This story is set in the 34th amendment universe shaped by Carl_Bradford, Gentlemanmariner, John Doe and others where sexual slavery was legalized. This is, of course, just a thrilling, dark fantasy, something one wouldn't and shouldn't want to be possible for real, just like you wouldn't want your neighbors to be vampires or the local high school to house monsters.
I stared hard at the computer screen and the aggravating blinking of the cursor that tried to urge me to start typing. I had been doing that for at least ten minutes, wondering when exactly the excitement had given way to monotony. I was twenty-nine, just reaching my prime if all those women's magazines were to be believed, earning well and coming up for another promotion in a few weeks. I should be happy.
But the truth was, I wasn't happy. At some point, and without me noticing, the exhilarating obstacle race through the fascinating business world had turned into bland sessions on a treadmill.
The cursor kept blinking.
Josh and I were both doing well, though he wouldn't have needed to work a second in his life. His trust accounts and business shares would last him a few lifetimes without a frugal moment, but he said he needed the challenge. So he was traveling a lot, but that had never been an issue for me. I could be traveling along with him, but most of his projects were for slave markets, something I didn't want to be party to. Thirty years had already gone by since the 34th Amendment was put in place, allowing what basically could be described as time-limited slavery. There were three different ways for people -- yes, both men and women, even though 99% of all slaves were female -- could become indentured. Almost all of the first slaves were offered indenture as an alternative to prison. This had saved the governments billions of dollar for housing and security. The second, nowadays the most used option, was to repay a debt. You could secure a loan with yourself as a collateral, and if you defaulted on your payments, the loan giver could claim you as a slave and auction you off to recover the money. The third option, and one used almost never, was causeless, voluntary indenture. But who in their right mind would pick that? There was very little a slave's owner couldn't do to a slave as long as they got fed and watered and kept in an acceptable state of health.
The cursor still hadn't stopped blinking.
Josh's family had made most of their money in that kind of business. Their company had set up the national slave registry system and supplied markets with the software and devices for their daily business. Shock collars. Slave tracking implants. The handheld tattoo device that imprinted a registered slave's ID number on the inside of their lower lip. All that had come from Josh's family, and he was the best consultant for those.
Our home life was pretty vanilla. Yes, he sometimes tied me up and teased me mercilessly. But we were equals in our relationship. I knew that there was a different Josh out there when he did business. He was expected to make use of the slaves the customers shoved his way, if only to understand their needs and wishes. But we never talked about that part of his work.
The fucking cursor was relentless.
I was glad when I got the job here at Tomorrow Trade. Some businesses allowed managers to bring their slaves to work, and since slaves were forbidden to wear clothes, hormones and sexism ran rampant there. I was safe here at TT, as the bosses thought it too much of a distraction.
There was only about an hour left to finish the exposé for the prospective customer. The lead had come in yesterday morning, together with a rough outline about available funds and acceptable risk levels. It was easy work, mostly just pulling together numbers from templates. But I had only managed to fill three rows out of fifty. If I didn't finish it before closing time, I'd be in line for a massive reprimand from the chauvinistic pig Warrington. He was everything I loathed. Rude. Sexist. He had two slaves at home and wasn't shy about sharing details with his male coworkers. Every analyst in our department knew more about the business than he did. But he was old money, he could talk, and he was fucking handsome. Six feet four, wide shouldered, dark haired, gray eyed, strong and fit. A jock of jocks.
To this day, I can't say what came over me.
The cursor was driving me mad.
Slowly, character by character, I typed "Fuck you, Warrington!" into the empty cell in the spreadsheet, saved and closed the document and mailed it to him.
I expected him to be livid the next morning. I expected shouting and threats of dismissal. I didn't expect the fifty years old whiskey or the wide smile.
"Cheers, Sarah," he said, eyeing me over the rim of his glass expectantly.
"Cheers," I said too, thrown off guard, and clinked my glass against his.
He took a large sip and waited until I did the same.
"You only had to ask," he said after a minute.
"What?" I asked. Then the penny dropped. "Oh. That's not what I meant."
"Are you sure?"
"Why am I here, Jake?"
"You know why you're here." He emptied his glass. "But you need to get rid of your clothes for that."
"Are you insane?" I stared at him. "Do you think this is a fucking joke?"
"Fucking? Yes. Joke? Well, at what point does having fun turn into a joke? Show me your tits before I decide if you get to fuck me."
"God, Jake! Stop that instantly! I can't believe what an asshole you are!"
"You don't have to be coy. Nobody will hear about it. The door is sound proof, and Lisa's making sure we aren't disturbed." He leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk. "But I understand. Your tits are probably not what they used to be, and I only fuck prime meat."
"I'm out of here!" I declared and got up.
"I didn't see your slave grade in your personal records."
"That's because I wasn't graded. Not every girl wants to play that sick game and let others demean her in the worst way just for cheap money or bragging rights."
"In my experience, those without grades are the flat chested or flabby ones with ugly cunts."
I was seething by now. "I'm not going to show you my tits, asshole."
He made a dismissive gesture. "There wouldn't be anything worth seeing anyway."
I already had the door knob in my hand, but then another bout of insanity reared itself. I'm not sure I was really myself at that moment, because it felt like I was watching a movie. I spun around, opened my dress' zipper, unclasped my bra and let both fall to the floor. "Not worth seeing?" I screeched. "These are top notch D-cups, perfectly tight and perky, probably the most perfect tits you've ever seen in your sorry life!"
He grinned, and told me in his most condescending voice, "They could be worse. I'm actually willing to consider your offer."
It felt like someone pressed fast forward, and reality hit me with a devastating clarity. My eyes misted up, and I started trembling. I tried to grab my clothes, but my vision was so blurry and my knees got so weak that I had to get down onto my knees. My fingers found the dress first. Then I reached for my bra, but a dark object settled on it.
"You look good down there, Sarah," he said.