"It'll be a $500 non-refundable deposit and $575 a month for rent, understood?" growled the gigantic old brute.
"Y-yes, sir," I chirped. Dillon, my 21-year-old boyfriend stood shoulder to shoulder with me as we gawked up at the giant. I stood about 5'9, so not exactly a runt, but Arnold, our prospective landlord, easily dwarfed us. In fact, Arnold probably dwarfed most people. At 6'6 and 375ish lbs, he was not a man to be reckoned with. Being a landlord in a rough part of town was in his wheelhouse.
He grinned at us, flashing several gold fillings, "Great! Pretty simple. Pay the rent on time, no loud music, no parties, and," he took a moment to study us both, "no, uhh, orgies or whatever your kind likes!"
"Ok...thank you so much sir!" Dillon was ecstatic. You would think we had won the lottery, but we slacked off in looking for a place for this semester and most of the popular/upscale apartments had been leased already. It took some real digging to find this place. It was a dingy old building with three floors, two apartments per floor. The building was in a, shall we say, seedy part of town. Hence, the relatively affordable rent in a place where most of the college kids were paying at least three times as much as we were.
Dillon and I were both rising juniors in college. He was majoring in History and I was still deciding, but leaning towards English. We had been together 7 years. We met freshman year high school and became inseparable. The relationship was kind of a slow burn, taking a couple of years before we came out to each other. He was my first and only. We had a strong relationship overall, though we did hit a rough patch just before we started college when he cheated on me while I was on vacation with my family.
But that was forever and a day ago. Nowadays, we lived a solid domesticated life. We split everything right down the middle. Rent, utilities, laundromat, food, you name it, we split it. It was a great arrangement. We worked as waiters to support ourselves and generally lived frugally. Our books and tuition were covered by our scholarships. Our parents were not supportive of our relationship nor were they supportive of our choice of majors in school. Therefore, they were not financially supportive.
Our first few months in the apartment weren't terrible. We could hear neighbors fighting, neighbors having sex, neighbors doing lots of different things. Nonetheless, we had a roof over our heads and we were thankful. Arnold generally kept to himself. He could be a real asshole at times, especially when we needed stuff fixed. He was a retired plumber and was well into in his 60s, divorced, no kids. He always eyeballed me for no good reason, but he REALLY didn't like Dillon. It wasn't uncommon for Dillon to return to the apartment upset about something or the other Arnold said to him, usually something crude about me. I paid no mind to whatever Arnold had to say and always provided Dillon with re-assurance. We were happy together. Arnold, on the other hand, was not happy. He usually strode around holding a beer and making snide remarks to residents about rent payments or something being broken in their apartment.
Towards the end of the semester, things suddenly changed for the worse. I was let go from my waiter job as part of a downsizing operation. Then, I learned Dillon was doing a semester abroad in Spain as part of his curriculum. He didn't bother mentioning it to me until two days before his expected departure. But perhaps the biggest issue was the rent due date was approaching fast. How was I going to pay Arnold if there was no income?
Dillon seemingly up and left for his semester abroad while I was left all alone to deal with my unemployment and inability to make rent. Astonishing to say the least, but Arnold was understanding at first. After the second month's rent was missed though, Arnold began hounding me for the money. He threatened to evict me, threatened to sue me, threatened to add all sorts of bogus penalties and fees, it was awful. I learned his schedule so as to avoid him when possible.
Time was passing at a glacial pace. I was bored and I missed Dillon, who was still overseas for another 2 months. We spoke infrequently, and when we did talk, his phone calls felt rushed and he seemed like he was preoccupied. Meanwhile, I still hadn't found a job, and rent was still due. I was tired and stressed from that and from school. It was mid-October and we had just finished our mid-semester exams and I thought I deserved to have a little fun that Friday night and decided to hit the bars. I never went drinking without Dillon. But the solitude was driving me nuts.
The cool thing about living in a city was that everything was in close proximity. There was a line of bars just a block away and I made my rounds with a couple of my straight buddies. It was still pretty warm, so shorts, tee, and flip-flops were standard attire this time of year. I was an avid runner, stemming from my high school cross country days, and my long, toned legs showed it. I was naturally smooth and had light-olive skin and jet black hair. My large, almond-shaped green eyes and sharp, fine facial features only added to that feminine appearance. I grew up with in a house with 3 sisters, and it wasn't unusual for friends and family to get us confused at first glance. I was that petite.
We stayed out until close to 2:00 AM before going our separate ways. It sucked trying to find my way back. At long last, I found my building and hastily punched in the code on the keypad to the main front door and let myself in. The place was eerily quiet as I let the door close behind me with a loud thud. The main floor had two apartments. Arnold kept both, wanting to maintain his privacy. I tiptoed past the first apartment and had just made it to the staircase when I heard the turning of the lock on the second apartment's door.
My heart skipped a beat as the door opened and Arnold's massive frame filled the doorway. "Had a little fun tonight I see," he said, his tone gravelly as he peered at me through his thick bifocals. The dim hall light bounced off his balding head.
I let out a nervous laugh, "Haha, yeah...just finished mid-semester exams so wanted to go out for a bit."
"Where's that little boyfriend of yours?" Arnold licked his lips and adjusted his glasses as he kept his gaze on me, studying me from top to bottom.
"Oh...ya, Dillon? He's doing this semester abroad in Spain," I explained, taking care to enunciate each word to mask my intoxication. Arnold started mouth-breathing heavily as soon as I said that.
He came out into the hallway wearing boxers, socks, and a dingy white tank-top. The tank top was three sizes too small around his gut, but really accentuated his massive hairy arms and broad shoulders. His legs were similarly massive. In the dark, his 6'6 frame appeared even more menacing.
"Well, sounds like you had yourself a good time tonight at least," he said, "but rent's been due for 3 days now."
My heart jumped again, "I-I know Mr. Arnold but--" Arnold put his hand up to silence me. "Rent's been due for 3 days, that's this month, the month before, and the month before that," he was getting angrier, "now if you have money to blow it on beer, you have money to pay me!"
"Mr. Arnold, I don't have that much on me," I pleaded with him. It was a losing effort.
Arnold simply shook his head and looked hard at the floor, as if in deep thought. He pointed a finger towards the door to his apartment, "Get in there now!"
"W-what? Why?!" I whined.
"Because you and I are gonna find a way to settle up, once and for all!"
"But Mr. Arnold...please--" I begged again, but this time he yanked off his bifocals and glared at me. He was huffing and puffing like an angry bull. Arnold could break me with one hand if he wanted to. It was a frightening experience, being cornered by a 400-lb silverback. But what other choice did I have?
Frightened, I slowly stepped down from the stairs and slithered past him into his dimly lit apartment. The door slammed shut behind me and the deadbolt locked with a sense of finality. I turned around and stood with my hands behind my back as I gazed up at the giant ogre's angry face, my soul quivering within. He took a step towards me and I backed up. Another step towards me, and I backed up yet again. Pretty soon, I was with my back up against the wall.
Arnold let out a sly grin, "Like I said, you're going to have to pay." His baritone voice was suddenly low and sensual. I bit my lower lip. Arnold was standing directly in front of me now, he put his right hand on the wall above me as he stared down at my distressed face.
"I-I dunno...I dunno how," I pleaded with him again, my voice soft and submissive.
