**** Tuesday night
We'd taken a cab, the weather outside not conducive to walking anywhere.
I was staring pensively out of the window, watching the busy streets pass us by, watching people sullenly marching, umbrellas out in front of them, trying to get out of the rain.
I felt my wife squeeze my hand. I turned to look at her, seeing the concerned smile on her face.
"You look worried baby. Don't be! There's nothing to be afraid of," she reassured me, her thumb gently stroking the back of my hand.
I just nodded, not in any way reassured.
Claire turned away, seemingly satisfied that her words had done the trick; I went back to watching the sodden streets.
I couldn't shake the feeling in the pit of my stomach, the one that was telling me something bad, something I wasn't going to like was coming. The fact that we were coming back here so soon, the fact that Claire had told me Samuel wanted to 'talk to me', that he'd said 'we'd have words' when we next met - none of this boded well.
I guess I had the option of saying 'no, I'm not going'; hell, I should have said no. But I knew my wife was going to go, come what may - I didn't like the idea of another video call. I was still paying for this, after all, so I was damn well going to get the gratification of being there in person!
We pulled into the side street by the apartment, the cabbie having to beep his way through the ubiquitous gaggle of Chinese tourists. What is the collective noun, I wondered? A 'selfie'? A 'blockage'? I settled on a 'nuisance'.
Claire tipped the cabbie, him wishing her a nice night. She smiled, knowingly, "You too."
The same receptionist was still in place, apparently deciding that what her grand work really needed was a vast epilogue, judging by the ferocious pace she typed at.
She looked up, saw my wife and smiled, warmly, stopping her keyboard pounding, "I'll let Mr Akinyemi know you're here."
****
Samuel ushered us into the penthouse, politely taking our coats; back to 'gentlemen', mode, apparently. He offered me a brandy, which I gratefully took, swigging too much of the fiery liquid in one go, making me cough.
"You need to savour it," he smiled, seemingly amused at my discomfort.
The big man was dressed as if he were going to a business conference, resplendent in a navy blue suit with thin white pin stripes, black brogues and a white shirt. He'd even added a tie - something I realised I'd not seen that many of nowadays, even in Claire's swanky Mayfair office - and had a fuschia pink hanker-chief poking from his suit's breast pocket.
Sitting himself down in the middle of the sofa, Samuel looked at my wife, smiling, and patted the space to his left.
Claire, beaming, immediately sat down next to him, shuffling up so their sides were pressed up against each other.
He looked back up at me and smiled, casually placing his left hand down onto the very top of my wife's right thigh, pulling it back slightly so that her dress's hem rode up, her black panties peeking out.
Claire just sat, looking up at me as I stood, nervously, in the middle of the room, unsure if I should take a seat that had not been offered to me.
Jesus, he wasn't wasting any time. My eyes grew wide as I watched, stared as the man's hand moved back some more, pushing the front of her dress up more so that the delicate lacework of her knickers were fully visible.
I felt my stomach do a giddy little jig as I saw Claire turn to look at Samuel, a look of total adoration written across her face as he just sat there, wearing a large satisfied grin, just smiling at me, smiling at me as he pushed his hand underneath the top of my wife's delicate lingerie, onto her pubis and carried on down.
I knew I should have done something. I was paying for this, which was fine the other night, when we were all on board, but not now, not like this. He was taking liberties, pushing boundaries that shouldn't have been pushed. But the roles we'd all previously adopted just seemed to be, seemed to fit - not an act, a manifest reality. He was the big, strong, confident bull, taking what he wanted, what was his to take. My wife was just a plaything, a toy for him to use, to assert his masculinity. I felt unable to counter it, to do anything, because it just seemed... right. Hell, it was all still so fucking hot, I don't know if I wanted it stopped!
Not that any of this seemed to matter to Claire. I heard her take a sharp intake of breath as I stared at his big hand, the outline of his fingers obvious, barely contained underneath her flimsy panties. I could actually see his digits shift, spreading her wet lips, finding the little pleasure button of her clit, rubbing it, pushing it, toying with it. He just kept smiling at me while my wife moaned, leaning into him, putting both her arms around his bicep, holding him as he pleasured her.
She looked up from him, at me, looking down to my trousers to see the obvious sign of my arousal, looking back into my eyes and just... smiled.
"Neil," started Samuel, his tone serious, his smile now gone, "Neil, look at me."
I managed to tear my eyes away from my wife, looking directly at the man fingering her.
"I am very disappointed in you Neil. As is your wife."
Judging from the sounds Claire was making, I wasn't so sure about that...
"What you did was a gross breach of trust. There are going to be-"
"Samuel, look-" I started.
"Do not interrupt me Neil!" roared the big man, his face suddenly contorted in a scowl of anger.
Claire and I both jumped, shocked by the sudden fierceness.
"As I was saying," he continued, his voice and face both relaxing back to their previous stern setting, "there are going to consequences."
My wife cried out, "Oh, fuck!" as his fingers clearly hit the right spot.
"For a start, you are to address me as mister Akinyemi from now on."
Claire just spread her legs wider as she gripped Samuel's arm tighter, her hips writhing, just a little, as he continued to massage her clit, the bottom of her knickers now shining slightly, wet from her excitement as she watched me being dressed down.
"And the monthly payment is now two thousand pounds."
Two fucking grand?!
"But-", I began, shocked as I thought of so much of my income going to my wife's bull.
"You are not to argue with me Neil!" he shouted again, "Two thousand pounds. Effective Immediately. Do I make myself clear?!"
My wife moaned again. Was that from him playing with her, or some sort of satisfaction she took from his display of dominance?
"Look, Samuel-"
"Mister Akinyemi!" he roared.