The Dirty Deal

It was time to give up. Cameron knew it. She was drinking away the last of her money.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

If she budgeted it better she could have a few more weeks, maybe even a month. But what was the point? Time was up. She had wanted to try living her dream of moving to New York City and hitting it big. She had talent. She was easy on the eyes. The trouble was, so were about a thousand other women who had better connections than she did.

She hadn’t landed one gig in nearly six months. She would have to go back to Iowa with her tail between her legs and figure out something else to do, because THIS wasn’t happening.

For some reason, she had gone all out tonight. She dressed up, did her long brown hair carefully in fashionable curls. Her make up was soft, natural, but perfect. She had shaved, primped, and moisturized. What was the point?

She was contemplating signaling the bar keeper for another drink when two men approached simultaneously from either side of her at the bar, putting her on high alert.

She knew it was purposeful because they were both looking at her with wide smiles. The one on her right was well built, had dark brown hair like hers and wore a black leather jacket with well trimmed beard. The one on her left wore a fancy suit and tie still pulled in tight despite the late hour. His hair was lighter, but looked artificially high lighted. Both were handsome each in their own way. Biker Dude exuded manliness and strength while Suit brimmed with self-confidence and money.

“Can we buy you another drink?” Suit asked.

“If you’ll join us,” Biker Dude added.

Cameron snorted. They made an odd pairing, very unlikely. She slid off the bar stool intending to walk out of the bar, but she swayed on her feet and Suit caught her gently around her waist.

“Easy there, beautiful,” he said, steadying her. “Maybe you’ve had enough?”

Cameron was suddenly captivated by the stranger’s bright blue eyes as she peered up into his face, suddenly so close.

“I’m sure she can tell us whether she wants another drink, Jon,” Biker dude piped up. “Sweetheart, you’ve been nursing that drink for a while and it looks like you could use some company and cheering up.”

Cameron bristled over his use of the word ‘sweetheart’, but she liked that Jon had called her beautiful. She sighed.

“Okay,” she mumbled and Jon guided her over to a table while Biker Dude stayed at the bar and ordered more drinks.

“What’s your name?” Jon in the suit asked her.

“Cameron,” she said and slid into the chair Jon pulled out for her.

“Nice to meet you Cameron, I’m Jon, this here is Henry,” he pointed over at a slightly older man with dark brown hair greying at his temples also in a suit, “that is Austin,” he pointed to a slight man in nice clothes, but not a suit, “Tony,” was the next man over also dressed in a suit, but his tie was loosened, “And you met Markus at the bar.”

Markus returned with his hands full of beers which he passed around to the group, including one for Cameron.

“So, you seem down, Cameron. Why is that?” The one called Austin asked her. He had light blonde hair and steel blue eyes. He was the slightest of the men around the table. His smile was kind.

“I’m leaving New York,” she told them. There were groans around the table.

“But why, Cameron?” asked Henry, taking a sip of his cold beer. “Don’t you like it here?”

“Sure, I love it here. I just can’t afford it when I can’t get the job I want,” Cameron told them. The drinks must be making her more relaxed with these strangers. Why was she telling them these things?

“And what job do you want?” Tony asked her in his smooth voice. He looked like your typical Italian man with dark hair and eyes and a lovely dark complexion.

“Actor,” she said to more groans.

“That’s a tough business, Cameron,” Henry commented. “Very tough. Very hard to break into.”

“You’re telling me!” Cameron quipped and the men snickered.

“Maybe we can make you a better offer. You like acting, it might be right up your alley…” said Jon.

“What? You and your friends opening a broadway show or something?” Cameron asked laughing.

“Not quite,” Markus said and she noticed him eyeing her hungrily.

“But we are friends,” added Jon.

“And we would like to make you an offer,” said Austin. “It would pay well…”

“Very well,” added Henry. “With some…unusual benefits.”

“And requirements,” added Markus.

“Like what?” asked Cameron feeling much bolder with the alcohol coursing through her.

“Do you…enjoy sex?” asked Jon.

“Uhm, sure. With the right person…” answered Cameron feeling a little apprehensive.

“Look, we are five well off, fairly busy men. We each have our own…needs, when it comes to being with a woman and we don’t want to be in committed, monogamous relationships,” started Henry.

“But we are interested in being with a woman who understands our needs and our situation,” added Markus.

Jon, who was sitting next to her lowered his voice. He leaned into her, putting an arm around her. “What we are offering is $250,000 for the year, that’s $50,000 from each of us. We will split up your time between us, that’s 10 weeks each. We will schedule our time with you in advance. You will have one day off a week to yourself. Before you decide, we will first each go out with you for one day, just to introduce ourselves. We’ll give you $10,000 for the five days no questions asked. You don’t have to agree to anything.”

“But if you agree, you have to take all or none,” Markus told her. “That’s part of the deal.”

“Can I back out of the deal?” Cameron asked, her mind buzzing with numbers much higher than she’d ever been offered before.

“Of course, you can back out at any time,” Henry assured her. “You will be prorated your pay and you don’t ever have to hear from us again.”

“Fifty weeks means I get two weeks to myself,” Cameron was finally able to do a little math in her head despite her anxiety in the situation.

“That’s right. You can request a week off or a day or take those two weeks however you like,” confirmed Jon.

“But, why me? I mean, can’t you just hire a… a…” started Cameron.

“Prostitute?” suggested Markus. “Sure, we could, but we don’t want that. We want someone more real. Less…” he shrugged.

“Professional,” concluded Jon. “I can speak for myself when I say I have gone that route and it’s just not as fulfilling as I think our relationship could be. We would be getting to know each other, knowing our limitations and our desires. It’s just cleaner for us, you understand.”

Cameron thought she understood just fine. But did she really want to enter into this strange deal with these five strangers? It was insanity. No, she couldn’t possibly… But $250,000 by the end of the year?! Shit! That was some real money.

“Plus,” whispered Jon into her ear. “I might know a few people in the industry. If I get to know you, I could recommend you…”

Her heart leapt. She had already prepared herself to do whatever it took to become famous. She had heard about all the degrading things women had to do to land a good job and she was determined that a little something like putting out or dressing slutty or giving some bigwig a blow job would never stop her from achieving success.

“Okay, let’s give it a whirl,” said Cameron. There was a general chorus of “oh yeah!” and “yes!” and chuckles around the table.

“Then you are mine first, little one,” said Markus, pulling her out of Jon’s influence and towards himself.

“Why you?” she asked, feeling a bit bratty.

“Because I have very specific tastes and we may as well find out if you will be able to deal with me,” Markus said mysteriously, kissing her forehead.

“You’ll come to me next and I’ll make sure he doesn’t overstep,” the one called Henry told her.

“Okay, so twenty four hours with each of us. Here’s your pay in advance,” said Jon putting a wad of cash on the table. The other men delved into their wallets and pulled out money, adding it to the pile. “Give us your cell phone, honey. We’ll contact you before we pick you up.”

Cameron picked up the cash and stuffed it into her tiny purse, surprised it all fit. Markus took her hand in his and pulled her to standing.

“Come with me, I’ll pay you when we get to my house. Later boys!” he called out as he pulled Cameron behind him out of the bar and into the street. Cameron’s heart was pumping like crazy. What had she gotten herself into? What was she thinking? It was insanity! This could not be real.

He stopped in front of a huge Harley motorcycle. He turned to her as she stood rocking back and forth from one foot to another.

“Look, love. Don’t worry. Nothing happens that you don’t agree to, alright?” he assured her, but Cameron was still going into fight or flight mode. He put a hand around her waist and one at her chin to pull her into a kiss. When he pushed his tongue into her mouth, she allowed it and groaned at the intensity.

Markus was a really good kisser. She almost forgot he was a total stranger and they were in the bar parking lot. He pulled away from her grinning and took out a helmet and put it on her.

“I have a spare, but didn’t bring it. I had no clue we would find you tonight, love. But I am really excited that we have,” he told her. He got on the bike, then motioned for her to get on behind him. She held on for dear life as he flew through the late night streets until they finally came to a quiet neighborhood where he pulled into a small garage below a brownstone building.

He led her up the stairs, through the door and into a multi story house. Cameron was very tired and had a hard time focussing on her surroundings.

“Come, sleep here. We’ll get to know each other in the morning, love,” Markus told her as he ushered her into a room with its own bathroom. “Everything you could need should be there in the bathroom, so please, help yourself.” And with that, he closed the door behind himself and left her to it.

Cameron didn’t have much energy in her left except to brush her teeth and change into an oversized tee shirt to sleep in and crawl under the covers of the full bed. She put her phone on the nightstand which, thankfully, had a charging cable nearby.

The sheets were white and crisp, the comforter was a plain tan color, everything in the room was very nondescript and neutral. There were no pictures or personal things anywhere. So it was with many questions running through her head that she slipped beneath the sheets and fell off to sleep.

Author's Note: This is a new story concept I am working on. I would love to get your feedback on if you think it is a compelling idea. The fun part will be the interaction with five very different lovers and how Cameron will navigate between them and her own feelings.