Chapter 1: Dominic's sex toy testing subject

"Get on the testing desk and spread your legs, Miss Ariana."

The command hangs in the air between them, cold and clinical and absolutely not clinical at all. Ariana's heart is hammering so hard she thinks he can hear it. She should be ashamed. She should be embarrassed. She should say no.

But those dark eyes are on her, and she's never felt so seen in her entire life.

And it all started when she decided to sign up to be Dominic's sex toy testing subject.

***

The fluorescent lights of St. Catherine's Hospital hummed overhead, casting everything in a sickly white glow. Ariana sat in the plastic chair outside her sister's room, the hospital billing statement crumpled in her trembling hands.

$47,800.

The number blurred as her eyes burned. She'd already paid $23,000 over the past eight months. The insurance had covered most of the initial surgery, but the complications....the extended stay, the specialized treatment, the medications, those had become her burden. Her sister's burden, technically. But Ariana had taken it on the moment their mother passed five years ago, and she hadn't put it down since.

She didn't even remember what it felt like to put things down.

A nurse passed by, offering a sympathetic smile. Ariana forced one back, the kind she'd perfected over years of waitressing at clubs, shelving books at the library, wiping noses at the nursery. The smile of someone who was fine. Everything was fine.

It wasn't fine.

Her sister, Mira, had been in this hospital for three weeks now. A car accident....not her fault, some drunk driver had T-boned her at an intersection, and now she was stuck here, recovering slowly, and Ariana was stuck here with her, watching the debt grow with every passing day.

She folded the statement and shoved it into her bag. She couldn't think about this right now. If she thought about it too hard, she'd break down, and breaking down wouldn't pay the bills.

Her phone buzzed.

Unknown Number: "Ariana? It's Claire from the library. Where are you? You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. I need to leave."

Ariana's stomach dropped. She checked the time. 4:47 PM.

Her shift started at 4:30.

***

She made it to the Riverside Public Library in seventeen minutes, her ancient Honda pushing speeds it probably shouldn't. The guilt was already eating her alive before she even walked through the doors.

Claire was standing at the front desk, arms crossed, her expression hovering somewhere between irritation and pity. That pity made Ariana's skin crawl.

"I'm so sorry," Ariana said immediately, already pulling her cardigan off. "The hospital....my sister needed...."

"I know," Claire said, not unkindly. "Go on, take the desk. I'll head out."

Ariana moved behind the counter, her body already aching. She'd woken up at 6 AM to work the breakfast shift at the nursery, left at 11 AM to grab a few hours at the library, rushed to the hospital at 2 PM, and now she was back here until closing at 9 PM.

Eleven hours. Minimum. And tomorrow she'd do it all over again.

She caught her reflection in the dark monitor of the computer. Dark circles under her electric blue eyes. Her hair....usually a rich brown....looked dull, pulled back in the same messy bun she'd thrown it into yesterday. Her skin was pale. When had she last eaten something that wasn't quick and cheap and forgettable?

She didn't recognize the girl staring back at her.

Is this it? The thought crept in unbidden. Is this all you're ever going to be?

A customer approached with a stack of books, and Ariana pushed the thought away. She scanned them through, smiled that practiced smile, and kept moving.

The shift stretched on. Slow, steady, mindless. The kind of work that let her brain wander to places it shouldn't go, like how she could possibly earn more money, or whether her sister would ever fully recover, or whether she was going to spend the rest of her twenties like this: exhausted, invisible, drowning.

By 8:45 PM, her feet were screaming. Her back ached. Her eyes felt like sandpaper.

She was shelving the last returns when her phone buzzed again.

Unknown Number: "Hey Ari, it's Simone. You free to talk? I have something for you. Something that could actually help."

Ariana stared at the message. Simone was a girl from her college days, someone she hadn't heard from in almost a year. She knew about Ariana's situation....everyone knew, really. It wasn't exactly a secret that she was working three jobs and barely keeping her head above water.

She typed back: "Not till 9:15. Just getting off work."

The response came immediately: "Call me when you're in your car. Trust me on this one."

***

The parking lot was empty when Ariana made it to her car at 9:17 PM. She sat in the driver's seat for a moment, engine running, heater blasting because October in the city was cold and she couldn't afford to waste gas, before she called Simone back.

Her friend picked up on the second ring.

"Ari! Thank God. How are you holding up?" Simone's voice was warm, but there was an edge of urgency to it.

"I'm... fine," Ariana lied automatically. "What's going on? You said you had something?"

"I do. But first, I need you to promise me you'll hear me out before you say no."

Ariana's stomach tightened. "That's never a good sign."

"I'm serious, Ari. Your life is falling apart. I can see it. Everyone can see it. And I might have found a way to help."

If only it were that simple. Ariana leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. "Simone, if this is about your pyramid scheme...."

"It's not. God, no. Listen, there's a company. It's... well, it's a pleasure products company. High-end. Discreet. They're looking for testing subjects for a new line of products."

Silence stretched between them.

"Testing subjects," Ariana repeated slowly. "You mean...."

"I mean people who will use the products, give feedback, help the company perfect them before they go to market," Simone said quickly. "It's part-time. Temporary. You could probably fit it around your other jobs. And Ari..." Simone took a breath. "The pay is good. Really good. Like, one session could cover a week of your sister's hospital bills."