Chapter 7 Team Leader

• When the guards banged on my door in the morning, it was my cue to get up. Feeling sluggish, I got out of bed. By the time we reached the shower room, the guard handed me a bag. “The boss wants you to have this.”
• It was two sets of new clothes and underwear still with the tags on. There were toiletries in the bag as well. This brought a smile to my face and I felt like a human again. The shower did me a world of good, that fresh feeling brought back some lost energy.
• The rose-scented lotion reminded me of the one I used to use back home; it was one of my favourites. I had a productive morning because of this, most of it was spent in high spirits. Even the quality of food that was brought for breakfast was vastly better than before.
• Paul walked in with a group of armed men, they seemed to follow him around lately and here I thought that the basement was safe. They all left him after a short while leaving us alone in the lab.
• There was a sneer on Paul’s face when he looked at me. I was wearing the cotton tracksuit and sneakers he had sent for me this morning. They were comfortable, especially since I was on my feet the whole day. He came near me and held my waist.
• I tried not to act affected by his actions. “I can be generous if you want,” he whispered into my ear, planting a kiss on the back of my neck.
• The tiny hairs at the back of my neck stood up. Reacting to his hand that had made its way into my pants to snake down to my lower region, it caused me to stop working. “If you carry on like this, I won’t be able to finish the batch that I am working on,” I cautioned, as sternly as possible, but it fell on deaf ears.
• His fingers were already feeling excited causing me to hold onto the table. He was smooth with his actions and to the point. He hummed in my ear while casually taking my pants off then his hardness was pressed against me.
• I became powerless because my body chose to betray me again. Paul leaned my body over the table, spread my legs apart and slid inside me. The eagerness of his movements could be felt by my legs.
• He held my back down and raced for the finish line. If the table was not made of concrete, all the contents would be on the floor. While removing the condom, he looked at me with a command, “I expect you in my bed tonight.”
• Then he slapped me behind in between zipping up his pants. I quickly got dressed before any of the other men walked in. Closing my eyes I tried to regain my composure. Paul left and the other two guards came in.
• Their eyes sneaked glancing at me as if to let me know that they knew what had just happened. I ignored them and went back to my work. Paul’s spontaneous behaviour was stuck at the back of my mind.
• I couldn’t help but be disappointed, for Paul to come here it must have meant that he was thinking about me. I should have fought him off when he made his advances the other night. What an oversight on my part.
• At the end of the day, I had managed to have a lot of work done and production was looking good, but I was reluctant to leave. I pretended to be busy flipping through the files aimlessly. A guard came in with one of the previous guys I found here when I first arrived.
• He was supposed to be my stand-in, to start with the night shift. Bringing the reality of my meeting with the master even more apparent with their arrival. I acted as though I didn't understand what was going on, staying glued to where I was.
• However, to my displeasure, the guard loudly announced that the master was waiting for me. Left with no choice but to drag my feet out of the basement. Knowing that protesting would not help my cause then I started to quicken my steps.
• Paul was indeed waiting for me; he was seated on the couch smoking a cigarette. I made my way over to him across that spacious room with a double bed on the side. There were too many colours to pick out a theme in the room and my mind told me that it was possibly not his room.
• When I sat on the couch close to Paul, he passed me a glass of wine. “You are moving up the ranks quite quickly,” he mentioned.
• There was confusion on my face, while I turned towards him. “Most never make it this far to the point of having a room with a private bathroom."
• “Is this my room?” the words fumbled out of my mouth.
• “You can thank your tight p*ssy for that,” he said, evident malice in his eyes.
• There was no need to say anything after that, besides the wine needed to be consumed anyway. We were interrupted by a knock on the door by a middle-aged man who wore thick glasses and carried a leather bag in his hand.
• “This is Murphy. He is a doctor, my doctor. He needs a sample of your blood.”
• I quickly turned back to Paul, “Why?” I asked in all innocence.
• “Because I said so.” Again, what was I going to say to that? Paul must be obeyed. Contesting his will does not work in one’s favour. The man was flatly telling me that I had no choice and from the looks of it I was one of the lucky ones to be on his good side if such a thing existed.
• People easily died around Paul, be it by his own hands or his henchmen. While deep inside the hope of freedom was still burning brightly in me. Doctor Murphy drew a couple of vials of blood and then left as quickly as he came in.
• Alone again. Paul lay back on the couch, “I gather you did not leave a sweetheart back in Rolling Water Ridge,” he remarked, breaking the silence.
• “I was seeing someone,” I lied. There was no way Paul was going to think that I was alone.
• “But he never touched you.” He claimed, emptying his glass with a satisfied grin.
• Technically the last time I had sex was just after high school, throughout my college years I was too focused on my studies, what’s it to him? He should stop playing Detective Johnson.
• “I can tell you are not an expert. Your skills need practice. Let me help you achieve that,” he shamelessly continued. The wine almost rushed back out of my mouth from his unbelievable words.
• “I don’t like sex,” I lied swallowing back the remaining wine in my mouth.
• “That is not what your body was telling me,” a taunting laugh came from his end. “Or is it just me? I am known to have that effect on women,” his lowered voice sounded rather loud.
• By now his ego was starting to take over. I wanted to roll my eyes, but I turned away to look at the door instead. “We can blame it on the bourbon,” I said.
• “Were you drinking in the lab today?” sarcasm oozing out.
• I immediately turned around to look at him with so much that I wanted to say but couldn’t combine it in a sentence. He knew he left me speechless, that is what he wanted, and I hated it.
• “Tomorrow there are recruits that will join you in the lab, you need assistance with productivity. Pregas is making headways in the market and we need to produce more of it at a faster rate. I am putting you in charge of the team. I also want you to look at all of our other supplies and make sure that we are only producing premium quality. There is a huge shipment for the festive season and we need to be prepared.”
• I listened intently to what he was saying, my heart sank when I realised that my freedom was not going to be granted anytime soon. Even after Pregas had made the money he demanded for Steven’s treachery.
• Paul pointed to the plate of food on the table and a laugh escaped me as I took a look at the food being served. “Burger and fries?” I said amused by it.
• “You don’t like it?” a hint of concern detected in his voice.
• “No, it’s not that. I just never expected it to be that.” Grabbing a fry and popping it in my mouth. The smile I gave to Paul was a token of my appreciation and he watched me carefully as I enjoyed my meal.
• I assumed that he had already eaten before he came over, he seemed content with drinking. I had often heard that he spent a lot of his days with business associates, eating lunches and drinking at fancy places.
• Looks like this grapevine spills the true wine, not that I take any interest in his business. After the meal, I was feeling rather full and unable to suppress my lack of enthusiasm to entertain Paul.
• I wished that he would go away, he already told me what he wanted me to do. When his cell phone rang, my eyes lit up at the thought that he would be leaving. However, the call was just to give him an update. He even had the nerve to request more alcohol to be brought over.
• A deep sigh got caught in my throat, reminding me subconsciously that it was going to be a long night.