Worth The Price

The girl offered a muffled and almost comical response. Better safe than sorry, she mewed, "eff, mih-eff."

Abby stifled a laugh, and met a smile from Barrow.

"To Trade Ops?" Barrow asked, standing.

Mistress Rei began gathering the detritus of Five's old life -- the shoes, the blazer, the dress, the bra, and the jewelry. Abby, meanwhile, was awkwardly filing away Five's panties in her portfolio; the fact that another girl's underwear was wedged between her notepad and her tablet was just another sign of how much the world had changed, and how odd these last few weeks had been for Abby, personally.

"Mailgirl Number Six," Abby nodded.

It was Dreisewerd's turn now to be confused. "You're going to leave her here?"

"For now," Barrow answered. "Mistress Rei will be back to fetch her in a bit."

"It's just," Dreisewerd went on, "we've got meetings in here." He seemed fearful of Barrow, as if any bold line of questioning would result in Dreisewerd himself naked and gagged on the floor beside Five.

"Is she in the way?" Barrow asked.

This, too, confused Dreisewerd. "Well, no. I mean, not exactly..."

"She won't bother you." This from Mistress Rei. "She knows better."

Not for the first time, Abby wondered what she would have done in the girl's shoes. Five had had a surprising amount of credit card debt, sure. And Abby, on USF's behalf, had just agreed to pay it off for her. They'd also tripled her base pay over the next two years on top of that, an increase made even more significant by the fact that they'd also be providing her with room and board -- taking care of every expense. And, sure, the money would all be paid out in a single lump sum at the end of her contract, and subject to certain penalties that she'd only learn about later. But she'd also be provided with the opportunity to earn some fairly substantial -- if demeaning -- incentives along the way.

But was any amount of money worth this?

Was any amount of money enough for Abby to subject herself to this sort of treatment?

If left alone like this, would anything have kept Abby from reconsidering, reneging, and hauling ass to the nearest exit?

And yet, Number Three had waited patiently yesterday while Abby, Barrow, and Mistress Rei had ensnared Number Four. And Mistress Rei was confident Number Five would still be here when she returned to fetch her with Number Six.

Barrow exited the conference room first, stopping just long enough to pat the blonde on the head, and shoot Abby an approving look; she'd done good work with this one, he seemed to be telling her.

Mistress Rei followed behind, the diminutive Japanese woman not bothering to repeat her instruction to Five and paying her no further attention -- for now.

Abby, though, lingered for a moment longer. She stared absently at the bare back of a USF employee who'd woken up this morning, at home, as a midlevel compliance officer. And who'd go to sleep tonight in the basement, here at work, as a naked mailgirl. What could she be thinking? What was it like? How did she feel about herself? About Barrow? About Abby? What was she going to tell her family and friends? How was she going to face her coworkers?

Was a part of her turned on by this?

Was a part of her turned on by this as much as Abby was?