“What exactly does it entail?” Maddie asked.
Ella plopped a grape into her mouth. “It’s a club owned by this mysterious and secretive billionaire. You have to be someone in the inner-circle to be a member. Its main activity is to promote experiences of extreme pleasure, whatever that means, but that of course has nothing to do with the virgin thing. That is a special, I believe, once a month event at the club.”
“The girls go through an auction?” Maddie asked.
“Yeah,” Ella replied.
Maddie inched closer to her, and hung onto her every word.
I fished out my phone to check the message coming through. It was my mother apologizing. I put the phone back into my pocket. I was beginning to feel slightly ill in the pit of my stomach. I looked up and saw Ella watching me intently.
“Girls can auction off their virginity to the highest bidder. All they have to do is set a reserve price, and from there onwards, the price can get as high as the market decides. An ex-Ukrainian beauty queen walked off with one hundred and fifty thousand. An Arab prince bought her.”
“An Arab prince?” Maddie asked. “So after you’re bought, what happens?”
“Okay, I don’t know all the details, but from what she told me, you spend the night with the man, soil the club’s sheets, and leave when it’s over. It’s in the club’s rules that you can’t be forced to do anything sick or violent unless you both mutually agree on that. You are also advised to use a condom. Since the whole affair takes place at the club, security is provided, unless of course, both you and the client insist on taking it elsewhere, which is not recommended and you have to sign a document releasing them of all liabilities if anything should happen to you.”
“And after that one night …”
“You never have to meet up with him again, unless you want to, of course. Oh, and because it’s all celebrities, billionaires, and royalty that attend these auctions, you sign an NDA.”
Maddie nodded. “So, I’m assuming a doctor’s physical exam is involved somewhere. Otherwise, anyone could just lie that they are a virgin, right?”
Ella turned to her in surprise. “You’re surprisingly detailed in mischief.”
Maddie sighed miserably. “It’s a gift and a curse.”
“You’re beautiful, Freya,” Ella said in the softest of tones. “You could easily come away with at least fifty thousand. It could really help you out, but think about it long and hard. Don’t force yourself into anything you’ll regret one day. There are other routes to take to help your mother. They’ll just be slower and full of painful sacrifices, like giving up your education and moving into a housing estate.”
I clasped my hands together. “What would you do, Ella, if you were in my shoes?”
Her answer was simple. “You both know I was basically raped for my first time and it hasn’t been all that wonderful most times since then either, so I would be the first in line at that club. Especially, if it would help my mother.”
“Mine was with that bastard, Derek,” Maddie said. “He was only special until after the fact. I still can’t believe he jumped out of bed after the bloody ordeal and said he had to meet his mates at the pub. Fucking demon.”
Ella covered her mouth to contain her giggle.
“Anyway, Freya,” Maddie continued. “I know you’ve always wanted your first time to be with someone special, but in my opinion, perfection is overrated, or perhaps doesn’t even exist. I’m not saying you should do this, but speaking from experience, don’t let such an old-fashioned and stupid idea hold you back. I’ve yet to meet a girl who told me her first time was special. It’s awkward, messy and a bit painful too. As feminists, we own our bodies. We can do whatever we want with them.”
I blinked a couple of times to be sure that it was Maddie speaking, then I shook my head. “The two of you can dress it up any way you want, but this is just prostitution, pure and simple.”
Ella turned to me. “Actually, Freya, most relationships between men and women have an element of transaction to it. It may not be hard cold cash, but excuse me, what is dinner and a movie, an all paid for weekend in Paris, or even a wedding ring? I would have no problem doing it, especially for such a noble cause, but you are different than me and I don’t want this to taint you. If I’m being honest, then I have to admit that your first time is probably going to be a billionaire weasel who looks like Carlos Sim or Warren Buffet, or worse, the living dead himself, George Soros. There isn’t a muscle to share between the three of them.”
Maddie and I stared at her.
She took a deep breath and went on. “I guess what I’m saying is, I don’t want this thing to change you, so I’m sorry I even brought it up in the first place. You’ll have to make some painful sacrifices, but you and your mother will get through this.”
I didn’t need Ella to tell me. I knew in my heart from the moment she mentioned an auction—I was never doing something like that.
Freya
By the time I went home, it was late and my mother had already gone to bed, but she had left the caviar out for me and a sweet little note telling me she loved me. It had little love hearts drawn all over it with red ink.
I sat down at the kitchen table and looked around me. We lost our fine home and it looked as if my mom was almost definitely going to lose this little apartment too, but I wasn’t going to allow myself to be sad. I was determined I would find a way to solve our problem … without selling myself to the highest bidder.