, Monique stood in the vestibule of the mansion as she waited for Anita Finn to arrive. Eglise told her when she was due to arrive, which would be at nine in the morning. The chauffer service he employed to bring the women to the mansion knew they had to arrive on time or he would find another company to do the job. Monique felt a little strange, as she did these days when wearing clothes. However, it was the best way to introduce a new prospective match to the household and interview her. She had her own desk in Eglise’s office and he always made sure to be away from the front room when a new woman was brought into the mansion. He felt it was best for Monique to do the initial interview, as another w
oman would make the new candidate feel calm and not so stressful. This was also the point where she would tell the woman that the man who wanted to meet her was Torzinite. Most already suspected why they were taken away to the mountains and she’d never had a woman turn down the initial offer yet. Some did have second thoughts over the next few days, but it was her job to make the woman feel at ease.

  One of the most difficult parts of her job was to explain to the new candidate that she wasn’t allowed to wear clothes in the mansion or on the mansion grounds. A few of them immediately demanded to leave and, in one case, she left right away. But every other one came around to the idea. The men they brought in off-world didn’t want to see clothed human females. They wanted to see what they were getting as part of the deal. From their standpoint, it didn’t make sense to spend all that time and funds on a wrapped package. It usually took the women a week to become accustomed to the idea of social nudity, but they came around. Plus Torzinite women didn’t wear clothes on the home worlds. Once the human women were accustomed to a house where it was considered normal for women to appear nude, it no longer became an issue. The servants and various professionals who traveled to the mansion to work were drilled on the kind of eye contact they were permitted with the candidates for matrimony, so they helped to make the women feel at ease.

  Monique stood at the vestibule as the chauffer and porters brought in Finn’s luggage. She stood by, let them deposit it inside the house, and waited for the former video star to enter the front room. Everything in this part of the house was designed to give the new women a comfortable feeling. From the ornate sculpture at the doorway to the soft carpet on the floor, it was a harmonious effect, which put their fears to rest.

  The door opened and Anita Finn entered the room. She was heavily made-up and a bit shorter than Monique thought. She walked in wearing a silk top and a pair of designer jeans. Monique recognized the company which marketed the jeans, and knew the tight pair had to cost her at least two hundred dollars. She’d either saved her money and invested wisely or blown everything on this trip, hoping to snag a rich man in search of a trophy wife. She was a bit older than most of the women brought up here, but, even in her early thirties, Anita Finn could still turn heads with her red hair and green eyes. Even her small nose was as Monique remembered from years ago.

  “Hello, I’m Monique,” she told her as Finn stepped in and looked around. She gave her a small hug to gauge how she felt and sensed some nervousness. This was to be expected given the arrangements and if she didn’t feel some tension, Monique would’ve been concerned the candidate had ingested some anti-anxiety drug before she left.

  “Glad to meet you,” Finn said as she hugged her back. Monique felt a hand linger on her back, which didn’t surprise her given Finn’s former career. “You look nice, I’m Finn. I like your robe is it silk?”

  “Yes it is,” Monique, told her. “Why don’t we go in the office and talk? You’ll have to remove your boots, shoes aren’t allowed in the house.”

  Finn glanced down and noticed Monique was barefoot. “Oh, I didn’t know.” She crouched down and unzipped the leather boots she’s wore into the house. Monique noticed she wore a spiked heel boots, which had to cost fifteen hundred dollars. She was definitely dressing for success.

  “Where do I put these?” she asked her.

  “Just leave them by the door,” she told her. “One of the men will lock them up for you.”

  Monique leaned over and picked up her bags. “Follow me,” she said as she trotted off to the office on the first floor.

  “Thank you for carrying them,” Finn told her. “I’m surprised you don’t have one of your men do it.”

  Monique wanted to tell her that the bags were light, but didn’t bother her. Finn didn’t know she wouldn’t be allowed to wear most of what she’d brought. It would be an issue they needed to discuss later. Monique walked into the large officer and past Eglise’s desk to her smaller one in the corner. There was a comfortable chair next to it with a small coffee table between the chair and Monique’s desk. She sat the suitcase on the coffee table and motioned for Finn to sit down. From what she could tell, Anita Finn didn’t appear to be a substance abuser and didn’t show any signs of some prolonged mental illness. However, this would all be a matter for the doctor to decide when he came tomorrow and took some vitals.

  Monique looked at the resume, which she’d left out in a folder on her desk, after she’d sat down on the chair, her robe smoothed under her. She opened the folder and pretended to read it again. Yesterday she spent an entire afternoon reading the file given to her by Eglise. It was extensive and contained more information than a person could legally find on the Internet.

  “You do know why we brought you here?” she asked Finn. The woman across from her nodded and Monique asked her if she wanted a drink of something to calm her nerves. She declined; another good sign.

  “I see where this won’t be your first marriage, should your prospective husband show the interest,” she told her.

  “Guy was an asshole,” Finn said. “I had to dump him and my girlfriend because I was tired of them living off my income. Then my money dried up and that’s why I’m here.”

  “I see your doctor’s visit showed no signs of any internal problems,” Monique told her. “Just the same, our doctor will be here tomorrow to check you over. Don’t worry; he only needs an hour to find out what we need to know.”

  “I figured you would want to check me over again,” Finn told her. “I’m not worried. I’ve been clean for five years. You can even check my urine.”

  Oh, don’t worry; we will check much more, Monique thought.

  “Do you have some idea what kind of man you will be marrying?” Monique asked her from across the desk. This was the decisive moment.

  “Some kind of foreigner?”

  “He will be a Torzinite,” Monique told her and leaned back in her chair to give it a moment to sink in. How would she react?

  “Oh,” Finn said. “I wondered about it. Aren’t they only allowed so many human women every year? What do they look like?”

  “Much like us. It’s hard to tell the difference and we can cross breed with them. I see your ovaries are still in good shape, you have to remember that the main reason they want Earth women is there are few women born on their worlds. We represent one of the few ways Torzinite men can have children to continue their line. Yes, we operate in a clandestine mode, but they are willing to pay a lot to find women from this planet. The man who arrives next week is Torzinite and you will have a few days to see if there is a good match.”

  Finn thought for a few minutes and looked at the floor. “I haven’t had a call from my agent in months. I put that little bastard in the red and he treats me like dirt. No one even wants a thing to do with me these days. All because I lied about my age when I was seventeen. I needed food and video was a way to stay off the streets. I’ll try it. A man who treats me right and not like a fetish? I could care less what planet he’s from.”

  Monique let her know about the Torzinite skin texture and differences in body temperature. She wanted there to be no surprises the first time she slept with her potential husband. Finn would have the rest of the week to learn about Torzinite culture too. She emphasized that return trips to Earth were rare so she needed to be sure before agreeing to marriage.

  “I don’t have much waiting for me here,” she told her. “Just a cheap apartment and some fans. I’m sure they’ll find another faded star to follow.”

  “Ok,” Monique told her. “We need to go through your suitcase and see what you brought. You won’t be allowed to take a lot with you. Best to get used to it right now.”

  “I’m clean,” Finn snapped. “Don’t see what the issues are. But if you want to, I suppose.” She unlocked the suitcase and Monique went through it, finding some basic thongs and panties that she would need. She selected some prescription medicine and put it to one side for the doctor to examine tomorrow. There was no
thing she needed to take today.

  “These panties and thongs will be useful,” she told her. “Everything else will be locked up pending your decision on the Torzinite man who will be arriving next week. Including what you have on right now. Strip, please. Just put it your outer clothes in the suitcase.”

  Finn stared at her in confusion.

  “You will be naked the entire time you are here,” Monique explained. “The Torzinite men want to see what you look like in full profile. They like their women unclothed at all times for some reason. You can keep some panties or a thong on for reasons of sanitary, but no bras or anything else is permitted. I have the robe on because I needed to greet you. You will be given a robe too, don’t worry. Are you still interested?”

  Finn shrugged. “Plenty of people have seen me naked.” She unbuttoned her silk blouse and gave it to Monique, who placed it inside the suitcase. It was followed by a bra and then she slid out of her designer jeans. She folded them up neatly and handed them to her as peeled off her hose, which left her wearing a thong.

  “Will this be fine?” she asked Monique as she stood there.

  “Perfect.” Monique slipped off her robe and tied it around Finn. “This is your first day and you can wear a robe. It will help you adjust. There is another woman across from the room where you are staying called Jadeen. I’ll introduce you so you can have someone to talk to before your man arrives. She’s already married to a Torzinite and will be able to answer any questions you might have. She was here for a few weeks for a family issue, but she’s going back next week.”

  Finn stared at the silver rings in Monique’s nipples. “Did those hurt? I had some friends who got them done, never saw the attraction myself. Can I touch one?”

  “You may,” Monique told her and Finn tapped one nipple ring with her index finger, which sent a wave of pleasure through it. “You don’t necessarily need to get yours pierced, it was a condition of my employment. My Daddy likes it.”