Lucas – 5. chapter

He didn’t arrive at work until around ten the next morning. He looked as if he’d been celebrating all night. It brought a smile to Lucia’s face.

He didn’t even go into his office. Still wearing his jacket, he leaned against her doorframe and watched her. When she finally noticed, she turned toward him.

“Coffee?” she asked, already standing before he could answer.

“Thank you, later. I want something different from you.”

She sat back down, crossed one leg over the other, and, as always, enjoyed his supposedly discreet glance at her legs. When he finally met her eyes, she smiled.

“I’m listening.”

“There’s something I want from you. Something that, once I say it, your first reaction will be no. But I’d like you to at least think about it.”

She smiled.

“Do I have to do something, or say something?”

“Hmm, basically say something, but I’ll want you to say it through an action.”

“Then go ahead.”

She was still smiling.

“Uh-uh. First I need to increase my chances of a yes.”

“Okay.”

She settled deeper into her chair, smoothed her skirt, and rested her hands on it. He watched her for a moment, thinking, then began.

“We both know that today at four I’ll be…” he hesitated. He found the right word at the exact same moment she did.

“Interrogating,” he said, just as she said, “Torturing.”

He dropped his gaze for a moment with a faint smile.

“Lucka, I’ll only be as mean as you are stubborn.”

“Of course,” she agreed sarcastically.

“Alright. Then we can probably agree there’s a certain chance that today things might start heading toward something you won’t like.”

She couldn’t help but nod.

“Or that it may be very unpleasant. Fear might even be on the table.”

She hadn’t been afraid until now, but his attempt at psychological terror proved very successful. Before she could say anything, he continued.

“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have an emergency brake.”

He fell silent and watched her reaction. She understood, but let him continue.

“Choose a word. Any word, no matter how absurd. Something you don’t use in normal conversation.”

“I get it. A classic safeword. Let’s say ‘Air Force One’.”

“Okay. Do what I’m going to ask of you now, and I promise you can use Air Force One once today. If you say it, I’ll stop doing whatever I started doing at that moment, or threatened to start. And I won’t try it again today.”

She thought for a moment, then asked, “What exactly can I use it for?”

He was already beginning to understand that this woman actually used her head, so he didn’t have to wonder long what she meant by the question.

“One specific action. You can’t cancel a whole category of actions, like tying or questioning. Just one specific instance of tying, or one specific question.”

She reached for her coffee.

What does he want badly enough to trade it for a safeword? If I don’t give it to him, he’ll ask after four. From what I’ve seen on his computer a few times, he knows some fairly successful persuasion techniques. And he knows it too. So he needs something he can’t ask a precise question about. But he’ll still circle around it. I can get a safeword now for an answer I’m not sure he wouldn’t get out of me anyway…

She took a sip and studied his face. He stayed silent and waited. She stood and extended her hand to him.

“Deal.”

He smiled and took her hand. He pressed her palm only gently, as if he were afraid he might break it. He kept it in his hand and lifted it to his mouth. He bent toward her and lightly pressed his lips to her small fingers, never tearing his gaze away from her face. Then he lifted his lips a millimeter and ordered aloud.

“Show me the car registration papers for the car you drive.”

“Fuck!” she shouted and yanked her hand away.

He straightened with a victorious smile and waited. She slammed her cup onto the desk, clenched her fists, and turned away from him toward the wall.

“Bastard,” she muttered through her teeth, quieter now.

If I give him the papers, the borrowed car excuse is gone. He’ll find out not only who owns the car, which means all he has to do is throw the company name into Google and he’ll get to me, but also that my already not exactly average BMW has anything but the usual average under the hood… There’s no way he can ask about this. I can still avoid torture by answering precise questions, and he doesn’t have to find this out. I’m still losing, and he’ll find out more than he ever should have, but he doesn’t have to find out everything. I still have a chance…

Slowly, she turned back to him. With a satisfied, smug smile, he watched her inner struggle closely. In her eyes was an incredible mix of anger, disappointment, determination, fear, and courage all at once. A tempting combination for a fight at close range. She inhaled.

“Air Force One.”

His eyes widened in surprise. He really hadn’t expected this.

I want that registration! She can’t do this! …Of course she can. I said today, not after four… I can’t refuse to honor it… I could take it by force… Stupid. I’m not a brute. …Little brat… She really thinks I won’t ask her at four whether the car is hers and what model it is? …Or, if she really is as sharp as I suspect, then what the hell is in that registration?!

He opened his mouth, then hesitated. He ran the tip of his tongue over his upper teeth, then bit his lip. He nodded.

“That’s an answer too.”

She nodded as well and gave a resigned shrug. He stepped one step closer to her. She flinched, but didn’t retreat.

“You have no idea,” he whispered, “how much I’m looking forward to this afternoon.”

His smile promised nothing good. She lowered her gaze, and he turned toward his office door.

“I’ll have that coffee,” he reminded her on his way to his chair.

When she returned with the cup, he was sitting in his office, focused on tapping at the keyboard. She set the tray down and, when he paid her no attention, returned silently to her desk. He seemed uninterested in company, so she immersed herself in processing his expenses. After a while, she heard him close his door, which she didn’t like at all. He didn’t have secrets. He rarely did that. Usually for predictable reasons. His office was soundproof. Once the door was closed, he could fire a cannon in there and no one would notice. And when the door was closed, no one was allowed to open it. Not even her. No matter how badly something was on fire, it simply had to wait until Lucas opened the door himself.

Not long after, an assistant from HR appeared in her doorway. She came right up to her and whispered, “Are you in trouble?”

Lucia hesitated.

“I don’t think so… Why?”

“Your boss asked for your résumé.”

With a sigh, she buried her head in her hands.

“What else?”

“Well, he was asking whether you have an assigned parking space here.”

“Damn.”

“But you don’t. You don’t even have a car,” the woman said, shaking her head in confusion.

“I don’t know what got into him,” Lucia lied. “But his door is closed. Should I call him?”

“I don’t know, he didn’t say…”

At that moment, the door opened, and without Lucas stepping through it, she heard him return to his desk and sit down.

“Lucia?” he called.

“Hmm, yes, boss?”

“Someone will bring me something in a moment. Send them straight in to me.”

Lucia looked at the HR assistant and smirked.

“The HR assistant is already here.”

A chair scraped. Footsteps. He stopped in the doorway, leaned against the frame, and looked over both women’s faces. His gaze settled on Lucia’s eyes.

“I assume you’ve already had time to have a little chat.”

She couldn’t hide her smile, so she only lowered her head. He was having a hard time hiding his amusement too, but still turned seriously to the HR assistant.

“You probably forgot that you were supposed to bring those papers directly to me and not spread around what they are.”

The girl stammered nervously.

“I, I was… I…”

After a few seconds, Lucia looked up at Lucas. He stood there without blinking, staring steadily at the HR assistant and letting her stew. He was clearly enjoying it.

“I’m sorry… I apologize…”

The girl no longer knew how to get out of it. Lucia realized he clearly had no intention of pardoning her anytime soon. A split second, an idea, and it flew out of her.

“She didn’t tell me what she had in her hands.”

Lucas gave her a long, incredulous look, then another one back at the girl.

“That’s true. I didn’t tell her what I had in my hands, really!”

He took the papers from her and waved for her to leave. She managed it in the expected record time.

He leaned toward Lucia. He thought for a moment, then spoke slowly and quietly.

“Lucia, I would never dare lay a hand on a female colleague. And certainly not on you. But you were the first to violate the basic rules of workplace etiquette. You couldn’t expect that to pass without a response. So now I’m warning you for the first and last time. If I hear one more lie from you, I’ll make you bare that enticing ass of yours, and I’ll give it ten strokes with my own belt. So I’d recommend you rethink your battle plan for today. Ten strokes for every single lie. If you don’t change your methods, by the end you really won’t know whether you want me to give you the whole beating at once, or whether you’d rather start every workday for two weeks with a smaller spanking.”

She held her breath. Blood rushed to her face, and she tried with all her strength not to look as frightened as she now felt. He gave her one more warning look and went back into his office.

Everything stayed calm until lunch. Then he stood up from his computer and, placing a folder of papers on her desk, said, “I need this by the end of the week. And book me a table at Le Monde, two o’clock, for two.”

He left, so she could start working on her tasks in peace.