The Spoils of Sin Read Online Free Page B

was quick, but not so quick she lacked time to think. Five or six thrusts, with his face buried against her shoulder, accompanied by unbridled groans and a final shout, and it was done.
Five dollars for this,
she thought, with some relief. By any standards, it had to be easy money.
    His hips worked in a spasm, to which she responded with a slight wiggle. He slid out of her, everything wet and slippery, the sheet beneath her already damp. ‘Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be ready again,’ he muttered.
    â€˜Again?’
    â€˜If you please.’
    Here was something she had not discussed with Carola. Abel Tennant had never come back a second time – they had been too afraid of discovery to linger unclothed for long. Should she make an additional charge, or simply insist that once was all there was on offer for today? Although unsure of the details, she had a suspicion that a second coupling would take considerably longer, and require more participation from her. Bewilderingly, she found her body reacting to the prospect. The speed of the act and the withdrawal had left her with a void that called out to be filled. This was another thing she and Carola had failed to confront – the degree of their own enjoyment. Fanny had understood from the first that the sensations brought intense pleasure. It had guided her initial plans for her future. But now she doubted the wisdom of taking her own satisfaction from a client. He would be so rapidly followed by others, and she could already see that it would be exhausting if she permitted herself to fully engage.
    â€˜I regret, sir, that you have to make way now. I should be most happy to see you here again on another evening. For this evening, however, that must suffice.’
    He said nothing, and she wondered briefly whether she might encounter violence from her very first session. But then he sighed and rolled away from her. He sat on the edge of thebed and rubbed his hair as if to wake himself up. ‘That seems hard,’ he muttered. ‘The second time is always so much better.’
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ she repeated firmly. She got up from the bed and straightened her clothes. Not a garment had been removed, which struck her a waste of the alluring silk bodice she had bought for twenty dollars – five down and another fifteen owed to the haberdasher. Listening for sounds from Carola’s room, she caught moans and thumps that suggested the dark man was considerably slower to take his satisfaction than hers had been.
    She led the man down the stairs, and bade him adieu. The third customer remained on the piano stool, but his hands were unmoving. ‘Sir?’ said Fanny. ‘Thank you for your patience. If you would permit me a moment, I shall be happy to accommodate you.’ The wording had been practised in advance. The girls had searched for terms that were plain but not shocking.
Accommodate
had struck them as especially felicitous.
    The two men exchanged a glance that was oddly uneasy. The tall one was morose; the young one far from eager. Something was lacking, Fanny realised. Somewhere she had gone wrong. There should be lightness and laughter and a complete lack of shame. Instead there was a furtiveness, a sense of impropriety that she and Carola had been anxious to avoid.
    â€˜I have yet to pay you,’ said the fair-haired man awkwardly.
    â€˜Ah! So you have,’ she returned, thinking that was one mistake identified. ‘I have a box upstairs for the purpose, which I neglected to show you.’ She resolved not to omit that detail again.
    The man extracted a note from his pouch and handed it to her. He looked again at his friend. ‘Will I wait for you, John?’
    â€˜No need. I can manage.’ John’s unease only seemed to increase with each passing moment. Fanny felt a helpless pity for him and a glancing pang for herself. New skills were likely to be needed from the outset, it