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had confirmed that he was interested in a repeat
performance—that was her trade, and that was what she expected to be paid
for—Lilith agreed to come inside.
     Rather than segue into anything sexual, he took her hand,
leading her to the couch. Reading her expression, he grinned and explained,
“I’m young and virile, but even I need a little recovery time.”
    So they sat, and she waited. Sure enough, his questions started
right away.
    “Does it bother you at all, doing this?”
    The look she gave him was scathing. “Does it bother you?” See how
he liked it when the questioning was turned around on him.
    But rather than get defensive, a thoughtful look came over his
face, and he leaned back, his hands behind his head. “It doesn’t bother me in
the slightest, and I don’t understand why it should bother anyone, to be
honest.”
    When she didn’t speak, he continued. “To me, it’s an extension of
the freedom of choice. I don’t believe we have the right to dictate or regulate
what a person does with their body. You’re a consenting adult. I’m a consenting
adult. The choice we’ve made here was agreed upon by both parties.”
    Curious now, she pulled her legs up, sitting cross-legged on the
couch. “What’s the draw for you? Not for nothing, kid, but you’re plenty
attractive. It’s obvious you’re some kind of wunderkind if you’re in a graduate
program at twenty-one, so I know you’re smart. And you’ve got money. You have
to be able to get a date whenever it strikes your fancy.”
    He smirked. “Well, sure. And I do date. But because we—we being
society—have tangled up sex with morals and virtue, it’s all unnecessarily
complicated. I’d just as soon not open that can of worms.
    “So yes, I can get dates, and I can get sex without paying for it,
but who cares? There are all kinds of services you pay for every day that you
can get done for free. I know how to change the oil on my car, but I never do.
I pay someone else to do it for me.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “You know how to change the oil on your
car?”
    He made a face. “Well, I could. I’ve heard it’s not difficult. You
can find a YouTube how-to video for anything, and like you said.” He flashed a
grin that was all teeth. “I am smart.”
    Lilith laughed, and she covered her mouth with her hand almost as
soon as the sound slipped out. She cleared her throat. “That’s about how I feel
about it. Sometimes people come into the club to preach at me—either I’m a
sinner or they’re so sure I need help because I’ve been abused.”
    He rolled his head so he could look at her, his eyes as gentle as
his tone. “You were abused, though.”
    She flinched, a slight thrill of panic rolling up her spine before
she remembered what she’d told him before.
    For each of the costumes she favored, she had a persona and a
history. The “innocent” school-girl didn’t have the same sad story as naughty
nurse.
    “Still,” she said. “Maybe what happened to me just taught me to
see through the nonsense people spout about sex. If that guy could do that to
me, it’s obvious sex doesn’t have to be about some
mystical connection. If anything, since I’ve had the choice taken out of my
hands by force, I think people telling me my choice is wrong is ten times
crappier than anything I’m doing.”
    “Like I said, it’s just another form of control and anti-choice
behavior,” Trey agreed. “That kind of judgment on sex is all the worse because
women are almost exclusively the targets. Women who make the choice to give
their bodies more freely than someone else would are abused, or worse, they’re
sluts.” He shook his head. “The word slut should not exist.
The stigma surrounding sex should not exist.”
     “I saw you when you first came into the club, you know,” she
teased. “You looked guilty.”
    His expression was bemused. “Well, that was an automatic reaction. Society again. There is a stigma around sex, and