their specific effects. ‘This one prolongs orgasm. This heightens its intensity but the muscle contractions can be severe. This sensitises the body to pain. This does the opposite. This combined with this is called Elusive . It’s the one I used on you. You rarely have to touch the person’s genitals to bring them to orgasm. It can be quite useful if you find your client distasteful or potentially diseased. Of course, here we screen for the latter.’
I stared at her, not sure whether to be insulted or relieved.
‘One thing to remember.’ She tapped each elaborate stopper lightly with her tattooed fingernails, making a clicking noise. ‘Unnecessary amounts of any of these can either kill or inflict permanent damage. And overuse is addictive.’
‘What about you?’
‘Oh, I’m addicted in a different way. We all are. If anyone attempted to alter the hyper-functioning of our glands, we’d die. But it’s not like I’ll ever have to stop.’
She threw me a questioning look.
‘Delly wants me to dizzy you up for your interview with Monk. But when you meet him in person he might be difficult. Jaded.’
‘Oh?’
‘If you get in a tight spot, these can be . . . useful.’
Glorious handed me a small, flexible ring.
‘We call them life-savers ,’ she said. ‘Just lick it if you need to use it. The acid in your saliva breaks the seal, then the blend is released into your mouth. If you kiss your partner the chemicals are shared. This one is called’ - she squinted at the coloured stripes - ‘ Castles in the sky. Whoever you use it on will have the experience of their life.’
I wanted to laugh. But this was her practical way of helping me, so I took the ring and slipped it on my little finger.
‘We make all our blends here but we buy in the base ingredients like synthesised androstenol and androstenone. Then we mix it with a few of Delly’s specialities.’
She pointed to a vial with a lable that read 5-a-androst- 16en-3a-on.
‘It occurs naturally in male sweat but we don’t advertise the fact.’ Glorious grinned as I wrinkled my nose. ‘I do the alchemy for some of the others as a trade-off for learning other skills. Each of us has a domain. I help Dazzle with his dizzies. He’s taught me how to tie knots.’ Her eyes widened a little. ‘You can’t believe how particular some of my clients are. Placement and style are everything.’
I blinked, knowing that I was all out of that kind of chat. If she didn’t stop, I was either going to roar or damage something.
The door clicked open and a small, fragile guy in an outfit made of rope came in. He stopped when he saw me.
‘ You ’re the new girl?’
Glorious got off her seat to put her arms around him. ‘Dazzle, meet Jales.’
The top of his head was level with her breasts. He seemed the type who might like to burrow in between them for comfort.
Who am I to talk? I’d been trying to do something similar a short while before.
I managed to maintain an affable face. ‘Yeah, I’m here on work experience.’
Dazzle’s curiosity turned immediately to boredom and he pirouetted out of Glorious’s grasp. ‘Pity. You look like you might know what you’re doing. I’m going for a swim. Buzz me when your next client is in. I’ll come down.’ He addressed his last remarks to Glorious.
The door clicked again behind him.
‘Must take him a while to get dressed.’
She shot me another puzzled look and sat down again
Shut up, Parrish.
‘Dazzle and I sort of . . . mind each other. Delly has things in place to keep us safe - the i-bugs and Lam and Tae - but it’s comforting to have a spotter,’ she said.
‘Brigitte didn’t have one?’
For an instant, I saw her fear. Despite her insistence that she loved her job, it was there, lurking.
Sympathy ignited in me but I blew it out. I didn’t want to have any connections to this place. I wanted to find out - and get out.
I couldn’t help one question, though. ‘How did you come to work
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