Page 2 of Shameful Addictions

Charlotte held up her hands. The shadowy silhouette of a man standing in the corner, a bouncer, shifted into view. Lollipop had a strict no-touching policy. Charlotte quickly put her hands down. “I’m, uh, fine. Thank you, young lady.”

The girl laughed and bounced on her heels–her stiletto heels. “Lady? I’m a kitty! Well, okay. But if you need anything, just ask for the kitty.”

Charlotte was saved from having to say anything else by the cat-girl scampering off to talk to another customer.

She was fairly certain she was in Hell. And this week had started off so normally. Her boss, Damian, sent her the usual list of videos she was to make. Charlotte was a video blogger under the payroll of a much larger company. Her video channel was very popular among teen girls, a demographic which was difficult for companies to target.

Damian told her what topics to cover in her videos, and it was up to Charlotte to figure out how best to present the material so the girls would pay attention, and bring in ad revenue. Typically, the videos were about things like skincare tips, and how to get over a crush, how to pursue a job and education at the same time, and other topics that were both trendy and open-minded.

Charlotte adored her work. Even thinking about it now was like a balm to her soul, calming her.

And then, she had noticed a strange video idea in the middle of the list. “Subverting Expectations: Why Sex Work is Real Work.”

Charlotte looked around and noticed a waitress nearby. She lifted her hand to get the girl’s attention. The waitress hopped over in an instant, literally hopping because of the bunny ear headband on her head and the cottontail plug shoved in her ass.

“What can I help you with?” the bunny-girl asked, using the same cutesy and high-pitched tone of voice as the other girl.

Charlotte licked her dry lips. The girl giggled. Charlotte covered her mouth, horrified at what that must have looked like. “Could I get some water, please? With lemon?”

The waitress widened her eyes. “You want some water, huh?”

“Yes, please. I’m a bit thirsty.”

The waitress giggled and also covered her mouth. “Oh, I understand.Waterit is. A lot or a little?”

“Just a glass.”

“I’ll get that for you.” The waitress stuck out her ass and wiggled it at Charlotte, her puffy bunny tail bobbing up and down between her fleshy cheeks. Charlotte couldn’t take her eyes off the puff. She imagined it had to be so uncomfortable having a wedge of plastic pushed up inside there like that. And then she forced herself to stop imagining it. The way things seemed to be going, she might have to find out for herself.

Damian had just smiled sheepishly at Charlotte when she confronted him in his office, demanding an explanation. Up until that point, she’d hoped it was a mistake, a typo, a funny autocorrect error they could both laugh about. But when Damian gave her that smirky, embarrassed smile, she knew she was wrong, and the floor had collapsed out from underneath her feet, leaving her with nothing to stand on.

“We’ve got new ownership,” Damian had told her. “It doesn’t take effect until Wednesday, so you can keep making your usual videos until then, but after that it has to be all new stuff.”

“All?” Charlotte asked.

“Didn’t you look at the rest of the list?”

She hadn’t, at the time. She’d stopped when she got to that odd one. At Damian’s urging, she had looked at the rest of the list.

“Different Styles of Sex Work”

“How to be a Real Woman”

“Virginity is a Social Construct.”

Damian had spoken while she was still reeling, voice fading in and out of focus. “The fact of the matter is that our new owner isn’t exactly in with the traditionalism and wholesomeness you promote. Family values and sex-negativity are out.”

“I can’t just switch my content over like that!” she had protested.

“Well, see, right before, you’ll be doing a video on career choices. We’re going to expect you to use that to segue into the one on sex work.” Damian made it all sound so simple, so easy, as if this didn’t go against everything she had built. “Your style of making videos and your accessibility is amazing. The owner wants to keep you and your channel, but you need to be more sex-positive from now on.”

She had tried to protest again. “I don’t know anything about sex work!”

But Damian had had an answer for that, too. “You will have to learn. Go to this club called Club Lollipop on Rim Street.”

She had come, hoping it wouldn’t be so bad.

But it was so much worse.

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