Chasing the Dragon
S.E. Hill
I make the transaction over the phone, from the confines of my office. I need to see her again and I don’t care about the cost. Like heroin… I need another hit. I adjust the buttons on my high-neck blouse, making sure they are secure before heading to my meeting. The lacy collar is tight. For an instant, flashes of her hand, squeezing the breath out of me while I orgasm, play in my head. Instinctively, I reach up to rub the side of my neck where the bruises from that night remain. As I walk out of my office, I hear the familiar ding of my phone, alerting me that I have a response to my request. I quickly glance at it as I walk towards the conference room. I am confirmed.
* * *
I am directing today’s meeting. It isn’t unusual for me to be in charge of most meetings I attend at KJB Enterprises, but this one is of particular importance because it is for the board. The pressure is high. I am proposing a complete restructuring of middle management. The cost-benefit analysis is irrefutable, in my opinion, and KJB is paying me quite well for my judgment. As a contracted barracuda, I am usually collectively reviled by the time my term is complete. I don’t care about that much. I am compensated handsomely to cut the fat, and I am gone before things become really hostile. I like the variety. Each business presents a unique puzzle for me to solve. I enjoy zeroing in on each company’s flaws and weaknesses, exposing them, and then destroying them one by one. Once that is done, all that is left is strength. It is a powerful feeling to give that to a company. Perhaps that is why I need her so badly… because I am hoping that if I hire her enough times she will strip me bare until all I have left are my good parts. It isn’t about giving up control. It is about freeing myself of my frailties and becoming empowered.
* * *
The seduction starts almost immediately upon my confirmation. She lists what she requires from me over text. Headphones. Check. Blindfold. Check. Rope. Check. Your complete trust. I stare at that last statement. Do I trust anyone completely? I don’t have time to think about it. As I click through my PowerPoint presentation, slide by slide, images of her requested tools keep interrupting my thoughts. I know, in theory, what she plans to do. After all, there is only so much one can do with those three instruments. Yet, my imagination is having a free-for-all. She owns my mind already, and she hasn’t even laid a hand on my body. I glance at the clock, noting that it is only noon and I won’t see her for ten more hours. How long our ‘date’ goes tonight depends on how much I can handle. That is always the deal. The cost is the same regardless of time. I can have her all night if I can endure it, although she informed me on our first introduction that no client ever lasted longer than three hours.
