[Recap: Tom and Hayley offer a very specific personal service, turning people into living items of furniture, as a side hustle to their day job at Harbinger's Home and Garden store. Their commissions have been getting more elaborate recently. Working so closely together, the line is blurring between their personal and their professional lives. This installment follows on from Max and Clea's request in
Storage Solution
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This story contains themes of forniphilia, bondage, latex confinement, orgasm control and woodworking, though not graphic woodworking]
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We parked the Harbinger's van in the driveway, backing up to the garage doors. I turned off the engine to wait. Hayley was scrolling through her phone, ignoring me.
"Look," I said, "Can we just get through this job, and then we can have a talk?"
"Depends. Is there something you want to talk about?" Hayley shot back.
"Hayley, you're not being very fair."
"In what way?"
"What you expect."
"Oh, don't worry, Tom. I'm not expecting anything from you."
I let out a low breath, but I didn't reply: it seemed pointless.
"I guess, is it because you're the boss? You don't want to be seen screwing the crew?" Hayley pressed, "Or am I just some kind of game?"
"Look, you know what I think. I'm...."
"Uptight," Hayley interjected, "I know. All this shit we do to other people, hell, that stuff you did to me. I can tell how it turns you on, I can see it. But you never want to do anything about it. If it's about screwing the crew then here's the newsflash, Tom. That horse has bolted. You may not have physically, but you have done everything else. You get that, right?"
She huffed, folding her arms over her chest.
"We're up to our necks in something amazing, you and me. We are so far beyond the standard employment contract, Tom. If the regional management turned up at Harbingers and discovered our little order book, it wouldn't be dismissal, it'd close down the entire company. Thirty-something manager of a local homewares store chain and his female assistant running a side-business where they turn people into kinky human furniture, you know, right? It'd be on the web forever."
Her expression softened, and she looked across at me for the first time since we'd arrived.
"We are so utterly, completely fucked, Tom. We left normal behind a long while back. We can't even see it in the rear-view mirror anymore. I need to know where we stand. This is my life we're talking about as well as yours."
I watched as she slumped back into the van's passenger seat, her attention drifting from me to the view through the windscreen. In profile, I studied her delicate face, the curve of her neck, the mass of auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail. She was younger than me, but that had become less and less of an issue. The fact that I was her boss was also less of an issue now. All those roadblocks had eroded away as we'd ventured further and further into this strange, secret world we'd discovered that existed behind the curtains of ordinary suburban houses like this one, waiting for Clea to arrive so that we could begin.
I had something important that I needed to tell her, something that had been going around and around in my head for months now. My pulse quickened as I summoned up the courage. It was only a few words, all I'd need to cross that gap between us. I just needed to say something that there was no going back from, I just needed to finally put it all on the line. I opened my mouth.
"Hey, Hayley," I began.
"Heads up, she's here," Hayley interjected, "Show time."
She opened the passenger door and stepped onto the driveway as a red car pulled up at the curb, leaving me disorientated in the cab, so close to exposing how I really felt. The moment was lost.
Hayley got down to business. She straightened her Harbinger's uniform, smoothing the grey skirt down her thighs, adjusting the collar of the blue and white shirt. The only incongruity in her appearance was her choice of footwear: four-inch stiletto heels. I opened the driver-side door and got out too.
Clea tumbled out of the car in a rush, apologising profusely as she made her way up the drive.
"Sorry, I'm so sorry. It took forever to drop the kids off. Only Dad was there and they tend to play up when they see Grandpa," Clea began, "Have you been here long?"
"Nah, just a few minutes," Hayley replied.
"Yeah, sorry. Toddlers."
"At least they're out of the way."
Clea halted in the driveway.
"Yeah, I guess," she replied, eyeing us both and then the van, "There's that to it. They can't see this."
"How long before Max is home?" Hayley asked, business-like.
"Oh, he should be here by five. It's great that you could do this on a weekend."
I stepped around the van and gave her a polite smile.
"It's all part of the service," I said, "We want you to be comfortable with it."
Clea didn't move.
"Shall we get on with it?" I asked.
It seemed to rouse Clea from her inactivity. She nodded.
"Yeah, sure. Let me show you where," she said.
Hayley flashed me a puzzled look as Clea passed her to open the door. The women went into the house together and I followed along behind.
Clea's house was nicely furnished, but not as extensive as her friend Bethany, the reason for our meeting in the first place. We'd turned up to Bethany's house on a service call for a previous job, to find the mistress of the house had secreted her husband away in clingwrap under the kitchen sink, turning him into an oral sex appliance. Clea had discovered Bethany's marital secret and had asked me for my business card on the way out.
She led us into one of the back rooms. It was furnished with a desk and chair, and a set of bookshelves.
"This is the home office. We, uh, Max was was thinking that we could have the bed folded up against this wall, so we can pull it down when we want it. We can shift all this to the other side."
Clea stood in front of the wall that faced the door, indicating the bookshelf and desk with a hand, then turned to face me.
"I want to be able to see it as soon as you walk into the room," she finished.
I nodded, stepping past her and tapping on the wall.