“Why would I give you a freebie again?”

“Because I’m really, really into it.”

“Doesn’t sound like a good reason to me, buddy.”

My friend Mia was negotiating with a new guy. It was a slow night, so the two of us were sitting with four or five other girls in the lobby of Madame Maxine’s. The four or so girls who’d already been rented were still in their rooms, so it wasn’t exactly kicking off out here.

When Mia had told me she was working for one of those new Body Brothel’s I wasn’t surprised -- she was always into weird shit. When she managed to convince me to do a trial shift two months later, I was shocked that I went along with it.

While some people kind of liked having a job where they could just sit back and let somebody move them around, I always had a lot of initiative -- and independence. But when the recent round of layoffs hit, and it was this or McDonalds. Fuck it, I thought.

The way it worked was us girls would hang out in the lobby, drinking and chatting with clients, or johns as Mia called them. This gave us an opportunity to vet the people who’d have control of our bodies beforehand, and gave the johns an opportunity to see us as real people, rather than just bodies to be worn.

If john liked the look of you, and you were okay with him (or sometimes, her) jumping into your skin, they’d pay at the desk and disappear into a backroom. Meanwhile, you’d go into another room with a bed, a mirror, and a bunch of other amenities and toys.

The john would then take control of your body for 15 minutes. At least.

There were rules of course. No sex without outsiders was one. Kinda ironic for a brothel, I know. I mean, sure, the clients could masturbate if they wanted, or go back out into the lobby and find another girl to make out with, but no sex, you know? It was supposed to be a classy place, and nobody wants to find their body was used by some lame-ass girlfriend to give a blowjob birthday present for her ugly-ass man.

All the girls were clean, and the clients would have to make do with just some fondling between us girls. No outsiders allowed.

They …