Lucy was sitting in a chair facing the clock on the wall. She watched the second hand intently, considering whether she could stop it by force of will. The hand moved again anyway, revealing that there was only a minute left until four o’clock.
Lucas’s door was closed. She wondered if the prohibition against opening that door or the promise of arriving on the fourth took higher priority. She decided that if he felt like punishing her, it wouldn’t matter what he claimed as the reason anyway.
Thirty seconds… Fifteen… She stood up. Fixing her skirt, she walked to the door. She took a deep breath and opened it.
He was on the phone, standing with his back to the door. At the sound of it opening, he turned sharply, his expression obviously surprised. When he saw her, he ran a glance at wall watch. Back to her, he waved for her to come in.
„I said everything,“ he said into the phone as he closed the door behind her.
„Uhm. How long?“ He continued the call undisturbed. He pushed the guest chair in front of his desk to the center of the room and gestured for Lucia to sit. He didn’t look at her as she did so, just walked over to the sofa and took the obviously ready tie from it. One of two. She smiled inwardly at the choice, even admitting to herself that the red silk pieces really stood out against the dark brown leather of the backrest. He remained standing, began to run the tie through his fingers, listening intently to someone on the other end of the line.
Lucy’s blood pressure was rising even faster than it had been before the door.
„Call me as soon as you have it. Thanks,“ he finally ended the call and put his mobile phone on the table.
He still didn’t give her a second glance. He walked around the chair, took her hands and tied them as he had yesterday. Maybe a little more delicate, but there was no denying the firmness. He stood in front of the desk, his butt resting on the edge. He folded his legs at the ankles , his hands shoved into the pockets of his trousers.
„Then we can begin.“
He smiled broadly, not hiding the brashness and defiance of his gaze.
„Uhm,“ she tried to sound calm.
„What’s your educational background?“ He returned her calm tone.
„Secondary grammar school. It’s on my CV,“ she replied a little too casually.
He pushed his butt off the table, took one step towards her, reached for the top button of her blouse, which he immediately unbuttoned and leaned back with a quick movement:
„Answer in a full sentence and politely. Okay?“
He smiled. With her lips pressed tightly together, she nodded gently, so he continued:
„Good girl. What is your educational background?“
She tried to take a deep breath to reduce the pressure, which had risen sharply with anger at the praise, but she answered:
„The Secondary grammar school of Ladislav Sara in Bratislava.“
„Have you completed any course? Economics, accounting, I don’t know what?“
„No,“ she shook her head.
„Hm. How do you know how to make such spreadsheets?“
„I don’t even know. Exactly,“ she shrugged, looking at the carpet. He pushed away from the table, stepped toward her, unbuttoned another knob.
„Try again,“ he urged her, already leaning against the table.
„Perhaps internet. It’s not difficult in fakt.“
„Oh, the internet? I studied it for four years, ten years ago, and I haven’t been able to remember the procedure. And the internet was enough for you?“
She decided to ignore his doubtful tone and just nodded her head in agreement. A step towards her, a knob.
„In a full sentence and politely,“ he said firmly.
„Sorry. So yeah, the internet was enough for me.“
„Okay… I don’t believe you.“ Bounce, step, knob. Unfastening this one already allowed a glimpse of her bra – black satin, no lace. It raced through his mind whether she wore one like that normally, or just today for him. Did she suspect he was going to take it off?
He returned to her in spirit and in sight:
„Let’s change the subject. What kind of car are you driving?“
He smiled even wider. She, in turn, frowned – was this enough for him?
„Um, it’s brown,“ she got out after a moment.
He raised an eyebrow in surprise and stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds. He could only muster a response after a moment:
„You’re kidding, right?“ He sounded emphatic.
„Aehm, no. Some kind of Bavarian. I guess.“
This time he approached her very slowly and deliberately. He unbuttoned the button just the same, and while he moved aside the fabric so that as much of her skin as possible was visible, she continued:
„I’m a woman, I don’t know my way around cars. Really.“
He ran the tip of his index finger along the edge of her bra, waited for her to gasp, and looked into her eyes:
„You REALLY think I’m going to eat this up for you?“
„Lucas, please…“
„Let it be!“ He jumped into her speech. „You don’t have much chance for mercy today.“
She swallowed hard. She tried to repeat in her mind, as she had yesterday, that she had nothing to worry about. He was good at scaring, but he certainly wouldn’t do anything serious to her. She took a deep breath and tried again:
„That car isn’t mine. It’s borrowed and brown and I don’t know, probably a BMW. And it has four wheels. I just don’t know!“
He stared at her for a moment, then folded his arms across his chest. He knew she was lying. He just knew it. But she was doing a pretty decent job of it. He thought for a moment, and when he moved, the phone rang. He picked it up almost immediately:
„Yes? …Great.“ And hung up.
„I’ll leave you alone for a moment.“
He touched his knuckles to her face as he walked past.
„Don’t go anywhere near me,“ he grinned, and before she could snort in irritation, he was closing the door behind him.
The first five or ten minutes of waiting seemed fine to her. But with each passing moment, the discomfort inside her grew stronger. What does he have in there that he’s willing to walk away from her, in this state? She was gripped with a very bad feeling that this would have something to do with her.
…to be continued