Dark Art Ch. 09

Episode 9: Dark Red

Serafine wound up in the hall bathroom splashing cold water on her face.

It was the nearest door with a lock on it, and, a little infuriatingly, she found the room itself to be beautifully decorated, just like the rest of his house. With jade-green wallpaper, gold fixtures, and a sink made of a fancy glass bowl.

It wasn't fair. Why did someone so mean also get to have so many nice things?

Fuck him, Serafine seethed, half-submerging her hair in running water to work the vomit out. The sensation of cold water flowing over her face eased the smarting pain across her cheek, but only a little, and the smell was a horrible reminder of what had happened. She had to carefully go through the front half of her hair in sections to make sure she'd gotten all the chunks of pasta and dark red marinara sauce fully out, but after several minutes, the water started to run clear.

Just as she was getting her breathing back under control, there was a knock on the bathroom door that made her stiffen and look around for -- What...? A window? she thought helplessly. They were thirty floors in the air, there was absolutely no way out of this room but through the door that Ivan was standing on the other side of.

I shouldn't have come here, she thought, taking a step back and automatically reaching for her phone...but who would she call? The police? Her roommate, Elizabeth? Both options seemed awfully dire. Just the thought of how the conversation would unfold made her want to cry on the spot.

She was tracing her fingers around the edge of her phone, nervously contemplating what to do, when she heard Ivan's voice.

"Been about ten minutes of running water," he called with another sharp rap of his knuckles on the door. "Everything okay in there?"

Serafine's eyes fluttered shut briefly.

Relax, she thought, forcing herself to take a few deep breaths, turn off the water, and unlock the door.

Ivan was just standing there, ever casual, staring idly at his phone.

In the sliver of light afforded by the hall bathroom, he looked so...normal. His shirt wasn't even untucked from their earlier ordeal. It was like nothing had even happened at all.

For a moment, it struck her that this was how most people saw him. Tall, well-dressed, attractive. No obvious signs of danger. How many other men were walking around this city who were just like him?

"Sorry," said Serafine, then immediately thought, What am I apologizing to him for? before clearing her throat. "I'm fine."

"I thought you would be," he responded, not seeming to notice the way her nostrils flared in anger when he looked up from his phone, and she quickly averted her gaze.

"What's your number?" he asked. "And your email, too. So I can send you the ticket confirmation after I book everything."

"Uh," she really didn't want to relinquish this last bit of personal privacy. But what was she going to say, no? It seemed impossible to say no to him for anything -- and even when she did, it made little difference. With a bit of defeat creeping into her voice, she gave him her number, and he immediately texted her to confirm.

"Got it," she sighed, edging out of the bathroom and toward the glass-walled living area while Ivan followed a short distance behind her, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

The most beautiful dark red sunset surrounded them, but Serafine couldn't pay attention to it, every iota of her focus on Ivan. He was uncomfortably close, and she sensed that he still wanted something even before she felt his hand on her elbow.

"Let's finish up over here," he said, but she jerked her hand away and backed up a step.

"Finish?" Serafine pined.

"What?" said Ivan, taking a step toward her that brought the two of them so close, she wished she could disappear into the wall. "I didn't cum yet."

Serafine drove her fingernail into one of her own fingers to distract herself from what he was saying, trying to think of a way to leave, but when she looked away from him, her eyes landed on the deepening red stain in the carpet, and it made her want to throw up all over again.

"The maid will take care of that, don't worry," Ivan said, tracking her gaze. "She see's this sort of shit all the time."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder with a little laugh. "Come on."

"Wait-" Serafine said, pulling away from him. "I- I- don't want to do that again."

"Tell yourself that while you're getting off later," he responded impassively, pulling her along beside him like a child being lead out of a store.

"You're being too rough," she protested, digging her heels into the carpet. But his words made her stomach tighten in a weird way. How did he know about... that...?

To her surprise, he let her go, shrugging as he walked away and took a seat on the far side of the sofa by himself.

"Too rough? Oh, you poor thing," he smirked, before pointing at the floor in front of his feet. "Just get on your knees and crawl over here, honey. I'll go easy on you. I promise."

Serafine balled her hands into fists as she stared at him defiantly from across the living room. How did he do that? Manipulate situations like that. It was awful to be physically overpowered by him, but there was something even worse about the idea of going to him of her own accord. That's what had gotten her into this situation in the first place, isn't it? Doing what he said.

"Ivaughn-" she started, but he interrupted her, a little sharply.

"How hard could it possibly be for you to just sit there with your mouth open, hmn?"

Under different circumstances, Serafine could've laughed at the absurdity of his statement, but she was too tense. Nothing he did was funny to her in that moment. His every move put her on edge, such that she even flinched when he unzipped his trousers.

Her gaze flicked back toward the windows, where the clouds were drenched in color, orange grading to dark red. It gave the whole penthouse a hazy, auburn glow, like she was watching a scene from an old movie, or in the throes of some strange dream.

When she looked back at Ivan, he was sitting with his knees splayed, gripping the base of his cock in anticipation.

If I leave now, he'll use it against me.

She knew he would. He'd either make things worse for her during their next encounter, or make sure there were no future encounters... both possibilities making her stomach clench uncomfortably.

Why did he have to be like this? She knew he'd be difficult to work with, but this was another level. She'd never met anyone like him. And not in a good way.

It's just a few days, she reminded herself. A week or two, tops. In exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and all of life's problems, solved.

Just deal with it, she resolved, meeting his eye for a fraction of a second before looking between his legs. It's just a dick.

Nothing she couldn't handle, but if she was going to do it, it was going to be on her own terms. With a steadying breath, she forced her fear aside long enough to walk toward him and kneel down at his feet.

"What happened to crawling over here?" he commented.

"I didn't say I would do that," she said quietly, glancing up at him to try and gauge his reaction, but his expression was difficult to read. Then he laughed.

"So you'll suck a cock, but crawling over here is where you draw the line? Okay. Girl math. Am I right?"

She didn't respond, biting her tongue instead to have something else to focus on. The pain helped her tune out the sound of his voice...not that he was making it easy.

"You need to get that liberal art shit they're teaching you at school out of your head, honey," he went on. "You're hot, but you'll never find a husband with that attitude of yours. Men like women who listen."

Please shut up... Serafine thought, putting her hands gingerly on his trousers. She just wanted to get this over with and go home, but the moment she bowed her head to start sucking him, he leaned forward and grabbed the back of her neck so suddenly she screamed.

"Shut up," he said sternly, brandishing his free hand flat against her cheek as if he would hit her again.

"Ah! No!" she winced, raising her hand to block him, but the strike never landed. Instead, he buried his hand in her hair, pulling her toward him just as hard as she tried to push herself away.

Although she hated the feeling of being overpowered by him, she was becoming more and more concerned about getting hurt for real. The way he kept jerking her neck like that... at this point, it would be less risky to just let him do what he wanted. He was going to do it anyway, wasn't he?

It's just a dick, she reminded herself, but the second she opened her mouth, she regretted it, as he drove his penis in hard and fast, leaning over the edge of the sofa so that he could hold her in place on her knees with his full body weight.

"Mmnnnno- aghhh," Serafine gagged as Ivan readjusted his grip, moving one hand to grasp her throat while he was thrusting.

"Put your hands down," he commanded as she tried to push him away. "I don't want your hands, I want your mouth. Down. Now."

"Mmmmnnff", Serafine groaned as she struggled to obey him, driving her fingernails into her palms before forcing both hands to her sides.

"That's right," he praised. "Just take it. Relax your throat. There you go, you like it, don't you? Say you like it."

Please just cum, she thought, but he made sure to take his time, holding a fistful of her hair so that he could easily set the pace.

"Say you like it," he repeated, but it was just too humiliating. She shook her head slightly, and in response he jerked her hair hard enough to make his cock pop out of her mouth.

"Agh! Ivaughn-," she inhaled sharply, grabbing his wrist with both hands, until he raised his other hand at her face and she moved quickly to block him. "Ah! Okay! Okay. I- I like it."

"Like what?"

Serafine's eyes closed in frustration. She knew what he wanted her to say. She just didn't want to say it. Not now. Not when he'd already gotten so much of what he wanted out of the situation, and she'd gotten nothing.

When she didn't say anything, he aligned his cock with her lips and pulled her toward him by the hair. "Keep thinking about it, honey. You'll figure it out. Open."

Again, Serafine tried to tune him out and focus on her breathing, but he made it impossible. It was more like being in a wrestling match than doing oral, and her throat was already sore from throwing up.

"You're being such a good little cocksucker tonight. Have you been practicing? Hmn?" he said "Yeah you have, haven't you? I can tell. You let all the boys treat you like this, don't you?"

Serafine tried not to react to what he was saying, tried not to think about what she was doing, but this silent indifference only seemed to make him like it more.

"Open your eyes," he said, his voice softening a fraction. "Let me see that pretty face of yours. Look at me while my cock is in your mouth. Look up, look up, look up."

"Good girl," he praised when she locked eyes with him, but it was difficult to maintain eye contact, and the way he was talking to her with that babying voice, like she was a dog, made her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

It was much harder to block out what she was doing when she was watching it happen, but mercifully, the sight of her looking up at him from the floor was enough to finally make him cum. She felt his cock twitch in her mouth and a moment later, he grunted and thrust his hips forward, pushing her head down hard enough to bury her nose into his pubic hairs while saying. "Swallow it bitch. Ahhhh- yeah there you go, all of it, choke it down. Ahh, that's right. Just how you wanted it."

The moment he released her, Serafine wiped her chin and scooted away on the floor, coughing and trying to regain control of her breathing while he zipped up his pants.

"What's wrong?" he said with that same annoying smirk from earlier, but she was in no mood to entertain more of his commentary, and quickly stood up to leave.

"Thank you, Mister Masters," he called after her cheerily as she walked toward the condo's main door, but she said nothing back.

Riding the elevator down to the ground floor of Ivan's building, she wondered how often he did this. Was this, like, a regular thing for him? His friends seemed to understand what he got up to, but how many of the women that he met and invited back to his place knew what they were in for?

Maybe they liked it, she thought curiously, until a darker thought countered. Maybe they didn't. He certainly seemed to prefer it that way.

As she walked back through the glossy lobby and exited the building, her thinking was interrupted by a high-pitched chime from her back pocket.

Her phone.

She expected to see Elizabeth's name on the screen. It was getting dark and Serafine was usually home by now, but the text message was from an unknown number, which she quickly realized was Ivan's. And it wasn't a text message at all, but an Apple Pay notification.

For $1,000.

"What the-?" Serafine's eyebrows knit together as she descended the outdoor steps, spinning on her heel to look back up at the shiny glass skyscraper, as if she'd be able to see Ivan looking down at her from the top floor.

get yourself something to wear Ivan's text message read a second later, followed by another.

for our trip

Then another.

enough of that billie eilish shit

She turned her phone on silent and put it back in her pocket, walking to the train station and trying, unsuccessfully, to think about nothing.

A thousand dollars is a lot of money.

The thought came with a sudden rush of excitement. It was enough to cover her half of the rent and even have enough cash to eat real food for a few weeks if she was careful... but it wasn't quite enough money to make her forget what she'd done for it, and it wasn't nearly as much money as Ivan already had access to for simply being born into the right family. All he had to do was breathe and stay alive and things were guaranteed to work out for him. It was maddening.

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, but she wiped them away with her forearm as she walked through the metal barrier that lead to the elevated platform. The crowds and noise of the station barely registered to her senses, even as the train screeched to a stop and the doors hissed open, it was like the whole world was strangely muted, and she was just going through the motions like a robot.

When the train arrived at the last stop, she was in a dark mood, and the walk back to her apartment did nothing to put her mind at ease. She wanted to smoke weed and forget about what had happened today, but as her building rose into view at the end of the block, she was reminded that she'd have to get past her roommate, first.

Just act normal she reminded herself as she ascended the old wooden staircase and unlocked the door to the apartment.

"I was just about to text you," said her roommate the moment she walked in the door, her head popping up from the other side of the couch where she'd been laying with her tablet, drawing.

"Hey," said Serafine, locking the deadbolt. In the silence that followed, Elizabeth set down her iPad and watched her curiously.

"So?"

Serafine blinked at Elizabeth's question mid-step. "Hmm?"

"How'd it go?"

"I'm sorry?" Serafine asked warily, searching the room for some clue as to what she was talking about.

"Your... job interview?" Elizabeth said slowly, her eyebrows creasing together in worry.

"Oh, that -- right," Serafine shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "It was fine. Yeah, I, uh...I think it's going to work out."

"'Work out'?" Elizabeth repeated. "Does that mean you got hired?"

"Maybe," Serafine swallowed, "Probably?" She wished she'd thought of a better cover story by now. After all, she was supposed to be leaving the country with this guy soon, and the best excuse she'd come up with to keep her roommate off her back was a vague job interview. That story may have held up so far, but it wasn't going to work forever.

"Where did you say this place was again?"

"Um- it's... like a bank."

"Like Wells Fargo?"

"...Yes?" Serafine hesitated.

"What's it called?"

"Uh-" Serafine could feel sweat on her fingertips, and in the moment, a flare of anxiety overtook her rational thought. "I don't know."

"You don't know." Elizabeth repeated flatly.

"No- sorry. That's not what I meant," Serafine backtracked. "I just... don't know if I should say. Until it's official."

Elizabeth made a little noise, halfway between an exhale and a snort, before she crossed her arms. "Why not? Why are you acting so weird lately?"

"Why are you being so nosey?" Serafine shot back.

"I'm always nosey. What's your excuse? It's like, ever since you went to the Burling Mansion you've been so, so..." Elizabeth trailed off, a shock of realization crossing her face when she looked up at her again.

Fuck, Serafine thought. She knows.

"Fee- don't tell me," Elizabeth said.

Silence.

"Please don't say you're working with that guy?"

"Fine," Serafine shrugged, glad for a reason to walk away, down the narrow hallway that lead to her bedroom. "I won't tell you."