Just One Touch (2 page)

That, and she didn't like how the other girl spoke so easily
of
tossin' them
.
Stag weren't human, but Melody would never throw them out in the
streets to starve.

More so
than they already were, at any rate.

By the
end Melody had negotiated in her favour, signed the digital papers
transferring ownership, and paid in crisp bills. She wondered how
angry this irate handler would be when she eventually found out the
worth of the two males she'd mistreated and sold. Hopefully that
wouldn't happen until after the the convention ended.

She
walked away from the handler's booth, taking the woman's card, and
trying not to stare too hard at the cage as the moaning within
became louder and more erratic.

She
stopped at several other booths, inspecting the males for rent,
enquiring about prices, size, and stamina. It was also prudent to
see bar codes and certificates proving their
authenticity.

It
wasn't unheard of for a real man or woman to try and pass
themselves off as a stag in order to sell their bodies, and make
some easy money.

The
problem with that was that stag and doe were unable to catch or
carry sexual diseases, become pregnant, or, in the case of males,
cause pregnancy.

It was
always a nasty surprise for a client to become pregnant after
renting out what she'd thought was a stag during the week her
husband had been away on business.

But
Melody didn't get the vibe that any of the stags here were actually
human, and after a time, her confidence began to build that she had
not only had the best looking stag with the better stamina, but
also the better prices. It was probably why she was able to stay
afloat with minimal downsizing during such an economic
slump.

Melody
pulled her stylus and minimized tablet from her teeny tiny purse.
She stretched the plastic, made her notes, and kept right on
going.

The
lights in the hall suddenly dimmed. There was a hush of murmurs,
and Melody pulled herself away from the male she'd been inspecting.
A power out? Now? Surely the airport wouldn't have been effected by
electricity rationing.

A loud
voice rung in her ears and echoed throughout the hall, calling the
attention of everyone.

“
Welcome, Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.”

A
spotlight switched on, and dead centre on the main stage stood a
leggy woman in the highest of black high heels, fishnet stockings,
and a penguin suit jacket, white blouse, and tie. Her boobs barely
fit into the costume. Melody crossed her arms over her own, barely
there chest.

The dark
haired woman took off her top hat and did a little bow, her hair
cut pixy style. “Welcome,” she said again, her blood red lips
pulled up in a smile that showed off white teeth. “to the tenth
annual escort trade show. My name is Marcy, and I would like to
present a gift for all of you, on the chance to make a special bid
tonight.”

Yeah
right, Melody thought. This sounded like one of those win a chance
for a salesman to come to your house and sell you a two thousand
dollar house cleaning android.

Despite
the setup, no one rolled their eyes or chuckled. The crowd all
stood stock still as they watched their pretty hostess smile and
bat her heavy lashes. They were totally transfixed.

Okay,
maybe Melody was a little curious to see what this special bid
would be. She didn't move away either.

“
We have a real treat, one of which we will only begin the
bidding at the unbelievably low price of five hundred
dollars!”

The got
the crowed going. They began smiling and clapping, and a few even
released high pitched whistles and cheers. Melody was probably the
only one in the crowd to have her jaw drop. Five hundred? To sell?
That was it? Granted, it was only a starting bid, but that was
unheard of. To rent for a couple of hours, sure, maybe, but start a
bid?

“
Now, now,” Marcy patted the air in front of her, a knowing
look on her face as she soothed the crowd, “let me assure you all
that this is the real thing. Good quality breeding, size, width,
and stamina, and,” she stopped to lick her lips, her cheeks
colouring. “Not bad to look at, of course. He will be mostly for
the ladies in the room, or for you men who want to add a little
adventure in your marriage. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to
you all the gorgeous Dex!”

Marcy
clapped her hands together, prompting the crowd to do so as well,
and the sound of more than three hundred pairs of hands coming
together just about consumed the whole hall.

Despite
that, everything slowed down and became far away to Melody's ears.
Her heart literally skipped a beat, and the odd sensation in her
chest nearly buckled her knees.

Dex?
Surely this couldn't be the same...

Two male
handlers walked out on the stage. Both of the men held a single
chain in their hands, both of which were attached to the leather
collar wrapped around the stag's neck. The chains were for show,
stag didn't have a history of violence, but with the sheer size of
the male who was collared, you almost forgot about that.

Melody's
face and neck grew hot. It was him. It was Dex all right, and, as
was normal with stag, he hadn't aged a day since she last saw him
thirteen years before.

He was
only three or so years older than she was, but stag and doe tended
to look anywhere between the ages of twenty-five and thirty human
years by the time they hit fourteen. They were engineered that way
to be sold faster. Amazingly, as soon as they finished ageing, they
just stopped, and stayed looking the way they did up until
forty-five or fifty when the stags finally started to show their
ages and lose interest in sex.

She'd
been fifteen when her mother caught them kissing in her room. They
hadn't been doing anything else. Dex refused to sleep with her
despite Melody's pleas and bargaining, but she'd always been happy
to kiss him. Then they were caught.

Because
Melody's mother was the type of handler who had sex with her own
stags, her fury and jealousy nearly tore down the walls of their
house. In a fit of young, and insecure teen weakness, Melody had
lied and said that Dex had come into her room uninvited. Her mother
had Dex sold by morning.

Melody
had been crushed when he went away. She'd been hoping to get out of
trouble, she hadn't thought for an instant that her mother would
sell him.

Worse
still, her mother had snubbed her after, never quite getting over
the fact that her daughter had tried to "steal her man."

Melody's
heart fluttered inside her chest like a panicky butterfly trapped
in a bottle. Maybe those memories were a little more tender than
she thought they were.

She knew
all the tricks used to spruce up a stag for sale. All of Melody's
men were tanned, oiled, trimmed and shaved before her cameras could
get near them.

Dex had
all of those done to him, but she could instantly see how he didn't
need them. He never did. The oil may have highlighted his muscles,
of which they were all over the place, and his dark chocolate hair
was done up in some strange spiky gel set up that he didn't have
when they were younger. Didn't stop her from mentally putting the
image away to try on her own stag, though. His ice blue eyes, high
cheek bones, and the serious look on his face, he'd always had.
Those were not implanted.

He
scanned the crowd with little to no interest as his handlers linked
his chains to a short and thick pole, as though he were incapable
of unlatching himself.

Very few
stag actually tried to run. The ones that did only ran to the arms
of another human promising sex, rather than to freedom. The chains
and poles were all for the look of them.

“
Dex here, has a very special talent,” continued their host.
Marcy circled Dex like he was her prey, her black heels clicking
loudly on the floor of the stage. His feet and chest were bare, but
the black dress pants were tight, showing off his bulge and leaving
nothing for the audience to imagine what he had beneath
them.

“
A talent that will make anyone he touches melt before him. And
that is without the aid of his penis.” Marcy finished.

Melody
immediately understood. It was the reason her mother had taken Dex
to her bed all those years ago. It had taken a while before she'd
been able to get Dex himself to tell her what it was he was
engineered to do, and when he did, she hadn't believed
him.

She
looked around herself, listening to some of the confused murmurs of
the crowd. Some of the men made lewd gestures, mimicking what they
thought Dex's talent was.

“
No, no,” Marcy said, coming to stand just to the side of Dex.
His two handlers had moved off to the side for better viewing, but
they were no more than ten feet away.

“
Though he is talented with his mouth, this is a much more
special talent.” She reached out with her hand, her fingers just
brushing along the oiled skin of his massive shoulder.

Dex
shrugged away her fingers. It was his only reaction to her, and
about as hostile as Melody had ever seen a stag openly
be.

Marcy
hardly seemed to notice. “Our dear boy Dex, is able to bring any
woman to climax, or man,” she added with a wolfish smile, “with
touch only.” She lifted a finger, as though to emphasize
that.

“
We can do that too!” One woman yelled. Laughter travelled
through the crowd like ripples in a pond.

Marcy
shook her head. “Yes, we all have that ability, but let me assure
you that this is much different. With just a single brush of his
hand, or mouth,” she said with a smile. The bright red lipstick
suddenly made her look more devilish. “Dex can bring you to orgasm.
One touch. No rubbing, petting, stroking, just plain touch. He was
engineered for it.”

Another
murmur, louder this time, passed through the crowd.

Melody
could understand their disbelief, seeing as she herself didn't
believe it when Dex told her all those years ago. It was one thing
to engineer a stag to keep an erection for long periods of time, or
to have one on command, but to bring orgasm with a single touch? It
sounded impossible.

“
Can you prove it?” Someone called.

Marcy
searched through the crowd, then touched her hand to the barely
visible headset on her ear, eager smile never leaving her face.
“Yes, someone asked a question? Who was that, please?”

Everyone
looked amongst themselves, searching for the woman who'd
asked.

She must
have gone suddenly shy under the attention, because no one lifted
their hand to take credit.

Macy's
smile wavered. “Do we have any questions?”

Melody
steeled herself, shooting her hand up into the air. “I
did,”

Everyone
stopped to look at her. She lowered her hand slowly, suddenly
feeling caught as a hovering stage light streamed its circular
light over her, trapping her in the gazes of everyone in the hall.
The bright artificial white light in her eyes practically blinded
her to everything around her.

Now she
understood why that other woman kept quiet.

Marcy's
smile came back in full force now that she had her victim in sight.
“Yes, sorry, what was your question?” Her voice came loud and clear
over the speakers.

“
I, uh,” Melody cleared her throat and raised her voice so as
to be heard as well as Marcy. “I was wondering if you could prove
the claim. It's not very reliable,” she said, forcing her arms to
keep from crossing in front of her.

She
looked to the side and caught sight of Dex's eyes, wide on her. She
could see the whites all around the blue pupils. His mouth was open
only a fraction, but it was enough. He recognized her, and the
sight of her had shocked the hell out of him.

Marcy
nodded. “Of course we can prove it. Come on right up
here.”

Every
vertebra in Melody's spine went tight. “What?”

Marcy
made large scooping movements with her hands. “Come on up stage and
we'll give you a free preview.”

A giant
fist reached inside her and squeezed her heart, stomach, ribs and
guts in a tight iron cast. She hadn't meant for them to test it out
on her!

The
crowd began clapping and whistling, urging her to go on up with as
much vigour as Marcy herself. They wanted proof too, it
seemed.

Dex's
shocked expression was replaced with something a little more
curious. A single dark brow was lifted slightly over that perfect
forehead as he awaited her decision. Did he want her to go up? Or
stay where she was?

Melody
steeled her shoulders. She wasn't a kid anymore, and this time, he
was in no position to deny her like all those years ago. She was
going to be reckless.

At least
the benefit of this was that no one here knew who she was, so it
wasn't like this would be something to be embarrassed about
later.

Back
straight, she moved through the heavy crowd of buyers and
sellers—had they all multiplied by a hundred?—and walked up the
little wooden steps to get to the stage with all the pride of a
queen.