Authors: Jackie Coupe
“I haven’t seen any men”
She heard the creaking of tendons and a few chair scrapes whilst women at neighbouring tables strained to listen without giving the appearance of listening.
“The boss doesn’t employ men. Is that a problem?”
Creeeeeeeeak!
Two dozen sets of eyes were watching her lips, waiting for what they wanted to hear.
“Nah”
“Nah?”
“It’s slang for ‘no’ where I come from”
An audible sigh from the masses? Felt and heard. Karen had agreed to live her life more freely, she hadn’t expected to end up knee deep in lesbians.
You don’t know that for sure yet do you?
It was a very strong feeling though all the same.
She chatted with Rochelle for a while about little things. Glancing at times to the hands of those around her as they carried trays and mugs. Many had those Roman numerals on them, always in the same place too. A cult? She shivered at the thought.
She drank the shitty brew. It maybe wouldn’t be a bad idea to find out where they sold her brand of tea and bring some in with her. A good cup of tea would go a long way to siphoning out some of the strange input she’d had so far.
She heard a mobile phone chirrup. Rochelle brought her mobile to her ear, “Yes, yes. She’ll be right there” she got up.
“Ok, she’ll see you now” Rochelle was back on her cuff again hauling her along. Necks creaked and an eyebrow was hoisted in the fray, back down the executive corridor they went.
“Alright” they stopped outside Sarah Steiger’s office, Rochelle straightened Karen’s jacket and dusted off her shoulders in a grandiose manner. What was she so excited for? She tapped the door.
“Come!”
“Knock ‘em dead” and she winked at her. Rochelle disappeared back down the corridor and Karen cleared her throat. Shaking her cuffs she opened the double doors.
Karen swallowed a ball of spit roughly the size of a baby kitten.
“Aww, Karen. Shut the door will you?”
What she saw next stunned her.
Oh my dear Jesus! What a fucking fox!
She was in danger of making her own eyebrow lift, never before in her life had such a thought crossed her mind but this woman was stunning.
She stood up and came around her large oaken desk and extended an arm that looked strong. Karen gulped. Something else she had never been prone to do before, then put her hand into her bosses.
Whatever it is I hope she is a part of it.
Two and two were becoming four ‘faster than rabbits could hop’, as her dear old gram might have said.
Her face was ethereal. Perfect. Not a strand of golden hair out of place, her lips were in a tasteful muted shade of burgundy.
She raised her other arm and Karen took the seat that was offered.
“So you’ve seen our offices. Like what you see?” she sat back in her chair and eyed Karen curiously.
To combat her eyebrow raise she lifted both, “Yeah, very nice. Tidy”
“And the staff. Everyone been nice to you?”
What kind of a boss gives a shit if the staff are happy campers?
Ones that what to get into your knickers!
Her mind called back. It wasn’t an image she needed at this time.
“Yeah. It’s been really nice”
Couldn’t you think if anything else to say?
Miss Steiger leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers under her chin.
“Notice anything odd?”
This is where you tell her you suspect you’re working at a pussy farm carefully disguised as a law firm.
In deference of her eyebrow, (it seemed to be doing its own thing for fun), she leaned forward.
There was heat in her face, for the second time that morning she was getting embarrassed, but there was something else wasn’t there? The small suspicion that all the years of feeling like an outcast, of denying her true emotions, were at an end.
“They’re all girls” a smile burst forth then. Sarah Steiger, President of Tarkingtons, owner of a million dollar estate, three cars, and a wardrobe that would make Liz Taylor jealous, laughed.
“Fuckin ‘A’”
Karen was laughing too then. All the whispering in the corridor had seemed daft now. The boss was nothing like the ball breaker that she been expecting. But then again, balls were in short supply round here.
“Ok sweetie. Just a few ground rules and you can stay. Firstly, did you bring your passport so I can get the work permit sorted out?” She took a cigar out of a wooden case and lit it, then offered the box to Karen,
they looked soooo good,
“I’ll pass thanks, I gave up smoking last year” She took her passport out of her jacket pocket and handed it over. Whatever this place was she would be stuck here, a momentary shiver ran down her spine.
“Good job, these’ll kill ya. Anyway” the boss puffed huge clouds of fragrant smoke above her head. Karen deeply suspected she was going to cum in her pants. Never before had she seen such a beauty, rugged, well groomed. And just so damned masculine. It was unnerving.
“We have a system round here, there are rules.” She put her feet up on the desk, leaving her smart short stilettos on the floor.
Karen took her jacket off. Sarah smiled vulpinely.
“The first rule is of course that there is ‘The Chain’. The Chain must be followed. You will find the list in a non-downloadable file on your PC at your desk. Along with a copy of the rules. We work hard here. Harder than any swinging dicks let me tell you, we ooze charm and sex, we get contracts,
we make millions!
” perfect smoke rings flew over Karen’s head.
“We ask for loyalty. No talking out of school. I pay a pretty penny to keep this a closed shop. The Chain leads out of here and there are a few ladies of leisure who enjoy what we do so they turn a blind eye and protect us. If you reach a point where you wish to stop you can claim your tattoo. I don’t care for them but some of the girls feel its very tribal, sexy even. They’re semi-permanent, everything round here moves so fast! If you want in…?”
??? Answer her, tell her something, anything, NOW!
“I want in” she murmured.
Sarah took her feet down and leaned across her desk, the cigar bobbing and weaving and she waved her arms, a ‘desk-dance’ in a way.
Karen smiled. Her eyebrow reaching quizzical new heights.
“I knew it! There is no way to break The Chain. You start at the bottom. We have nothing but clean girls too, regular check-ups and STI checks.” She laughed uproariously at this but it was lost on Karen. She felt like someone was twirling a stick round in her guts. She had technically never slept with a woman before. She felt her time in The Chain would be very fucking short!
“If you please your lady you can progress. Oh what thrills there’ll be! The Chain leads out of here, remember that and you’ll do well, there are some very,
very
important and sexy people at the top. You can chose to shoot for the moon if you wish. You can always of course meet someone on The Chain you fall in love with and decide to stay with them.”
It was warm. Smoky. Was the ceiling coming down?
Oh dear. Are we actually asleep?
Just as the little dancing dots were taking her under she felt something in her hand, “Drink this” A glass, smelled like alcohol. Down in one it went.
Her eyes remained closed for a few seconds. The dots were going away.
“Hey. I know it’s a lot to take in”
Karen looked down at her knees.
Sarah put a hand under her chin.
“You’re not the first to get a bit wiggy about the whole thing. Gay virgin?”
She said yes without meeting her eyes.
“That doesn’t mean you’re going to be bad at it. That’s why The Chain is a pretty good system. Everyone starting on The Chain is about the same level in terms of expertise and knowledge. You learn as you go. When you want to stop, you stop. Learn about yourself.
Love your friends
.” Sarah leaned forward and kissed her squarely on the mouth.
“Think about it. And I’ll see you further along The Chain huh? Your PC will remind you when to visit the company doctor. Can’t be too careful ya know”
There was white noise in her head, the kiss has been so soft, yet, powerful!
“Shut the door on your way out, Rochelle will give you the rest of the details”
She was back in her chair, a pair of spectacles perched on her nose. Karen picked up her jacket and her heart which was floating around the light fitting, just as she was pulling the door closed Sarah called to her, “You’re going to do well here. Remember work hard,
love your friends
”
And that was it.
Beginning to end that was the whole thing.
Karen slipped her jacket on. Mental overload had been achieved. As if on cue Rochelle came trotting up the corridor, a grin splitting her face.
She was back on the cuff, when they were at the end of the corridor Rochelle hugged her, kissed her cheek and congratulated her on a good meeting.
What did she do? Ring the second I closed the door?
In the canteen a huge banner had been erected, “Welcome to Tarkingtons!” Women were clapping and wolf whistling.
Fuck me raw. They’re all insane!
But there won’t ever be a better time to explore yourself, remember what Sarah said.
Never mind what she’d said. Karen wanted her. Badly. It might only have been the open gesture of affection. It might have been the sight of her smoking a cigar. She would go to sleep tonight thinking of that cigar, and the way she had her lips around it.
Shiver me timbers!
“Celebration time” Minnie announced, and just when the day couldn’t get any stranger, everyone packed up and Karen was escorted down to a bar at the lobby level of the building. It was called ’Office Relations’. Aptly named so she thought.
Rochelle asked her what she would like to drink, Rochelle turned out to be quite the comedienne and asked her if she’d like tea, Karen said tea wasn’t going to cut it, she’d have a beer.
She was shredding snippets of paper from her beer bottle, penned in by Carolyn on one side, Minnie on the other and across from her a lass she guessed had been under the desk before based on the fact that the footwear was the same. She was a very pretty girl. Her was called Skylar.
“Its sooo exciting! We’ve never had a Brit work here before” Minnie squealed, Skylar looked a little downtrodden by this. Karen could have told her not to worry. Minnie wasn’t her type. But on the Chain, what did that count for? Not only would she be sleeping with women, but some of them wouldn’t be to her taste.
Ah-ha! So you HAVE decided to go through with it.
Yes. Yes she had. It was a gift. The freedom to expand her horizons, meet new people, touch willing flesh.
She shivered.
“Goose stepped on your grave” Rochelle huffed out cigarette smoke.
“Sommat like that yeah” she smiled.
“Some-at?” Minnie said.
“Yeah, summat” Karen smiled back, it was funny to think here
she
was considered the strange one. They were the ones working at the ‘All Lesbian Law firm’.
“What does it mean?” Skylar asked timidly.
“Well, it’s slang, we say it instead of ‘something’. It comes from the expression ‘something like that’, squeeze them together and get ‘summat”
“That’s freaky” Rochelle said then darted back to the bar.
“There’s plenty more where that came from” Her beer bottle sat in a shroud of shredded paper, she hadn’t had to buy one drink, they just kept appearing in front of her.
There was a real danger here of getting wasted. Rochelle was gassing into her mobile at the bar, she turned to Karen and nodded and then went back to the mobile and looking at the barman.
Minnie shuffled round a little closer. Karen felt her leg right up against her now. If it wasn’t for the beer this might have alarmed her but she let whatever was happening happen. This was all new. But it was also interesting. Looking for some support from the receptionist she turned to find she’d gone too.
Just as she thought Skylar was going to throw a fit because Minnie was being obvious she looked down, nodded and promptly left.
Rochelle brought the beers over. She hadn’t bought one for herself.
“Well girls. Happy trails”
Eh?
“Erm,” Karen jumped up and knocked one of the bottles over, Minnie grabbed it and righted it, “You off?”
“Yeah” she grinned. “Got plans for tonight. And it looks like you do too.” She pulled her closer so her lips were tickling her ear.
“Minnie there never goes higher than the beginning, she’s a sweet enough girl though. I’ll pick you up in the morning” she looked over her shoulder at Minnie.
“I’ll see you in the morning” more a statement then a question.
She felt a little ill.