I clenched my fist, crumpling the paper, my stomach in free fall.
"4056 N. Hamill St, 7PM" was the only thing written on the neatly folded school stationary paper, now slightly damp with sweat.
The note didn't need to be long, the implication was clear.
Shit. How did this get out? My career as Principal of Elting Grove High School would be over in the blink of an eye.
I sucked in the cool air of my office and held it for a second, before exhaling. My eyes returned to the photograph. It was a young woman, kneeling on a dirty warehouse floor, her arms tied above her head to the rusty pipe on the wall. Her skin was coated in a thin sheen of sweat, a dirty handprint on her right breast, another on her left thigh. Her mouth was wrapped around a stiffened member of some anonymous man.
It had been a long time ago, but the resemblance was still clear. So were my memories of that day, of that entire life I had to leave behind for the sake of my career.
The muscles on my face relaxed as the familiar feeling returned. The tingling began in my lower abdomen, the warmth spreading down between my thighs. I squirmed slightly in my seat as I tried to control my body's response, but I couldn't help it.
I wanted to feel like the woman in the photograph again.
**************************************************
I stepped out of my car, squinting at the numbers above the door. This was the place. I tilted my head back to look up at the boarded windows. I hesitated, every rational fiber in my body was telling me to run, to go back to my safe warm apartment.
"Principal Vale", I jumped slightly at the voice behind me and turned around.
I let out a gasp when I saw who it was. "Evan, what..."
"I am glad you came, Principal Vale. I was beginning to think that your career would soon be in the graveyard."
"It was you..."
"Yes."
"What do you want Evan. Is it a raise? Money?" I asked stupidly. Somehow I already knew what it was that he wanted. I could see it in his hungry eyes and the slight smirk on his face.
Evans worked at the school as a janitor. He was a quiet man, and excessively polite. I had caught myself staring at his veined muscular arms fantasizing about what it would be like to be controlled by those arms. I would have never pegged him for the type of man that would be responsible for blackmailing me.
"All you need to do is to follow my orders tonight and I won't tell a soul about your past. Make your choice. Accept and I will own your body until sunrise tomorrow, or leave and I send a copy of that photograph to everyone at the school."