Slap, Smack, Slap
"I said on your knees. Stop embarrassing me and do what you do best."
Pain radiated throughout Rory's skull as the stings from the slap merged with the burn from the pull against his hair. He couldn't stifle the whimper that echoed through the now quiet room as all eyes were now turned on the two of them. Drunk and drugged snickers could be heard over the ringing that still lingered in his ears. "Mike... Please, not in front of all these people... later, after they leave..." He stammered as he struggled against the tight grip pushing him downward.
"In front of them? No, you're going to do it to them, too, once you're finished with me. What's the use of having a faggot, whore living under my roof if it can't be of some use? No?"
Mike's cruel words were not new to Rory, nor were the forced acts upon his body... but this... this was a new level of embarrassment. Tears burned his eyes as he heard the sound of zippers being undone and chuckles echoing throughout the room. "Mike, no, please." Tears streamed down his face, distorting the menacing smirk glaring down at him. "Anything but this... please... I'm sorry... I'll never... never again..." The blurry smirk widened as Mike's face drew nearer.
"Oh, I know you won't... Because now, every time you think about running away, you'll remember this night." Mike nodded toward the others in the room as he shoved his waiting cock between Rory's trembling lips. "What are you waiting for?"
Buzz, buzz, buzz
Rory groaned as he shook himself awake and reached for his phone, and turned off the alarm. He stretched, but even at his meager five feet four inches, his heels hit the arm of the couch he'd been sleeping on. He blew out a sigh. His eyes moved to his scant possessions, all able to fit inside one medium-sized suitcase. Did he even have anything nice enough to wear to a job interview at such an influential company?
***
"This way, please."
Rory fumbled with the hem of his well-worn, button-up shirt that stuck out from under the oversized sweater he'd borrowed from the current friend he was crashing with. He swallowed hard as he lifted from the luxurious waiting area and followed the elegantly dressed secretary. His eyes passed nervously over the seemingly busy employees while they covered snarky giggles as he was led by. Seeing their mannerisms and how well-dressed everyone was on this floor of the building made him feel even more self-conscious. He had gotten the call early this morning and had rushed to prepare. It isn't easy preparing for these things when you basically live out of a suitcase and sleep either in your car or, if you're lucky, a friend's couch. Rory chastised himself as he picked at the cuticles of his thumbs. His breath caught as he was led into an even more luxurious office space and told to take a seat on the other side of a massive mahogany desk. His stunned, questioning eyes moved from the nameplate on the desk to the secretary.
She sent him a stiff smile, "Mr. Perish will be with you shortly. Would you like a drink while you wait?"
Rory shook his head, too nervous to speak. It would have been nice of them to mention I'd be meeting with the actual owner of the publishing company when they called this morning?! Now what do I do? I LOOK homeless at best! There's no way I'll get this job! He blew out a heavy sigh and began adjusting his clothes, straightening and tucking what he could where he could. He gave himself a mental shake and began going over his positive qualities in his head as he'd rehearsed each time he'd tried to talk himself out of applying for such a prestigious company in the first place. No, Rory, you graduated with a 3.8 GPA. You had amazing recommendations... It's been a while, yes... but your past employers will vouch for you...
He didn't have time for the intrusive, self-deprecating thoughts to take control as a door at the back of the room opened and an attractive, middle-aged man stepped in. He swallowed hard as the man unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down across from him behind the massive desk, sending him a wide smile as he did.
"Ah, Mr. Hartings, it is a pleasure to meet you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rodric Malcom Perish." He leaned back in his office chair and indicated the building around them. "Owner of Perish Publishing." His already wide smile widened as he leaned forward. "Let's cut to the chase, shall we? You, Mr. Hartings, you have been hand-selected out of hundreds of applicants. By setting here in front of me now, it means you alone are the first choice... That is... if you are willing to answer a few more questions for us, Mr. Hartings." Rodric's cunning gaze narrowed on Rory. "Will that be acceptable to you?"
Rory nodded. "Of-Of course, Sir."
Rodric grinned. "Very good, and I'm sure you'll not mind signing this before we proceed further?" He slid a form across the desk.
Rory's eyes widened with stunned disbelief. He'd heard of nondisclosure agreement documents in movies and books, but he'd never seen one in real life. He swallowed hard as his nervous gaze moved back up to the intimidating man on the other side of the desk. Before he could even say another word, the man held out an expensive-looking, custom pen. Rory pushed past the lump in his throat as he forced his trembling hand to accept the pen and signed his name to the document.
Rodric sent him a pleased smile as he retrieved the document and added it to the file open in front of him. "Very good. Now, understand that at any time you have the freedom of not answering... but if you do not answer, the interview ends, and you will be asked to leave. Then, the job will be offered to the next individual behind you."
A cold chill ran down Rory's spine as he nodded in complete understanding.
"Excellent! Now, let us get down to business. You are a smart boy, young, yes... but smart... Let us be truthful with one another. The consideration to hire you is not for your skills. You're barely out of Uni and have hardly enough experience to be an efficient intern, let alone a paid assistant to such a well-known writer. I'm sure this is no surprise to hear. So, Rory, is it alright that I call you that?" He didn't wait for an answer as he continued flipping through the file. "Though your marks were all exemplary..." He shook his head and met Rory's confused and nervous gaze. "Tell me truthfully, why did you apply for this position?"
Rory swallowed past the lump in his throat. "It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, Sir. The pay and housing alone were enough, but the other benefits... I'm sure it would entice anyone."
Rodric nodded. "Yes, in fact, it has enticed many. You will be the fifth this year, if hired, and it is only early March. How do you feel about that?"
Rory gulped. "I can handle challenging work, Sir."
Rodric narrowed his eyes as he leaned forward and rested his chin on the peaks of his fingers. "You understand that this job will require you to live with the author 24/7... work 24/7, correct?"
Rory nodded as he replied, praying his voice didn't tremble too badly. "I do, Sir."
"Very good, Rory. I'd like you to think of a time when something at home was particularly stressful..."
Rory's heart began to pound in his chest, and Mr. Perish's voice became a dull roar in his ears as the sounds of his ex-boyfriend's harsh yelling began to invade his mind.
'Useless faggot, all you're good for is sucking dick, so why not just do what you're good at?'
Rory balled his fists on his lap and dug his nails painfully into his palms, forcing himself to snap back to reality. He cleared his throat. "I'm... I'm sorry, Sir... what was the question?"
"At that time, how did you handle that situation?"
I hoarded money and stashed my belongings little by little until I had just enough to run away... Rory thought grimly. He forced himself to maintain a calm appearance as he waited for his racing heart to slow. He thought of the things he would do in the exact moments that Mike would be upset. "I... I would find ways to defuse the situation as best as possible. I found that letting them think that they had won was often the best way to go about things... even if it wasn't the case."
"Can you give me an example of one of these times?"
"It's a bit private..." Rory muttered evasively.
Rodric shrugged. "As I said, you may feel free not to answer... but in that case, the interview ends, and I move to the next candidate. The NDA you signed goes both ways. Nothing we discuss in this room will leave it. You have my word. I need to gauge your ability to deal with complicated situations and difficult individuals. The more complex and difficult a situation you can provide as an example, the better I'll be able to gauge your capabilities for handling this position."
Rory forced a neutral expression onto his face. This job now depended on him digging up and talking about the worst parts of the past three years... What he'd spent the past two months in a frantic run from. He could feel his palms grow damp around his fingers as he dug his nails into his palms. He needed this job... He had to get it! His life depended on it. "My e-um-roommate was an alcoholic."
"Allow me to stop you for a moment, and please do not be offended if I've misjudged, but for the sake of honesty and the sign of the times... was this a roommate or a romantic partner? You do not have to hide the fact that you are gay. If you were to do your homework on the author before coming in today, you'd know their work is primarily man-on-man romance."
Rory blushed, his eyes trained on his hands now as he nodded. "My ex-boyfriend... He was... is an alcoholic. Many nights when he got drunk, he would become very violent and verbally abusive. As ironic as this may sound, he would often throw homophobic insults at me and force... unwanted acts upon me..." Rory squeezed his eyes shut as he allowed his breathing and heart rate to even out once again. "I would pour out small amounts of the alcohol he would keep in the house. I would find ways to make myself unavailable when I knew he'd be coming home after being out with friends... I would not argue or raise my voice and allow him to simply say whatever it was that he wanted to yell. It typically kept things from becoming physical..."
"And how long were you with this person?"
Rory frowned. "Three years, Sir."
Rodric arched a brow. "That is quite a while to undergo such abuse. At no point did you consider hurting them?"
Rory shook his head. "No... Regardless of what he did to me, he's still a person... I couldn't hurt him... besides, it would make me no better than him if I stooped to the same level as him... Instead, I bided my time and devised a plan to get away." Rory's determined eyes met Rodric's. He prayed that the other emotions he was trying his hardest to hold back were staying hidden, as he said. "That is why it is so important for me to get and keep this job, Sir. I will do anything to stay in this job. I don't have a choice but to succeed... failure is not an option for me, as it obviously was for the other five. I have nowhere else to go... I have... nothing..." He bit down on his quivering bottom lip as his emotions threatened to break free.
Rodric leaned back in his chair. "Great answer. That is exactly what I wanted to hear." He began explaining the position in more detail and even mentioned details about the author, but Rory was lost in mental turmoil. His mind rapidly shifted between the peace and joy of knowing he'd landed the job and the fear of what could happen if he lost it... what could happen if he was somehow forced to return to the torments of the past three years, so that he missed most of what was being said.
***
Rory clasped a thick file against his chest with one hand as he pulled a suitcase behind him with the other. His mind was still in a haze of joy, disbelief, and fear. It had been since he'd pulled out onto the road behind the well-dressed secretary. Never in his life would he imagine being personally escorted by the owner of the company's secretary... but then again, it was the owner's property they were headed to, and Rory couldn't help but feel like he'd missed something important during the meeting.
Bethany frowned as she waited beside her car. "Is that all you have? Will you need to go back into town for more at some point? If so, you'll have to schedule that with Mr. Perish or find a way to convince Rin to go with you... Though you would have a better chance of winning the National Chopin Competition as a novice." She covered her snarky giggle with a dainty hand.
Rory frowned. "That won't be necessary. This is all my belongings... And I'm sure this Rin person couldn't possibly be so bad as to not be willing to..."
"Ah! Rin is that bad and then some. In case you missed it, Rin is Mr. Perish's only child and a spoiled delinquent."
Rory arched his brow. "Should you be talking about your boss's child in such a way?"
Bethany snickered. "I suppose not... but I'm sure it's alright to speak of my own soon-to-be stepchild that way, is it not?" She held up a diamond ring that caught and reflected the light like an icicle in the Arctic. She turned sharply on her much too high heels and strutted into the house with only a light tap on the door as she went. She called out loudly as she made her way through the beautiful home, maneuvering about as if she owned the place herself. She didn't bother waiting for the individuals working around her to stop their tasks as she barged in and called out loudly, "Rin, everyone... I'd like to introduce you to the new assistant. He'll be living here starting today. So, if you could take a minute to introduce yourselves..." She stepped aside and motioned Rory forward. "This is Rory Hartings, everyone."
Rory's eyes widened as he took in the room, currently set up as a photoshoot of some sort. Several people were working throughout the room, but Rory's eyes were trained on the three most captivating people he'd ever seen in the center. To his surprise, one of them wasn't one of the models but the photographer... Rory forced his mouth shut as everyone in the room except the center three stopped what they were doing and began introducing themselves. However, he couldn't stop his gaze from continuously returning to the center of the room as the snap of the camera seemed to drown out the others' voices. His cheeks heated, and his feet began moving on their own as he watched in mesmerized curiosity. He didn't know which sight was most breathtaking.
In the center of the room were two of the most beautiful men he'd ever seen wrapped in a lover's embrace. Their eyes devoured each other as their lips hovered only scant millimeters apart from each other. The taller, more masculine of the two had a sharp, but narrow jawline and the long, elegant fingers of a painter. The top of a well-muscled chest stuck out from under a flowing silk robe. The smaller, petite body of the other man was entwined seductively within the other man's embrace... arms, legs... if not for how pale and slender they were, one wouldn't be able to tell where one man began and the other ended. It was a motionless dance of passion, being staged frame for frame by each snap of the camera.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Rory's eyes moved back to the photographer. Never had he seen such hunger and desire reflected in someone else's eyes. There was no mistaking the electric charge in the room that was being created. Was this what it meant to really get into your work... or was there something else going on between these three?
A shorter woman whose name he'd missed leaned closer. "We do these shoots before any event Rin will attend. The readers have been known to camp outside of the event the entire day before opening to acquire a print. At the last event, they printed over a hundred thousand copies, and they all sold out before noon. We're lucky they hadn't started the NSFW shots yet." She sent him a wink.
Bethany rolled her eyes in open irritation as she clanked over in her heels, stopping beside the other woman before waving to the trio. "Can I get your attention for a moment, then I'll be out of your hair." As they began to make their way over, she pursed her lips and nodded toward the taller, robed man. "That is Rin."
Rory's eyes widened as violet eyes met and locked on his. A playfully wicked smile curved the taller, robed man's lips, causing Rory's heart to jump suddenly against his chest. He found himself instantly captivated and drawn in by an electrical pull he had never felt nor ever cared to explain aloud. This person was pure seduction from the sway of his hips, the perfect tilt of his head, to the wicked curve of his lips. It was obvious this person was well aware of his effects on others and got off on the vast emotions and turmoil it aroused. Rory thought he would have to physically force his mouth closed as he drank in the sight.