Bad Favors

Ford laughs, and there’s no mistaking the taunt in it. “Relax, Thalia… It’s not because I think you’re special or anything. It’s just that you’re a temporary employee and you’re specifically working for me since I’m personally loaning you the money. I’m not going to waste any of my other staff’s time to train you when it won’t benefit the club in the long term.”

It made sense. I guess.

Ford turns toward his office door and issues a curt, “Come. Follow me.”

“Please,” I mumble softly under my breath so he can’t hear my backhanded rebuke for not being polite. I turn around and jog to keep up with him, clutching the three hangers to my chest. From his office, we turn left. Stopping, he points to a door that says Locker Room.

“It’s unisex, but I have dressing rooms in there that are private,” Ford says. “Go get dressed. You can put your stuff in a locker. They have programmable digital locks. I’ll wait here for you. We’ll get started after that.”

Ford leans back casually against the wall and doesn’t give me a second glance. I watch for only a moment as he pulls his smartphone out of his breast pocket and starts working it.

Not eager in the slightest to get started, I still make myself turn and walk into the locker room, my nerves humming with nervousness and some other emotion I can’t quite put my finger on, but it’s making me feel like I’m walking on a razor’s edge.

I had thought cleaning semen and other fluids off the furniture would be a completely humiliating task. What I found out, however, is that no one watches the people who do the cleaning. It’s ingenious how the rooms are set up to accommodate that. For example, here in The Debauch Room, there are a multitude of beds and lounges covered in black vinyl and set into black acrylic and chrome frames. They sit low to the floor and are spread around the room in what appears to be a haphazard design. The floor is made up of large, square, frosted panels set into steel supports and run at a diagonal across the room. The colors change from a dusky rose to a cream color, which can enhance the mood of the music playing. From the ceiling, massive silk lampshades colored ice blue and formed into quirky shapes hang down. There are dozens of them, some wider and some longer, giving a very multidimensional look. The lampshades are fitted with muted lightbulbs to keep the atmosphere intimate but not completely dark. People definitely want to see what’s happening in this room.

What isn’t visible among the multitude of the lampshades hanging from the ceiling are very small but very bright lights that are aimed in a critical fashion on the beds and chaise lounges to provide a spotlight on any action that might occur there. When a couple or group is done with that piece of furniture, the light goes out. It indicates to the staff that the furniture needs cleaned. My job is to sweep in like a ghost to sanitize and dry the furniture. When it’s clean, the spotlight is turned back on and it’s opened for more fucking.

I’d asked Ford about this last night as my curiosity was going to kill me. I was surprised about the semen. I mean… it’s a public sex club and I assumed people would wear condoms. To his credit, Ford didn’t laugh at me. He explained that many of the couples here don’t swing. Their pleasure is either having sex with others present or doing fetish stuff and as such, they didn’t use condoms because they were monogamous. But he assured me the bulk of people suited up for protection, which meant I was mostly cleaning up sweat and perhaps lipstick if a woman was pushed facedown or something.

At least, that’s how my imagination works.

But more importantly, no one watches the people who are cleaning the vinyl because they’re busy ogling each other or other couples having sex. It becomes quickly apparent to me I am virtually unnoticeable in this job position, and I am freaking so grateful for it. Grateful to Ford that he gave me an easy, inconspicuous job on my first night.

On the flip side, it’s not a job that keeps me busy at all times. When there’s nothing to clean, I have to stand at the perimeter of the room in the shadows and just watch the action. Looking away isn’t an option because I have to be ready when a spotlight goes out. I make a mental note to myself to bring extra panties tomorrow.