by JD Nixon
“Me too.”
“Do you think I’m in trouble?”
“What for? You didn’t do anything wrong. We were just having a conversation.”
“Isn’t that enough for me to be in trouble?”
“No,” I said crossly, stalking inside the booth.
Barb and Roger agreed to be interviewed by Trent tonight, so I spent a hurried half-hour tapping out my notes on my tablet before sending them off to him. I received a one-word email from him in response: Finally!!
Heller and Farrell stayed for a short while after a lengthy period observing the PRON team. They looked around the stalls without much interest, though as usual, Heller garnered more than his share of attention. They soon rejoined us in the auditorium during the afternoon’s Q&A session. I immediately noticed a contingent of PRON thugs in suits in the audience and pointed them out to Heller.
“I don’t like these men, Matilda. I’ve done some research on them. The multinational company they work for is a huge business. It has deep pockets and no scruples. It bribes governments to look the other way about their activities. It makes people disappear. It’s involved in human trafficking. I don’t have the resources to deal with these people. As I said before, Mr Harder and Ms Biggen don’t know who they’re up against.” His voice was low and serious, and that alarmed me as much as what he said.
Still riled by what had happened the day before, Roger again used some of the Q&A time to rage against the evil companies producing illegal and violent adult material, always careful to not mention PRON by name. But that didn’t stop the suits heckling him from the audience. I thought they were stupid to do so, just making it obvious to everybody who Roger was referring to, but I guess great lunks like them weren’t employed for their brains.
“Come on, let’s do this,” Heller said to Farrell and Bick as the suits eventually became too disruptive for the rest of the audience. He pointed his index finger at me. “You stay exactly where you are. And that’s an order.”
I stayed, but I wasn’t happy about it. A couple of the conference centre security men joined the three Heller’s men and together they efficiently bundled the suits from the auditorium with minimal commotion, despite their protests and struggles. Farrell and Bick took up posts in front of the auditorium doors afterwards, ensuring the PRON guys didn’t return. Heller came back inside and stood next to me, his arms crossed, ignoring my pissed off expression.
“You don’t have to order me around in front of everyone,” I said in a sullen undertone as we both kept our eyes on Roger and Barb onstage.
“Matilda,” he explained with infuriating and insulting patience, “if one of those men had harmed you in any way while I was here to witness it, I would have hurt him very badly. And I told you I don’t have the resources to deal with these people.”
I sulked, even though I knew what he said was more than reasonable. I could see him smiling to himself next to me and that didn’t help to improve my mood at all. Barb and Roger finished the session, the audience applauding them warmly. I joined in, and the three men formed a protective cordon around them as they returned to their booth, both Barb and Roger gaping at the sight of Heller. There were no PRON people to be seen anywhere. Hopefully they’d taken the hint and would stay away from us from now on.
Still annoyed with Heller, I dawdled behind the others, feeling a little left out of their testosterone gang.
Before I could raise any alarm, two of the PRON men sprang out of one of the narrow aisles between the backs of two rows of booths and grabbed one of my elbows each. They picked me up, my feet left swinging above the ground, hauling me back into that same dark, narrow space.
Chapter 10
My abduction must have taken twenty seconds at most. I didn’t think anyone in the crowd even noticed what happened. Incensed at being so opportunistically picked out as the weakest link, I struggled furiously against them, kicking out viciously wherever I could reach. They didn’t appreciate it.
“Heller!” I shouted desperately at the top of my voice, but my voice was lost in the noise of the excited crowd and the loud music that blared continually throughout the day. One of the men clamped his big, hairy hand over my mouth.
“You better shut your sweet mouth, darling, before I shove something huge and meaty in it. That would stop you yelling for a while,” one said. They both laughed. I tried struggling again, only to have myself more tightly restrained. I’d have bruises on my arms showing by tonight. That was if I made it home.
The space between the back of the booths was claustrophobic and they loomed over me, intimidating in their height and size. I hated feeling so immotile and, to be honest, more than a little afraid.
The other man said, “Listen up, girl. We have a message for your friends. Tell them to back the fuck off. Maybe they might even like to consider not turning up here tomorrow.” Somehow I suspected that was more of an order than a suggestion. “For their own protection, naturally. Got it?”
I glared at one, then the other with forced bravado. “Go fuck yourselves,” I mumbled indistinctly through the man’s hand. “They’re not going anywhere till this expo’s over.”
“Ooh, she has big, pretty eyes and a dirty mouth. I love the feisty ones. They’re more fun to break in,” laughed the first lunk.
“What do you reckon?” asked the second lunk, contemplating me. “We could take this one with us. She’s pretty hot. Look at the tits on her.” He cupped one of my breasts, jiggling it and pinching my nipple. “That’s quality flesh there. And all real by the feel of it. Lots of guys like these meaty ones.” I almost gagged with repulsion and fear. I kicked out at him, connecting sharply with his shin. He slapped me hard across the face. “Behave yourself, bitch.” He resumed his conversation with his colleague. “It wouldn’t take too much effort to bundle her out of here. One jab of the good stuff would keep her quiet. I think she’d be worth something to someone. She’s not too old. There are still a few good years in her.”
“Always people out there ready for new fodder. I don’t imagine for a second she’s pristine, not at her age and with tits like that, but fodder with experience can be useful to us too.”
“It would send a strong message to those do-gooders not to fuck with us again.”
“Not to mention give us a bit of fun tonight.”
“Par-tay time!”
“You bring the booze. I already have the entertainment.” They shared another dirty laugh together.
“Hey, you guys in there!” a nervous voice called from the entrance to the aisle. “Leave her alone!”
They turned, puzzled by the silhouette of a giant penis lumbering towards them. Still restrained, I took the opportunity of their distraction to kick out at the second man, giving it everything I had and catching him squarely in the nuts. It forced him backwards into the rear of one of the booths, its canvas material straining under the impact. From the sound of it, he’d upset a display of something fragile inside the booth. Angry voices rose immediately and it wouldn’t be long before someone came out the back here to investigate. The suits soon realised that wonderful fact too and released me, scramming in haste. The first man pushed me violently towards Benjy as he left and I stumbled, unable to right myself. I knocked Benjy over, both of us falling in a tumble to the concrete floor.
We sorted through our tangled limbs and I sprang up to chase the men. Though what I would do with them if I caught up, I hadn’t quite thought through. Benjy followed me gamely, but slowly, in his ridiculous outfit, becoming trapped on all the wires and power cords strung between the booths. I found the going difficult as well, but so did the big men and I slowly gained on them. The aisle narrowed the further we went, and I started to realise that we were all heading for a dead end. They must have also seen that, but still they blundered forward.
Momentarily thrilled that they considered me threatening enough to flee in blind panic, it didn’t take much longer to work out it wasn’t me they were afraid of and running from, b
ut the two men clamouring after me – Farrell and Bick. The Heller’s men unceremoniously pushed Benjy and me to one side in their chase. Panicked, and almost at the point of becoming trapped, the PRON men pushed through a flap at the rear of one of the booths, terrifying the sexual behaviour therapist and her client inside, and bolting out the front flap. Farrell and Bick lost them in the crowd, left coping with the resultant anger, clean-up, and apologies, the PRON men having made their escape.
Benjy and I dusted ourselves off, trying not to mind that we’d been cast aside like unhelpful obstructions. I assisted Benjy to make his awkward way to the entrance, his costume quite an obstacle in navigating the narrow space. We stumbled out into the main corridor again, dishevelled and wild-eyed, blinking in the light, to the amusement of passers-by. They probably thought we’d been getting it off in one of the few private space available in the whole centre.
“Thank you, Benjy. You saved me from those brutes,” I gushed, hugging him. Well, hugging his costume really, which was a disagreeably odd sensation and not something I’d want a photo of for my parents to display on their mantelpiece.
“Really? Did I really?” he asked, his self-esteem rising faster than a thermometer in a sauna.
“You were so brave to challenge them,” I said with genuine admiration.
“I saw them dragging you into that alley and nobody else noticed. Your own team didn’t even notice. They just kept on walking. I even heard you screaming. I knew I had to be a man.”
He swallowed hard with emotion. It was at that point I understood just how freaked out he’d been by the whole experience and how much of an effort he’d made to be so brave. He was just a young hopeful dancer in a ridiculous penis costume, not some kind of fighting machine like Heller. I spared him another quick hug and took off at a trot back to the HUMP Productions booth, my pulse still dancing a salsa.
Heller was inside the booth, pacing up and down – a caged wild animal. Barb and Roger continue to work, watching him uncertainly as they did. He probably had a negative effect on sales, their customers not hanging around to chat to them after one look at him. He stopped when I hesitated at the entry and stepped over to me immediately. His hands landed heavily on my shoulders, gripping them fiercely, his eyes icy and angry.
“What happened? Where were you? I turned around and you’d disappeared. I had to send Farrell and Barnes out to look for you while I stayed here with the clients.” His fingers dug painfully into my flesh as he articulated each word carefully, his accent strong. He was clearly enraged. “Don’t ever disappear on me like that, Matilda. I need to know where you are at all times.”
I shook his hands off. “I didn’t disappear. Two of the PRON men grabbed me and bundled me into an aisle between two rows of booths. And they did it right in front of everyone! It all happened in seconds. They had a message for Barb and Roger.”
“For Ms Biggen and Mr Harder to stay away from them?”
“Yes. And for them not to come back tomorrow.”
“Did you see Farrell and Barnes?”
“Yes. They chased after them.” I raised my eyes to his, not able to hide how much the recent events upset and angered me. My voice might have even wobbled a little, though I was trying to be tough. “I didn’t know what they were going to do to me, Heller. They discussed taking me with them. I think they planned on selling me, like I was some piece of meat. They groped me.”
His face grew even grimmer and had anyone asked, I would have said that wasn’t remotely possible.
“Benjy distracted them and I was able to break away. Then they ran off. The last I saw of everyone was Farrell and Bick chasing them.”
“And who is Benjy?”
“The boy in that horrible costume. He’s the only one who saw it happen.”
Heller looked down at me with an emotion on his face I didn’t recognise. He gently brushed some concrete dust from my forehead. “Are you okay, my sweet? Apart from being badly frightened?”
“I kicked the one who groped me in the nuts.”
“It’s not even close to what he deserves for daring to touch you.”
“There’s been some property damage.”
“I’m not paying for it. The centre management can,” he said, and his voice was harsh again. “They should never have invited people like that to their expo.”
“I agree,” said Roger, finding his voice at last. “Everything that’s happened has been their fault, not ours. I’m going to insist that either they remove PRON from the expo, or Barb and I won’t return tomorrow. It’s as simple as that. We’ll get on a plane and go home. We no longer feel safe here with them around.” There was such resolve in his voice it was apparent nobody would be able to talk him out of that position, and frankly, why would they even want to try?
Farrell and Bick turned up, pissed off at missing their quarry and infuriated by the efforts they’d had to make to smooth things down with the owners of ruined merchandise.
“They escaped. But I think they returned to their own booth,” Farrell surmised. “Do you want us to go after them there.”
“I’m not doing anything in public,” Heller said coldly. “I have my business’ reputation to think about.”
“There are a lot of very irate stallholders wanting our blood,” Bick told him.
“I’m not paying a cent for any of this,” Heller reiterated. “It’s not my fault, nor my team’s fault.”
Barb slinked up to him and took his hands in hers, casting her lovely topaz eyes upwards to his face. He immediately paid attention to her, as would any man with a pulse. The sudden sharp stab of jealousy that jolted through me shocked me. I busied myself checking my email on my tablet, trying to crush that green-eyed monster inside me.
“Mr Heller,” she said, rubbing her fingers seductively over his hands, because everything she did was seductive. I couldn’t even say for sure that she was consciously aware of that annoying little fact. “Roger and I agree with you completely. You have our total support on this. None of us should pay for PRON’s anti-social activities at this expo.”
“Thank you for your solidarity in this matter, Ms Biggen,” he said politely, pulling his hands free from hers. He turned to us, eyes hard. “Matilda. Farrell. Let’s walk for a while. Barnes, stay here.”
We walked without speaking, passing all the booths displaying their various sexual wares. I wouldn’t have minded browsing again, but Heller didn’t look as though he was in a shopping mood. He strode along determinedly, heading towards the PRON Productions booth. As we skirted the booth, the group of suits huddled at the back earnestly discussing something looked up with hostility. Not particularly trying to hide their interest in them, Heller and Farrell stood close by, staring them down, arms crossed with equal hostility. I hovered between them, definitely not wanting to move any closer.
“Do any of those men look familiar to you, Matilda?” Heller asked me in a low voice, keeping me slightly behind him. I pointed out the two who had abducted me.
I jabbed my finger angrily towards the shorter one. “He grabbed my boob,” I told him.
“Farrell, do you agree those are the two men you chased?”
“Positive. You don’t forget ugliness like that in a hurry.”
“What are you lot looking at?” sneered one of the PRON men, swaggering to the front of their booth.
“Stay away from my people, especially my woman. Just accept that as a word of advice for the future from me, though it’s already too late for some of you,” Heller said with calm coolness. He turned on his heel, striding away, Farrell in his wake, me jogging to catch up behind them. Farrell and I exchanged guarded glances, neither of us willing to say a word, Heller’s profile stony and not inviting any discussion on the matter. Back at the booth, Bick’s eyebrows knitted together when he saw our expressions.
“Sorted them out, Heller?” he asked quietly.
Heller’s eyes flicked my way. “As I told Matilda before, I don’t have the resources to deal with th
at company in public,” he said flatly in return, which I realised much later wasn’t an answer at all.
Noticing all the huge, hefty men in the vicinity of the booth, Mr Hairpiece rushed over to make sure all was well. Barb and Roger closed the booth for the day and there was a heated argument between them and Mr Hairpiece over their refusal to return the next day unless PRON Productions and the suits were banned from entry.
“You can’t guarantee our safety while they’re here,” Roger maintained in a reasonable tone as Mr Hairpiece insisted they would remain perfectly safe during the final day of Seductively Sextravagant. Not willing to lose his star attraction, he finally agreed to ban PRON and it was hard to miss Barb and Roger visibly loosening in relief. That made me worried that Heller had been correct and they weren’t really prepared to deal with PRON in person. And maybe it was easy to be a crusader against evil companies when you didn’t have to come face-to-face with the goons they hired to protect their interests.
“Barnes, you drive Matilda and the clients to the TV studio now, then all of them home afterwards. Keep the vehicle overnight and pick up the clients tomorrow morning to bring them here. Matilda and I will come directly from my place tomorrow,” Heller instructed. “Farrell, you can come with me now.” We all nodded and went our separate ways.
The whole Heller’s contingent escorted Barb and Roger to the carpark, once again past the PRON Productions booth. But it was already deserted, the signs removed, all stock taken. Mr Hairpiece must have moved on them quickly.
In the carpark we split into the two vehicles. Heller took a moment to cup my chin and lean down to tenderly kiss me. He spoke in a soft voice meant only for me. Hmm, perhaps he had learned something from what I’d said to him, I thought with a burst of hopeful joy. “Though I’m very keen to see what is inside that shopping bag you’re holding, I will be home rather late tonight, my sweet. I hope that won’t disrupt your plans.”
“Oh,” I said, all my hopeful joy instantly turning into disappointment. But then I reconsidered. Who needed to be alert for work the next day when you had a night with Heller planned? And besides, I was doing nothing more exertive than coming back here to Seductively Sextravagant. As the PRON goons had been moved on, there was nothing to do but follow Barb and Roger through their routine one last time. By now I could do it with my eyes shut (which they probably would be after a late night with Heller). “It’s okay. I’ll be ready for you no matter when you come home.”
