The Gray Dove Ch. 01

Jessie McCallister looked around the loud, smoke-filled room and sighed. It was only 7:00 on Saturday evening and the saloon was already packed with cowboys fresh off the trail and looking for a drink, a card game and the relaxation that the rooms upstairs offered. The Gray Dove was known for the quality of its girls, both their beauty and their skills at pleasuring a man. It was therefore a favorite destination of cowboys, gamblers, politicians and a variety of other men passing through Reno. Miss Lorraine, the proprietress, was known to run a quality establishment and, as a result, her girls weren't exposed to the most base of society as were many of the girls who worked in the seedier saloons and brothels in town. With all that, they knew that their primary job was to provide a good time for the men who were willing to pay their services. Jessie ruefully reflected that a whore was still a whore, no matter the quality of the clientele. But, she was grateful to work for a woman like Miss Lorraine, who was very good to her girls and provided safety and stability, a rarity in a town where the competition was so stringent.

The batwing doors flew open to admit yet another tide of laughing, shouting cowboys and Jessie's eyes lit up as they fell upon one particular tanned face under a shock of sandy blond hair. His eyes met hers and, bidding his companions a quick farewell, he headed straight for her.

"Hey there, Cowboy! Now, this is a nice surprise," Jessie said with a genuine smile as the handsome man took off his hat in a gesture of deference toward her. "Otis, pull me a beer for Luke, here. He looks hot and thirsty and in need of a little refreshment." The last word was said in a light, teasing tone but left no doubt as to the fact that the refreshment she was referring to had nothing to do with the liquor served at the saloon.

"Miss Jessie, its real good to see you. I been thinkin' about you for the last two weeks," Lucas Morgan said, accepting the beer gratefully but never taking his eyes off Jessie. He wasn't lying; they'd been on the cattle drive for six weeks and the last two had been occupied by thoughts of the beautiful young woman standing in front of him. At night he had dreamt of her long auburn hair, her sparkling green eyes and her soft, soft body moving beneath his, the sound of her moans waking him from sleep and leaving him with a raging hard on. After the drives were over, the boss always took the men into Reno for a weekend of pleasure before they returned to the large ranch just outside of Carson City. Luke had met Jessie at the Gray Dove four years ago and she had immediately spoiled him for any of the other girls in Reno. Actually, she had spoiled him for most other women, period. Therefore, he had been anticipating the end of this drive in order to relieve six months worth of pent up tension.

Jessie's smile softened as she looked at the man in front of her. In the six years that she'd worked for Miss Lorraine, she'd lain with more men than she could ever even begin to count. Most were nice enough but it was always clear that she was there for one thing only; to satisfy them in whatever manner they desired since they were plunking down their hard earned cash for the privilege. But there were a few who were as interested in giving her pleasure as well as seeking it out and Luke Morgan was at the top of that list. He never failed to treat her with the utmost respect and kindness, he never made her feel like her sole worth lay in the soft curls between her legs, and he was a generous lover, always holding off on his own release until he knew that she had found hers. In short, he always treated her like a lady and never made her feel like a whore. She looked forward to the two or three visits that she received from him each year more than any other man who came through the doors of the Gray Dove.

"You look good, Luke. Dirty, but good," Jessie said softly, reaching up and running her fingers along his tanned face.

"Yes, ma'am. I intend to have a nice, hot bath and a shave, and then I'd like to spend some time with you, Miss Jessie. That is, if you're agreeable," he said, hoping to hell that her answer was yes and she wasn't already engaged for the evening, as he felt a bulge already forming in his pants at the mere touch of her fingers.

"Of course I'm agreeable, Luke," she said with a light laugh that was like sparkling water. "I've been looking forward to seeing you, too."

"Good. Because I want an all nighter, not just a few hours of your time," he said firmly.

Jessie's eyes widened. While Miss Lorraine had built her clientele upon the idea that men deserved to spend a nice, leisurely amount of time with her girls without feeling rushed or pressured, most of her girls still serviced five to six gentlemen apiece during the course of an evening. She didn't encourage all nighters, however made occasional exceptions with the understanding that the prices were much higher. Jessie knew that Miss Lorraine had a soft spot for her and would allow Luke to have her for the whole night, but she also knew how hard he worked to save his money. After their first encounter, they had lain in bed and talked for a while and he had told her that he was saving to buy his own spread someday.

"Luke, are you sure? I mean..."

"I want you for the whole night, Darlin'" he said determinedly. "I've thought of nothin' but you at night for the last six months and I want to spend every minute with you that I can."

"Alright," Jessie said, "Let me go tell Miss Lorraine and then let's get you into a nice, hot bathtub."

As expected, Jessie had no trouble clearing her plans with the owner of the Gray Dove and ordered a hot meal from the kitchen. That was part of the deal when a man paid for an all nighter; it included the price of a bath, a meal in the lady's room and as many drinks as the gentleman cared for. She then returned to Luke and, taking his hand, led him up the stairs.

Stopping in front of the door to the bathing room, Luke turned and prevented her from going inside. It was a large room filled with four tin tubs but was partitioned off with sheets hanging from wires, to give at least a small amount of privacy to the bather. Luke knew that he could have asked her to join him, as being bathed and shaved by one of the girls was also included in the price of an all nighter, as well as joining him in the tub if that's what he wished. But he didn't want her that way, it seemed demeaning in a way that sharing her bed didn't. He knew that it was just an odd notion of his, but he still didn't want her to feel like a servant to him.

"Why don't you go on to your room? I'll meet you there in a bit after I flake off a few layers of dust," he said, with a smile.

"You're sure you remember which one's mine?" Jessie asked, teasing him.

"Darlin, I could find it blindfolded in the middle of a hurricane," he laughed, winking at her then enjoying the view from behind as she turned and headed down the hall. The girl had a luscious body with full breasts, a small waist and full, womanly hips above a pair of long legs: she was a pure delight to ride. Watching her sway as she walked was truly one of life's pleasures.

While Luke occupied himself in the bathing room, Jessie hurried to her room to get ready for him. With most of her customers she simply removed her dress and entertained in her lacy corset with the silk stockings attached to the garters, leaving her nude from the waist down. When she had first come to work for Miss Lorraine, she wore the undergarments that she was used to wearing, which included a chemise, a corset and bloomers. However it quickly became clear that removing all of said garments took too long for the impatient, lusty men that she serviced. After consulting with the other girls, she began wearing some of the lacy corsets that Miss Lorraine picked up for them at the special shop that she visited in San Francisco twice a year. They gave the girl the freedom to complete her business wearing only the corset and stockings or, as some of the gentlemen preferred, simply bent over the bed or straddling them, fully clothed but with her pussy still fully available for their pleasure.

But tonight, Jessie wanted to look different for Luke. As she removed the full skirted bright green dress, she looked at herself in the mirror. Removing the pins from her thick auburn hair, she allowed it to tumble down her back in wild abandon. She realized that the vision that she made, with the black lace only accentuating her smooth, pale skin, the high breasts that were nearly overflowing the top of the corset and the pretty triangle of soft red curls which adorned the juncture between the black silk covered thighs would be one that most of her customers would relish. But to herself, she looked like what she was. A whore. A beautiful one, but still, a whore. Tonight, she wanted to look like a woman for Luke, a warm, passionate, vibrant woman.

Walking over to the bureau, she pulled open the middle drawer and pulled out the beautiful pale pink silk gown and matching, filmy negligee that covered it. It had been a gift from Miss Lorraine last year. It had been purchased at an elegant shop in San Francisco and given to Jessie for five years of service at the Gray Dove, along with a substantial bonus which had promptly been deposited into her bank account. Lorraine was very generous with her girls, and she knew that Jessie was one of her most profitable employees. Therefore, she wanted to give her incentive to stay where she was for as long as possible.

As Jessie slipped the delicate gown over her head, she enjoyed the feel of the luxurious material against her skin. The pale pink was just a shade lighter than the quarter sized aureoles and pert nipples that crested the lovely breasts that the fabric covered. Sitting at her dressing table, she began to brush her hair and allowed her thoughts to drift back over the circumstances that had brought her here. She never allowed herself to indulge in self pity, but tonight she couldn't prevent her thoughts from drifting back to her former life. Her life before the Gray Dove.

Her parents and she had been on their way to California from Minnesota when their wagon had overturned on the side of a hill outside Elko, Nevada. She had been thrown clear, suffering only a broken wrist and several cuts and scrapes, but both of her parents had been crushed as the wagon tumbled over and over. A rancher on his way to Elko had come upon the devastation and taken the young girl into town with him before returning with others to bury her parents. She had been taken to the doctor and then to the orphanage, where she lived from age twelve until she married at sixteen.

Jackson Pierce had been the youngest son of the owner of the biggest spread around Elko. His father, Wilson Pierce, was excessively proud of it, making him arrogant and demanding. He passed these traits onto his four sons, whom he groomed to take over his empire. As the older three grew and married, it was clear that the Pierce men measured their wives worth solely upon their ability to bear them sons.

The youngest son, Jackson, had remained unmarried, preferring to bed the local whores at the two saloons in Elko. He also cut quite a swath through the daughters of several of the neighboring ranches and local businessmen. He liked his girls young, enjoyed using them for his pleasure and then discarding them, always returning to the whores. After all, deflowering a virgin was a specific pleasure, but he preferred to bed an experienced woman who knew that it was her job to satisfy his every desire, no matter how rough or twisted.

As Jack approached his thirtieth birthday , Wilson had finally put his foot down and insisted that his youngest son take a wife within the year and join his brothers in siring the next generation of Pierces. At about the same time, Jack had begun to take notice of Jessie. He had seen her running errands to and from the orphanage since she had first come to Elko, but in the last year, she had begun to develop into a beauty with a figure that even the plain, shapeless dresses worn at the orphanage couldn't disguise. So, he decided to marry the young girl to sire his sons, knowing that he could bend her to his will, and could still continue his dalliances with the local whores for his own pleasure.

When he came to speak to Jessie about his proposal, he made his expectations of her clear.

"You'll have my sons, you'll take care of them and raise them. That's what a good wife does, Jessie," Jack had said. "In exchange, you'll get to live on one of the biggest ranches in the state and you'll have everything that you could need."

Jessie, in her desperation to escape the orphanage, had agreed to marry a man who was a stranger to her. It was a decision that she would later regret.

For a while, marriage was better than Jessie had expected. She settled into life at the large ranch with the rest of the Pierce family. They all lived under one roof and, as a result, Jessie suddenly found herself with three sisters in law and several nieces and nephews. The other brothers wives had compassion for Jessie, largely due to her age, but also because they had so little respect for her husband. While it was always made clear to them that their main purpose in the family was to bear and nurture the next generation of Pierces, there was a degree of honest affection between their husbands and them. All three women knew that Jessie would never experience that with Jack. Therefore they tried to make her life amongst them as pleasant as they possibly could.

Six months into their marriage, Jack AND his father began to wonder why Jessie wasn't pregnant yet. Jack knew that her monthly cycles didn't run regularly, as it had caused him to believe that she had fulfilled one of her wifely duties two months into their marriage. He asked about their uninterrupted marital relations and her lack of a monthly, and she told him that it wasn't unusual for her to miss several during a year. When it became clear that she wasn't pregnant, Jack redoubled his determination to make her so. However six months, then a year, then a year and a half passed, and it seemed clear that Jessie was not going to be unable to fulfill the most basic of the duties of a good wife. She was not going to be able to produce a son for Jackson Pierce, and that simply was not acceptable.

So, as their second anniversary was approached, Jessie found herself sitting beside her husband on a train enroute to Reno. Jack had told her that he was taking her away for a few weeks, in honor of her eighteenth birthday and their second wedding anniversary. He told her that if they had an opportunity for some time to their selves, perhaps Jessie would be able to relax enough for them to resume their intimacies and conceive a child.

As the train pulled into Reno, Jack made arrangements for a wagon and had their trunks loaded upon it, which Jesse thought was odd. Asking why he didn't have them delivered to the hotel, Jack simply looked at her and clucked to the horses. They rode in silence for several minutes, Jessie looking into the wagon behind them for the first time. Just as it dawned upon her that only her trunks were present, they pulled up in front of a saloon and Jack pulled the wagon to a halt.

Jessie looked around her, confused and suddenly afraid as Jack leapt down from the wagon seat and pulled Jessie's trunks out of the wagon and dropped them on the sidewalk. Walking back over to her, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the side of the wagon and then lifted her down , carrying her to the same location as her trunks and then putting her down.

By this time, an attractive woman in a very expensive lavender and lace dress came through the batwing doors to investigate what was going on in front of her establishment. She immediately recognized Jackson Pierce although she hadn't seen him for several years. He had never been a favorite customer of hers and her girls complained that he was unpleasant and demeaning to them in bed. But what he said next dumbfounded even Lorraine Harris, who thought she'd heard everything over the years.

"Jack, what are you doing? Why are we here?" Jessie asked, her eyes wide and frightened as she clutched at her husband's arm.

"This is where you belong," he said coldly, shaking her hand away. "You're not a real woman, Jessie, a real woman can give a man son's to carry on his name. You couldn't do that, and I think those old women at the orphanage knew that when they forced you off on me. You didn't live up to your end of the marriage, so I'm here to get rid of you. Pa's lawyer drew up all the papers and I'm here to file them. In six weeks, it'll be legal and I'll be done with you for good."

Jessie looked at her husband through tear filled eyes, unable to believe what she was hearing. Surely he wouldn't.....couldn't do this to her! Even Jackson Pierce, in all his selfishness and arrogance wouldn't leave her here, would he?

"Jack, you can't!" Jessie gasped, mindless of the tears falling freely down her face. "You can't leave me here! I'm your wife! I've never seen the papers you're talking about and have never signed anything! What are you saying?!"

"You don't have to sign a thing. The law says that a man can walk away from any woman who's barren and she doesn't have any say in the matter. It's been two years, girl, that's more than enough time. I'm getting rid of you and leaving you at one of the only places you'll ever amount to anything. You ought to be grateful to me, Jessie. I done taught you things that it takes most whores years to learn. You'll start off making your living on your back like an old pro. See that woman, there?" Jack asked, nodding toward the woman in lavender who had previously escaped Jessie's notice. "That there is Miss Lorraine, the head whore herself here at the Gray Dove. I'm sure she'll be happy to take you under her wing"

Jack laughed out loud as Lorraine Harris bristled and began to walk toward the two, eyes flashing.

"Miss Lorraine Harris, this here's Jessie McCallister. No use you calling her Jessie Pierce, cause in six weeks she won't have no legal claim to the name. Jessie, Miss Lorraine here can set you up in nice style so that you can earn a living doin' what you do best. Don't worry, Miss Lorraine, she'll make one of the best whores you've ever had, I trained her myself. And you KNOW how particular I am. Now, to get you started off in your new life right, here's two hundred dollars, Jessie." Jack shoved the rolled up bills down the front of Jessie's dress, insultingly. "I think you've earned at least that much by opening your legs to me over the last two years. But that's the last dollar you'll ever see from me. I'll have the divorce papers sent to you here. Ladies."

The final word was spoken with a sneer and Jack Pierce lifted his hat in mocking respect as he bid them farewell and jumped up onto the wagon seat. Slapping the reins down on the horses backs, he headed them back toward the train station and rode out of Jessie's life forever.