Her body writhed with need and she thrust herhips upward into his palm as her eyes flickered open. The room wasdim with only Mr. Black’s silhouetted profile in view. He pumpedhis fingers in and out slowly while his thumb pressed down firmlyon her clit. Her nethers were still over sensitized from her ownmanipulation, making his massaging and probing all the moreintense. She fisted her own hair and sunk her teeth into her bottomlip as her climax neared. She was so close and it felt so good...The heat in her lower belly descended and turned into a cool chillwhen Mr. Black abruptly stood and moved to the chair without sayinganything.

Elsa sat up, hot and bothered and herhormones raging. Seated on the chair, he watched her with the samelook of displeasure on his face as the previous night. What had shedone now? Would she never please him? Hell, she waited all damnedday for him. She glanced out the bay window to see the sun barelyon the horizon and rubbed her eyes.

“I waited like you said to,” she smiledtentatively at him, smoothing her skirt down over her legs.

“I see that,” he replied coolly as he dippedthe same fingers that had just been in her into his mouth, lickingthem clean of her juices. “What else did you do today?”

She huffed, “Nothing.”

Mr. Black adjusted himself in the seat,gripping his hard-on, and shook his head. “That’s not entirelytrue, now is it?”

What did he want? A blow-by-blow account ofher daily activities? “I ate. I read. I played a few games on myphone. I ate again. I waited.”

“And?” he prompted.

Her parted lips clamped shut. Did he know shehad played with herself? Of course not. He was just guessing. Herstomach knotted and she stiffened under his accusing stare. Sittingup straight, she crossed her legs and placed her hands in her lapwhile remaining quiet.

Pushing himself off the chair, he began topace back and forth in front of her, then around the chaise, hishands clasped behind his back.

“I’m disappointed in you. I had hoped wecould enjoy each other’s company tonight and that I could tastethat exquisite pussy of yours again, but…” he trailed off, pausingin front of the window and looking out. “Seeing as you don’t needme to get you off and you can do it yourself, I guess our time hereis done. Gather your things and I’ll see you next weekend.”

Elsa’s mouth gaped open in utter disbelief.She had waited all day and for what? So he could deny her an orgasmand dismiss her because she had fingered herself? She stood,incensed and exasperated and… she couldn’t even put into coherentthoughts what she was feeling.

As her breathing became more labored andloud, he peered over his shoulder and lifted his brows. “What areyou waiting for? You’re free to leave,” he replied with a finalitythat forbade any further discussion.

She stomped upstairs, seething more withevery passing minute. She retrieved her bag and tore backdownstairs to get the hell out of there when Mr. Black’s inflamedvoice resonated through the hallway behind her.

“Rule number five: All your orgasms belong tome.”

***

The door slammed behind Eight and Victorwinced at her abrupt departure. He really had been looking forwardto spending some quality time with her – namely in the form offucking her flawless mouth. He would just have to settle forwatching her finger banging session and rub one out, he supposed.Standing in the hallway staring at the door, he decided his timewould be better spent going over the minutiae of the Cambridgecase, details he had burnt into his memory.

In the dining room, he reached for hisbriefcase and jacket and noticed a snow globe on the fireplacemantle. Picking it up, he turned it over and watched the glitterand white flakes float around a fake waterfall. The brass plate onthe front read Winter in Niagara. It looked old. He upturnedit and found a carved date on the bottom. 2001. Elsa wouldhave been sixteen at that time. He shook the globe again andwatched the white dust drift around as he thought about her onvacation with her brother and parents. He smiled at the thought ofa teenaged and rebellious Elsa ending up in juvenile detention forthirty days on two different occasions for smoking pot and gettingin a girl fight. He couldn’t help but wonder what the fight hadbeen over. His research didn’t reveal that little fact. Maybe itwas over a boy, though she didn’t seem like the kind of woman whowould fight over something so petty.

With his eyes still on the remaining glitterthat hovered in the water, his thoughts drifted to his sixteenthbirthday and his smile faded. His mother had fucked up yet anothercelebration for him on that day. It was supposed to be his comingof age party and all it ended up being was his day of cleaning upthe drunken, violent mess that she had left behind, yet again. Tomake matters worse, he had walked in on her giving one of hisclassmates head. He got his own lesson in humiliation the followingday back at school.

That particular birthday was also the day hefound out that his father was still alive. In his mother’sinebriated state, she had let that little bit of information slipafter having lied to him his entire life and leading him to believethat his father was some kind of war hero who had died valiantly.Lying fucking bitch.

He shook off the memory, reminding himselfthat his mother had lied about his father for good reason and thatshe did have a few good qualities. Like the fact that she raisedhim on her own and without the help of the government or anyoneelse. And the fact that she had taught him to be independent andhad gotten him a loan to pay for his college degree in criminology.Of course, she ended up defaulting on the loan when she drank hersavings away and he ended up paying it back on his own, but thatwas neither here nor there. He just reminded himself that adversitybuilt character and made people stronger.

Then again, sometimes adversity also brokepeople. That’s what he had accomplished so many times with hisChapters. He had given them tough situations in an attempt to helpthem overcome their fears and weaknesses and become strongerindividuals while studying them, but all of them had proven thathis brand of education was just too much for them. It didn’t helpthat he enjoyed the harsh conditions he provided and that tidbitonly confirmed that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Elsa, on the other hand, might just be thelone, star pupil in his long list of failed attempts. So long asshe played his game by his rules.

***

Seated at the same small café where Mr. Blackhad made his proposition and in the same booth, Elsa sipped on acup of overly-sweetened coffee. She was still raging about hisdismissal of her and her idiocy for having waited all damned dayfor nothing. So what if she had masturbated? He was doing the samething the night before that prompted her to take matters into herown hands. And mouth. That damned perfect cock of his. It all camedown to her lack of dick and common sense when not getting it oftenenough. She knew he was a bad seed from the moment she set eyes onhim and still, she signed that stupid piece of paper. She rolledher eyes at her offer to sign it in blood. He probably would’veenjoyed it if she had, the sadistic, piss-inducing-sicko that heis.

No undergarments. Whatever.

Hair down in his presence. Ogre.

Showered and ready. Seriously? Like beingclean wouldn’t already be on her agenda?

WAIT. Egomaniac.

No masturbating. Fuck you, Mr. Black. Fuck.You.

And that ridiculous physical examination?Double fuck you.

What was up with him wanting to be calledthat, anyway? Too worn out and annoyed to care anymore, shefinished her coffee and went back to the safety and privacy of herapartment.

Privacy. The word cascaded across hersubconscious and as she readied for bed, she began to wonder howthe hell he knew she had masturbated. Wanting to know about themysterious asshole she was having sex with, she went to hercomputer to try and do a search. Again, when she typed his nameinto a search engine, she was redirected to a completely differentsite. When she yielded the same results on her 4G connection on herphone, alarm bells once again went off in her head. There wassomething rotten in Denmark.