The Reality Engine Ch. 09

After Liandra was done, Scott raised his hand.

"Yes, the cute gentleman in the front row?" Liandra asked.

"Have you and Bernard had sex?" Scott asked. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Twice, so far," Liandra said. "The downside is that he's old, out of shape, and a bit overweight, so he's really clumsy and awkward in bed, and the sex is terrible. The upside is that he's sworn he will never have more kids, because of what his bitch of an ex-wife did to his kids in the divorce, so he won't make a move on me without a condom, and he makes sure I'm always on the pill. This is a business transaction, I need money, and he needs honey, and we fulfill each other's mutual needs. That's as far as it goes."

"That is pretty depressing, but we each do what we must in life," Scott said.

"Okay, Maddy, do you want to go up next?" Cherry asked.

"Sure, there isn't much to tell," Madeline said. "I got a late start on being a sugar baby, as I only started two weeks ago, after Liandra told me about her experience. I figured, it's easy money, so why not? My sugar daddy is a 52-year old retired guy who lives in a ranch house on the outskirts of Frostbite Falls. His name is Kevin Clark, and he married young in life, has five kids, who live in various parts of the US, and, of course, never visit him. His wife died of cancer about three years ago. He's just an old, lonely guy who wants some female companionship, from time to time. He took me out to the ranch house he owns, and it's nice. Kevin spends most of his time working there, to make a bit of extra money and to keep himself occupied. We've had sex once so far, and he's a good lover, since he's still in good shape despite his age, and our agreement is that we'll go out every Friday night, and I'll spend one weekend a month with him at his ranch house. I love horses, but have never had the chance to ride one, and part of our agreement is that he'll teach me how to ride."

"That doesn't sound bad at all," Scott observed.

"It's not really," Madeline said. "It's mostly like any other job, there are trade-offs of time for money, and so long as the money is good enough, I'm game."

"Okay, Kalliyan, your turn," Cherry said.

"I think that, out of the four of us, my situation is the most extreme," Kalliyan said. "My sugar daddy is a guy named Ross Beltran, and he's relatively young to be a sugar daddy, as he's just 34 years old. Our deal is that we have a date every Friday night, and that once a month, I have to spend the weekend at his place. The catch is that I have to be naked the entire weekend, from when we arrive after our date on Friday night, to when I leave to go back to school on Monday morning. No clothing allowed."

"Wow," Scott said. "Have you done this already?"

"Last weekend was the first," Kalliyan said. "It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. He's fit and in-shape, and he works in venture capital, so he's got the nice car and the fancy house. There are far worse places to be stuck for 60 consecutive hours in my birthday suit. He also pays, a lot, to compensate me for the whole being naked for an entire weekend thing. If one weekend a month naked is the price I have to pay to graduate from college debt-free, well then, that's the price, and I'll pay it."

"Is he abusive at all?" Scott asked.

"Physically, no," Kalliyan said. "He can be thoughtless though. He's made it obvious that he bought me mostly because he can, and that he doesn't really care whether I stay or leave. I was naked in his house all last weekend, and it was amazing how much of that time he spent ignoring me. He has a lot going on, and he'll let me mind my own business so long as I don't waste his time. I don't think he wants a woman, I think he wants a dog who can talk and who he can own. I don't care, so long as he's good for the check."

"That is weird," Scott said. "Have you two had sex already?"

"No, see the thing is that I'm a virgin, and I sort of figured that was why he was paying me so much, he wanted to be the guy who popped my cherry," Kalliyan said. "He told me, the first time we met to discuss our arrangement, that if I lost my virginity before we have sex, that our arrangement would be over. That was a really weird thing about last weekend. He had me naked and at his mercy for 60 consecutive hours, and we didn't have sex. I figured this was what he had been saving me for. Not only that, but he made me sleep in a bed that he had in his guest room, while he slept in his own bed. I felt like he hated me, and that I did something really wrong. I expected, all week-long, that he would call and end our arrangement, but he just sent me a text a few hours ago telling me to be ready, because he would pick me up at half past 7, same time as always."

"I don't get it," Scott said. "Why is he paying you so much money, and then not using you at all?"

"I don't know," Kalliyan said. "I just know how I feel when I'm with him, old and ugly. As long as the money is great, and he's not actually abusive, I'll stick around."

"Okay, last, but not least, Rebecca, you're up," Cherry said.

"I looked into becoming a sugar baby a few weeks before I started school here, and I had a sugar daddy from the day I arrived on campus," Rebecca said. "I have an older sister, who attends the University of Minnesota, and she said it's a great way to earn some easy extra money to get through school, so I figured, why not? My time as a sugar baby has not been a good experience so far. My sugar daddy is a 39-year old Indian man named Kumar Fashood. Every time we go out, it's uncomfortable for me."

"Uncomfortable how?" Scott asked.

"Rebecca, I asked you to go last for a specific reason," Cherry said. "The things that Kumar does when you go out on a date with him are weird, but maybe Scott can help you sort through it. He's got more experience in what men are thinking than we do."

"Okay," Rebecca said. "It's not that he's disrespectful, or anything, but he has this way of looking at me, like he's taking off my clothes in his mind. It makes me feel weird every time he does it. He's also ridiculously shy, and he doesn't seem to express any emotion around me. It has been four dates now, and I've never seen him happy, or sad, or angry. He's just Stoic, you know? Every time I'm around him, even though I know he's never acted inappropriately, it just creeps me out."

"I assume you haven't had sex with him yet?" Scott asked.

"Not even close," Rebecca replied. "It's not that I wouldn't fuck him. I figure I owe him something for all the money he's shelling out, but he hasn't broached the topic. We go out on a date, it's all silence and awkwardness, and then, he drops me off back here at Maybe Dick Hall, and then, I wait a week, and the whole thing repeats itself."

"Do you know why he's paying you to be his sugar baby?" Scott asked.

"No idea, he hasn't volunteered the information, and I haven't asked him," Rebecca said. "When I'm with him, he says very little, and he's not communicative."

"Do you feel safe around him?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Rebecca said. "It's just that I don't feel comfortable around him."

"I think you should keep taking the money," Scott said. "So long as he doesn't do anything that would jeopardize your safety, if that's what he wants to do, then he's paying you well for it, right?"

"Thanks Scott, I feel better when I confide my fears to you," Rebecca said.

"I will give your situation more thought," Scott said, as he rubbed his chin. "Something about it seems familiar to me, like I've heard it somewhere before, but I can't remember where just now."

"Scott, anything you can think of would be helpful," Rebecca said. "I know it's a job, and I know that as long as he's paying, it's his time to do with as he wants, but I don't feel comfortable around him. Something feels off, you know? You know which room is mine, and if anything occurs to you, come by and let me know."

At this point, Cherry indicated that it was time for her and Scott to go, as the ladies had to get prettied up quickly to make their dates. Scott left, but not before exchanging hugs with all four girls, and wishing them luck on their night out.

"That was a real eye-opener," Scott said, as he and Cherry left the bathroom, and walked back down the stairs.

"Yeah, it comes in all shapes and sizes," Cherry said. "Now, imagine one of those sugar daddies had been you. We all know how you'd be; kind, loving, and attentive. Most guys are not like that. Look at how little they care when they are paying for female companionship. Now imagine what that bar looks like when they get it for free."

Scott figured they were heading back to the front desk, but on the first floor, Cherry turned down the hallway and Scott followed her. She went down about five rooms before stopping.

"Okay, now is the part where I finish paying off the bet," Cherry said. "The little lesson you got upstairs was my part of the settlement, the education portion of it. Now, for the good stuff. This is my room."

"Cool," Scott said, suddenly getting very nervous.

"I want to offer you a choice as to how we proceed," Cherry said. "You can pick one of two things, and whichever you pick, I will honor, okay?"

"Okay," Scott said. "What are the options?"

"You can come inside my room," Cherry said. "We both get naked, and you can either fuck me, and leave, or we can play for an hour, and love and cuddle, but no sex. We can spend five minutes together and you can blow your load in my cunt, or we can spend an hour together and love each other."

"No brainer," Scott said. "I want the hour. Sex doesn't matter to me as much as the time with you does."

"You don't want to fuck me?" Cherry asked, smiling.

"Well, sure I do, but I'd rather spend time with you," Scott said.

"You are such a good man, Scott," Cherry said, as she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "Come on inside."

Once inside her room, Scott closed and locked the door so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Now, remember," Cherry said. "You're going to get one shot at this in life. Make the most of it, because you're never seeing me naked again. Now, take off your clothes."

"Yes, ma'am," Scott said, as he and Cherry both undressed. When he first saw her naked, his breath was stolen by her beauty. She was lithe and strong, with perfect breasts, a tiny cunny with blonde pubic hair, and a lovely body. She smiled at Scott, and turned around so that he could see her perfect, pinchable butt. Scott approached her, kissed her on the lips, and picked her up, and took her to bed. He lay her down, lay on top of her, and kissed her on the lips, over and over again.

She wrapped her hands around his head, smiled at him, and reciprocated his kisses. She reached down for his cock, at the same time that he reached down to fondle her pussy. He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him. A perfect understanding fused their souls, they were both so very happy to be there, with each other. Eventually, they started to turn over on each other as they kissed, and they wound up with him on his back and her on top of him, chest-to-chest and groin-to-groin. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She smiled at him again, and kissed him.

"I feel so safe with you, Scott," Cherry said. "I'm in my birthday suit, in bed, with a man I barely know, and I am as sure as I've ever been that nothing will harm me. You are good for my state of mind, and for my emotional well-being."

"I know this is once in a lifetime," Scott said. "I know you wouldn't be here if you hadn't lost the bet, but anytime you want to feel this way, let me know, and I'll be happy to oblige."

"Don't get your hopes up," Cherry said. "I can understand why you are able to seduce girls. We're all 18 and 19 year old girls living in this dorm. We're at an age where our emotions are a constant whirlwind. It's nice to have calm and quiet for a short while, a refuge from the toxic storm that is late teenage hormones. It is nice to be held, and loved, with no questions asked, and no assumptions made."

"Yeah, I get it," Scott said, as he smiled, kissed Cherry again, and pinched her beautiful ass. "It's a pretty sweet deal for me too, I get to fool around with naked women who are far too good for me, so there's that."

The night before, with Pepper, Scott realized that he deserved actual human love and affection, and that he didn't want to be content any longer with scraps from the table. That he deserved to fall in love, and that he deserved to give and receive love. However, a lifetime with an inferiority complex is not so easily conquered. He looked at Cherry, just as he had looked at Pepper the night before, and he still saw a woman who was, fundamentally, not made of the same stuff he was.

He had no desire to smell Cherry's butt-hole, not when he had her naked body in his arms, and he could kiss her, love her, and snuggle her. Scott placed his hands on her cheeks, looked into her eyes, and their two lips melted into one, and his tongue probed the depths of her hot, wet mouth. She had made it clear that he had only a short time with her, and that she was only naked with him now because she had to be. Before, he would have hated himself, he would have put her on a pedestal, and he would have loved her at the same time he cursed himself. He would have firmly believed she deserved better than him. He would have believed she was a goddess. She still seemed that way to him, as he watched her breath, and he tickled her pussy with one hand, and grabbed her butt-cheeks with the other. The difference was, now, he didn't hate himself nearly so much as he had before. He still believed that she deserved better, but he at least understood she had made a bargain, that she had to honor it, and so, he tried to love her as much as he could while he could.

Little steps, small progress. Scott was learning. Nearly two hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and Cherry jumped up out of bed, and put her cloth back on. Scott did so as well. She showed him out of her room, and before they parted, they shared one, final, sweet kiss.

It was well past 8:30 PM before Scott arrived at Steve and Henry's dorm in Mojave Max Hall. He turned the handle, and walked into room #52 and was unsurprised to find that Kloe, Chad, Bridget, Steve, and Henry were already there, waiting for him.

"How did it go with Cherry?" Chad asked.

"Terrific," Scott said, a smile from ear to ear. "Thanks for setting that up, man."

"No problem," Chad said, also smiling.

"So, did you fuck that bitch?" Bridget asked.

"Of course he didn't," Chad answered. "If he had, he would have been here far sooner than now."

"Yeah, there is that," Scott said, with a wide smile. "I don't care, that was better than sex."

"I had no doubts about which option you would pick," Chad said. "I'm wondering why you're so late, you were only supposed to get an hour."

Scott suddenly realized that he had been occupied with Cherry for very close to two hours, which was double the time he had been promised.

"I don't know," Scott said.

"That's women for you," Chad said, smiling. "Their words say one thing, and their actions say something else. Don't get discouraged, okay? Girls do like you, once they get to know you."

"How is everything going on the home front?" Scott asked, eager to change the subject.

"Calvin picked Shauna up, and brought her back to our place," Bridget said. "They both had dinner with my mom and dad, and afterwards, they cleaned up the dishes, and now, they're in his room playing video games."

"So, not so good?" Scott asked.

"My mom is floored by how you were able to get such amazing results," Bridget said, with a wide smile on her face. "Calvin cleaned up the dinner table. He hasn't done that since he was 10 years old. My mom sent me like 10 texts about it. All the therapy, all the threats, all the begging, and pleading, and none of it convinced him to do that. My mom saw his room right before he left to go and pickup Shauna, and get this, he cleaned it. Holy fuck, we've been trying to get him to clean up his room since he was 8, and it finally happened. Here, take a look, after Calvin left to pick up Shauna, my mom texted me photos of Calvin's room. I didn't recognize it when I saw them."

Bridget turned her phone to the group of friends, and showed her the text message stream from her mom, as well as the photos of Calvin's cleaned up room.

"My God," Henry said. "I agree with your mom, I don't recognize it either. There's nothing on the floor, everything is shelved, all his clothes are put away neatly, and it looks like he not only vacuumed, but he also shampooed the carpet."

"Scott, tell us you have a plan to keep this going," Bridget said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"I mean, he's got two more dates with Shauna, after tonight," Bridget said. "That should be fine as far as it goes, but what happens two weeks from now when the dates run out? We can't keep paying Shauna to date my idiot brother, eventually, we need a way to get him to change permanently."

"Yeah, I can see him going right back to what he was as soon as Shauna is out of the picture," Kloe said. "How can we sustain this change in Calvin?"

"You want my advice?" Scott asked. "Wait a week."

"Huh?" Bridget asked. "What do we gain by waiting a week?"

"The sample size is too small," Scott said. "Calvin just had his first date, and he spent all day today getting ready for it. That's a really good sign. Now, we need to observe. We can best determine how to move forward after we know how he reacts over the next few days to a week."

"Okay, I'll tell my mom," Bridget said, as she sent her mother a text.

Scott sat down, leaned back slightly, and smiled. Everything in the world just seemed so damn perfect all of a sudden. Just as quickly as the feeling came, it passed. His head started to ache, and his eyes started to hurt. It was a few minutes before his friends saw what was happening.

Scott saw another vision, much stronger and more powerful this time than the previous two. The previous two times, he was completely aware of reality, and he was aware that he was seeing a vision, this one took up his entire mind. It was far more real than the previous two had been.

Scott saw a small hill, enveloped with trees, and he saw a lowland area a few feet down from the hill. It was the dead of night, and Scott saw the moon and the stars in the sky. Off in the distance, he saw an old, abandoned house. There was a large, stone wall around it, with an iron gate that blocked access to a courtyard. The old windows of the house were broken, the iron gate was rusted shut, and the wooden sidings of the old house were dilapidated and worn out. The old house had one prominent feature: a very high tower window, on the top floor, that commanded a view of the entire area. Between the hill and the old, abandoned house, there was a lowland, with a dirt road that led to the house and wandered off in the distance, away from the hill, to a grove of trees.

He wondered why he was seeing this sight, and then, off in the distance, he saw a red pickup truck drive in on the dirt road from the direction of the grove of trees. The pickup truck came to a stop between the hill and the ancient, stone wall that surrounded the old house. Scott saw the door to the pickup truck open, and he saw a man with a gun climb out of the driver's side. The man was Latino, definitely under the age of 30, and had a body covered with tattoos. He wore a green baseball cap, a pair of old blue jeans, and an old, faded work shirt. He went over to the passenger's side of the truck, he opened the door, and he dragged a naked girl out of the truck. She was tied up with rope, to keep her from moving.