Robyn awoke. There was a certain dry stickiness in her mouth. This was soon joined by a dull ache all over but most prominent in her back and buttocks. Attempting to stretch she was aware of the tight corset squeezing her body possessively. As her eyes adjusted to reality the first things they saw were the even tighter short, black skirt and knee high, high heeled boots which could only be described as 'fuck me'.
Hardly her usual evening wear.
Robyn tried to recall the previous night and drew a complete blank. She inhaled uneasily. She was home; that at least was good. But how had she ended up dressed like this? Did she want to know?
Getting ready for work her reflection stared back vacantly in the mirror. Faded and smeared make up and lipstick. A vague echo from last night; a man, men, talking, laughing. Her blue eyes focused and her face tensed slightly as she again trawled her memory and came up with nothing.
As she stepped into the shower she told herself she was sure she hadn't been drinking. The last thing she remembered clearly was a meeting at the end of the working day. She was a very moderate drinker and hardly ever drank after work with colleagues. As a woman in a still largely male dominated industry and one with a considerable number of male subordinates it made sense to not imbibe for both personal and professional reasons.
A vague sensation of glasses clinking rang in her ears.
She relaxed as the hot jets of water pounded her back. She sighed in pleasure as the still warm water flowed down her body leaving warm trickles which explored and caressed the contours of her fit, toned body. 'Yes, Robyn, relax, relaaaaxx'. Sighing, moaning, in pleasure, in arousal, hands all over her body. Angry at it, furious at it; at them. But helpless to resist. And enjoying it. Angry at herself. Furious with herself as she surrendered her body to their touches.
Robyn lingered longer than usual in the shower that morning. Frozen, almost immobile as her memory tried to perceive something perpetually beyond its horizon but so obviously there.
She dried and styled her sleek blond hair. Put on her smart blouse and business jacket and assessed herself in the mirror. Her new skirt stopping just above the knee was far more appropriate but nonetheless she tugged it down self consciously. She slipped on her heels and noted with satisfaction that she now looked a completely different woman from the one that had woken up. She reapplied her make up much more tastefully and told herself that no-one would ever know her as anything other than what she is. A smart, strong, professional women in complete control of herself.
'Yesss, Robyn. A completely different woman'
His voice echoed faintly in her mind. Seemed familiar but impossible to place.
At first, work seemed to be the usual brisk 'good mornings' before getting down to business. But a couple of the men seemed to give her knowing smirks as they greeted her. Robyn felt a tinge of angry unease. As if she was out of the loop on something important. Something concerning her. She admonished herself. There was an important meeting coming up and she had to focus. It's probably nothing anyway.
One of those smirking faces. Briefly her memory seemed to picture it again. As if it were looking down at her but in a different time and place. Robyn's blood began to surge and she felt a pulse of deep unease within her stomach. Think, think, damnit! Remember, remember!
'Yessss, Robyn. No need to think, no need to remember.'
The fingers clicked right before her eyes. Robyn blinked and shook herself awake.
"You with me, Robyn?"
She was aware of Ryan smiling at her in his usual dry, confident, not too serious kind of way. He was her no.2 in the department and very competent in his own fashion. She took in his neatly cut dark hair and friendly yet somewhat wolfish dark eyes. He was well dressed as usual in his dark business suit and neatly pressed shirt with a tie which had just about the right balance of colour and restraint. She'd always liked his taste in ties believing it to be one of the few ways men clould express their personality through their workplace clothing. Naturally her interest in him was strictly professional.
'Yesss, Robyn. At work nothing will change for you. You will still believe yourself to be the powerful executive you are and your relationships with the men around you to be strictly professional'
"Sorry, Ryan, just got a bit lost in thought there;" she smiled.
"Morning daziness, huh? I've seen it many times."
He winked at her as he held the door to the meeting room open for her. Avoiding his uncomfortably knowing look she briskly nodded her thanks as she went through the door. 'I've seen it many times' was a strange thing to say. What was strangest though was the similarity between his voice and the one echoing very faintly in the back of her head.
She heard Ryan laugh behind her and she turned around sharply. He met her eyes and the room went uncomfortably quiet for just an instant. He had been laughing at a harmless anecdote a colleague had been telling him about the rush hour traffic. She flushed and looked down then away. What was going on? What was happening to her? Coversation resumed as they waited for the last few stragglers to enter the meeting.
A few moments later everyone seemed to be present. Nine men and herself. She was to be leading the meeting. Robyn didn't consider herself egocentric or power hungry in the least but she did admit to a certain thrill at the thought of controlling this meeting. Bringing all of these alpha males to attention as they discussed their business strategy for the week.
A couple of them in the corner were being a bit naughty today though. They went on muttering and laughing quietly after she had called the meeting to order.
"Everything ok, Luis?"
She fixed him with a cool blue eyed stare.
"Um, yes, excuse us Robyn. Bit of a wild one at the GC last night".
Uncomfortably she noticed more than one smirk at the mention of the GC. Normally, she would just roll her eyes at the mention of the GC; the 'Gentleman's Club'. It was basically an excuse for a group of men including many of her colleagues to go out to a strip club. The irony of the club's name was sometimes genuinely lost on some of it's members too which further lowered Robyn's opinion of it. But today was different. Luis too had that 'I know something you don't' grin which both maddened and disturbed her.
"Well if we could focus on work now..." she replied somewhat testily.
She regretted that tone. It suggested insecurity, a lack of confidence and control. Any sign of weakness would not serve her well trying to manage a meeting of nine, largely testosterone driven men. Men which normally she had the means to control with the right blend of strength and sweetness.
But it wasn't working today. Many of them were being unnecessarily argumentative and obstructive she thought. She was used to disagreement and was normally secure enough in herself to accept and even welcome it at times. But this seemed different. It seemed to be coming from a certain loss of respect. Little half smiles when she made her suggestions, superficial and impatient nods when she explained her rationales. Ryan, in particular, though charming and polite as ever was being particularly unhelpful by questioning a lot of what she said. The meeting was breaking up into lots of splintered discussions.
Robyn tried to raise her voice to bring the meeting to order but it seemed to merely reduce the noise level not stop it as it usually did.
"Okay then; it's clear we are not going to come to an agreement today."
Without being raised Ryan's voice cut through the room. The talking stopped immediately and abruptly.
"I suggest we all go away and think. Then meet again, say, the same time tomorrow?"
Robyn reddened. This time her anger was justified. Who was he to usurp her position like this? Her fury was further componded by the fact that everyone seemed to accept his authority without question. The final thing which she didn't want to even think about was that somehow, deep within her she began to feel a slight stirring of attraction.
As a final insult Robyn noticed a few of the men now openly checking her out as they left. She was an attractive woman and she was usually aware when men were doing it. But the fact that they were not even making their obvious efforts to conceal it was both infuriating and deeply worrying.
This kind of change doesn't happen overnight. What had happened? What the fuck was going on?
She followed Ryan into his office and closed the door.
"What the hell was that all about just there?"
Robyn confronted him; able to meet his eyes directly in her high heels.
