His Obsession

by Maxine Storm

  It took all my energy not to snap at her. Her know-it-all attitude drove me up the wall.

  But then tightness in my chest came back.

  How was I going to get Armand?

  To be honest, Alex’s idea for sure wasn’t going to work. But at least it was something. I was bluffing when I said to her I had some ideas.

  The truth is, I didn’t.

  And how could I?

  Brit couldn’t get through to him either.

  I held my head in my hands and sobbed quietly. I didn’t think anyone was around but I still couldn’t be completely open here. Who knows who is really listening at Global Eye?

  But I remembered Armand’s words.

  Start doing what you want.

  According to Alex, I should probably just quit.

  According to Philip, I should probably just let him handle it.

  According to my parents, I should probably just leave New York and find something more stable to do.

  But forget that.

  I need to do what I want.

  What I want right now is to find Armand.

  What I want is to do this job.

  I started flipping again through the folders in the file Britney had left.

  And that’s when it fell out.

  It was another brief article on one of the lawsuits against Armand, with a candid photo of him entering a court. The lawsuit was about a story one of his paper’s published, which exposed a corrupt clothing manufacturer business that was abusing its female workers. The business hated the story and sued him for defamation.

  There was a single quote from him in the article.

  “In a world full of lies, a single line of heartfelt truth is revolutionary.”

  Poetic, but not the exact clue I was looking for.

  I flipped over the page and saw Britney’s familiar handwriting. We sometimes left each other notes at our desks.

  Her handwriting on the page was in tiny letters, and I had to squint really closely to see it, but it was clear what it was.

  A phone number.

  A strange area code I’ve never seen before, one that definitely wasn’t a New York number, but a phone number nonetheless.

  Under it was a comment from Britney that was heavy underlined.

  “DO NOT CALL UNLESS 100% SURE. 1 CHANCE ONLY.”

  Could it have really been it?

  Armand’s number?

  The secretive, unknowable Armand’s very own number?

  The way Britney’s handwriting was, there was no way she was joking about the “100% sure” and “1 chance only” stuff.

  But if it really was his number, what would I say?

  If I stumbled or said the wrong thing, that’d be it. I’d have blown the chance.

  Never see or hear Armand again.

  What if I pretended to be a cop?

  I’d fake my number using some of the software we have at Global Eye and pretend to grill him about being a suspect in the death of Britney.

  But then I remembered the quote from Armand on the opposite side of the page the number was on.

  “In a world full of lies, a single line of heartfelt truth is revolutionary.”

  Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence.

  Maybe it was the message Britney was trying to secretly tell herself.

  What if I called him and just acted – no, not even acted.

  What if I called him and just…

  Was myself?

  It was the riskiest thing in the world to be.

  I hesitated and stared at the phone and all my insecurities came to the surface.

  What if he didn’t answer?

  What if he didn’t remember me?

  What if he pretended he didn’t remember me?

  What if he hung up on me?

  But the image of us together in the club flashed through my mind and rocked my doubts.

  The way he touched me like no other man did. The things he said to me like no other man has.

  And his words that I couldn’t forget.

  “Stop doing what you should do, and start doing what you want.”

  I had to take the step.

  I had to do this.

  My hand trembled as I reached for my phone, and slowly dialed the numbers, taking deep breaths between each.

  Finally, the whole number began to dial.

  Ringing.

  Ringing.

  Someone picked up.

  Silence.

  I waited for a “hello”, but there was only light static and very quiet breathing on the other end.

  I took a chance.

  “Hello, Armand?”

  No answer.

  I tried to imagine someone on the other end, but my mind was starting to worry if this was all an elaborate prank.

  “Armand, this is Janet…from last night at the club.”

  The breathing on the other end grew louder. I heard the faint opening of lips.

  “Janet,” the low voice slowly said. I recognized it as Armand’s. “Janet Rose.”

  “Yes,” I said, trying to control my breathing.

  “You found this number,” Armand said.

  “Yes,” I said, trying to sound calm, although my hand was gripping the phone so tightly I thought it might break.

  “You will meet me tonight,” said Armand. “16 Lincoln Way. 9PM. Wear something like yesterday.”

  “Yes,” I said. I hated how that’s all I could say. Yet I couldn’t say anything else if I tried.

  “Don’t call this number again,” said Armand. “It will be disabled. Goodbye, Janet.”

  And with that, he hung up before I could get another word in.

  My heart was racing almost as fast as when I was in the club with Armand.

  I was startled by the phone dropping out of my hand on to the desk. My hand was so sweaty it just slipped out of it.

  I looked at the clock.

  After getting to the office late and talking to Philip and Alex, I hardly had any time to properly prepare for Armand.

  It’s not like I could cancel.

  I could tell that simply wasn’t an option with him.

  I had to get moving.

  Chapter 11

  After I got home, I had a quick shower and changed into another dress I had handy.

  It wasn’t usual for me to have to wear anything like that two days in a row. I didn’t have occasions to wear them often. Most of my friends moved elsewhere after college, so I didn’t have the same girls’ nights out to look forward to and dress up for.

  Chapter 12

  I got in the cab and gave the address.

  The cabdriver gave me a strange look.

  Maybe it was the way my breasts were pressed together in the tight dress. I had gained some weight since I last worn it, which I’m sure helped.

  Or maybe he was looking at me because of the destination I requested. It was kind of a random place to be heading at this time of night. Most people were heading away from there and into neighborhoods with more nightlife.

  I got out at the address. It was one of those giant granite buildings with its own black painted metal lanterns in front. Two large stone lion sculptures stood on either side of the stairs’ railings as if they were watching and judging who entered.

  I pressed the buzzer and entered the code Armand gave me.

  The door swung open and I stepped into the dimly lit hallway.

  The clicking of my heels against the marble floor echoed almost endlessly. There were framed paintings along the wall but I didn’t feel like lingering around to check them out. I felt like I was an intruder.

  I took the elevator to the room number and knocked on the door.

  There was no one around in the hallway and yet I felt as if I was constantly being watched.

  There was no sound on the other side of the door as I waited for a response.

  Was I walking into a trap? Into the den of Britney’s killer? My doubts were screaming at me to go back but I knew I couldn’t, I knew
I had to see Armand.

  My hand was unsteady as I knocked again.

  Did I knock too loudly, like a deranged person who broke into the building?

  Did I knock too softly, so that he never heard me?

  Or did I knock on the wrong door completely? The thought that it was still an elaborate prank was in the back of my mind, like this would be something I deserved for even thinking I had a chance with Armand.

  I was certain I was in a place few people were ever allowed in. It was another world that until today was out of my mind, and out of my reach.

  Some noise on the other side of the door grabbed my attention.

  The door creaked open.

  Light spilled out from the crack of the frame and I felt my palms sweaty holding them behind me.

  And then, there he was.

  Standing tall right in front of me.

  The sight of Armand left me weak.

  His jaw jutted out against the weak hallway light. He was wearing a sweater that tightly fit him, not because it was too small, but because of how his muscles bulged from underneath. I could smell light cologne in the air fan over to me from his body.

  I looked back to his eyes. I felt that he had been staring at me the entire time. When I noticed I dipped my head down in embarrassment.

  But I felt his finger under my chin and how it tipped my head up back to his gaze.

  He led me inside and shut the door behind him.

  The door lock clicked definitively as if there were no turning back.

  I was in his domain, now.

  “Very few people have the number you called,” he said, continuing to walk forward, not looking back. It’s as if he knew I would follow him wherever he went.

  As if I had no other choice.

  “Fewer would even dare to call it,” he said.

  My heels tapped the mahogany flooring as I looked out of the clear and bold glass windows that peaked onto the city lights below.

  “How did you get the phone number?” he said, his voice neutral, as if it were an ordinary question about the weather.

  “It’s a long story,” I said. “A series of crazy coincidences.”

  “I don’t believe in coincidences,” he said.

  “What about our meeting last night?” I said.

  Armand turned around and gave a mischievous grin.

  “I want to know how you found me,” he said.

  He walked up to me until my head was at his chest and he held the side of my hip, lightly running a finger along me.

  “But more than that,” he said, “what I want is to own you like I did last night.”

  His arm suddenly tightened around my back and he tilted my head up with his other strong hand and planted his lips on me.

  The rush of blood through my body and my heart’s sudden pounding left me lightheaded and I leaned into him. He pushed back with his tongue which explored my mouth. He pulled back.

  “To do that, you have to trust me, Janet. Do you?” He kissed me again. I raised my hand to touch his face, to feel the light stubble on my skin, but he intercepted my wrist and held it.

  “Answer me,” he said, his eyes locked with mine, his hand around my wrist.

  “Yes, Armand.”

  “’Yes’, what?”

  “Yes, I trust you,” I said, trying to kiss him again. I felt the pulse in my wrist beating against his fingers.

  Suddenly, he stooped down and picked me up over his shoulder, and carried me down the hallway.

  “What are you doing?” I said, breathlessly.

  He didn’t reply, but firmly paced down until he reached a door, which he then opened.

  It was an office of sorts, with a heavy glossy maroon desk in front of bookshelves that reached the ceiling.

  He set me down and unbuttoned his shirt. The fine rug ticked my feet as I fidgeted on the spot.

  “Put your hands on the desk and stick your ass out,” he growled, still unbuttoning.

  I took a step towards the desk and placed my hands on the cool wood.

  My skin was tingling all over in anticipation. I could hear the blood rushing in my head and I must have missed what he said because he gave me a swat on the butt.

  “I said, pull the back of your skirt up,” he commanded, his voice going straight to my core.

  I reached back and pulled my skirt up, exposing my thong to him. I heard an instant low moan vibrate in his vocal cords.

  “You’re going to show me that you trust me, in ways words cannot explain,” he said firmly. I heard his shirt being tossed to the ground. I didn’t dare turn around to see it fall, although I so badly wanted to see the look of hunger on his perfect face and the rising and falling of his abs as he inhaled and exhaled quickly behind me.

  “Don’t move your hands until I tell you,” he said. “Don’t move them at all.”

  “Yes, Armand,” I said.

  Suddenly, the lights in the room went out.

  I couldn’t see a thing.

  I strained my ear to hear him but I couldn’t hear anything.

  Not a breath or sound of movement from him.

  My heart was beating so rapidly I was sure he could hear it.

  I closed my eyes, but it didn’t make a difference, that’s how dark it was.

  I called out his name but I only heard the sharp echo of my own voice.

  The feeling of fear started to overwhelm my senses.

  My palms were sweaty on the desk, I could feel their stickiness now.

  I was exposed.

  I didn’t dare move myself. Not a muscle.

  What did I walk into?

  Was this a trap all along?

  I called his name again but there was only the sound of my voice.

  My feet went number and my knees locked up.

  I opened my mouth but no words would form.

  Was this what he wanted?

  Was this the end?

  I needed to beg for him.

  To hear his voice.

  To feel his touch.

  To have him, have me.

  To be surrounded by him again.

  But all that surrounded me…

  Was the darkness.

  Chapter 13

  Armand

  I needed the darkness.

  I needed it to block out what was inside of me, to take me away from the pain.

  It was here where I could finally escape from it.

  It was here where she entered my world, entered the darkness that surrounded me, and that followed me every day.

  She looked so fucking delicious when I saw her, when she first came to my suite and then bent over on the desk.

  But in the darkness, it wasn’t her body that was exposed.

  It was her soul.

  That was something she could no longer hide from me.

  And that is what I was going to explore now.

  It was the reason why I needed her like this.

  She didn’t tell me how she found my number.

  But I was going to learn so much more from her right now.

  So much more.

  I unbelted and moved towards her, feeling the heat from her body radiating through the air.

  She had nowhere to go, nothing to escape to.

  But me.

  And now she was mine.

  Chapter 14

  Janet

  I nervously bent over on the desk, all I could hear was the blood rushing in my head and my own sharp breathing.

  I couldn’t tell where Armand was in the complete darkness of the room.

  And because of that, it was like he was everywhere, around me in every way.

  Fear and lust spread throughout my body.

  I wanted him to rescue me from here, rescue me from myself, to take me completely and get away from myself and the darkness around us.

  Suddenly, a jolt of electricity coursed through my backside up my spine and wavered around my neck.

  I had been given a firm spank and the flesh on my ass stung like
little sparks.

  “Armand?” I called out.

  I didn’t dare move my hands, as he had instructed me, but I stuck out my right leg backwards, trying to feel where he was.

  No use.

  He had disappeared again into dark.

  I flicked my head around to look for him as if I could see, and that’s when I felt another jolt course through my body.

  This time my other cheek stung, and I instantly became wetter than before.

  I put my legs together and rubbed them and moaned in near madness.

  “Armand, please,” I whimpered. “I need to feel you, now.”

  And with that, I suddenly felt him on me.

  His chest pressed heavily on my back and I could feel the sweat of his pecs and abs mix with his body’s heat on mine. His hand reached around my body and was firmly placed over mine, wedging me between him and the desk.

  Without warning I felt him bite my left earlobe and pull down with his teeth.

  I let out a gasp but before I even what was happening, his mouth had moved to my neck and he bit me. I felt his warm lips and the sharp quick press of his bare teeth like a knife being unsheathed. He let go and I groaned and backed my hips into him, to feel him more closely.

  “You listened to me well,” he said, rubbing his hand on top of mine. Mine twitched at the sudden roughness of his palm mingled with his gentle movement.

  “You didn’t move your hands at all, didn’t you?” he said, his lips just hovering from my ear.

  “I didn’t, Armand,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I titled my head to the left to try to meet his lips but he let go my hand and grabbed my head, and guided it back to its original position facing forward.

  “Shh, not yet, Janet,” he whispered again my ear. His fingers splayed out on the back of my neck, then dragged down and balled up my hair in his hand and gently pulled back. “I control this. You’ve been such a good girl so far, don’t ruin all you’ve done.”

  I couldn’t even speak, a groan just left my lips as my back arched and I pressed my ass into him harder.

  It was then that I felt him reach down in the darkness and breathed in deeply.

  His hard cock was rubbing the base of my spine, roaming over my cheeks and in between. I shivered at the pointed heat of his skin and almost jumped when his hand reached under me and rubbed me in small circles.