His Obsession

by Maxine Storm

  Armand smirked.

  "Of course you, Janet."

  "I have no idea what you are talking about," I replied.

  "We'll see about that," he said.

  Just as he said that the server arrived with our first plates. She lowered them to the table and smiled at Armand, as if to get his attention.

  "Thank you, Tomiko," Armand said, still focusing on me.

  The food looked like flavours I never had before yet I couldn't fully appreciate the aroma or even taste it as Armand controlled my attention like he had me on a string.

  "What do you do, Janet?" Armand asked, not touching his food.

  "I'm a reporter. Well, still trying to be one," I said, trying not to flinch from his gaze.

  "I've worked with lots of reporters," Armand said, with a hint of distrust. "Which company?"

  Fear sliced through my body a moment.

  I knew I couldn't show it.

  Armand had a bad history with Global Eye.

  I'd have to play dumb.

  "It's Global Eye," I said casually. "But I'm looking for work elsewhere," I lied.

  Armand sighed.

  "Global Eye, hm?" he said. "A bunch of hacks run that place."

  "It's not so bad," I said. "It's pretty boring."

  "It's not so bad, but you're looking for work elsewhere?" Armand said, raising an eyebrow. "They must not have taught you how to be a total sleaze-ball liar there yet," Armand said with force.

  His words stung. It was getting to be too much.

  "What's your problem?" I demanded. "I'm just trying to get ahead in this city, like anyone else."

  "That's exactly the problem, Janet," Armand said. "You're not like everyone else here. You're different. I'm different."

  I don't know what he was doing. First insulting me, then complimenting me? I was hooked on his every word.

  "What are you talking about?" I said, more out of frustration with his direction than curiosity.

  "You're not like the people here. In this restaurant. In this industry. In this city," Armand said.

  I fiddled with my hands in the chair. I wanted to hear what he thought of me, the good and the bad. His perspective. His own, that was unlike anyone else's.

  "You're too good for the bullshit here. Do you remember when we first met at that club?" he asked.

  I blushed.

  Of course I remembered that.

  How could I have forgotten?

  When he took me like I was already his, like from the beginning I belonged to him.

  "Yes," I said, nervously.

  "I already knew you didn't fit in like the fake people around us. I could see it instantly," Armand said.

  No one noticed that about me before. People thought I was just quiet or withdrawn. They mistook my not fitting in for an inherent awkwardness instead of simply being different.

  "And that's why I can tell you are hiding something from me, Janet," Armand said.

  The good feelings left as soon as they arrived.

  "There's something you're keeping from me," he said. "You don't have the cold blood to do whatever it is you're supposed to do. You aren't the kind of sleazy character who'd be able to throw out her morals in exchange for a brief chance at the top. So what is it?"

  Armand stared at me, his hands on the table.

  I looked around the restaurant. Even though there lots of business people eating, I felt like I was secluded with Armand. Like his presence was blocking out the rest of the tables. Like it was just us here, and I couldn't escape from his grasp.

  "How do you know?" I asked, trying to change the subject. "How do you know I'm not just like the other people here?"

  I did feel different, that was true. But I wanted him to know that he has to get to know me better.

  "Don't be silly," Armand said. "You can't hide who you are."

  "No," I said. "You never asked me about anything. About my past. Not even about what I did until now."

  Armand glared at me. It was the first time I ever seriously challenged him.

  "You don't want to know how I can tell all these things about you," he replied.

  "I do want to know," I insisted.

  "You couldn't even begin to imagine it."

  "Why?" I said. "I'm a journalist. I'm grown up. I can handle it."

  "Don't make me laugh," Armand said. "You're too innocent."

  I hit my hand on the table.

  "I'm not a little kid," I said. "I want to know who you are, Armand."

  Wanting to know who Armand was wasn't for Global Eye at this point.

  *I* needed to know who this man was.

  I needed to know how he became to be so different from anyone I have ever met.

  Armand said nothing and looked at me silently.

  He looked so handsome with his eyes focused and his strong brows and cheekbones casting shadows on his face, and yet there was a dark edge beneath it all, as if you would be cut to bits if you got too close.

  "You want to know who I am?" Armand shook his head. "It's you, Janet, who doesn't know anything about me," he said, reminding me of my accusation to him before.

  "That's not true," I said.

  I was about to go on all the things I had learned about him - all the things Alex and Maximilian had told me about him.

  Then I realized it'd do no good. He might be even more suspicious about me and my work at Global Eye. Like I was some kind of weirdo stalker.

  "I know you run Zeitgeist, a parent media company that anyone who is anyone in New York fears. I know you built the company from the ground up, starting with nothing when you were just a young man. I know you - "

  Armand cut me off.

  "That's about what I do," Armand said. "But not know who I am."

  What could I say?

  That what I heard about who he is...is nothing flattering?

  And that it's disturbing.

  What could I even say to him?

  What could I even say that wouldn't make me look like some kind of superficial person just chasing after his status?

  "I just want to be closer to you, Armand," I said with resignation, with my head down.

  "Isn't this close?" Armand said. "You're here with me, us two alone, in a place that's very special to me."

  "You know that's not what I mean!" I said, raising my head back up to look at him.

  Armand cocked his head at my frustration.

  "What the hell do you want, Janet?" he said defensively.

  "I want you to open up to me!" I said.

  "You want me to open up?" Armand asked. "Just so you can write some hateful article full of lies for your bosses at the paper? So you could watch me get cut down?"

  "No, Armand!" I said. "I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't hurt you like that."

  "You're not the first to say that," he said dismissively.

  "Armand, just tell me. Please. Don't keep me locked out like this," I pleaded.

  "What do you want to know about me? Huh?" Armand clenched the edge of the table with his fist. His veins and tendons bulged from his force and the table was pulled towards him.

  I couldn't even answer him.

  I didn't have the words.

  I was totally unprepared for his powerful emotion like this.

  "You want to know about my parents, Janet? How my father abandoned my mother, only to return home drunk on days whenever he felt like it. How he tried to beat her those days? How I had to watch that until I stood up to him and took a bat to his head? When I looked at him down on the ground, and told him, 'that's enough'? Is that what you wanted to know?"

  I could only look back at him with tears in my eyes as he continued.

  "Did you want to know how I had to support my mother after, since he didn't show up after that. How I had to drop out of school to take of her, and then, make my own business since every job I had didn't give a fuck I'd have to go home in the middle of the day to be there for her when she broke down again and again?"

  His hand gripped the
table even tighter.

  "Is that what you wanted to know, Janet?"

  I didn't say anything.

  "Is this how you wanted to know who I am?"

  The table finally snapped on his side from his powerful grip and the plates and glasses fell over and shattered on the floor.

  Armand stood up and walked down the small set of stairs for the dining platform, then walked along a wall to a back exit and pushed his way through the door.

  I looked at the mess on the floor.

  Spilt wine, broken glass and china, ruined food.

  My stomach sank as I felt Armand's pain that made him leave.

  I should have known. I had to learn who he was.

  But was I ready for it?

  I heard my tears dropping on to what was left of the table cloth barely hanging near my side of the table.

  I wiped my eyes and saw the mascara on the back of my hand.

  I didn't even care if anyone in the restaurant saw us.

  I had to find Armand.

  I got up from the table and made my way down the stairs and to the same door Armand exited.

  I pushed the heavy door open and felt the sting of the sun as my eyes adjusted to the light. I forgot how dim the restaurant had been.

  I was in an alleyway between the restaurant and another building.

  There was nothing either way except a vent and some box of supplies.

  Down the other side of the path between the buildings was a tall, built figure, leaning on one outstretched hand pressed against the brick, and another covering his face.

  Armand.

  Damn it.

  I slowly walked over to him, gliding my fingertips along the rough brick.

  "Armand?" I called out.

  No answer.

  "Armand," I said, closing the distance.

  He kept his position, not turning his head or body to look at me.

  It's as if I couldn't be heard over the pain and anguish.

  I was just another piece of noise in this noisy city.

  I finally reached him.

  I placed one hand over his arm, around his biceps, and another over his lower back.

  "Armand," I said, "I'm sorry."

  I rubbed him with my hands.

  "I didn't want it to be like that," I said. "I didn't know."

  I rubbed more tears away from my eyes.

  "I should have known better," I said.

  I wrapped my arm around his back, barely making it all the way across because of how thick his torso and back muscles were.

  I pressed my face into his side and felt his arms bulge from underneath his suit.

  Armand lowered the arm that was pressing the wall and placed it around me so that he was holding me along his side.

  "Please forgive me," I said, looking up at him.

  He rubbed me with his arm and held me close to him.

  "I didn't know," I said. "I'm sorry, Armand."

  From holding me at his side, he then moved me right in front of him so I was facing him with my back to the wall.

  I put my arms around his shoulders as they rested on his build and pulled him gently towards me.

  He bent at the torso towards me and I kissed him on his lips lightly.

  He pulled back and stood up again, my arms hanging from his shoulders.

  "I won't do -" I started to stay, but Armand placed his finger over my lips.

  "Shh," he said.

  He rubbed the inside of my arms and up to my shoulders and down. Then he took his hands and held my hips as he pushed his body against mine.

  I felt the surge of heat as he pressed his hardness against me, slowly grinding on me as he breathed heavily close to my ear.

  "Please," I said, rubbing the back of his neck with my hand.

  He kissed me deeply with his tongue, sending jolts throughout my body with every pulse.

  "Please what?" he said, withdrawing his kiss from me.

  I longed to feel him like I did before.

  I needed to feel him inside of me.

  To have me the way he had me before.

  "Please punish me, Armand," I said, staring deeply into his eyes.

  With those words he took both of my hands and pinned them against the wall.

  "I've been waiting to have you like this for too long, Janet," Armand said.

  I closed my eyes and felt his words echo in my mind.

  Enraptured by his desire.

  "You were looking so good inside the restaurant. You were looking so fucking good when I first picked you up inside the coffee shop."

  Armand stared at me and licked his lips.

  He kissed me again and ran his hand under my shirt and stroked my breasts.

  I shivered at his warm palm rubbing me and drawing out my desire for him more and more.

  I tried to move my other hand to grab him close but he held his grip strong against the wall.

  "We're doing this my way, Janet," he commanded, before kissing me with his tongue.

  "Is that you want? For me to possess you like this?" he asked.

  "Yes, Armand, please," I said, closing my eyes, feeling butterflies in my stomach as he proceeded to enjoy him in the way he wanted - in the way I had been craving.

  "But you had to be bad, didn't you?" he said, breaking from another kiss.

  "Yes, Armand" I replied without thinking. When he spoke to me like this, I was his without question.

  "You had to be bad a girl when I wanted to take you right there. Well, you're going to show me how much you want me inside of you right now. I want to feel your mouth on me, Janet."

  My breathing intensified.

  It was a rush unlike any other.

  He needed me here.

  It just came to mind that we could be caught.

  That only added to the excitement.

  That he needed me right here, without anything getting in his way.

  Social convention, expectation, approval or disapproval.

  It didn't matter to him.

  Just that I was here.

  With him.

  For him.

  I'd normally be too nervous to even want to kiss in public.

  But this was way out there.

  And I had to feel it.

  He took his hand from the wall and grabbed a ball of hair from the back of my head and drew me downwards so that I was face to face with the bulge in his pants.

  His manhood was straining out of his pants, waiting for my touch.

  I rubbed the outside of his pants and felt his bulge, caressing how hard he was.

  He rubbed my head and my face and breathed heavily.

  I unbuttoned his pants and my hand along his torso, feeling his abs flex as I touched him slowly and longingly.

  I looked up at him and saw his eyes devouring my look, waiting for me to finally bring him the pleasure he needed.

  I pulled his trousers down and held his manhood in my hand, gliding it up and down his thick shaft.

  He twitched as I stroked him slowly, and then, finally enveloped him with my mouth.

  He groaned and held my hair tightly as he stared down at me, closing his eyes as he became lost in ecstasy.

  "Janet," he moaned, "that's so good."

  I continued to suck him and feel his dick pulsing as he groaned and held my hair.

  "You're making me cum," he whispered, barely able to speak.

  I sped up, needing to feel his release inside me, but he grabbed my shoulders and stood me up.

  "I need to see you like this, Janet" he said.

  He grabbed his cock and slid it inside of me standing, rocking his hips back and forth and holding the sides of my face as he kissed me deeply.

  His thrusts sent shockwaves throughout my body and I held his back tightly to draw him closer, to finally have me, to take me like I was his.

  Finally he thrust deeply and buried his head into my nape and groaned, twitching as he came strongly inside of me.

  I rubbed his neck and closed my eyes,
losing my sense of self and feeling that I was finally here with the man who took me somewhere I've never been.

  Armand moved back to my lips and kissed me slowly, softly joining his with mine.

  "Don't be so bad, Janet," Armand said huskily. "Do you see what happens when you're like that?"

  I giggled in the daze of being one with him.

  "I was thinking about being with you, being close like this, since the last time we were together," Armand whispered, running his fingers through my hair.

  I closed my eyes and hugged him.

  "I didn't mean to push you that way," I whispered to him.

  My tears rolled onto his neck and I shut my eyes to let more flow.

  "I had no idea, Armand. I swear," I said quietly.

  "Shh," Armand whispered.

  He drew back so that we were face to face again.

  "You didn't know," Armand said. "There was no way for you to have known. It's not something I share."

  He held his hands on both sides of my face and gave me a light kiss.

  "Let's get out of here," he said.

  The reality that we were basically hiding between buildings to make love hit me again.

  But I wasn't totally embarrassed, or nervous.

  I knew whatever would happen, Armand would protect me.

  Even if someone saw something, he could make them 'unsee' it. I was sure of it.

  Even so, there was really no need to be hanging around out here.

  We redressed ourselves properly again and left and made our way to the street.

  Armand took out his phone and called Frederick to come pick us up.

  I held his hand as we walked into a small coffee shop nearby.

  Chapter 29

  I looked out onto the street from the small booth we had near the front glass of the shop.

  People were going about their business like it was any other day.

  Which I guess for them it was.

  But for me, it was something new, something different, just to be with Armand.

  I don't just mean how he blew my mind minutes ago.

  It's not something I would have done with anyone.

  Even if you told me, suggested the idea to me, I would have laughed at you.

  Maybe I'd imagine it, but only as a fantasy.

  Not as something real.

  Not with someone like Armand.

  "Are you enjoying your espresso?" Armand asked.

  I took another sip, seeing if I could persuade myself to like.