SEVENTEEN: You Can't Tell Me What To Do

“So, it’s normal for you to come back at this time, is it?” He asks, downing the rest of his whiskey, putting it on the table and standing up.

His suit jacket is on the sofa beside him, and he’s just in his shirt and trousers, although a few of his shirt buttons aren’t done up.

Because I unbuttoned them at his request a few hours earlier.

“Pretty normal. Is it normal for you to stay up and wait for your secretary to return?” I retaliate as he walks up to me, making me tilt my head to look up at him.

“Well, I was trying to work out why you were out so late.”

“I was on a date and we fucked in his car on the way back.” I say sarcastically.

“I don’t appreciate the joke.”

“Who says I’m joking?” I retort, pushing past him to kick my shoes off and hang my coat up.

I changed at the club, so I’m now dressed in a simple jumper and leggings.

 “What I do when I’m out is none of your business.” I say as I hear him walk up behind me.

“I need to make sure you’re safe.” He whispers in my ear, making me whip round to face him. “And when you won’t take your bodyguard, I have to make sure you’re protecting yourself. Which is proving incredibly difficult lately, especially when you won’t tell me where you’re going to or who with.”

“How would you like me to protect myself then? Because I’m not going to stop leaving.” I say bluntly.

“Hmm, I was going to say stay in the apartment, but since that’s out the window...” He smirks, just as he walks forwards, making me walk back until I hit the wall, and he puts his hands either side of my head. “How about giving me the guy’s name, so I can check whether he’s okay?”

“Absolutely not.” I scoff, going to push him off, but he grabs the hand I put on his chest and pins it back to the wall.

The action makes my stomach flip.

“So you are dating someone.”

“I don’t owe you an answer to that.”

David stares down at me for a few seconds, and I can see the muscle in his jaw twitching. Then he pushes himself back, letting go of my hands, and simply walks off.

What an odd conversation.

The oddness doesn’t stop at that night. I notice for the next two times I go out, David would ask if I’m going on another ‘date’. Out of pure pettiness, I say yes every time, starting to enjoy the angry look that would take over his face as I shut the door. Plus, it isn’t a total lie, because I am technically seeing someone, just… at the club. And that someone is him.

I also notice that the light would now stay on in David’s office whenever I come back. I go straight to my room each time, closing my door, and then I would hear footsteps, and then another door closing. When I look out into the hall, the light in the study would be off, and David’s bedroom door would now be closed.

I realise he has waited for me to come home every time.

I have gotten into a habit quite early on of waiting a couple hours after my sessions finish at the club, before heading home. I just help Sel out with office stuff, checking cameras, paperwork and stuff. I figure that if I get home minutes after him every time, he would start getting suspicious. So I change it up, coming home anywhere between 2:30 and 4:30am, with my sessions finishing at 1am. It means that I’m now more tired than ever, but that is a minimal price to pay to make sure that David doesn’t find out.

One Tuesday evening, he’s particularly harsh on me. Maybe it is all the events that have happened so far, the fact that he clearly doesn’t like me being out when he doesn’t know where, but it’s beginning to feed into my meetings at the club. He uses the Nine Tails every time now. He always has me either blindfolded or gagged. He always has me tied up somehow. He uses his fingers more, mostly to torture me with the possibilities of a climax rather than letting me go completely over the edge. He’s loving the control he has over me. He loves getting what he needs out of me. Whimpering, moaning, begging for more.

A new development tonight is that he lets me touch him. Briefly, for a few seconds, he moves my hand to him, rock hard in his trousers, allowing me to run my hand over him. But when I go to reach for his button, he rips the opportunity away again, going straight back into punishing me.

I’m practically stumbling into the apartment that evening, my body completely fatigued, thrumming with unspent adrenaline, but too exhausted to do anything about it. I want to have a few minutes to myself, with my toys, in my bed, but Mr. Reid had previously instructed that I am not permitted to. He likes seeing me desperate for his touch.

I kick my shoes off, hang my coat up, and roll my neck, trying to alleviate some of the tension in my muscles. As I pad through towards my room, I stumble to a stop when David’s voice echoes from beside me.

“I’ve made a decision.” He says, and I blink at him as he walks over from the kitchen doorway, where he has clearly been waiting for me. “You’re not going on anymore dates.”

“I’m sorry… what?” I ask, my brain trying to comprehend what he just said to me.

“You heard me.” He growls, continuing to step forward so that I’m forced to step back, until my back hits the front door, making me flinch. “I want you to stop going out on dates.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“It’s not safe.”

I go to walk past him, but he grabs the side of my arms and pushes me back against the wood.

“Fuck off, David.” I spit. “You already control where I live, where I work. I'd be damned if you control my free time too. My free time is my free time. I can spend it with whomever I like.”

“Not anymore.”

“What’s changed?” I ask, and he just stays silent. “If nothing has changed in the last 24 hours, then I’m not changing any part of my life.”

“Something has changed.” He finally mutters.

“Oh yeah, and what’s that?”

“The fact that I don’t want you dating people.”

“Why is that any of your business?”

“Because I’ve watched you come home later and later each time this week. You’re out doing god knows what, with god knows who, and I can’t worry about that while I’m worrying about you getting kidnapped again!”

“I’m fine! I’m safe! Nothing has happened!” I shout back, throwing his hands off my arms.

He groans and turns away from me, his hands going through his hair.

“I live in your house, I work with you, that’s enough. If I want to be out, seeing ‘god knows who’, then I am well within my right to!” I continue. “You’re out gallivanting and you don’t think twice about it. They could just shoot you anywhere! Marcus’s life isn’t controlled, or Harlan’s, or Theo’s! So why the fuck are you so wound up about me?!”

“That’s different.” He growls, turning back to me.

“Yeah, cos they’re not lowly secretaries, right? They can fight anyone who tries anything with them?”

“That’s not–”

“Why do they not get shouted at every time? Why do you not give a shit about them when they clock off, but you get so fucking irate about me?!”

“Because Nora, they’re not–”

“It’s a fucking double standard David, and I don’t understand why you can’t just leave me alone like you leave everyone else alone!”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT EVERYONE ELSE!” He yells suddenly, making my anger disappear instantly. “You are completely different.” He adds, his voice quieter, but his teeth still gritted.

“Why am I different?” I ask, frowning at him in confusion.

“You can’t seriously be that naive?” He chuckles heartlessly. The anger flares back up.

“Listen here David, if all you’re going to do is insult me for asking simple fucking questions, then I will walk ou–”

My words are cut off, by David crashing his lips to mine.