#marpessa

“Reminds me of Scandinavia.” To which Chloe replied, “Well, it sure ain’t the South Carolina low country, right Alessa?”

“Not in the least,” replied Alessa who was relieved to finally be there at last.

Inside the ranch house, the three women were shown to separate rooms. “Thank God I don’t have to share a room,” thought Alessa to herself. After quickly unpacking, the three went downstairs to the lobby. There a producer met them and outlined what he wanted from Alessa and Josie. Chloe discovered an onsite gym with sauna, and said, “I’ll see you beauties later. Us athletes gotta stay in shape.”

The producer told Alessa and Josie that they would join the other models the next day to begin shooting. They would model various lingerie items and ‘western wear’ which Alessa assumed meat boots and cowboy hats. The lingerie company intended to use the photos for their Christmas catalog. “Men are the biggest buyers of lingerie. And all men love pretty women and cowboys,” said the producer.

As he finished talking, some other models came in. Alessa heard a loud voice call her name. She turned to see Adri and Marpessa. Alessa and Adri broke into the business together and Marpessa had been their mentor. “How good to see you,” said Adri. “It has been too long. What? Two years?” Marpessa also said, ”It’s been since last spring for me. How are you darling? And how is that adorable Hampton?”

While Alessa, Adri, and Marpessa caught up, Josie lurked off with some of the younger models. “Oh Good! The children are going to play,” said Marpessa sarcastically. Then, “That will give the grown-ups time to catch up.”

Alessa considered her two friends. Marpessa was probably in her mid-50’s now but was still lithe and her hair dark without signs of gray. “Perhaps due to something other than just good genes,” thought Alessa to herself. And as Marpessa herself would readily admit – she subsided mainly on scotch, cigarettes, champagne, cocaine and a lot of gossip.

Adri was a little older than Alessa - mid 30’s. Alessa noticed Adri seemed a little thicker than when she last saw her. Not heavy by any means, but more muscular. Adri must have noticed because she said without prompting, “I’ve become an exercise nut. Weightlifting and kick boxing. Pedro likes me this way.” Adri was married to the famous soccer player, Pedro M. “Besides, now I can kick his ass if he misbehaves,” laughed Adri.

Marpessa said, “Let’s adjourn to the Bar and gossip about everyone else.”

“I guess I was too drunk when I got home,” she thought, looking at the clothes she had worn to the party at the Hotel Ritz the night before strewn about the floor beside the bed. And then, “Hell, I do not even remember coming home.” Then Alessa looked over to the bedside table and saw the alarm clock. “Shit again! It’s past noon, almost one o’clock.” Alessa hurriedly got out of bed and threw on a short robe. After pulling the sash tight around her waist, Alessa ventured out of the bedroom and into the apartment. She did not hear any sounds from the playroom, so she padded down the hall to Hampton’s room. She opened the door and saw Hampton fast asleep on the bed with Marisol lying beside him with her arms around him. The sound of the door opening awakened Marisol. She looked up at Alessa and placed her finger to her lips in the universal ‘shhh’ sound. Then she carefully got up and came over to Alessa. Then pointed to the kitchen and softly closed the door to Hampton’s bedroom.

Both women went into the kitchen of the apartment. Alessa was relieved to see a pot of coffee waiting on the counter with a large mug beside it. Marisol in her heavy Spanish accent said, “I made coffee for you early this morning, but tried not to awaken you. Hampton and I played for a couple of hours and I just put him down for his nap. We decided that Mommy might need her beauty rest after the party last night.”

At first Alessa thought Marisol might be being sarcastic, but realized she was not. Instead she said, “Marisol, you are a life saver.” “So, it was a nice party? Did you get to see any movie stars? I know you saw all of your model friends; several of them came home with you and partied into the wee hours. They have only been gone couple of hours.” Alessa almost spit out her coffee. “My model friends! Here? Partying here? Which ones?”

Marisol, who had been trying to break into the modeling business herself, knew most of the famous models by sight and a few of the local ones. She answered, “Well, you came in with Josie, Rose, a young dark-skinned girl I did not recognize and another girl who did not look like a model. More like an athlete with a lot of tattoos and a funny accent.”

Alessa thought, “That makes sense. I was sitting with Josie, Rose, Lais and Josie’s current lover Chloe, the golf pro.” Then to Marisol, “Could you tell I had been drinking?”

Marisol suppressed a giggle and said, “I could tell you had a good time. A very good time. You could hardly talk. You told them you wanted them to see your baby, but I told them he was already asleep. Then you told them that there were two bottles of champagne in the refrigerator and to help themselves; you were going to bed. And you did.”

Alessa vaguely remembered being at the party and Chloe going to the bar. She returned with a tray of shot glasses. Alessa remembered Chloe saying, “A nice old man bought all of us shots of tequila and said to drink up.” And Alessa remembered doing so. A bit later a very handsome man came over and said he had bought the drinks. Alessa had thanked him. “Maybe I flirted with him, I just cannot remember,” Then, “Wait. I do remember. He gave me some sort of cocktail. He said it was the bar special. I bet that is what affected me more than the tequila and champagne I drank with the other girls.” Then Alessa turned to Marisol, “So, they stayed here the rest of the night?”

“I don’t really know. Shortly after you went to bed, another group arrived. There was a knock on the door. Rose answered, and it was two men and two women. The women were a couple of your older model friends – Marpessa was one. I didn’t recognize the other and she did not introduce herself, nor did the men. But your friends all seemed to know them.”

“But you said you didn’t know how long they all stayed?”

Marisol answered, “No ma’am. One of the men. He was older.He told me they were going to make sure you were OK and would stay for a bit. I wasn’t sure, but the other older model said it was OK. In fact you had asked them to drop by. And…” Marisol voice trailed off.

“What?” asked Alessa. “Tell me.”

“That man gave me 500 Euro and said, ‘You just go stay with the baby and let us adults talk.’ It seemed OK with everyone, so I did. I went to sleep with Hampton and only awoke when I heard voices leaving around ten this morning. I came out from the room and cleaned up a bit before Hampton woke up. You’re not mad, are you?”

Alessa answered, “Certainly not with you, Marisol,” but to herself Alessa was thinking, “Could it have been that man in the park? The one from Roissy? I saw him at the party with Mapessa and Margareta.”

“Whatever. Anyway, she’s a hot model now, and I was going to talk to her after the show, but some rough looking characters spirited her away before I could.

Sutton responded, “I’m not surprised. Rene told me while we were in Amsterdam that her lover was killed in that terrorist attack in Malaga. She took it very hard, and the Society stepped in to take care of her.”

“How so?”

“According to Rene she was told that with her lover dead, she became the property of the Society. Now she works some shows – of course, the money she earns from it is split between her and the Society. And when she is not doing shows or photo shoots, she is at the Chateau entertaining Masters and customers. Of course, as an ‘owned,’ well at least formally owned, slave she is paid twice the normal rate by customers. And per Rene, many customers are willing to pay double rate so they can say they had a super model.”

“Sounds like a great life,” said Alessa, exhaling disapprovingly.

Then Sutton said, “But surely that’s not what got you upset. Not being able to chat with Anna?”

Alessa hesitated for a bit, then, “No. Not really. It was what happened lter.”

“What was that?” Then it all came spilling out, “You see, I met up with Marpessa and we chatted. Then this older man came over with Margareta – I thought he was hitting on me. Marpessa led them away. Then I saw some of my friends – Rose, Laia, Josie and her friend Chloe. She’s a professional golfer. Anyway, I sat with them. Maybe I had too much to drink. Then this handsome man flirted with me. Then I drank some more. Then I must have come home; I really don’t remember. I must have passed out, but when I woke up this morning something didn’t feel right. Marisol said a bunch of folks were here with me, but I don’t remember. Then Marpessa called…” Alessa’s voice trailed off. She looked as if she were going to cry.

Sutton held her tight and said, “Then what, Alessa? What’s wrong?”

“Sutton, Marpessa said the older man, the handsome younger man and Margareta went into my bedroom where I was passed out.”

“So?”

“I think I was raped by them.”

Margareta drifted away, saying, “Oh look! There are my friends at another table. There’s Linda, Cristy, Kate and one of the designers. Now that I’ve taken you to your friends, I’ll go catch up with the gossip from mine.”

Then Margareta disappeared into the crowd as Marpessa came up to Alessa and said, “Her friends! Not very bloody likely! Just watch. None of them will even acknowledge her when she gets over there.” Then both Alessa and Marpessa laughed before the older woman continued, “You look stunning, my dear. I do believe the sabbatical is agreeing with you.”

Alessa almost blushed before saying, “Thank you. And you look ageless as always. Just what is your secret?”

Marpessa laughed again and said, “Starvation, a little cosmetic surgery, nicotine, cocaine, champagne and lots of sex with younger men,” Then she continued, “Speaking of which, how is Sutton?”

Alessa answered, “He and that fellow Rene are up in Amsterdam, working on some deal for importing wine from our California vineyards. He’s been gone almost a week, so I got bored and decided to come to this bash by myself.”

A pretty woman like you unescorted? There are some nefarious looking fellows hovering about here. But don’t worry, Mama Marpessa will protect you.”

It dawned on Alessa that Marpessa was drunk or high, but probably correct about the ‘nefarious fellows.’

Marisol looked at her and said, “If you don’t mind me saying so, you still look somewhat out of kilter.”

Alessa responded, “Yes. I thought the shower would help, but I still feel a little woozy. I’ve had hangovers before, but…” She let her voice trail off as her cell phone that was lying on the table began to buzz.

“You better take it,” said Marisol. “I’ll take Sutton to the playroom.” Then taking the young boy by the hand she left the room.

Alessa picked up the phone and said, “Yes?”

A voice on the other end said, “Darling, it’s Marpessa. I was just checking on you. I know you don’t like to be lectured to but, my goodness you were a hot mess last night. I bet you feel awful today.”

“I do,” answered Alessa. “But I am glad you called. You see… I’m a little embarrassed to say it, but I don’t remember much of last night. Just splotches of memories. Can you tell me just exactly what I did?”

“Well, first I rescued you from Margareta; she is such a bitch. Anyway, we went over to a table where that nice older man who said he had met you and your adorable child in the park. I think his name was Ralf. Anyway, he was sitting at a table with a gorgeous younger man -I don’t think I ever did catch his name. I, too, was drinking a bit. Margareta was all over him, like a fly on shit! Anyway, we had drinks and chatted. That man Ralph seems so nice. And then I looked over at your table. That tattooed creature, whoever she is. She’s not a model is she; she’s short and sort of butch looking. But I think ‘butch’ is in this year. Tall and butch.”

Alessa interrupted, “She’s not a model. She’s a golf pro. She’s dating Josie now.”

“I knew it. I knew it. That tall Danish girl will fuck anything. Man, woman, machine or beast, who knows? Anyway as I was saying, I saw her take a tray of shots over to your table and all you young things – Rose, that tall dark skinned girl, Laia I think is her name, you and Josie all threw them down. All of you were laughing and giggling like schoolgirls. Anyway, that delightful young man – I wish I could remember his name. I think he was trying to escape Margareta. He excused himself saying, “I think your friend is having too good a time. I think I’ll buy her a drink. So next time I look over he is talking with you. Looked like deep, serious talk. Don’t worry, I won’t breathe a word to Sutton. You’re on full flirt. I could tell from thirty feet. Coyly looking at him with those big brown eyes of yours and sipping what ever drink he bought you through a straw. Through a straw no less!”

Alessa again interrupted, “Did I leave with him?”

“Not exactly. As the party started to wind down you said you had to go home and were going to get a cab. But all of your friends protested. Rose said, ‘We’re your posse. Your pussy posse. We’re going with you to make sure you get home.’ And all of you got up. I remember Margareta who had been monopolizing that nice older man saying, ‘I bet they will get arrested. Perhaps we should follow them.’ And both the gentleman and his younger friend you had been flirting with agreed. They got up. I didn’t want to be left behind, so I went with them. When we got outside, only Josie was there. And she was in full pout. Full Danish green-eyed pout. Eyes glaring pout. I asked where you were and she said that you, Rose, Laia and that tattooed girl had piled into a cab and left leaving you to hail another cab, but at least she had the address. Now that I know that she and that golfer creature are an item, I can see why she was so mad.” Marpessa was quiet for a bit. Alessa thought to herself, “Is she having a drink or inhaling on her ever-present cigarette.

Then Marpessa continued. “We got a cab, the five of us. It was crowded and that bitch Margareta sat on the gorgeous young man’s lap the whole way to your apartment. When we got there, Rose, Laia and the golfer were in the living room. I do love your décor there! Anyway, Rose told us that you came in, said that there was champagne in the refrigerator, and disappeared into your bedroom. Your adorable child and nanny were already hiding in her room – away from the drunk crazy ladies. I went to your rom and checked. You were sprawled out, dead to the world. So, I went back into the living room chatted with Rose and watched the drama unfold.”

“What drama?” said Alessa.

“Well, the golfer tried to be all lovey dovey with Josie, but that tall Dane was having none of it. She said, ‘I’m surprised you’re not in bed with Alessa!’ It was a little tense. I felt uncomfortable, so I decided to leave. Rose and Laia went with me.”

“About what time was that?” asked Alessa.

“Honestly I think it was three or four this morning. I’m not sure when the others left.”

“So, when you left, who was at my apartment?”

“Why it was Josie, her golfer, That nice older man Ralph, that bitch Margareta and that handsome young man.”

And Alessa thought to herself, “Well, that narrows the list of suspects.”

The man nodded to Marpessa and then looking at Alessa said, “Ah, we meet again.”

Marpessa gave a wry look and said, “You two know one another?”

He said, “It was a chance encounter. This lovely young woman was out strolling her child. I stopped to compliment her on him. And her beauty, of course. A chance meeting in the park by the Orsay.” Then looking at Alessa, “When was it? Two or three months ago? Oh, and I see that you still have that unique ring on your finger.” Turning to Marpessa, “Look. Isn’t it unique? You do not see many like that.”

All the while, Alessa was frozen with terror. “Could Marpessa know its significance? What if he wants me to go with him? Perhaps to a coat room where I would have to blow him again? And I don’t even know his name.” With these thoughts in her head, Alessa couldn’t speak; she was too scared.

Perhaps sensing Alessa’s discomfort, Marpessa broke the silence, “Oh Ralph, let’s go find someone our own age to talk to and let Alessa gossip with her younger friends. I bet she hasn’t seen them in a while. Besides I want her to get the scoop on that golfer so she can tell me later. I’m sure that’s an interesting story.”

The man, whose name was evidently Ralph, said, “Of course.” Then looking squarely into Alessa’s eyes, he said, “I am quite sure we will meet again.”

Then Marpessa took him by the arm and led him away into the crowd. As she did so, Josie came over and asked Alessa, “Who was that man you and Marpessa were talking to? He certainly was handsome for an older man.”

The shooting for the magazine, catalog and Christmas video was finally over. That night there was a big party for the models, photographers, crew and company executives. It was similar to many of the post production parties that Alessa had attended over the year. She sat at a table with Marpessa and Adri, the ‘grown up’ table as Marpessa dryly called it. Alessa looked over at another table where Josie, Chloe, Steph and Kirsten were sitting. Marpessa said, “And there is the lesbo table. Don’t they look happy?” Adri replied laughingly, “You sound jealous!” Alessa remained silent.

As the party wound down, Josie came over and whispered in Alessa’s ear, “Are you going to join us? Chloe and I hope so. The combinations would certainly be interesting.”

Alessa replied, “Perhaps.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Later, alone in her room, Alessa thought about what Josie had said. She poured herself a stiff drink and finally said, “Oh, what the Hell!”

Alessa’s thoughts were interrupted by Josie. “I never knew you were from the South. You do not sound a thing like Chloe.”

And Chloe interjected, “Not that it would be a bad thing!” Then she laughed.

Alessa didn’t have the heart to tell her that the modeling agency had spent a fortune sending her to speech lessons so that she wouldn’t have the southern accent. Instead, she said, “Oh remember, I was an Air Force brat. My family moved around so often that it’s a wonder I can speak English at all. We lived in Germany and Japan when I was growing up along with those air bases in the American South that I mentioned earlier.” Then she added, “But I do think Chloe’s accent is cute. Don’t you?”

Josie answered, “I think everything about Chloe is cute. And sexy.”

Chloe beamed as Josie planted a kiss on her lips. Then Josie continued, “But you seem a little distracted, Alessa. You keep looking around. Are you looking for that handsome older man you were chatting with earlier? I think Marpessa swept him up for herself. Jealous?”

Alessa looked at Josie and said, “Not jealous in the least. Just curious. I was wondering what he was doing here at the fashion show.”

“Well, like you said, a lot of rich guys hang around fashion shows. They have money and most pretty young girls like money. So…” Her voice trailed off.

Chloe interjected, “Earlier I saw him talking to those rough looking characters who spirited off that young model. What’s her name? Anna, I think.”

Josie said, “Yes, you’re right. He was talking to them and then right after her walk, those guys seemed to lead her away. I wonder what’s up with that. Don’t you know her, Alessa? Do you know why she left so early?”

Alessa knew. Anna was in addition to being one of the ‘hot’ new models, a slave of Roissy. A year or so ago, her lover – a young man named Tristan- had convinced Anna to go to Roissy. Alessa had been present with her lover, Sutton, at the ceremony where Anna had been branded and marked as a slave. And after Tristan had been killed in a terrorist incident in Spain, Anna was forfeited to Roissy. The Society allowed her to continue to model but took most of the money she earned. After shows and photo shoots, Anna was returned to Roissy and resumed her life there as a slave. But Alessa had no intention of disclosing her own association with Roissy, so she merely said, “I vaguely know her. We have met several times. And I have no idea why she left with those men.”