A Lady in the Streets

Mia was just about ready to strangle her.

She ran her eyes over the next page of her bank statement. Maybe I shouldn't strangle her. She'd probably like that. A hundred and fourteen dollars for "David's Dark Delights". Twenty one dollars and ninety-five cents to a store simply named "The Sex Shop". Several more transactions didn't have such obvious names attached, but Mia was completely certain they weren't purchases she'd made herself.

Isabella had done it. She'd finally crossed the line. It was bad enough she was getting packages of this filth delivered here, but stealing her credit card details to do it was beyond the pale. Mia was going to give her a piece of her mind and tell her to start looking for somewhere else to live. Frankly, Bella was lucky she didn't want to get the police involved.

She should have seen this coming a long time ago. She was by far the worst roommate she'd ever had. Last month, she found a pile of her clothing in Bella's room. She had... friends over at all sorts of ungodly hours making disgusting animal noises she could hear from her bedroom. She assumed she was on drugs, but had never actually caught her with them. Mia strongly disapproved of Bella's lifestyle, but tried not to comment on it. She tried to be tolerant. If only that were where the issues ended. She never did any of the housework. Getting rent out of her was like pulling teeth, and she insisted on paying in cash. If Mia had an ulcer, it would be named Isabella.

"Bella!" she shouted as entered the hallway.

There was no response. She started knocking on her door.

"Bella, are you in there? We need to talk."

Nothing. She sighed and opened the door, an act she regretted almost immediately.

"Oh, yuck," she said to nobody in particular.

Bella was nowhere to be found, although Mia now knew far too much about what she'd been up to last night and this morning. The room absolutely reeked of sex. The bedsheets were a mess and discarded lingerie was haphazardly strewn across the ground. There was a magic wand on the bedside table, which Mia presumed was one of the many things her own credit card had been used to pay for. The pièce de résistance was a large used condom that had been unceremoniously dumped on the edge of the bed. It was still slightly leaking semen, and there was a visible mark on the bed where some had dried around it.

Mia left the room as quickly as she'd entered it. She raced to the kitchen sink and struggled not to dry retch. God she is so gross. She took a minute to collect herself, then found a pair of tongs in the kitchen and grabbed the tiny bin from under the sink. She ran back into the room, and in one swift manoeuvre fished the used condom up and into the bin, her nose pointed firmly away from it all. Sex was disgusting. Sure, it felt good, but it was so slimey, dirty, base and guttural. Since she lost her virginity in high school she'd been unable to bring herself to participate again, it just made her feel so... icky. Maybe some day if she wanted to have children. With the right guy, of course. I have standards, unlike some people in this house.

This was all work Isabella should be doing, but Mia knew that if she didn't do this now it wasn't going to get done anytime soon. She might not even be home today. She couldn't believe she was such a pushover, but she did genuinely feel sorry for her. She wanted to be helpful. That kid had problems, major ones. Before she'd moved in here, she'd been living on the street. Even so, there was a limit to how much of this shit she was willing to put up with. She fumed as she stripped the bed sheets and loaded them into the washing machine.

As she was tucking a fresh fitted sheet under a corner of the bed, she caught sight of a duffle bag extruding slightly out from under it. Curiosity struck. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Isabella wasn't about to walk in, then fished it out and opened it.

Her jaw dropped. There was cash in here -- a lot of cash. Next to the bag was a packet of rubber bands, which she'd been using to organise the money into smaller stacks. They didn't seem to be evenly sized, but after she checked a couple of them she realised they all made up to five-hundred dollars, just using different denominations. There must have been ten, maybe fifteen thousand dollars in here. The bag had a heft to it.

Where the hell did she get all of this? And why is she stealing from me if she's got this lying around?

They needed to talk. But first, it was time to get dressed up to go out. She hoped Bella would be here when she got home.

* * *

That night, Mia was woken by the doorbell. She was sleeping like a rock until that moment, and it took her a little while to actually start moving. As she pulled the blankets back and slipped out of bed, the doorbell rang a second time. Oh fuck off, I'm getting there, she thought. She looked at her phone and was startled. It was almost midnight. She got even angrier at this person waking her up.

She stormed out to the front door, making sure her steps were as loud and angry as possible. She noted to herself that she should really get a peep hole installed here. Behind the door was a very tall bookish man in a business suit. He looked extremely nervous, and when he saw the look on her face he almost physically shrank.

"Can I help you?" she said. He looked a little bit stunned, and didn't speak right away. He gawked at Mia for a few moments before he realised what he was doing and tore his eyes away to look at some plaster on the wall that must have been very fascinating. "Speak or I shut this door," she continued.

"Um, I'm um... I'm looking for a lady in the streets," he said.

"What?" she replied.

Behind her, Isabella's head craned out of her room.

"And a freak between the sheets?" she said, then giggled. "What's your name, sweetie?"

He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I'm um, I'm Jack," he said, still trying not to stare at Mia.

Isabella ran out of her bedroom and was wearing a brand new set of absolutely scandalous clothing. It was practically a tiny bit of cloth draped over her tight sheer black lingerie. She ran up to the man and grabbed his hand, yanking him through the door with a surprising amount of force. They stumbled straight past her like she wasn't even there.

Mia couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was this what she did? Was Bella whoring herself out in her house? Whoring herself out literally in front of her? She wasn't even trying to hide it. She wasn't trying to hide much of anything, actually, based on what she was wearing. She pushed the man into her room and followed him in. Mia just stood there in stunned silence.

The sounds started soon after. This disgusting sounds of intimacy. People kissing, devouring each other, stripping down and moaning. She hadn't even had the decency to close the door. Mia walked up and wanted to shut it, anything to block it all out, but that might just draw attention to herself. Instead, she slowly moved her head around and peeked through the gap in the door hinge.

It was worse than she thought. They were really going for it. She was on her knees sucking him off, the other hand was... oh my god that's disgusting. She didn't want to know what the hell it was doing there, but the man seemed to be really enjoying it. Despite this all, she didn't stop watching.

"Is that all you want, cutie?" Isabella said. She raised herself up and sat down on his cock, her arse gyrating slowly. "I have so much more to offer you than just my slutty little mouth."

The man looked even more dumbstruck. He let out a low moan and laid down flat as she ground against him, getting impossibly hard. A minute later, she started moving, and they both crawled up further onto the bed and she prepared to take his cock inside her.

"You don't have to be gentle, you know."

As she slid him into her, his eyes almost rolled out the back of his head.

"Oh fuck you feel so good," he said.

"You haven't felt anything yet."

Mia stood there, paralysed by some kind of morbid fascination as these two people did all of these depraved, amoral, unthinkably heinous things just meters away from her. It wasn't long before Bella wanted to take him in her arse, and she seemed to be really enjoying herself. She's probably just acting, but... Jesus she's selling it.

It was one thing for this to be happening in another room of the house when she thought it was just her having fun. It was disrespectful for her to be so loud so late, but this was different. She was actually using her room in Mia's home to fuck people for money. And it was now happening so close to her that she could practically feel it. In and out, up and down, groaning, moaning, fucking.

When the man came and Bella hadn't gotten off yet, she felt oddly disappointed.

They really needed to talk.

* * *

The next day, Mia was struggling to raise the topic. The truth was, Mia didn't get Isabella alone very often, and when she did it felt like there was this wall between them. One of the rare times they got to really sit and talk was if she drove her somewhere. After she was sure that her "client" had left the house, she worked up the nerve to approach her and offered to drive her to the therapist. He was such a nice man, and she was so happy to be helpful.

It took almost fifteen minutes before she'd hyped herself up enough to actually broach the topic.

"So um, I was hoping we could talk a bit on the way," said Mia. Bella was staring straight out ahead.

"About last night?" she replied.

"Yeah, among other things," said Mia.

"I hope we didn't keep you up, I know I can get a bit loud sometimes," she said, with a wry smile on her face.

"Um, no," said Mia, blushing. "No it's not that. I just mean... I didn't realise you were... you know..."

"What?"

"I didn't realise you worked in... that industry."

"You didn't realise I was a whore?" said Bella. "It's ok, you can say it. I'm a big girl."

Mia exhaled sharply. What could she even say? Don't be a prostitute? The whole situation seemed ridiculous.

"Do you have to do it... well you know... in the house?" she said. "You never asked me if it was ok, and I really don't think that it is."

"I thought you knew," she replied. "I mean, it's kind of obvious, right? I didn't think it was such a big deal."

Not a big deal? She focused on changing lanes for a moment.

"Well I'm not comfortable with it. I'm going to have to ask you to... do that stuff elsewhere."

"You're so uptight Mia, God. You can't even bring yourself to say it."

She was almost ready to burst.

"Bella, I don't want you to do your... your prostituting in the house, ok!? Are you satisfied or would you like me to rephrase that?"

She didn't respond. Mia took a deep breath and started to calm herself down. She almost felt bad again, like she was the villain for raising her voice because her roommate was using her spare room as a home-office for sex work without even having the decency to ask first. She looked over to her, and she could see that Bella was starting to tear up a little bit. Oh fuck.

"I'm sorry Mia, I didn't want to make you angry. I just... I really need this, and I don't have anywhere else to stay."

"You don't have to do that. You can get another job. You're smart, you're young, you don't need to... sell yourself like this. I can get you an interview."

Isabella looked at her incredulously.

"Mia, I know this may come as a surprise to you, but I don't need you to rescue me. I like what I do. Unlike you I'm not miserable with my work."

That stung. But Mia realised she was getting off-track. She had to say it. She really knew she had to. When else was she going to get the chance? She was almost there.

"Bella, if that was the only thing..." she said, then trailed off. "I know you've been stealing from me. I saw it all on my bank statements. Sex shops, mail order stuff."

An awkward silence settled on the vehicle.

"Well?"

She didn't speak for the rest of the trip. As they pulled into the parking near the therapist's office and Isabella retrieved the duffle bag from the back of the car, she made up her mind.

They were a little early for the appointment with with the Doctor, and she realised they needed to talk.

* * *

Doctor Stewart was such a lovely man. Mia had known him since before Bella had moved in, and she knew he was trying his hardest to help her. But there was only so much one person could do. Fundamentally, if she didn't want to be helped, then the best therapist in the world couldn't change that.

Mia knocked on the door to his office, hoping that she wasn't interrupting anything important. To her relief, the door opened, and there was nobody else in there with him. He must have just been getting things organised before the session with Bella started.

"Uh, sorry, I'm not quite ready yet," he said.

"Oh no, Bella's still out there in the waiting room, it's just me," she replied. He took on a knowing look.

"Oh... what can I help you with. Is something wrong?"

Mia knew she could trust Doctor Stewart. He had their best interests at heart, and she wanted to be helpful. She could tell him anything.

"Yeah, I just wanted to quickly say a few things before you started today. Important things."

He looked deeply concerned. He drew in closer.

"What kind of... important things. Is she alright?"

"She's fine... I mean not fine, but she's not hurt or anything like that. It's just that I think you should know that... well I'm not sure how to put this delicately, but Bella has been stealing from me."

"Stealing from you?"

"Yeah. At first it was just borrowing some clothes, irritating but nothing serious. But I looked at my bank statement yesterday and I realised she's gone on a spending spree with my credit card. Frankly Doctor, I do want to be helpful, but if things keep on this way I don't think I can live with her anymore."

She felt so much better having gotten all that off her chest. She always felt so good after she spoke with him.

"There's something else too, Doctor..."

"Oh?"

"I um. I think that, well, she has a lot of um, gentleman friends over, you might say. And I think... I think it may not all be recreational. If you follow."

He looked utterly shocked. She could understand. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

"I think I do. Thank you so much for trusting me with this," he said.

"I trust you Doctor," said Mia. She knew he could be trusted with anything. He was such a good therapist.

"It's very helpful when you tell me things like this."

"I want to be helpful," she replied, smiling.

"Very good. Have you spoken to her about this?"

"I brought it up, but she doesn't want to talk about it. I really hope you can get through to her."

He smiled and tapped her on the shoulder. She was instantly at ease.

"I'll see what I can do," he said.

Mia went back out, down the corridor and sat down in the waiting room opposite Bella. She was still giving her the cold shoulder. It annoyed her that she wasn't even able to own up to what she'd done, but she was hopeful that Doctor Stewart might be able to help her. Because if he couldn't, then she was out of there.

A few minutes later, she heard the bell chime. Isabella stood up with her bag and walked down the hall. Mia yawned. She barely got any sleep last night and she did have forty-five minutes to kill. She let her eyes close. A little nap might be just what the Doctor ordered.

* * *

Isabella strode confidently into Doctor Stewart's room, bag in hand. He sat reclined in his leather chair, gazing expectantly at her. She closed the door behind her, dropped what she was carrying and immediately started stripping her clothes off.

"God, it's so confining," she said as the cardigan dropped on the floor and she made a start on her three-quarter length jeans. "It's like wearing a straight-jacket. I don't know how she puts up with all this crap."

"Nice to see you too, Bella," he said.

"Yeah yeah," she said, and rolled her eyes.

When she was down to just panties and a bra, she finally felt comfortable enough to sit down. She did so hate this ugly stuff, but she didn't have a choice today.

"Did you bring the money?" he said.

"Maybe I did," she said. "Maybe I didn't." She crossed one leg over the other dramatically then started looking at her nails.

Doctor Stewart moved towards her slowly, deliberately. She acted like she didn't notice him. As he drew closer she could hear his breathing, slow and measured as he paced around her chair.

"You've been a very naughty girl, haven't you?"

She snorted.

"Um yeah? That's kinda my thing."

"I've had just about enough of your attitude," he said.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna show me some ink blots? Maybe ask me about my father?"

"I'm going to start by having you explain to me what's going on between Mia and yourself. She came to me before the session today, she was worried about you."

Isabella pouted. Far be it for her to want to have some fun -- no, he had to bring her into it.

"She's a wet blanket, same as always. There's nothing to tell."

"Is that right? You know I can make you tell me the truth," he said. He was in front of her now, and he stopped moving. He drew in right up close to her face and brushed some of her stray hairs back into place.

"I'm really starting to doubt that," she said.

He grabbed her around the throat. Her whole body tensed up.

"Oh... big strong man, I'm so scared," she said. He squeezed slightly harder, but it was over just as quickly as it started. He let go completely.

He grabbed her and pulled her up to her feet.

"You're going to have to be taught a lesson, I think," he said.

"Gosh, I hope it's better than the last one you gave me. I barely felt a thing."

He bent her over the back of the chair and pulled her panties down. She shook with anticipation. He pulled her head back by the hair, and raised his other hand up high into the air and held it there for a moment. Come on, come on, come on, she thought. She thrust her ass up as high as it would go. She needed this. But it never came.

"What are you waiting for you piece of shit? Do you have to consult your notes? Did you forget how to fucking spank somebody? Come on!"

"I'm waiting for you to answer me."

Oh you slippery little toad cunt.

"I already told you, I didn't do anything!"

"Is that right? Well just to be safe, I better just wait here a while longer. My wrist is kind of sore anyway."

"What, you've got RSI from wanking too much? Or is it all the pathetic little videogames you play? I mean, probably the latter, I don't even know if that limp cock of yours still works."

"You're not going to get anything out of me I'm afraid. In fact, I think I might just call the session early today. You're clearly not in the right headspace for therapy."

"Oh come onnnnn... Just a little bit. I'll be a good girl, I promise."

"I very much doubt that," he said. "But I'll tell you what, you just admit what you've done, and I'll think about giving you what you need, you filthy little slut."

Isabella squirmed and pouted some more. She wanted to hold out as long as possible, to be as bad as possible, but she just needed it.

"Fine. I borrowed her credit card."

"Borrowed?"

"Well, I gave it back. I just used it a bit first, that's all."