Heller (39 page)

“I rescued
myself,” I told Heller with a smile when he approached.

He smiled
back. “I wouldn’t expect anything less of you, Matilda.” The two
men sauntered up to the veranda where I made introductions and gave
them a quick rundown on what had happened since we’d spoken.

“Hmm, that
dress you’re wearing is very fetching on you,” Heller teased.

“Isn’t it
just? However, sadly, I do believe I have ruined it in the scuffle
and the back of the van was very dirty. It was Mary’s special dress
and I will have to replace it. As I expected.”

Heller reached
into his pocket and pulled out four fifty-dollar US notes, handing
them to me. “Daniel forced me to bring these for you. Will that
help replace the dress?”

“I expect so.”
I put the cash in my deep pocket. I was just loving that pocket to
death tonight.

“Up you get,
Matilda. I’m busy and have to get you back to work as well. Say
goodbye to your new friends.” He was making fun of me again.

“See you guys.
Nice to meet you. Kind of,” I said to them casually, pulling out
the screwdriver and placing it on the table.

“Bye Tilly,”
they responded, with Jonno adding, “And sorry again about roughing
you up.”

I shrugged
philosophically.

“You put up a
good fight,” admitted Alan admiringly. “You’re a tough little
thing.”

I smiled at
him and jumped into the back seat of the Mercedes, waving at them
as we drove away.

“You’ve had an
interesting evening,” Heller noted, meeting my eyes in the rearview
mirror.

“I can’t
believe you guys thought you needed guns to rescue me. That’s so .
. . so . . . hardcore!” They both laughed openly at me.

“You look so
sweet in that dress, Matilda. Very submissive. I like it.” I pulled
a rude face at him in the mirror. “I’m thinking of making you wear
something similar as a uniform.”

“Well, you can
stop thinking about that straight away. I can’t wait to take this
dress off.”

“That’s
something I’d never get tired of hearing you say.”

“Heller!” I
protested, laughing. He smiled at me in the mirror and even Clive
chuckled quietly.

Before long he
was dropping me off back at the hotel and I was waving goodbye to
them. It had been an eventful couple of days and I trudged wearily
up to the wives’ room, knocking on the door. It was an
understatement to say that they fussed over me again; in fact, they
virtually crushed me with fussing. I was in real danger of being
suffocated by their attention. Eventually when they had all petered
out, I turned to Mary, who kindly hadn’t commented yet on the state
of her precious dress. I apologised for a full five minutes for
ruining her dress and when I insisted that she take the cash to
make herself a replacement, pressing it into her hands, her eyes
were huge orbs in her face. I emphasised it was for her use, not
the Pastor’s.

“Mercy me,
Tilly! This is enough money to make a special dress for all the
wives,” she exclaimed breathlessly, her hands to her mouth.

“Really? I’m
glad if it is. I was worried it wouldn’t be enough to replace your
special dress.”

“Mercy.” She
was genuinely knocked for six.

“Mary, I
really am so sorry not to have taken better care of your dress. I
hope you can find the same material again.”

“Tilly, I
never gave my dress one moment of thought after you were kidnapped.
And look at it. It’s only a little dirtied. That will wash out with
a bit of soaking. There are no tears in it. I feel like a charlatan
taking your money when my dress isn’t even spoiled.”

“Please take
it. It will make me feel better.” She then noticed the time and
rushed off to spend the night with their husband. I’d missed
evening prayers, thank God, and was glad to jump into the shower,
even if it was cold again. I slept like a log, not waking until it
was time for morning prayers.

Pastor Peachey
bustled in self-importantly to give the morning prayer session. Not
even listening to his endless droning, I sat on the bed,
half-asleep and still in my pyjamas, brushing my hair dreamily, in
a complete reverie about a certain tall, beautiful blond man that I
knew. The Pastor’s grating voice brought me back to earth again and
I turned around in surprise. He had rarely addressed me directly
since our first meeting.

“Miss
Chalmers, as you know, we are flying out after lunch. Would you
mind meeting with me to discuss the final arrangements before we
head off to the airport?” I nodded my agreement and returned to
brushing my hair.

When I went to
get dressed, I realised I’d left my jeans lying carelessly crushed
in a corner in the bathroom when I changed after our walk the
previous morning, a very bad habit I didn’t seem to be able to
shake. They were now soaked from six consecutive showers in the
tiny room. I tutted with annoyance at myself. I’d have to put my
suit back on, because I certainly wasn’t going to don the dress
again. Oh well, it was a nice suit, so I didn’t mind.

When I’d
finished dressing I left the wives busily embroidering and knocked
on the Pastor’s door. He opened it and invited me in. I followed
him into his room and sat down on the worn out lounge, frantically
pulling down my skirt, which had ridden up a smidge too high for my
liking. I gave him a brief but detailed account of what had
happened outside the hotel last night. He nodded his head gravely
and commented that the fee he was paying to Heller had been worth
it, if one of his wives had been saved from being kidnapped.

I stood up to
leave and he stood up as well.

“Miss
Chalmers, you and my wives seem to have forged an affectionate bond
in the time you’ve known them?”

I nodded. It
was true. I liked them and they liked me.

“I understand
you’re a single woman with no man to take charge of you?”

Well, I
wouldn’t put it like that personally. But I guess that’s what he
thought a man’s purpose was in a relationship, so I shrugged
evasively, not wanting to offend a client unnecessarily and not
sure if he’d paid Heller already or not.

“Miss
Chalmers, I would like you to return to the States with me and
become my next wife.”

I stared at
him in shock.
Holy shit!
I didn’t see that coming!

He continued.
“In return for bearing my children,”
Ick!
“I will provide
you with a home and protection against the sins of the world.”

I didn’t know
what to say and stood in his hotel room as still and mute as the
Easter Island heads.
Say something, stupid
, my brain
screamed at me. “Um. Gosh. I’m sure that’s a great honour to me,
Pastor Peachey,” and he nodded his head in arrogant agreement. “But
I’m going to have to say no. But thanks so much for asking.”

“No?” he asked
in disbelief.

“I don’t want
to get married or have children right now. Sure, one day maybe, but
not now.”
And not with you
, I thought. “I’m only
twenty-five.”

“Two of my
wives are younger than you and they are both mothers as well.” Oh
God, another man wanting to give me The Lecture.

“Yes, and I’m
very pleased for them, but I’m not ready to marry. Thanks anyway.”
I turned to leave, but he grabbed me by my arm. I looked down at
his hand firmly gripping my upper arm with hostility. “Can you
please let go of me?” I suddenly didn’t feel like being polite any
longer.

“I should have
known a woman like you wouldn’t be interested in the honest
sanctity of marriage. You know, Miss Chalmers, I’ve been puzzling
and praying these past few days over why the Lord has sent me a
temptation such as you?” He was breathing rapidly, moving closer to
me. I shook off his hand and stepped backwards instinctively. “That
hair and those lips. Those lovely big eyes. Those long legs. And
those breasts. Oh dear Lord, those breasts! Why would the Lord put
such a sinful temptation in my path?”

I stepped
backwards further, warily. He was creeping me out with the burning
intensity in his eyes.

“Then I
realised you are a test from the Lord. I must conquer your sin and
show you the evilness of your body. I must defeat your temptation
to show you that I am the master who can light your way to the
Lord.”

“No thanks!” I
snapped, stepping back further. This had suddenly turned into a
tricky situation for me. Should I ram past him or should I knee him
in the balls? Decisions, decisions.

“I have tried
to be honourable with you and offer you my hand and a place in my
bed.”
Double ick!
“But I can see I must use the other path,
the more sinful path, with you. God will forgive me. God wants me
to subdue you.”

He sounded
pretty sure about that as he reached towards me, grasping my boobs
and rubbing them frantically, urgent lust etched into his face. I
took one further step backwards in alarm, but ran up against the
bed, the impact buckling my legs, forcing me to fall.

Then
everything happened with such terrifying quickness. He pushed me
down forcefully onto the bed, one hand still on my breast, trying
to rip my blouse off. He crushed me with his body before I had a
chance to react. I found myself trapped beneath him, his mouth
bruising mine with its pressure, forcing my lips apart and shoving
his tongue so far down my throat I almost gagged. He let go of my
breast momentarily to brutally force my legs apart with his hands,
his fingers biting into the tender skin of my thighs. One hand
impatiently rucked my skirt upwards and pushed my panties to one
side, touching me, the other fumbling with his pants, trying to
free his erect penis.

If I don’t
do something now he was going to rape me
, I thought
desperately. It frightened me how rapidly I had lost control of the
situation. I struggled angrily against him, and he grabbed my arms
with one hand.

“Yes, oh God,
yes! Struggle away, my little fawn! It makes your submission to me
even more righteous,” he moaned in ecstasy. Having trouble undoing
his belt with just one hand, he unwisely let my arms go.

I immediately
used both hands to push vigorously against his chin, my muscles
straining, fuelled by sheer terror. I forced his head uncomfortably
backwards, then used the fingernails of my right hand to dig into
his Adam’s apple as hard as I could, drawing blood. If I had been a
stronger person I would have ripped it from his throat without a
second thought. He choked, briefly releasing his weight on me, as
he struggled to inhale. I took the chance to bring my knees up and
kick him hard with both feet in his chest forcing him off me onto
the floor. I sprang up immediately and ran for the door, but he
also sprang to his feet quickly and threw his arm around my neck,
pulling my body back up against his.

“You’re a
spirited one, are you not? It’s going to make your ultimate
submission to me that much sweeter and holier,” he gloated in my
ear, and started rubbing my boobs again. I flailed around
helplessly; he had unbelievably strong arms. I kicked back at him,
like I had done to Heller a few days ago, and my high heel crunched
into his shin. He released the pressure of his arm briefly and I
twisted around so we were facing each other, a strangely intimate
position considering our circumstances and my murderous intentions
towards him.

He lunged
forward to latch his lips onto mine again, tongue instantly buried
in my mouth. I let him despite my disgust, to distract him by the
kiss while I pulled back my arm, balled my fist and drove it as
hard as I could into his stomach. He bent over in agony and I put
my hand on the back of his neck and quickly pushed his head down,
bringing my knee up at the same time to smash into his nose with an
horrible crunching sound. He made a choking noise and I did it
again. And again, until he collapsed onto the floor, blood
streaming out of his busted nose. Then I stood over him and kicked
him hard in his nuts over and over, so incredibly angry that I
couldn’t stop.

“
No means
NO, arsehole!
” I screamed at him, remembering how his fingers
had touched me up.

He curled into
the foetal position, tears streaming down his face, begging me to
stop in viscous gasps.

“I’m ringing
the police,” I threatened, breathing raggedly with emotion and
fear, stepping far away from the pathetic creature rolling on the
floor.

“No! Please
don’t. My reputation,” he pleaded, crying.

“Your
reputation is nothing but a pack of lies. You are an evil little
maggot who deserves to die. I’m going to ring Heller. He’ll come
over and kill you.”

“No! I’m
sorry, I’m sorry. Please think of my wives. They need me to look
after them. It will never happen again.”

“Too bloody
right it won’t.”

I finally
decided whom I was going to call, adrenaline pumping strongly
through my veins, my breathing laboured. I rang next door and
mastered my emotions enough to politely ask the wives to come to
their husband’s room immediately. They came obediently as I knew
they would and I let them in. They were aghast to see my
dishevelled, upset state and their husband rolling on the floor,
clutching his genitals, his nose bleeding, weeping copiously. I
viciously grabbed him by an ear and forced him to stand up. He was
in so much pain he could hardly even stand straight.

“Tell your
wives what you did, you fucking deviant.”

The wives
flinched at my bad language and anger. He clearly didn’t wish to
cooperate, so I balled my fist and punched him again in the
stomach. He moaned loudly in agony, a spurt of vomit staining his
blood-splattered white shirt. The wives shrieked in fear.

“
Tell
them!
” I screamed into his ear.

The wives
shrunk back in terror, clutching at each other for comfort.