The Man Who Would Pay - 4
It was another month before I summoned up the courage to approach Daniel. A month in which I fucked four more guys picked at random from responses to my advertisement. Four times I'd gone out with Daniel snooping around. But If I was to improve my online presence, I needed him. He would have to think whatever he thought. I took the plunge on a rare occasion when he wasn't being annoying.
"I want you to help me."
Daniel was bouncing up and down on the edge of my bed as if he were auditioning for chief mattress tester at DreamCloud.
"How?"
"I want you to set up a website."
"What sort of website?"
I couldn't hold his questioning gaze and turned away. Stupid. It was a dead giveaway I was hiding something.
"A blank one. I'll put my own stuff in it."
He laughed at me.
"It's not as simple as that. For a website to be worthwhile it has to be tailored to the market you're going after."
I hadn't thought of that.
"Do you want personal or business? And there'll be a charge."
"I'm your sister."
"I didn't mean from me. The host site charges. It's not a lot.
Why don't you just use Onlyfans?"
I glared. Daniel looked ten years older at that moment. Where had the stupid little kid gone I could tease as much as he did me?
"Oh come on, Sis. You're taking sexy photos in your underwear. Now you want a website? You think I'm stupid?"
"Christ. You sound like dad there."
He'd already taken my photos and hadn't said anything. Should I just be honest? If he was involved, he couldn't grass me up. He was waiting in a serious silence for an answer.
"Okay. It's a... questionable website I need."
"As in sex, questionable?"
I hesitated.
"Yes."
"How questionable?"
"Very."
"That's not helpful."
I was crimson. A full-on display of freckles. Dots he only had to join up to realise what I was doing. I blurted it out.
"I want an advert for services. A classy one. But if you say anything I swear I'll fucking kill you."
Daniel hardly reacted.
"Fair enough. That's all you had to say. Not the bit about killing me though. Could have left that out."
Wow. He wasn't screaming at me or calling me names.
"You'll do it?"
"Yeah.
Just need to know what services. Are we talking photos, videos or..."
I stayed quiet. I didn't trust my voice not to shake.
Daniel rolled his head back.
"Okay.
So not just photos. Explains where you keep going to every week."
His eyes bore into me and I saw no point in trying to make it sound more savoury. It was what it was.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Just a bit. If it was a date you'd be out late clubbing or being dropped home. Not coming back at ten o'clock. It's like a two or three-hour thing. Almost as if it's... a booking."
I said nothing as his eyes searched me for telltale clues.
"Danica. You're doing it for money, aren't you? I've seen the fancy new clothes all of a sudden."
"It's not about the money."
"They're paying you for sex, Danica. Of course, it's about the money."
"It's not. It's about... the thrill."
"Of sex?"
I thought about it. Trying to work out exactly what it was about, to find words that described it.
"Illicit sex. Taboo sex.
Pushing the barriers. It's... fun. That's all. I won't do it for long."
Daniel still looked a lot older as he studied my face. I felt small under his gaze. He was making me face that I was prostituting myself. But I still couldn't feel shame. Was I abnormal?
"You like being a slut?"
I shrugged. He hadn't said it nastily. Almost as if he understood.
"Yeah. I like feeling... used. It's just a fantasy that's gone... further."
"And you can't get that with a boyfriend?"
"No. I can't explain it, but I don't want the intimacy. Just the... the act. I like that it's a little scary. That it's wrong. It just... makes everything better somehow."
This time I did look at him. I searched his face for any sign my baby brother was disgusted at his older sister. There was none.
He shrugged.
"People do far worse for thrills."
"So you'll help me?"
"Yeah. I'll do it.
How much are you making?"
"Last month. Five hundred. I saw someone every Friday."
"Wow. Five hundred from four guys.
For just a few hours work?"
I shrugged.
"Couple of hours for each I suppose like you said.
Don't worry. I'll pay you for the website."
"That's not what I was thinking.
Imagine how much you could make if say, you did it three or four times a week. You could give up your job. Get a place of your own and up your prices a bit. You'd make a fortune."
"Ha. Then I'd be a prostitute."
"Breaking news, Danica. You are."
That hurt. Mainly because it was true. I knew that, but hearing someone else say it was new. Strangely, Daniel still didn't seem disgusted.