Awaken (17 page)

“What did you do?”
 

“I chickened out,” Joanna confessed. “I did commercial work for fifteen years. Shooting cars and babies and food layouts. I convinced myself I needed to do that to pay the bills; and when I made enough money, I’d do the art I really wanted to do. But the truth is: there’s never enough money. Once you have it, it’s hard to say goodbye to the nice clothes and spacious city apartment. There’s always a reason to make more money. And as a result, you never become the artist you were born to be.”

“But then what changed?” asked Lacey, shocked. “Your photos hang in galleries all over the world. You’re a world renowned visual artist.”

Joanna looked at Lacey with her vibrant blue eyes. She smiled sadly. “The truth: It’s all because of my husband, Peter, rest his soul. When I turned forty-five, he threatened to divorce me if I didn’t start focusing on the kind of work that made me happy. He saw how jaded I was becoming with the world. It was taking a toll on me… and us. So we sold our apartment in the city and moved out here. We spent the remainder of our lives together, very happy. I began focusing solely on creative work. And you know what the funny thing is? The art projects I started doing wound up making me more money than the commercial work ever did. I never thought that would happen.” She chuckled softly. “Just one of life’s ironies.”

“That’s amazing,” Lacey said.
 

Joanna nodded. “The hardest thing to do is jump into the unknown, operate on faith. But that’s usually where the treasure lies.”

Lacey looked at the floor. Was she willing to take that leap, open herself to that kind of scrutiny? Have her father see that aspect of her? She had already gone through so much, surviving cancer. Why was she being so cautious?

Joanna must have sensed her hesitation.

“It’s not an easy decision, Lacey. I can testify to that. It just comes down to what would you regret
not
doing,” said Joanna. She paused and swallowed. She looked at Lacey, a little nervous, and said, “But if you do go ahead with that gallery showing, would you consider using me as one of your models?”

Lacey looked at her in shock. “Really? You’d let me take nudes of you?”

Joanna slowly nodded. “You’d be the only one, other than Peter. But god bless him, he wasn’t very good at photography. I have taken nudes of myself, but I always hesitated showing them in public. The truth is: I’ve struggled with body image issues my whole life. And now at seventy, I think it’s time I finally let that go. The older I get, the more I want to smash through all the walls that held me back over the years. And having my naked, seventy-year-old body hanging in a gallery for people to see frightens me so much, that I know I just have to do it.”
 

That settled it for Lacey. If Joanna Hunt trusted her enough to take a nude photo, then she
had
to participate in the gallery exhibit; even if it meant losing some commercial clients.
 

An hour later, Lacey and Joanna stepped outside and walked toward the wooded area adjacent to the farmhouse. Joanna was wrapped in a silk white robe; Lacey carried a camera by her side. As they ventured into the woods, Joanna stopped near a white oak tree.
 

“This is my favorite tree. It’s been here for ages, like me,” said Joanna. “What do you think of this for a backdrop? Do you think the lighting works?”

Lacey nodded. “It’s perfect.”

“Okay,” said Joanna. She turned and looked at Lacey. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds and reflected a mixture of fear and courage. Lacey noticed the old woman’s hands slightly trembling as she loosened her robe and dropped it to the ground. Naked, Joanna looked at Lacey and said, “Now, Lacey, I’m really nervous, but I trust you. Just tell me how you want me to pose.”

Lacey took a deep breath and nodded. She still couldn’t believe she was going to take nude photos of her idol.
 

“You look amazing. Just relax,” she said.
 

“I wish I had done this years ago,” confessed Joanna. “Before the flesh began to sag.”

“Trust me,” said Lacey. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. You look great. How about we start with you leaning your back against the tree? The light filtering through the leaves will cast some really nice shadows.”

Joanna Hunt nodded and took a few steps back. She posed for the camera.

“Like this?” said Joanna, leaning her head against the wide trunk.

“Perfect,” said Lacey as she raised the camera to her eye. She began snapping away, entering her comfort zone.

As Lacey took a series of shots, Joanna remarked, “I can’t believe it’s taken me seventy years to finally get comfortable in my own skin.” She paused then admitted, “I struggled with an eating disorder most of my life.”

“What changed?” asked Lacey.

“Funny enough,” revealed Joanna, “When I started doing my own art, I started to feel better about myself.”
 

For the better part of an hour, Lacey and Joanna stayed in the woods, taking several more pictures. When they returned to the farmhouse, they looked at the pictures on Joanna’s computer.
 

“What do you think?” asked Lacey nervously.
 

Joanna turned to her with a look of relief. “I knew I could trust you,” she said softly. “You have real talent, Lacey. These pictures are stunning.” She added with a tinge of sadness. “I wish Peter was still with me so he could see them. Thank you, honey. You’ve given me a real gift.”

Joanna Hunt embraced Lacey in her arms.

Lacey felt so happy, she was on the verge of crying.

As she rode the train home, Lacey felt an overwhelming peace come over her. She had never experienced anything like it before. For the first time, she felt her life had purpose: she would use her talent in photography to document the sexual experience. Some people might not agree with her decision, but for Lacey it was the right path to travel. She never would have imagined a year ago contemplating such a thing, but a lot had changed since then.
 

When she entered her apartment building, Lacey decided to stop by Penelope’s place and tell her the news.
 

“That’s fuckin’ awesome,” Penelope beamed as she handed Lacey a cup of tea. “I hope I’m as fearless as Joanna when I get older.”

Lacey smirked as she took a sip from her cup. “I don’t think you’ll have that problem, Penelope.”

Nico, who was taking a shower when Lacey arrived, stepped into the kitchen.
 

“Hey Lacey, how’s it going?” he asked with a warm smile.

“Babe,” shouted Penelope. “We’re going to pose naked in a photo shoot for Lacey that’s going to be part of a gallery exhibit.”

“Cool,” he said, like it was no big deal. He took a seat next to them and grabbed one of the tea biscuits Penelope had laid out.
 

“Do you want us to be fucking? Or just posing?” he asked, matter-of-factly.
 

Lacey was surprised by the directness of the question. “I…uh…I was thinking just posing.”

“Okay,” Nico said with a shrug, taking a bite of his tea biscuit. “Whatever you need, Lacey.”

“Thanks so much for helping me out.”
 

“Are you kidding?” said Penelope. “Do you know how hot it’s going to be, to have all these people walking around a room, staring at naked photos of us?”

“Spoken like a true exhibitionist,” said Nico with a smirk.

Penelope was getting more and more excited by the idea. Her enthusiasm gave Lacey even greater confidence that she had made the right decision – even if it meant risking her job at
One Percent
. Penelope suddenly grabbed her hand.
 

“Let me help you find more models. I have an idea. We could stop by Nectar tonight and ask some of the people we know if they’d be interested in being part of the project. Remember that couple we had sex with last week, hon?” Penelope turned to Nico. “From Australia?”
 

Nico nodded.

“They’d totally be up for it,” Penelope said.

“They definitely weren’t inhibited, that’s for sure,” Nico agreed.

Penelope began going through a list of potential people from Nectar that might be interested in the project. “Let’s go to Nectar!” she exclaimed. “We’ve got some recruiting to do!”

When Lacey arrived at Nectar later that evening, she was surprised to see it was a full house. Based on the clientele not wearing masks, there appeared to be many new faces at the club. Everyone was mingling happily in the bar area, enjoying the chilled out music playing from the speakers. Lacey watched as people introduced themselves to one another before venturing upstairs to have fun. As she made her way upstairs, Lacey stopped by Savannah’s office to tell her about the photo exhibit. She wanted to get Savannah’s permission to talk to club members about participating in the project.
 

She was pleased by how supportive Savannah was of the idea. She even mentioned staging a photo shoot in the club itself.
 

“Are you sure?” asked Lacey.
 

Savannah nodded. “Obviously, we would have to do it on a different night than our parties. And make sure all the members know that they will be photographed if they attend…”

“That would be amazing,” said Lacey. “It would definitely add an authenticity to the photos.”

“Anything that helps document this lifestyle in a positive image, I’m all for,” said Savannah. “When I started Nectar, over fifteen years ago, the media coverage was derogatory, to say the least. Things are starting to change now in society. This gallery exhibit is a step in the right direction.”

“Thank you so much, Savannah. I really appreciate it.”

Savannah leaned back in her chair and smiled. “You’ve come a long way from the shy girl who stopped by my office months ago, not sure of what she was looking for.”

Lacey felt herself blushing a little. “I guess I have.”

“I haven’t seen you around here lately,” said Savannah. “Did your relationship work itself out?”

Months ago, Lacey had confided to Savannah how Cooper suddenly broke things off with her, just as it appeared they were getting closer. Lacey could sense Cooper was holding something back. It was while talking to Savannah that Lacey got the idea to share her diary with Cooper – in hopes that he would feel more comfortable being honest with her. Her chat with Savannah was what started the domino effect that eventually led to Cooper confessing he was the Master.
 

Lacey sighed. “I guess you could say we worked things out, although I’m not convinced it’s under the terms I really want.”

“Well, from my experience,” said Savannah. “It usually takes a while before both partners get on the same page. Maybe, with time, you’ll both get what you need.”

“We’ll see,” said Lacey with a shrug, though she was having her doubts.

Savannah told Lacey she’d send out an email to club members asking if they’d like to participate in the photo shoot. “I’ll let you know what feedback I get.” She then stood up and walked Lacey to the door.

“Thank you for all your support, Savannah.”

“It’s my pleasure, hon.”
 

After leaving Savannah’s office, Lacey went downstairs to find Penelope. When she didn’t see her in the bar area, she began searching the other rooms. As she went from room to room, and saw the multitude of people engaging in sex right before her eyes, Lacey realized that being able to photograph in the club would provide her with wonderful images. The lighting and energy in each room was electrifying. Within the comforting environment of Club Nectar, people would be more relaxed in front of the camera – much more so than if she were shooting them in her studio.
 

Lacey left the orgy room. Still no sign of Penelope. She ventured upstairs. As the moans of pleasure emanated from the various rooms and echoed in her ears, she remembered her first time in the club. It felt so long ago; so much had changed. She was such a different person now, as Savannah had noted. Club Nectar had helped her discover her voice and she was grateful. She walked by the room where her journey began – the Master’s playroom.

When she stepped into the Master’s domain, Lacey finally spotted Penelope. She was standing at the front of a crowd that circled the room. As Lacey made her way toward Penelope, she followed everyone’s gaze to the main event – The Master (aka Cooper West).
 

He was putting on quite a show.
 

Lacey wanted to look away but couldn’t. She was shocked, dazed by what was happening in front of her. As she joined Penelope at the front of the circle, a feeling
 
of disappointment rushed through her.
 

Cooper, who was standing in the center of the circle and wearing his mask, was fucking a beautiful woman with fine dark hair and porcelain skin. The woman had her eyes closed and was shrieking with joy as the Master pounded his hard cock into her.
 

“Sorry,” apologized Penelope when she saw Lacey. “I didn’t realize I’d been up here this long. I just got caught up in the show. Are you okay, Lacey? You look white as a ghost.”