“Do you think that’s true?” Eve asked, wondering whatthatwould be like.
“I know it’s true,” Genni said matter-of-factly, around another sip of wine. “You know Karen Newton? Her best friend used to visit the Krave and Karen got all the details from her friend and told me. Apparently, this woman once had an orgasm for an hour straight. She eventually passed out from it and when she woke up, she wasstillcumming. She finally begged the Krave she was with to clean her up.”
“And…he did?” Eve asked.
“Of course,” Genni said. “And apparently she visited him on a regular basis, like once a week. Can you imagine being rich enough to visit a Krave once a week?God.”
“What are they like, do you think?” Eve couldn’t help but wonder. She’d never even seen a picture of them, had only heard vague rumors and murmurings over the years and throughout her schooling days. “The Krave?”
Very few alien species resided on Everton, or any of the other Earth colonies, for that matter. Only those that provided ‘valuable services’ were allowed a visa inside. Apparently the Krave possessed what was considered a ‘valuable service,’ and even then the sponsorship fee was…immense.
Genni shrugged. “They can’t be too beastly looking if they have regular clients.”
All throughout the rest of their dinner, Eve couldn’t stop thinking about them. She couldn’t stop thinking about that alley, about that street, about what would happen if she made an ‘appointment’ with one of the Krave.
It was a harmless fantasy, but long after dinner was over and when Eve was back in the safety and quiet of her townhouse, curled up by her fireplace, with tea to help her sleep, she couldn’t stop thinking that shecouldvisit a Krave. While she’d never use her inheritance credits on something like that, Eve still had plenty of savings, since she never spent much of her income.
Would the Krave be gentle if she asked him to be? she wondered.
Would he think anything of her virginity if she told him why she was visiting him? Would he care?
Would she be able to have sex with him, so shortly after meeting him?
Eve watched the flames flicker and she sipped her tea, listening to the silence of the townhouse. She thought of Genni, about how easy it was for her to attract attractive men, even though they didn’t want her as a wife. She thought about how confident Genni was in her own skin, with her own sexuality, how she didn’t care what others thought of her and how liberating that must be. She thought about how brave Genni was, taking risks that would’ve made Eve retreat home with her tail tucked between her legs.
Eve wanted love. She wanted companionship and a husband and a family one day. But a big part of why she was intimidated by men was because of sex.
If she had sex with a Krave, if she lost her virginity and became more familiar with loosening up and finding sexual pleasure with another being, would it help her? She’d once heard that a woman who embraced her sexuality walked differently, that she saw the world in a different light.
Would Eve see the world differently? If she paid a Krave to help her explore her sexuality, would it change her? Would it help her be more open to new people and new experiences, instead of hiding away from the world?
It didn’t hurt that the Krave were rumored to be skilled lovers, not only because of what their bodies were capable of. Perhaps if a Krave took her virginity and introduced her to sex, it wouldn’t be as painful or as miserable as she’d heard it was.
The fire popped suddenly, as if in answer, and Eve jumped slightly. Shaken from her thoughts, she looked around her sitting room, decorated with her father’s antiques and Eve’s own possessions that she’d slowly added in since her father died.
She felt so old at 25, surrounded by ancient things. She had a sudden fear that she would die that way in that townhouse, in quiet, alone, without knowing intimacy and touch and love.
And it wasn’t worth it, she realized. Her fear of other people, of rejection, of anxiety, of sex wasn’t worthnotknowing those things.
What am I doing? she asked herself softly.
How could she expect to make new friends, to fall in love, to start a family if she was hiding away? Shecouldn’thave those things if she was a coward, if she let her fear overpower her, if she didn’t make herself vulnerable first.
Evewantedto be courageous. She wanted to be like Genni, who went after the things and people she wanted, who didn’t seem frightened of anything. She wanted to be more confident in herself.
And maybe doing something that scared her most of all—experiencing sex for the first time—would be the best place to start.
That was what prompted her to rise from her chair, to set her tea aside with her gut churning, and drag her Nu tablet from its place on the charging port.
The slim, airy device felt like lead in her hands as she ran a search for Madame Allegria. There wasn’t much on the famous Madame, to be fair. A few pictures at charity events and social galas on the Genesis colony revealed that she was a beautiful woman in her forties, with deep auburn hair and blue eyes, not a single wrinkle marring her creamy complexion. She was always dressed to perfection and always had a confident, knowing smile on her features.
But there was nothing about the Krave, or how to make a booking with one…until, almost a half hour later of searching, Eve navigated to a landing page that she didn’t even remember how she stumbled upon.
The landing page was white and ‘Madame Allegria’ was spelled out in thick, gold letters, much like how it appeared on the brick building in front of the alley earlier that evening.
And just below her name was a direct number.
Eve’s heart jumped when she saw it. She scrolled down on the landing page, but the rest of it was blank. Only her name…and a number.
