Moral Degeneration

“You sound much more beautiful on the phone,” I said without shame. 

“Who is this?” The woman asked on the other line. I could hear a smile in her voice. 

“Oh just a lonely man. I got held up last night, but I was disappointed we didn’t get to spend more time together?”

“Rory?!” She asked. 

“Actually my real name is Russ,” I admitted. “But you made quite the impression on me so I had to track you down.”

“You didn’t just ask Orlin for my number? I asked her to pass it along,” she said, the smile still in her voice. 

“She did not,” I said, since I had to force it out of her. “Unfortunately my time in New York has been cut short and I have to go, but I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to you.”

“You have to go?” She asked sadly. 

 

“Yes, but I’m hoping we can stay in touch. If I’m ever back in this part of the world I hope we can meet up.”

“I’d love that,” she said. I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing, but she was beautiful and rich. I would have picked her the night before if Beatrice hadn’t shown up. “Where are you going?”

“Chicago, then from there, Minneapolis,” I said. “Why, do you have a fancy home there or something?”

“I think I have one in Chicago,” she said quickly. “Could we uh meet up?” 

“I’d love that,” I admitted. “I’ll be there the next few months for family. When can you come?”

“A few weeks,” she said.

“Perfect. Let’s make a date out of it,” I said. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, far too easily. “Th-thanks.” I doubted anyone in this world got a call back from a man so I was put above and beyond them all. 

 

“No, thank you. I’ll call you tomorrow if you’re open to it.”

“I’d like that. Maybe you can tell me more about yourself.” 

“Oh I don’t know, I think you like the mystery,” I said. “Crap, gotta go. Talk to you later.” I hung up as Orlin stepped out. 

 

Waving me inside I nodded and came to the main bar area. There were 5 security guards, 8 bartenders, 3 janitors, 1 makeup artist, 4 assistants, 2 assistant managers, 1 general manager, and Orlin. All women, Orlin was on top and the general manager was the next in line. My money was on her, but we would see. 

 

“Russ here was with the heiress when the necklace went missing,” Orlin said in her best bored tone. “For some reason she trusts him. He will be conducting the interviews in my office.” I nodded at them and headed into her office. Orlin stayed outside and sent them in 1 at a time. 

The cameras splayed on her desk. I watched everyone’s reactions as they eyed them. It was easy to see most didn’t know about them. And after a simple glance I was yelling, “Next!” The person would be surprised but would walk out only for the next to walk in. 

 

“You stay,” I ordered one of the assistants as she flinched at the cameras. She squeaked a reply but I pointed her to the corner and was calling next. All in all it turned out to be one of the assistant managers, a security guard, and one of the assistants that were in on it. Everyone else was sent home as Orlin and I confronted them. 

“Explain yourselves,” Orlin barked. Since the assistant manager was the ringleader and not the general manager I was really starting to hope it wasn’t a spy. 

 

“I don’t-” The assistant manager cut off as I fired my gun into the ceiling. The loud crack made all of them jump, including Orlin.

I started talking in my regular American accent. “Did you really think you could get away with it forever?” I asked, leveling my gun at her as I walked around the desk. She shook in fear. Either a great actress or not a spy, I wasn’t sure yet. “You pissed off the wrong person. Of course they would trace the videos back to here.” Their eyes widened. 

“Yes, you idiot,” I said. “I was sent here to find you. Now tell me, where are all the videos?” 

“I-don’t.” I fired another shot, this time into her foot. She screamed and dropped to the ground. The assistant began to pray as the security guard backed up. 

 

“You think you’re sinless here?” I asked them, pointing the gun at them. “You’re just as guilty as her. Now if you don’t want another fucking hole shot in you, take me to your videos.” The woman stared up at me through tears, but it wasn’t long until I was throwing her in the trunk of my car. 

 

“What the fuck,” Orlin said as she stared at me wide eyed. 

“Ignore it. Fire those 2,” I said pointing at the assistant and security guard. “You shouldn’t have to worry about this chick anymore.” I moved to the driver’s seat of the Elle. 

“Who the hell are you?” She asked. 

“Me? I’m just a guy looking for a job,” I said. “I’ll let you know if I want any more work.” 

“Fuck that,” she said as I laughed and got in the car. “I hope I never see you again.”

“That hurts my feelings,” I said with a laugh and was speeding off to the assistant manager's house. She had a nice 2 story in the urban area, far outside of the main city. Her hiding place wasn’t the best. A simple alcove behind her refrigerator where she kept the videos. I searched her house from top to bottom just in case. I didn’t find anything that implied she was a spy, which was disappointing. I’d never actually caught a spy before and I wanted to at least once. At least I did find her money. 

 

Opening my trunk the girl cried openly as I pulled her out and threw her on the street. Throwing my bag of money and bag of blackmail tapes in the back I turned to her. “You’re fired, by the way. As is your house.” I pointed her at the now burning home. I had considered leaving it, but I wanted her pissing herself, so she never questioned this scenario later on, and just in case I missed more blackmail tapes.

 

Standing up with great effort she watched the house burn as I got back in the car and drove away. The best part of doing illegal stuff to people that were doing illegal things is they had no recourse. She couldn’t tell anyone, and by the time she thought to, I’d be states away. She would probably get insurance on the house and only be out a job for a short while, but either way it was a valuable lesson for her. 

$101,500 earned from Orlin for my services. I had another $95,000 from the little amount of blackmail money the assistant manager had left. Either way New York was proving very profitable. 

 

—

 

I stepped off the elevator to find 2 women spooning naked in front of the door. Gingerly getting out I looked down the hall and they weren’t the only ones sleeping there. Moving away from the elevator I got a pretty good eyeful of a lot of naked bodies but got to Maeda’s door. Knocking on it I heard someone yell, “It’s open.”

Sliding the door open, more naked bodies were revealed. Not fully naked, but mostly. Maeda sat on the couch where I had seen her last, it appeared to be her favorite spot. She smiled widely at me as she sipped a cup of coffee. 

 

“Fun party last night?” I asked. 

 

“Oh yeah,” she said. I sat on the couch next to her. “Your girls were hoots. They got everyone in the mood.”

“For sex?” I asked, eyeing the women. 

“Not intentionally,” Maeda said. “I let them try this new strain I’ve been working on. Makes you really sensitive. They were rubbing on each other, then more girls showed up, and it got out of hand.” 

“I can see that. Who are all these women?” I asked. I’d stopped by the other day with Rowan and seen a few more, but there were about 12 around us. 

“Friends of friends,” she said. “I own this whole building. I rent it out to girls that work for me. Or ones I know can keep their mouths shut.” 

“Smart,” I said. “Your own little commune.”

“Exactly,” she said. “Coffee?” 

“I’d love some,” I said. She and I both got up and she poured me some coffee. “Nothing funny in this, right?” 

“No, just Columbian good stuff,” she said. I laughed and accepted it. I didn’t taste any weed, but it was good. “What have you been up to? I expected you a while ago.”

“Eh got mixed up with a blackmailer,” I said. “But all’s good.” I jumped up to sit on the countertop as she leaned against it. We were quiet for a time finishing our coffee. Eventually I said, “I’ll probably be leaving Saturday morning.”

She nodded. “How much can you fit?” 

“Less than I thought,” I grumbled. “I keep gathering hitchhikers, and they’ll have luggage.”

“I can help with that. Maybe we can find some hiding places in the nooks and crannies,” she said. 

“I’d prefer that.”

“Payment on delivery,” she reminded. 

“I know how this works,” I said. 

 

“So professional,” she said with a smile. “I like you.” 

“Ever met a boy willing to get his hands dirty?” 

“Once or twice,” she admitted with a sigh. “There’s a guy in Cali that does this sort of thing. Been doing it for years. He likes the rush. You?”

“I like the money…and probably the rush,” I said. “How much?”

“Depends how much you take. 100 if we can fit all I need to go,” she said. 

“Not bad for a day’s worth of work,” I said. Of course we were talking about smuggling drugs, but that wasn’t my primary focus for now. “Thanks again for showing the girls a good time.”

“Of course. I don’t know if you noticed, but I love women,” she said. 

“Fancy, all these your lovers?” I asked. 

“We are…lovers of one another,” she said. “Stick around. I’m sure more than a few would love to try their first man.” 

 

“Ha, that’s too tempting to be honest. Maybe Friday. Where are my girls?” I asked. Maeda nodded to a door and I chugged my coffee. Washing the cup I walked to the door to find a room of flesh. Naked bodies everywhere I had to hopscotch around them to get to the bed. Luna and Penny were in the middle of the bed. Luna buried in Penny’s tits, I shook them softly. 

 

“Luna,” I whispered. “Luna.” She groaned. I didn’t want to risk waking all the girls up. For how free-love these women felt they would love a ride and it would take me a long time to please them all. Too bad I had things to do. I grabbed Luna’s arm and leg and plucked her out of the pile of flesh. Carrying her out I set her out the door and did the same for Penny. 

“Hey lover,” Penny said tiredly as I carried her. 

“Hey yourself,” I said. “Incite another orgy?”

She looked around slowly. First to her naked body, then to the bodies of the women around us. “Did that actually happen?” She asked, amazed with herself. 

“Looks like,” I said. Carrying her to the kitchen, Maeda already had a cup of coffee made up for her. 

“Thanks beautiful,” Penny said with a groan and I was waking Luna up. 

“Babe,” I said. She groaned. I poked her and continued to say her name. 

“You’re supposed to wake me up with your dick,” she eventually said. 

“Ha,” I laughed, forgetting about that. “Not here. We need to go.”

“What? But I love it here,” she said sadly. 

“I know. But I promised Rowan we would get lunch.” She groaned but got up. Taking the coffee the girls were slowly recovering. “Clothes?” I asked Maeda. 

“They came here in ball gowns. Try Leena’s room. They’re about her size,” Maeda said pointing. I nodded and was raiding a woman’s empty room. I found some shorts and shirts and was bringing them out to the girls. 

They put them on sadly and groaned every movement but we eventually left. Maeda said goodbye and the girls were hanging on my shoulders as I dragged them to the car. Their eyes closed, they were quiet in the mid-morning air. Not sad about the night before, just exhausted. When we met up with Rowan it was at a fresh seafood place. 

“What the hell happened to you 3?” She asked as we sat down. 

“Not so loud,” Luna said, slamming her head on the table.

“They had a little run-in with the shadier side of town,” I admitted. “A little too much partying.”

“Oh no,” Rowan said with a frown, genuinely worried. “What about you? How’d you make out at the Boys Club.”

“Pretty good. I made $26k,” I said as I picked up the menu and began to scan it. 

“$2,600?” Rowan asked wide eyed. 

“No, $26,000,” I said. There was a long silence. 

“What?!” She yelled. “2-6-0-0-0?” 

“Yeah,” I said. “Pretty good, right?”

“I want my cut,” Penny said, raising her hand. I eyed it but nodded. I gave her $3k and Luna the same. That perked them both up as they counted it. 

“What the shit,” Rowan said. “From one night of work?”

“Ha,” Penny said. “More like 3 hours. Those girls were so easy to get into it. Jeez I made $1,000 an hour,” she realized. 

“Oh I made-” I tried to say. 

“Shut up,” Penny said, sticking her tongue out. “I’m a woman. We don’t have the exotic nature of your sex. Thus I made pretty good money.”

“You did, and you earned it,” I said. “Couldn’t have gotten them so into it if you weren’t there.”

“Damn right,” she said, leaning and and we kissed. 

“I want one,” Luna said and I kissed her too. “Where’s my praise?”

“You were both amazing. I’m glad you came. Never will I ever consider trying to swindle a bunch of girls without you there.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Penny said. “But some of those girls… You hook up with miss whatever?”

“I did. Got a date with her tonight. I should be going into the lion’s den.”

“Already?” Luna asked. The waitress came over and got our drink and food orders. “What’s the plan?” 

“Tonight…no idea. I’m going to go to the office. Investigate, then go from there. Either way I plan to leave Saturday.”

“How are we getting back?” Penny asked.

“I was planning to drive,” I said. 

 

“Ugh, I bought us round trip tickets,” she said.

“Which is fine. I’ll probably have a full car,” I admitted.

“Who?” 

“Rowan for one,” I said. She perked up, looking to the girls then me, she nodded. “Good. Maybe Freida.”

“Oh my god. That girls in love with you,” Penny said.

“She was cute,” Luna said. “What are you going to do with her?”

“No idea. She seemed nice, but don’t know her all too well,” I admitted. “I don’t know. She seems the free spirited ‘there one day, gone the next’ type.”

 

“Well you need to figure it out. You have enough girls around you, and mom is going to be pissed if you start bringing them to live with us,” Luna said. “I assume you’re going to live with us.” She pointed at Rowan.

Rowan turned to me. “Yes, she is. Aud’s already aware of you and has a room set aside for when we get there.”

“What exactly will I be doing there anyway?” Rowan asked. 

 

“I actually bought a business,” I said. “I was hoping you’d work there.” 

“What!” Luna and Penny said. “What’d you buy?” Penny asked. 

 

“A car repair shop,” I said. “I was supposed to sign everything last Thursday after school but you know how that went. Either way, when I get back I will be the proud new owner of my own place.”

“That’s awesome,” Penny said. “So you can fix my car for free?”

“Hell no, but I’m sure you can talk me into giving you a discount,” I said. 

“Deal,” she said.

“A bunch of sweet cars come with the deal too. I was wonder-”

“Yes!” Luna said.

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask,” I said.

“Yes, you were going to offer to rebuild one for me and give it to me,” she said, her leg starting to bounce in excitement.

“No way,” Penny said.

I frowned. “Not exactly give it to you,” I said. “But yeah.” 

“First! I want to pick first,” Luna said.

“Second!’ Penny said. 

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “We will do that when we get back.” 

 

“I can’t believe I’m saying I’m excited for vacation to end,” Luna said. “I’m like rich. A new car maybe. So exciting.” 

“Which makes me wonder. What should we do for your birthday?” I asked. 

“Oh my god, right. I turn 17,” Luna said. 

“We have to do something amazing,” Penny said. “Get you all dolled up. Go around the town.” 

“Will you be done by then?” Luna asked. 

“I hope to be done tonight or tomorrow,” I said.

“Awesome,” she squealed. “Okay. Let’s eat then talk to that lady at the hotel that like knew everything around.”

“Yeah,” Penny said. “We have money too. So maybe we should…” They continued to talk excitedly. Rowan interjecting now and then. I smiled at them, watching their excited reactions about every little thing. Feeling better I was reminded again why I needed to deal with my dad. I didn’t want to leave these girls.