The Contract (2 page)

So I took the pen and signed my name where he told me to.

Cray began to laugh.  After he wound down, he said, “Your debts will be taken care of, your apartment’s rent brought up to date and rented to another.  You will be staying with me.  I have an apartment upstairs, and that is where you’ll now go to wait for me until I’m done with work for the day.”  He nodded to one of his assistants and she took my backpack and walked upstairs with me following.  I was too freaked out to have thought of a witty comeback to any of his comments, and that was a sad thing indeed.  I’d have to do better when I saw him next.  There was no way he was walking all over me.

Chapter Two

The apartment was monstrous.  I refused help “unpacking” and tossed my backpack on the floor near the door where it was sure to annoy him.  Then I raided the fridge, changed my clothes to my jeans and overlarge t-shirt, found a movie I liked in his mp3 collection, and made myself comfortable on the couch, feet up on the coffee table.

When he came in I secretly smiled but outwardly kept my eyes on the TV.  He stepped over my backpack (army surplus-hut hut hut) and stared at me in disbelief.  I gave a huge stretch and deigned to notice him.  “Hey, you’re welcome to watch the end of this with me.  I always cry at the end.  I ate all the popcorn but I think there are some chocolate chips left.  I melted them on the popcorn.  I have to say, for someone rich you have the nastiest bunch of food I’ve ever seen.”

It took him a minute to find his voice. “You’re possibly the most spoiled rich bitch I’ve ever seen.”

I smiled.  Sure as hell wasn’t the first time I’d heard that.  “Correction: I’m a spoiled poor bitch.”

“Get your clothes off.”

Now he’d succeeded in surprising me.  I tried to keep my jaw from dropping. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”  He went into the bedroom and I stared after him. 

“Hey buck-o, you can’t just tell a girl to get naked.  No wonder you’re not married.”  I called this out to him so he’d be sure to hear me.

He came back out just wearing his suit pants.  Holy God the man had a nice body.  He must work out all the time.  “Can I just touch that?”  I motioned to his stomach.  “That looks too good to be real.  How much do you work out?”

He ignored these comments.  “Alyssa, I own you.  The contract you signed today not only penalizes you if you break it, but also just about everyone else you know.  And so, little bitch, get your fucking clothes off!”

I told myself I didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, and I think he wanted me to argue.  Rule number one: don’t look weak no matter what.  I held his eyes as I pulled the t-shirt over my head.  I hadn’t bothered with a bra, but from his expression the sight of my medium-sized breasts (non augmented thank you very much) wasn’t doing anything for him.  Next I slid off the couch, trailing popcorn that had (oops) escaped the bowl and undid my jeans, pulling them down.  Still no reaction from him.  I pulled off my scrap of underwear and stood defiantly in front of him.

“Looks like you could use a little exercise yourself.”

Pow.  So far he hadn’t really scored off me, but that one was a doozie.  “Maybe I could.”  My voice never changed.  “Is there a gym in this mall of an apartment?”

“I’ll be sure to show it to you.  For the time being, I don’t have the time or desire to buy you clothes, so you can just stay naked here in the apartment.”

“Oh, you have to be kidding me.”  But no, he wouldn’t do that.  So I shrugged, “I can’t remember who said she is always naked at home.  Someone famous.  It kept her more in touch with nature.”  I looked at the huge windows that didn’t seem to have shades.  “And the rest of the city?  It’s okay if they see me naked?”

“Why would I care?”

My eyes narrowed.  “Perhaps you’d like me to learn to do erotic dancing for them—get me a pole maybe?”

“Possibly.” He seemed to have become bored with the conversation.  “Clean this up—all of it.  I’ll check and believe me, I’m quite picky.”

I pretended to look around.  “Okay, which corner should we designate as the naughty corner in case I fail and need a time out?”

“Hurry up little bitch, I’ll be checking in one hour.”

He turned and left, not giving me a chance for a smartass reply.  Not that I actually had a reply—smartass or otherwise.  I was at a loss as to what to say to him so I shrugged my shoulders and turned to the task at hand.  I found where the vacuum was and sucked up those bad boys of popcorn.  I didn’t really know what to do for the coffee table.  It had a glass top and the cleaner I used just smeared it.  I hadn’t even gotten to the dishes when the hour was over.  I looked up at him and shrugged, “You just can’t get good help these days.”

He looked around the apartment and said, “You’ve no doubt never had to clean up after yourself, certainly not after others.  It’s a skill you might need when I toss you back out on the streets.  I’ll get someone to teach you tomorrow.”  He turned brisk.  “In the meantime, have this.”  He put a small green pill in her hand.  “Go ahead, take it.”

“I am not taking a pill that I don’t even know what it does.”  When he didn’t say anything I continued, “Sorry to rain on your drug parade but I’m not quite stupid enough to do that.”

Suddenly he lunged at me, knocking me hard against the floor to ceiling cabinets.  My head took a good rap, and by the time I really knew what was going on he was washing his hands.  The pill was now safely in my stomach.  He’d surprised me so much I didn’t have the chance to bite him.  I’d gagged a little but it had still gone down.

I was trembling with fury, “You try that again and I’ll fucking neuter you.”

“So you don’t like to be manhandled.  That’s interesting to know.”

“What is that pill going to do?  ‘Cause I could throw it up.”  I was really mad.  I didn’t get mad like this often since it just wasn’t how I rolled.  I preferred sarcasm to actual anger.

“If you do, then I’ll put you in restraints and give you two pills.  Speaking of restraints, he went into another of the countless rooms and brought out a pair of handcuffs.

“You’re going too far, Cray.”

He eased up next to me.  “I’m not using them yet, little bitch, just keeping them out where you know they’re right there.  Now do whatever bathroom things you need to do because soon you will be, shall we say, distracted.”

I went through my routine in a daze and returned to the living room, starting to feel strangely warm.  Cray was watching me from the doorway, the bastard, and knew the second I realized what he’d given me.  My entire body had come alive as if I’d just had the best foreplay ever.  I tingled, finding myself arching my back to relieve some of the pressure that was happening in my loins.

I looked over at Cray, ready to blast him for doing this to me, but he was simply wearing a pair of green boxers, and I couldn’t resist walking over to him and sliding my hands over his chest and those incredible abs.  Cray took a step back.  “I don’t know if I’m really in the mood, little bitch.”

My pride had completely disintegrated.  “Please!”  I found my hand reaching to take the edge off when he said, “No, Alyssa.  It’s not going to be that easy.”

My hand again began to reach down and he said, “Alyssa, look.”  He held up the handcuffs.  “You control yourself or these control you.”

I had begun to pant and fell on my knees in front of him.  I ran my hands up and down his legs, then pulled the boxers down.  He was magnificent.  I’d never really been one who found beauty in the male cock, but this… Without another thought I sucked him into my mouth, hard.  This also was out of character for me.  I suppose it speaks of my selfishness but I’d rather receive than give.  Not this time.  This time I couldn’t get enough of it, couldn’t taste enough of it, and I almost cried when he pulled away from me.

I couldn’t really focus on him but he seemed nearly as stunned as I was.  He pulled me, protesting, to my feet.  I pressed myself against him, trying to hit that spot I needed.  He sighed.  “Alyssa, this was meant as a punishment for failing to get the mess you made cleaned up.”

And I realized then he intended no release for me.

I fell down to my knees and cried—big tearing sobs that I hadn’t cried in…well, maybe ever.  I felt unreal, dreamlike, and maybe that’s why I cried in front of him when usually I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.  But the tears were warranted because with Cray, there would be no changing his mind.

Cray helped me up off the floor and put me into his bed.  I curled into a circle and mumbled, “Can I just…finish you? Please?”  Without waiting for an answer I turned to him where he’d also gotten into the bed and again had my mouth on him.  I took it as slowly as I could—big change from other times when I rushed through it—but it eased me somehow, and I would pull back again and again until Cray fisted my hair and forced me to push him over the edge, with me trying to swallow it.

Cray lay on his back, one arm over his eyes.  “We are definitely going to have to do
that
again.”  He looked over to see me back in my circle, hands dangerously close to being out of bounds.  He looked at me for a long time, and I thought me might let me…but then he snapped a handcuff on one hand, threaded it through a post in the headboard, and snapped it around the other.  He looked at me for a long time, finally turning off the light and after giving me an uncharacteristic kiss on the forehead turned away from me to sleep.  My body was still hot and squirming, and I cried a little more, but eventually I found sleep as well.

Chapter Three

I woke up the next morning feeling like I’d partied way too hard last night.  “Oh my God,” I moaned.  As I moved my sore arms, the memories of the night before flashed through my head. “Ohhh, shit.”  I finally opened my eyes and found myself alone in Cray’s bedroom.  There was a note on that heavy cream paper sitting on his side of the bed.  I considered ignoring it, but then again why not just read it then toss it on the floor and
say
I hadn’t seen it?  Too bad I hadn’t been so clever last night.  Then I wouldn’t have gotten sucked up into that sexual nightmare.  Blah.

The note went like this:

Little Bitch,

Don’t forget you will be without clothes today.  This includes the time that Marleen comes to teach you how to clean efficiently.  That should keep you busy for awhile, but do feel free to find the work out room if you feel bored. 

—Cray

I glared at the letter.  Fuck learning to clean naked.  He’d be damned lucky if I didn’t take the vacuum and beat Marleen over the head with it.  And then work out!  I’d expected six kinds of apologies for last night and this is what I get?  Well, welcome to the real world, Crayfish, ‘cause things just don’t swing like that.  Not where I’m involved.

So thinking, I took a long shower and washed my hair, then put on my jeans and a stretchy t-shirt.  I skipped the underwear and bra so hopefully that would be slutty enough for him.

I sauntered into the main room to see Marleen cleaning the kitchen.  She said, “Hello, I am Marleen, and I am supposed to see you learn to take over the cleaning of this apartment.  My goodness you’re pretty.”

Apparently Marleen did his grocery shopping too since there was now a nice bowl of fruit on the counter.  I took an apple and ate it.  “Hey there, Marleen.  I’m fine with you teaching me what to use with what, but I will not now, nor ever, be cleaning this apartment.”

“Mr. Cray said—”

“He was just kidding.  You know he has that weird sense of humor, right?”

“No, no, he was very clear that you were to work beside me, and he said,” her voice lowered a bit, “that you weren’t allowed to wear any clothes.”

I laughed as if I’d never heard of such a thing.  “I doubt even you believe Cray meant that.”

“It was very odd.”

I smiled.  “Okay, start with the teaching.  I can give you two hours, then I need to rustle up a masseuse.  I have achy shoulders and a whole lot of tension that needs to be rubbed out.  Do you know if there are masseuses for the building?”

As I’d figured, the quick switch of subjects along with the rich bitch voice put Marleen right under my thumb.  Before fifteen minutes had passed I had a massage scheduled for two hours from now with a guy named Lance.

The cleaning lesson actually went pretty well.  I had no idea the places that needed to be cleaned—ledges, light switches, the list went on and on.  After an hour and a half Marleen and I had a break and ate peanut butter sandwiches and milk.  Cray, the shit, had locked up his fine display of wines.

When Lance arrived (can you say yummy but gay?) Marlene said she’d just continue cleaning without me.  I waved a hand at her and Lance showed me where Cray had a massage table with all the bells and whistles.  I pulled off my clothes and climbed aboard, telling him I’d been handcuffed to the head of the bed and my shoulders were still sore.  Lance wasn’t shocked.  Apparently he’d been handcuffed a time or two himself.  Well, well, well.  Lance and I were going to have to chat.

We were nearing the end of the massage when I heard murmured voices.  I turned my head to see Cray looking anything but happy.  Lance was told to go and gave me a wink as he left.  I stretched luxuriously.  “That was fabulous.”

Marlene had already left either sensing the gathering storm or told to leave by Cray.  We were alone.  I hopped up to sit on the table and swing my feet.  “Nice day at work?  We should have kept Lance here—you look a little tense.  Maybe in addition to cleaning and pole dancing you could get someone to teach me some basic massage.”  I was using my pleasant voice.

Cray said, “Apparently last night didn’t teach you much of anything.”

That fucking pill.  “Cray, it did, really.”  I pitched my voice low and earnest.  The last thing I wanted was that pill again.  “I worked with Marleen for hours, and didn’t make a mess.”

“You ignored my dictate about clothes, had Marleen do most of the work and got…a…massage!”

“Lance said you really need to watch how often you use handcuffs over the head or I’ll get shoulder rotator problems.”