Wage Slave

"That's enough." He did some more things in the engine compartment, making the car bounce a little bit while I sat inside behind the wheel.

"Try it again."

I hit the key and let it turn over some more before he told me to stop again. Grabbing more tools off his cart he started making the car bounce around again as he tugged and pushed on whatever he was working on. A couple of minutes later he straightened.

"Clogged fuel filter." He showed me what was in his hand, tipping it so one end was down then rotating it so the other end pointed at the pavement. A dribble of gas came from the fitting on the end that he caught on a rag. It hadn't done that when he'd tipped it the first way.

"Can you fix it?"

"I think I have one that will work. If it doesn't I'll have to get a new one from the parts store. That could take until tomorrow or the next day if they don't have it in stock."

"Oh." I waited while he went inside, coming back out a minute later and showing me the box in his hand.

"It's not the right part, but it'll work for now." He leaned over the engine compartment. "You'll have to come back, but this should get you running again until I can order the right one for you."

"Try that." He stood up again and rotated his finger at me. "Just keep spinning it over unless I tell you to stop."

I twisted the key, the engine spinning and spinning just like it had been doing when it suddenly started up. I was so surprised I turned it off instead of letting it run.

"Sorry." I mumbled at his look.

"Try it again. Let it run this time."

I hit the key and my car started like it always did. Mr. Darcy watched whatever was going on in the engine compartment for a few minutes then closed the hood, pushing it down with both hands rather than letting it slam. I turned the key off.

"I'll let your mom know." He told me as he wiped his hands on a red rag. "She'll take care of the bill like usual."

I couldn't help it, my eyes went straight to where he'd just gotten a blowjob from the woman in the black dress.

"Crista..." He said it like he was disgusted. "Your mom doesn't pay me that way. No one does. Alicia is an old friend. That's all."

Except I'd seen them and he told her that he'd fix her car after they were done.

"Come here." He wiggled his finger like he wanted me to get out of the car. "This isn't something that should be talked about where strangers can see or hear us."

When I didn't get out, he shrugged his shoulders once and started pushing his cart back inside.

"Suit yourself. I'll let your mom know about the repair bill and that you'll have to get the filter replaced with the right one. I'll also tell her that she'll need to find a different mechanic to do it."

I waited in the car but he didn't come back out even though I could see him inside and he looked in my direction a couple of times. A few minutes later, I got out of my car and stood in the doorway.

CHAPTER SIX

"Sit." Mr. Darcy pointed at one of the bar stools he had for customers to sit on while they waited for him to fix their car. The bar stools had tool company logos on them; one said Snap-on and the other one had Matco on it.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to have to yell across the room when I talk to you." He explained why he wanted me to sit down.

"That's not what I meant. I mean; why does my mom have to get a new mechanic?"

He looked at me and pointed at the bar stool again, waiting until I moved in that direction.

"Because you have to trust your mechanic and he has to trust you. If you don't trust your mechanic to fix your car and tell you the truth about what's wrong with it, then you'll always think you're getting ripped off. If your mechanic doesn't trust you, then he won't fix your car because he's not sure he's going to get paid or that you won't tell everyone he's a bad mechanic who's ripping you off."

I just looked at him as I perched against the bar stool.

"You don't trust me." He crossed his arms over his chest. �I've known you for nineteen years, ever since you were in diapers, and suddenly you don't trust me because you think you saw something."

"I know what a blowjob is."

"So?" His reply was short and to the point.

"So." I sent it right back to him.

"I told you, she's an old friend. She didn't do that just so I'd fix her car, she did it for a different reason and because she cares about me. I don't make your mom do that and I certainly don't make you or anyone else do it either. Some people might try it, but they get caught eventually and lose everything including their reputation, which ruins their life forever."

Which made me immediately think of what my mom's boss was doing to her and Mrs. Darcy.

"Crista," Mr. Darcy must have seen something on my face. "You're a good girl. You've always been a good girl and I don't know what's going on that's suddenly making you think what you're thinking but whatever it is, you need to talk to someone about it."

I just sat there without saying anything because I wasn't going to tell him about what my mom and Mrs. Darcy were doing.

"Let me just say this; people, adults, have sex all the time. You don't look at a pregnant woman and think she's been having sex with everyone she meets, do you? You just look at her and see that she's pregnant, right? You don't think about what it took for her to get pregnant, do you?"

I shook my head because I didn't.

"People have sex all the time. It's not bad or wrong, it's just something people do as part of living. Sometimes you might accidentally see something, like you did today, but it's really not any of your business if someone else is doing it. As long as it's not hurting you, or making you do something you don't want to do, it's none of your business. In that type of situation, what you should do is be polite enough not to say anything rude or insulting."

He suddenly sharpened his gaze at me.

"Unless someone is trying to make you do something you don't want to do. Is that it?"

I shook my head no.

"That's good." He uncrossed his arms. "No one has a right to abuse you or force you to do what you don't want. No one. Understand? If someone tries to make you do something like that, you do whatever it takes to tell them no and get out of there. You hear me? Whatever it takes. And then you tell someone what happened."

My eyes went to his office again.

"Did that look like I was making Alicia do something she didn't want to do?"

"No." I had to be truthful.

"Then it's not your concern, is it?" He came over to sit on the other stool. "Never let anyone abuse you. If something like that is going on, then you need to talk to your parents and let them know. Okay?"

I nodded yes.

"Good girl." He got up from his stool. "I'll talk to your mom about the bill. If you still feel the same way you were before we talked, then you should tell her about you not wanting me to work on your car anymore."

I looked up at him.

"I have other cars I need to fix." He gave me a huge hint. I left, seeing him in my mirror standing in his doorway as he watched me drive away.

What he said made me start to think about what my mom was doing. If she thought she was being abused, then my mom should be saying something about it, right? And not going to work there anymore, right? Mrs. Darcy wouldn't either, would she? Logically, it made sense but the reality was that it didn't make any sense. No one would just let someone else do that to her, would they? And, if they did, why?

I needed to talk to someone. I needed to talk to my mom, I just didn't know how. I drove for another block thinking about what Mr. Darcy had said and trying to figure out a way to talk to my mom about it. I couldn't see me pointing at a chair and telling her to sit down in it, like Mr. Darcy had done to me, even though it'd worked. Once I was sitting down and he was just talking about what had happened, it'd taken a lot of the confusion away. At least about what I'd seen him doing anyway. Now if only I could find a way to talk to my mom like that.

I drove for another block trying to figure out a way to do it but couldn't. My mom wasn't like Mr. Darcy, she'd come unglued if I tried to talk to her the way he'd talked to me. My dad wouldn't be any help either.

I sighed. What I needed was Mr. and Mrs. Darcy to be my mom and dad. Then, I could talk to them. I made it another half block before I turned around.

"Crista?" Mr. Darcy came out of his garage when I parked in front and shut off my car. "Is your car still not running right?"

I got out and looked at him for a second.

"Crista?"

I ran and threw my arms around his neck, breaking out in sobs I hadn't known I was holding in.

"Hey," he hugged me back. "What's the matter?"

Pulling back while taking a big sniff so my nose wouldn't run, I look at him straight in the eyes.

"Can I talk to you?" I paused. "About... stuff?"

"What kind of stuff?" His response was cautious as he let me go completely.

"Stuff like what we just talked about."

"Is someone abusing you? Is that what you're saying?"

"No. It's someone else." I sniffed again. "My mom."

"Wait, you're saying your mom is abusing you?"

I shook my head no and went inside to sit on the bar stool again. Mr. Darcy stayed out next to my car and looked at me. I pointed at the other bar stool with a finger.

"Sit." I giggled after I said it because it sounded funny, then sniffed a third time. "I need to tell someone about what's going on like you just said I should."

Cautiously, he came inside with me. I waited until he sat on the other stool.

"My mom is having sex at work." I started with the smallest issue but expanded on it immediately. "She's letting her boss tie her up and beat her before he makes her have sex with him or someone else."

"Crista..." He tried to stop me.

"I saw Mrs. Darcy too." I didn't stop like he wanted me to. "I saw her have sex with Mr. Hammond after he tied her up."

Done, I waited for him to say something.

"Are you telling me this because you want to hurt me? To get even about what you saw or because you think I'm going to try and force you to have sex with me?" The questions came after several minutes of neither of us saying anything.

"No. I need to talk to someone and, obviously, I can't talk to my mom about it." I shook my head then looked him in the eyes again. "I trust my mechanic."

That made him sit up straight and look surprised.

"I don't have anyone else I can talk to about it and it's really bothering me."

"Are you sure you saw what you're saying you saw?" He started off slow.

I nodded yes and flicked my eyes toward his office like I'd done the last time. He sighed as he got the point.

"Okay. I believe you. You saw them having sex at work."

"And getting tied up. And... other things."

"I know." He looked out the door for a long time checking to be sure no one was listening. "Your dad knows about it too."

"I don't get it." I didn't.

"Sometimes people do things that look strange when you don't know what's happening."

"I know what I saw." I looked at his office again, pointedly this time. "I'm not stupid."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Then tell me."

He looked out the door again. I almost prodded him to tell me what I needed to know again before he took a deep breath and turned my way.

"Your mom is a slave. She has a contract with Mr. Hammond. She works for him and part of what she does there is let him do the things you saw. In return, she has a job which pays her a good salary as long as she works there."

CHAPTER SEVEN

I kept silent after he called my mom a slave hoping he'd explain what he meant and that it wasn't what I thought he meant.

"Olivia has the same kind of slave contract."

"A contract." I didn't make it a question but Mr. Darcy nodded anyway.

"Yes. It's complicated."

"It's illegal."

"No it isn't. Not really." He looked out the door again. "It's kind of a gray area because it's only illegal if the people involved are being forced. If everyone agrees beforehand, and by that I mean before anything, and I mean anything, begins, it's not illegal. As long as the contract doesn't require anyone saying yes or else, it's in that gray area because it's not really enforceable unless everyone wants it to be."

"What's that mean?"

"It means your mom can't be fired from her job even if she says no to whatever Mr. Hammond wants her to do under her contract. She can quit, but she can't be fired because she said she didn't want to do that anymore."

"Are you're saying she is doing this because she wants to? And that Mr. Hammond is doing it because she wants him to? All of it?"

He nodded.

I opened my mouth to ask about Mrs. Darcy too but he beat me to the punch.

"Yes. Olivia has the same kind of contract."

"But why?"

"Because they want to. Remember what I said about what happens if you accidentally see or hear something? That the polite thing to do is basically ignore it?"

"Yes."

"If someone wants to have sex, and I mean if everyone involved wants to and none of them are being forced, then if you see or hear it, it's none of your business."

"Was that what you and... she... were doing when I saw you?" I had to ask.

"Partly." He answered. "She has a contract like your mom. The terms of her contract are different than your mom's but it's basically the same thing. The difference is that Alicia doesn't work for me and I'm not her owner."

"So she's a wh..."

"No." He cut me off. "And I never want to hear that word come out of your mouth again, young lady. Alicia is not a whore. Neither is your mom or Olivia. They don't get paid to have sex."

"But you just said that's their job?"

"I said it's complicated. You see it as one thing and I see it as different things. Your mom, Olivia, and Alicia see it that way too. Their jobs aren't to get paid for having sex or even to have sex. Their jobs are to work for the company that employs them."

"And have sex."

"No. The sex is not part of their job. I told you, they can say no any time they want to. When your mom was pregnant with you, she said no and kept saying no until after you were born. She still worked the whole time because she can't be fired. If Mr. Hammond hadn't been okay with her saying no, he'd have sold her."

"Sold?" Was that what Mrs. Darcy meant when she said that my mom could ask Mr. Hammond to sell her?

Mr. Darcy nodded.

"If she quits she can be sold to someone else. Her owner doesn't have to sell her, and she gets to keep her job even if she decides to say no more sex or whatever it is she does under her contract. That's part of the deal your mom and Mr. Hammond agreed to when he bought her. She isn't being forced to have sex as part of her job, the sex and other things are completely separate other than he owns her and the location where it happens is his store."

"To who?" I meant who does my mom get sold to.

"Whoever is the highest bidder at her auction and only if she agrees to go through with the sale to that buyer. I told you, she's not being forced to do any of this. She can say no at any time."

Okay, this was getting weird. Or weirder than it was already.

"You should talk to your mom." He stood up. "Now that you know, if you want more information on what's going on, you should get it straight from her. If she wants you to know, she'll tell you. If she doesn't, you should drop it and leave it alone."

"Because it's none of my business." I got what he was saying.

"Because it's not your business." He echoed me and looked at the Audi he had on his car lift.

I got the hint and stood up but didn't leave. I had one more question.

"Can I talk to your friend Alicia?"

"No." He crossed his arms again. "Talk to your mom. It's safer for you and you shouldn't ever mention any of this to anyone else. You shouldn't have said anything to me either. The only reason I talked to you about it is because I've known you your whole life and I could see something was really bothering you. If it hadn't been for that, I'd have told you to go home and never come back again. This entire subject is very dangerous for you to even know about and talking about it can get you into more trouble than you even want to think about, let alone be part of. Very bad trouble."

He looked at me, his face growing really stern like he was mad at me.

"Understand?"

I gulped and nodded once.

"Go home."

I went.

Mom came home early, showing up about an hour after I got there and while I was playing Jewel Rush on my phone trying to level up and not succeeding. I wasn't expecting her so the sound of someone at the door had me put down my phone and look through the peep hole. Opening the door I came face to face with my mom who looked exhausted.

"Mom?" Worry showing up in my voice I reached for her. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I'm just tired." She let me support her into the house, pausing while I stowed her purse under the little hall table where she usually kept it. "I had a rough day."

The words made me look closer at her. Her necklace was still tight around her throat and she looked red underneath it. Leaning and twisting I reached behind her neck to remove the clip that shortened her necklace. It was just a ring with a hinge and some teeth on the open part that held it together when it was closed.

When she realized what I was doing, she tried to pull away from me but I just moved with her, shifting to use both hands. In seconds I had the clip removed and her necklace fell away from her throat.

"Crista..."

"It's okay, I already know." I put my shoulder under her arm and helped her to the couch.

"Know what?" She eased herself down like she was really sore all over.

"What Mr. Hammond does to you."

She looked up at me, her pupils bigger than normal and her face tense.

"And Mrs. Darcy too." I finished telling her what I'd found out.

"And what is it you think you know?"

"Black cock." I repeated what she'd said that one time when I'd snuck into the back of the store and watched. "Black cock, black cock, bla..."

"That's enough." She held up one hand to make me quit repeating the two words. "Have you talked to anyone about this?"

I shook my head no then qualified it. "I talked to Mr. Darcy earlier today because my car died on the way home."

"And?"

"When I got there a woman named Alicia was giving him a..."

"Stop." She didn't want to hear what Mr. Darcy and Alicia had been doing. "Why did you tell Hank?"

"Because I didn't know what to do after I saw Alicia giving him a BJ." I blurted it out, then quickly continued past that point. "He got mad at me and told me that I was going to have to find another mechanic because I thought that's how you were paying for him to fix my car. He told me that if I didn't trust him to tell me the truth about what was wrong with my car, then he didn't want me as a customer."

"Go on." My mom told me after I paused to catch up with myself.

"He fixed my car and I left. I got halfway home and realized that if I couldn't talk to you about it, I could talk to him because..."

"Because why?"

"Because he's my mechanic. I trust him."

That made my mom's eyebrows go up but she didn't say anything.

"I went back. Mr. Darcy didn't want me there but I made him sit down and talk to me. He explained, kinda, about you having some kind of contract with Mr. Hammond after I told him what I'd seen."

"Anything else?"

"I have to take my car back because the part he used isn't the right one and he needs to replace it with the right one after he gets it." I finished then thought of something else. "Oh, and he said he already knew about you and Mrs. Darcy doing... that... and that it's only because he's known me since I was a baby that he said anything. He also said I shouldn't ever say anything about this to anyone else. Not ever. Because it's very dangerous or something. I don't know what he meant by that but I believe him."