Anything
Anything...
The word just hangs there. Having come out of Ravenna's mouth with the fast jumble of other words she felt necessary to tuck it into. Parker's smile grows, Cheshire like...
She notes the smile but take it as a sign that he could be relenting, nothing more. She nods quickly, repeating herself. Anything. Just a chance. More promises. More pleadings. Yet that one word, anything, speaks the loudest.
"Anything," he repeats, with an intrigued grunt punctuating the thought. "Really?" Giving her an out, an
escape--which Ravenna ignores. "Yes, really."
"Good." He comments, lightly. Ravenna breathes a very visible sigh of relief. sliding back in the chair, feeling fortunate and by no small means pleased with herself at her skills in self-preservation. In the moment it takes to congratulate herself Parker has moved around the desk and now is perched, predator-like, on the edge, arms casually crossed.
No alarm bells. Yet.
"Anything you say?" Parker draws the any out a few beats. Like a villain in one of those old silent movies. Ravenna squirms again, a little uncomfortable with the closeness. Her stammered reply
lacking the recent confidence. His hand rests on her shoulder. Holding her in place. He bends close." Good," it sounds like a hiss coming out and she attempts to recoil...
Alarm bells now! Loud in her ears.
No luck. Leveraging her against the chair he has her pinned. Ravenna squirms more, grasping for the edges of the chair to lift herself out of his grasp (there's a reason they don't have arms...) to no avail. She opens her mouth to protest loudly but Parker's other hand covers it quickly. He coolly reminds her that it is after hours; that it is only the two of them. Her eyes widen with the wide array of thoughts rushing through her mind's eye. All of them dark. All of them scary.
She protests against his palm. He feels the warmth of her lips, quickly drawing in her panic, and her breath. He smiles, holding her there, watching the struggle...
"But, dear," a sarcastic term of endearment, a pregnant pause causes the impact of his next words to fall on her "you did say anything." the panic beginning to bubble up in her throat her lips part as if to deny the words she spoke and repeated...
Ravenna's heart beats heavily in her chest and the bees have returned, nearly drowning out any other sound. "Again, anything? Isn't that what you said?" Panic setting Ravenna shakes her head in denial. His hands caressing either side of her head as he tsks at her like a petulant child and moved her head in an affirmative nod "Yes. You did." Ravenna's eyes water, her protests turning to begging for her life. Parker feels the tears against the edge of his hand. "Yes, you did." He says flatly. There will be no debate. Knowing she won't win Ravenna haltingly agrees; eyes downcast at the admission of defeat. The first of many.
Tears stream down her face. Her eyes wide in fear. Widening with the recognition that Parker's calm demeanor means utter seriousness.
Ravenna begins to babble against his hand. She can feel her nose beginning to run and her face red and puffing up. Fear, embarrassment, shock, desire, all mix and mingle on her face. All the calmness, the attempt to be detached obliterated. She sobs out loud against his hand and her shoulders twitch. Keeping his hand clamped over her mouth, Parker begins to slowly, deliberately play with her hair. Such a gentle, intimate gesture, taking on a new meaning for her.
The directions are clear, concise and to the point. "Do not speak unless spoken to. You will not be harmed.
You will not lose your job. You will never, ever breath a word of this to anyone. Don't resist."
Her entire body screams in disagreement. All she wants to do is resist. Ravenna thinks of the self-defense
training, all of the classes she and her friends took. This is something different. It isn't a random,
violent attack. She recognizes that those lessons will be useless, yet she instinctively reacts, trying to protect herself.
Reaching toward his face and throat--so obvious. Parker grabs both of her wrists before she even gets to the knot in his tie and twists, hard. Ravenna's eyes close in the shock of the sudden pain.
"You agreed to anything. I said don't resist." He offers a very cold reminder.
Her whimpers fill the air in the room. The twinkle of city lights filling the windows. Her tears, caught in the evening light, continue unabated...
His grip does not lessen. She stops her squirming, resigned to her fate. Ravenna hopes that it won't hurt and it is over quickly. Reading her mind it seems, Parker says "let's see just what anything truly means..".
Still holding her, he stands up, pulling her up with him. Ravenna's thin heels providing little support, nearly causing her to topple. He won't let that happen. With watery eyes she looks at him, begging, pleading to be released. Parker frowns, the frown one gives a precocious child; disappointment, not anger. She freezes again at his casual chuckle.
Now, to explore this anything. Holding her firmly again, Parker maneuvers her towards the center of the room, twisting Ravenna's wrists and pushing her down. She has no choice to comply wincing at the pain. "On your knees girl... Good... Good girl." Encouragement like one would give a well trained pet; a strange counterpoint to the feelings she is fighting.
Her knees dig into the carpet, the fabric of her pants biting into her flesh. She clamps her eyes shut
to block out the pain. And what might be coming next.
Parker releases his hand from her mouth, allowing Ravenna to take a gulp of air amidst the sniffling. Still holding her wrists firmly, he takes a handkerchief from my pocket and wipes her nose. "Blow," he orders her. Ravenna feels all of five; looking up with a flash of anger, which is extinguished by pulling her arms back sharply over her head. She blows her nose in the handkerchief.
She can't bear to look and he knows it. So, of course, pulling her arms back the next order is to
look up. "Focus girl." Wincing she slowly raises her eyes to his. Both silently and with halting words. "Might I remind you of what you said earlier? Anything I think is the word you used..." he says, the cool, calm, collected demeanor back.
Ravenna's face is bright red and her ears burn with the words he says. She sniffles trying to elicit sympathy from a dry well. Drawing a stuttering breath she replies in a voice she barely recognizes as her own "I didn't mean this."
Gasping at the pain shooting through her arms as he gives them a quick jerk, he replies in a voice devoid of emotion. "And what exactly did you mean?" Cold, hard, harsher than she has ever heard from him. Except for that one time with that one salesperson. Who was never seen again...come to think of it...
The mewling and pleading is silenced. She bites down on her lip to stifle her own sobs, her chest heaving under her shirt. There really won't be any debate. There will be no turning back. He needn't say anything more. Just the look on his face is enough for Ravenna to again admit defeat. A second admission.
Standing over her, wrists in his hand, he undoes his belt. Her eyes widening, she tenses, thinking that
this is it, trying to be brave. The belt slips from his pants and she feels it wrapped around her wrists,
tightly. Ravenna's arms bend backwards in an upside down 'v', behind her head.
Parker turns and walks back to the desk. Ravenna watches him move around the desk, opening a drawer here and there. Kneeling as she is, she's unable to see what exactly he is placing neatly on his desk. As he walks back, the glint of silver in his hand. Holding her breath in anticipation She feels the belt replaced by the cold bite of a pair of handcuffs.
Meticulously sliding the belt through the loops of his pants. His gaze roams over her: hair damp and matted, eyes red, face blotchy from crying. Smiling at the predicament he comments. "Perhaps, in the future, you will choose words more carefully?" It's cruel, sarcastic--and has its desired effect.