Three steps. They stood nose to chin. Her eyes dropped to his erection.
“Get on your knees.”
She took a deep breath.
“Did you hear me?”
“I heard you.”
His penis jerked in his pants, jumping like a snake. Her mouth watered in shameful anticipation of the salty taste. The earlier moist rush increased. She’d done it so many times before, there was no question she would do it again, keep on doing it. Forever. Until the day she died. Unless...
“What are you waiting for?”
She pictured herself a gray-haired old woman down on creaking knees sucking a decrepit cock that no longer even got hard. She’d have lockjaw, her lips forever curled into a perfect round O to receive whatever man demanded sex from her. And she would still be masturbating quietly in shame in her lonely bed, a victim of her own unreleased desires.
Deep inside, someone howled. A death knell. Her own. “No.” At first a whisper. “No.” Stronger. Fuller.
“What?” Shock. It vibrated on his vocal chords.
“I said no. I won’t do it.” Power streaked through her extremities. The very power she’d always sought when she was down on her knees in front of them. The power she’d only had to stand up to find.
She would choose the cocks she sucked. No one else.
Remy reached out, fisted his hands in her hair, and forced her down on her knees. He pulled her head back by the roots, his gaze on her mouth. He didn’t even bother to look into her eyes, as if she was less than human. “Unzip my pants.”
“No.” A shiver ran through her, leaving a strange sense of control in its wake.
His mustache twitched like a rat’s whiskers.
“If you put it in my mouth, Remy, I’ll bite it off.”
He wrenched her hair, her scalp screamed. “Don’t ever say no to me.”
She didn’t raise her voice, didn’t shout. The word was all the more powerful for the softness of her tone. “No.”
He hauled her up, pain shot through her scalp to her ears, her neck and her shoulders. When he had her on her feet, he yanked her head back so that she had to look at him. “You’ll pay for this in a million excruciating ways.” He truly believed he could do it.
“You’re a dickhead, Remy. Call Marvin yourself. I quit.” Then she spat in his face.
*
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Max was still huddled on the floor, Remy towering over her. The vision seemed to have gone on forever, but she knew in reality it had lasted less than a minute.
Nevertheless, Remy had cursed at her. Her trance had unnerved him.
That gave Max all the insight she needed. He’d lost control when Wendy spat in his face. He’d had only one choice left. If you can’t control ’em, kill ’em. A new Remy motto.
“Why didn’t you tell anybody Wendy quit her job that last day?”
His mouth dropped open. He swallowed hard, took one step back. “You couldn’t possibly know that.”
She tipped her head to one side. “That’s why you killed her, isn’t it? Because she said no to you.” Finally. Irrevocably. Courageously.
Max felt pride. Wendy had said no.
He’d forced sex on her. Definitely something a boss would want to hide. But why hide the fact that she’d quit? “Were you afraid Detective Long would figure out everything if he knew Wendy had quit on you?” She tapped her lip. “Come to think of it, that’s probably why you searched my office the other day. You were afraid she might have written her resignation in her notes.”
Remy was too much of a control freak to stay down for long. He didn’t confirm her supposition, he didn’t have to. And he knew it. He straightened his shoulders, closed his lips. Recovered, he shook his head. “You are becoming troublesome.”
He didn’t state the obvious. If Witt knew Wendy had quit, he’d start asking why. Remy would have to lie. He wasn’t good at lying. Instead, he’d omitted the fact. With that one action, he’d branded the word “killer” into his chest.
Max was on her knees at Remy’s feet, halfway under the desk. Definitely not a one-up position, but that had never stopped her before. It certainly didn’t now. “Can’t answer the question? Afraid you’ll have to tell a lie?”
If she could keep him talking, she would find a way out.
He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a length of nylon cord. “You know, you could learn a lesson from Wendy.”
“And what’s that, Remy?”
“Stay on your knees and keep your mouth full.”
“Fuck you, Remy.”
He wagged a finger. “Max, you know my rule about swearing.”
“And fuck your rules, too.”
Her heart stuttered as he coiled the rope around his fist. “That’s why she died, Max, because she thumbed her nose at my rules.”
“Of course, it had nothing to do with the fact that her job description including sucking your cock every afternoon.”