Insufferable Proximity (12 page)

“Fine.” she followed her friend to her car, focused on the sliver of hope she now felt.

***

The sky was balancing between the thick blackness that cast a navy fog over the swaying trees and the flashing fiery white bolts of lightning that lit up the dark night as if it was early afternoon. The thick drops of rain fell from above like liquid bullets, fast enough to bounce off any object before being absorbed into the forming puddles on the ground below.

Heaven Deville stood outside of the brightly lit restaurant “Platinum”, her large black umbrella and matching rain jacket her only defense against the storm. She knew she should just walk into the restaurant and avoid the unpredictable bolts of electricity cracking through the sky above her, but she just could not bring herself to go inside.

Julian King was inside waiting for her, waiting with his demands and his retribution, his sole intent to degrade and humiliate her. He wanted to pay her back for the three years she had bested him, for all the times she had mocked him, proving her worth was more than his. He wanted to be declared the victor of their competition, that long three year battle for the top spot at the firm, and now he finally had his chance.

For the first time in her 26 years of life, she was truly nervous.

She looked at the enormous silver sign, with the restaurant’s name in bold black letters, attached to the red brick building above her head. The light bulbs inside of the thick shadow box were beginning to flicker with the beat of the lightening, and Heaven felt a sliver of hope. She looked up to the pale silver moon, surrounded by a thick fleecy darkness, then shut her eyes and silently prayed that a hurricane would suddenly appear and whisk the restaurant away, then distribute it in tiny pieces over the northern side of the state. She opened her eyes to see the sky had calmed down a little bit in response to her, denying her request as the last bolt of lightning curled into a snide grin before dissipating before her very eyes. It was at that very moment she knew, nothing could save her from her lecherous fate, even her own karma was eager to make an example out of her and force her to pay for her lack of judgment.

She took a deep breath then extended her hand to the highly polished silver door handle, but when the brightly hued, stain glass door opened up, she quickly drew back as if bitten by a snake. She stepped to the side, hiding her face with her umbrella as a finely dressed couple exited the establishment.

“Platinum” was an exclusive restaurant that catered to the elite of the elite. There were some who got lucky enough to get a reservation almost a year in advance, but most could not get in at all, unfortunately she fell in the latter category. Of course, Julian King could get in, he probably had a permanent reservation and his own personal table, she thought.

“Spoiled prick.” she murmured to herself. The irony of the situation was not lost on her, Platinum was the one and only place that her superior skills of persuasion were useless to her and no matter how hard she tried, she could not get a reservation. Before tonight, she would have sold her best friends kidney to be able to dine potential clients at such a swanky place, but now she would give her own right leg not to have to go inside.

As much as she hated Julian King, and would love nothing more than to blame this entire unfortunate incident on him, she knew she could not, she had no one to blame but herself.

That was the worst part about the whole situation, it was her own damn fault. She just could not leave well enough alone, she had to go and do the stupidest thing she could think of. Really, what was wrong with her? What had been going through her mind that she honestly believed she would get away with something so unethical not to mention illegal. She had worked very hard to get where she was today and to think that she may have ruined it all with such an impulsive act of desperation, completely sickened her.

She should have known better, not just for the obvious ethical reasons, but how could she have been so stupid to think that a sex-crazed freak like Julian King would not have cameras in his office. They had probably been installed for sexual purposes, she imagined him smiling into the lens as he and his temporary slut for the night, performed lurid acts in front of the camera. She knew in her heart the twisted pervert had probably left the camera rolling and just gotten lucky by catching her breaking into his office.

How could she have been so foolish? Had she truly believed she would get away with it? It had made sense at the time, considering everyone at the firm knew of the secret saboteur out to sabotage Julian King’s career. She had assumed everyone at the office would automatically think it was another act committed by the mystery villain, but never once did she consider the fact that all of the previous misdeeds could be pinned on her.

If word got out about what she did, she would be blacklisted indefinitely, no firm in the state of New York would dare work with her.  She took one last look up to the sky, giving it one last chance to produce some type of natural disaster, aware of the fact that she was just delaying the inevitable. She was stuck between a rock and a chainsaw, there was nothing she could do to get herself out of this situation. She refused to voluntarily quit a career she loved and jail was out of the question, she had no other choice but to go inside.

She would just have to force herself to submit to the demands of a lunatic, because that vengeful beast had her right where he wanted her. She took the deepest breath she could muster before reaching out, then slowly turning the doorknob, opening the large glass door and finally walking inside.

She had no more then stepped inside and closed her umbrella when the smell in the air over took her. The strong aroma of caramel with just a hint of vanilla drifted through the brightly lit restaurant. She felt her knees wiggle and her stomach flutter as the smell enveloped her. She absolutely loved sweets, it had been her one true weakness since childhood. As a child, she was unable to resist, but as an adult, she forced herself to, she would not succumb to her cravings. She was in a war of wills against herself and it was a battle she refused to loose. She had a hard enough time trying to tame the curves of her body as it was, and she did not need the extra pounds making it harder. Still, in stressful situations like this, she felt that familiar weakness nagging at her. She opted to hold her breath and try not to breathe in such a delectable scent as she walked over to the host.

“Miss Deville here for Mr. King.” she said and the host looked taken aback.

“Of course.” he attempted to smile, but it looked as if the very act had brought intense pain to his face “May I take your jacket?”

“Yes.” she answered, removing her black rain jacket then handing it to the host who held out his hand as if he was expecting a pile of manure, his eyes skimming over her with a look of disgust. “And this.” she handed him her umbrella, watching his reaction.

She had gone out of her way to look especially unattractive tonight and she could tell by the look on the host’s face that her plan had obviously worked. She had carefully picked out the most unflattering suit she had in her closet, it was two sizes too big, unaltered and she was sure there was a small hole somewhere near the bottom of the hem. She also went the extra mile with her hair, slicking it back into a bun so tight, she feared her hair was de-rooting as she stood there. She wore the worse granny shoes she could find at the local supermarket and then to top it all off, she pulled out her special ‘man proof’ glasses, they were thicker and more unattractive than the ones she normally wore to work.

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