Chapter dedication: Lil-Anastasia

Song of recommendation for the chapter: Bob Marley -One Love 🎶 🎶

Day 6: Give/get a full-body massage before initiating sex.

Thank you❤❤❤.
______________________________________

After a light lunch and some coaching to Annie about locking up and dropping the keys in the secret stash at the bakery entrance, Lee was ready to head out to the first meeting with Louise and the other participants of the November challenge.

Rachel was leaving the bakery early and Annie would be the one to lock up for the first time. The poor girl looked anxious.

"Are you sure you want me to lock up, Ms. Arden?"

"Yes, I am sure."

"I just started working here and—"

"I trust you, Annie." She narrowed her eyes at her. "Or do you plan to steal my money?"

"What? No, no, Ms. Arden. I would never do such thing."

Lee nodded. "Good. Just make sure to lock up behind you before you leave. You can take two cupcakes, too."

Annie's eyes grew comically wide. "Really? Thank you, Ms. Arden."

Lee shook her head, a fond smile playing on her lips, then walked out of the bakery. As much as she loved the bakery, it felt good getting out of it once in a while to take a breath of fresh air. Once in the car, Lee blasted some Blues—thanks to the disc Chris gave her that morning—and forgot for a few minutes that she had any worries in the world.

The meeting was being held at the  SoHo local library. She parked and walked inside. At first she looked for a sign to indicate where to go, then she saw all the ladies heading for one of the rooms. Lee followed after them.

As soon as she stepped inside, Lee almost ran back out. All of the women were laughing and chatting. It was clear that they'd been in touch with each other since the challenge started and she was the only odd person in the group.

"Hello there." A red haired lady—Lee remembered her as the lady that kept asking questions and writing down all Louise said like her life depended on it—stood up and smiled at her. "Welcome. Louise should be here any minute from now. I'm Sharon."

"I'm Lee." Lee smiled as she shook her hand. "I hope I'm not late?"

"Not at all, Mrs. Black would be here soon, we just have to wait." She turned to the rest of the women. "Everyone, this is Lee. She's also a participant in the November challenge."

"Hi." She smiled at the assortment of faces.

There were fifteen women in total, and they were all in different styles of dress and of different personality. It was refreshing to see a mix of women come together to achieve something without the usual catty fights or group seclusion.

Lee sat beside Sharon just as Louise walked into the room with a grin on her face. She was dressed in a white, strapless dinner gown and matching platform heels. Her make up was minimal and her hair was tied into a knot at the top of her head.

"Ladies," she said, sitting on the single chair that let her have a full view of the room and the door. "How have we all been?"

There were collective positive answer and Lee nodded along. Things were good, everyone seemed to be glowing in one way or another. Sharon kept patting her hair, and if that woman in blue suit smiled any wider she'd need botox to smoothen the wrinkles that would form on her face.

Louise smiled. "Ah, I can see that we have many sex happy women. Good. So who would be the first to tell us about their experience? Please keep in mind that it shouldn't be too explicit, but should be descriptive enough that we get the idea."

"I will go first." The woman with a mole above her upper lip stood up, smiling at the room at large. "Hello, everyone, my name is Grace Ramos. My partner and I didn't really click off at first and we had difficulty when it came to having sex. He was shy about the things recommended, but after watching a lot of porn with a few pep talks and actions on my part, he overcame his shyness. So, that's that."

Lee clapped along with the rest of the room. At least, Grace was able to help her partner see another side of himself that he didn't know existed, which was good. They were getting to know each other that way.

Another woman—she had mocha coloured skin, curly shoulder length hair, and was quite beautiful—stood up and waved. "My name is Rachel Hernandez. I signed up with the agency after much persuasion from my ex boyfriend." At the shocked look everyone was wearing, she laughed. "That's bizarre, I know. But we only dated for a short period of time before deciding that we were better off as friends—he's engaged to a lovely woman now. He told me to sign up and I did, but didn't get a match and was deported to the unmatchable category because all the white men wanted white women and the black men also wanted white women."

Lee's upper lip curled in disgust. What the hell was wrong with people and their discrimination, anyway? People had the right to be loved no matter their colour, sexuality or gender. Her heart went out to Rachel because she couldn't imagine what it was like to be hated for something you couldn't and wouldn't change. Lee hoped whatever partner she was paired up with treated her right.

"I was so angry and frustrated that  I got demoted to the lowest category of the agency," she cut herself off when she sniffed, cleaning the few tears that escaped her eyes. She accepted the tissue the lady closest to her passed her. "Thank you. See, I didn't know it was the best thing that could ever have happened to me. My partner is a great guy. Not only is the sex great, but he's helping me love myself again and slowly restoring my confidence as a woman. These last six days have been wonderful and I am positive that our relationship will still remain strong after the end of the challenge."

Several women got up to express how wonderful the challenge has been going, there was not one complain at least until a lady who had been quite since the meeting started got up. Her somber mood put a stop to all the chatter around the room and even a few smiles slipped off their glowing faces.

"My name is Freya Beauchamp and I want to say this whole thing is a farce. It seemed I was deliberately paired up with the worst partner you could ever come across." Her lower lip trembled with the effort of holding her tears back, but she plowed on even though her voice sounded shaky. "He always cums before I do and doesn't care about the after care. Every time we go out, I foot the bill and he. . . he even hit me on our third night out when I saw him leering at the waitress assigned to our table. It's been horrible. I don't want to do this anymore." She ran out of the room and her sobs could be heard down the hall.

"Please excuse me for a minute." Louise left the room with a grim expression.

Chatter arose immediately between the women. Lee pitied the man when Louise got hold of him. Seriously, the world was just so fucked up. The guy was an hypocrite and a coward to be treating a woman like that. Why did he sign up with the agency in the first place if he was going to treat her like dirt? Even sex workers didn't deserved to be treated that way. No one did. And to think she almost changed partners. What if Chris hadn't insisted and she'd been paired up with that asshole?

Lee shuddered in revulsion. Thank God Chris insisted on staying with her. That man was a gem and she wouldn't trade him for anyone else right now.

Louise entered the room, her feature schooled to neutral. "We will take care of Ms. Beauchamp's partner as soon as possible. Is there anyone who's also experiencing abuse from their partners? Please speak up. Abuse doesn't only have to be physical, it can also be verbal and mental. We are here to take care of you and your well being matters a lot to us. Is there any one?"

Every one remained quiet.

"Okay. Ms. Arden, please we would like to hear about your experience from you." Louise gave an encouraging little smile as she sat in the seat she vacated earlier. Lee knew that she was trying to lighten up the atmosphere, but she had to be the scale goat.

She stood up, turned enough so everyone could see her face, but also that Louise could see her face too. "I am Ledia Arden and I live in Harlem. My friends signed me up with the agency so late that I was automatically put in the unmatchable category, what's worse is that they did it without telling me. I don't blame them, because after my boyfriend of four years broke up with me, I became something of a recluse, avoided everyone like the plague, and buried myself in work. See, before I attended the first meeting, I had to do a traditional breakup thing—as per our group's tradition—which was having sex with a stranger as some sort of sayonara to heart break and the ex."

Several women hummed and nodded in agreement, while Louise watched her thoughtfully and Lee would have thought she was judging her, but the littlest of smile playing on her lips said otherwise.

"Then I met this handsome guy on the night of Mrs. Black wedding. I gate crashed the reception because I wanted a one night stand."

They laughed and Sharon shouted, "You go girl!"

Lee laughed at that. "I am sorry, Mrs. Black, but I don't regret it because if I was given the opportunity to change that night, I wouldn't. So I went home with this charming guy, had the best sex of my life, but couldn't remember what happened in the morning. It was very embarrassing."

Again, they all laughed. Even Louise chuckled.

"I promised to call him, but didn't and was feeling quite happy about not seeing him again until he walked into the restaurant where I was supposed to meet my partner and he was indeed my partner."

"Holy shizzzzz." Helena McGrath gasped. "I would just die right there."

"Me too," Grace echoed.

"I declined of course, but he insisted. I didn't know why he insisted but I can say that I am totally glad he did, because not only is he so attentive, but Chris takes care of me and puts my comfort first before his. We didn't do the challenge properly on the first day, now we are starting to get a hang of it. I am glad that I agreed. What I just want to say to every woman here is that no matter what happens, the shitty heart breaks, unworthy exes notwithstanding, there's a guy out there for you. Be patient, be kind, love yourself, and lastly, be yourself and watch everything fall in to place for you. There will be challenges, but who you come out looking like, either with your partner or alone, will determine the outcome of your relationship."

Lee was surprised when she got a standing ovation. She was hugged and air kissed by the women and Louise before they all settled down.

"Our next meeting will be on the day of the fifteenth challenge, but there's something I need you to do before then."

"What's that?" Sherri Leister asked.

"Initiate sex. . .from the looks on your faces I can see that you haven't considered this before. Truth is we believe the men has to do all the work while we lay there and enjoy it, that's not true. Surprise your partners. You can switch up the challenges and move some to the dates you're changing them from. Make your own rules as you go. Try something new and different! Get kinky. Consult Kama Sutra, use it as a manual. Try role play. Try oral stimulation. Most of all, try to spend more time out of the bedroom too. Go on dates, learn things about each other, meet each others friends and family. It will help you in the long run."

Lee walked out into the sunlight in a bit of trance. Wow. There was so much to do, but she could take the initiative. She could initiate something.

She hoped.

*

Chris was already at home when she got there. Lee was surprised to find him all showered and dressed up in lazy clothes, sweat pants and loose gray t-shirt, since he said he had to visit the construction site that was their latest project. She hadn't expected him to be back at all and had been planning to surprise him.

Ah, well, it seemed her surprise would have to wait.

"Hey," she said as she walked over to kiss him on his cheek, but he turned his head and she got a full kiss instead. When they finally came up for air, he was wearing a shit-eating grin. "Chris."

His grin widened. "Lee." He pulled her until she was sitting on his lap with her face a few inches from his. "I missed you—" he pecked her lips. "— alot."

"Hmm, ditto." His hands drifted up and down her arms and Lee allowed herself to rest her head on his chest. "How was your day?"

"Aside from when the cops arrived to drag the prick that wouldn't shut up about how women were meant to be slave to men since God made them out of their ribs and all that, it was fine. The meeting with Logan Black went well, the one at the construction site was also good. Yours?"

She shrugged. "It was fine, too. I'm guessing that the prick was the partner given to a woman named Freya Beauchamp. She was so sad and forlorn. I hope he stays in jail for a very long time." Lee groaned when his fingers drifted to her shoulders and pressed down on the knot there. "That hurts."

"You're so tense," Chris observed. "When was the last time you had a massage?"

"My sister's bridal shower spa?"

"Up." He gently raised her up, stood up, then situated her comfortably on the sofa. "I'll get the towels and oils, you undress before I get back, okay?"

Lee's answer was a nod. She waited until he was out of sight before getting up to undress until she was naked then lay on her front on the sofa. Chris returned with two tiny bottles, several towels. He made her stand up so he could spread out towels on the sofa to avoid oil stains. Then he told her to lay down, he straddled her butt, opened the oil bottle that smelled like Jasmine with a little hint of chocolate, coated his palms with it then got to work.

Lee relaxed into the sofa with a sigh.

A/N:

Fun fact: I actually got some facts for this story from Google. So if anything seem inaccurate, blame google, not me. 😂😂😂

Also, I know I dedicated a chapter to some people while I did not do it for some people, the thing is I lost the book where I wrote down the names for people I want to dedicate a chapter to, also I didn't do it from the beginning of the story. So maybe, I would do that when I want to edit?

I'm sorry for not including your name, but just know (either you're a ghost/silent reader) that I love and appreciate you all the same. Thank you for reading this far. ❤❤❤

QOTC: Have you ever gotten a massage from your partners/partner?

Please don't forget to vote 🌟, comment 💬, and share 📱.