Sordida

by Jason Andrews

  “It surely wasn’t that bad, was it. Do you always shoot a heavy load?”

  “I didn’t want to touch you. It’s your fault; I shouldn’t have done it. Not this soon, it’s too soon.”

  “What, why?” Amercia asked, this time with concern, “too soon because?”

  “Sex is the root of my issues I think. I need to sort my head out, sort my fucking life out.”

  “We didn’t even fuck though. You had a wank; I imagine you’ve had plenty recently if you’re not fucking anyone regularly?”

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get upset; I feel like I have let myself down by giving in to my urges. Self-control is something I need to master more proficiently. Giving in makes me feel weak.”

  “You enjoyed it, didn’t you? You did get your monies worth unless you’d like to tip me for something extra?”

  It was only a hint, not that she expected anything, Jake pulled his wallet from his jeans pocket and took out another twenty-pound note.

  “Here, have this because I don’t mind, thank you for understanding and listening. I do appreciate your work even if you do find me a bit fucked up in the head.”

  “That’s not for me to comment on now is it. I’m new to this game, and I want to please my clients not traumatise them. Call me again will you when you need to talk some more. I’m only a phone call away. I’m thinking about accepting online payments soon too which could be more convenient.”

  Jake stood up from the chair, smiled at her.

  “Thanks again by the way. I’ll show you out.”

  Amercia’s phone buzzed as she left Jakes presence, in not to be rude she didn’t grab her phone from her bag until she exited the building. Trying not to give a fuck about his issue with bodily contact, she wondered if he was severely traumatised by someone or people he hadn’t yet disclosed. Looking at her phone now she was entirely out of view, it was a text from Mr X, asking if she was still attending tomorrow at 9 pm. Texting back with just a one-word answer of yes, she hadn’t even thought about how to get there. With the five hundred he gave her still untouched, she felt a taxi to the location was a minor expense considering she was collecting another five hundred when the evening was over. Finally, being able to pay her rent on time this month without worrying about reminder letters and calls was a relief. She walked further away from Jakes house to the bus stop gaining shocking looks from those she passed. Her red leather thigh high boots and short skirt was causing quite a stir with a local crowd of teenagers.

  “Show us your tits, you fucking slag,” one of the youths in a tracksuit with a shaved head, lager can in one hand, cigarette in the other shouted across the street, “give us a view.”

  “Get fucked; you little prick” Amercia shouted back, not remotely intimidated, “to learn to look on the fucking internet.”

  “Fuck you, then bitch, you’re a cunt.”

  Amercia was tired; his mentality wasn’t even worthy of another response. The wind was blowing up her skirt giving her shaved pussy a slight chill, and all she wanted was a nice cold can of diet cola – it had been a few hours since her last fix. Now with an extra twenty pounds more than she had expected, the idea of treating herself to a Chinese takeaway for dinner this evening was appealing to her. Hopefully, this is the start to something much more significant, she wondered, if I play this game well I could go places.

  Six

  T

  he left-over cartons from last night’s takeaway sat on the worktop of Amercia’s kitchenette. The sickly scent of cold chicken curry spilling over the sides of the foil trays turned her stomach in the morning as she stumbled to the refrigerator for a diet cola to quench her thirst. The weekend had arrived, for two days there was no need to stack bread on shelves at work relentlessly, no requirement to use public transport to torment herself in getting out and about because she could suit herself. Amercia’s escorting diary having browsed online last night was empty despite a surge of interest on her profile to provide sexy pictures and constant replies to small talk. Despite the lack of work, she was enthusiastic that tonight was the night she would finally see the wonders of Sordida swinger’s club as a guest of the mysterious Mr X. She also wondered if this secretive figure would eventually reveal himself.

  Sipping her ice-cold diet cola through a straw, Amercia headed to the sofa to sit down and chill with her laptop. She looked around the bedsit, I need more than this, she thought to herself, I wish I could afford a better standard of living. She then paid her rent bill online from her supermarket salary which left very little cash in her bank account, but the generous offerings from Mr X would tide her over if she budgeted herself wisely. The other five hundred she was expecting to receive from tonight she had planned to save for her future, the purpose of seeking erotic work. Those accountancy skills she had learned from her past came in useful somewhere in her future existence.

  The weather outside was promising by the view Amercia could see through her window of the sunshine, but not good enough to tempt her off the sofa. Hearing a knock loudly on the front door, she chose to ignore it on the basis that she never had visitors and wasn’t expecting any parcel deliveries today. Also considering that it might be for one of the neighbours in the bedsit across the hallway, she didn’t care to explore.

  Amercia stayed silent expecting to hear footsteps in the hall from her neighbours. Her phone buzzed, making her jump for a second as the vibration on her bedside cabinet increased the noise to force her to get up from the sofa. Noticing that it was a text from Mr X, her immediate thought was that he was going to cancel on her. I’ve bought you a gift, she read, it’s outside. Both astonished and concerned, Amercia ran out of her bedsit to the hallway and shook with apprehension as she opened the front door. Expecting to see Mr X in person as she was stood there in her pyjama’s with not a scrap of make-up on, there was just a silver sparkly shoe box on the doormat with a red ribbon tied in a bow. What the fuck, she thought to herself, is it even for me? Stretching out slowly to peek around the door, she looked left and then right, but the only people in her sight were a small handful of the council estate children kicking their football around the street.

  “Excuse me, kids,” Amercia shouted across the street, “you didn’t happen to see who left this box did you?”

  She was pointing down to the shoebox, but the children all shook her head at her. None of them even answered her verbally, and they continued to kick their ball around to each other. They looked at the shoebox like someone had shit on her doorstep in disgust.

  Amercia bent down, picked up the box to notice a tag hanging from the side of it. Her hands now covered in glittery fragments that were falling lose, the label read her name in the neatest handwriting she’d seen, then proceeded by a single X. She closed the door behind her and ran with it back to her bedsit. Her concern was how did he know where she lived? Amercia knew her address was not visible on the escort site and she hadn’t given it out to anyone – not even Jake Parker knew. Purely an outbound travelling escort to minimise the attention to herself in her street, she was disgusted that somehow Mr X, knew of her address. Thinking that he must have followed her home from the hotel yesterday in the taxi, Amercia held the phone in her hand to call him to ask him directly what was going on, knowing she wouldn’t get a truthful answer another text message came through before she was about to dial.

  Do you like? Mr X asked her, will you please wear them tonight?

  Amercia hadn’t even opened the box to look what he had gifted; her anger was unsettling and his gameplaying now troublesome. She hit the call button icon on her phone to speak to him rather than reply by text because of her concerns.

  “How do you know where I live and who gave you my address? What the fuck is going on with you – enough is enough, this is just weird.”

  “Please, can you learn to trust me, Amercia. I’ve said to you before, we’ve been through this, and you have nothing to fear. I understand your anger, but I intended to surprise you.
I thought you might like them for this evening. I assumed you would be pleased, not outraged. Don’t you like them? I just wanted you to feel special?”

  Amercia paused for a few seconds and pulled the ribbon away from the lid off the shoebox, glitter was going everywhere and then she saw them. Her mouth dropped, these shoes were spectacular. High heels in black patent leather with the heel part encrusted in shiny crystals that led to further crystals around the under-edge, the brand was an Italian designer, not a pair she could ever afford, and her heart melted at the sight of them before her mind triggered into the value of their worth. She loved them.

  “I love the shoes so much, they’re just beautiful. They are perfect. Yes, I am surprised. I love the bling, yet this is too generous, surely?”

  “I knew you’d like them. I took the liberty of guessing your shoe size from seeing you in the hotel room the other day. You’re a UK size five I thought, am I right?”

  “That’s right on the nail. I’m exactly a size five, that’s a good guess from your hidden cameras. Will I see you this evening, I have a rough idea of your location.”

  “Now for my next surprise. I have a car picking you up at eight, all you must do is look your best and be ready for me. I expect you will have a lot of questions. However, please can you relax, and trust me. Embrace Sordida in your own time because you’ll understand us more in due course.”

  “Thank you for the ride as well. I’ll see you at eight this evening, and I’ll make sure I’m wearing those fantastic shoes, they’re beautiful. Apologies for my attitude earlier, just my mind is blown away by it all. I have never received such expensive gifts from anyone before like this.”

  “Not everyone is a bad guy. Sometimes you need to channel your gut instinct; I only have the best intentions Amercia, I want to trial run your services tonight. Put them to the test and see where the journey takes us.”

  Mr X ended the call, Amercia placed the phone on the arm of the sofa and proceeded to lust over her beautiful new high heels with gleaming crystals tightly emblazoned decoratively. Overwhelmed due to knowing they were an expensive designer brand, new shoes caused for a new dress. As much as she resented it, a shopping trip was in order if she wanted to look a sophisticated, elegant but alluring escort tonight in those heels. Finding out how he knew her address was on the agenda tonight.

  Having spent most of the morning contemplating about cancelling the meeting of Mr X due to her wellbeing while sitting on the bus travelling into town, Amercia reaffirmed to herself that this was the game she chose to become involved in so deeply. Starting out just a few weeks ago as an escort on an internet webpage among many others on the broader spectrum, it was meeting Jake Parker, who rooted the curiosity of Sordida in her mind with his voyeuristic recaps of his attendance in their past sexual events.

  Narrowing down the location of Sordida online was a small task helped by clues within Jake’s outbursts, yet the secrecy of the club with no trail of discussion on the internet was strange. Combining this thought with the actions of Mr X was all too similar. His need for secrecy, discretion, being nothing more than just a voice she heard down the telephone, locking her inside a room to conceal himself was not normal behaviours from someone without a secret to hide. His actions in how he manages his secret identity fit with the club’s ethics of their utmost privacy. Amercia wasn’t comfortable that she had no idea of his character because she felt vulnerable that someone in contact with her knew where she lived. However, his generosity warmed her to him.

  Maybe there’s just more in this I am not aware of, she thought to herself, the whole secrecy ethos is what gets them off. Dishing out orders and instructions. Did Mr X follow me home from the hotel? Is he watching me now?

  She thought about her designer new heels, the only costly pair of shoes she’d ever owned in her life. If anyone from work saw her parading about in them, they would wonder how she was ever able to afford such glistening exquisiteness. Reminding herself of her current poverty state and dream to become something better, Amercia knew she had to make a choice between cutting contact dead with Mr X and avoiding Sordida altogether or take that risk and go all out for what she can get her to better herself. She decided to throw her morals to the wind because life hadn’t given her many great opportunities so far, maybe this was her break. Albeit sexual, no other relationship, job or opportunity was going to come along to dissuade her from moving forward with the mysteries of Sordida. Considering that even if it was to explore how the other half lived, a little taste of luxury couldn’t do anyone any harm.

  Taking a wander around Plymouth city centre was an absolute nightmare on a Saturday with children of all ages storming all around the large stone sundial part of the city’s feature. This area seemed to be a meeting point for families surrounded by a mass of coffee shops so at the weekends when the children were off from school, with parents also not working, shopping was at its utmost busiest. All Amercia wanted was one reasonable priced sexy long black dress; she’d located a belt from the indoor market that was encrusted with fake crystals to glisten and sparkle, but a long black dress to go with it was harder to find than she expected. Walking to the shopping mall from the sundial had only taken a matter of minutes with the longest part of the time waiting to pass through the doors as crowds of people all seemed to exit at the same time.

  The traffic flow of busy shoppers seemed never-ending, yet eventually, in the tide of following the lines, she was in and up the escalators in no time. The problem with dresses was now an issue over price; a designer style dress was in a well-respected catalogue store while another better-quality dress was in a small boutique – the only noticeable difference between the two was that the boutiques were double the price. Fighting with her instant negativity and the official rule of wanting always to save money, going against her principles she bought the more expensive dress impulsively. The mistake she made was trying it on in the changing rooms; it looked gorgeous on her, she had to have it knowing it would complement her heels and it gave her a look she was trying to achieve. It was her only night to make quite an impact; she had to sell herself well if she wanted business with a higher paying range of clientele. If all else failed, she had an expensive dress and a pair of patent crystal designer heels to sell.

  Walking out of the mall with her head in the clouds, clutching on to the dress that was inside the shops own brand of plastic carrier bag, she felt the touch of a hand brush the back of her shoulder. Turning her head immediately, no one was waiting beside her. Amercia looked around behind herself appearing lost in the gathering of crowds, but as no one was forthcoming, she wandered off in the direction of the bus station. Her mobile phone buzzed in the pocket of her jeans, removing it out she opened the message from Mr X. Surprisingly he had sent her a picture message. Amercia sat down on the seats at the bus shelter. Her heart was racing; she was trembling from the inside out. Shocked that he had sent her an image of herself leaving the shopping mall, her eyes were watering up with fear. Fuck it, I’ll call him, she thought, sort this situation right out!

  “Why are you doing this to me? I’m not afraid of you. If you’re behind me taking pictures don’t you think that makes you look like a deranged stalker. I could go to the police with this?”

  “I noticed you by sheer accident, and I took a picture to prove I’d seen you. I was in town looking for something formal to wear myself this evening, but if you decide to go to the police I’m confident you’re not going to declare you’re an escort, are you?”

  “Don’t go fucking throwing threats in my direction. I don’t appreciate that, and my safety comes first.”

  “My apologies Amercia, calm down. Why don’t we start from fresh? Put it down to a miscommunication error. I understand you haven’t met me properly yet to know how I like to do things. I like your fire, very highly strung, and your attitude is sharp. I’m witnessing your capabilities, and I’m certain I can find great use for them. Sordida isn’t for the faint-hearted, it’s
serious business and can be a very competitive playground when we all get going.”

  “I need to know who you are because I’m beginning to look at people around me and wonder if you’re one of them.”

  “I’ve always been behind the crowds, I’m not very outgoing, but I’m more business orientated than an entertainer.”

  Amercia ended the telephone conversation deciding she would have to reel in her temper if she wanted to make something of herself in the club. She wasn’t used to someone acting this strange around her but felt upon meeting him she would understand his reasons. With each conversation she had, he was becoming less of a threat and more of a nuisance. Thinking that because she had no idea to the workings of his mind, along with the eccentricity of Jake Parker, escorting was painting a picture of being a form of a support worker rather than an arrangement of sexual needs.

  As she took her seat on the bus, if she had learnt anything from this past week it was that she needed to be more in control of herself, take the reins more in a situation. As more of an apprentice escort with hardly any clients to her name, she was barely living the dream. Amercia knew she had to up her game in this business.