Chapter 41 – The Velvet Sleeve Deal
by Kleo EriliThe first thing Chloe felt when she woke up was pain.
It was still deep in her abdomen, a dull, throbbing ache that grew sharper with every movement. She carefully rolled onto her side and groaned in unison with the bed.
Okay. This can’t go on.
She stared at the ceiling of her shabby apartment and thought of all the reasons she didn’t want to see a doctor. The questions, the looks, the judgment, the possibility that someone would recognize her.
But the pain didn’t subside. If anything, it had gotten worse since last night.
You have no choice, Chloe.
She grabbed her phone, searched for “OB-GYN Valley City,” and looked at the available appointments. Most practices were either fully booked, required a referral, or didn’t have an appointment available for another three weeks.
After twenty minutes of frustrated scrolling, she found a small practice in the southwest part of town, in an area that looked pretty run-down even by Valley City standards on Street View. A Dr. Marcus Harris, M.D. The reviews were mediocre, but there was an appointment available for this afternoon.
Good enough.
~
The waiting room was small and beige and smelled of stale air and cheap disinfectant. Chloe sank into one of the plastic chairs and tried to find a position that didn’t hurt.
Next to her sat a young mother whose toddler tugged whingingly at her hand. In the corner, an older woman leafed through a copy of the Valley City Times, which, judging by the front page, must have been from last month. A woman with dark circles under her eyes, who had obviously been crying recently, stared into space.
What a cheerful crowd.
She scrolled through her phone without really reading anything. The minutes crawled by like snails on Valium.
“Chloe Thompson?”
She stood up cautiously and followed the receptionist down a narrow hallway.
Dr. Harris was tall and gaunt, maybe in his mid-forties, with graying hair, and looked like he hadn’t smiled in years. His eyes didn’t look unfriendly as she told him about her symptoms, but he wasn’t exactly the warmest person either. Just appraising.
“Take off your clothes from the waist down. The examination chair is over there.” He pointed to the gynecological chair. “I’ll be back in two minutes.”
Very efficient, no small talk and no stupid questions. At least so far. Chloe was actually quite happy with that.
When he returned, Chloe was already in position with her feet in the stirrups, listening to the ceiling fan humming while he disinfected his hands, put on gloves, and took a sterile clear plastic speculum out of its packaging.
The examination was clinical and uncomfortable. When his gloved fingers touched her cervix, she flinched and suppressed a cry of pain that turned into a hiss.
“I’m sorry about that.” Dr. Harris paused and examined her insides. “I take it that did hurt?”
“Yes.”
He widened the speculum a little, grabbed a small mirror, shone a light, and positioned it so that Chloe could see. “Here. Do you see that? The swelling and bluish discoloration there, that’s a bruise on the cervix.”
Chloe nodded. Ouch, that doesn’t look good.
“That must have hurt when it happened,” Dr. Harris said matter-of-factly. “Was it consensual?”
“Yes,” Chloe said. “I, um… I’m a porn actress. My partner was… quite big and pretty rough, but it was consensual.”
Dr. Harris raised an eyebrow, but his face remained neutral. He withdrew the instruments and slipped off his gloves.
“Ibuprofen for the next few days. No intercourse for at least a week, preferably longer. Listen to your body. If you experience pain during… a work assignment, you should stop.”
He wrote something on a prescription pad.
“I strongly advise you to be more careful in the future. A large penis plus rough handling can quickly lead to a bruise and as you see it’s quite painful. Your body is your most important tool in your profession, I imagine,” he added without looking up. “Better treat it accordingly.”
He looked at her thoughtfully once more. “Just to be on the safe side, I’ll ask again: was it really consensual? If not, you should go to the police.”
“It was consensual,” Chloe repeated emphatically.
He nodded briefly and handed her the prescription. “Come back if the pain gets worse or doesn’t go away.”
Outside, Chloe walked slowly home. The dull throbbing in her abdomen was still there, of course, but now the pain had a name.
Bruised cervix.
Somehow, knowing that made it more bearable.
~
Later that afternoon, Chloe was lying on her bed with a pillow under her hips, dozing, when her phone vibrated. Ben Ziegler.
She answered. “Hey, Ben.”
“Sunshine!” His voice dripped with the usual false warmth. “I have fantastic news. Bound.com wants you back. They were absolutely thrilled with your last performance and want to shoot a sequel for one of their sub-brands, which would be in four days.”
Chloe’s heart skipped a beat. This would have been a good opportunity to find out more about Ethan Cooper. And the thought of a repeat of the experience itself… she pushed the thought aside.
“And that’s not all,” Ben continued, clearly pleased with himself. “Dirty Dreams has also made an inquiry. Valeria herself, in fact. She wants you for one of her main productions. I’ve discussed with her that we can do it the day before the shoot for Bound.com so there won’t be any issues with possible welts or marks. This is huge, Sunshine. The momentum is building.”
Chloe closed her eyes. “Ben, I can’t.”
A short pause. “What do you mean, you can’t?”
“It’s a doctor’s order. I went to the doctor today because I was in a lot of pain, and apparently I have a bruised cervix. I’m not allowed to have sex for at least a week.”
An annoyed sigh on the other end. “Oh. That’s… not good. What happened?”
Wow, so much sympathy.
“DaShawn McDaniel happened.” She kept her voice neutral. “His equipment is damn big and he’s pretty rough with it.”
“Ah.” Ben cleared his throat. “That happens. Some of the guys have dicks that should be registered as weapons and don’t know when to stop.”
“I don’t want to work with him anymore,” Chloe said.
“Understood.” No discussion, no argument, at least that. “I’ll put him on your no-list. Injuries are bad for business.”
Of course, the business.
“What do we do about the offers?” Ben was back in business mode. “Should I cancel or postpone?”
“Postpone them if possible. I’ll be in touch as soon as I’m back in action.”
“Good, okay. Take it slow and get better, Sunshine. You’re in high demand right now, and I don’t want that momentum to be lost.”
He hung up.
Chloe dropped the phone on the mattress and stared at the ceiling again, but couldn’t get back to sleep. At least the painkillers were working.
Damn, Bound.com would have been nice.
The disappointment gnawed at her, more than she had expected. Not just because of Ethan and the investigation. There was also… the other thing. How she had felt there. How Buck had pushed her to her limits and how good she had felt afterward.
It doesn’t matter now.
She pressed her palms against her eyes.
One week. At least one week where she could do nothing but wait around stupidly.
Fucking DaShawn. Fucking Lucia. Fucking everything.
~
The days crawled by like thick syrup.
On the first day, Chloe mostly lay in bed, scrolling through her phone and responding to selected comments under her posts, while deleting the dick pics in her inbox with the efficiency of an assembly line worker. On the second day, she carefully ventured to the supermarket around the corner, bought ibuprofen and lots of instant noodles, which she ate while watching Just Us Girls. On the third day, she switched from a horizontal to a semi-vertical existence and spent hours going through her investigation notes, researching some stuff, sorting names and marking connections.
Steve texted her every day, sending short messages between shoots.
Elena also got in touch once.
On the fifth day, she carefully rolled out her yoga mat. The first stretch was a little stiff, but then her body remembered what it was like to move without everything hurting. On the sixth day, she managed a full session, slowly and carefully, but it was a full session.
The pain had become a dull echo, barely noticeable.
Finally.
She was just rolling up her yoga mat when her cell phone rang.
She answered. “Hi, Ben.”
“Sunshine!” This time his voice sounded different, with a genuine, almost childlike excitement. “How are you? Are you feeling better?”
“Almost as good as new,” she replied. The pain was really hardly worth mentioning anymore. “What’s up?”
“Remember our conversation about Velvet Sleeve?”
Chloe pricked up her ears. “The company that makes masturbators?”
“Exactly.” Ben snorted smugly. “I called them as agreed and pitched you. Rising star, five EVA nominations minimum, perfect timing for them to jump on the hype train early before you get really expensive. And guess what?”
“They took the bait.”
“They took the bait!” He laughed triumphantly. “They want to discuss a deal. A signature sleeve with your name on it. Good money, Sunshine, really good money. There’ll be a bit of work at the beginning with promo stuff, photoshoots, and all that jazz, but after that, it’s basically passive income, and you’ll be earning money while you sleep, so to speak.”
By having my pussy as a product on the shelf.
It was absurd. It was disturbing. It was… exactly what she had talked to Ben about.
“Sounds good!”
“Come to my office tomorrow,” Ben said, “so we can go over the details.”
She thought about her bank balance and the rent and the uncertain future after this whole nightmare and took a deep breath.
Financial security and brand building. That was the plan.
“Okay,” she said. “See you tomorrow!”
~
When Chloe stopped by Ben’s office the next day, Maven was sitting behind her desk, staring at her phone in disgust. When she noticed Chloe, she rolled her eyes. “Oh God, you won’t believe what I had to delete this morning.”
“Let me guess.” Chloe leaned against the doorframe. “Cum tributes?”
“Fourteen of them. Fourteen!” Maven shook her head. “You get way more than anyone else. One guy… I swear, it was so weird, I had to click on it, but he actually sent a PowerPoint presentation. With transitions and everything.”
“A PowerPoint?”
“I swear to God.” Maven raised her right hand. “The title was ‘Cumming For Chloe – A Visual Journey’. There were eight slides.”
Chloe snorted. “At least he made an effort.”
“Don’t say that if they can hear you, it’ll just encourage them.” Maven grimaced, then looked at Chloe more closely. “Are you feeling better? Ben said you were out of commission?”
“Yes, much better now.”
“Nice.” Maven nodded toward Ben’s office. “He’s unbearably excited today. I’m warning you.”
Chloe knocked on the door and entered.
Ben was sitting behind his desk and literally jumped up when Chloe entered.
“Sunshine!” He waved a stack of papers. “Sit down, sit down! We have a lot to talk about.”
Chloe sank into the worn leather chair in front of his desk. “Velvet Sleeve?”
“Velvet Sleeve!” Ben beamed. “So, they want to do two products with you.”
He slid the documents across the table to her. Chloe skimmed the first page. Velvet Sleeve Exclusive Partnership Agreement. Below that was a list: Product A: Vaginal Sleeve and Product B: Anal Sleeve.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars per product as an advance payment,” Ben said, rubbing his hands together. “Plus ten percent royalties on all sales. That’s a damn good deal, Sunshine. If both products launch at the same time, it will fuel the momentum incredibly and-“
“I only want one of them.”
Ben blinked. “What?”
“Just the pussy sleeve.” Chloe leaned back and crossed her arms. “If they want the anal sleeve later, we can renegotiate. On better terms.”
A brief silence. Ben stared at her reluctantly and grimaced.
“Sunshine, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Two products from the start means double the market presence, double the visibility, double the-“
“Double the risk that I’ll waste my negotiating position.” Chloe held his gaze. “If I give away everything I have now, what will I have to negotiate with later? If the pussy sleeve sells well and I get even bigger later, the anal sleeve will be more expensive. Simple supply and demand.”
Ben opened his mouth, then closed it again.
“I want to keep control of my brand,” Chloe continued, her voice calm but firm. “I decide when which product comes out. Not them.”
And certainly not you.
Another pause. Then a slow, almost respectful grin appeared on Ben’s face.
“Well, look at that.” He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. “Tough negotiator, huh?”
“I’m learning.”
Ben snorted with amusement. “You could say that.” He grabbed a pen and crossed out Product B: Anal Sleeve on the contract. “Okay, sunshine. I’ll call them and present your counteroffer. But if they back out-“
“They won’t.”
His eyebrows shot up. “So you’re a fortune teller too?”
“They took the trouble to draw up a contract,” Chloe said. “So they obviously want me. And twenty-five thousand plus royalties is still a good deal for them.”
Ben studied her for a moment. Then he nodded slowly. “Okay, okay.”
He crossed out a few more sentences and pushed the contract back to her. “Here. Sign it.”
Chloe took the pen. She hesitated for a moment.
My pussy will become a product that strangers can simply buy and use.
The thought was so disturbing, and at the same time… somehow fitting. Wasn’t that just the logical next step?
Stop worrying. Twenty-five thousand dollars up front, a little work, and then passive income. Just go with it, Chloe.
She signed.
“Perfect!” Ben grabbed the contract. “I’ll call right away and confirm. If they agree, the molding would be the day after tomorrow. That’s okay, right?”
Chloe quickly did the math. The day after tomorrow would be about nine days after the injury. She had recovered well over the last few days, and the pain was barely noticeable.
“That should work,” she said. “Send me the details.”
“Will do.” Ben rubbed his hands together again. “This is a really good start, Sunshine. First Velvet Sleeve, then more brand deals, then your own website… We’re building a little empire here.”
You might. I don’t need an empire. I’m just building insurance.
But she smiled the Chloe Heart smile and nodded.
“Sounds like a plan.”
We love a smart fmc! Go Chloe!!!! (੭˃ᴗ˂)੭
=)