Heller's Revenge (20 page)

“So boys, how are the plans for
the big feast coming along?”

“Tonight is the night,” Daniel
promised and Niq was virtually jumping up and down on the spot with
excitement. “You are going to love it.”

I smiled at their confidence.
“I’m sure I will.”

We walked down the stairs to the
office together while I explained why I had bruising on my face yet
again. I sat at my desk and fired up my computer. Heller walked in
wearing the
Heller’s
uniform – the black polo shirt, black
cargo pants, black chunky boots. I smiled at him and he winked at
me.

“When you’re ready, let’s have a
chat,” he said, going into his office.

When my computer screen came up
I laughed out loud. I had a new wallpaper on my monitor – a photo
of me from the ceremony in my revealing dress, but it had been
photo-shopped to cut out Clarrie and instead I now had Daniel on
one side of me and Niq on the other, both grinning inanely.

“Good one, boys!” I laughed.
“I’m going to leave that photo up there for a while, you know.”
For one thing, it would be a reminder not to ever buy such a
slutty dress again
, I thought as I made my way into Heller’s
office.

“Hello, Matilda,” he said, a
meaningful expression on his face.

“Hello, Heller,” I replied
casually, flopping down into a visitor chair, deciding to ignore
it.

“I have some check-ups planned
for today. Do you want to come with me?”

“Yep.” Check-ups were literally
just that. We went around to major jobs and made sure everything
was hunky-dory – that the staff were turning up and that the
assignment was being managed professionally.

“Wear your uniform, please. I’ll
see you in fifteen minutes.”

I went upstairs and changed into
my
Heller’s
uniform. While I was in my flat, I took the
opportunity to ring Dixie to tell her about the previous
evening.

“
You touched his todger?
”
she screamed into my ear.

“I lent him a helping hand,
that’s all. I wanted to go to sleep and his thingy was getting in
the way. That’s not sex though, is it? I mean, if anyone asks, I
haven’t had sex with him.”

“Was it big?”

“I’ve told you before that he’s
very impressive.”

“You should have taken a photo
for me.” I laughed while she thought about my question for a few
moments. “It was a sex act, but it’s not sex. Neither of you even
had your clothes off. How can you have sex with your clothes on?
You’re safe. But man, you are such a lucky bitch! Oh shit, look at
the time! I have to run. But speaking of photos, I have a beauty to
send you. See you later.”

Feeling reassured about the
righteousness of my naughtiness – it wasn’t done in lust, I was
only trying to get some sleep, for God’s sake – I then returned to
the office. On the dot, Heller left his office and nodded to
me.

We stopped in at a number of
locations, mostly major construction sites, talking to the
managers, discussing the surveillance services being paid for,
ensuring that everything was running smoothly.
Heller’s
was
only a small business compared to its major rivals and that allowed
Heller to offer a more personalised service to his clients.

“You must be pleased that
everything’s running so smoothly,” I said as we returned to his
Mercedes after our final visit for the day.

“Yes, but I still need to
convince the other firms that there is enough work for all of
us.”

“Have you sorted out everything
yet?” And by that, I meant his rival’s attacks on the business.

“Not yet, but I will in time.”
And remembering the suspicious fire at the Select Security
headquarters some months ago, I was fairly certain that Heller was
already retaliating, a situation I didn’t want to ponder too
closely.

We drove in silence.

“Do you mind if we drop into the
shopping centre? I promised Daniel that I would bank some cheques,”
he asked.

“No worries. You have to keep
the money rolling in, after all.”

He turned into the next
mega-mall and we walked through the hundreds of shops until we
found the right bank where Heller proceeded to deposit the cheques.
He bought me lunch at a small cafe and I filled him in on my last
two weeks, as we hadn’t done much talking the night before. He paid
the bill and we left, walking together through the shopping centre
in our distinctive uniforms, everybody in the whole place staring
at his great beauty, while I regaled him with my capture of
Milt.

“Matilda, you are a continual
source of wonder,” he marvelled and put his arm around my
shoulders, pulling me in close and kissing me gently on the
forehead. “He was completely naked, dripping wet and you punched
his testicles?”

I laughed up at him. “I didn’t
have much choice. He knocked me flying and I had to stop him from
grabbing the gun back off me. And I really didn’t want his wet,
meaty bits dangling in my face.
Gross!
”

Heller laughed and squeezed my
shoulders.

“Hello, Tilly.”

I stopped still and spun
around.

“Will!”

Heller’s body stiffened with
instant hostility. If he’d been an animal, his fur would have been
sticking up, his back would have arched, and he would have been
growling low in his throat, ready to fight. He kept his arm
possessively around my shoulders, icy shards shooting from his
eyes.

“Will, how wonderful to see you.
This is my boss, Heller. Heller, this is Will, my boyfriend.”

I subtly shrugged off Heller’s
arm and gave Will a peck on the cheek. Will stared at Heller with
uncertainty, but held out his hand politely. After a long pause,
just when I thought he was going to be unforgivably rude, Heller
took Will’s hand and shook it with unnecessary firmness.

“Tilly, I’m desperate to catch
up with you. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you. Are you free
tonight?” asked Will keenly.

“Yes,” I said.

“No,” Heller said
simultaneously. I shot him a warning look. “You’re having dinner
with us tonight,” he reminded me.

“Oh yeah. Sorry babe, not
tonight, but what about tomorrow night?”

“Sure. I’ll make you
dinner.”

“Can’t wait. See you then.” I
kissed him on the lips and watched him walk away for a second
before we resumed our path through the centre.

“I don’t like him,” Heller said
coldly.

“What a surprise.”

“I’m just being honest.”

“Would you like anyone I went
out with?”

“No.”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter
what you think then, does it? I like him a lot, and that’s all I
care about.”

He shrugged indifferently and we
made our way home.

When we returned to the office,
I loaded up my email, deleting all my family’s ones without reading
them. I opened the email that Dixie had sent me after our phone
conversation. She’d written,
I’m really, really sorry, but I’ve
been having a man drought lately. And I don’t have a friendly
todger to play with!

Puzzled, I opened the attached
photo and almost screamed with shock and incredulity. I actually
clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle myself, remembering just
how much Heller disapproved of Dixie’s activities in this area. In
the photo was not just one of Dixie’s engineering PhD student flat
mates, but both of them, sprawled naked and slumbering in
post-coital bliss in the living area of their little flat. It was a
revolting scene. It even made my eyes throw up a little.

I quickly emailed back,
Please tell me you did not have a nerd orgy with Jon and Don!
Please!

She could not possibly be that
desperate. Not ever! I deleted the photo gratefully.

Chapter 14

Dinner that night was superb.
Daniel and Niq went to a lot of trouble, setting the table very
nicely and ensuring that everything was perfect. The six of us
dined in Heller’s flat because it was the largest in the building.
I dressed up for the occasion (not in the slutty dress, mind you)
and had a wonderful time, luxuriating in the conversation, the good
food and the champagne.

The guys had planned a simple
and old-fashioned meal – prawn cocktail, roast chicken with vegies
and chocolate mousse – but they’d cooked it exceptionally well and
it was all delicious. I drank a bit too much champagne and was
quite pissed by the end of the evening, but I didn’t care because I
only had to stagger downstairs to get home. And also I felt like
celebrating after surviving two weeks of Clarrie’s company.

After dinner, when the dishes
were washed and everything cleared away, we lounged in the living
room, chatting. They all teased me mercilessly about my revealing
appearance at the awards ceremony and I endured patiently. But it’s
amazing how many boob-related puns a bunch of men can come up with.
I retaliated by lording over them about the fact that I had met the
Prime Minister, but in reality that only gave me about five seconds
of boasting rights, because none of them cared in the slightest. I
entertained them with a heavily censored (in deference to Niq)
version of my activities during the fortnight.
Synonymy
and
Little Tilly fascinated them.

“Are you still playing the game,
Heller?” I asked him, curious.

“No. It wasn’t any fun without
Little Matilda. There wasn’t anyone else I wanted to . . . play
with.”

I laughed. The twins, with a
little embarrassment, confessed to being long-standing subscribers
to
Synonymy
. I felt uncomfortable hearing that, and hoped
that they hadn’t had any amorous encounters with Little Tilly
during her short life. I wasn’t brave enough to ask them about it
though.

“Maybe I should check it out?”
pondered Daniel, his hand propping up his chin.

“You’ll become addicted,” I
warned.

“Yeah, but I also might get
lucky.”

“Only virtually.”

He shrugged. “A virtual
relationship would be better than the one I have at the
moment.”

“With who?” I puzzled.

“My hand.”

I giggled. “Poor diddums,” I
teased and plonked myself on his lap, slipping my arms around his
shoulders and covering his face with little kisses. “There! Does
that make it all better, Danny darling?”

“No! Get off me,” he laughed,
trying to push me away and shield his face from my lips. “You weigh
more than three buildings.”

“I do not!” I said indignantly.
And in payback, I covered him in more kisses, forcing him to
redouble his efforts to push me off. I ruffled his hair into
disarray. He tried to mess up mine. We had a fun little wrestle for
a while, giggling uncontrollably, arms and legs tangled together,
until he finally managed to push me off his lap. I fell in an
inelegant drunken heap on the floor, laughing my head off. Sid
helped me to my feet, smiling as he did.

“You’re covered in lipstick,” I
advised Daniel, giggling still, dusting myself off, looking down at
his flushed face.

“You’re
such
a pain in
the arse, Tilly! I can’t remember why I ever missed you,” he
complained laughingly, and went to the bathroom to wash my lippie
off his face.

“Who’s next?” I slurred,
surveying the rest of them, swaying a little as I did. Heller slid
his arm around me.

“Time for you to go to bed, my
sweet.”

“Don’t be so boring, Heller! I
don’t want to go to bed. I want to have some fun. I haven’t had any
fun for weeks.”

“You can have more fun tomorrow.
But now, it’s time for you to sleep.”

I grumbled, but acquiesced. I
was feeling rather drunk to be honest and just about to hit the
wall. I waved goodnight to everyone and clung to Heller’s arm down
the stairs. He found my pyjamas for me and supervised while I
washed my face and brushed my teeth. I flopped down onto my bed and
grabbed his hand as he was about to leave, pulling him down on top
of me. He didn’t struggle at all as I pressed my lips on his,
hugging him around his neck. In fact, he responded very quickly and
we shared some steamy kisses before his mouth left mine and traced
a gentle trail down my neck and across my collarbone. His mouth
continued its downward trek, and he pushed my singlet top up,
giving his lips free access across my breast to my nipple, where
his tongue softly explored. Replacing his tongue with gentle
rubbing with his thumb, his mouth returned to mine. I arched my
back to press my body even closer against his.

He gave me a final kiss, before
moving away and sitting up. I tried to pull him back down on me
again, but he resisted.

“But I
want
to sleep with
you, Heller,” I complained. “Right now. Don’t you want to?”

“God Matilda, of course I do!
But not when you’re drunk. I promised, remember?”

I groaned in disappointment.
“Well, can’t you just help me out a little bit? I’m desperate! It’s
been weeks.”

He gave me a half-smile and
tucked me into bed, giving me a lingering kiss goodnight. “You said
you wanted to save yourself for your boyfriend.”

“You’re cruel, you know.”

“You’ll thank me tomorrow. Good
night, my sweet.” And he left, turning off my light on the way. I
fell asleep five seconds later.

He was right, of course. I felt
terrible the next morning, with a pounding headache and a nauseous
stomach. But I was very grateful that he had shown self-control. It
would make my date with Will later in the day more special. Also I
knew that sleeping with Heller would not be a great decision – he
was my boss, after all.

It was late in the morning
before I felt able to show my face in the office. I’d managed to
hold some food down and my headache was starting to fade with the
help of some painkillers. Daniel and Niq were sitting together,
discussing a project Niq had to do for school. They both grinned
evilly at me as I walked in and I poked my tongue out at them.