Payment in Ind

"Ah Kat, here as an ambassador to butter me up?"

"Hardly. I'm here to tell you I can get you the money --"

"Well then, where is it, lover?"

"Look, at the moment, he doesn't have it -- we don't have it, but we know people who might --"

"A deadline is a deadline."

"Look, I told you this before, just give us a month, we don't shirk our debts, honestly!"

"Yes well, I've told you this before. That money was owed to me two months ago. You know the rules."

"Ian, really we've been trying desperately --"

"Don't bother. After all, I tend to find people a bit more earnest in the earning after a little persuasion"

At this he cracked his knuckles and gave a little smirk which was impossible for her to misinterpret. She had seen the tortures he had inflicted on those disheveled and bankrupt gamblers, as he and his friends shuffled them out the back door to an unlicensed van that sped rapidly onward to an underworld she couldn't and didn't even want to imagine.

"Please, you can't hurt him. For my sake, please. If I ever meant anything at all to you, you wouldn't do this!"

"Inconsistency is weakness, lover. I'm here to protect my investments, not the feelings of an impoverished ex. You were heartless to me when you left me, I think its fair that I exercise the same prerogative."

"Is that what this is about? Wanting to see me as miserable as possible?"

"While that thought is rather appealing to me, it doesn't change the fact that my job is my job. I've gotta be paid - cash or blood. I suppose you could say Visa isn't everywhere you want to be."

"And you'll exact your revenge no matter what I do or say?"

"Well, that is true, up to a point. You see, the debt must be paid somehow..."

He continued pacing around and around her chair like a hawk waiting to strike, glaring at her with predatory eyes. Nervously she fidgeted with her bracelets, trying to gain the upper hand in their staring contest. She stood up and faced him.

"Fine, you Shylock -- you want revenge, you want your pound of flesh, take mine instead "

At this he gave a low laugh and stopped his pacing to look her directly in the eyes, obscured as they were by tears.

"Ahhh -- now we're getting closer to a bargain I can live with."

"This never had anything to do with him did it? Fine, Let em take me. Beat me to a pulp instead"

"Hmm, nice offer... but not quite what I was looking for. You see, Joe owes me one thing, you owe me another -- payment in kind is what I'd like to call it."

"What?"

"But first, I want to see you grovel at my feet. I want you to beg me on your knees to spare your fucking husband's life!"

"But I already have!" she responded indignantly.

He reached forward to smooth her hair in an almost soothing gesture.

"Not to my satisfaction you haven't, and for once the important thing is after all, pleasing me. I'm almost beginning to doubt your love for your darling husband. Wouldn't he do anything to save you, lover?"

At the mention of his old term of endearment, she immediately prickled.

"Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?! Goddammit, I swear, if you hurt him, there will be hell to pay! I'll -"

"What? Call the police? Sorry, don't think they're much of a help in this situation. Its occasionally good to have friends in low places. You know me -- Mr. Popular. So you'll just have to face facts. Now go on and beg me like a good little girl -- I'm sure you know how," he snarled.

Letting tears slip down from her eyes onto her white blouse, she slowly lowered herself onto her knees, whispering inaudibly and looked up at him from the ground, before losing her nerve and turning her intense gaze to implore the carpet instead.

"Please, Ian, please spare my husband -- don't kill him, don't hurt him! Oh please God! I'll do anything, just don't do that -- I couldn't bear it."

She tried blinking back her tears to look back up at him and try and discern the look in his eyes. As his face emerged from the blur, she saw the glare of unrepressed malice triumphantly glowing.

"Anything, eh? Let's just test that then, shall we? All right - you said yourself, your flesh for his flesh..."

"What?"

He didn't answer. He bent down to look her level in the eyes, and smirked.

"Stop it, you're scaring me..."

"I know. And I mean to," he replied. At this, he quickly knelt down beside her and in one sudden stroke, pushed his hand up her skirt, crudely cupping her naked pussy with his left hand, smirking as his fingers met their target.

"You even dressed for the occasion, I see."

In dismay, she quickly tried to pull away but his right hand quickly grasped her neck, holding her in place, forcing her to look into his eyes, all the while pressing into her cunt with greater and greater force.

"You can't.... be serious... " she barely managed to pant out over the rush of adrenaline and blood that were now crashing through her brain.

His knuckles were turning white in his ferocity to grip her, hold her as tightly as possible. "I want everything you owe me, and you owe me a hell of a lot." He quickly released his hold on her and kissed her neck deeply. "Payment in kind" he growled.

He roughly shoved her to the floor, ran over to his nightstand and picked up the phone, thrusting it in her face.

"Call him now. Tell him your sister's agreed to give you the money, but you want to stay with her for the week."

She gasped, her muscles still unwilling to react, to speak, to move, to run and escape. Instead she rose her head to meet his eyes in confusion and anger.

"Don't give me that look. You, my lover, said the magic word -- anything. Now you'll just have to take the punishment you've had coming for a very long time," he drawled as he encircled her waist with his right arm and held the phone up to her ear.

She started squirming furiously in his grasp, and surprisingly he shifted his weight, drew up a hand and smoothed down her skirt with his left hand, then loosened his hold on her waist and caressed her neck, brushing her hair aside.

"Make it convincing" he quietly whispered in her ear, before dialing the number for her and pressing the phone to her temple.

She softly whimpered, wishing she could afford to recoil into herself or to flee as she so desperately wanted to. She prayed that Joe would hear the panic in her voice, suspect something, anything, perhaps rush to her rescue? But if he did? She knew he'd be a dead man if her final wish did come true. She was at this man's mercy for better or for worse.

She gritted her teeth and tried to steel herself for the lies she was about to tell. The phone kept ringing. When was he going to pick up the phone? She needed to hear his voice now more than ever, to remind herself of why she was doing this, why she was surrendering herself to this man again. Suddenly the loud voices of two people laughing and in love filled her ears. The answering machine. The sweet and happy joint message they had made together just a few months ago. She could hardly stand to hear it now. Quickly glancing over at Ian, the face of iron resolve, she struggled to put on her game face and nervously chattered into the phone

"Hey darling, I have some wonderful news -- my sister's agreed to lend us the money! She said she'd Western Union it to the slimy bastard..."

At this she paused and stared straight into Ian's eyes. His features darkened.

"but I think I'm gonna stay up here for the week. If you really need to reach me, just call my cell since you know my sister is allergic to phones. I miss you bunches already, and Joe -- don't ever doubt how much I really love you -- you know, I love you Joe --"

Her voice was becoming sadder by the minute as she started crying. Ian wrenched the phone from her hands and hung up for her.

"Nice trick with the cell phone. You honestly think I'd let him interrupt us? Where is it, Kat? Hand it over to me right now."

She held her head in her hands, stifling her sobs, refusing to look up at Ian.

"Its in my purse -- I'll go shut it off"

"Oh no you don't"

He reached over to grab her purse and poured the contents of it out on the floor, snatching up her keys and her cellphone. In a savage motion he stomped on her cell phone until the plastic casing cracked, then threw the remains along with her keys off of the deck adjoining the room.

"What did you do that for?"

"For your own good, lover. You should remember you're in no position to argue with me now, so accept your fate."

He coolly walked over to her and put both of his hands on her neck as if he were going to strangle her, then turned it into a gentle massaging motion. She relaxed a little in his hands. As frightened as she was, she was beginning to grasp exactly how futile her weak attempts at resistance were, and exactly how strong his hold was on her.

"Good girl. Now let's start with some preliminary reparations."

She perked her head up, her fear rushing back to her, but not daring to speak.

"Yes, reparations. You're going to put your knees on that carpet again, only this time you're going to do it my way. Beg my forgiveness, apologize for being the fucking whore that you are and beg me to punish you, in any way I see fit. Oh and lover, make it convincing."

Once again she dropped to her knees in front of the man she loathed. How could she ever have loved him? His features were still handsome, though certainly more rugged after years as a tough. The wild eyes, though, those she had never seen before. At this moment, he looked like a man capable of anything.

She could hardly breathe, her heart was pounding so fast. She had no choice, but somewhere inside of her she kept insisting that she must have some option, somehow, that she did have rights as a human being, a right to not obey this man. She had somehow reached this point of no return.

"I'm sorry." She croaked throatily.

"And..? Tell me what you are, what you're going to do." The glee behind his words was palpable.

"I'm a... slut and I'm going to make up for the bad way I treated you." She could barely get through the whole sentence, she was so nervous.

"Tut tut, I know you can do better than that. You know what, why don't I just tell you what to say, hmm? Okay? You can start with 'I'm sorry Ian, for being such a little fuckslut.' -- Go on!"

"I'm sorry Ian, for being such a little fuckslut," she repeated mechanically.

"And I want you to show me the error of my ways -- fuck me, beat me, use me however you want."

At this, she started crying again, but still struggled on and repeated his words. After she finished she looked up into his eyes again and found them fixed on her, as if expecting her to do something.

"Well, I'm sure you know what you're supposed to do now. It hasn't been that long since you were last in my bed," he sarcastically commented.

He moved closer to her kneeling form so that the bulge in his pants was unavoidable, right there at her eye level.

"Yes," she whispered as she took a hold of his belt and slowly undid the loop, sliding it softly from around his waist and setting it on the floor next to her. As she began to unbutton the top of his pants and unzip his fly, she thought about the first time she had found herself in this position. Ian had taken her to a book release party thrown by one of his publicist friends, and he couldn't keep his hands off her. Kat had had a few drinks and they were about to leave for his place, when Ian suddenly pushed her into the small den close to the entrance hall and locked the door. She remembered wanting so desperately to please him, she would have offered him her soul if he'd only asked. As it was, she just offered him her body there on a stranger's carpet.