Housewives and Cheerleaders, Chapter 117

When Jessica had finished with Tara and Ashley, she dressed and went back down to the foyer. Marie was waiting there on the couch; Jane apparently was still otherwise engaged.

The instant Jessica sat down Marie leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Can I talk to you?”

“Sure,” said Jessica. “What’s up?”

Marie gestured toward the door with her head. “Outside.” Intrigued, Jessica nodded her assent.

They retrieved their coats and walked out through the front door, past the security guards, or bouncers, or whatever they were. When they had strolled far enough down the driveway to be out of earshot, Marie started talking. “That girl I was with...”

Jessica interrupted. “She looked like she was really something. Was she amazing?”

Marie shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. We ended up just talking. She is from Haiti and speaks French. No English. So she has no one to talk to here. And I don’t get many chances to speak French, so....”

“Did you see her naked, at least?” asked Jessica.

“Don’t be so gauche,” admonished Marie, somewhat sharply. Jessica was taken aback – Marie never spoke to her this way. Something must be up. “Listen, she told me that she is a prisoner here. This place is run by gangsters. Those men at the door, if she tried to escape – they would shoot her.”

They walked on for a bit, looking up at the moon. “I knew something was wrong about this place,” said Jessica.

Marie turned and looked her mistress square in the eye. “We have to help her.”

“What can we do?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Marie. “But we have to do something.”

* * *

When they got back inside, Jane, Mimi, Tara, and Blondie were waiting for them. Jessica informed Mimi, however, that they would not be leaving.

“We’re, um, going back for seconds,” she said. “I’ll pay my own way this time, of course. We’ll get our own ride home.”

Mimi shrugged. “OK, then. We’re going to head back.” There were hugs and kisses all around, and Mimi and her companions left. Jessica found the hostess and told her that Marie had enjoyed her experience so much, they wanted to get the same girl again, and share her this time.

“Wonderful,” said the hostess. “Please sit, she’ll be with you in just a moment.”

Five minutes later she appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed differently than she had been previously, in a peasant blouse and a long, flowing skirt. Jessica thought that she looked even more beautiful than before. There was a sudden tightness in Jessica’s chest and she realized: Something important is happening here. This is going to change things. And I don’t even know this girl’s name yet!

As she came down the stairs she looked at them quizzically, seeming surprised – but not unhappy – to see them there. “Marie,” she said, and added a couple of sentences in French.

“Oui,” answered Marie, and indicating her mistress said “Jessica.” Then she pointed to Jane and said her name. To Jessica and Jane she said, “This is Celeste.”

“Enchanté,” said Celeste, curtsying.

“Enchanté,” replied Jessica, taking Celeste’s hand and kissing it. She smelled delicious and had amazingly soft skin. Jane said hi, but Celeste couldn’t tear her eyes away from Jessica’s. Jessica felt immediately that here was a kindred spirit, someone who she shared a connection with on the deepest level. She had to force herself to break eye contact and stand up.

“Let’s go upstairs,” said Jessica.

Once they were alone in the bedroom – somewhat smaller and less well-appointed than the one Jessica had been in with Ashley – Jessica, with Marie translating, asked Celeste a few questions. Starting with, “How did you get here?”

Celeste told them of a life of poverty and hardship in Haiti. She was the oldest of six siblings, and their father had died in an industrial accident when she was 10. After years of watching her mother struggle, and mostly fail, to make ends meet, she decided to do whatever she could to help the family. So she agreed to a deal where she would be smuggled into the United States and work as a maid so she could send money home. But the smugglers had turned out to be untrustworthy, and she’d ended up here.

“How long have you been here?” asked Jessica.

About six months, came the reply. In that time she had not set foot outside the building, nor had she been able to send a single dime home to her family.

“And so you wish to leave.”

Celeste nodded her head and said firmly, “Oui.”

Jessica got out her phone and, after figuring out where they were, called Rocky and asked if she could come get them. Fortunately she was not engaged, though it would take her about an hour to get there.

In the meantime, Jessica tried to think strategically. Before coming back inside she and Marie had walked around to the back of the house. There was a back door, but it was also guarded, though only with a single guard. They needed a plan, but Jessica was finding it hard to think straight in Celeste’s presence. She was tempted to say, well, we have an hour to kill, why don’t we just....

But it wouldn’t have been appropriate in this situation. She already felt a little bit guilty about Ashley, and about this whole setup. She decided then and there that she was through paying for sex. There was a thrill to it, but she didn’t want to do it anymore.

When Rocky finally texted that she had arrived, Jessica went down to talk to her, leaving Marie and Jane with Celeste. As she walked down the stairs in front of the house she felt like the security guards were watching her, like they knew something was up. But how could they?

Jessica slid into the front passenger seat of the limo and took a few minutes to explain the situation to Rocky. When she was done, Rocky replied, “Ooh, an adventure! I’m in. What’s your plan?” Jessica had to admit that she didn’t really have one.

Rocky took a minute to look around at the mansion and its grounds. “First we need to cut the power. That should be easy enough. But a place like this will have a generator, so we'll need to deal with that. And create some kind of distraction, maybe a fire.” She paused. “I have a can of gas in back.”

Turning back to look to her right, Rocky saw Jessica staring at her in utter amazement. She shrugged. “I used to hang around with some bad people who did bad stuff. But I paid my debt to society. I’ve been on the straight and narrow for 10 years. I mean, relatively. But since this is for a good cause....”

They talked over a few details and Jessica turned to go. “Thanks,” she said. “And good luck.”

“Vaya con Dios,” said Rocky. “See you on the other side.”