Opulent

by Manoa, David

  Opulent

  ~~~

  David Manoa

  Copyright 2015 David Manoa

  AMAZON Edition

  ~~~~

  The author asserts the moral right to be identified as

  the author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, information storage and retrieval systems, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the author, with the exception of a book reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  ~~~~~~

  My fingers fidgeted with the bottle of beer as I sat on the brown leather sofa, waiting anxiously for Vivian to arrive. My cock twitched, wanting to devour her. The bubbling carnal urges within me, the need to have her, an addiction.

  My sofa overlooked the long grey cobbled stone drive. Like an airplane runway, LED strip lights lining its path.

  I hoped to see any minute now the incoming headlights drawing close. To ravage Vivian's body, to quench my need. She promised to be here over an hour ago. I clutched the red velvet box that held a pair of teardrop diamond earrings. They were elegant, expensive, but I bought them ‘cause they reminded me of her eyes.

  Ha! That was the line the assistant gave me when I bought the damn things after showing her Vivian’s picture. Vivian has this strength of character, intuition about her. She was the woman that knew how I thought. What I desired. How I liked to fuck…

  I lifted my hand and circled my thumb on my index finger. thinking about her breasts. Surgically enhanced; rounded, broad and firm. The way she would let my hands navigate their surface. Teasing till she became aggressive. The way I would squeeze her nipples, then caress them with my tongue. Vivian loved the way I would do it, the ability to roll my tongue, Conjuring sensations of seductive suction when I suckled her clit.

  I walked over to the balcony to see a set of lights below. I knew it was Vivian by the way she flicked the high beams on the car. The night air was crisp, chilly but bearable. I loosened my matt blue tie and watched Vivian get out of the passenger side of the car. She wore a skin tight black sheath dress. Sleeveless and above the knee. Her brunette hair was tied up in a pouf. She stumbled on the cobbled stone driveway. Perhaps the heel of her black stilettos got stuck. Maybe she was drunk. Or worse.

  I shifted my eyes to Alex, who got out of the car, shaking his head. He ran over and carried her on his shoulder to the door. Yeah, she‘s drunk alright. God forbid she’s different this way…

  Minutes later, I opened the door to let them in. Alex was furious. He blurted out to me, “Bro… That’s the last time I ever listen to you. Drunken bitch fucking threw up on me, ruined my Versace suit jacket!”

  I let Vivian brush past me as she headed to the bathroom. I could hear the water from the shower running and the steam escaping into the corridor. My eyes shifted to Alex, who was tucking in his shirt.

  Alex looked in the mirror, near the door checking his slick back hair. He examined his cheeks and neck. Agitated. “Chad…you gotta check your woman!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Goddamn, when I turned up to pick her up from the party she was real friendly with some of the clients…”

  I wasn’t fazed since I knew it was her nature to be flirty.

  “You shoulda come to the party to tame her.”

  “No one can ever tame her. Besides, she didn’t want me there.”

  Alex laughed. “You are so pussy whipped it’s not funny Chad. That’s why I play the game! She tells you jump, you don’t jump- you go, How high, Vivian? Don’t you? Ha-ha.”

  “The hell are you on about?”

  “Jesus… Chad. You don’t get it do you?”

  Alex looked down the corridor, then his eyes shifted to mine. He pointed outside so we could talk in private. We walked over to his red Ferrari 458 Italia. Alex took out a cigar and sat on the bonnet. He lifted his leg up and brushed away some dust from his brown leather shoes. “I’m glad she didn’t wreck my shoes. Wreck my suit, I can live with that.”

  I sat next to him and he handed me a cigar. Both of us were puffing away in the night like steam train locomotives. Reflecting, talking shit.

  “Straight up bro, you should have listened to me the first time. Hit it and quit it. That’s my motto. I know you're blinded by the pussy, but I know what she's slinging…”

  I inhaled. “And what’s that?”

  “She's got you around her thumb, bro.”

  “Bah… It's not like that.”

  “Bullshit. I’m telling you now to watch yourself. She’s shady…”

  I frowned. “You’re always the expert, huh?”

  “I am,” he said proudly. “I call it man-tuition.” He waved his cigar.

  “Fuck off, there's no such thing.”

  Alex stood up and put his cigar in his mouth. He made this V sign with his hands by his crotch. Thrusting with his hips.

  “You see this?”

  “It’s small, but yeah I see it.”

  “Jesus, Chad I’m serious… This is where man-tuition comes from, and you refuse to embrace it. We are born with it. Innate. Primal.”

  I started laughing. Alex had this smug look as he puffed on his cigar. The ashes were falling in front of me. I took out my keys to my grey Aston Martin and threw it to him. “Take my car, I’ll get yours cleaned up, ok?”

  Alex's eyes shifted around and he took the cigar out of his mouth. “Nah, nah. I’ll be fine. Your car‘s a slow piece of shit anyway. Bro, we do need to talk later about some of the things Vivian was saying. She has secrets she ain't telling you.”

  “What secrets?” I said.”

  Alex paused, looking behind me. I turned to see Vivian half naked, watching us from the balcony above like an owl spotting two rats below. I turned back when Alex brushed past.

  He whispered, “Hold off from signing the remaining shares with Cerberus petroleum…”

  ***

  I walked up the stairs and into the bedroom. Vivian was on the bed touching herself when I edged towards her. She stopped and stood up and held the sides of my suit. Her thumbs were playing with my tie.

  She whispered, “What was Alex on about?”

  “He was pissed off that you threw up in his car…”

  Vivian laughed, not remorseful at all. “Threw up, is that what he said. Idiot.” I could smell her minty breath and the sweet sandalwood smell of the soap she used in the shower. Her hair was damp and stringy. Her steely grey eyes were sultry, roping me in.

  She started to undo the button on my blue suit. She threw the jacket on the floor, and began to pull on my tie as she dragged me to bed. In her raspy voice, she said, “Come to mama…”

  Vivian moved up against the red silk pillow to rest her head. I leaned in and nuzzled the surface of her neck.

  Vivian's eyes closed; her tongue was licking the top of her lips. Her hands were on my waist, then moved in front as she undid the belt of my trousers. I heard the zipper open. Her hands moved up to the sides of my face, holding them for a moment. Her eyes shifted down as she pushed my head to the valley of her breasts. I kissed the area, then she pushed my head further down to her pussy; she moaned. “I want it… I like the way you do it with your tongue.”

  I flinched and then rolled over to the side of the bed. It wasn’t arousing for me to do her like this; a turnoff. I stood up with my back to her and undid the buttons of my crisp white shirt. Pausing, making her wait. Making her beg for it.

  “Hurry up!” she said.

  I turned to see her on the bed. Her legs opened while she massaged her clit. The sheets were rippled, wrapped around her right leg. Her cheeks were flushed. Her toes curled as I heard her
moans. I continued unbuttoning, but at a slower pace, taking thirty seconds, for each button. The anticipation and her impatience made Vivian aggressive. I could hear her groans behind me now that my shirt was off.

  I pulled my belt through the loops of my pants, taking my time while she continued to masturbate in the background. Her moans were getting louder and louder as her self-pleasure took control. She didn’t need me to fulfill her need.

  My eyes shifted to the dressing table mirror to see the reflection of myself. The moonlight made me look like a white ghost. I felt empty. Rotting from within.

  ***

  I woke up the next morning and got out of the house. Vivian was so hung over that if there was ever a motivation to come early to work, then that was it.

  My office was four blocks away from the hospital. I had the 25th floor of the Optus building, the second highest skyscraper in the city. I drove past the hospital to see a line of fire trucks putting out a blaze on the top floors. Bizarre but I thought about the fire between Vivian's legs, that she wanted me to put out last night. She’s gonna be pissed, I didn’t go down on her.

  I sat at my desk to a line of CV’s I had to go through. With the workload we had I needed someone. I always handled the final hiring myself. They say a bad apple can ruin an entire bunch. That certainly rings true.

  I was pretty ruthless when it came to CV’s. Especially since we advertised the salary expectations. I even had the recruitment consultant ask me if she could apply. For an intern role that typically averaged around 25k I wanted to pay a salary of 65k. I was looking for that X-factor in a candidate.

  It was interesting to canvass the quality of applicants. I’d asked the recruitment consultant not to screen any of them and give me all candidates. I remember once applying for a job out of university. Alex and I graduated both with the same degrees. He got the interview, I didn’t. It was down to my ethnic-sounding surname, that put me out. Alex joked that I should put a Mc next to my surname (McTaniela). I did it out of interest. Who would have known? I got a few more interviews and a few (guess who’s coming to dinner) surprises when I turned up.

  I went through the first couple and jeez some couldn’t even spell correctly. I was amused by one CV’s statement of 125 years of combined experience! And they were only twenty years old. Combined with what? Meh! Next.

  I read another where the applicant decided to send a photo. She was very attractive, but her CV was atrocious. Who the heck puts pole dancing as a hobby! I put that CV down and looked at the pile filling to the brim in the bin. I really need to get a shredder. I was down to my last two and there wasn’t really any that gave me hope.

  Alex came in and sat in the chair in front of my desk. He was nosy, looking at the piles of paper before me, when he spotted the photo. He swiped it and her CV off my desk.

  “Damn she’s cute! You gotta hire her!”

  I watched as he scanned the CV. “Wow, pole dancing as a hobby! Damn, you gotta consider that! That’s savings right there for entertainment for the next office Christmas party.”

  I frowned. “Chuck that in the bin will ya! She didn’t make the cut.”

  Alex raised his eyebrow as he folded the CV and put it in his suit jacket. I shook my head at his smug look.

  “Still haven’t found someone?”

  I exhaled. “No…”

  “You know if Vivian didn’t spend so much time fucking around on the job you wouldn’t need to hire a bloody intern…”

  “Alex, she's a Key account manager, it's not her job.”

  “I’m sick of you giving excuses for her. If you didn’t realize, you’re pretty much doing her job as well. Seriously bro, what does she do?

  “Can it, Alex. Do you know anyone that would be keen on the intern role?

  “Only the ones I haven’t fucked, Chad.”

  I chuckled. “I guess that crosses out ninety-eight percent of the women on the planet.”

  “Ninety-nine percent, Chad,” he said with a wry grin.

  I rolled my eyes for a moment, then I peered at the last pile of CVs. This particular one caught my eye. It wasn’t like the rest of them, it was handwritten. The paper was heavy like the ones students do calligraphy on. The style was so neat and meticulous that it caught my attention. I zoned out from Alex’s ramblings when my attention was drawn to the cover letter. Who hand writes a CV? And why? I was intrigued.

  The woman’s name was Felicity Neil, who in the cover letter described her skills and her reasons for wanting the job. She was young, twenty-four years old with a keen desire to learn. Her attitude was what stuck out for me. The only shortfall was that she had no administrative experience and her training was as a nurse, so the skill sets didn’t match.

  My gut was telling me to pursue this one. My heart even skipped a beat even though on paper, this CV belonged in the bin with the rest.

  Alex snatched the CV out of my hand and started reading. Then he blurted out, “Where’s the bloody photo?”

  “There is none.”

  Alex's eyes narrowed. “What kind of idiot doesn’t send a photo with their CV? It's how I hire.”

  “No wonder then, your company is full of fuckwits.”

  Alex dismissed my comment. “Who the heck hand writes their CV?”

  I shrugged.

  Alex laughed. “Maybe because they don’t have a computer, then they definitely need this job.”

  I smirked, but my gut was hounding me again to get her in, for a face to face interview.

  ***

  I picked up the phone to call Felicity Neal. I put it on speaker and gave a stern look to Alex to keep his mouth shut. There was a long ring before she finally picked up.

  “Hello, Felicity speaking.”

  I paused to note her voice. The pitch vibrant, the tone silvery.

  “Hello?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry Felicity, its Chad Taniela here, CEO of Taniela consolidated.”

  Before I could say another word, she got excited on the phone. “Oh my god! Thank you for calling.”

  “I would like you to come in for an interview. I was intrigued by some aspects of your CV that I want to talk to you in person about. When are you available?”

  “Now? I could come now and talk to you?”

  I was taken aback by how forward she was, or desperate. I was mulling on today’s appointments. “Today is too soon for me, Felicity. How does tomorrow morning at nine sound?”

  “Ok, Mr. Taniela 9 a.m. is perfect. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

  I ended the call and my eyes shifted to Alex, who was stroking his chin.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  Alex held his index fingers to his temples. “Chad, my man-tuition tells me she is ugly as fuck.”

  I frowned. “I don’t care, I’m looking for someone that can do the job. Someone I can rely on…”

  I looked behind Alex to see Vivian standing by the door. She was wearing a blue skirt and a white tunic, and watching me with those steely eyes.

  Alex turned back and stood up. “I gotta go...we’ll catch up tomorrow. ”

  Their eyes met and I picked up on the tension. Something was up.

  ***

  Vivian closed the doors behind me and closed all the blinds. She pushed my chair back and she sat on my desk, her skirt revealing her toned thighs and making me swallow. I noticed her scanning the contents of my desk while she flicked her hair aside. She crossed her legs and the tone of her calves distracted me.

  She said, “What was Alex doing here?”

  “He came to talk about an opportunity.”

  “And?”

  “I find out tomorrow, I guess.”

  “What else?” Vivian's eyes narrowed. I felt she was interrogating me.

  I lied to get the focus off Alex. “He brought in a few CV’s for me to look at.”

  “Really? That idiot knows someone?”

  I gave her Felicity’s CV to look at. She ran her fingers down the side of the page.

 
She nodded. “I like your angle on this girl. You're going for somebody teachable, someone you can mold.”

  “I guess…”

  “She comes across like she's a go-getter, in the cover letter.”

  “Yeah, she’s keen. But when I called, maybe too keen. She doesn’t have qualifications.”

  “It’s not a bad thing, you know, Chad. I see she trained as a nurse with the relevant degrees. It shows she can learn. Honestly, I hate this new generation of young women that are coming through. Damn things get out with a piece of paper and think that they know it all.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “I really hope you don’t make it difficult for the next person Vivian, this is the third person in the last year.”

  She had a scowl on her face. “Chad, listen. If these bitches can't stand the heat then they can get the fuck out! Besides, they quit of their own accord.”

  “After you bullied them!”

  “Excuse me?”

  The rage in Vivian’s face had me adjusting the top button of my tie. I was sweating a bead.

  I said, “Look, I’m just saying the work is piling up on me, and I can't afford to train up another person and lose them again down the line. I'm just asking if you can be nice next time round.”

  I exhaled when Vivian gave a grudging shrug mumbling “I’ll try…” She uncrossed her legs and stood up, adjusting the skirt she was wearing. I got up and walked to the window, lifting the blinds to look at the Cerberus petroleum building.

  I could see her reflection in the glass while she tapped the buttons on her smartphone.

  “I gotta go,” she said. “I was hoping for a quick fuck, but my appointment with Sherry Rowan and Damian McIvor at Cerberus Petroleum has been moved forward. Apparently Sherry has resigned.”

  “Yeah, I heard about it through the grapevine. I had a call from Damian that it’s business as usual.”

  “He gave me the same assurances. It’s a shame, Sherry and I got on very well.” She walked up to me and handed me Felicity's CV. She kissed me on the mouth and bit my lip. “This bitch better not be pretty…”