by JD Nixon
“So boys, how are the plans for the big feast coming along?”
“Tonight is the night,” Daniel promised and Niq was virtually jumping up and down on the spot with excitement. “You are going to love it.”
I smiled at their confidence. “I’m sure I will.”
We walked down the stairs to the office together while I explained why I had bruising on my face yet again. I sat at my desk and fired up my computer. Heller walked in wearing the Heller’s uniform – the black polo shirt, black cargo pants, black chunky boots. I smiled at him and he winked at me.
“When you’re ready, let’s have a chat,” he said, going into his office.
When my computer screen came up I laughed out loud. I had a new wallpaper on my monitor – a photo of me from the ceremony in my revealing dress, but it had been photo-shopped to cut out Clarrie and instead I now had Daniel on one side of me and Niq on the other, both grinning inanely.
“Good one, boys!” I laughed. “I’m going to leave that photo up there for a while, you know.” For one thing, it would be a reminder not to ever buy such a slutty dress again, I thought as I made my way into Heller’s office.
“Hello, Matilda,” he said, a meaningful expression on his face.
“Hello, Heller,” I replied casually, flopping down into a visitor chair, deciding to ignore it.
“I have some check-ups planned for today. Do you want to come with me?”
“Yep.” Check-ups were literally just that. We went around to major jobs and made sure everything was hunky-dory – that the staff were turning up and that the assignment was being managed professionally.
“Wear your uniform, please. I’ll see you in fifteen minutes.”
I went upstairs and changed into my Heller’s uniform. While I was in my flat, I took the opportunity to ring Dixie to tell her about the previous evening.
“You touched his todger?” she screamed into my ear.
“I lent him a helping hand, that’s all. I wanted to go to sleep and his thingy was getting in the way. That’s not sex though, is it? I mean, if anyone asks, I haven’t had sex with him.”
“Was it big?”
“I’ve told you before that he’s very impressive.”
“You should have taken a photo for me.” I laughed while she thought about my question for a few moments. “It was a sex act, but it’s not sex. Neither of you even had your clothes off. How can you have sex with your clothes on? You’re safe. But man, you are such a lucky bitch! Oh shit, look at the time! I have to run. But speaking of photos, I have a beauty to send you. See you later.”
Feeling reassured about the righteousness of my naughtiness – it wasn’t done in lust, I was only trying to get some sleep, for God’s sake – I then returned to the office. On the dot, Heller left his office and nodded to me.
We stopped in at a number of locations, mostly major construction sites, talking to the managers, discussing the surveillance services being paid for, ensuring that everything was running smoothly. Heller’s was only a small business compared to its major rivals and that allowed Heller to offer a more personalised service to his clients.
“You must be pleased that everything’s running so smoothly,” I said as we returned to his Mercedes after our final visit for the day.
“Yes, but I still need to convince the other firms that there is enough work for all of us.”
“Have you sorted out everything yet?” And by that, I meant his rival’s attacks on the business.
“Not yet, but I will in time.” And remembering the suspicious fire at the Select Security headquarters some months ago, I was fairly certain that Heller was already retaliating, a situation I didn’t want to ponder too closely.
We drove in silence.
“Do you mind if we drop into the shopping centre? I promised Daniel that I would bank some cheques,” he asked.
“No worries. You have to keep the money rolling in, after all.”
He turned into the next mega-mall and we walked through the hundreds of shops until we found the right bank where Heller proceeded to deposit the cheques. He bought me lunch at a small cafe and I filled him in on my last two weeks, as we hadn’t done much talking the night before. He paid the bill and we left, walking together through the shopping centre in our distinctive uniforms, everybody in the whole place staring at his great beauty, while I regaled him with my capture of Milt.
“Matilda, you are a continual source of wonder,” he marvelled and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close and kissing me gently on the forehead. “He was completely naked, dripping wet and you punched his testicles?”
I laughed up at him. “I didn’t have much choice. He knocked me flying and I had to stop him from grabbing the gun back off me. And I really didn’t want his wet, meaty bits dangling in my face. Gross!”
Heller laughed and squeezed my shoulders.
“Hello, Tilly.”
I stopped still and spun around.
“Will!”
Heller’s body stiffened with instant hostility. If he’d been an animal, his fur would have been sticking up, his back would have arched, and he would have been growling low in his throat, ready to fight. He kept his arm possessively around my shoulders, icy shards shooting from his eyes.
“Will, how wonderful to see you. This is my boss, Heller. Heller, this is Will, my boyfriend.”
I subtly shrugged off Heller’s arm and gave Will a peck on the cheek. Will stared at Heller with uncertainty, but held out his hand politely. After a long pause, just when I thought he was going to be unforgivably rude, Heller took Will’s hand and shook it with unnecessary firmness.
“Tilly, I’m desperate to catch up with you. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you. Are you free tonight?” asked Will keenly.
“Yes,” I said.
“No,” Heller said simultaneously. I shot him a warning look. “You’re having dinner with us tonight,” he reminded me.
“Oh yeah. Sorry babe, not tonight, but what about tomorrow night?”
“Sure. I’ll make you dinner.”
“Can’t wait. See you then.” I kissed him on the lips and watched him walk away for a second before we resumed our path through the centre.
“I don’t like him,” Heller said coldly.
“What a surprise.”
“I’m just being honest.”
“Would you like anyone I went out with?”
“No.”
“Well, it doesn’t really matter what you think then, does it? I like him a lot, and that’s all I care about.”
He shrugged indifferently and we made our way home.
When we returned to the office, I loaded up my email, deleting all my family’s ones without reading them. I opened the email that Dixie had sent me after our phone conversation. She’d written, I’m really, really sorry, but I’ve been having a man drought lately. And I don’t have a friendly todger to play with!
Puzzled, I opened the attached photo and almost screamed with shock and incredulity. I actually clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle myself, remembering just how much Heller disapproved of Dixie’s activities in this area. In the photo was not just one of Dixie’s engineering PhD student flat mates, but both of them, sprawled naked and slumbering in post-coital bliss in the living area of their little flat. It was a revolting scene. It even made my eyes throw up a little.
I quickly emailed back, Please tell me you did not have a nerd orgy with Jon and Don! Please!
She could not possibly be that desperate. Not ever! I deleted the photo gratefully.
Chapter 14
Dinner that night was superb. Daniel and Niq went to a lot of trouble, setting the table very nicely and ensuring that everything was perfect. The six of us dined in Heller’s flat because it was the largest in the building. I dressed up for the occasion (not in the slutty dress, mind you) and had a wonderful time, luxuriating in the conversation, the good food and the champagne.
The guys had planned a simple and old-fashioned meal –
prawn cocktail, roast chicken with vegies and chocolate mousse – but they’d cooked it exceptionally well and it was all delicious. I drank a bit too much champagne and was quite pissed by the end of the evening, but I didn’t care because I only had to stagger downstairs to get home. And also I felt like celebrating after surviving two weeks of Clarrie’s company.
After dinner, when the dishes were washed and everything cleared away, we lounged in the living room, chatting. They all teased me mercilessly about my revealing appearance at the awards ceremony and I endured patiently. But it’s amazing how many boob-related puns a bunch of men can come up with. I retaliated by lording over them about the fact that I had met the Prime Minister, but in reality that only gave me about five seconds of boasting rights, because none of them cared in the slightest. I entertained them with a heavily censored (in deference to Niq) version of my activities during the fortnight. Synonymy and Little Tilly fascinated them.
“Are you still playing the game, Heller?” I asked him, curious.
“No. It wasn’t any fun without Little Matilda. There wasn’t anyone else I wanted to . . . play with.”
I laughed. The twins, with a little embarrassment, confessed to being long-standing subscribers to Synonymy. I felt uncomfortable hearing that, and hoped that they hadn’t had any amorous encounters with Little Tilly during her short life. I wasn’t brave enough to ask them about it though.
“Maybe I should check it out?” pondered Daniel, his hand propping up his chin.
“You’ll become addicted,” I warned.
“Yeah, but I also might get lucky.”
“Only virtually.”
He shrugged. “A virtual relationship would be better than the one I have at the moment.”
“With who?” I puzzled.
“My hand.”
I giggled. “Poor diddums,” I teased and plonked myself on his lap, slipping my arms around his shoulders and covering his face with little kisses. “There! Does that make it all better, Danny darling?”
“No! Get off me,” he laughed, trying to push me away and shield his face from my lips. “You weigh more than three buildings.”
“I do not!” I said indignantly. And in payback, I covered him in more kisses, forcing him to redouble his efforts to push me off. I ruffled his hair into disarray. He tried to mess up mine. We had a fun little wrestle for a while, giggling uncontrollably, arms and legs tangled together, until he finally managed to push me off his lap. I fell in an inelegant drunken heap on the floor, laughing my head off. Sid helped me to my feet, smiling as he did.
“You’re covered in lipstick,” I advised Daniel, giggling still, dusting myself off, looking down at his flushed face.
“You’re such a pain in the arse, Tilly! I can’t remember why I ever missed you,” he complained laughingly, and went to the bathroom to wash my lippie off his face.
“Who’s next?” I slurred, surveying the rest of them, swaying a little as I did. Heller slid his arm around me.
“Time for you to go to bed, my sweet.”
“Don’t be so boring, Heller! I don’t want to go to bed. I want to have some fun. I haven’t had any fun for weeks.”
“You can have more fun tomorrow. But now, it’s time for you to sleep.”
I grumbled, but acquiesced. I was feeling rather drunk to be honest and just about to hit the wall. I waved goodnight to everyone and clung to Heller’s arm down the stairs. He found my pyjamas for me and supervised while I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I flopped down onto my bed and grabbed his hand as he was about to leave, pulling him down on top of me. He didn’t struggle at all as I pressed my lips on his, hugging him around his neck. In fact, he responded very quickly and we shared some steamy kisses before his mouth left mine and traced a gentle trail down my neck and across my collarbone. His mouth continued its downward trek, and he pushed my singlet top up, giving his lips free access across my breast to my nipple, where his tongue softly explored. Replacing his tongue with gentle rubbing with his thumb, his mouth returned to mine. I arched my back to press my body even closer against his.
He gave me a final kiss, before moving away and sitting up. I tried to pull him back down on me again, but he resisted.
“But I want to sleep with you, Heller,” I complained. “Right now. Don’t you want to?”
“God Matilda, of course I do! But not when you’re drunk. I promised, remember?”
I groaned in disappointment. “Well, can’t you just help me out a little bit? I’m desperate! It’s been weeks.”
He gave me a half-smile and tucked me into bed, giving me a lingering kiss goodnight. “You said you wanted to save yourself for your boyfriend.”
“You’re cruel, you know.”
“You’ll thank me tomorrow. Good night, my sweet.” And he left, turning off my light on the way. I fell asleep five seconds later.
He was right, of course. I felt terrible the next morning, with a pounding headache and a nauseous stomach. But I was very grateful that he had shown self-control. It would make my date with Will later in the day more special. Also I knew that sleeping with Heller would not be a great decision – he was my boss, after all.
It was late in the morning before I felt able to show my face in the office. I’d managed to hold some food down and my headache was starting to fade with the help of some painkillers. Daniel and Niq were sitting together, discussing a project Niq had to do for school. They both grinned evilly at me as I walked in and I poked my tongue out at them.
“That was a wonderful dinner, guys. Thanks again for your hard work,” I said as I sat at my desk.
“I’m surprised you remember any of it,” Daniel teased. I pulled a face at him and he blew me a kiss back.
Heller was busy working in his office and I walked in, after gently knocking on the door. He looked up and smiled.
“Matilda, you’ve risen from the dead.”
I threw myself into a chair and stared at him accusingly. “I feel like death warmed-up. Why did you let me drink so much? You’re supposed to be the responsible adult.”
He flung up his hands in exasperation. “As if I have any chance of ever stopping you from doing exactly what you want.”
“You should have tried harder.”
“I’ll remember that for next time,” he said dryly, returning to his computer.
I watched him typing for a moment, his graceful fingers flying over the keyboard. “Thanks for . . . you know . . . keeping me virtuous last night. You were right. I’m glad you were so restrained.” My cheeks reddened.
He gave me that sexy half-smile. “I’d like to say ‘my pleasure’, but unfortunately it wasn’t.”
I smiled. I had brought my camera in with me. “I have some photos that I want to put into safe storage. I might need to blackmail some men with them sometime in the future.”
He raised his eyebrows and took the camera from me, plugging it into his computer. He downloaded the photos of Clarrie and Milt, flicking through them, his expression affectionately resigned.
“Matilda. I’m constantly surprised by what you get up to when I set you loose on the world.” He leaned back in his chair and contemplated one photo of me between the two men, grinning and giving the victory sign. “You know, I actually feel sorry for those men. They had no idea what they were up against, did they?”
“They both made the mistake of thinking I was some kind of easy lay. They got what they deserved. In fact, I probably should have shot their balls off like I threatened.”
“The gun wasn’t real.”
“What? Wow, lucky I didn’t try to shoot them.” I thought for a moment. “Milt must have been sold a dud. I’m positive he thought it was real too.”
“Possibly. From what you’ve said, he doesn’t strike me as being tight with the criminal community.”
“Heller, I need some weapons training. I might come up against a gun again one day, and it would be nice to know that at least I could tell if it’s real or not.”
> “I’ll think about it,” he promised. “Now, I’ll send these photos to my secure off-site digital storage facility.”
“You have other sensitive photos?”
“And films. You’d be surprised what we pick up doing surveillance. It’s my insurance policy. It comes in quite handy sometimes when I’m trying to persuade someone to do me a favour.” I’d love to get a peep at those photos and films one day! “Speaking of sensitive photos, I have something to show you. You’re going to be very angry with me, but I want to remind you that it is none of your business.”
My interest was immediately piqued. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a large envelope, sliding it across the table to me.
“I’ve picked up a few tips from your friend Dixie,” he said, smiling at me in a way that wasn’t quite pleasant.
I cautiously opened the envelope and pulled out some large, glossy photos. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor in shock as I looked at them and I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
“Heller,” I choked out, my voice strangled. “Please tell me you didn’t take these photos.”
“I did take them.” He was never one to sugarcoat the truth.
I spread the photos out on his desk. They were an assortment of shots of a sleeping and naked red-haired woman sprawled indecently across a rumpled king-size bed in a hotel room. She was lying on her stomach, slightly on one side, her face turned towards the camera, arms thrown out in exhaustion, one of her breasts visible, her legs asunder with her private parts on display. I knew the woman. Well, I should, because she was my sister-in-law, Gayle, wife of my oldest brother, Brian. Heller had taken his revenge on Brian, just as he had promised all those months ago.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe you did this. She’s married. She has kids.”
“I didn’t force her to do anything. She approached me. She recognised me and came over to me at the hotel bar. She chatted me up. I didn’t even remember who she was until she reminded me. It was a great opportunity that dropped into my lap.”
Heller regularly trawled the bars of the city’s top hotels to pick up women, spending the night with the lucky woman in her hotel room. It was his preferred way of finding partners for casual sex and he always scored. He didn’t care about the women or their circumstances; he never saw any of them again. But this style of pick-up suited him, as he would never bring a stranger back to the Warehouse, being almost paranoid about security in his building. None of us were allowed to have people over. Will had never visited me in my flat and never would.
