“Hello, Eva,” he said, when she walked in. “I see you and Emilio have become reacquainted.”
She didn’t realize until the door closed behind her that while she and Alexei had kissed and gotten as intimate as two people could with all their clothes still on, they hadn’t actually exchanged any words the last time they’d seen each other in Pittsburgh.
“You went and lost your accent?” she said, too surprised to not act surprised. She could hear his Russian background in the cadence of his speech, but other than that, his thick accent was gone, an almost monotone reflection of what it used to be. Alexei’s voice, she realized, was now clear and hard, like the glass in his office.
“I decided it would be best left behind if I truly wanted to navigate in business,” he said. His words were soft and civil, but his eyes were unblinking and hard as granite. “But I see you kept yours.”
“Yep.” She nodded. “I’m still Texas through and through. As a matter fact, do you mind if I take a seat? My feet aren’t built for anything with a bigger heel than cowboy boots and these stilettos are killing me.”
His lips thinned as if he was actually thinking of denying her a seat, but in the end, he extended a hand and said, “Yes, sit. We have much to discuss.”
She took a seat. “We sure do,” she said, tentatively sliding her bottom into one of the weird glass chairs. She was pleasantly surprised to find it quite sturdy and not nearly as fragile as it looked.
“Listen, I’m going to cut to chase here,” she said. “I’ve got a pretty good idea why you called me to your office. You’re angry because of how I left things eight years ago. And I’ve gotta say, you got me. Threatening my hometown was exactly the way to get an apology out of me. An apology you deserve big time. So I’m gonna say it now. I’m all kinds of sorry about what happened between us. If you want, I’ll get down on my knees and grovel. But please don’t take out your anger at me on the Drummond. There are good people living there, and they don’t deserve to go out like this because of something I did when I was very young.”
She emphasized those last five words, hoping they’d serve as a gentle reminder that perhaps things people do when they are young shouldn’t still be held against them eight years later.
He regarded her for a few long, measuring moments. He then finally sat down in the glass chair behind his own desk. “Your apology is very pretty, Eva, but the truth is it would be inconvenient for me to keep the headquarters in Drummond. Dallas is easier to fly into. The decision is already made. I just wanted to inform you of it to your face.”
More than anything, Eva wanted to simply accept this and move on. She wanted to say, “Okay, fine,” and get the hell out of Dodge. But as mad as she had been at Berta earlier, she also felt guilty, because her pension was riding on this negotiation, as well as the future well-being of all five-thousand residents of Drummond. The schools, all the civil service offices, everything would close and just about everyone would lose their jobs because of her.
She shook her head mournfully. “Please, I’m begging you to reconsider. The town’s going to die without the Drummond Oil headquarters. Is there any way I can talk you out of this?”
He regarded her with a lazy half-smirk. “I do not want to be talked out of it, Eva.”
She caught the emphasis he put on the word “talked” and her blood curdled, “What do you want then? I mean other than see me squirm in this hideously uncomfortable glass chair?”
His eyes raked down her body. “I see you still like your inappropriate jokes at inappropriate moments. This is a negotiation, Eva. Perhaps you should be serious and ask me what I want again. This time without the attitude.”
Barely resisting the urge to rile the vicious snake he’d become further by rolling her eyes at his command, she said in her best serious voice, “What do you want?”
He leaned forward. “I want you completely at my mercy for two weeks. I want to use you as a fuck toy, doing to you whatever I want, however I want it, for that time until I get tired of you and throw you away like you threw me away eight years ago. That’s what I want.”
Her mouth went as dry as a mile of Texas backcountry road. She couldn’t have made joke at that point if her life depended on it. But more upsetting than his request was her body’s response to it. She could feel herself moisten, at just the thought of being with Alexei again, even if it were in such a degrading way.
She closed her eyes and could hear her father’s voice ring in her ears. Do whatever it takes to fix this. She also thought of Aaron who would be safe from discovery if she just allowed Alexei to exact his revenge.
Aaron was what sealed it, really, because she could tell that even if she said no to his terms and let him kill Drummond, Alexei would come at her with something else. No, he wouldn’t be satisfied until he fulfilled his revenge fantasy.
“Just so we’re clear on this,” she said, her voice more than a little shaky, “If I agree to spend two weeks with you, then you’ll let the Drummond Oil headquarters stay in Drummond for good? And you’ll also leave the funding Drummond Oil has put in place for our town as is? No backsies?”
He regarded her with a satisfied gleam in his eyes. “Yes, I will allow Drummond Oil to stay in Drummond after I’m done with you. And you may keep the funding scheme.”
She folded her arms and averted her eyes. “Fine,” she mumbled.
“What’s that?” he asked, cupping his ear. “I did not hear you.”
“Fine,” she said, clear as day, over-enunciating the word. “If completely degrading me will make you feel better about yourself, then I’ll do what you want, if it means you’ll leave me and my hometown alone.”
His scowl deepened. “You will need to learn to be careful with your mouth before we meet again on Sunday. If you continue to act unpleasant when we are together next, I will consider you in violation of our agreement and I will send the order to close your precious headquarters.”
“Wait, Sunday? I only have two days until I have to…” She couldn’t say it. “…do what you want me to do? But I have a ton of paperwork. I can’t just disappear from my job with only two days notice. Plus two weeks is a long time. I can’t clear off my desk and pack in just two days.”
“I am sure the good people of Drummond will be able to get along without you for two weeks.” He gave her a smile that didn’t nearly reach his eyes. “As for packing, bring nothing but yourself. I willl provide your clothing. That way we can both be sure what you are wearing is to my liking.”
The thought of someone else picking out her clothes for two whole weeks was appalling on several different levels, but she didn’t dare protest since every time she did, he just seemed to come back at her with an even more ludicrous demand. If she didn’t shut up, he’d have her running around buck-naked for two weeks just for his amusement.
“Fine,” she said. “May I go now?”
“No, not yet. Your hair…”
She touched her straightened locks. “You want me to at least bring a flat iron, so I can keep it like this?”
“No,” he said. “I want it to be curly the next time I see you. I do not like it this way.”
She started to tell him she didn’t usually wear it down like this. She had straightened it for Layla’s wedding just for fun and, of course, she’d been ambushed by little old black ladies before she got on the plane. But then she remembered who she was talking to and just went with another “Fine.”
“And when was your last STD test?”
Her cheeks warmed. She wasn’t about to tell him how low-action her life had been in the sex department since leaving him. Drummond was small and her job and motherhood took up a lot of her time. So even if there was a great guy dying to date an overworked single mother, she hadn’t had time to find him. “My last physical was in May, and all my blood work came back clean. But the last time I saw you, you were keeping company with Ms. Threesome, so I’m thinking condoms are in order.”
“I will get the necessary tests before our excursion, but I assure you I am clean as well.”
“How about birth control? I’m on the pill, but I’d rather use condoms just to make sure.” She didn’t add that she’d been on birth control eight years ago, and apparently that hadn’t been enough to prevent her from getting pregnant with Aaron.
“There is no need to worry about this. I received a vasectomy a few years ago to prevent this from happening.”
Eva nearly choked on her own breath. “I always knew you were anti having kids. But I thought maybe one day you might change your mind.”
“I did not,” he said, his eyes going distant like they used to when there was a subject he’d rather not talk about. “The point is there will be nothing between us.”