Steve ejaculates into a condom as planned, but falters as he tries to put on his newly-purchased $400 chastity device. After fiddling for 20 minutes, he gives up. Either the lock either isn't long enough to reach through the metal loop that presses his penis against his testicles, or he's lost all manual dexterity as sweat drips down his body and two women coolly watch him struggle. Steve has to meet his mother and aunt for a New Year's Eve dinner and can't spare more time, so Danielle and June agree to let him go without the lock. He departs in a rush, his eyes on the floor, blundering into a closet door before being shown the way out into the cold.
Georgia can have eight clients call one week and none the next. She would make $400 more a month if she saw clients one after another, as other dommes do. She doesn't think it's worth it, though, and requires 24 hours between sessions to clear her mind.
Although business has been slow for Georgia these past few months, she can always count on her regulars. Jesse, a 58-year-old transit worker, is probably her favorite; they often meet and chat about school and work before sessions. He even gets a discount from Georgia, who knows he's strapped financially. "Every paycheck, I take a little bit of money out and put it in an envelope," he says.
Today Jesse's brought red wine, a bottle of Georgia's beloved Powers, and an array of snacks—nuts, olives, meats and cheeses—just to be nice.
"Jesse's really gone all-out today, huh?" Georgia says between applying her make-up and pouring two whiskeys.
Unlike with David, she leaves her bedroom door open. Jesse even knows Georgia's real name.
Jesse has been married for nine years to a foreign woman he met online, and can't talk to her about his work or his interest in geopolitics, because she barely speaks English. Jesse won't divorce his wife, because he says she wouldn't be able to support herself, but "I'm not interested in anything she's interested in, and she's not interested in anything I'm interested in."
So it's nice for him to come chat with Georgia, whom he describes as both intelligent and beautiful. "A lot of people see this as prostitution, but I see it as therapy," he says.
Eventually Jesse removes his red and blue flannel shirt to reveal his hulking belly. Then he drapes his pants over a wooden horse, something clients kneel on to be spanked. "I see a little shrinkage going on," Georgia, who's wearing blank spandex pants, a black bra, and vertiginous heels, says. "Don't shrink in front of me. Don't you see how beautiful I look?"
She starts whipping him as Prince's "1999" comes a set of iPod speakers. By the time "Little Red Corvette" rolls around, Frank starts to show marks, and "Purple Rain" marks the transition from bruises to blood. "You never break skin this early, dude," Georgia says. "What's wrong with you today?"
A few weeks later, Danielle's working with an old friend from Florida who outperforms all her predecessors. Mistress Simone's a tall, attractive woman with a 666 tattoo and hair the color of Ariel's from The Little Mermaid. Although she's not in the lifestyle, she's able to improvise and requires little coaching. A veteran user of the sites Seeking Arrangement and Name Your Price, essentially escort services, she's confident and unashamed about sex work. The pair has done well, even clearing $1,800 on one particularly lucrative weekend.