That night, in complete darkness, he had removed his suit and shirt and laid them down carefully on the floor. He didn't have his phone and the complete lack of any light made his watch as good as useless. She had effectively left him in complete sensory deprivation, unable to hear or see anything. He lay down and was soon asleep. He woke at various times but had no way of knowing whether ten minutes or ten hours had passed.
At one point he climbed to his feet and felt for the door. The metal was colder than the room as he pushed hard against it. He smiled as he imagined the padlock just inches away, that she had snapped shut and which he had no hope of ever opening. He felt very safe and relaxed as he lay back down and returned to sleep.
Katie was tossing and turning in her small flat ten minutes walk away. There was no air conditioning and the fan did little to cool the humid air. She lay in the middle of her double bed naked, having long since kicked off the sheet.
At 5am, just as the sun was rising, she finally gave up trying to sleep and stepped across her untidy room collecting several days of discarded clothing. With just a towel around her, she walked down to the communal laundry and stuffed everything into the washing machine. Carrying the keys to the cell that she'd kept close to her body ever since locking him up, she ran barefoot back up to her room.
She threaded the keys on to a silver chain that she wore around her neck and jumped into the shower. She washed her hair twice and scrubbed her body until steam and the smell of body wash filled her small flat.
She waxed her legs and dressed in a short blue dress that hugged her body, but did little to cover her legs. She put her hair in a neat ponytail and applied make up and heels. She finally returned to the laundry to retrieve and slip on a clean bra and pair of panties.
With two takeaway coffees in one hand and her keys in the other, she made the short walk back to the alleyway, stumbling a couple of times of the unaccustomed heels. She opened the door and walked into the back room where she un-padlocked the steel hatch.
A shiver of excitement ran the length of her body as she lifted the steel and saw the fit, bare-chested guy beneath her, shielding his eyes from the light.
"You still here?" Katie smiled as she crouched down, knees together and handed him a coffee through the heavy grille.
"Actually I was just leaving." he joked with his dry throat from lack of talking.
"Like to see you try!"
Katie giggled, shaking her head as she sat down on the grille above him and again slipped her feet through the bars. He noticed her new look. Even her feet which again she swung and which this time almost knocked over his coffee had been cut and painted pink.
"Well if the coffee's any good I may stay."
"Good I have a proposition for you," Katie said as she instinctively tried to cross her legs, but couldn't with the grille between her knees.
"A proposition?"
"I want you to help me make this business work."
"What business?"
"This business, my Aunt's business!" she exclaimed.
He smiled and rolled his eyes. In response she pulled out her dress from under her so that her skimpy pink panties were resting on the bars just above his head.
"Oh don't do that," he complained as he buried his face into the back of her calves.
"Why?"
"Because... I'm a guy who's just spend all night locked in sensory deprivation and now your body in that dress is giving me sensory overload!"
"Good." she smiled oblivious to the anguish she was causing below.
He ran his hand through his slightly greying, dark hair.
"There's more to this business than you know," he replied having finally refocused on the question.
"That's why I'm making you the offer. I need your help."
"Look I don't know."
Katie was pouting as she wrapped her ankles around his neck and squeezed.
"Look at it this way, who else can I ask?"
It seemed as though she needed his help, at least this might give him some leverage.
"Maybe we should talk in the cafe over another coffee."
"No I like you down there," she smiled as she tried to rub her feet against his face.
OK, it gave him no leverage. He grabbed her feet and again started to massage them mainly as a way of controlling them and stopping himself from getting kicked in the face.
"First I need to know my business partner's name." Katie said.
"Tom," he replied after a short pause.
"OK Tom, pass me your wallet, I just need to check."
"That's not necessary."
He was still distracted by her slim legs when she pulled them back through the bars and stood up.
"Maybe you will show me your wallet tomorrow!"
She spoke calmly, but firmly as she lowered the steel hatch cover, plunging him yet again into darkness. Standing in bare feet on the hatch, she counted in her head until she heard the inevitable cries of help from underneath. She listened with amusement they grew more desperate before finally reopening the hatch.
Katie then spent the next ten minutes going through the contents of his wallet while he rubbed her feet. Having examined and taken photos of the array of identifications and platinum credit cards she handed it back down to him intact.
"So you really are Tom."
"And you are?" he asked.
"Why, Katie," she giggled innocently.
The smiling brunette continued.
"You made the right decision to be my business partner. I wasn't going to unlock you until you did".
Tom smiled, although the seriousness of her voice and the way her brown eyes focused on him was slightly unsettling.
Katie closed the hatch and walked back down to the basement. She took the key from her necklace, where it had hung since her shower, and stepped bare foot into the cell.
Stood beside him, Katie looked very different to how she appeared when sitting on the grille above him. She was at least five inches shorter than him, slim, vulnerable and certainly less intimidating than when she'd had him under lock and key.
"Your home is very small." she observed as she placed one hand on each side wall of the room.
"It's not my home, Katie."
