I didn’t hear anything from Mr Stone after Saturday. I wasn’t sure why I was expecting to, but I did all the same. I realised I wanted him to call me to let me know nothing happened with Emma. That as soon as he found out I knew her he had sent her away. I accepted how ridiculous this was, but it’s what I wished all the same. When I’d agreed to this arrangement, I hadn’t thought about him seeing other people. How stupid of me, considering the many different women I’d seen him photographed with.
One good thing was that I was slowly starting to improve when it came to putting on make up. It didn’t look as good as when Adrianne did it, but I could definitely see progress. Part of me was also beginning to enjoy it. Having a routine in the morning that made me feel a little better about myself could only be a good thing. I wasn’t so used to the new clothes just yet, but then everything Mr Stone had bought me was more office appropria
It was Wednesday morning, and I was sitting at my newly acquired desk. Mr Stone wasn’t in yet. Apparently, he was busy with an early meeting. I was glad of this though. It meant I had time to look over all of the research I had done on Blast without having the topic of Emma brought up. Despite being distracted, I had managed to do a fair amount. I even thought I had an idea on how we could market Blast in a new way that was still in keeping with the product.The office door was pushed open, and I braced myself to meet Mr Stone’s eyes. But it was not Mr Stone. It was Greta. I frowned as I considered how there was no chance that she would just barge in here if Mr Stone was in the office.She gave me her usual disapproving look. “The Blast ad team are waiting for you in the conference room,” she said stiffly.I rose out of my chair, quickly grabbing the folder I had prepared to take with me. “Where is it? The conference room I me
Embarrassingly, it had taken me a while to get what Mr Stone had meant. When it finally dawned on me, I was unable to concentrate on any work for the rest of the day. In contrast, Mr Stone simply got on with his schedule. Occasionally he explained things to me or showed me different client portfolios. He acted as if everything was normal. As if he hadn’t asked me to masturbate in front of him in a few hours’ time.As the end of the day approached, I became more and more nervous. Eventually I gave up trying to pretend to work, and looked out of Mr Stone’s window at the city skyline.“Shall we get started?” His voice came from behind.I gave a small nod.“You don’t have your vibrator in your handbag by any chance, do you?” He asked it so casually. He might as well been asking if I had a pen.My eyes flicked to his. “Are you mad?”He laughed. “Some women do. I could hear ho
I was doing it. I was going to the library. I was going to pick up my book. I was going to speak to him.I told this to myself again and again. What was stopping me now? I’d masturbated naked in front of a man…what could be scarier than that?I had spent approximately two hours getting ready. I knew I needed to look as good as was possible, without it being obvious that I had tried too hard. After a series of agonising wardrobe changes, I had settled on dark skinny jeans and a black t-shirt with my new navy wool coat over the top. I decided to go with my doc martens for shoes. After all, I needed something about me to be authentic.I had by no means mastered the art of make-up but I could now at least apply the basics and not have it look like a three-year old had drawn on my face with a pen.Thursday mornings in the library were usually a quieter time. The night before was the various society’s official night out. That meant a lo
“Does this mean you’re going to be taking your vagina out of hibernation?”I nearly choked on the swig of beer in my throat as Vanessa gave me an incredulous look.“Why do you always have to be so graphic?” I shot.She shrugged. “I say it like it is. That’s all.” She paused for a second, her finger lightly tapping the edge of the brown bottle. “You know, I’m not even sure hibernation is the right term. It’s never actually been out so, maybe released into the wild is better?”I rolled my eyes. It was best not to encourage Vanessa too much when she got like this.“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. He hasn’t even text me yet.” I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice, but I failed miserably.Vanessa gave me a rare sympathetic look. “Listen, this is how guys are. They never want to act too keen. Give it time, it was only yesterday he a
I stared at him wide-eyed, waiting for what on earth he was going to ask me to do.“Go to the bed and sit against the headrest,” he commanded.I thought about protesting, but that would just waste valuable time. And if I was truly honest with myself, I was also curious about what he was going to ask me to do. He hadn’t told me to remove any of my clothes, so it made me think that it wasn’t going to be me that was touched tonight.As he kept his eyes on mine, he undid a few buttons on his shirt, and I braced myself for him to take it off, but he didn’t. I ignored the disappointment clouding within me, taking note of the spattering of dark curly hairs that were now revealed. Before I knew what was happening, he had snapped off his belt buckle with a flourish, pulling out the leather strap from the loops of his trousers swiftly. It clattered to the floor with a clang as the buckle knocked against its prong.My heart began to beat
My stomach flipped wildly as the nerves coursed through my system. Matt had asked me to meet him in The World’s End. I’d been a few times before, as it was one of the most well-known pubs in Camden. Letterbox red brick walls held my destiny.Predictably, I was stopped by the bald-headed bouncer. He looked at my ID suspiciously, but eventually gave a harsh grunt to tell me he was satisfised.The pub was rammed. It was Saturday night, so it was to be expected, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to find Matt in the throng of people. I did a rather unattractive impression of a meerkat, looking for any sign of my date. My search came up empty, and a dark feeling crept into the base of my stomach. What if he wasn’t here? What if I’d been stood up? I began to panic, conscious that people may already be staring at the girl without any friends.“Rosie!”Relief flooded through me. It was him. I swivelled round quickly to see him
I woke up on Sunday a little bleary eyed. It certainly wasn’t a full-blown hangover, but it was enough to turn my head into concrete. I went though the scenes from last night in my mind, and a cloud appeared above me. I curled myself into a tight ball and pulled the duvet right over me, deciding that today was probably going to be spent in bed. Shutting my eyes tightly, I willed sleep to take me again.My bedside table began to oscillate, and I realised it was my phone vibrating. I reached out from my cocoon to find the device. I squinted as the light from the screen blinded me for a second. Eventually managing to focus, I felt my heart skip a beat. Hurriedly, I clicked to open the message.-Hey Rosie. Just wanted to say again how cool last night was. How about some Thai food on Thursday?I stared at the message for ages, trying to assimilate what this meant. He wanted to see me again. Even after the awkward ‘not a kiss’ last night. The cloud e
I gulped. Why did the idea of kissing Mr Stone currently sound more terrifying than another mirror exercise? For some reason it felt more…intimate. As if it was possible that he would gain even more of an emotional hold on me.Either way, the time had come. Clothes now removed I stood in front of the mirror, his eyes roaming every square inch of my body.“So, Miss Woods, tell me. What do you like about yourself?”I shifted uncomfortably. I knew it had to be something below my neck line. A mischievous idea crossed my mind, and I smirked.“Fingers,” I announced.His face darkened. “Are you being serious Miss Woods?”“Yes. You said below the neck link, that’s where they are. I think they look okay in a certain light.” I brought them up to my face, turning them over and pretending to inspect my nails.His jaw clenched. “I’m going to give you one more chance, Miss Woo
I wanted to look at Vanessa, to what her reaction was. But my eyes were stuck on the screen, barely believing what I was seeing was real. His dark eyes seemed to be boring into my own.“My name is Ezra Stone, and I am a foolish man.”I felt my hands begin to shake, and I dug my fingers into the armrests to try and control myself.“I have lived a life without love, and so when it finally arrived, I didn’t know what to do. And so, I did the only thing I knew how. I pushed it away. But I no longer want to do that.”Tears began to slip down my face.“So, this my public pledge to win back the woman. The woman who’s smile melted my heart. The woman who showed me there was more to life than money. The woman who introduced me to milky tea and full English breakfasts. The woman who I want with every fibre of my being. The woman who changed my life, forever.”The screen cut out and the lights went up. I
Eight long days went by. By the third day the story about Ezra and I was old news. He hadn’t contacted me at all since Vanessa had sent him that text message, and maybe that was for the best. A few days after the story came out, Emma stopped turning up to lectures. I wondered if Vanessa had talked to her dad, but she promised me that she hadn’t. At first, I wondered what had happened to her, but then I realised that I didn’t care. I shouldn’t be wasting my time thinking about people like that.I wish I could have applied the same principle to Ezra, but he was far more difficult to forget. Everything seemed to remind me of him. One of our lectures would cover a marketing trick that he used and I see him at his desk. I’d see a fancy deli and I’d remember his favourite food. Sometimes when I was walking down the street, I would catch a glimpse of a tall man in a dark suit, and I would snap my head towards them. But of course, it was never him.
I was relieved that Vanessa decided to not adopt her usual ‘tough love’ approach. I’d managed to hold it together all day, but I didn’t have a lot left to rebuff any further judgement.“I can’t believe that bitch did this to you. This is why I work with animals. People suck.”We were sitting on my bed while I used a wet-wipe to clean the smeared make-up off my face from crying.“Yeah well…it’s not even her I’m the angriest with…” I trailed off, looking at the once pristine wipe that was now a grubby rag.Vanessa sighed. “Hah. I haven’t even got on to that bastard.”We went silent for a moment, neither of us knowing what to say.Just then, my phone rang. I fished it out of my pocket, almost dropping it when I saw who it was.“It’s him.”Vanessa’s face went instantly sour. “Don’t answer it!”
So, this was what the threat had all been about. I hadn’t stopped seeing him, so as a consequence, nude pictures of me had been leaked, and false information printed. I wondered how Greta had got to the point of hating me this much. We barely even knew each other. Had she been in love with Ezra?By the time I got back to my halls, I realised I could still make my mid-morning lectures. The fact this thought occurred to me surprised me. After all, I could so easily sink back into despair and not leave my room. But I was tired of that. All my life I had been fearful about what others thought. That fear had kept me trapped, restricted from living my life. I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of. I had done nothing wrong. Hiding away in this room was going to solve nothing. It would only prove to the world that I had been beaten once again. Last time, Mr Stone had saved me, but this time, I was saving myself.Taking a deep breath, I found some of the fanciest clothes I
The phone woke us both up with a start. It was early, that much I knew. Ezra clocked the name on the screen and answered it immediately.“Morning.”I heard a male voice on the end of the phone.“What do you mean?” Ezra’s tone changed from light to dark in seconds.“No, I haven’t seen them, I’ve just woken up.”Still on the phone, he got out of bed. He held the phone next to his ear with his shoulder as he pulled on his clothes without even casting a glance my way. Was it Mr Franks?“Yeah. Send me some copies over by email.”He strode into the kitchen, where I heard him switching on his laptop. I sprang out of bed, finding any kind of clothing to put on before going off to find him.He was sat down, elbows on the table with his fingers pressed into his lips. The deep frown line in his forehead told me this was anything but good.“What is it?” I
I didn’t even want to blink. It was so incredible. I of course had never been on the London Eye, as it was too expensive. However, now I was up here, I could see it was worth every penny. I couldn’t deny how strange it was being in a glass bubble at this height, but the views were too breath taking to ignore. Some people might question how I could find a cityscape so beautiful considering I grew up with the turquoise waters of the south coast, but I did. It was a different kind of beautiful. To see all the wide spectrum of architecture both old and new was wonderful. You could see the majority of the London landmarks, from Big Ben to Canary Wharf. When I thought about all of the people living their lives in this iconic city, my head swam.Erza stood next to me in silence. He had booked out an entire carriage for our own use, so the only sound was the low hum of the structure rotating. At first I had chastised him for wasting money when we could have just got regul
When we finally sat down to breakfast, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander back to the note. I ate the omelette he had made us in thoughtful silence.Noticing, he asked what I was thinking about.“The message…do you think we should contact the police?”Ezra shook his head. “No. Let me handle it for now. If we tell the police they won’t allow me to investigate myself.”I frowned at him. “But how are you going to do that?”“Rosie, don’t you remember I’m a billionaire?” He raised his eyebrow at me, before placing his knife and fork down on the empty plate. “I can hire people to look into it.”“…legally?”He began to laugh. “Yes Rosie. I’ll hire a PI that I know. I’m a CEO, not a gang lord.”I narrowed my eyes at him. “I just wanted to check.”He leaned back in his chair, his ex
I was shaking so much that I dropped the paper. It fluttered to the floor, the harmless inanimate sheet flying through the air as if it didn’t have the disturbing message written upon it. Not wanting anyone to see, I bent down to retrieve it before shutting my front door and locking it.For fear of fainting, I sat down on my bed, doing my best to regulate my breathing. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, but the next thing I knew my phone was ringing. I answered it, finding his soothing voice travelling down the other end.“I’m outside. Are you ready?”“S-someone, someone has left a note for me.” I stuttered.“I’m coming up.”I knew by the tone in my voice he could tell I was upset. Five minutes later he was knocking on my door.“It’s me Rosie, open up.”I went to the door to find him standing on the other side with a concerned look on his face.&ldqu
The vibrator was lying on the bed next to us. He picked it up, his thumb flicking the switch on to the first setting. It hummed in his hands, and I stilled, as if I expected it to give me an electric shock when it touched my skin. He brought it closer and closer to my breast, hesitating just before it came into contact with my nipple. When it finally buzzed against me, I gasped. The sensation of the cool coating vibrating made my pussy get even wetter. It also reminded me how good the last time had been. He traced it from my breast, down my stomach, all the way to the slit between my legs. I let my head rest against his chest, closing my eyes to enjoy the moment.“You take over now.”I took a deep breath and allowed him to place the item between my shaking fingers. I almost dropped it, the adrenaline was pumping through my veins so hard. He returned his hands to my breasts, the action making me realise how much I actually wanted to touch myself. Witho