LOGINShare
Chapter 2: Application Received
publish date:
2026-09-07 06:41:16Ariana felt something twist in her chest. Fear. Shame. Desperation. All of it mixed together into something she couldn't name.
"Simone, I can't....that's...."
"Before you say no, just listen," Simone interrupted. "I know what you're thinking. Trust me, I had the same reaction. But I looked into it. The company is legitimate. It's called Velour Innovations. They're a multimillion-dollar business. They have an entire division dedicated to product testing. It's professional. It's confidential. And they pay really well because they need people who are serious about it."
"Serious about..." Ariana couldn't even finish the sentence.
"About testing sex toys, yes," Simone said bluntly. "Look, I'm not going to pretend it's not weird. But Ari, you're drowning. Your sister is in the hospital. You're working three jobs and still not making enough. How much longer can you keep doing this? How much longer until you break?"
The words hit harder than they should have. Because Simone was right. Ariana could feel it in her bones....she was close to breaking. Maybe already broken.
"I don't know anything about... that," Ariana said quietly.
"You don't have to. That's the whole point. They teach you. They guide you through everything. And it's not like you're doing it with random people. It's a controlled environment. Professional. Safe."
Ariana's hands were shaking. She gripped the steering wheel tighter.
"I can't. Simone, what if someone finds out? What if...."
"No one will find out. That's why they emphasize the discretion. You sign an NDA. Your real name doesn't go on any paperwork. It's completely confidential. And honestly? The money alone makes it worth considering. One session could buy you time. Real time. Time to breathe."
Time to breathe. God, when was the last time Ariana had actually breathed?
"Let me think about it," Ariana heard herself say.
"You'll think about it?"
"I... yes. Maybe. I don't know."
"Okay, okay, that's good. That's progress." Simone's voice brightened slightly. "Look, I'm going to send you a link. Just check it out. Read through their website. See if it's something you want to pursue. No pressure. But Ari? I really think this could be your answer."
After they hung up, Ariana sat in the darkness of her car, the engine idling, and stared at her phone.
The link arrived moments later. Velour Innovations. The website was sleek, professional, almost clinical in its design. Black and gold accents. Minimalist layout. It looked like the kind of place that dealt in luxury, not... this.
She scrolled through the homepage. They had a whole section dedicated to their testing program. "We believe in excellence," the text read. "Our testers are vital to ensuring that every product meets our exacting standards. We compensate generously for your time and expertise."
Expertise. As if knowing how to use a sex toy was expertise.
But as she read further, Simone's words echoed in her mind: You're drowning.
She was drowning.
One session. One session could be $500. Maybe $1,000. Maybe more. That could buy her a month of breathing room. A month where she wasn't absolutely terrified every time a new bill arrived.
Her fingers hovered over the apply button on the website.
She thought about Mira, lying in that hospital bed, waiting for her. She thought about the $47,800 debt that seemed to grow every single day. She thought about the exhausted girl in the library mirror who didn't recognize her own face.
She thought about having no other options.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Ariana clicked apply.
The form was straightforward: name, age, contact information, basic health history, availability. They asked about her experience level with such products. She checked "Beginner."
She filled in every field. Her hands were shaking the entire time.
At the end, there was a section asking why she was interested in the position. She stared at the blank text box for a long time.
Because I'm desperate, she thought. But instead, she typed: "I'm interested in helping develop quality products and earning additional income."
It was vague enough. Professional enough.
She hit submit before she could change her mind.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then an automated email appeared in her inbox:
Subject: Velour Innovations – Application Received
Dear Ariana,
Thank you for your application. We have received your submission and will be reviewing it shortly. If you meet our requirements, we will contact you within 48 hours to schedule an interview.
We look forward to speaking with you.
Best regards,
The Velour Innovations TeamAriana sat back in her seat, her heart pounding.
What had she just done?
She didn't have time to spiral about it, though, because her phone buzzed again. This time it was a notification from her bank: her checking account balance was now $87.43.
She'd paid Mira's hospital copay that afternoon.
Ariana put her head down on the steering wheel and made a decision: whatever this Velour Innovations thing was, whatever it required, she was going to do it. Because the alternative....continuing like this, drowning in slow motion, was no longer an option.
She started driving home.
Latest chapter
The Pleasure Protocol Chapter 43: Whoever sent this wants me away from Dominic
So Ariana had handed over the phone instead.Simone read the text. Her eyebrows rose, and then, slowly, they came down again."Seventy-five," she said."Thousand.""I can count, babe." Simone set the phone down on the table with great care, as though it might go off. For nearly a full minute she said nothing at all, which in all the years Ariana had known her had happened perhaps four times."Okay," Simone said at last. "Here is what I am going to do. If you take it, I will drive you to the bank myself. I'll wait in the car. I won't say one single word, and I will tell anyone who asks that you were a genius.""Simone.""If you don't take it, I will say that you are a better person than I am, and I will still say nothing, because it is not my life and it's not my sister." She lifted her coffee and pointed it at Ariana like a pen. "But I need you to tell me which one it is. Because the not-knowing is the part that is going to kill me.""I don't know yet.""That's fair." Simone drank. "T
The Pleasure Protocol Chapter 42: The Seventy-five thousand Dollars Deal
Unknown number.Her stomach tightened before she had read a single word. She angled the screen beneath the edge of the table.You are clever, so here is an offer. $75,000, wired within 48 hours. In exchange, you resign from Velour Innovations and never speak to Dominic Ashford again.She read it once, and then she read it a second time more slowly, because the first time her eyes had slid straight over the number as though it had been written in another language.Seventy-five thousand.It covered the old balance. It covered the new one. It left something over, a little cushion, a year of rent perhaps, a winter coat that had not come from a thrift store. It was exactly enough, and no more than enough, to make every problem she had go away in a single transaction.There was no threat in the message. That was what made her skin prickle. The earlier texts had been sharp little knives, I know what you do at Velour, Be careful who you tell. This one was courteous. This one had been written
The Pleasure Protocol Chapter 41: Outpatient therapy
He was halfway down the steps when the door of a black car at the curb opened, and a man got out.Dominic knew the walk before he knew the face. It was a loose-limbed, pleased-with-itself swagger, the walk of a man who'd spent twenty-nine years trying to look as if he belonged in rooms he'd been invited into by accident.Adrian.Not heading into the clinic. Leaving it. He'd come out of a side door Dominic hadn't noticed, a staff entrance, and he was tucking a cream-colored folder under his arm. Even from here Dominic could see the letterhead. A small, engraved B.Adrian saw him. He stopped.For a second neither of them moved, and the street seemed to hold its breath. Then Adrian's face opened into a slow, delighted smile."Cousin," he said. "What a surprise."Dominic came down the last two steps."Looking well," Adrian said. He tapped the folder against his palm, lightly, almost fondly. "You should try it, you know. Showing up. People love it when you show up. It makes them feel like
The Pleasure Protocol Chapter 40: We've been expecting you
He had tried to sleep. He'd lain on his back in a bed the size of a small country and counted the ceiling. At 2:15 he'd got up and asked the driver to bring the car around, and the driver, who was fifty-something and kind and discreet, had not said a word about the hour.The elevator dinged.Dominic didn't look up. There were only two people alive who had a key to this floor, and one of them was asleep in a Milan hotel.Luke came in the way he did everything, without hurry, like a man walking into his own kitchen. He wore a coat over a T-shirt that said something faded about a boat. He looked at the bench, then at Dominic, then at the dust on Dominic's forearms.He said nothing.He took the other stool, dragged it a foot closer to the lamp, picked up a file, and started on the edge of a piece of scrap.Ten minutes passed. The only sound was wood and metal.Dominic had known Luke since they were twelve years old, two boys at a boarding school with the wrong kind of money and the wrong
The Pleasure Protocol Chapter 39: Are You Dying?
"They know you.""Lots of people know me.""Grandfather.""Your queen is hanging, by the way."It was. Dominic hadn't seen it. He moved it, and it was the wrong move, and he knew it was the wrong move while his hand was still on the piece."I asked you a question," Dominic said."You asked a clinic. I'm not a clinic." The old man took the queen. He did it neatly, with the left hand, and set the piece on the table beside the board with a small click. "Are you eating?""What?""You look thin. Your mother says you're thin. For once, I think she's right.""I'm not thin.""Have you eaten today?"Dominic opened his mouth.He had had black coffee at five. He'd had nothing since."I thought so," his grandfather said, almost gently. "I can tell you that when I was your age, I forgot lunch for a whole year. Your grandmother used to put a sandwich on my desk and stand there until I picked it up. It's a family failing. We forget to feed ourselves when we are busy being important."Eat something.
The Pleasure Protocol Chapter 38: I don't know a Brennan Institute
It was the oldest thing in her. The reflex. The habit of paying back every kindness with her body, her time, her silence, until nothing was left. She had never once thought that somebody might see it, and say no, and mean it."I'm not," she said."I know." He looked at the far wall. "That is why I'm asking you to wait."She sat there on the edge of the desk with the glass in her hand, and couldn't find anything to say.She dressed slowly. He did not watch until she'd zipped the plain grey dress and found her flats and smoothed her hair. When she stood in front of him, with her hands folded, he rose, and she saw that he'd gotten himself under control, the line of his jaw, the set of his shoulders, every trace gone."The payment will be deposited within the hour," he said. "HR will contact you.""Thank you.""Ariana."She stopped at the door."Your wrists." He was looking at her. "Show me."She held them out. The pink lines had already faded to the faintest ghosts.He nodded once."Eat
You May Also Like
One Night Stand
Favor V April1.0M viewsI Kissed A CEO And He Liked It!
LiLhyz1.5M viewsMy Bestfriend's Brother Shouldn't Know How I Taste
Demiah13656.3K viewsMaster Odell’s Secret Ex-wife
Eggsoup1.2M viewsTHE ALPHA'S DEFIANT BREEDER
Kwrite458 viewsTHE BEST FRIEND'S BROTHER
Faye24 viewsDiscarded wife, Triplet Billionaire Heir.
Grandpa preslee93 viewsRide With Me, The Biker President's Love
Emmanuel Rich 227 views
