The man sitting in front of me, the man about to be introduced to me as the boss of the firm to which I was about to give my presentation in the hope of securing a very lucrative contract with them, was the man I had let fuck me last night for five hundred dollars. NO! This can't be happening! But it was. Oh God, it was. I just stood there, numb, as Bill rose to his feet. I felt my world, my entire life, crashing around me. This was the end of my career.
"Hi, William Jones," he said calmly, politely, a smug smile on his face as he looked me in the eye. "Call me Bill." I heard him speaking, but it was as though I was somewhere else, not actually present in the room. My heart was pounding in my chest. I felt gripped by extreme panic, locked to the spot in the floor. I thought for a moment I would faint.
"Anne, are you OK?" I heard someone say. I think it was Pete. His words jolted me back into reality -- but a reality I could hardly bear! I steeled myself as best I could.
"Yes, I'm OK. Bill," I said, extending my hand to complete the formalities, though desperately trying to avoid his gaze, "pleased to meet you."
"Likewise," he smiled. He was as cool as ice, acting as if nothing had happened the night before, as if indeed he had in fact just met me for the first time -- as everyone else in the room naturally assumed was the case.
"Anne, you look a little pale," he said. "Would you like a glass of water before we continue?"
All I could manage was a feeble 'yes' as I sat down.
Oh my God. It wasn't just the embarrassment. That would have been bad enough, bad beyond belief - and it surely was. I could hardly bring myself to look him in the eye. But what about when all this got back to Mr Sheldon? For it surely would. Bill would tell him, I was certain, tell him how his marketing executive had fucked him the night before their meeting like a common whore. I felt like turning and walking out of there, right there and then. But something, maybe my sense of professionalism, made me stay. Made me resolve to at least get through the presentation. Go through the motions, get it over with, in the best way I could, and not give Bill the satisfaction of seeing me crumble. And then just get my sorry ass out of there.
It was the most excruciating and longest day of my life. The only respite was, oddly enough, when I was actually giving the presentation for which I had been so well prepared. For despite the internal trauma, the fact that I was virtually shaking the whole time I spoke, and that I could hardly look Bill in the eye even for a moment, I actually didn't do a bad job of it. But oh, then came the extended business lunch, which normally occurs at these sorts of affairs, and for two hours I had to engage in light conversation with the three men, with Bill throwing in the odd line about my private life, such as how could it be that such an attractive, intelligent girl as myself wasn't already hitched? Damn him, he was enjoying himself over this, at my expense.
We had a wrap up in the afternoon, and by five mercifully it was over. I said my goodbyes to Pete and Jeff as they prepared to leave, but then just as I was about to go Bill came over to me.
"Oh Anne, would you mind sticking around just a minute? There are a couple of points I'd like to go over."
"Yes, sure," I replied. What else could I say? And I knew pretty much what those 'points' were going to be. Pete and Jeff had gone. Now it was just Bill and myself alone in the conference room.
"Take a seat," he said firmly. The tone of his voice had changed. He remained standing, and idly strolled to the opposite end of the conference table. I watched him, his back towards me, his fingers straying across the top of the chair, lightly tapping the chair. Then he turned to look at me.
"Well, well," he said, placing one hand in front his mouth, resting his thumbs under his chin, as if in some kind of contemplation. Here it comes, I thought, bracing myself, here it comes. "That was an interesting day, Anne, I must say. Not as interesting as the night before, though -- not by a long shot. And on that topic, may I ask, what was last night about? What the hell was going on there? Doesn't Sheldon pay you enough, Anne? Or Angie, is it? Hmm?"
I started to cry. All the emotion pent up all day, I just lost it.
"I'm sorry, Bill, so sorry," I sobbed, feeling even more dejected, even more pathetic -- cracking up like this in front of him was exactly what I didn't want to happen! "I don't know what I was doing! That was, that's never happened before, I've never done that before!"
"Hey," he said, "hey!" raising his voice. "Stop crying. Get it together. I'm just asking: last night, what was that about?"
He gave me a tissue and I dried my eyes.
"I don't know. I just don't know. Maybe just a fantasy, one I never meant to be real, and it just sort of got out of hand. I'm really sorry, Bill, I... I just don't know what to say!"
"Hmm, but this is certainly an interesting situation we've got ourselves into here," he said, chuckling. God, he was laughing! "Tell you what: if you're thinking I'm not going to do a deal with you because of last night, the answer is you're mistaken. The fact is that your proposal is pretty good. It's got merit. It's not perfect, and there are some fundamental points on which I would like to negotiate different terms but, on the whole, it's well in the ballpark...
"Now, listen carefully to what I've got to say. I run this firm. Tomorrow Pete and Jeff will be making their own recommendations to me as to whether or not we do a deal, but I've got final veto. I'm the boss, I can overrule them if I so chose.
"Now, as I said, your proposal is good, not perfect, but good. Maybe good enough. Maybe not. Now, listen carefully: I've got a proposition for you.
"Since I'm the boss, and I make the decisions, I could make a decision right here and now, yes or no. As I said, I can sign up with you right now, or I can walk away right now. It's all up to me. Your pitch was good. With a few minor amendments, I think it could be something that can work for my company.
"Now, I fly back home in the morning, which means I'm here for another night. So, here's the deal: you will agree to be my personal whore for the evening, and that means you do whatever I say, when I say it. You agree to that, deal's on. How does that sound?"