Plum Blossoms - Full Bloom Pt. 01

She nodded. "Pretty basic -- I have a green card and dance in the US, but I need money fast because my dipshit ex dumped me here after stealing most of my cash and my return ticket. I don't like to talk about him. Three months at the resort should make me more than enough to get back to the US and rent an apartment."

"That'll do it. Go knock 'em dead, Plum."

She gave me a fierce hug. "Dave ... I'll be Plum when we go out the door. This is our last chance to be just Dave and Susan for a while. Thank you. I love you. Thank you for loving and understanding me enough to let me do this."

"I'm going to miss you, Susan. I'll enjoy spending time with Plum, but I'll look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks. I imagine that you will have a lot to tell you when you get back."

Chapter 7

1st Sunday evening

Jim took us directly to the gate for our local flight. He handed Plum over to a handsome but hard-faced mama-San type with four other girls already clustered around her. Once we were out of earshot, he cautioned me "Forget that she's anything other than 'Plum' until you're back here -- a lot of the public rooms in the resort are monitored, so anything you say out of character may be noticed. And like I warned you, it won't be until Wednesday at the earliest before you should try for time with her. It's OK if you text back and forth a little -- that's why I got her that phone -- but tomorrow will be orientation and her audition, and we put all the girls in the blowjob / short time bar for their first day after that just so they get their head firmly into the job." He smiled. "Since she's new and doing an audition tape, it wouldn't surprise me if she sucks 8 or 10 cocks and she's short-timed half a dozen times that first day. Pick a nice girl to long-time tomorrow night, maybe get a blowjob from some other girl while Plum watches on Tuesday or Wednesday, and I'll put a long-time hold on her for Wednesday night so you can try her out. Oh -- I arranged a three week supply of same daily supplement mix I take in your room; it includes a daily dose of Cialis. Take it every day. A double dose on busy ones. You'll need it."

ooOoo

The plane circled the island to give us a view before lining up for the airstrip. From above, it looked idyllic -- a cluster of low buildings, a lagoon with small boats, a big pool area. And what appeared to be gardens and orchards a bit further out. The main island was an irregular oval shape, possibly a mile long, but there were a dozen or so smaller islands surrounding it, with what looked like thatched roofs showing between the trees on most of them.

Jim must have followed my gaze. "The small islands can be rented for a picnic or overnight, and one of our boats ferries you out and back at the time you select. The shelters all have a bathroom with a shower, a basic kitchen area, and a couple of beds, and we pack a hamper of food and drinks for you." He smiled. "I was thinking that maybe next week we could pick a couple of girls and do an overnight. You seemed rather taken by that new girl, what's her name -- Plum? By then, she should be pretty well broken in, and ready for a group party."

I returned his smile. "Sounds a plan. Maybe on the last Wednesday or Thursday evening before I have to head home?"

"Make it a Tuesday -- Tuesday and Wednesday are more or less my weekend. I'll get together with you to work out the details Sunday night, when I get back from Manila. With that much warning, we can schedule the girls for extra long-time, a full 24 hours off."

ooOoo

The island airstrip was fairly basic. A covered and screened waiting area, a few baggage carts, and a small control tower, with a couple of open-sided hangers, sized for dual turboprops like the one we had arrived in. Although guests and new girls were flown out, it seemed likely that most supplies were either grown locally or arrived by boat.

The mama-San had the girls line up to one side after they got out. I followed Jim over as he reviewed them and gave a short speech. "- you'll be assigned a room tonight. Drop your bags there, then report to the STD clinic for testing. Tomorrow, after we have a clean STD check, you'll be auditioned. If you don't work out, you'll fly back to Manila tomorrow night. Otherwise, you'll all be starting work on Tuesday. Remember, after you sign a contract, if you want to leave during the first three months you'll owe us a fine of 150,000 pesos -- if you don't want to stay that long, don't audition and we'll fly you back tomorrow night. But after you sign the contract, we own you for the next three months." To my surprise, none of the girls looked particularly concerned.

As we walked away, he explained "There are some places that buy women outright -- and their parents, or guardians, or even their husbands sell them. For a lot more money than our buy-out, and they have to pay it off in cash. It's human trafficking and debt slavery-- not just technically! - and illegal. But it happens. The money here is competitive, the security and living conditions are far better, and after three months the buyout disappears -- and we won't sell them on to anywhere else. They're already mostly working bar girls or dancers, and they're all over 18 -- yes, including that baby-faced one that looks about 14! -- so they're happy to be here."

After a brief stop to drop my bags off in my suite, he continued my tour of the island. There were covered walkways running between most of the buildings, probably a concession to the guest's comfort -- I didn't see many like that in Angeles City when I was there. The low, two-floored guest wings surrounded a pool area; through gaps in the vegetation, I could see topless women swimming with the guests. Next was a services area -- restaurant, buffet-style cafeteria, a convenience/souvenir shop, a barbershop, a small medical/dental clinic where we joined the line of other newly arrived guests for my own STD check, and a few closed-off shops whose purpose I couldn't guess.

I gestured at the these last. Jim picked up on my unspoken question and responded "Those are mostly for the local staff, and don't do enough business to stay open every day -- generally, we open them for a day or two a week. Jewelry shop -- some of the greedier girls try to get a guest to buy them a 'remembrance' gift here. Don't -- it's usually a scam, and they'll sell it back at a discount. Just give the girl a good tip if you like her. And a tattoo shop -- where there are bar girls, there will be tattoos. So we encourage them to get them here, where we know that the needles are new or properly autoclaved and the ink is uncontaminated. They do henna temporary tattoos, also. Some of the guests get tattoos here, too, but really it's mostly for the girl's hygiene."

We walked on. "Now, this next area is why guests come. Notice we have a weather canopy over it, but it's set up like a street. What does it look like to you?"

"Like about a block of Angeles City, or maybe Pattaya."

"Got it in one! This one's the blow-job bar and beer garden." The sign said 'Vacuum' (real subtle, Jim!). The room had booths covering the floor, all with low curtains that could be closed for more privacy. The mama-San, a handsome but stern-faced woman in a slacks/blouse outfit sat at one end of the bar. She was a bit older than the girls working the bar but just as attractive -- at a guess, she'd been one herself not too long ago. The working girls were easily identifiable, wearing a shorts/crop-top t-shirt outfit -- Plum would be wearing one for her audition. Girls in a slightly less revealing shorts/full-length t-shirt uniform served as waitresses. Opposite the bar, a stairway led upstairs; as we watched, a girl in the shorts/crop-top t-shirt uniform led a guest back down.

"This is where the new girls always start. The ones that don't speak at least one of our guests' languages stay here, and those that don't want to dance. The girls might have to work a little harder, but the money's about the same. Some guests never long-time a girl, and most of the rest like to start the afternoon here before moving on to one of the clubs. They can buy the girls drinks, have a blowjob either down here or in the private rooms upstairs, or do a short-time in the private rooms. They can't bar-fine a girl away from here, though, until near the end of her shift. Dancers get more leeway -- they can bar-fine out after the first four hours." An open archway led into a patio area outside, with trees, flowers, and umbrellas covering the booths but otherwise similar. I didn't see any direct access except through the bar. "That's the beer garden. Same rules as the bar, but it's a pleasant place to sit in the afternoon. There's a second stairway to the short-time rooms from there, too." As he spoke, we saw a head with long dark hair disappearing beneath a table in the bar area. We both laughed.

He pointed across the street "This one offers soapy or Nuru massage. Plum won't be working here -- it requires training. It's basically a massage plus short-time. 2000 pesos, or you can long-time at the end of her shift and get the massage in your room. It's very relaxing, either way. The girls here are very popular for group parties; you might try one along with a regular long-time girl -- most of them love being pampered." I nodded understanding, and added the idea to my mental checklist of "things Plum might like."

We walked a little further. The clubs on both sides were busy, and competing music spilled into the streets. Oddly, compared to my experience with Angeles City, neither had girls stationed outside to lure customers in -- then again, there was a lot less need, too. Jim nodded "On this side, we have the Asian-themed nightclub (I couldn't read the name, but recognized Chinese characters). These days, we get more Korean guests than from other Asian countries, so we go with their tastes for the decor and bar offerings, even if the name is Chinese. And we put the girls who speak at least some Korean, Chinese, or Japanese here."

He pointed across the "street" - "and over there is the American Club, our western-theme nightclub. It's popular with the Americans, Australians, and various Euros. We put the girls with English skills here -- most Filipinas qualify -- if they can dance. It's more of a revue than a strip show, but we try to make it feel like a US strip club. This is where we'll probably slot in Plum -- she's better than almost all of the dancers."

He paused. "The club girls don't have to do blowjob only customers if they don't want to, but both clubs have short-time rooms. Most of them don't want to be bar-fined out for long-time too early -- with a few lady drinks and a couple of short-times early on, they can about double their nightly take."

The street dead-ended at a glass-fronted building that seemed to be set up as a banquet facility. "Private parties here -- local businessmen and politicians like to bring guests out here, and pay for entertainment."

He led me down a hallway to one side, and through a door marked "Security." "Roy, here, is the evening shift supervisor tonight. Roy, this is my old friend Dave. He's visiting for a couple of weeks, but I want him to consider joining us -- and he's got both hand-to-hand and computer skills better than anyone we've got. I've suggested he take at least a few shifts here in the monitor room -- and if we have a physical security problem while he's here put him on point."

I tried to protest this last, but Jim cut me off "No false modesty. We have some pretty good guys with silat training, but I've seen you in the crunch more than once. Are you still working out?" I sighed and nodded. He continued "Case closed -- our regular guys have batons and pepper spray. And that's usually enough. But you're nearly twice their size and better trained. You're not bigger than our Security chief -- you'll meet him tomorrow -- but you're still better trained. If they need your help, give it. It's not usually a big problem, but we can count on at least a drunken fight every week, and occasionally we need to rescue one of our girls. Do you have a problem with that?" I thought about Plum needing help and realized he was doing me a huge favor and framing it as one to him. "Not at all. Jim, I hope I don't have to do anything -- but if I need to, I'll do everything I can to keep your people safe."

He gave his most charming smile. "Right, then -- you've seen the lot. My office is just down the hall from security, but I'll be busy most of the day. By tomorrow morning your STD checks will be complete -- they'll have a badge for you at your building's front desk. Pick it up there -- you'll need your badge to charge things to your room, and to do anything more with the girls than buy them drinks. I'd suggest turning in and getting a good night's sleep, then showing up here for orientation about noon, and maybe work a few hours."

He winked "You can even watch the auditions in the security monitors if you like -- they handle the video production from there. I've got one video audition scheduled at 1 PM, and several private auditions after that. How about we meet in the beer garden at 5 PM, and have dinner together?"

Chapter 8

Monday 1

It had been a lonely night, especially when I knew that Plum was sleeping in the dorms just a short distance away.

It wasn't that I'd been too horny, even if I spent time recalling the day's events. God, I loved that woman -- and loved that she understood me enough she felt safe doing something crazy together. Doing something like this. And I looked forward to watching her, and protecting her, every step of the way.

But though I felt distant arousal, she'd done her best to drain me in Manila; what made it hard to sleep was that after nearly three years together it felt odd not feel her sleeping beside me, or to see her face on the pillow next to mine in the morning.

What did help, slightly, is that I'd texted <thinking of you> to her phone before going to bed. And found her <love you> reply waiting for me when I woke up. I knew we couldn't text too often, but knowing that we could reach each other if necessary helped a great deal.

At least I had comfortable surroundings; the suite had a king-sized bed, sliding doors leading to a balcony overlooking the pool, a sitting area with padded chairs and a chaise lounge, several padded bar stools at a counter, a kitchenette, and a bathroom.

Hoo, boy did it have a bathroom -- a shower stall sized for two (with a comfortable seat), a Jacuzzi tub, a huge tile floor area with a drain, an air mattress, and several jars of various mysterious ointments. And in the bedroom, I'd found a cache of sex toys (in sanitized wrappers!), leather cuffs and other soft bondage paraphernalia, condoms, and lube in the nightstand. I looked forward to trying it all out.

I'd put my suitcase -- and Susan's -- in the closet, hers behind mine after unpacking all my clothes the night before.

After taking out a few thousand pesos for spending money, I put our wallets, passports, and other personal belongings into the room's safe and headed out in search of breakfast.

ooOoo

The clerk in the lobby handed me my badge.

"Sir, you'll need to present this to charge anything to your room. Please use this to pay for everything in the services area or bars. It also has your health check status -- you'll need to present this to bar-fine any of the girls." I smiled at the last -- it was reassuring to know that anyone who bought some of Plum's time would have been checked.

He handed me a tabloid-sized pamphlet "And here's this week's news." I paged through it curiously and blinked. Besides the usual schedule of special events, the last couple of pages were a section called "Auditioning Now", with a selection of nude photos of all the new girls, and the services they were willing to offer and a note that if they passed their audition they'd be exclusively in the Vacuum bar or beer garden until Wednesday night. Plum's section had an additional highlight showing that her audition video would be available Monday evening and that a guest participation slot at 3 PM Monday was still available for just 5000 pesos. No wonder that Jim had expected her -- and all the new girls -- to be extremely busy for their first couple of working days!

ooOoo

After a surprisingly tasty breakfast -- the island's tropical fruits were outstanding -- I showed up in the Security office right at noon.

The man on the security desk waved me on into the monitoring room. Aptly named -- there were several dozen feeds playing on different monitors, with the duty officer scanning back and forth. He looked my way and held out a hand. "DeShawn."

I blinked as I took his hand and answered "Dave." His name tag said "D. O'Brien" - but he had an American accent and was about as dark as an American black man can get.

He was obviously used to my reaction. He gave a grin "I'm Black Irish, obviously." His joke broke the tension nicely. We swapped backgrounds, and (in my case) my cover story for why I was visiting. Like Jim and I, he'd served a couple of duty tours in Asia. And like Jim, he enjoyed things -- specifically the women - here enough that he'd not had any burning desire to go home, nor any close family to pull him back. With his 20 years in, and with his background -- Marine MP -- and training (BS, and Computer Security certifications) he'd been a natural for Jim's security chief. Physically, he was pretty imposing -- my size, more or less, and looking as if he spent as much time in the gym than I did, but between his shaven head and trained deadpan expression he looked much more intimidating. Despite appearances, he was also a very likable guy; by this time, we were already halfway to being friends.

DeShawn walked me through the setup. Jim hadn't been exaggerating when he warned that the resort was monitored. There were cameras in the lobbies of all the residential blocks, in the restaurants and stores, and on the walkways. There were several inside each club (HD, there), the blow-job bar, the beer garden, and party rooms with sound pickups. And there was continuous monitoring -- again, with sound -- of all the short-time rooms.

He responded to my appalled expression "Yes, that does violate privacy somewhat -- but if you read the resort rules you'll see that there's a warning that 'video monitoring for security may be present'. But no blackmail, ever -- and really, there's so much content that unless we see something out of line we just ignore it unless we need to preserve evidence. If we don't take steps to preserve it, all the recorded feeds auto-erase after 72 hours. And the data can't go outside this room electronically or physically unless Jim or I authorize it."

He smiled. "But it's saved several of our girls from beatings or rape -- some men don't take 'No' from a whore very well. One girl from an attempted rape-murder. And one guest when another tried to mug him. I can live with that." I thought about it a moment and nodded back.

He wrapped up the security feed familiarization a little before 1 PM, and showed me the monitors and recording setup for the HD feeds coming from the audition room. He started the recording as Jim led Plum into the room.

Her outfit was new -- a tight pair of cut-off shorts, and a skin-tight crop-top t-shirt with the "Vacuum" logo. And she'd found a pair of stripper heels as tall as she wore for her act at home. The cut-offs and shoes brought out the shape of her legs and butt, while from the prominent nipple lumps in the crop-top it was obvious she was bra-less. I agreed with DeShawn's admiring wolf whistle -- she looked hot.

The interview followed the standard format. I admired the way that Plum misled while telling the complete truth: "Hi, I'm Plum. I wanted to earn some money before going back home, and this looked like a fun and exciting way to do it. I've worked in a strip bar at home, but I've never done something like this before and the idea of being paid for sex really turns me on. I like sex very, very much, and my lovers tell me I'm good at it."