Twinkling fairy lights illuminate the bar.
I look to my brother noting a glint in his eye of more than just the reflection of the multicoloured lights that hang from the ceiling and entwine amongst the shelves heavily laden with every kind of spirit imaginable.
In unison we both look upon the little brunette sat on the opposite side of the bar from us as her eyes fall upon the five twenty pound notes laid on the bar between the three of us as we sit in the dimly lit locked venue.
"A bonus," she softly offers before knocking back the single shot glass of vodka sat to the left of the creased bank notes.
"Saves the advance on your wages you asked for" I offer as I refill the shot glass she sets back down on the black marble surface of the bar
"And... and I can trust you?" She offers on the faltering tone of an accent I've never been able to place ever since she started working for us.
"Implicitly," Stevie answers as he reaches out his right hand and slides the shot glass towards her, demonstrating an impatience I do not have in the moment.
The night before the night before Christmas had been a quiet affair in O'Leary's bar even for a Saturday night. Friday night had been excessively busy thanks to the slew of office workers finishing work ahead of extended periods of holiday over the festive season. Tonight, had been a lull before the expected storm that was Christmas Eve. Technically as I look to my watch we were already thirty five minutes into the twenty fourth of December.
The brunettes hazel coloured eyes pass from us back to the money and then to us again as my brother and I stand side bedside before her.
"Jesus fucking Christ I can't believe I'm even entertaining this," She offers looking at myself rather than Steve.
Natalia had joined our staff only two weeks previous, coming in off the street early one Thursday in mid December looking for work to supplement the two part time roles that she already held down but which presumably provided nowhere near enough income.
She was tiny, her petite frame was slender and even in her heels she was barely any taller than five feet tall in stature.
Tonight, as all of the bar staff had been, she was dressed in a bright red somewhat shapeless polyester Christmas jumper patterned with snowflake, reindeer and tree motifs.
Natalia had chosen the snallest size jumper that was available for her at the start of her shift, the jumper therefore sat an inch or two above the waistband of her short black leather skirt revealin a toned stomsch. A pair of black fishnet tights and little black high heeled zip up ankle boots under which she wore thick white socks that bunched around her fishnet clad ankles completed her ensemble.
"Girls got bills to pay" she lopsidedly smirked as she sunk the latest shot of vodka she had been plied with.
Steve is a little slow on the uptake as I pass him behind the bar, grabbing the box sat on the edge of the bar and make my way out into the centre of the room. I don't look back at her or Steve as I pick the first length of red nylon rope from the box which I begin to unravel in my hands.
Natalia turns her stool through a one hundred and eighty degree turn as she watches me as I finally look her back in the eye, offering her a grin as my eyes fall over her petite frame. A body that is perfect for what I have in mind.
"Come here then..." I coldly state, "...and put your hands behind you back for me please"
She slips from the bar stool and steps confidently forward as her heels strike the hard wooden floor of the recently mopped bar.
"Like this?" she offers looking up at me from below the slighty tousled bangs of her near shoulder length hair.
"That's Perfect" I reply.
Taking the rope as she obediently follows my instructions I position her arms at ninety degree angles across her back running them parallel with a line of little white reindeer silhouettes on her jumper.
I thread the ropes around her forearms over and over again, cinching her arms together until I am able to bring both loose ends of rope together and instigate an intricate knot that holds the restraint of her slender forearms tightly and effectively across her back
I note the deep intake of breath Natalia takes along with the little shake of her head as she appreciates the compromised position she is already held in. She does not protest, however, as I step around her appreciating for myself how the restraint holds her shoulders back a little and presses her ample chest out a little.
Taking a second length of rope in hand I start to thread the rope under her upper arms and around her shoulders twice, before wrapping her the rope across her sternum and around her slender back twice in the process.
As I run the rope a first time under her breasts I look down at her as she stands before me.
"Tell us something we don't already know about you Natalia."
I watch her consider her response for a moment as I pass the rope around under her breasts a second time and once again step behind her to secure the loose ends in a tight knot just above her bound arms. The further restraint applied pulls her sweater tightly over her breasts.
"English isn't my first language," she offers eventually.
"Well now I want to know that first language is..." I state as I step alongside of her, "...but first let's get you on your knees."
Taking hold of her upper arm I assist Natalia as she silently takes to a knelt position before me and I reach to my left and begin to unravel a third length of the red, slightly brittle, rope.
Crouching down behind her I press the back of my hand to the inside of her right fishnet clad thigh and nudge her knelt stance apart a little wider, while I slip knot a third length of rope around her right thigh just below the hem of the short black leather skirt that has ridden up since she knelt across the hard wooden floor.
"Ukrainian..." she offers "...I came here just after the...."
