Doing What You Wouldn’t Normally Do

(When going into the Dragon's Lair, first make sure the Dragon is not at home)

(Friday morning)

Alice Delacroix walked into her office, cut off the light, and stopped. There was a strange man in her office, sitting in one of client chairs. His back was to her.

"Hello," he said without turning around. "I would like to talk to you. You are in trouble and I'm here to help."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered.

"Someone has contacted an attorney, who contacted me. I've been studying your case for a week. Doesn't he come by soon ... for his morning session?"

"How ... did you know? No one was supposed to know," she groaned. She'd gone to depraved lengths to keep her secret. Alice sat down heavily at her desk. The non-descript man stared at her impassively.

"If you are referring to Mike Durbin, he is hardly discrete. Most people on this floor suspect something, though they can't fathom why. When he comes in, act like we are transacting some business. The point is to stay calm."

"I don't know you. I don't know how you came to be here," she almost sobbed. "What do I do now?"

"I'm Taylor, I am here because someone is paying me to be here, and now we wait," Taylor told her.

"For what?"

"I want to see the two of you interact," he responded. "It is important to me." She didn't ask why.

Mike Durbin knocked on the door twice rapidly then opened it up and took a step in. Alice Delacroix tensed and looked up at him. Mike's gaze glanced to the man sitting opposite her. The man didn't turn around; staying with his back to Mike.

"Alice, we still on for lunch?" he taunted her.

"Yes," Alice nodded. "I'm in the middle of something. Is there anything else?"

"No, I'll catch you later. I'll be looking forward to lunch," he said before departing. The door shut and for a few seconds neither person in the room spoke.

"That was him." Taylor said it as a statement, not a question.

"Yes. Can you help me?" she asked.

"What does he have on you?" Taylor inquired.

"I ... I shouldn't say."

"You are very bright, but are from a poverty-stricken background -- foster care to be precise. You've been climbing up the ladder since you interned here in college. You've since earned your MBA while steadily advancing here. The downside is you racked up a pile of debt that, with your current salary, you couldn't have paid off, but you somehow have. Tell me how I'm doing."

"Okay," she gulped.

"No close friends, no romantic interests, no support network of any kind -- you have little avenues of vulnerability, but no allies either, so I'm guessing you embezzled money. Nod if I'm right."

Alice hesitated then nodded.

"Don't be too freaked out. This kind of thing is what my boss does -- studies vulnerabilities and assesses problems."

"What do you do?" Alice inquired.

"I solve problems, if they can and should be solved," Taylor answered. "You owe your company a great deal of money. Can you pay it back?"

"In a few weeks I can."

"Do it by start of business Monday," Taylor instructed.

"I can't."

"You are smart. Find a way, because it is very important," Taylor emphasized.

"Okay. Does this mean you will help me? Paying back the company won't stop him from blackmailing me. He has copies of the original transactions."

"Of course he does. He's not stupid, just control-obsessed, boorish, and inordinately proud," Taylor explained. "If he wasn't, he would have asked for more money. Instead he asked for sex and a promotion. As for helping you; that depends on you. Will you do what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it?"

"Do I have a choice?" she asked dejectedly.

"Of course you do. You can keep things as they are, until he does also ask for all your money and other things that will be even more valuable to you, like your soul. If you are going to work with me, you had better stand up and take responsibility for yourself. Beating this guy is going to require courage."

"You are a strange man," she muttered.

"I get that a lot. Now, are you in?"

"Yes. What do you want me to do?" she said with some determination.

"Become sexually aggressive yet let him overpower you," Taylor instructed, "and accepts that I'm going to tape your session today. Make sure you have him admit he is taking you by force. Challenge his authority, and he'll press you hard. He'll need to prove himself your master."

"He might hurt me," Alice worried.

"He won't do it because he risks what he's earned, but he'll find petty ways to make you suffer, so be ready. Lastly, make a point of telling him you will be busy all weekend. He'll demand you see him somewhere in one of the offices. Do it; give in but make it sound convincing."

"How do I do that?" she sighed.

"Pretend you hate him," Taylor said straight-faced. "That turns him on."

"That I can do. What will you be doing?" Alice asked.

"Breaking a Cardinal Rule; I'll be using blackmailing," Taylor confessed.

"Why are you doing that?" she wondered.

"That's why I had to see him with you; study his reflection in your window."

"Oh." She didn't know what else to say.

"This guy is never going to let you go," Taylor told her. "I have to strike at his weakness; in this case pride and the only avenue to do that is blackmail."

"What do we do if this doesn't work," she worried.

"I put him in the hospital, but that is a short term solution. This guy you have to beat mentally to win," Taylor told her. He could tell that didn't reassure her.

Taylor stood up and extended his hand.

"I'm good at my job," he stated. "Now I need to go get the equipment and set up the camera in here. When I leave, you need to stay away for thirty minutes. I'll be gone when you come back." She shook his hand.

"Why can't I stay here?"

"If you know where the camera is, you will look at it. If you do, he might notice and then things get really bad," Taylor explained. Alice merely nodded. Taylor left and she called for an update meeting with her staff in the far conference room. Mike had to be there, of course. Coming back into her office afterwards, she couldn't help herself from looking around. Nothing looked disturbed which oddly made her feel hopeful for the first time in weeks.

(Friday afternoon)

It was at the close of school that teacher Lisa Durbin discovered that a large envelope had been left for her at the School Office. The delivery man had been pretty average the secretary said, but he wasn't from a courier service they recognized. Lisa opened the envelope and a DVD fell into her hand, along with a note. The note read,

'You will find this of great personal importance. If you wish to discuss this, call the number at the bottom. If I don't hear from you by 6:00 pm, I will forward this on to other concerned parties.'

There was no signature. Lisa was pretty sure that someone was pranking her, so she didn't think about it again until she got home and she had to reach into her purse to get her phone. It was Mike telling her that some emergency had come up at work and his ball-busting boss was forcing him to come in to work on Saturday. Their weekend plans had gone up in smoke. Lisa groaned. She'd really wanted to go to the lake on Mike's new boat.

Lisa poured herself some wine, picked up the DVD, shrugged and put it in the player in the Living Room. The first thing to hit her was that the angle of the picture was strange and that the tape quality wasn't top rate. It appeared to be a video of Mike's boss sitting at her desk, working at her computer. There was a knock on the door and Mike came in. Lisa heard something like the click of a lock. Mike walked toward his boss.

"Get out," the woman said. "I'm tired of you hurting me." Lisa's eyes grew wide and she had to put the glass of wine down before she dropped it.

"I haven't even begun to hurt you Baby," Mike leered. The woman came around the desk and tried to push past him. She tried to escape. Mike caught her around the waist and shoved her against her desk, facing him.

"Get out," his boss ordered. Mike laughed. Instead of leaving, he pawed at one of her breasts. She tried to slap him, but he caught her hand. Mike pressed his body down onto her.

"Bitch, just for that, I'm going to take you up your ass!" he growled. Lisa gasped. Mike was pushing up his boss' skirt while she tried to push him off. When he got her skirt high enough, he ripped her off panties and stuffed them in his coat pocket. The woman stifled a scream and started crying. Mike laughed at her. He was unzipping his pants and rolling her over when the words from the note came crashing back down on her.

'If I don't hear from you by 6:00 pm, I will forward this on to other concerned parties.'

If Mike's boss's boss saw this, he would lose his job. If the school board saw this, she would lose her job as well. They had been racking up expenses over the past month. Lisa assumed Mike had gotten a bonus at work. Now ... he was raping his immediate superior on video. Mike had the woman bent over her desk, slamming into the woman's ass, spanking her with one hand while yanking her hair back with the other. The woman was clearly in pain and was pleading with him to stop. Mike was laughing. Lisa saw her entire life crashing down around her.

She got up and ran to her purse. She fished out the note and stared at it, face contorted by fear. 'What was she going to do?' she thought. 'What did this person want?' She really didn't see her having much of a choice. She could wait for Mike to come home, but then what? Could she confront him about raping his boss? He might do something like that to her. How could she trust him anymore? She called the number.

"Hello?" Lisa started.

"Do you wish to find a way out of your current situation?" responded a man's voice.

"Yes, please. We can pay."

"We can discuss all your options tomorrow. Come to the Carlton Inn, room 112 at 10 o'clock in the morning. Find an excuse to leave home."

"That won't be a problem," Lisa said bitterly. On the other end of the line Taylor was pretty bitter too, but Alice had to keep Mike occupied while this played out.

"Come alone. If we can resolve this, your husband will never need to know," he lied her.

"Why are you doing this to me ... I mean us?"

"You are a good person; a teacher. If it wasn't for you, this matter would have ended badly this afternoon. I feel like giving you a chance," the voice assured her.

"Thank you. I'll be there," she said. She suddenly was finding it easier to breath. She had hope.

"Good bye," and the voice was gone.

When Mike got home he was happy. He even complimented Lisa on dinner. He also seemed distracted. When she went to bed, she invited him to join her, but he said he had to get some work done. She stopped by his chair and offered to hang his coat up. Mike grunted. As she went to put it up, she found her hands shaking.

She reached into the pocket and found the ripped panties. Lisa went to bed no longer curious as to why their sex life had been steadily declining recently. She had attributed it to work stress. When he finally did come to bed, she was laying on her side, pretending to be asleep. In her mind she kept hearing that woman crying while Mike called her terrible names.

(Saturday morning)

Lisa knocked on the door softly. She imagined no one coming to the door and her getting back into her car. She was building up the hope when the door opened and a handsome man stood before her. She was surprised that he was so good looking. She had expected some kind of dirty, sleazy, short, fat bastard. Instead she was looking at a male model.

"Come in," the man asked, basking her in a warm smile and perfect white teeth. Lisa blushed. She came in and walked to the middle of the room and looked around. It was surprisingly clean and neat for a place on the wrong side of the tracks. She felt a chill go up her spine as she heard the door quietly closed.

"Can I get you some wine?" the man offered. "I have a good red, white, and chardonnay." Taylor knew she liked a specific brand of red, but felt it was easier to put it into a collection and have her pick it than give off a stalker vibe by simply giving her the one she wanted. Oscar liked that detail. He needed this woman to lower her defenses.

"Red will be fine," Lisa said. She was becoming more and more confused. Deep down, she knew what might be expected of her. She told herself that this person would want something else, but when she saw him she secretly hope he did want her body. She hated herself for that impulse, but that didn't stop her from watching his back as he went to his bag and pull out a bottle of red. It was her favorite.

"It's my favorite," he told her. "I hope you don't mind."

"No, no, that is just fine." She was suddenly suspicious. "Wait, I think I would rather have the Chardonnay." The man shrugged, turned and pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay.

"Will this do?" he said, offering her a look at the bottle. "I'll still drink the red. It makes my tongue tickle." Lisa stifled a gasp. She felt the same way, but how could he know? "I've changed my mind again. I will have the red after all." Again the man shrugged his well-muscled back and shoulders as he put the bottle of Chardonnay back. She liked the way his slacks pulled taunt over his strong, muscled posterior too.

He walked past her and pulled two wine glasses off the low dresser and filled up each glass halfway. He handed her the first glass then took up the second.

"To Lisa for having the courage to come here," he toasted. Lisa drank. She was becoming more and more confused. She was looking for the trap.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Oscar," he replied with a sly smile. Lisa couldn't help but notice he was taking her body in. It was both unsettling and exciting. She took a drink of wine. They passed a minute in silence.

"You want to know why you are here. Let's say that I became aware of Mike and his boss's indiscretion. When I learned what was really going on, my first impulse was to destroy Mike, but then I found out that Mike had a wife. Before sending him to the police, I wanted to get to know you. I learned that you were a good person.

I had to balance Alice's welfare against your survival. Now I don't know what to do. Since you are an uninvolved third party, I decided to give you a choice. Can you convince me that I shouldn't punish Mike? I wouldn't want to bring you down too, of course but I can't leave him an alternate form of income. I'm sorry you about to be crushed under the weight of his actions."

"Please don't," Lisa begged. "I haven't done anything wrong. It was all Mike."

"Would you divorce him and leave him forever?" Oscar inquired. Lisa hesitated. She had loved Mike once. He had made her feel special. Since their marriage, things had cooled off. Mike liked a challenge and she was no longer it. He'd conquered her and what had she been left with? She'd been left with a sex tape of him raping his boss and a mountain of debt, and now it had led her to a clandestine meeting with a very handsome man alone.

"I don't know? Would that really solve anything?" she asked.

"What if I could also convince his boss to pay you for any expenses you may incur? You know she wants to get out of this situation as much as you do. You two have a common cause: both have you were fucked over by Mike. In a way you have both been betrayed."

"My job would be safe?" she hoped. "I could go on with my life?"

"You are a very sweet, beautiful person Lisa," Oscar told her. He reached out and gently stroked her cheek. Lisa froze up and for an instant Oscar was afraid he'd gone too fast. Lisa took a deep breath and smiled at him. She then took a deep drink of her wine.

"Can I fill you up?" he offered.

"Yes you can," she blurted out. She blushed when she realized the direction the conversation had taken. Oscar didn't seem to notice. He got the bottle and poured her more wine, just a little more this time.

"There you go. You didn't answer my question. I know it is a lot to ask, but I need an answer in the next two hours."

"What happens in two hours?" Lisa questions.

"Things move beyond my control. I learned last night that he was going to see Ms. Delacroix today. If he hurts her, I may not be able to cover this up anymore. Mike would destroy himself and drag you down to," Oscar said sadly. He moved so he was sitting beside her on the bed. He slowly put an arm around her and pulled her in so that her head rested on his shoulder. "I know I barely know you but I don't want to see you get hurt."

Lisa looked up at Oscar. She was trying to think of something to say. Her lips parted and Oscar leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. He pulled back.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. You're so beautiful, I can't think straight." Lisa couldn't remember the last time Mike had called her beautiful, or looked at her the way this man was looking at her, or kissed her that way. She put an arm around him, reaching his head and pulling it back down to her lips.

It was a long, hungry kiss, their tongues touching and caressing. It wasn't a battle, it was a dance. His hand came to rest on her mid-thigh. She found her breath coming in little gasps. She placed a hand on his mid-thigh. As he moved his hand up, it pushed hers ahead of him so he was at the crest of her thigh when she found her hand on his crotch.

She began stroking his cock inside his pants. It felt like a rod of iron inside there, stiff and full of energy. She could feel it throb. She moaned into him, their lips still kissing. He broke the kiss and looked deep into her soul.

"I need you," he growled. "I need you now." She found herself nodding.

"Yes," she panted. Maybe it as the wine; maybe it was the neglect, but this hot man wanted her and she wanted him and nothing else seemed to matter. He drove his lips into her neck, nibbling and biting. His hands came tantalizingly close to her crotch and breasts, but he would not violate them. It was driving her mad. She was moaning and taking deep breaths. She kept her hand on his crotch, sliding it faster and faster, up and down.

"Is it bigger than your husband's?" he purred into her ear.

"Yes, oh God, yes," she all but screamed. He rewarded her by a gentle squeeze of one breast. Her nipple poked through her bra and dress. He rubbed his palm and thumb over it. She felt herself becoming embarrassingly wet.

"I want you now," she begged.

"I want to taste you first," he breathed with passion. Lisa's husband had only gone down on her twice and only then to 'get her going'. She heard about how good it could be, but resigned herself to never knowing. She didn't reply. She didn't have to. Oscar began removing his shirt displaying sculpted pecs and six pack abs.

He was tanned and firm and all hers. Oscar stood up then pulled her up. Gently he turned her around. Alice was horny and confused until she felt Oscar's hands touch the top of the zipper to her dress.

His touch felt so warm against her neck. He didn't tear the zipper down; he pulled it down oh so slowly. She could feel him taking in her flesh as it was exposed to him. He placed small kisses down her spine as the zipper progressed. It was driving her nuts and she loved it.

"Does Mike love you like this, Mrs. Durbin," he panted at the point the small of her back curved down to her ass.

"Oh no; Mike is a selfish bastard," she groaned.

"I would never leave you unsatisfied," Oscar told Lisa as he stood back up. His hands went to the sides of her neck then slowly, teasingly, pushed her dress off her shoulders until, with a wiggle of her hips, it slipped to the ground. For only a moment Oscar pushed himself hard against her. Lisa felt his manhood on the small of her back but he was gone before she could push back. God, he was driving her insane.