Damaged Goods

by Dane, Cynthia

  “Hmm.” Alexander was only momentarily distracted by the red wine pouring into his glass. For the most part, his eyes remained lasciviously on Sylvia. I can’t tell if he’s undressing me with that gaze or flat-out fucking me. Here was hoping he wasn’t a total ass in bed. Most nights Sylvia wouldn’t give a shit, as long as she got paid, but after Joseph the night before…? Ah, shit, he’s still in my ear, isn’t he? He hadn’t spoken in a while. “I come here often enough, true, but I think you overestimate how often I call the Portland area my base of operations. It’s only every few months. I’m only here for a couple of days to settle some matters.”

  “What kind of matters?” Sylvia put the bottle down and, with a carefully timed flip of her short hair, batted her eyelashes at the man she was schmoozing for more personal information. Come on. Be the kind of ass who has to brag about everything to feel superior. “Hostile corporate takeovers? Wait. Is that what you even do for a living?”

  He chuckled. That self-serving, patronizing chuckle that made Sylvia inwardly sigh. “I do many things for a living. My family’s mostly in investments. We’re responsible for a lot of millionaires back home.”

  Sounds like Joseph’s family. “What about you? You investing?”

  “I’m more into shipping these days. Particularly precious cargo.”

  Uh. Oh. Did that get caught on the microphone? It wasn’t real evidence, but it definitely gave Sylvia something to work with. “Precious cargo? I haven’t heard that phrase since a friend of mine was pregnant.”

  “Precious cargo is a euphemism for valuables. Antiques. Jewelry. Many of my clients around the world require extra levels of security and environmental controls that most of the everyday shipping companies cannot provide. Not with any real assurance. Every one of my trucks and planes are well equipped to get your goods where they’re going. No damaged goods on my watch. That’s the Sheen promise.”

  “Sounds interesting and dreadfully boring at the same time.”

  “It is boring.” Alexander held up his glass as they were joined by some other couples at their table. “Cheers, Ms. Rogers.”

  “Cheers.” They clinked their glasses together before Sylvia took a small sip of wine. She couldn’t appreciate how nice it tasted. The scent of alcohol took her back to the night before, when Joseph sat with an open bottle of beer at their table. He wiped away my tears before kissing me. For a few moments, Sylvia had been relieved by the forgotten touch of tenderness. Even if it was followed up with some of the hardest fucking she had received in the longest time.

  “Are you all right?”

  It surprised Sylvia to hear concern in that man’s voice. If he is a human trafficker, he’s a very well-adjusted sociopath. Sylvia had sociopaths for clients before. They were… a handful. And either terrible at keeping appearances or so practiced in what they knew they were supposed to say that it unnerved her to no end. Genuinely care about my well-being or don’t, asshole. Don’t make me think you really do care when you don’t. “I’m fine. Let’s focus on you and your associates tonight, Mr. Sheen. I’m working, if I may remind you.”

  “Yes, I am well aware, Ms. Rogers.” That was the last thing he said before turning to one of the newcomers to the table. After that, Sylvia was largely shut out from conversations that held little interest.

  She pressed her earpiece against her head under the guise of scratching her cartilage. “Anything good?” she asked. If someone questioned her, she would easily refer to the dessert menu already gracing the table.

  It was a few seconds before she heard Joseph’s melodic voice in her ear. “We’re taking some fine notes. Good work, Sylv. Keep it up if you can. Without directing suspicion at yourself, of course.”

  She nodded. Their dinners arrived, and for the next half hour Sylvia was primarily occupied by her salmon supper. It was a point of pride when Alexander thanked her for suggesting it, for it was marvelous, like her.

  Sylvia smiled at him. “Wait until you have dessert, Mr. Sheen. That’s my favorite part.”

  Someone grumbled in her ear.

  ***

  “Should we order something in?”

  Sylvia wandered to the window overlooking downtown Portland. It was one of those sights that didn’t feel like much during the day, but at night, when every light was on and planes twinkled in the sky, looked like a tiny piece of peaceful paradise. The sort of moments that allowed Sylvia to recollect her thoughts. As much as she missed the huge metropolitan centers full of high-rises like back home, there was something to be said for the understated skyline that was Portland’s center that closed at seven every night.

  “I’m fine with whatever’s here, if it makes any difference.” She stepped away from the window. Only a few yards away stood Alexander, suit jacket left draped on a chair as he did the honors of pouring champagne for the two of them. “We still have yet to have dessert.”

  This was a part of the gig. Alexander had paid thousands of dollars – that Sylvia would never see, damnit – for the full escort experience. He didn’t merely want a date for his party that he could show off. He also wanted the right to brag that he fucked her. The kind of number Sylvia saw earlier that day? Those were the prices she used to charge her billionaire clients for a full round of BDSM, followed by anal play and condomless coming.

  So, suffice to say, she was prepared to do anything with this guy, no matter who he was.

  The worst part? He was actually handsome. The kind of handsome that swept a girl up into a whirlwind of bad decisions that she would feel for the rest of the night – but felt so good for one night. The Sylvia of one, two years ago would have easily fallen in love with a genuine bad boy like Alexander Sheen. If she stood no chance with Maxwell Carlisle? Then Alexander was as good as her husband already. Fuck, I’m so naïve. It was amazing how much could change in a woman’s psyche in as little as a year. Because now? Sylvia almost felt nothing than base sexual attraction for this man. She wasn’t intrigued by his mannerisms. They were a byproduct of who he was, and nothing more. Something to be digested in her mind before she responded to them. Worked them so she was paid more money for her time and skills.

  In a way, it made the career she was increasingly becoming frustrated with easier to deal with. In another? It’s really sad that I feel this way already. She was too young to be so cynical.

  Plus, there was the fact that this man was possibly in charge of a huge multimillion dollar human trafficking scheme. If he really was involved? Then more than one family was caused innumerable pain by him. Children were being hurt. Grown women – and a few men, probably – had their lives ruined because of powerful sociopaths. Alexander would never get his hands personally dirty, but he would take the money it brought in.

  Based on the vibes Sylvia got from this guy, he probably lived for how the money was made. It was risky and dirty. Kinda like how Sylvia felt now.

  If we’re gonna do it, let’s get it over with. Let me get him off so I can maybe massage some information out of him.

  “You’ve been wearing that dress an awfully long time tonight,” Alexander said, handing her another glass of wine. “It can’t be comfortable. I’ve dated enough women by now to know those designer dresses are never truly comfortable.”

  “True.” Sylvia took the glass but did not drink. “They’re not like those suits you men wear. So comfortable. So fine. So exquisitely expensive. I would bet this bottle of wine that your suit and my dress aren’t that dissimilar in value.”

  He chuckled. “This suit cost me twenty grand. And your dress?”

  A single grand, but who’s really counting? “Like I said. Not that dissimilar.” Joseph was probably having a heart attack thinking about buying Sylvia a twenty thousand dollar dress. “But if you want, I can take it off.”

  “I should hope so. What else am I paying for?”

  Yeah, he was one of those guys. He liked to constantly bring up their monetary transaction so Sylvia would stay in her place. I’m not his girlfriend. I will
never be his girlfriend. I am the woman he pays to fuck and spoil a little bit. A throwaway girlfriend experience. He was the kind of asshole who really made Sylvia grateful that she was on hormonal birth control. Even if she decided to keep a kid of his, he would do the bare minimum to support her and his child – and even then, he would put her through the legal wringer to make her fight for his scraps. His dossier hadn’t listed any children, but Sylvia didn’t doubt there were some illegitimate Sheens running around the globe. With any luck, they had shoes on their feet and an education in their heads. And probably like Joseph. Never with a chance to inherit their father’s company. Man, she needed to stop thinking about him, whether he was in her ear or not.

  “Your wish is my command, sir.” Sylvia’s reached behind her back and undid her zipper. “Whatever you want tonight.”

  “I want to drink wine and see you in your underwear. I’ve got some work to do, Ms. Rogers. Feel free to relax for an hour or so.”

  “Relax in my underwear?”

  “If you would, please.”

  At least she would always know where she stood with him. Sylvia slowly shed her dress, revealing a strapless bra and panty set that was always a hit with her clients. She didn’t realize until after the dress was off, however, that she had disrobed in front of a large mirror, her necklace pointed right at her reflection. For you, Joseph. And Jim. And Cindy. And everyone else in the department who would go through this footage later. I’m not being paid enough.

  Sylvia tossed her dress onto a couch before spreading herself across it. She rested her chin upon her hand and stroked her naked thigh with the other. Alexander barely paid her any mind as he sat with his glass of wine and went through his tablet and folder full of neatly organized papers. Sylvia rearranged her breasts within her bra and fixed her hair. “Do you like what you see, Mr. Sheen?”

  He glanced at her. “You’re very beautiful, Ms. Rogers. Worth every penny.” He scribbled his name on his tablet before putting the stylus down. “Tell me. What was it like being engaged to Maxwell Carlisle?”

  There were two reasons to bring Maxwell up: to find out how to outdo the asshole, and to make Sylvia uncomfortable. Both would ultimately work. “He was a kind and generous man.”

  “You broke up for a reason.”

  “Because, as it turned out, he was kind and generous to many other women. I may be an escort, Mr. Sheen, but if a man promises to marry me, I expect him to make good on his promises of devotion.”

  “That sounds fair.” He went back to his files. Sylvia was effectively shut out as nothing but room candy after that.

  She put up with it for about fifteen minutes before growing restless. This wasn’t getting her job done. Neither of her jobs. Right now? Sylvia considered her main job getting info out of this man. Why wasn’t she moving that sweet ass of hers?

  “Need any help?” Her limber legs took her to his table, where she sat on the edge and pushed her chest out toward him. Her necklace dangled above his papers. She couldn’t see what they said, but hopefully Joseph could. “I’m excellent help around the office. I’ve played the personal assistant more than once.”

  They never made eye contact, but Alexander did flip his folder shut and turn off his tablet. “There’s a lot you can do to help me, Sylvia.”

  “Oh, good.” She crawled up onto the table. The legs creaked beneath her light weight, but not enough to give either of them a scare. On the contrary, Sylvia felt pretty damn comfortable lying on her stomach and kicking her bare feet up behind her. Her cleavage spilled from her strapless bra, and it wasn’t until a few seconds later she realized the camera was lodged between her breasts instead of capturing what went on in the room. Oops. That one’s for you, Joseph. He still hadn’t said anything in a while. Was he on break? That was a long break. “Tell me what you need, sir. I do lots of things. Take meeting minutes. Personal masseuse. Act as a psychiatrist…”

  “Psychiatrist?”

  “If you’re stressed about something, it helps to unload on a girl.”

  “I prefer other methods of unloading.”

  “Ah, yes, there is that too. Whatever you want. Want to tell me about your latest work endeavors? You may be surprised how much I know about that stuff.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised. You’ve entertained quite a few businessmen over the years. Simply eavesdropping would give you a wealth of knowledge.”

  “Certainly, sir.”

  “I don’t have any particular work issues. In fact, work is going so well right now that I’m not even stressed out about it.”

  “The shipping?”

  “Yes. The shipping.”

  Sylvia picked up his tablet stylus and drew invisible circles on the tabletop. “What kind of people use your services? Old ladies looking to store their jewels?”

  Alexander laughed. “To be sure there are a few of those. But they’re dreadfully boring. I prefer the transporting of live materials.”

  “Oh. Really? Like what?” If she weren’t undercover, this would be the perfect You mean live material from south of the border? joke. But Sylvia didn’t want to spook him. “Lions and tigers and bears?”

  He folded his arms on the table. “Yes, actually. I do zoo and animal research transports all over the country. Sometimes internationally. The exciting part is all the engineering that goes into fixing up the trucks to handle that kind of cargo safely.”

  “Yeah. Sounds riveting.”

  “Of course you don’t want to hear about that.” Alexander stood, fingers brushing against Sylvia’s skin. She got chills. She didn’t know if they were good or bad. “Why don’t you get ready for me, Sylvia? We have things to do tonight.” He gestured to a plain, nondescript box on the end of the bed. “For you.”

  She slipped off the table, and with a practiced skip in her step, hopped over to the box and took a peek inside. I should have guessed. A collar, a leash, and a bunch of other kinky shit a man like him would totally be into. Nothing Sylvia hadn’t seen a million times before in her career. “Give me a few minutes, sir.” She picked up the box and headed to the bathroom. “When I return, I’ll be all yours.”

  Her smile dropped off her face the moment she locked the bathroom door. Like Maxwell. Sylvia placed the box on the counter and began freshening up. Experience told her to put the separated handcuffs on last. She would begin with the collar and assemble her submissive outfit from there. How nice of him to include balm for my bum. Where was the paddle? Or was he going to hit her nice and hard with his hand? Yeah. He would be into hitting.

  “What are you doing?”

  Sylvia dropped her small clutch of belongings, including her makeup and various condom sizes. Then again, he paid enough to go bareback. So whatever. That’s why Sylvia was on birth control. Men at Sheen’s level could afford bareback. I had two regular clients with serious breeding fetishes. At least once a month Sylvia had to either pretend she was desperate for a baby that only her client could give her, or so scared of getting pregnant that she feigned a reluctance to go bareback. “I’ll pull out, baby, I swear. “All right, if you promise… oh my God, you didn’t pull out! Now I’m going to be pregnant!” Kaching! Kaching! Men were dumb.

  Nah. Alexander wanted to be the big bad Dom tonight. His worst couldn’t be, well, worse than most of what Sylvia had dealt with in the past. With any luck he would be competent.

  “Sylvia.”

  Right. Joseph was playing the peeping tom right now, wasn’t he?

  “What do you want?”

  “I asked you what you were doing.”

  “My job.” Sylvia spruced up her eyeliner. Eat up my makeup face, Joseph. Stretched mouth, wrinkled nose, and droopy eyes… yes! “You boys like my lingerie?”

  “You look great, Sylvia!” Jim said, a little too enthusiastically.

  Joseph, on the other hand, didn’t address how she looked. “Friendly reminder that Cindy is in the room next door should you need her.”

  “We’re fine so far.”

&nb
sp; “He’s given you bondage gear, Sylvia. That’s not fine.”

  “Just because you’re a boring prude in the sack doesn’t mean the rest of us are.” Right in the balls, huh? “Some of us have experience in kinkier shit. Don’t freak out and have a cow, man. But you also might want to spot me a solid and turn off this camera so I can fuck in peace.”

  “Sylvia, come on…”

  “Now, Joseph, let the lady do her job. It’s only right.”

  “Thank you, Jim.” Sylvia smiled at herself in the mirror. I look soooo good. Her body was on point, her makeup perfect, and her fresh haircut so flirty that even she was falling for herself. “If that’s all you boys have to say, though, I’ll be on my way.”

  “On your way to do what?”

  “Get spanked and have my pussy fucked.” She shrugged at her reflection. “Weren’t you the one who told me to do whatever was necessary for undercover work? You would know all about that, Joseph. You followed that rule pretty closely during your last investigation.”

  “That’s a fucking low blow, Sylvia.”

  “Yeah, well, I can’t exactly blow my cover by refusing to sleep with this guy because you’re jealous.”

  “I’m not jealous.”

  “Methinks you doth protest too much.” Sylvia snapped the collar around her throat and readjusted how tight it was. Should I let Alexander use the leash? Or does he want me to use it on myself? Hmm. “By the way, what size do you think he is?” She held up the condoms packages. “I’m thinking magnum. I’ve been staring at his crotch all night and sizing that dick up. It’s pretty impressive. You boys read that dossier. Nine whole inches. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

  She picked up her clutch and left the box in the bathroom. Even though both men were still “with” her as she walked back out into the bedroom, they remained silent. Sylvia imagined Joseph hunched over in the back of that van, stewing in his misplaced jealousy. Shouldn’t have fucked me, asshole. That’s what he got when he was involved with an escort.