Insufferable Proximity

by Z. Stefani

  “Ms. Deville, Julian King would like to see you immediately.”

  “Too bad, I’m on my out for the night.” she said with as much civility as she could muster.

  “He said it is of the utmost importance.”

  “Fine.” she slammed the phone down and cursed under her breath.

  She hated to be called into Julian King’s office, almost as much as she hated him sending for her and demanding her presence like she was some lowly servant to be ordered about. She took her time walking to his office and when she finally got there, his secretary, a woman that Heaven had tortured, then come to respect, was waiting to show her in.

  Emma Cooke was a good woman and as tolerant as a saint. Two years ago after Julian had slept with Heaven’s first secretary, Heaven had retaliated by sending his secretary on false errands when he really needed her. Mrs. Cooke had never taken it personally, on the contrary, she seemed more sympathetic then anything and continued being kind to Heaven despite her wicked deeds. Heaven had decided at that very moment that she would no longer involve the generous secretary in her mission to destroy Julian, she couldn’t blame the women, it wasn’t her fault she got stuck with such an asshole for a boss.

  Heaven walked through the open door with a look of disgust on her face, she hated being in his office. His office was twice as big as hers, despite the fact that she worked twice as hard as him. She walked over to stand before his desk with her arms crossed over her chest and looking down at him as if she were the royal queen, who was bored with the company of the common help.

  “What do you want Mr. King, unlike you I actually work and I’m busy.”

  “Someone broke into my office last night.” he said as he sat his pen down, when she didn’t speak, he continued, “They ran a virus through my computer that was so toxic it made everything unusable and unrecoverable.”

  “So?” she asked, fighting hard to control the smirk threatening to break her poker face.

  “They also broke into my desk and stole all of my files, reports, my proposal and a very expensive ring.” he said studying her face closely, but as usual, she was the queen of the poker face. She held her emotions tight, not letting on to her shock about the ring, she never saw any jewelry and if had, she would have left it where it was.

  “Get to the point Mr. King, you’re wasting my time.” her frown indicating only boredom, refusing to let him know that his line of questioning was beginning to make her uneasy.

  “The point is, you broke into my office and robbed me.” he said as a matter of fact.

  “And why would I do that?” she shook her head.

  “Because you know I am going to become partner and you’re willing to do anything to stop that.”

  “You sound desperate, stop wasting your time on me and find the real culprit.” she scoffed.

  “You’re good,” his grin demonstrated his deep respect for her talent to lie so persuasively, “very convincing Ms. Deville.”

  “And you’re pathetic, as well as wasting my valuable time.” she turned to leave.

  “Admit it and I’ll go lightly on you.” he said, the statement dripping with innuendos.

  “Admit what? That you’ll obviously go to any lengths to make sure that I don’t become partner? That I see through your pathetic attempt to frame me?” she said condescendingly.

  “Bravo.” he said rising from his chair then slowly walking over to stand closer to her. “Spoken like a true lawyer, but seeing that I am also a lawyer, as well as your equal-”

  “You wish you were my equal.” she cut him off.

  “As I was saying- being a lawyer, I can smell manipulation a mile away.”

  “So.” she shrugged wanting to slap the smug look off his face.

  “So, I know you did it.”

  “Then prove it.” she said finally, the corner of her mouth almost twitching up into a smile.

  “Last chance.” he whispered as he stepped closer to her, a little too close for her own peace of mind. “Admit it now and I won’t make you suffer.” He was starting to make her nervous and at this point she needed to get out of his office, by any means necessary.

  “Say one more word and I will sue you for sexual harassment.” she bluffed out of desperation, feeling a deep disappointment in herself for even suggesting such a thing.

  “If I taught you the true meaning of sexual harassment, you might not throw that term around so lightly.” he said sliding his finger to her hip.

  “Are you out of your mind?” she hissed, slapping his hand away with all of her mite. “Don’t you ever touch me again." She watched the rage flash across his face for a moment before he went back to his smug smile, looking at her like he knew a secret.

  “I warned you.” he grinned so smugly, she felt her nerves jumping like live wires throughout her body, she quickly scanned her brain trying to remember if someone had possibly seen her last night. She had been so careful and checked everywhere before she went to his office, there was no way anyone saw her. “Watch this.” he said grabbing the thin remote control off his desk and pointing it at the large framed picture on the wall.

  “Watch what?” she asked a second before the picture began to rise up to reveal a flat screen television embedded in the wall. He pressed another button on the remote and the television turned on. She stood there unmoving as a clear view of Julian’s office suddenly popped on the television screen. She felt her heart fall from her chest as she watched the image of herself on the monitor, breaking into his office.

  “That’s breaking and entering, I know for a fact my door was locked and I know you don’t have a key.” He spoke as she watched herself on the screen, walk over to his desk, and break the lock on the drawer then her silent moment of hesitation before taking the folder. She watched as she slid the lethal disc into his computer then ransacked his desk, shoving several files in her briefcase before finally leaving. She stood enthralled, watching her stupidity play out before her very eyes, as Julian stood spellbound watching her reaction. After a few intense moments, Julian finally stopped the footage then turned off the television as she continued staring at the blank screen before he turned to face her. He didn’t speak, he didn’t have to.

  “Busted.” she whispered.

  “I know.”

  “Damn!” she cursed, stomping her foot down and Julian smirked as he watched her poker-face slip.

  “Imagine my surprise.” he said and she almost grinned at the thought. “That was stupid.”

  “I know, I told myself like three times to stop and walk away.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I don’t know, I just couldn’t leave empty handed.” she took a deep breath, furious with herself, she should have listened to her instincts. “Who else knows?”

  “Just us.”

  “So then this can’t just be about you turning me in, or you would have already done so.” she finally looked him directly in his eyes, “You must want something.”

  “Astute, but presumptuous. What makes you think I still won’t hand you over to the police or my father?”

  “I don’t.” she shrugged her shoulders as she spoke, “I’m assuming you’re doing this to force me to step down from the race.

  “Wrong, unlike you princess I don’t have to cheat to win, I have enough confidence in myself and my talent to know I will beat you with my eyes closed.” he grinned as she scoffed.

  “You’re lying, you’re doing this to guarantee your place as partner.”

  “No, I don’t need you to step down to guarantee my place as partner, I am already winning.” he said and part of her believed him, he seemed too confident to be wrong.

  “Well I know this is not about money, since you already have an obscene amount of cash, more money than you’d probably be able to spend in three lifetimes as it is.”

  “No, this is not about money.”

  “So then what the hell do you want from me?” she demanded, tired of beating around the bush.

 
“I want the one thing that I could never buy under any circumstance other than this one, I want the one and only thing that has never been available to me.”

  “And what is that?” she asked with impatience.

  “You.”

  “Excuse me?” she did not understand his meaning.

  “I want you.” he stepped closer to her.

  “What do you mean you want me?” she asked as she took a step back, positive she did not know what he meant.

  “You know exactly what I mean.”

  “No I don’t, explain yourself.”

  “I want you, every inch of you, I want you naked and on your knees before me, I want to stick my tongue in every orifice on your body and I want to fuck you until you’re begging me to stop.“ his words were crude and she felt her heart beating hard enough to crack a rib.

  “You are out of your mind!” she hissed as she stepped back from him, “Never! I would never let you touch me, you smug fucking sadist!” she spat the words at him, her poker face completely obliterated, “I hate you and I always will!”

  “I hate you just as much, that’s half the reason I can’t wait to fuck you.” his smile was smug enough to make her cringe “I will have you bending to my will and doing everything that I demand, no matter how revolting.”

  “I would die before I let you touch me.”

  “Then be prepared for death because I am going to violate every inch of your body, nothing will be left sacred or untouched.”

  “That sounds like a threat to me.” she put her hands on her hips, her head high in defiance and their eyes locked in a silent battle.

  “It is a threat, and one I promise to fulfill. Besides, what choice do you have?” he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer to him, bending so his face was only inches from hers. “If I turn you in, my father would have no choice but to fire you. As you well know, we are one of the most influential law firms on this side of the globe, a bad resume from us and you’ll never work again.”

  “No.” she shook her head thinking about all of the hard work she had put in her career and how quickly it could just end.

  “I will have you blacklisted Ms. Deville.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “But you already know that I will.”

  “Can’t I just apologize and admit my mistake instead?” she asked, hoping that was what he wanted, “If you really want me on my knees, I will get down and apologize.” she said obviously trying to get out of it.

  “It’s too late for that.”

  “But-”

  “I told you what I want,” he said reaching across his desk and grabbing the phone, “make a decision or I will make it for you.”

  “What would I have to do?” She asked and he almost came in his pants watching this unmovable tyrant give in to him.

  “Everything.”

  “Everything?” she was afraid to ask what everything meant.

  “For thirty days.”

  “What?”

  “Meet me at Platinum,” he said “tomorrow night, 9:00.”

  “Wait, what do you mean by thirty days?”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night Ms. Deville.” he dismissed her and she fought the urge to drop kick him on the spot, instead she turned and stormed out of his office.

  ***

  The penthouse was dark, except for the small secluded room where Julian took his guest, Olive for the evening. The bright florescent lights illuminated the mahogany lowlights in the woman’s honey colored hair while highlighting Julian’s disgruntled mood. Julian sat in his overstuffed chair by the unlit fireplace, ignoring the gorgeous woman dancing erotically before him. His mind was lost in thought as the gyrating girl tried to entice him, fully aware her attempts were in vein. Julian had realized many years ago that he was a sex addict and never denying himself had spawned that addiction into something much deeper. He was born with a deep kink embedded within his veins, and loved to dominate his willing partners and although he could be very rough he had never gone to extremes. He had plenty of friends that were involved in the BDSM lifestyle, but that wasn’t for him. He did what he did because it was what he wanted to do, it wasn’t a lifestyle it was pure need. However, the situation with his fellow attorney was entirely different, it was not the sex his body was demanding, it was Ms. Deville.

  Everything he thought he knew was in question when it came that woman, his body had never before craved another human being, and his mind had never supplied a face when it came to sex. He was always unemotional and detached with his sexual partners, but when it came to Ms. Deville, his emotions went high and his frustration deep. There was no way he would be able to separate the sex from his hatred for her, each argument between the two of them had forced his emotions to escalate, and his rage had been building for three long years. He needed to do terrible things to her, he wanted to force her to admit that he was her ruler, her master and her mother-fucking King. He had never been so giddy before, his head swarmed with visions of Heaven on her knees, begging him to accept her apology and expressing her sorrow for being such a bitch all those years. Damn he wanted to dominate her and he could not wait until tomorrow night at 9:00.

  ***

  The Best Friend Theory

  Heaven spent the entire night with her eyes wide open, unable to get a moment of sleep. When she did force her eyes to close, she was consumed with horrific images of Julian and his threats. By early morning, her eyes were red, her stomach was growling and her mood was unstable. She was thankful she had the day off, since there was no way in hell, she would be able to face Julian yet. The way she felt, she would gladly murder the man on sight and eradicate any option for his revenge.

  She was moping around her kitchen, brewing a fresh pot of coffee when the phone rang.

  “Hello?” Heaven answered.

  “Hey babes are we still on for lunch today?” her best friend Jade’s chipper voice boomed through the phone.

  “Um, I forgot.”

  “Bullshit, I called and reminded you Wednesday, remember?”

  “It’s escaped my memory.”

  “Lunch at ‘The Red’ and then picketing at the aquarium on Friday at noon.”

  “Yeah, I forgot.”

  “You better not be at work Sevigne, you promised you were taking the day off to help me protest these aquatic killing fucks for enslaving yet another whale. Don’t forget I’m leaving!”

  “Fine, I’ll be there.” Heaven grumbled.

  “What’s wrong Sevigne?” she asked sensing the difference in her friend’s voice. Sure Sevigne was usually standoffish, but this was different.

  “I’ll tell you when I get there, see you at noon.” she said then hung up the phone before sitting down to finish her cup of coffee.

  Heaven had only one person she considered a friend and that was Jade. Sure Heaven had met a few other girls in her life that she had teetered on the verge of friendship with, but they had come and gone and in the end only Jade had remained a constant.

  Jade was the first person Heaven had met when she moved to New York. They both went to the same school and Heaven remembered the first day that she had met Jade, like it was yesterday. The first day in her new school, Heaven had excused herself from her classroom, despite her teacher’s protests. She had decided to take a necessary break from the new teacher that she already despised and took her time walking to the girl’s restroom. She had no more then opened the door, when a tall brunette hurled towards her. Heaven backed up just in time to avoid the girl that was being thrown about the room. She then looked up to see another girl wearing a t-shirt with the name Jade in sparkly letters emblazed on the front, stalking towards the girl on the ground. Needless to say, after the fight, Jade was called down to the principal’s office along with Heaven and the girl with the black eye.

  For reasons unbeknownst to Heaven, she had lied to the principal and told him that she had witnessed the other girl attack Jade first. The principal obviously did not believe her, but had no ch
oice to accept the lie. After that Heaven and Jade had become best friends.

  No matter how miserable Heaven currently felt, she knew she had to go meet up with Jade for lunch.

  For one, she would not be able to see her friend for a while, Jade had decided to change her career and delve deeper into her love of all things aquatic. She would soon be leaving the state to attend college and study to become a marine biologist. Last weekend, Sybille had thrown Jade a small going away party and she had been scheduled to leave a few days ago. Unfortunately, Jade discovered they were bringing another whale to a nearby aquarium and decided to protest before she left.