The contracts were key. It had taken me months to iron it all out with some of the best attorneys in the city. Everything had to be in writing and it had
to be perfect. There was no way that we could leave loopholes. God only knew that the sort of men who wanted to buy virgins was the kind who also tended to have buyer’s remorse and ask for their money back, no matter what their experience was. The contracts insured that whatever happened, happened. We were responsible for the transaction on the auction block. We provided them with verified virgin women of legal age who wanted to step up on the block and wear the collar. The men agreed to a code of conduct, which was loose but made clear what was expected of them in the treatment of the women they bid on.
Total and complete consent.
We insisted that the bidders sit through a seminar on it. They had to prove themselves to us. There were a few men who made it through our vetting process that I still had questions about, but on the whole, I felt good about letting our virgins enter the auction room.
Our virgins were always selected with care. They came to us voluntarily usually and it was only on a rare occasion that one was approached and that was typical because they had been recommended by a friend who had been on the auction block in the past.
We had a clinical psychologist on staff that went over everything with the women before they were accepted. Elle, our staffing director, knew the business from the inside out and knew what it took to be on the auction block. She had a way of telling if someone was going to work out from the start and almost everyone she had put her stamp of approval on made it through our final round of vetting.
Everyone had a different reason for choosing to step up to the auction block. Of course, it usually came down to money and you couldn’t blame the women for being seduced by that, but almost always there was something more. These were women who wanted to have their first sexual experience and for some reason hadn’t lost their virginity up to that point in their life. Our staff made sure they not only understood what they were doing, but that they wanted to do what the auction block required of them. They were compensated handsomely based on the level of intimacy that was required of them. While some were only signing up for one night with a man, many more were agreeing to a week or longer. It could be arduous for a woman having sex for the first time and that was why we took it seriously when we allowed men into the auction room.
The point in question though, the thing that it really seemed to come down to for law enforcement was the fact that the contract was binding. Once it had been signed there was no getting out of it. I could see why they would be concerned if they didn’t know exactly how far we went to make sure everything was done properly. And the truth was that no one really knew how our business was run. We prided ourselves on our exclusivity and the privacy we provided our clientele. There was no need for us to come out with a tell-all about how we did our business.
The idea had come to me in college and I knew it was a million dollar business from the first time I thought of it. What I didn’t know was that with the success of the club it would boom into a billion dollar business and that we would be dealing with governors, sheiks, and people from the highest echelons of society.
Virginity was one of the hottest, most appealing things to some men and they were willing to pay a high price for it, depending on the women in question. I could remember the day it occurred to me as clear as a bell. It was during my junior year of college and I’d seen the girl. She was mousy with frizzy brown hair, a nose slightly too big for her face, glasses that were also a little too oversized, and somehow she was still in braces in her freshman year of college.
She wasn’t the most attractive woman I had ever seen. Far from it. But I was sure she had something that many women on campus had given up long ago—her virginity. I didn’t set my sights on her, not like that, but I took note of the feelings that grew in me when I thought of her and saw her entering her dorm, usually right after my business calculus class. She was shy and unsure of herself, but I imagined what she would be like if she realized that she had some power. Just a little work on her appearance and guys would be lining up around the block to get a taste of her.
Things hadn’t gone down as planned with her, but I kept a memory of her in my mind. As long as we kept the business above board, making sure every contract was signed and that everyone involved was a fully consenting adult, I knew that we had a winning formula. After all, who didn’t want to fuck a virgin?
I leaned against the raw brick of my office wall and stared out into the waning light of the day, glistening darkly through the pouring rain. We were too far ahead for them to ever catch us. We had too many people deep within their organizations who were members with too much to lose. There was no way anyone could infiltrate Club V.
Chapter 2
Penny
The hum of the office equipment whirred around me and I was almost in a daze when Lauren, my editor, stopped by my desk and tapped it softly with the tip of her index finger.
“My office in ten,” she said with a nod. It wasn’t a question. “I’ve got something for you.”
She disappeared down the hallway and I watched her go, her hips swaying from side to side. The woman walked with authority, but never let anyone in the office forget that she was attractive and available. At only 10 years my senior, she had achieved quite a bit in her time at Expose, starting as a copywriter for the magazine straight out of college and working her way up to editor-in-chief. Lauren had taken me under her wing after I had shown myself to be an asset to the copyediting pool and she pulled me out of what was likely a dead-end job and put me on track to eventually take over for her someday, if only I would listen to her, jump on every story she threw my way, and basically copy her every career move.
I looked at the pile of research material on my desk. “Hell’s bells, Penny. You’re so behind.” I tried not to make a habit to talk to myself, but old habits die hard and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. In college, I had always been able to churn out a great paper in about an hour. It had prepared me for the rigors of working at a magazine, but I was still finding myself buried under pile after pile of research and investigative materials.
I scooted the stack aside, turned to my computer and checked my email. I had no idea what Lauren might want to speak to me about. Checking my due dates on my calendar I saw that I didn’t have anything due to turn in for another week. That was pretty odd for me as I usually had a deadline for the blog every other day or so. But recently Lauren had asked me to shift my attention to the print mag and I had been working from that angle for a few weeks now. It was more in-depth, less click bait, no more trying to beat the top entertainment channels to a story. While that was still going on with the writers in our online office, my focus was now on the more serious storytelling that took some time.
“We want a Pulitzer? It’s going to be from the print edition,” Lauren had said when we had the conversation about shifting my focus.
I knew she was right. If we wanted more recognition our focus was going to have to be on what we were sending to print. It didn’t matter that it all went online the same day. And I had to admit to myself that I was looking forward to seeing my byline in a glossy.
I didn’t have high hopes for a Pulitzer. Expose was prestigious, but it was still a gossip magazine. We had been responsible for breaking several major stories over the years, however, there was still a bit of a reputation with the magazine. We were hard-hitting. We would get in wherever we had to in order to get the story we were looking for.
I waited nine minutes instead of ten before I walked down the hall to knock on Lauren’s door.
“Come in,” she said. I could tell she was still on the phone by the way she answered, but she hung up almost as soon as I opened the door. It was a flip phone, one I had never seen her use before, and it was noticeably ancient compared to the phones most people were using these days.
“New phone?” I asked as I took a seat opposite her.
“Burner,” she said with a half-smile.
That caught my attention. “You must have something then.”
Lauren leaned forwar
d and rested her chin in her palm. “I most definitely do.”