Heller’s Decision (14 page)

“Matilda, please be careful. I’ve met men
like them before and they’re usually unscrupulous when it comes to
protecting their business interests. Ms Biggen and Mr Harder are
playing with fire.”

“I’m sure they know that,” I said, not really
all that confident that they did.

“Their cause is a worthy one, but they sound
rather ingenuous to me to think they can take on major criminal
conglomerates without any repercussions. And I don’t want any
fallout from their actions landing on either you or Barnes.”

I hurriedly moved to lighten the
atmosphere.
“I met a
giant friendly, dancing penis today.”

Total s
ilence from him. “I have absolutely no idea how to respond
to that.”

I laughed and snuggled down against him
more. I was almost asleep when he spoke up.

“
Matilda, one of the men
recently informed me –”

“Snitched to you, you mean.”

He continued as if I’d never spoken. “One
of the men informed me that you have set your status to
‘complicated relationship’ at some site I’ve never heard of before
called Bookface or something.”

I snortled with laughter and thought about
correcting him, but decided against it. He wouldn’t care what it
was really called anyway.

“
I’m not sure why you’re laughing, my
sweet. But is that how you regard our relationship?
Complicated?”

“
Yes,” I answered honestly
for once. “I don’t think
there’s anything
un
complicated
about our relationship.”

“
I’m not sure I understand. There’s nothing
complicated about two single consenting adults sleeping together.
It’s a very simple matter of exchanged pleasure.”

“
That’s not the part I’m talking about,
Heller. I mean, for example, I don’t think you’d ever come
to
lunch or dinner at my
parents’ house with me like most boyfriends would do.”

He considered that for a beat and then
yielded in an agonised, saintly tone of martyrdom that hadn’t been
heard since the medieval era. “If it will make you happy, my sweet,
I will accompany you to a lunch or dinner there.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. No matter how painful it might
prove to be for me.”

“
Mum will be so thrilled.” Then I had a
dark thought. “Brian will probably be there. Will that be an issue?
Because you’re not coming if it will be.”

“If by ‘issue’, you are gently asking me if I
would cause any trouble for him, then the answer is no. I will
respect the sanctity of your parents’ house and I told you before
that I consider the matter between us to be finished.”

“
Thank you.” I only hoped Brian felt the
same.

Another silence engulfed us and by his even,
regular breathing, I wondered if he’d fallen asleep.

“Heller?” I asked softly, not wanting to wake
him if he had.

“Hmm?” Of course he wasn’t asleep – it was as
if he never slept.

“
You should think about setting up a page
for yourself on ‘Bookface’ too,” I giggled.

“
Why on earth would I want to do
that?”

“You could post photos of yourself working
out. It would be a very popular page. I bet lots of people would
want to friend you. Especially women.”

“
Why would other people want to ‘friend’
me? I have no desire to be friendly with people.”

“
You lead a very different kind of life to
most people. And there’s still a lot of interest in you from that
TV interview you did. Heaps of people would want to know more about
you and what you’re doing during the day.”

“
I don’t care to let people know what I’m
doing during the day.
Why would you even suggest that? It’s my own private
business.”

“
Oh, I give up! It’s not worth arguing with
you about some things. It just ends in frustration.”

“
Does that mean you’ll now sleep with me
tonight?”

“
No! And may I point out the huge leap of
logic you just made between unrelated topics?”

“
There’s always logic in my thinking. You
mentioned frustration and I’m very frustrated from lack of
sex.”

“
Heller! It hasn’t even been one night,” I
laughed helplessly. “Stop carrying on about it so much.”

“
You’re
such a cruel woman, Matilda. I never suspected that about
you before. Don’t you know that certain unpleasant things happen to
men when they don’t have sex for extended periods of
time?”

“
Number one, that’s total bullshit. And
number two, by anyone’s measure, one night hardly constitutes an
extended period of time.”

“You’re not thinking about me, my sweet.”

“
Poor, poor you,” I laughed again. “Will it
be easier if I promise to make up for it tomorrow
night?”

“Is that an unbreakable promise?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“
I
will hold you to that no matter what.”

“No matter what,” I agreed, yawning.

We settled down and slept.

Chapter 9

The next
morning, before I went downstairs to meet Bick in
the security section, Heller reminded me of my promise to him about
later that night.

“
All right, all right
! I won’t forget,” I said, hurrying to get
ready because I’d slept through my alarm. He’d been up for hours,
done a workout, had breakfast and called three clients, or so he
smugly informed me as I raced around my flat pulling on clothes and
throwing dry cereal down my throat. I quickly kissed him goodbye on
the cheek as I flew out the door, flinging over my shoulder, “I
hope your man bits don’t fall off today because you haven’t had any
sex for so long!”

Laughing, I ran down the stairs.

“
So do I,
” he called after me. “But you’ll regret it more
than I will if they do.”

I turned back to wave
one last time, screeching to a halt at the
sight of him casually leaning against my doorway, smiling, his
teeth white and eyes glacial blue in his tanned face. My heart
ached badly. He was such a spectacularly beautiful man and I’d
never dared dream for even a moment that someone as extraordinary
as him would ever be interested in someone as ordinary as me. I
marched back up the stairs and threw myself on him, forcing him to
kiss me properly. And for once I didn’t even care about the
cameras.

“
What’s that for?” he asked, taking a
much-needed breath.

“
Because I love you so much.” And that just
led to another breathtaking kiss. I was in the process of pushing
him away, conscious of keeping Bick waiting, when Daniel came out
of his flat.

He groaned. “Oh God! Are you two at it
again? Isn’t anywhere around here safe from the sight of you? Not
even outside my own flat?”

“
Sorry, Danny.” I planted a
quick kiss on his lips too and
bolted down the stairs.

When I stepped through the doorway into
the security section, t
he atmosphere was noticeably chillier than the previous
day. No doubt the men had been firmly put in their place by Heller
and I wondered exactly what he’d threatened them with if they
didn’t immediately and permanently destroy any copies they had of
that footage of us. Whatever the punishment was, I didn’t think any
of the men would have disobeyed him. I couldn’t help noticing with
a sinking heart that some of the sideways glances that slid my way
were openly resentful in nature.

Just as I left with Bick, one of the men
said to another in a voice loud enough
for us to hear, “It doesn’t take long for some men
to become pussy-whipped.”

I turned to confront him to ask, if that
was his opinion, why didn’t he just go upstairs right now and say
that directly to Heller’s face instead of behind his back. But as
if guessing my intent, Bick propelled me out of the doorway with a
hand on the small of my back before I managed to say a
word.

At the same time, Clive snapped out
in his gravelly voice to the
men in general, “Get out to your jobs and stop hanging around here
gossiping.” And then specifically to the man who’d dared to say
that about Heller, “And that means you too. So get your head out of
your arse and get moving or you’ll be late. And you’d be better
served keeping your opinions about the boss to yourself if you want
a future here.”

The man fl
ushed and shot me a strongly aggrieved look, as if
it was my fault he’d been singled out. I sighed to myself knowing
I’d just made another good friend at
Heller’s
. But I wouldn’t say anything to Heller. It was
difficult to ever forget what had happened to the last
Heller’s
man who’d taken an intense
dislike to me. It had been a frightening and sickening experience
for everyone, but especially for him.

In the 4WD, Bick shook his head
in exasperation. “It wouldn’t
have been a good idea to speak out then, Tilly. It would only have
inflamed things. Let it die down on its own.”

“It’s not my fault all this happened,” I said
quietly. “I’m not the one who distributed the footage.”

“
Yeah, but to a lot of the guys it would
have just been a bit of harmless fun. They weren’t expecting
Heller, and Clive as well, to ream them over it.” He hesitated,
searching my face. “Maybe you shouldn’t have said anything about it
to Heller and just let the men have their joke.”

“
Sure,” I replied with bitterness. “Just
like all the other times I’ve done that. Maybe I’m tired of being
nothing but a laughing stock around here.”

“You have to expect to be treated
differently.”

“Why?” I asked hotly.

“
Because you’re female and you’re screwing
the boss. That makes you different to the rest of us twice over,
whether you want to be or not.”

“
It’s not fair.
And I haven’t always been screwing the boss, so
that’s just an excuse.”

“
Look, Tilly. Think about how many men
volunteered to join Heller when the team went to that farm place to
rescue you. To me, that indicates the men don’t dislike you or
resent you at all. In fact, they hold you in enough esteem to want
to risk their own lives to help rescue you. I personally think that
all the guys here . . . well, most of the guys, think of you as a
sister. And like a sister, sure they’re going to tease you, but
it’s not done in any kind of mean way. And aren’t they always there
when you need them?”

“
Yeah, I guess so. I’d never thought about
it like that before. You’ve really given me a lot to chew over, but
it’s made me feel better about it already. Thanks, Bick.” I leaned
over to kiss his cheek, and the expression of terror on his face
would have been amusing, had I not known it was real. I wondered if
Heller had installed cameras in his vehicles too. I suppose I’d
find out later tonight, I sighed to myself.

And on that sour note, we arrived at the
hotel again.
Roger’s jaw
was bruising up, but nobody would notice because Barb had once more
chosen to wear leather – a whole herd of cattle must have died to
make her wardrobe. This time it was a canary yellow, tiny
micro-dress barely covering her butt and nowhere even close to
covering her boobs, teamed with matching yellow knee-high boots
with towering heels. She’d tied her black hair into two schoolgirl
plaits, a hairstyle incongruous with her heavy, slutty makeup.
Every eye, including Bick’s from the 4WD outside, tracked her
swaying hips and buoyant butt as she crossed the foyer, confident
and sassy. I followed behind her like a lump of clay trapped in her
glittering stardust trail.

Bick showed more caution in guarding Roger
and Barb today, especially as we were forced again to escort them
past the PRON booth. The suits lounged around inside, but we passed
by safely with nothing more harmful happening than them laughing to
themselves and making snide remarks not quite loud enough for us to
hear.

But a
t our booth, the four of us stopped short in shock as we
took in its tattered ruins. It had been badly vandalised, slashed
viciously in brutal anger, the barriers kicked over.

“
Oh, shit,” said Bick softly, and held up
his hand to Barb and Roger to stop them. He approached the tent,
carefully pulling the trashed entrance flap aside. It was an
absolute wreck inside, the furniture smashed, everything else
broken, including the TV. Fortunately, the couple packed everything
valuable away each night, so their DVD stock and money remained
safe and secure. Barb clamped her hand to her mouth in shock, her
head buried in Roger’s shoulder. Just only now turning up for work,
the thick-necks came running in alarm, Garrett close behind them.
Mr Hairpiece puffed towards us slowly, his face an unhealthy shade
of red.

“
Ms Biggen, Mr Harder, my apologies, my
apologies,” gushed Garrett, sensing a publicity disaster in the
making. “It must be some rotten kids responsible. They’ll find
their way in anywhere.”

“
We’re supposed to have twenty-four hour
security here,” Mr Hairpiece glared unjustly at the
thick-necks.