Sleepless on the Sofa Ch. 06

Author's Note: Thank you again to Secretsxywriter for helping me edit this story.

***

"I could just order one online," Haley said.

Brie shook her head. "Really? Your man asks you to fuck him, and you're just going to with the run of the mill option?"

They both looked around to see if anybody was within hearing distance. The cafe was only half full. It was one of those classic places with pecan pie like Momma used to make it. No hipsters sipping soy lattes. It was past lunch, and they had met to catch up after the hectic week. Brie had been curious about how the weekend had gone. Haley had told her just enough to keep her guessing.

"Drink it and I'll take you to Rosie's," Brie said. "She's got what you need."

Haley took a sip of her tea and shuddered. Not enough honey. She knew she needed a strap-on. A harness. Whatever it was called. She had looked some while buying the ball gag. She had been in too much of a hurry to ask about them. And a bit too scared. "Do those also fall from the truck into Rosie's lap?"

"She's a professional. You'll see." Brie looked at her phone. "We need to run soon. I'm meeting Marco at the gym."

Haley took a deep breath and gulped the rest of the tea down. "We can go."

Rosie was, at best, an acquaintance, so Haley wasn't thrilled to meet her. Not when it had something to do with sex. It was easy to brag about not being a prude in front of Brie. Someone she barely knew was another thing entirely.

She had no idea what to expect, and still, she was surprised when Brie stopped texting in front of a seemingly random brownstone building. It reeked of old money, just not a lot of it. The façade was scarred, and the glass of the double doors had been repaired with duct tape.

"Not there," Brie said when Haley stepped up the stairs. She opened an iron gate leading to the basement door.

There were no signs of life in the upper floors as far as Haley could tell. From the basement, she could make out the sound of some machine.

Brie rang the bell, and the noise stopped. "Don't look like that. She won't bite."

"You sure?" Haley glanced up. "That's some haunted house shit up there."

"Rosie's aunt, or something, owns the place but is too sick to live here anymore. Rosie watches the house and gets to live down here for almost nothing."

The door opened with a creak, and Brie stepped into the dim room. Haley hesitated for a second then plunged after her friend.

The sharp but not unpleasant smell of leather hit Haley before she could notice anything else. She took her coat off, following Brie into the big room.

"I'll just finish this part." Rosie's voice came from the back. Then the noise started again. Now I could see it came from an old, industry grade looking sewing machine.

Brie threw her stuff on a worn leather couch and went to see what Rosie was up to. Haley garrisoned herself on a wooden chair and piled her hoodie and bag on her lap.

The only light was the spotlight over Rosie's workspace, so the size of the apartment was hard to gauge. All of the furniture was mismatched and seemingly second hand. Still, they were better than the ones Haley and Brie had in their place. The walls were full of weird curiosities like a woodcarving of a life-sized bald eagle.

The sewing machine clanked, and Rosie seemed to study her handiwork closer.

"Damn needle broke just before you came. Thought I could salvage the tear, but no." She threw whatever she had been working on into a big zinc garbage pin. With a clap of her hands, she made the lights turn on in the whole room. "You don't have to sit in the dark."

"Hi!" Haley waved her hand, unsure how to proceed. She felt like they were intruding. "Sorry about the interruption."

"I needed a break anyway." Rosie got a water bottle from the fridge and took a long sip. Her gaze stayed at Haley. "There's not much, but grab something to bite, if you want."

"Nah." Brie sat down and stretched her legs on the sofa table. "We just had coffee."

"I'm fine," Haley said.

Rosie slumped down in a quilt-covered armchair. "So, what's the deal?"

Haley had only met Rosie at a couple of parties. Without her party gear, she looked almost boringly mundane in sweatpants and a too-big T-shirt, her red mohawk drooping over one ear.

"Haley needs some gear to fuck her man," Brie said after Haley failed to speak her mind.

"That's not..." Haley didn't even know why she had agreed to this.

"Sweet." Rosie took another sip and sized Haley up. "What are you looking for?"

"Like, you know..." Haley felt her throat clamp up. Would it be impolite just to run away? She made a penetrating motion with her fingers.

Rosie turned to look Brie, one brow raised. "What did you tell her about me?"

"Nothing!" Brie waved her hands in surrender. "I'm innocent here."

"Yeah, right." Rosie leaned towards Haley. "You're among friends here. I'm not going to laugh or judge your kinks. So, go ahead, when you're ready. I can't help unless I know what ails you."

Haley nodded and twisted the strap of her bag in her hands. "There's this guy. He's not my boyfriend or anything like that. We just fuck, like, a lot. He likes to—wants to—be dominated. It's escalated, and I kinda promised to fuck him."

"That helps to narrow it down." Rosie leaned back and glanced at Brie. "No thanks to you."

"Hey!" Brie protested but was ignored. She looked at her phone. "I need to dash anyway. See you around."

"You can't leave me here!" Haley exclaimed before she realized how rude that sounded. "I mean, I thought you'd help me pick."

Brie patted Haley's shoulder on her way to the door. "Rosie's the professional. She helped me back in the day."

And with that, Brie was gone.

Haley felt like a bunny stared down by a wolf. "If you don't have the time..."

"Nonsense." Rosie waved Haley to follow her. "Brie's a bitch, and I say that with all the love."

"Yeah."

There were two more rooms and the stairs up to the first floor. Rosie had tried to close the door to the first room, but Haley saw it was a bedroom with a messy bed and piles of clothes littered around. They went to the second room. It looked like it had been a study with built-in bookshelves, but now it served as storage.

Narrow paths ran in between tall stacks of boxes. Some were dusty and had labels like "old photos," so they were probably from her aunt. Others were open. In those, Haley saw sex toys, like the ones Brie had.

Next to the wall stood a clunky cabinet made of dark wood. Probably old enough to have come with the house. Rosie opened the cabinet door.

Inside, Haley saw an impressive collection of harnesses, collars, manacles, and other assorted accessories made of leather. Every item had a compelling shine...and a look of quality handiwork.

"You did all these?" Haley asked.

"It's a part-time job." Rosie took a harness and caressed it. Her smile was playful, almost girlish. "A hobby, really. I don't have enough customers. Yet. A girl can dream. This is the basic model."

Haley took the harness. It was black leather with no embellishments. An empty metal ring was in the middle of the rounded triangle piece in front. The straps for legs were reinforced and had heavy-duty buckles.

"The dildo goes here." Rosie opened one of the snaps holding the ring. "You can get a bigger ring if that's too small."

"It's fine."

Rosie rummaged through the boxes. She threw a dildo at Haley. "Try this one for size."

Haley barely managed to catch it. The toy was pitch black with ridges along its length. It was about the size of the one Tom had bought, but this one was more intimidating. With some work, she managed to slip it into its place on the harness.

She could imagine Tom in front of her. The strap-on aimed at his mouth. With a single command, she would make him beg for it. To suck it. To worship both her and the toy.

She needed to stop. She was getting wet, despite Rosie standing right next to her.

"This is great." Haley swallowed hard. "In so many ways. You really want to part with it?"

"Not for free." Rosie looked at her. "Brie did tell you, you have to pay for these?"

"Of course. How much?"

"Hundred-and-fifty, for a friend."

Haley didn't know what to say. That was way more than she'd thought it would be. Sure, the quality was way better than any of the ones in the sex shop. But she couldn't cough up that kind of money. Should she ask Tom? No, definitely not.

Rosie's face grew grim. "So, she didn't tell how much it would be."

"I'm thinking. Like, I really want to get one of these, but it's an investment." Haley slipped the strap-on over her jeans. "It's a lot of money if we go our separate ways. Not every guy wants to be fucked."

"So, you're not into girls?" Rosie stepped behind Haley and tightened the straps around her legs. "There's a mirror in the corner. I've got nowhere to be, so take all the time you need. I need to eat something. You want a sandwich?"

"I'm fine." Haley marveled the craftsmanship and walked in front of the mirror. The dildo waved with the pace of her steps. It felt...inconvenient. Was this what men felt while walking?

Her reflection in the mirror looked hot as hell. She glanced at the door and heard Rosie in the kitchen. Slowly, she stroked the dildo. If only Tom could see this. She thrust with her hip, and the toy waggled.

With one hand, she pulled out her phone and let the other wander under her shirt. She wanted to take a photo and send it to Tom. That would mean she'd had to buy the strap-on. But she really shouldn't. She did have the money. It was just supposed to be spent on food and other necessary things.

Then again, it would be possible to eat noodles for a couple of weeks. Wouldn't be the first time.

She pushed her hand under her bra and caressed her breast. Hot jolts of electricity ran inside her body. "Do you need any help?"

"Nope," came the answer from the kitchen.

She unclasped her bra and wiggled it out from under her shirt. She let it drop on the floor and took the hem of the shirt between her teeth. Then she took a firm grip of the dildo and snapped a picture. The flash was on, turning the corner into daylight for a split second.

She sent the picture to Tom with a message: "Get your mouth ready, cocksucker!"

"There are more lights if you want to get a better..." Rosie stopped mid-sentence. The lights flared up revealing Haley's half-naked body in the mirror. "Oh, damn."

Haley turned instinctively. The shirt fell back down, but it was a second too late. One hand was frozen on the dildo, the other still holding up the phone. "I didn't..."

"My bad," Rosie said but did little to stop staring.

"I was just..." Haley stuffed the phone into her pocket. "I'm taking it, so like, a deal?"

"Sure." Rosie turned most of the lights off. "You could've just told me to mind my own business for a while."

"Oh, I wasn't..." Haley tried to take the strap-on off, but her fingers trembled, mumbling the rest of her sentence, "touching myself. Not in someone's place like this."

"That was tame. You see a lot of people in this line of work."

Haley stepped backward and felt something under her foot. Her bra was still on the floor. She swiped it up and hid it behind her back. "I got carried away. Sorry."

Rosie just waved her hand dismissively. "That makes two of us. It suits you."

Haley still didn't manage to get the buckles open. "Could you help?"

"Did I put them too tight?"

Haley turned around to see herself in the mirror again. "No. My hands just..."

Rosie came behind her and crouched down.

"Thanks for all this."

"No worries. Brie's friends are my friends. You've always seemed like a cool person. You just vanish before I get a chance to talk to you."

"I don't like parties much. Drunk people can get annoying."

Rosie fiddled with the buckles on the harness. "I always need a couple beers before I get the courage to talk to new people."

"You? Sorry. That sounded shitty. I mean you look so cool with your getup and that hair."

"Looking like this makes it easier to deal with certain customers. Some people think, if you work in a sex shop, you're on the menu, too."

"Fuck those people."

Haley couldn't stop looking at Rosie. Now that the woman was crouched at her feet, it was easy to see down her cleavage. She felt dirty. Like Rosie didn't get enough unwanted looks in the sex shop already, as she'd said.

It was still hard to avert her gaze. Haley had gotten way hornier than she'd expected, and now she had someone down next to her, on the right level to worship her. Some mischievous voice in her head told her to turn around before Rosie could stand up.

Rosie had managed to loosen up the straps. "Yeah. Those were way too tight. You should've said something."

"Didn't even notice." Haley took the strap-on off and couldn't shake the sting of disappointment. She was just horrible. "I've done theater, so I'm used to walking around in all kinds of annoying gear."

"Just leave it there." Rosie went back to the kitchen. "You want a beer or water?"

"Definitely no alcohol." Haley kept hold of the strap-on, mostly because she didn't want to go back on her unwise decision to buy it. Or that's what she told herself. She took the offered sandwich in her other hand. "I've been making questionable choices recently."

Rosie leaned on the table and kept looking at her intently. "Theater, you say? Any modeling?"

"Not really. I've been in some posters for the plays if that counts. Why?"

"Well, you carry yourself really well. You walk like a queen."

"Hardly."

"Would you like to do some modeling for me?"

"Like what?" Haley looked at the strap-on. "Oh. No."

"No, no, no. I'm not asking you to..." Rosie put her sandwich down. "Well, I am, but you wouldn't need to show your face. Only your body."

"In these?" Haley shook the strap-on. The dildo hit her knee.

"Yeah. It looked so good on you." Rosie smiled and leaned closer. "I'll cut the prize."

"I don't know." The more Haley spent time with Rosie, the more she noticed these little tells that she was used to seeing from men hitting on her. "What're you thinking?"

"I'd like just to shoot you in some poses." Rosie whipped out her phone. "I'll show you if you want."

Haley nodded hesitantly. She peeked over Rosie's shoulder. There were a bunch of selfies taken with the aid of a mirror where Rosie posed with various harnesses, her clothes mostly on.

"That, but without clothes?" Haley asked.

Rosie nodded. "I understand if you don't want to."

"Why don't you just ask someone to take pics of you? You look really hot in those."

"Not really."

"Ask Brie."

Rosie flicked the pics back and forth. "I hadn't thought about the whole thing before I saw you just now."

Haley laughed. "So, you just want to see me naked?"

"No..." Rosie stuffed the phone back to her pocket. "A little."

"Am I reading this right? Do you have a crush on me?"

"What? No!" Rosie escaped behind the table and then just stopped mid-step. "Did Brie tell you?"

"No? Have you told her?" Haley decided to kill Brie. This had been a trap.

Rosie leaned against the table and sighed. "I've had a crush on you since last winter, and she saw right through me. I denied it, but you know what she's like. Never lets something go."

"I won't let go of her throat when I see her next."

"I wasn't going to say anything. I knew you weren't into girls, but then Brie asked if you could come here." Rosie looked towards the other room. "And then that happened. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be a creep."

"You're a horrible person," Haley said, laughter still in her voice. She couldn't deny it, she was flattered, and some part of her yearned to be back on stage. Back in front of the audience. "Take a couple, and we'll see."

"You sure?"

"Let's do it before I change my mind."

Haley put the harness back on while Rosie went to get her camera. She didn't know much about tech, but the lens itself was impressive looking.

"You're serious about this." Haley couldn't decide what to do with her shirt. She wasn't going to take it off, but she wasn't sexy in an old T-shirt.

"I took photography back in high school before I drifted to other stuff."

"How do you want me?"

Rosie stared her through the camera. "You're doing that on purpose."

"What?" Haley asked innocently and struck a pose with her hands behind her head.

Rosie started to take pics machine-gun style. "We need better lights for the real shoot."

"First, you need to convince me that this is a good idea." Haley changed poses when ordered, trying to remember what it had been like when she had done this for posters back in the day.

"That's great. Just like that." Rosie crouched, probably to get a different angle. "Make love to the camera."

"Is that so?"

"Mm-hmm."

Haley climbed onto the table. She knelt and raised the hem of her shirt so it showed some underboob. Then she stared intently into the camera while Rosie closed in.

"That's great." Rosie's voice had grown husky. She knelt in front of Haley and shot upwards.

Their dance around the obvious made Haley restless. Was she really willing to go further? No pain, no gain. She pulled the shirt off completely and cupped her breasts. "Better?"

Rosie just nodded and took a couple of more pics then froze to stare right at Haley. "You're so pretty."

Haley felt her arousal surging up and couldn't help herself. "I'm in this kinda open relationship, and I'm feeling a bit horny right now. So, if you want to do something, make your move before my brain starts to make decisions again."

"You sure?"

Haley stepped down from the table. A cold breeze teased her naked skin. "No. Are you?"

"Nope." Rosie took a step closer and hung the camera on the chair. "I'm a switch, so how you want to go at it?"

"Switch? Like in BDSM? I'm..." Haley took a second to gather her thoughts. She felt like dipping into icy water. "Dom all the way."

"Cool. I'm game. My safe word is crystal angel."

"Okay." Haley repeated the words in her head. "Anything else?"

"Spanking and humiliation are okay. I don't mind rough." Rosie put Haley's hand on top of her mohawk then used it to yank her hair so hard, Rosie's head swung sideways. "Mistress."

Haley licked her lips. Was she biting off more than she could chew? Only one way to find out. She looked inside and summoned the same steel and confidence she used with Tom. "You will speak only when spoken to, understand?"

"Yes, Mistress." Rosie's voice had turned timid.

Haley eased her fingers back into Rosie's hair and forced her head to the side again. She leaned closer, letting her breath caress the woman's skin. The smell of leather was unmistakable. She kissed Rosie's neck and felt shivers run down her own body. Then she touched Rosie's arm and felt her goosebumps. "Quiet, now. Let me get to know you."

Rosie didn't respond.

"You seem obedient." Haley bent her face down on the table. "Has it been long since you were last reminded of your place?"

"Months, Mistress."

"Maybe I should break you in. Just in case." Lust and power coursed through Haley. This was almost criminally amazing. She held Rosie in place with one hand and yanked her pants down with the other, revealing a black thong. She slid her fingers across Rosie's ass. "I like these."

"Thank you, Mistress."

Haley pushed Rosie down harder. "Only when spoken to!"

"I'm sorry, Mistress."

"So, you need to be reminded." Haley had some trouble opening her belt and pulling it free with one hand. She removed Rosie's thong. "Don't bite your tongue. I'm going to see what you are made of."

Haley kept the buckle inside her palm and rolled half of the belt around her hand. She had practiced this with a pillow, just in case Tom wanted to try it.