"Well he says he knows you, Julia. he says he went to high school with you."
"Ross Brandt? But I don't remember a Ross Brandt. He was in my class?"
"I don't know," Danny said, taking his coffee from her. "But I want you to find out. I want you to have had a secret crush on him if you can manage it, Julia. All two hundred million dollars of him. He really seems to have a thing for you. Says he sat behind you in band."
Julia stopped right where she was, blocking the narrow corridor that led to the meeting room. Amy Gossman almost ran into her.
"Oh my God!" Julia froze, swept back twenty-five years, remembering the large, gangly blond who played last chair trombone three rows behind her when she played flute in the Palos Heights High School Band. "Hannibal Brandt? Hannibal the Cannibal? He wasn't even human! He was the class Oaf!"
Danny grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along.
"Well, he's no oaf now. He's Ross Brandt, and Mr. Osteen's going to want to know all about him."
"Danny! You can't tell Mr. O. I knew him in high school!"
"No. I won't. That's an ace up our sleeve. I'm just going to run over the same stuff you presented at the meeting yesterday. Don't worry about it. But when Brandt gets to town, we're all going out for a nice dinner. You, me, Brandt, and Allie, and if the Oaf wants to see you alone after that, I expect you to do your duty as a loyal employee, Julia."
They filed into the conference room and took their seats around the big table. Julia leaned over to Danny.
"What are you saying, Danny?"
"Don't get all upset. You've had dinner with clients before. This is no different."
"But this is a client I went to high school with."
"So?"
Allie came in and took the seat on the other side of Danny and Julia put on a poker face. She didn't trust Allie, but she didn't like where this was going. She didn't like Danny's rabid interest in Brandt's money, and she didn't like Brandt's interest in her. And she couldn't believe this Ross Brandt was Hannibal the cannibal from Palos Heights high, this inept, awkward doofus with no social skills who wore the same shorts and sweat shirt to school his entire senior year. On the phone he'd sounded so slick, so confident. Why hadn't he said anything?
"I've got the labs," Allie announced. "Pretty interesting."
"What do they say?" Danny asked.
"Well, Ultimate Man Can-Do is a mixture of vitamins, drugs and botanicals. Mostly vitamin C and caffeine, and then there are some ground up plant stuff they're having a hard time identifying. But here's the thing. It looks like the competitor's product is totally different. Different plant materials."
"Oh? They're sure?"
"That's what the labs said."
Danny frowned. "That means he doesn't even have a case."
Allie nodded sympathetically.
"That means all that business down the crapper," Danny said reflectively.
"Well," Allie said. "We can still go after them on trademark infringement."
Danny nodded. "Yeah. And Brandt doesn't need to know we did this analysis yet. We can do some work on his patents first. Lets sit on this for a while until he talk to him, okay? We don't know anything."
Julia sat back. This was the part of the business she didn't like, the sleaziness, but she said nothing.
"Turns out, Mr. Brandt knows Julia from high school," Danny said.
"Oh?" Allie looked at her.
"Yeah. he told me on the phone last night. Was saving it as a surprise but he just couldn't hold it in. That's why he's been so curious about her. This gives us a certain in with him."
Allie smiled. "So it looks like you'll be riding point on this one, huh, Julia?"
Mr. Osteen came into the room. Everyone sat up and cleared their throats and the meeting began, but not before Julia had caught the catty look in Allie's eyes and she wondered again what the woman's problem was, but she couldn't keep focused on it because the lawyers were quickly going through their list of new and prospective clients, and Danny ran down the facts on Ross Brandt's Pacific Holistics crisply and cleanly, neglecting to mention the new analytical data they had.
Osteen seemed pleased, and the meeting went on to matters of budgeting and scheduling and Julia lost interest. It was a bright and cold day outside, and her thoughts returned to what had happened last night, a subject she hadn't stopped thinking about. She could still feel the cuffs on her wrists, the collar around her neck. She could still feel his hands on her and hear his words in her ear.
She returned to her desk after the meeting and called up "Jewelry" on the local shopping guide on her computer and started scanning addresses, but there was no need. There it was under "Bernard": Bernard Jewelry and Fine Leather. She clicked on the website and was taken to a page showing watches and leather cuffs, and she quickly shut the window, aware of the people in her office going about their business.
On a whim, she called the number and listened to the phone ring. It rang four times and then his voice came on, inviting her to leave a message.
She almost did. Looking out over the frozen rooftops with their plumes of blowing smoke, she almost said, "This is Julia. What did you do to me last night? How did you do it? I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I want you to do it again, but I want more this time, and I want it slow so I can notice every bit."
But she didn't. Instead she just thought about him all day.
* * * * *
At home that night she told the girls she had to make an important call and told them not to disturb her, then she paced in her bedroom for ten minutes, nervously watching the clock. How late did he stay open anyhow? She was wasting time, and yet she was too nervous to call.
Finally she got out her cuffs and put them on, then pulled the sleeves of her sweatshirt down over them in case the girls should come in. She spread out some papers on the bed as if she were making a call and sat down with the phone and closed her eyes.
She remembered herself in Miles's back room, clipped to the chain, that special feeling of helplessness and anticipation. He could have done anything to her. It could have been dangerous, truly dangerous, but instead he asked her what she wanted him to do. He asked her. He wanted to help her fulfill her fantasy. That excited her, and in a strange way it disappointed her too. He had held her in the palm of his hand. Surely there was something he wanted to do with her himself, and she wanted to know what that was.
Julia stood up and started pacing again. He'd told her to come back. Maybe that was why, so he could have his way with her, so he could do what he wanted to do. What would that be?
He'd fuck her of course. He was a man, and he'd have to do that, and strangely she found she didn't mind, because there'd be more, she knew there'd be more. He'd make her do things, make her feel things, take control of her, and she found all this unaccountably exciting. She'd be clipped to the chain again in that dark back room with the window high on the wall, and Miles would touch her. he'd violate her. Maybe he'd tie her ankles this time too. Maybe he'd take her clothes off. He'd want her. He'd already told her he'd been waiting for her to come back so she knew he wanted her. It was so strange to be wanted again. So strange and so exciting!
Julia sat on the bed and dialed the phone. Her hand was sweating. It was answered on the second ring—Inga.
