Black Contract

by Charlotte Byrd

  Aiden whispers my name, sending shivers up my spine. There’s a longing in his voice. I feel him wanting me. Craving me. As much as I want him. Perhaps no one has ever wanted me more than he does right now.

  When I look up at him, I’m faced with a familiar expression of darkness mixed with light.

  Chapter 5 - Aiden

  When I ask her to sign something…

  I watch Ellie walk into the stateroom, leaving me alone on the deck.

  She said yes. Yes. Not to the engagement quite yet. I really fucked that up, but to the trip to Caribbean. I close my eyes and imagine her naked before me. I want to touch her everywhere. I want to do bad things to her. I want her to scream my name at the top of her lungs.

  My phone rings. I look down and immediately regret not turning it off. I shouldn’t answer it, of course. I know that already. But I can’t really stop myself. It’s one of my many attorneys. Neil Goss. He’s going to bill me for this phone call as if it were in person, as if we had met at his office, or had lunch at a rate of $500 per hour. There are no discounts for the fact that he doesn’t have to get off his butt or even be at his desk. He even bills me for the time he spends waiting for the phone to ring and leave a message. I know. I’ve seen one of his bills recently. But I guess I should be thankful for the fact that I’m not also paying for his food and drinks. You see, after I was fired from my job as CEO of Owl, the startup I started, that grew to be the main competitor to Amazon, I have to pay for all of my legal fees myself. Frankly, I’m not even sure if this guy is worth the money, but I can’t really fire him because my situation is quite complicated and I’d have to spend a lot of time explaining to another - new - attorney. Along with all the paperwork that he would inevitably have to read through and analyze, it would cost me at least forty hours of time. At the end of the day, this guy isn’t that bad. I mean, how different are lawyers anyway, right?

  “Hello?”

  “Aiden, I have some news.”

  What I do appreciate about Neil is that because he charges me for every minute of talking, he doesn’t waste a second of it on small talk. I doubt he’s much of a small talk person anyway, but it is a little bit of a perk.

  “What is it?”

  “The board isn’t happy with the new CEO. The company isn’t doing well.”

  “You mean Blake?”

  After the Board of Directors fired me, they set up my old friend Blake Garrison as the interim CEO before they got a chance to go through a full list of qualified candidates. On paper, Blake is, of course, as qualified as I am. He has an Ivy League education. Many years at the company working in various upper management positions. He was the guy who brought us all of the original investors. And of course, he’s also the guy who then, conveniently, got rid of those investors after assaulting Ellie on this very yacht. What an asshole.

  “Are they getting rid of him?”

  “That’s what they’re saying through the grapevine.” The rumors that Neil has access to are usually spot on. He’s the one who first told me that they were thinking of firing me. It gave me a day to prepare for the inevitable and not make a fool out of myself in the boardroom.

  “I don’t know if you’ve checked recently, but the stock price is plummeting. From what I hear, the Board thought that getting rid of you would renew confidence in the company, but clearly it hasn’t. So, they’re thinking of getting rid of Blake.”

  Whoever Neil has on the inside has access to some deep undercover shit.

  “This isn’t exactly bad news,” I point out.

  “They aren’t decided yet. They’re having an emergency meeting soon and putting it out to a vote. We’ll just have to see what happens.”

  I nod. “I’m glad that they’re considering getting rid of him, but without a solid replacement, it will just make the company seem even more unstable.”

  “Unfortunately, I have to agree with you.”

  Both Neil, as well as many of the attorneys who work for him, and I are heavily invested in Owl. Even though I got ousted, most of my severance package is tied to Owl’s stock price. So, the fact that it’s plummeting isn’t exactly music to my ears.

  “They wouldn’t just replace him with someone else who is not very well known, would they?” I ask. At this point, Owl needs a savior. Someone with vision and ideas. Someone who gets where the company is going and how to help it get there in the most efficient way possible. Someone like me.

  “I hope not,” Neil says. He hangs up soon after, saying that he has to get back to work. This is either true or he’s just trying to save me a few bucks. Either way, I’m grateful because with the stock price dropping like a rock and all of my other money being tied up in big real estate projects around town, I need to start being careful with money again.

  I look out at the dark ocean and lose myself in the past. It wasn’t too long ago that I was a big shot CEO of one of the fastest growing startups around. But it wasn’t just my job that I loved. It was what I had built, created, with my own hands. Back in college, Owl was just an idea. More like a kernel of an idea. I had an idea for a website where people bought and sold things, pretty much like eBay and Amazon but slightly different. Everything would be cheaper and the shipping would take a bit longer. I believed that despite everyone’s interest in getting things as soon as possible, they also wanted to save money. And the way that they could save a few bucks, or a lot of bucks, is to simply wait a bit longer for the shipping.

  Well, as time passed and we started this site with just a few items and no listing fees, it slowly grew into a bigger and bigger marketplace. The first wave of investors helped to make it what it is now, a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. But the next wave? Well, before they fired me, I was in the middle of investing heavily into advertising. Everyone hates ads, but everyone loves them as well. When ads are targeted properly, you love them because they expose you to products that are perfect just for you. And with the right algorithm, I knew that I could properly match consumers with their ideal sellers and products. Of course, to develop this area, we needed more investment. Blake was in the process of doing that again, until he fucked me. Well, what goes around comes around, right? I had laid out my whole strategy for moving this company over to the next level. All he had to do was follow it. But, of course, he couldn’t. His ego wouldn’t let him follow any of my blueprints. As much as I want to see him fail, I don’t want his failure to fuck up everything that I have worked so hard for my whole adult life. So, I find his downfall kind of bittersweet. He’s going down and he’s taking Owl with him.

  Ellie comes outside and approaches me. She wraps her arms around me and gives me a big squeeze.

  “This is beautiful,” she whispers, looking up at me. “It’s even more beautiful when it’s just the two of us.”

  This yacht is huge for just two people. Well, not just two people, there is the staff. But just two guests.

  “It’s quite different than from the last time you were here, isn’t it?” I ask. She nods and puts her head on my shoulder. I lean my head toward hers as well. We stare up at the stars together.

  “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”

  Ellie looks up at me and shakes her head.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  She shrugs her shoulder in that shy way that makes her even more attractive.

  “I’m going to do bad things to you,” I say after a moment. As much as I love her right now, I always crave her. This trip to the Caribbean is going to be so much more than a trip for us to get to know each other. No, I need to blow off some steam. Way too much shit has happened recently to both of us. And we deserve some time to…get to know each other in another way.

  “Oh, really?” she asks, her eyes twinkling in the starlight. “Like what?”

  “Mr. Black is coming back. With a vengeance.”

  Her body quivers, but she doesn’t budge.

  I inhale deeply. This is something I’ve been thinking about for q
uite some time. But other things have come up, gotten in the way. And now, well, the timing couldn’t be better.

  “I need you to sign a contract.”

  “What kind of contract?”

  “A contract that will make you mine for the duration of this trip.”

  She looks surprised, appalled even. But then a small smile forms at the corner of her lips.

  Chapter 6 - Ellie

  When he explains the contract…

  A contract? What kind of contract? I have a million questions and my heart starts to pound a million miles a minute. The wind comes off the ocean. My whole body starts to shiver, but I’m entirely sure that it has nothing to do with the balmy Caribbean air. No, this is something else. Anxiety, mixed with anticipation and excitement.

  “What are you talking about, Mr. Black?” I ask. He hasn’t been Mr. Black for a while. I won’t lie, it’s nice to have him back. These past few months have been filled with so much complicated shit that it’s nice to step away from reality for a moment. Or evening. Or a few days.

  “I want you to sign a contract to be mine for the duration of this trip,” Aiden says. His voice is lower now. More stern. He’s starting to embody Mr. Black.

  “And what would that entail?”

  “You would do everything that I tell you to do when I tell you to do it,” he says. His eyes are laser-focused on mine.

  “Everything?” I ask.

  “Everything.”

  At first, I’m not sure how to respond. But after a moment, I flash him a smile. He takes my arm in his and pulls me to his stateroom. My heart skips a few beats as I follow him.

  I sit down on the edge of his large, California king bed and he walks over to the large oak desk in the corner. A few moments later, he hands me a contract.

  I will agree to any sexual activity deemed fit by Mr. Black except those previously negotiated.

  I will agree to wear whatever clothing deemed fit by Mr. Black.

  I will accompany Mr. Black wherever he wishes to go.

  I agree to follow these terms for the following duration: ______.

  * * *

  There is a place for me to initial at every line and sign at the bottom. My head spins for a moment.

  * * *

  “What is this?” I ask.

  “The contract. Something for us to experiment with while we are on this trip.”

  “I thought we would just have fun,” I say.

  “Yes, we will.”

  “So, why do we need this?”

  “To make it more official.”

  Honestly, I have no idea how I feel about this. Make things more official? I already postponed the engagement.

  “This doesn’t feel right, Aiden,” I say after a moment. He looks disappointed.

  “What don’t you like about it?”

  “Well, I’m not entirely sure what sexual activities I’m agreeing to and which ones I’m rejecting.”

  “Ah, yes.” He smiles. “Here’s the second page with hard limits that I propose.”

  “Hard limits?”

  “Things that you are not willing to do. Please feel free to add anything else you can think of.”

  * * *

  No defecation or urination.

  No blood.

  No medical instruments of any kind.

  No illegal acts of any kind.

  No acts that will leave a permanent mark on the skin.

  * * *

  I stare at the list of hard limits. None of them even seem like something anyone would want to do. I don’t really know why they need to be specifically outlined in a contract.

  “What do you think?” Aiden asks, handing me a pen.

  But I shake my head. Suddenly, a fun trip on a luxurious super-yacht doesn’t seem that appealing after all.

  “Are you okay?” he asks after a moment.

  I shake my head.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I shrug my shoulder. But that’s a lie. The truth is that I can’t do this.

  “I’m not this person,” I say after a while. “The thing is that I’m not someone who wants to sign any sort of contract to have sex with a man I love.”

  Aiden looks away, running his fingers through his hair.

  “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “Clearly, I did.”

  “Well, maybe a little,” I say. “But it doesn’t matter.”

  He takes the contract and rips it up.

  “What are you doing?”

  “The thing is that was just for fun,” he says with a shrug. “The truth is that I want to be with you. That’s all.”

  “Without any paperwork?”

  “Without any paperwork.”

  My eyes light up at the thought. I want to be with him, too. And actually, I wouldn’t mind doing something a little bit more adventurous sexually. I just don’t think I want to put it on paper.

  Chapter 7 - Ellie

  When night turns into day…

  Aiden takes me into his arms and presses his lips to mine.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “It just threw me for a loop a bit.”

  “It’s okay, I understand. It’s not for everyone.”

  “Can we try something else then?” he asks after a moment.

  My heart sinks into my stomach. I’m scared to disappoint him again, but there’s no way I’m going to do anything that I don’t want to do.

  “Okay,” I say, tentatively.

  Without another word, Aiden takes my hand and leads me to the far end of his stateroom, to his private bathroom.

  The bathroom is modern in every sense of the word. Everything is white on white on gray. Contemporary finishes and white stone with sparkling inlays. The large tub at the end of the room, by the bay window, is deep, egg-shaped, and claw footed. It’s one of those old-fashioned tubs which are completely brand new. Aiden leans over and turns on the faucet, which sits comfortably in the middle of the tub. He drops a large bath bomb into the water and the whole room explodes with the aroma of lavender and honey.

  Aiden takes off his t-shirt and peels off his tight jeans. When he approaches, I become keenly aware of just how fully dressed I am.

  “Will you let me bathe you?” he asks. I take a step back, wrapping my arms around myself as tightly as I can. We have been intimate many times before, and yet this feels like it will be more intimate than anything else that we have done.

  “I don’t know,” I say.

  “Are you serious?” He laughs.

  “I know, it’s silly right?” I shrug. “But…bathe me? Why do you want to bathe me?”

  “Because I want to drape your beautiful body with water. I want to see you.”

  Shivers run up my spine. He dims the lights until the room is lit up by candlelight. I admire his chiseled physique. Each muscle in his body protrudes with each breath, calling me to him. I press my fingers against his six pack and run them over each individual muscle group.

  “Oh, no,” Aiden whispers, pushing my hands back.

  “What?”

  “You can’t touch me unless you get into the bath.”

  “What?” I ask, smiling.

  “What’s fair is fair. I want you. And I can tell that you want me, too. But I’m not giving you what you want unless I get a little of what I want.”

  I shake my head. Then something occurs to me. I push up my shirt and reveal my stomach. He stares at my midriff until I drop my shirt back down.

  “There. You got something.”

  Aiden starts to laugh. A deep, bellowing laugh that fills my whole body with joy.

  “What? Was that not enough for you?” I ask. He shakes his head and grabs me.

  “Hell, no.”

  With one swift motion, he throws me gently into the water. It takes me a moment to even realize what has happened.

  “Oh my God! I’m wet!”

  “More like soaking wet.
”

  I splash the water at him, but it’s not much of a deterrent. Instead, he simply kneels down next to me and smiles that beautiful smile of his. I laugh as well, as the water seeps into every part of me. My jeans feel incredibly heavy and my shirt clings to every part of me.

  “I can’t believe you did that,” I say, pushing my hair to the top of my head and tying a loose knot.

  “I love you,” Aiden whispers, brushing some water from my face. “I love you very much.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Now that you’re wet, we’re going to have to do something about these clothes.” He tugs at my shirt and pulls it over my head. I consider protesting, but the warm water and his gorgeous body are just too hard to pass up. I give in and let him undress me. Pulling off my jeans proves to be a much harder process, but with a little bit of help from me, he eventually succeeds.

  “You should’ve let me undress you when you were dry,” Aiden says.

  “Yeah, maybe. But it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.”

  My bra and panties slip off much more easily and I’m left entirely naked before him. Even though he looks at me with nothing but love and admiration, I am very well aware of my own flaws. Maybe a little bit too aware. There’s the pouch under my belly button that’s a bit too big and my thighs, which could use a little toning. My body is nothing like those his previous dates had - all those models and actresses he bedded. Yet, he barely notices. In fact, he doesn’t seem to notice at all.

  “Look at me,” Aiden says, putting his index finger under my chin. “Why the sad face?”

  “I’m just a little…uncomfortable,” I say, covering my stomach with my arms. I’m not sure why I’m feeling particularly vulnerable right now. Perhaps, it’s the warm weather and the hot bath - they tend to showcase a lot of imperfections.