Bound Friends Pt. 10

She could feel herself approaching another orgasm and simply continued rocking, this time not asking for anything. She flipped herself and Valeria onto their sides so they could both get a better range of motion, and seemingly at the same time both girls began shaking into another orgasm.

This time though, both of them stopped. Valeria began untying Lea's arms and inspecting the rope to make sure it wasn't damaged. As Lea stood up and walked to the corner, Valeria turned the shower on and began to bathe her. Valeria washed Lea thoroughly and dried her off before beginning to shower herself. She was much faster and by the time Lea was dressed again Valeria was just finishing.

Lea looked at the time on her phone. "What time is it?" Valeria asked.

"10:34, why?" Lea asked

"Well, they usually let the losers from the night arena down at 10:30 so that everything can be cleared out in anticipation of the 11 o'clock show. If you wanted to talk to your friend now might be a time." Valeria explained. Lea was less confident but it was a perfect opportunity to catch Sophia. But then she thought about what she saw last night and started to shake a little with worry and guilt.

"Hey," Valeria said as she leaned in and held Sophia's shoulders. "It's going to be alright."

Lea wasn't as confident of that. "Can you come with me?" Lea asked, afraid that if she tried alone she might not be able to do it. Valeria said that of course she would.

The two of them walked back towards the coliseum plaza where all the crosses were now flat on the floor as staff members, this time not in any costume, were at work untying them. Many of them seemed to have trouble walking, but they were helped up and shuffled off towards the staff only door at the back. She could see Sophia just sitting up with someone examining her hands before wrapping them up in bandages and helping her to her feet. She was now no longer blindfolded and as she saw Lea approaching she burst into tears.

"Oh my god, Oh I missed you so much," Sophia said as she started limping towards Lea before the two of them began to hug. She was still naked except for her slave collar and bandages around her hands.

"Sophia I'm so sorry, I can't imagine.."

"No! No, you stop that, this isn't your fault." Sophia said as she cut off Lea. "No please, I'm already suffering in here, I don't want you to be suffering over that too. OK, I need you to forgive yourself, just be happy we're finally getting a chance to see each other again." Sophia said as she continued her tight hug. "Where am I next?" Sophia asked as she turned back to the staff.

"Says here, you've got a meal and then you've got a few hours to sleep before you get back to work."

"Can they come with me for any of that?" She asked pleadingly but not demandingly.

"Well, it looks like she's actually still on her shift, but if that guest is willing to continue to pay the standard rate you can have her join," he said after checking over a tablet.

"This is goodbye then I guess, do i need to do anything else?" Lea asked as she turned to Valeria.

Valeria shook her head no and simply kissed her on the cheek. "Good luck with everything," she said as she walked back towards the market hall.

"So, please, catch me up. And if you don't mind paying I can actually have some decent food for once," Sophia said as she started walking with a good amount of her weight on Lea.

"Of course, anything for you."

****

The two of them caught up over food and blew deep into what was supposed to be Sophia's rest time. Lea pointed that out, but Sophia simply said that hearing from her again was better than an extra few hours of sleep anyway. Sophia shared everything she had been through and Lea shared everything that had been happening with them, about her brother, about Andrea's girlfriend. In a momentary slip, she even shared how jealous she got watching Zainab being with Andrea before realizing what she was just admitting to.

"Oh shit. OK, promise me that stays between us," Lea said as she contemplated backpedaling but decided swearing to secrecy was maybe easier.

"I promise, besides I have to get Felix to agree to let me communicate with anyone long distance and he hasn't said yes once so who am I going to tell?" Sophia said, trying to make light of her own circumstances. "So, how long have you thought about Andrea that way?"

Lea paused, she still didn't feel comfortable sharing, but she also wanted desperately to have someone to talk this through with. "For a while now. After the FetFair, once we started playing together. Somewhere, with her, it started blurring the line between desire to play and simply desire. I tried to ignore it, that didn't work. But I was afraid if I told any of you, well then you wouldn't feel comfortable around me anymore. I mean at the time Andrea still called herself straight, she was never a real possibility, and so I was more able to justify not doing anything about it."

"Then the blow up?" Sophia asked.

"Yeah, I mean don't get me wrong you had a big part in that too. But after weeks of knowing nothing could happen, actually hearing it was still devastating. I couldn't be around you because of the box, I couldn't be around Andrea because I kept hearing her yelling back at you she doesn't love me, and I couldn't be around Megan without thinking of one or both of the two of you. But now a few weeks ago Andrea calls me up, starts asking me when I first noticed I liked girls, saying how she's not sure any more. I, niave me, thought she might be thinking about me. Then I get down there and I get introduced to this girlfriend. I didn't handle it well."

"Wow, that sucks," Sophia said. "Don't worry, I'll keep this to myself."

Lea began to tear up and move over to hug Sophia. "Thank you, and I promise I'm going to find a way to get you out of here, I'm not going to let you live like this forever."

"Just, whatever you do, try not to mention you want to buy me specifically, Felix kind of really hates me. If he knows a friend wants to buy me he might just say no out of spite. I think the only way he'll sell me is if he doesn't know it's me specifically you're buying. I guess that's what you get when you almost kill someone."

"I'll try," Lea said as she broke off the long hug. "Well you only have three hours left, I would feel bad if I ate into much more of your sleep time."

"It's fine, just.. take care. And just.. when you tell Andrea and Megan.. I don't know this is the kind of thing they'd want to hear over the phone." Sophia said as she got up. She didn't want to admit it but she was beyond dead tired.

"I will, and you take care too. Hopefully I can get you out of here so just, don't give them more reason to make you suffer," Lea said as she pointed to the palm of one of her hands.

"Goodbye Lea,"

"For now. Goodbye for now. I'll see you soon I hope," Lea said as she closed the door behind her. She didn't know what she was going to do but she needed a plan.

****

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Olsen is very busy and has no time at all today to meet with anyone," the snippy assistant said from behind his desk. "May I ask what this is regarding?" he asked, seemingly with no patience for this random drop in guest asking to see the owner on a Sunday.

"Tell him it's regarding the sale of a girl with a level nine contract," Lea said, only stretching the truth a tiny bit.

The assistant's face suddenly became more serious, like Lea had just said the password to prove she was a member of the right secret society. He scanned over the computer screen. "I am sorry, he really doesn't have any openings until at least Friday the second. We have someone else you can talk to about selling,"

"No, this really needs to be him I think," Lea said.

"Ok, well would you like to leave any information besides your name?"

"No, I think it's better to talk to him in person. So what time should I be back?" Lea asked, getting out her phone to take this down.

"Well, I've got 10 minutes early in the morning, 10:50. I also have an afternoon appointment at 3:15 which would work better for you?"

Lea had two classes that day, but they were both a lecture hall of over a hundred students that never bothered with attendance, they wouldn't miss her. "First available, the morning would be fine."

Lea fretted nearly non-stop. She had no idea what her plan would be. Surely as soon as Felix found out she wanted to buy and not sell he would lose interest. He was supposed to be badly short staffed after all. She was coming up blank.

Then of course there was the other job that seemed almost as daunting; how on earth would she break this news to Megan and Andrea. She had promised Sophia she wouldn't do it over the phone, but she wasn't sure Andrea wanted very much to see her. Andrea didn't even take her call when she tried, though Megan did.

"Hi there," Megan said as she answered.

"Hi, so.. I was.. not to jump to the chase but is Andrea still too pissed to see me? I tried calling her and my call got rejected, there's something I really need to say to her. You also, but I really think it should be done in person," Lea asked

"Well, it's easy to reject a call. But if you're offering up an apology, I assume that's what you're meaning, it's not as easy to turn you away when you're standing right there."

"Sure, but she'd have to agree to see me still," Lea said, not wanting to correct Megan about the topic.

"Are you free Thursday? If you are, dress formally and come down, there's a party Andrea, Zainab and I will be at. And they definitely aren't going to leave it if they see you, it's at the embassy for Surdan's Independence Day. It's probably your best chance to get her to see you in the near future."

"You think it's possible it could just be you, me and Andrea for this?" Lea asked, not sure what her reaction might be if Zainab was there for the news too.

"That's.. probably not going to happen. Besides you owe Zainab an apology as much as anyone."

Lea couldn't deny that she owed her an apology, but that wasn't exactly what she was aiming to talk about most. But this was at least a way to talk to them at all, so she agreed.

Much like costumes, Lea never did formal very much. She never went to fancy parties that might require one and never felt like dressing up just for herself. She ended up getting a rather modest black halter dress. It left her arms bare and showed a little bit of black, but it also went all the way down to her knees, there was no mistaking it for a seductress's dress which is just how Lea wanted it. This was about Sophia, not Andrea.

The embassy was surprisingly modest given the island nation's international reputation as a magnet for the wealthy and excessive. Not much bigger than two mansions with a patio between them. She had driven up with Megan, being Megan's "+1" was after all how she planned to get in. Andrea and Zainab should already be there, but it was still early and so it was still quiet and modestly empty.

"What are you doing here?" Andrea snapped bitterly as she saw Lea walk up to her alongside Megan.

"You've got every right to be pissed," Megan said, trying to play mediator. "But she's here to say something and it's important."

"Thanks," Lea said softly to Megan. "Andrea, Zainab, I'm sorry. You both have every right to hate me, what I did has no excuse. I somehow just lost control utterly and I promise that it will never happen again."

Andrea looked skeptically at Lea but seemed eventually to accept it. Zainab seemed to wait for Andrea's reaction and then herself accepted.

"But that's not why I came down here," Lea said.

"It's not?" Megan asked. "Then what else is it about?"

"Any chance it could just be the three of us?" She asked, looking at Andrea.

"No, if you can say it to me you can say it to her."

"Fine.. it's about Sophia," she said, causing Megan to walk around beside Andrea to face Lea rather than simply stand beside her. "Carl's dead. And apparently everything he had, including Sophia's contract, was passed down to his son. Now Carl's son, a guy named Felix, is putting Sophia to work in some really horrible ways. He's not respecting Carl's agreement at all and is just using her to the greatest extent the contract allows. I was able to track her down, she seems like she's holding up but I don't know how much longer that will last."

The three were breathless, listening and not knowing what to make of it.

"I've got a meeting with Felix tomorrow, I'm going to try to buy her contract. I probably should have just tried that from the start, I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. But I don't know if it will work. Apparently he's currently more in need of workers than money, so I don't know if he'll sell for what I'm able to offer."

A slow silence crept across the group. "Do you need anything?" Megan finally asked.

"I doubt it. Unless you've got a pile of cash laying around," Lea replied sarcastically.

"I could maybe talk to my uncle, he's.." Zainab slowly started to reply before Lea cut her off.

"That's generous, and if it'll just be a matter of getting more money I'll maybe take you up on it."

"So when would we know anything?" Andrea asked, clutching Zainab as she was very visibly distraught.

"If it works.. if I reach a deal.. I'll let you know tomorrow. Otherwise.. well let's just cross that bridge when we come to it," Lea said, looking mostly at Megan and away from Andrea/Zainab. She tried not to concern herself too much with the worry of not finding a way to fix it. She felt she had to fix it. She felt responsible to a degree for what Sophia was going through, and she needed to figure out a way to make it right or she just might never sleep right again. She certainly hadn't been able to over the last few nights since she came back from Atlantic City.

"So now that you're here, you wanna stay for the party?" Andrea asked with her arm still around Zainab.

"Not really in a party mood," Lea said. "Besides, it's a few hours back by car and I have a morning meeting to prepare myself for."

"I understand," Andrea said as she stood up and walked over to hug Lea goodbye. "Take care," Megan said, cutting in as soon as Andrea had pulled back. Then when she was done, Zainab moved in for her turn, Lea worked hard to hide any reaction. "And remember if it's that bad I might be able to get some money from my uncle to help," she whispered into Lea's ear. Lea hoped it didn't come to that for many reasons. Some rational like the knowledge that they would then simply be indebted to Zainab while still needing to pay Sophia's monthly expenses. Then there were the less rational, she didn't much like Zainab and she didn't want Sophia's freedom to be forever tied to her. She knew rationally if it were the only way then fine, but.. hopefully not.

****

"So, Lea is it?" Felix asked as he invited Lea in to sit down.

"Yes sir, thanks for seeing me," Lea said as she started to extend a hand for a handshake, but withdrew it when he simply sat back and made no effort to meet her halfway.

"So I've been told this has something to do with some more level 9 contracts. I do have a guy that deals with hiring, is there a reason you're coming all the way to me?" he asked very directly.

"Well, to put it bluntly, I was hoping to actually acquire one of the level 9s you have already working for you," Lea blurted out quickly, hoping speed could soften the blow.

"That's just not possible right now. See, we're in a transition period right now. My dad never really updated his casinos to reflect the new realities. When the Supreme Court ruled last winter that any and all laws restricting what kinds of contracts a business rather than individual can accept, I moved fast to change the one casino I was in charge of. He had his reservations though, he didn't want to rebuild any of it, he was just too fond of what he built to see any fault. But I was almost bringing in as much from the new adult entertainment as I was from the gambling. Most of the volume is just your typical brothel fare, but the money you can charge for the rarities? Forget it. So first thing I'm doing is trying to build those kind of specialized services up in every one of the casinos. And that takes women. Women willing to agree do some very demanding and unsavory work. OK, and a few men, but let's not joke around here, I see here when you stayed with us last week you enjoyed the company of two of these women," he said, finishing by checking something on his computer screen.

"So I don't want your money right now. Right now I'm trying to get these up and running before any of the other casinos do, to put us out front and centre in this arena. Make us the go-to before the market gets flooded with later-comers. To put it bluntly it's a race. It's only been legal across the nation for just over 8 months and you wouldn't believe how many casinos are working on remodels to reflect the new laws. I need to make sure for the long term future that Olsen Resorts is the one of the first to finish. Right now you could back up a dump truck of money and unless there's a girl driving it who's willing to sign a level 8 or above contract I'm not interested," he continued, painting a very bleak but oddly understandable picture for Lea.

"And what would you do for one of these girls?" Lea asked

"Well, if they could start quickly and they stay at an absolute minimum of.. Lets see," he said as he began scanning the computer. "I'd say they'd need to stay on till at least middle of March when I'm more in a position to let people go. I'll double check with some people to be sure. And you'd still need to be willing to pay a bit on top of all that, then I'd maybe consider it," he said leaning forward and putting his finger down on his desk as he ran through conditions like he was running through invisible bullet points.

"Well, if I find someone, when would they.."

"Today. If I could get an extra body for this weekend that would make things go a lot smoother at the other place, there's already looking like I might have to push the opening back, but I already advertised and don't want to make it look like I'm falling behind," he said, interrupting Lea.

"OK, well if I could get someone out here today, for a level 9 contract, and I pay, then I'd want my choice of who I'd take with me at the end of this. And I mean I want to be able to look through your whole staff list, no one level 9 off limit, is that something that you could live with?"

"So long as it's only one person, and you don't take the contract till March when the other contract's up," he said as he started typing something on the computer at his desk.

"What if I just come back in March or April? If you're more in a position to sell then.."

"Just because I could let someone go doesn't mean I would want to. It might still hurt to let someone go so soon into the rebuilding of everything, but I'd rather it hurt later and have someone extra now. If all you're offering is money, I'm not sure I'd even be interested by April to tell you the truth. Demand for woman willing to do this kind of work is high, I'm guessing that's why you're trying to buy from me in the first place," he said as he finished typing. Lea had no response.

"So how about this, I've given the details to my assistant outside. He'll check the dates and pass it on to legal and get a contract to you within the hour. I got an opening later this afternoon, if you have someone in good enough physical shape willing to sign then we've got a deal."

"I will definitely look over the terms and get back to you this afternoon. Do you have a conference room I could look these over?"

"Sure, just tell my assistant you need a room and he'll get everything set up for you."