SHAFTED: an erotic thriller (6 page)

“Awww, come on!”

He chuckled a bit, but the sound had no humor in it.

“I have to go.”

I ran my hand along his leg. “Didn’t you want me to get you?”

“Candice will be back soon. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He kissed me with
a linger of affection which appeased my sensibilities a little, then shrugged on his clothes, picked up the bag and left.

I was quickly coming to the conclusio
n I would never understand him and it made me want him more.

Plus, what the hell was going on with these papers?

CHAPTER 12

AUGUST

Two weeks later, the dreaded task of approaching Candice about my dwindling bank account had arrived. I’d hoped for a miracle; that somehow a benevolent fairy would magically increase my account again. But, alas
, the £10,480 in my account wouldn’t gain another zero on the end no matter how often I blinked or wished for it. The old manor was very close to completion but we still had half the furniture to buy and staff to hire. There was no way we… I mean,
I
would have enough.

It was on a Wednesday morning when I breathed in a lung full of stoicism and asked Candice if we could chat in the library. I closed the door behind her.

“I’m nearly out of money.” The ripping-off-the-Band-Aid solution seemed the best.

“How close?”

“Ten-thousand.”

Candice started slightly
, color rushing into her face. “Is that all? What the fuck have you been doing? You should have told me earlier!”

Her anger escalated rapidly
and unfairly and she practically yelled, “I could have cut costs ages ago but I can’t now! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me the bank account was so low? You’re bloody useless.”

“But I did tell you, weeks ago…”

She continued like I hadn’t spoken. “There’s no way we can finish the house with that much. You’ll have to get some more.”

“What?
From where?”

“The bank, where else?”

“I don’t earn enough to apply for a large loan.”

“Of course you do. You have a secure job and this house to borrow against. You’ll have no trouble.”

“Actually, I was hoping you might have the money.”

“Don’t be so fucking stupid. It’s not our house, why should we use our own money to fix your property?”

I couldn’t believe how livid Candice was. She was pacing across the library, thumping her fists on her legs hard. It gave me the odd impression of penitence.

“No, no! This is unacceptable,” Candice continued.
“This house must be finished next month on schedule. You will have to get the money from somewhere.”

“But… Candice.”

“We’ll not discuss this anymore. I’ll leave it to you to manage. I’m relying on you.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to pay it back.”

“That’s your problem to deal with. Now, we need to discuss staffing.”

The sudden change of topic unbalanced me and I stared stupidly at her for a moment until my voice caught up.

“Staffing? How are we going to pay them?”

“Alex! Keep up. Last night at the pub, I heard that the manager
of the Mercure had just resigned. I want to interview her as soon as possible.”

“But this is just a small hotel…”

She turned away and paced to the other side of the room, ignoring me. “I’ll get her here as soon as possible… she’ll have to say yes.”

“Candice! You’re not listening.”

“Fucking hell Alex, will you SHUT THE FUCK UP!” She’d said it while turning towards me and in slow motion, I watched her right hand lift upwards towards my cheek. Pure fury radiated from her face and the sharp slap which I was too dumb to dodge, connected with stunning force. I stepped back from her, shocked into silence, cradling my cheek, the tears leaping into my eyes.

“Oh, my darling, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” Candice was in front of me, touching my face in concern and brushing back my hair. “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to. Please, please forgive me.”

Candice leant in to kiss me and I stepped back, still holding my face, blinking away at my wet eyes.

“Don’t touch me,” I said.

“Please Alex. I’m so sorry.” Candice cowered humbly before me, clasping her hands in front of her.

I stepped backwards towards the door, intending on leaving.

“Where are you going?”

“Getting away from you.”

“You’re not going to see Dan are you?”

“Yes.”

“No, don’t!” The loudness of the cry echoed around us.

Candice was genuinely frightened, her body language fraught with stress. She was ringing her hands and her eyes glistened with moisture.

“I beg of you, my darling. Dan doesn’t need to know about this little incident…”

“
Little
incident? You hit me!”

“And I’m so sorry for that. More than I could ever express. Let’s sort this out ourselves, huh?”

“No, Candice. You crossed the line.” My hand reached back for the antique door knob and she was instantly at my side, her hand on my own, pressing her breasts against my arm and rubbing her cheek on my shoulder.

“You can do anything to me you want. Hit me, fuck me, I don’t care. Please, please, my darling, take your revenge on me. There is no need to involve Dan in this.”

Why was Candice so frightened of her husband? This was the man she commanded every day with an iron fist. What was going on here?

The papers, Candice’s appearance in town,
inconsistencies in their relationship… I was exhausted from their machinations.

“Please, Alex,” Candice finished softly, staring into my eyes and stroking my arm. “Please.”

By this stage, my cheek was only throbbing a low pain and her pleas, tears and body language got through. She seemed tiny, so human, as she held my arm and I sighed loudly. It wasn’t my greatest moment, but I relented and pulled my hand from the knob. Candice’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“Don’t you
ever
hit me again.”

“I won’t, I won’t! I promise.” She stroked my face and kissed me. “Let’s go to bed. I will bring you pleasure to make up for my mistake.”

And so, despite the alarm bells starting to peal in my head, I let her undress me, lick and kiss me all over, massage my muscles and finally, when I was lying on my belly, she pushed her fingers in and pumped until I came.

Lying quietly in that post-coital bliss, she continued to stroke and
caress me. “Are we okay now?”

“Yes, we’re okay.”

After a moment, “You’ll still need to get a loan to finish this house. Fifty-grand would do it. I’ll get some spreadsheet projections to you.”

“
Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Excellent.” She kissed me long and hard. “I knew I could count on you
.”

I’m glad that she could. I couldn’t count on me at all.

CHAPTER 13

I contacted my bank and arranged an appointment with the len
ding manager the following day. I had decided to concede to this request because we were too far gone now to run out of money. However, yesterday’s episode had put me on high alert. Candice’s slap had woken me up in more ways than one and I was determined to step very carefully from now on.

The next morning, I drove into London, noticing how overwhelming the traffic seemed after the winding roads of the country. The
gentile county life had grown on me and I pictured myself, again, as the owner of a successful little hotel, living happily on my rambling estate, Dan by my side…

I played my happy till musings until
the bank’s car park, made my way inside and was soon greeted by the lending manager.

Simon Westwith, a pallid man with thick glasses in his 30s, looked over all my paperwork,
checked the value of the house and my employment details.

“The repayments will be a stretch on your salary. You don’t know how long it will take for the guests to start arriving.”

“Yes, I know. I’m prepared for that.” I showed him Candice’s carefully prepared projection which Simon perused at length. I watched him closely for a reaction. Candice hadn’t wanted to advertise it was for a sex club so we’d agreed to keep it as a hotel, for this purpose anyway.

“It’s a little generous, but it looks feasible. You have retained your employment with the law
firm?”

“Yes.”

“How do you plan to work and manage the hotel?”

“There will be staff to manage it and once the hotel is running, I will resign from my
current position.”

“That’s a lot of risk.”

“Yes, but the house is a great asset. Its value upon completion should be well over two-million. Fifty grand isn’t that much really.”

“It would be a good idea to hang onto that house as long as possible.”

We discussed it a bit further and Simon continued to provide advice. I just nodded.

“It takes about
three days to process loan applications. I will call you when we have a decision.”

“Thanks, Simon.”

I told Candice the outcome of the meeting and she nodded sagely. “Good. So, how would you like to come up for a thank you celebration?”

It was all about sex to her. Although I didn’t feel like it, I acquiesced and we went upstairs. Passing Dan on the landing, Candice gave him a wink.

“Where are you two going?” he asked.

“For a celebratory shag,” Candice responded saucily. “She’s all mine, Romeo.”

Candice pulled me towards Bedroom 1. As we passed, Dan brushed my shoulder with his fingers and sent me a sad look. I kept my eyes on his face until we were in the bedroom. I wished it were him pulling me into this room.
My gentle, gorgeous Dan. How I wanted him.

Twenty-minutes later, Candice and I were naked, both covered in sweat, scissoring each other, a double ended dildo joining us. I pretended it was Dan’s cock inside of me and came soon after.

Candice gyrated on my pelvis, her rounded bottom squeezing and pushing on my leg. Her breasts bounced in circles, the sweat glistening on her naked skin. Candice grabbed my hand and put it between us so I could rub her and twitching my fingers quickly on her clit, she came in a roaring climax and collapsed. We lay together, our legs still entwined, bodies joined, our heads at opposite ends of the bed, waiting for the adrenaline to pass.

“You’ve done well, today.”
The confident Candice was back.

I responded
with a submissive, “thank you.”

“In fact, you’ve done so well,
I feel like using this opportunity while we can.”

“What opportunity?”

Candice reached as far as she could for her bag, careful not to dislodge the dildo that still joined us. She pulled out a smaller, single-ended tool and licked it.

“Put this up my
ass but stay on the dildo.” And so, I did.

“Oh, yes. Good girl, good girl!” she breathed, rocking hungrily on our joined bodies.

I didn’t come this time, but 15-minutes of sweaty grinding later, she did – loudly and very happily. What I good girl, I was indeed.

It was just that I was beginning to feel like I was little more to her than
a sex toy and a check book.

CHAPTER
14

I received a call from Simon Westwith two days later. My loan had been approved and the money would be in my account
in a week. Financial issues temporarily waylaid, I settled into supervising the arrival of the beds from a large truck that backed up the driveway. I was admiring the strong workmen carrying the heavy king-sized bed mattresses up the stairs when a tall, thin, dark-haired woman entered through the opened door.

Not expecting anyone, I moved towards her asking if I could help her.

“I’m looking for Candice. I have a 2:00 interview.”

“Oh, I’m Alex. I’m the owner of this house.”

The woman held out her hand, “Freya Easton. I’m here for the hotel manager position.”

I shook it, noticing how cold the thin fingers were.
“Okay. I wasn’t aware we were interviewing for that position just yet.”

“Then could I speak to Candice?” Her tone was curt; far too brusque for someone speaking to a potential employer.

“Sure, I’ll get her. Wait here, please.”

Candice was supervising the delivery of the beds in each room. I found her in Bedroom 3 leering at two of the
furniture removal men, leaning back on the wall, her eyes gleaming with lust. I could swear she was panting, her bouncy breasts straining the buttons on her tight, red blouse.

When she saw me, she winked conspiratorially and I stared impassively back. Her promiscuity
was getting boring.

“There’s a Freya Easton here for an interview?”

“Oh good. Send her to the library and I’ll be there shortly.”

Amazed at her audacity to use me as the butler, I didn’t move immediately.

“Go!” she ordered.

I must have stomped the entire way back to Freya because
when I arrived, she asked me, “Everything okay?”

“Yes, of course. Please, come through to the library.”

After she’d seated herself in one of the new leather, high-back chairs, I asked if she wanted a drink.

“Sparkling water with a wedge of lemon.”

What was with people treating me as a friggin’ lackey? I was as sick of their behavior as I was with my own acceptance of it.

“We have still water and no lemon.”

Freya lifted cool eyes towards mine, displeasure obvious.

“Then I guess that will just have to do.”

Returning to the room with the drink, I was daydreaming about pouring this all over Freya’s perfect black bob when I heard Candice’s voice through the doors. I pursed my lips momentarily before entering the room.

“What?
None for me?”

“Sorry, Candice.
What do you want?”

“Sparkling water with a slice of lemon.”

“I didn’t think you had any?” Freya’s tone was condescending.

“We got some in yesterday,” responded Candice.

Freya’s posture straightened haughtily. “That’s not what I heard.”

Both women turned to look at me, expecting an answer.

“Oh, I wasn’t aware some arrived yesterday.”

“It was you who ordered the food, Alex.”

“Yes… it was.”

It was like I was in the principal’s office; the sickness that follows authoritarian reprimand singed my chest.

Candice said, “Why did you lie, Alex?”

“Why? What is this?
High school? I don’t have to say ‘why’”

“I was going to ask you to sit in on this interview, but if you’re going to be so immature, you can leave.”

“I don’t believe this.”

“Oh, and get us both sparkling water with lemon.”

I wanted to slap Candice, throw the water over Freya and then kick them all out of my house.

But the little weakling I was just turned and walked out, humiliated.

To my shame, I did take the drinks to them although I did take my time. Candice and Freya were engaging enthusiastically when I dropped the drinks off and neither acknowledged me.

Bitches.

Candice told me later on that afternoon that she’d hired Freya on the spot.

Of course she did.