Heller

by JD Nixon

  “Hey,” I yelled out as we finished our prepping. “It’s traditional for a man to do the barbequing. Any volunteers?” Sid and Clive volunteered but I hovered anxiously over their shoulders, not trusting them, and giving them unwelcome advice on cooking the chicken and salmon. But what man likes to be told how to barbeque by a woman? That’s right, none – and they politely told me to shove off. Wanting everything to be perfect, I rushed around setting out the cutlery, placing a couple of bottles of white wine on the table, supplementing it with some fancy foreign mineral water for Heller and juice for Niq. Finally everything was ready and all the food was presented.

  I was totally frazzled by the end and took an enormous gulp of chilled white wine as I sat down, breathing a huge sigh of relief. Everything looked delicious – particularly Heller, who had finally changed, but not much for the better as far as I was concerned. He was now wearing faded blue jeans and nothing else, bare-chested and barefoot. God, he was so yummy! I looked down at my dinner, not wanting to torture my poor libido any further. When I glanced up, his eyes were resting on my face again, but I was pretty sure that a mere split-second before, he had been checking out my boobs. He cast me a lazy smile that wasn’t exactly wholesome in nature and I lowered my eyes to my dinner again quick smart, heart racing.

  The dinner was demolished. There was no other word for it. Everything was eaten, down to the last lettuce leaf, and my pride was swimming in their compliments afterwards. Even though I had made them slave for me, Daniel and Niq volunteered to clear up, so I jumped into the hot tub by myself with a very full glass of wine and closed my eyes in bliss, enjoying the gentle pummelling from the jets. What a life! I couldn’t believe my luck to have landed this wonderful job.

  After everything had been cleaned up, everyone piled back into the hot tub with me, decently dressed this time. But it was a squish with us all in there, Heller, Sid and Clive being such big men. I found myself uncomfortably crushed between Daniel and Niq, barely able to breathe.

  “I guess you shouldn’t have hired another person,” I complained to Heller. “There’s not enough room in the hot tub for me.”

  “You could come and sit on my lap,” he suggested, that sly smile on his face again. For sure I was becoming a major source of entertainment for him.

  “Thanks anyway,” I responded, firmly banishing from my mind the thought of me doing just that, snugly ensconced on his lap, leaning against his chest, my arms around his neck, his arms around my waist, my hands buried in his hair, breathing in his very essence. I’d kiss him slowly while I slid my hand down to his . . . Oops! I’d better save that fantasy for when I was alone I decided hastily, noticing that everyone was looking at me. Heller threw me another lazy knowing smile that made me worry he had some telepathic ability.

  We chatted in general for a while before Niq and Daniel climbed out, deciding to spend the rest of the evening playing the Xbox at Daniel’s flat, leaving me alone with the three men. I was very unnerved to discover that Sid and Clive’s much-loved hobby was collecting pornography. Clive was his normal taciturn self not saying much of a word, but Sid enthused over their collection. Some of their photos dated back to the birth of photography itself, their films dating back to the beginnings of cinematography. As well, their collection included a fine set of naughty Victorian-era postcards, a few anatomically explicit Roman artefacts and their pride and joy – a genuine Palaeolithic carving of a fertility goddess, all huge belly, bum and boobs.

  I’d never heard porn being discussed so casually before. I felt really awkward sitting in that hot tub full of big men as Sid explained the different categories of porn they collected. All I could think about was that Niq lived here, in a building with such a collection. Again, as if he could read my mind, Heller calmly assured me that the twins kept their collection, which was in reality quite valuable, well-secured, and that Niq was certainly not exposed to anything unsuitable at any time.

  I murmured a vague non-committal response to Sid’s invitation to visit them in their flat and view their collection one day. I almost giggled out loud with alarm at the thought of me sitting jammed between Sid and Clive on their lounge, eating popcorn and nonchalantly watching with them naked men and women doing unbelievably rude things to each other. Or women and women, or men and men, or women and equipment, or even women and animals by the sound of what Sid had said. I was dying of embarrassment at even the thought, feeling the telltale burning in my cheeks again. Sid was insistent though and I squirmed, ill-at-ease, not knowing how to deflect him anymore without being straight out rude to his face.

  “Sid,” Heller stepped in. “I don’t think Matilda would be comfortable doing that. She’s not into that type of entertainment. Let it go.” I threw him an extremely grateful glance. After an initially surprised reaction, Sid was immediately apologetic and repeatedly told me he was sorry if he’d caused me any offence.

  “Of course not, Sid,” I lied, and waved away the whole incident. “Don’t mention it. Your collection sounds fascinating, and one day when I’m a bit braver and know you a bit better, I might come and see it.” He was mollified by that.

  Remembering that I had to work the next day, I didn’t stay up too late, but retired to my flat to have a quick shower and watch some TV before hitting the sack. During the night I had another erotic dream about Heller. We were in the hot tub, just the two of us, and I was not only sitting on his lap but straddling his lap, both of us naked. We were exchanging steamy deep-thrusting tongue kisses and his hands were on my breasts, gently kneading and teasing, while mine were tightly clamped around his neck my fingers digging into his shoulders. I was about to lower myself onto his enormous erect shaft, groaning with anticipation, when Sid sidled up to the hot tub with a video camera and asked would we mind if he filmed us to add to his collection. I woke up at that point, over-aroused, and tossed and turned for the rest of the night in frustration.

  The next morning, I gave myself the luxury of a sleep-in and then hit the gym hard. I was starting to enjoy pushing my body with exercise and was reaping the rewards of looking mighty tight. I’d moved up another kilogram in weights and was being rewarded by some great definition in my arms. I dressed casually and sauntered down to the office. Daniel was helping Niq with his schoolwork. They both looked up as I entered and I smiled, walking over to Niq, ruffling his hair and ruining his sculpted hairdo, much to his annoyance. Then I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer.

  “How’s it going with the client?” Daniel asked.

  “Not bad. She’s keeping me on my toes.”

  He raised his eyebrows, but finished up with Niq before he came over to sit on the edge of my desk. In a subtle voice I gave him a brief, but honest, rundown of my activities with Lily. He gave a low whistle and raised his eyebrows again.

  “Have you told Heller all this?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “Only a censored version. I’m worried he’ll pull me off the job if he thinks I can’t handle it.”

  “She sounds like more than a handful.”

  “Oh yeah! Look, you’re going to have to be fairly creative with the accounting for this case. We need to disguise the cost of her second hotel room and the incidentals I’ve had to pay for so far when you send the final bill to her husband.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” he promised and returned to his desk.

  I checked my emails. They were mostly spam or from family members – same thing really. My family is notorious for indiscriminately and eagerly forwarding every unfunny joke, fake appeal for money and urban legend that lands in their inbox. Unfortunately, none of them had ever heard of snopes.com. Tediously, I deleted email after email from parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles and cousins. There were only three gems amongst the trash. Two of them were emails from my twin cousins who were currently living and working in legal careers in London. Typically they had each sent their email to me at the exact same time on the same day. I hadn’t seen them for a few years now and missed
them both terribly. We had virtually grown up together, were the same age and they always insisted that they weren’t really twins at all, but triplets with me, even though I didn’t look anything like them and could only dream of being as smart as them.

  The other email was from Dixie, providing tremendously lurid details of a date she had on the weekend with a fellow worker at the fast food restaurant. Dixie always liked to take a souvenir of her conquests, and she’d attached a photograph she had taken with her phone of his slumbering naked body. He was well-built, but looked young.

  This one’s no keeper – he’s cheating on his girlfriend with me! Sexy bastard! she wrote in her email.

  Niq asked me a question then about astronomy for an assignment he was working on. I’ll be the first to admit that I know less than nothing about astronomy, but I went over to his desk and was able to guide him to a reputable website that provided him with a detailed overview of the universe and some great images. Settling myself back at my desk, I was distracted by Heller walking into the office and heading straight for me. He stood in front of me, hands on his lithe hips and raised his eyebrows. I presented him with my most dazzling smile.

  “Friend of yours?” he enquired, dangerously polite, gesturing towards my monitor. I spun back quickly towards my computer. The photo of Dixie’s naked man was still showing on my screen. Horrified, I frantically pressed buttons to delete it, my cheeks blazing with embarrassment.

  “One of Dixie’s conquests. She likes to share,” I spluttered, wishing I could disappear into the ether along with the photograph.

  His face was stern, his shapely mouth severe and his voice low. “Do these men know she is taking their photograph?” I shook my head, avoiding his accusing eyes. “I’m disappointed in you, Matilda. I didn’t think you would condone such activities. How would Dixie feel if a man did that to her? And then shared it with his friends?”

  She would rip his knob off and shove it down his throat, I thought to myself.

  I looked up at him, beseechingly. “Heller, I would never do that myself. And I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t judge other people on their behaviour. But I will ask Dixie not to do it anymore, if that’s what you prefer.”

  He threw his hands up in despair, leaned down towards me and said in a fierce whisper, “I cannot tell your friends how to behave, Matilda. But please, we have a minor in the room, and I would not expect to find you boldly displaying such photographs where Niq might view them. Particularly after your concerns about Sid and Clive’s collection last night.”

  His harsh words cut me deeply, because he was right. I despised myself thoroughly at that moment for being such a hypocrite. “I’m sorry, Heller. You can believe me when I say that it won’t happen again,” I promised, humbled.

  He ignored my contrition and commenced questioning me intensely about my activities with Lily, grim and detached. I decided I had better tell him the entire truth and asked if we could speak in his office, acutely aware of Niq’s near presence. We moved into his office, and he shut the door. As I explained what had happened, he expressed increasing concern about my ability to handle the situation.

  “She’s just blowing off steam. She’s okay,” I insisted. “She likes me. She won’t have anyone else. I can handle it.” I was becoming annoyed with his lack of faith in me. I stood up and drew myself up to my full height, my hands on my hips, anger shooting flames from my eyes. “You don’t think I can do this job, do you? You’re just waiting for me to fail so you can give me the sack, because you think you’ve made a bad decision by hiring a woman. Especially me.”

  He seemed bewildered by my sudden fury. Offence is the best defence, I thought.

  “I don’t know what to say to you sometimes, Matilda,” he admitted. “You’re like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment with no warning. I’m not questioning your ability, I’m concerned that this assignment may be more difficult than I imagined. I would never give you a difficult client on your first assignment. I didn’t hire you to perform dangerous work.” He sighed and rubbed his face. “Please continue on with what you are doing, but keep me informed about everything,” he requested. I nodded briskly and stormed out of his office back to my desk, aware that he was watching me, his face betraying his confusion at my behaviour.

  Chapter 14

  I arrived at the hotel at noon, surprised to find Mr Hayek present. There was a small suitcase near the door to the suite.

  “Miss Chalmers,” he came forward, eagerly shaking my hand. I resisted the strong urge to cross my arms, hiding my breasts from his wandering eyes. We made polite small talk and he informed me that his business partners wanted to take him to a future potential development site while he was here in the country. Unfortunately it was in another city, so he would be required to be away from his wife overnight. Would I mind staying with her?

  “Oh, please do, Tilly,” begged Lily. “It will be such fun!”

  I smiled as convincingly as possible, considering that a leaden ball of dread had just settled in my stomach.

  “And darling,” she spun to her husband excitedly, clutching his arm, the epitome of a devoted and loving wife. “You mustn’t mind if I stay out a bit later tonight. I want Tilly to take me to a show, and then we’ll go to dinner, and maybe even a very late movie! I can’t wait! We are going to have such a wonderful time together, aren’t we, Tilly!” There was a dangerously wild sparkle in her eyes. She could smell freedom.

  Her husband kissed her indulgently on her cute little nose. “Not too late though,” he warned, smiling affectionately at her, patting her arm. There was a knock on the door. “That will be my driver to take me to the airport.” They had a touching farewell and then he was gone.

  As soon as the door shut behind him, Lily jumped up and down gleefully, clapping her heavily jewelled hands. With a self-satisfied smile at me, she raced into her bedroom and threw clothes, makeup, shoes and jewellery into her oversized handbag. While she did, I took a moment to let Heller know what I was doing. He wasn’t available and his phone diverted to Daniel, so I let him know instead. He promised to pass on the message about my change of plans.

  We left the hotel and went straight to her bolthole where she transformed herself again. I had tried to dress a little less formally in a trouser-suit and a silk blouse, not really sure where we’d end up, but not wanting to look overdressed. Although to be honest, anyone wearing a normal amount of clothes would look overdressed next to Lily. She chose a deep red micro-dress that barely covered her butt, so tight I wasn’t sure how she could breathe in it. It was obvious from its contours that she wasn’t wearing any underwear. She had the dangly diamond earrings on again and a pair of teetering sandals consisting of nothing but skimpy red leather straps that she had bought the day before, costing her a cool $1500.

  “We’ll start with the casino again,” she demanded. So we did. She attracted a lot of attention wherever she went, and it thrilled and aroused her. There was a wildness about her that made me uneasy, and she knocked back a couple of champagnes in a few minutes as soon as we arrived. She again threw thousands of dollars at a time at the gaming tables, laughing joyously whether she won or lost. She flirted outrageously with every man who crossed her path. So it was no surprise when after a saucy thirty-minute conversation with a young croupier on a break, during which she shimmied against him several times in time with the music, he grabbed her hand and led her off to a dark stairwell in a service area of one of the restaurants.

  I followed discreetly and managed to position myself far enough away that I didn’t have to witness their activities, but unfortunately close enough to hear every grunt and thump. They were at it for ages. I was stifling another yawn when they finished with a drawn-out and what I thought was an unnecessarily overdramatic and noisy climax, with much screaming and whooping. They finally walked back up the stairs, both of them smiling. Lily had handed the young man a wad of cash that he was happily pushing into his trouser pocket. I wondered briefl
y if I should tell him he had forgotten to do up his fly, but couldn’t be bothered. With an affectionate smack of his arse, Lily sent him on his way. Then she turned to me.

  “I want to dance. Let’s go to a nightclub,” she insisted. I glanced at my watch and was surprised to see that it was night-time. I couldn’t believe that we had been at the casino for so long – they really do distort your sense of time.

  I hailed a cab and instructed the driver to deliver us at a swank, urbane nightclub that catered specifically for the idle affluent and young up-comers. I didn’t want to visit another dive and Lily nodded in approval when we walked in. We danced for hours to the pulsating techno-beat, sometimes together, mostly with chic, well-spoken young men. She was drinking glass after glass of champagne and I tried valiantly to keep an eye on her, a task made difficult by the flashing, multi-coloured lights and the writhing, drunken crowd.

  I lost her momentarily and rushed around panicked, trying to spot her in the happy throng. Eventually I found her in the darkened hallway leading to the bathrooms, pushed up hard against a wall by a man with his tongue down her throat and his hand up her dress. I sighed wearily and leaned on the wall a distance from them, preparing to wait until their inevitable knee-trembler was over, trying to block out their animalistic noises. Suddenly the job seemed much less glamorous than I had imagined, just as Rumbles had warned. My legs were aching from dancing, I was bone-tired and Lily’s overactive sex life was increasingly striking me as boringly sordid.

  With a final grunt of satisfaction, the man collapsed against Lily, breathing heavily.

  “Thanks babe,” he panted. “That was good.”

  “Don’t stop now, you fucker!” she screamed at him, pummelling his shoulders. “I’m not finished yet!” He shrugged indifferently, pushed her away and did up his trousers.