Page 18 of Blue Velvet

But I’ve never heard anything more terrifying than his sinister and triumphant laughter when I explode in a mind-numbing rapture on his hand.

10

Loran

I’m so badly prepared,I don’t even have proper food for her. After her climax, my toy almost collapsed into my arms, managing just in time to pull it together and straighten herself up before I had to tell her to. Again, she looked at me with those expectant eyes, awaiting commands like a trained puppy.

When I asked her if she was hungry, she shyly nodded, and it wasn’t until I left the basement to rummage through my kitchen that I realized I have very little to offer her. However, she happily accepted the bag of potato chips and the very basic sandwich I provided for her.

I leave her alone once again because I have things to attend to, and ordering food is but one of those tasks.

I head up to the second floor to the bedroom that serves as my office when I’m here. When you’re in my position, work never really stops, vacation or not, slave in the basement or not. I’ll have to make sure that none of my responsibilities are neglected while she’s here.

I’ll also have to think of a plan for afterward, when I’m done with her. I can’t possibly kill her, but if I just let her go like that, I’ll be in bigger trouble than I ever was. One thing is for certain: she can never know who I am. She has seen my face, but she has no way of knowing my name, and I intend to keep it that way.

I jump at the sound of my cell phone ringing. I didn’t expect any calls today, and when I pick it up to see who’s invading my dark space, I knit my eyebrows.

“Joel,” I say, greeting my older brother with the same tone of annoyance he deserves. “Didn’t expect to hear fromyoutoday.”

“Trust me, I wish I didn’t have to make this call,” he says, clearing his throat. “I’m in trouble, man.”

I sigh. “What else is new?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I already owe you big time. You don’t have to rub it in every time we talk-”

“Yes, I do,” I cut him off. “Because your memory fails you often enough. You don’t just owe me, brother. You wouldn’t even be able to make this call if it wasn’t for me.”

He groans. I know the facts pain him, but I’m the only one who can force him to face the truth, the harsh reality that I took the blame for something he did and still came out on the other end as the winner. His wealth and standing is only based on our family’s fortune, and by now it’s just a fraction of my own. He knows it, I know it, my not-so-beloved parents know it. But no one ever speaks of it.

“Dude, I’m aware of that,” he says. I hate it when he calls me that. Even if we were closer than we are, I’d still despise this word. It’s the vocabulary of a low-life. “Listen, they are after me again, and I fucking need your help.”

“They?”

“Investigations,” he says. “I thought they had dropped the case, but it looks like they’re still not done with that bullshit.”

I let out a deep sigh. How is this even possible? And why would they still go after him?

“Why are they on to you again?” I ask. “What the hell did you do, Joel?”

I can hear him inhale in exasperation.

“What makes you think I did anything, I-”

“You must have,” I insist. “And I won’t—no, Ican’t- help you if you’re lying to me. You can lie as much as you want to our parents or your poor wife, but you can’t fucking lie to me, if you want me to help you out. Again.”

He sighs.

“I wasn’t even doing anything wrong,” he begins. “It was just a little fiddling, just a little something to save us some money.”

I groan in anger. That fucking idiot. Sales tax evasion was what got him in trouble to begin with. When he talks about ‘saving money,’ it’s safe to assume that he’s been messing with his taxes again, either his own or those of our family’s company. Oh, I fucking hope it’s not the latter.

“Really, Joel? How can you be that fucking stupid?”

“It was different this time!” he insists. “It wasn’t even illegal - or so I thought.”

“Don’t tell me over the phone,” I say. “We’ll have to meet.”

“Yes,” he says, sounding relieved. “Yes, sure. That’d be great.”

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