Insufferable Proximity

by Z. Stefani

  The host, keeping a few feet ahead of her and being careful not to look at her directly, led her to the back of the restaurant where it managed to get even swankier as well as dimmer. He stopped at a private little area, well secluded from the rest of the diners, it was not a true room, but the half walls did a good job of shielding them.

  “Miss Deville to see you sir.” the host spoke directly to Julian than quickly turned to leave. Even though the host was a snob, she was half-tempted to tell him to stay for a while, she was not prepared to be alone with Mr. King yet. Instead, she stood as tall as she could as she looked down at Julian over the top of her glasses.

  And there he sat, as smug as could be, behind the large circular table sipping on a glass of liquor, looking at her as if she was the main course that he was ready to disassemble then devour. She felt her knees begin to wiggle again as an intense dread washed through her body and tiny beads of sweat attempted to form across her skin. She knew by the look in his eyes that he was elated and anxious to make her pay and she felt her pulse begin to race. She also felt her hand itching to slap his face, she would love nothing more than to slug him and tell him to go fuck himself before turning around and walking away. If it was under any other circumstances, she would, but she refused to just lie down and give up without a fight, no matter the destructive toll it would inevitable take on her psyche.

  Julian looked her up and down, she was obviously nervous as well as irritated and he was gloating, thrilled to see her in such an anxiety-ridden state. He also noticed she had really gone out of her way to make herself appear unattractive and he wanted to laugh at her ignorance. Didn’t the little fool realize there was nothing she could do to make herself look less attractive? He never understood that about her, most women he knew, even successful lawyers like her, did not go to such extremes to look ugly.

  “Sit down Miss Deville.”

  “I prefer to stand.”

  “I prefer you sit.” he said, but she waited a few seconds before she finally sat on the edge of the seat, as far away from him as she possibly could.

  “Come closer.” he said taking another sip, already knowing she would test his patience to the limit.

  “I can hear everything you have to say from here.” she objected, refusing to budge.

  “I said come here.” he demanded with an authority that made her want to smack him. Was he crazy? She did not take demands! Whom the hell did he think he was talking to like that?

  ‘Oh that’s right.’ she thought to herself, ‘he is talking to the woman who broke into his private office, stole his important files and set a virus through his computer that destroyed the entire system.’ she reminded herself of her folly. He had the upper hand and could demand whatever he wanted from her. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to stop him. For right now, she had to keep her big mouth shut and try to get herself out of this self-inflicted fiasco.

  “Whoops.” she said knocking over a tall thin glass of water, he caught the glass before it hit the floor, but the contents still managed to spill all over the seat between them, accomplishing her goal. “The seats wet.” she shook her head, “I am not sitting there.”

  Julian could not wait to break this stubborn bitch, he could not wait until he had her all to himself in the privacy of his own home where no one would hear her scream. He could not wait until she was on all fours naked and begging him to stop, but most of all he could not wait to rip that ugly fucking suit off her body and see what was underneath. He knew that would finally wipe that smug smile off her face and bring a smile to his.

  “I can make you pay for that.” he spoke in a low voice, glaring at her.

  “Really? And how is that?” she asked in a condescending tone. He held his anger as he grabbed her arm and slid her down the seat to sit in the puddle of water. She gasped and tried to pull away but he held her still.

  “Stunts like that will only make it harder on you.” he explained as she tried to stand up, but he put his large hand on her upper thighs and forced her to remain seated.

  “Let go!” she hissed as she felt her long skirt soak up the water.

  “Sit still.” he demanded as he reached down and pulled a folder out of his briefcase, and then laid it down on the table in front of her.

  “What is this?”

  “Your contract.”

  “Contract? It’s a blank sheet of paper.”

  “I know, sign your name at the bottom.”

  “I am not signing this.”

  “That’s one of your choices, you don’t sign the contract, and I turn you in, have you charged with breaking and entering, destruction of property and theft. You will be disbarred for unethical actions and never work as an attorney again.”

  “And what’s the other choice, again?”

  “You sign yourself over to me for the next 30 days.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “This paper means for the next month you live at my house under my rules.”

  “I can’t live at your house.”

  “That’s a rule.” he wrote it down on the sheet of paper.

  “I have to work.”

  “I’ll take you back and forth, every day.”

  “What are the other rules?” she decided to humor him, still looking for a way out of this.

  “Whatever I decide, that’s why the paper is blank, I can make them up as I go.”

  “I’m not doing anything dirty or perverted.”

  “Everything I intend to do to you is dirty and perverted.” he said honestly, she felt her heart race and she couldn’t breathe for a moment.

  “I won’t do it.”

  “If I write it on this paper you have no choice.”

  “I can’t.” she said unable to look into his eyes. She swore he could see her weakness and smell her fear. As if reading her mind, he wrote on the sheet of paper

  ‘Does everything that I ask of her with no hesitation.’

  “What does that mean exactly?” she asked, already knowing the answer, but hoping it was not as bad as she feared it might be. He hated her, why would he all of the sudden want to do anything sexual with her?

  “That means if I say I’m thirsty you bring me a drink. If I say I want to see you, you take off your top and sit on my lap,” she gasped and her chin dropped as he continued, “If I say I need to be inside of you, you pull up your skirt and drop to your knees. If I tell you to strip get in the middle of the table and spread your legs so I can eat you after I finish my meal, you better be naked before I finish my demand.”” he finished.

  “You really are a twisted pervert, I know I‘ve joked about it in the past, but I had no idea just how depraved you really were.”

  “And you’re a thief, but you need to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.” he said then grinned “and how deep I will be getting into you.”

  “You can’t just say stuff like that to me.” she snapped at him uncomfortable with this type of talk.

  “Say stuff like that to you? Princess, I’m going to do stuff like that to you, plus ten times worse.” he raised his brow “but like I said, it’s your choice, you can refuse, but if you accept, know that I am going to turn you out. And don’t look so shocked, what did you expect? It’s your own fault, you broke into my office and destroyed my proposal.”

  “Look, I’m sorry I broke into your office, you’ve made me pay enough, I get it, I’ll never do it again.” she said with a look of irritation and he was torn between slapping it off her face or kissing her hard enough to make her realize she had no control over this situation. “You need to stop this.”

  “If I hadn’t of caught you, you would have never given yourself up. You would have made me look like a fool in front of my family and for that you haven’t even began to pay, but you will.” he took a sip of his drink “now take off your panties.”

  “Excuse me?” she raised her bows in shock.

  “You heard what I said.”

  “You want me to take off my
panties?” she stammered, partially from shock but she was also trying to stall him.

  “Yes.”

  “Here?” she looked around in terror.

  “Where else?” he said getting irritated with her approach at playing dumb, the girl was anything but dumb, she was hands down one of the most intelligent people he knew.

  “I can’t do it, I absolutely refuse! I cannot remove my underwear in a public restaurant.” he was surprised to hear this well-spoken girl falter with her words. “That’s absurd and you’re sick for even suggesting it!”

  “Fine,” he made a move to leave the table “the deal is off, I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” she watched him move away and she wanted him to leave, she wanted to kick him in the ass just so he’d hurry up and get away from her. Nevertheless, she knew she could not just let him walk away, she had worked too hard to quit now.

  “Wait.” she said softly.

  “What?”

  “Are you still going to turn me in?” she knew it was wishful thinking, but she had to try.

  “Yes.” he answered then turned to leave again.

  “Wait!” she snapped in frustration, figuratively speaking, this bastard had her between a sharp knife and a running chainsaw. There was nothing she could do and was becoming so consumed with her frustration that she felt her head might explode. “Wait.”

  “What is it?” he was irritated now.

  “I’ll do it.” she said putting her head down, unable to look him in the eyes while she admitted her defeat.

  “Do what?” he asked her.

  “What you asked me to do.”

  “What did I ask you to do?” he raised his brows.

  “To remove my panties.”

  “But you didn‘t.”

  “I said I would.”

  “But you hesitated, the deals off.”

  “What? No, wait!” she grabbed his arm as she slid closer to him, then immediately let go of him.

  “The deal is off Miss Deville. I should have known better, you’d never honor that contract”

  “Please don’t make me beg you.”

  “If I don’t make you beg me, then I spend the next 30 days having you refuse me.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No, I won’t refuse.”

  “You won’t? Then convince me,” he slid closer to her “take off your panties and give them to me.”

  “Fine.” she said softly as she looked at him and he was shocked to see her blush. She reached under the table, reached up her long skirt, grabbing her panties, and then began to slide them off when he stopped her.

  “Wait.”

  “Wait?” she asked, praying he changed his mind.

  “I want to watch you,” he said then pushed the table away from the seat, “now get closer to me.” when she slid down the seat closer to him, he turned her so she faced him. “Alright, slide them off.”

  “You really are a sick, twisted pervert.” she said in disgust

  “You have no idea what I’m capable of or what I would put you through to amuse myself.” he grinned sadistically, “be happy I didn’t make you beg me to tear them off.” he grabbed her thigh and pulled her a little closer to him.

  He reveled in her discomfort, watching her struggle to remove her panties without showing any skin. After an uncomfortable minute, she managed to slide them off.

  “Give them to me.” he demanded and she complied. He held the plain white cotton panties in his hand for a moment, not the least bit surprised she wore something so unappealing, than slid them in his jacket pocket. “Good girl, now pull your skirt up.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t start that shit again, pull up your skirt up to your waist, Miss Deville.”

  “Hell no.” she looked around her

  “No one can see you.”

  “You can.”

  “That’s the whole point Princess, I need to see you.”

  “I am not going to do it.”

  “So you’re breaking the deal?”

  “No, but how do I know after I do all this your not going to turn me in?” she asked.

  “How do I know you won’t break your contract because of the horrible things I’m going to be doing to you? You’re the thief here, the one whose word can’t be trusted.”

  “If I break that contract, I’ll lose my career or go to jail.”

  “And I want you under my control for the next 30 days more than I want you in jail. I want to do terrible things to you Miss Deville. There is so much to pay you back for over these last 3 years that 30 days will barely cover it. Now pull up your skirt.”

  “I can’t do it, not here, let‘s go somewhere else.” she hated the fact that she had to plead with him.

  “You better get used to this, this is your life for the next month. You better be happy I don’t have your jacket ripped open so I can look at your tits while I’m eating.” he said and she glared at him.

  “Oh I really fucking hate you.”

  “Be prepared to hate me even more. Now pull up your skirt before I lay you on top of the table and pull it up myself.”

  She eyed him for another moment than looking around, satisfied no one was looking back, she lifted her skirt up high, but still making sure her now naked sex was covered. He saw her nervousness and wondered about it. He did not think he would ever see this girl sweat, she had gone toe to toe with some of the strongest attorneys around and had never broken a sweat. So why was she nervous just lifting her skirt? It had to be the fact that she was in public or maybe it was just him.

  “Have you ever done anything in public before?”

  “No.” she said refusing to look at him, keeping her eyes straight and glued to the god-awful painting on the wall. He did grin a little, the side of his mouth pulled up into a slight side grin.

  “You don’t like being on display do you?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Good, than you’re in for a treat.” He reached down and slid her skirt up a little, exposing the tiniest dark patch, she tightened her legs together and when he slid his finger up the exposed area, she jumped. He grinned than kissed her cheek before he pulled her skirt back down, covering her.

  “Treat? You mean torture.”

  “One man’s torture is another man’s treat, I’m going to have a lot of fun with you Ms. Deville.” he grinned “now, sign the contract.” he demanded. Heaven closed her eyes and took the last deep breath of the evening, before snatching the pen from him and signing her name on the dotted line. She looked up to him and felt her anxieties rise as she realized she had just officially enslaved herself to the devil for the next thirty days.

  ***

  Contractual Obligation

  -Saturday morning-

  The storm had subsided, leaving the ground soft enough for the scattered tree branches to be submerged in its quicksand-trap. The trees softly cried for their broken limbs and the air seemed to spark with the remnants of electricity from the previous night’s powerful bouts of lightening.

  Outside of the small house on 317 Elm Street, the trees surrounding the solid structure tilted to the left, their broken branches scattered over the sidewalk and circling the limo that was parked on the desolate street out front. The gorgeous chauffer stepped out of the sleek black limo, checking the number on the house to make sure it matched the number of the address her boss had given her.

  Alice was not sure what she had been expecting, but the ominous little house that greeted her was definitely not an image she could conjure up on her own. It was a little spooky, the houses on either side were far enough away to make the house appear secluded. The old weeping willow tree in front rustled in the slight wind, forcing the entire scene to look like an animated gothic portrait, one that the chauffer was not excited to view nor enter. She quickly walked up the stone steps that led to the enclosed front porch and rang the doorbell. The screeching ring filtered the air, loud enough to wake the baby birds snuggled in their nests.