Emily's Story Pt. 01

Dear reader:

If you have not read the Prologue that precedes this, I would urge you to do so. It establishes the background to the events that occur in this part of the story and also introduces some important information about the characters involved.

As I have discussed in the introduction to the Prologue, I would like the reader to be informed that this is not a quick and easy read. If you are looking for instant gratification then you're probably better off looking elsewhere. The following scene is lengthy and detailed and takes time to build. However, my hope is that this makes for a more stimulating read overall by placing the erotic elements in a wider context.

This is the first story that I have submitted to Literotica (and who knows - it could be the last!).

I really do hope you enjoy and please consider leaving feedback or a vote.

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PART ONE

When she went to answer the knock at the door Emily found a tall man standing outside. He was dressed in black brogues, black trousers and a crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the collar. Emily didn't think she'd ever seen him before. But she felt sure her parents would have let her know had they been expecting any visitors.

'Hello?' she said.

The stranger looked her over as she held the door ajar.

'I want to speak to Dennis,' he said. 'Dennis Curran.'

He was a man in his early thirties with a well-kempt appearance. Dark hair was cut to a neat short-back-and-sides. A strong jaw line sported trim stubble.

'Dad's not in this evening,' said Emily

A stiff breeze swept in from outside and she hugged herself against the cold. The man said nothing. His forehead creased a little.

'Mum and Dad are both out until late I'm afraid.' The southern Irish accent came through strong. 'You see it's...'

But the stranger cut her off.

'For fuck's sake!' His voice hissed between gritted teeth. Emily was taken aback. It wasn't only that he had sounded so angry. Her parents never swore and nor did her teachers so hearing an adult use bad language was shocking to her.

'I... I'm sorry,' she said.

But Tom had had enough with all this. He was at the end of his tether now. He stood kneading his brow with his knuckles.

'I fucking told him to make sure I could get hold of him tonight,' he growled, 'and look...' he whipped his iphone out from his trouser pocket, 'no answer to my emails, no answer from his fucking phone,' he jabbed his finger at the iphone as if to demonstrate his point, 'and he's not even in when I'm forced to come round to his fucking house. Fucking imbecile!'

Emily let him finish. She thought for a moment about saying goodbye and quickly getting back inside the house, shutting the door and locking it. That's what her parents would have told her to do, especially in the face of a man so rude.

But whatever had brought him to her door seemed to be serious business and Emily felt the need to find out what was up. Already worried about her parents, she sensed that this man's startling visitation somehow meant bad news for them.

Three weeks back Shannon Curran, Emily's Mum, had been involved in a car accident on the motorway so bad that the car had been written off. Graciously, Shannon escaped with nothing more critical than whiplash. All the same, it had shaken her up badly. For some reason the insurance hadn't paid out on the damage. Emily didn't know why that was and her parents wouldn't tell her. She supposed they were trying to save her from all the stress. But sometimes not knowing what was going on made worrying about it so much worse.

The accident had meant her Dad had to pay for the cost of buying a new car. The savings he'd accrued in order to take Shannon away for their anniversary that year had gone on the new car. He and Shannon would have to make do with dinner out one evening instead. Besides, money was already tight what with them having to pay for Grandma's care as well.

Those past couple of weeks or so Emily could tell her Dad had been getting increasingly anxious about life. It seemed to be affecting him on a daily basis. Often he'd come home from work late and in a bad mood, stressed out. That evening had been the same. When he'd suggested to Shannon that they might have to postpone the anniversary dinner she went off on one big time. It was rare for her parents to fight like that and when they did Emily found it truly alarming. Her Dad had relented of course. He was good like that.

The stranger outside the front door paced back and forth across the garden path as these thoughts were going through her mind. When he eventually came to a stop he rounded on Emily. But his face was no longer as angry as before.

'So you must be Dennis' daughter?'

Emily nodded.

Tom looked her up and down. Short and blonde, she was all innocence. To his eyes she looked about twenty or twenty-one years of age but he knew he was so bad at guessing a girl's age that she could easily have been as young as fifteen or sixteen. He felt bad then for having shouted and said as much in somewhat awkward fashion.

'Is... is Dad in trouble?' Emily asked.

Tom seemed uncertain how to answer. He was a man who did plenty of morally questionable things in life but one point on which he prided himself was that he never told lies - not under any circumstances. In any case, after his angry outburst it was quite obvious that Dennis might have been in a spot of bother.

'Erm... you could say that,' he said eventually.

'Oh no.'

Emily brought her right hand up to play with her blonde hair - a nervous habit of hers. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed out across the London skyline.

'Why is Dad in trouble?' she asked. 'What's wrong?'

She had the Irish accent almost as strong as Dennis did, Tom thought to himself. It sounded decidedly better in a female's voice. He said nothing in answer to her question.

For a moment Emily thought he might be about to walk off into the night. But she was sure she needed to know more. Whatever was happening seemed like serious business. The manner of this man's unexpected appearance and the way he got so agitated had filled her with foreboding.

'Can't you tell me?'

'No. I'm sorry,' Tom muttered.

'Is it about work?' Emily guessed. But he wasn't saying anything.

A car raced down the street outside, passing narrowly between the parked cars that lined the pavements either side of the road. The roar of its engine slowly faded away into the night.

'Look, I should go,' said Tom.

'Why don't you come inside?' Emily suggested. 'You could wait until Dad gets back later if it's important.' The man glanced at his watch. It was 8:20pm.

'How long do you think that'll be?'

'He's taken Mum out for dinner,' Emily said. 'It's their 20th anniversary. They left here about an hour ago. I don't think they'll be too late back.' Tom's forehead creased as he made some mental calculations.

'If they only left an hour ago they could be at least a couple of hours yet,' he argued. His frustration appeared to be growing again.

'I guess so.'

'Where did they go anyway?'

'I don't know. They didn't say,' said Emily. Then she wondered, was he actually ready to barge in on her parents' anniversary dinner? Was his business that important?

'They didn't even tell you where they were going?' There was an incredulous note to the man's voice. He was getting angry again like before. 'Dennis knew I wanted to see him tonight,' he exclaimed. 'The man simply doesn't give a shit!'

Emily remained quiet, still holding the door ajar with her left hand.

'For fuck's sake!'

He seemed to have a startling facility for flaring with anger. One moment his voice was even, the next he had gone into a rage. Emily watched him for a while as he started up pacing back and forth again outside the door. She decided to try one more time.

'Seriously, can't you tell me what's up if it's so important?'

'Can't I tell you what's up?' he repeated in a coldly sarcastic tone. Emily feared she might have made things worse. 'I'll tell you what's up,' he barked. 'Your Dad is getting the fucking sack, that's what's up!' He had stopped pacing now and stood squarely in front of Emily, who was crestfallen.

'Oh, no,' she sighed.

There was a long silence as Emily looked away sadly and the tall man outside the door shuffled from one foot to the other, not knowing what to say now that he'd lost his cool and gone and upset her.

'Look, I'm sorry,' Tom said at last, his features softening. 'I shouldn't have told you that.' He was cursing inwardly. He needed to get a grip. He wasn't helping himself here.

Emily looked down at the floor around her bare feet. A gust of wind disturbed her blonde hair and she shivered against the cold.

'This really is terrible,' she said. She brought her hand to her face and found a lock of hair to run between her finger and thumb. 'You can't. It's too awful,' she said.

Outside at the end of the short garden path an old man went walking by under the dim orange glow of the streetlights. The old man looked up briefly in their direction as he passed. Tom didn't seem to notice him. He was looking around as if searching for something. Eventually, his eyes came back to Emily.

'Um... look, I'm sorry I let that out,' he said rather awkwardly, 'but let's just forget about this, ok? I shouldn't have ranted on like that I know but there's nothing that can be done about it now.' He put his hands out as if to demonstrate that he was helpless in the situation, though in reality he was the individual who held all the cards. Who else had the power to fire Dennis Curran but the CFO and head of sales team, Tom Ridgeway?

'I just need to speak to Dennis and have it out with him,' he said. 'So that's why I'd come round here looking for him.'

'But you can't fire Dad,' Emily pleaded, not listening to his reasoning. Her eyes looked up at the stranger's face for a moment. 'There must be a mistake or something,' she said. 'He's just such a nice man. How could you want to fire him?' The more emotion that came into her voice the stronger her accent became.

'I'm sure he's a nice man, but nice men don't always make good businessmen,' Tom responded. His voice was blunt. 'Your Dad has just lost the company a massive deal and it was the final straw for him. He's fucked up one too many times now,' he said.

'Oh, no,' said Emily. Her eyes went watery, as if she might cry, accentuating their vivid green colour. 'But you can't do it. Dad can't lose his job. You don't understand. It would be terrible for us.'

'I'm sorry.' The man shrugged his shoulders and repeated his gesture of holding his hands out as though powerless.

'But you don't understand,' said Emily. 'Dad has to pay for Grandma's care home and they were trying to save up to go away for their wedding anniversary and now they can't because things have got so tight and I know it's making him really worried and I know our finances have gotten really bad and then after Mum's accident with the car and the insurance didn't pay out on it...' Emily's voice faded away.

'Steady on. Slow down for one sec,' said Tom, raising his hand and bringing Emily's stream of consciousness to an end. 'Look, I can't do anything about any of that and it's got nothing to do with me anyway. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is. You must see that.'

'But if you only knew.' Her voice was little more than a whisper. Her bottom lip protruded.

'Oh, don't cry now.'

'I'm not crying.' She clenched her fists. She knew she didn't want to be seen to show any weakness in front of this stranger.

There was a period of quiet that stretched out between them.

'I guess I should go,' said Tom at last.

'No, don't,' said Emily.

'I'll come by later and hopefully catch Dennis when he gets back in.'

The man turned to leave.

'No, you can't go yet,' Emily repeated. 'Look, isn't there anything I could do to help?'

Tom half-turned back towards Emily where she stood. He got a peculiar idea that she looked like she was caught up in a portrait painting. It was the way she stood bordered by the frame of the open door. He looked at her with questioning eyes.

'But what could you possibly do for me?' he said.

'I don't know.' Emily shrugged. 'I just know that I want to be able to help.'

Tom looked impatient to leave. He had a mind to tell the girl to just forget about it because there was nothing she could do. But he did feel bad about how upset she seemed to have become and she really did seem to think she might have been able to intervene somehow. Tom felt he needed to at least try to explain himself before leaving her on the doorstep. He sighed.

'How old are you anyway?' he asked.

'I'm eighteen,' said Emily.

He wasn't surprised to learn that his earlier estimation had been a bit out. All the same, he thought that she must have been reasonably well-developed for her age. She was short, but dressed in those slim-fitting jeans her figure had all the shape of a young adult.

'So what are you going to do to help me if you're eighteen?' he challenged. 'Aren't you still at college or something anyway?'

'Yeah, I go to college.'

'And I'm guessing you've never worked in business before?' Emily shook her head. 'Exactly,' said Tom, 'and I'm guessing you don't have a cool five hundred grand lying around to hand which, by the way, is how much your Dad has cost the company?'

'Oh goodness,' Emily sighed. 'He really lost you that much money?'

'Sure did,' said Tom. His voice had got its edge back again.

'Oh dear.'

'Oh dear indeed,' Tom repeated sarcastically.

'I wouldn't know how to make up that kind of money.'

'No, nor do I right at this moment,' Tom conceded. He looked away, apparently troubled by this thought. Another car went by outside. They waited for it to pass.

'But I'm sure there must be something I can do to help,' Emily repeated. 'I'd be willing to do anything to save Dad from losing his job.'

'Really?'

'Yes, really,' said Emily. She clasped her hands together. 'I'm sure you don't know how important this job is to him. If you could give him one more chance?'

'One more chance?' Tom repeated. His eyes flashed with anger. 'You don't know how many times I've given Dennis one - more - chance.' He spelt out the words in deliberate fashion. 'But I can tell you I've given him far more chances than he deserves.'

'Don't say that about Dad,' said Emily. 'Don't talk about him so meanly.' The wind stirred up. She hugged herself. Goose pimples were forming on her bare arms.

Tom's voice quietened and he apologised, seeming to realise that once again he was letting his anger get the better of him.

'It's like I said earlier,' he said, 'I'm sure he's nice and all that but that doesn't make him any good at his job.'

Emily looked thoroughly upset. Tom was concerned that she would break into tears any moment.

'But there must be something I can do to help,' Emily implored. 'If you could just let him have a bit more time I'm sure he wouldn't let you down.' She looked up at Tom again with her fair blonde hair sitting in gentle curls about her shoulders and those sweet green eyes of hers pleading with him.

'You really mean that, don't you?' said Tom. Emily nodded. This girl really did have a way of trying to win you over, he thought to himself.

'Oh, I don't know,' he said eventually with a sigh.

Tom reflected that he should have left by now. This situation was becoming increasingly impossible to extricate himself from. He shouldn't have continued to listen to her. This young girl's heartfelt plea was starting to get to him. He looked her up and down again.

'What possible use could a teenage girl be to someone like me anyway?' he asked.

'I don't know,' said Emily. 'But surely you can think of something I can do to help out? I don't mind how much time it takes.' Tom didn't say anything but simply stood and shrugged as though unsure of himself. 'Why don't you at least come inside?' said Emily. He hesitated and looked behind himself thinking about the walk back to the place where he'd parked his car. It was a cold night.

Just minutes earlier he had felt so convinced he was doing the right thing by firing Dennis. He had it completely justified to himself in his own mind. Dennis had been given enough chances. It wasn't as if he hadn't been reasonable, generous even, towards him in the past. Besides, the way he had stormed out on Tom earlier that evening had been way out of line.

But this surprise encounter with Dennis Curran's daughter had made him feel suddenly unsure of the rightness of his decision. It brought home to him just what the consequences might be for the man's family should he lose his position in the company. Perhaps that was why Tom had felt the need to placate Emily. Perhaps with a little bit of time he could explain things sensibly to her so that she would understand. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so bad about it all. But it was odd that. His conscience rarely got to him like this.

'Well it is getting cold outside here so... ok I guess,' he said finally.

'Yeah, I'm sure it is,' said Emily. 'I'm cold just standing here on the doorstep.' She stood aside and pointed the way towards the living room. Tom went on in and she closed the door behind them. 'I don't yet know your name,' she said as she followed him through to the living room.

'Tom, Tom Ridgeway,' he answered. He took a seat in an armchair in the living room.

'Nice to meet you, Mr Ridgeway. I'm Emily,' she said.

'Just call me Tom.'

'Ok.' She smiled sweetly at him. She was a cute young thing, Tom thought to himself. There was no denying that.

Emily offered to fetch him a drink. Tom asked for a scotch but the Currans apparently didn't keep any spirits in the house.

'Neither of my parents normally drink alcohol, you see,' Emily explained. 'Dad has an occasional beer. That's it.'

Tom said that a beer would be fine so she disappeared into the kitchen in search of one. He watched her thoughtfully as she left the room.

It felt very warm indoors after the cool of the evening air. His eyes roved around the living room taking in the magnolia walls and the cream carpet and the Curran family photographs.

Now that he was alone momentarily Tom began to mull things over. Here he was in the company of his employee's eighteen year old daughter and somehow trying to justify to her why her Dad was going to get the sack. Meanwhile she was attempting to intervene by offering to help out in some way. In fact she'd said she would do anything if he refrained from giving Dennis the boot.

Tom thought about this a little while. At first he'd rejected her offer out of mind. But perhaps he should have weighed up what she'd actually said and thought properly about what that might mean for him. The girl seemed genuinely desperate. She was so naïve. It was quite endearing really.

She said she would do anything. Possibilities seemed to present themselves to him.

Emily returned momentarily with a can of Carlsberg for Tom and a glass of water for herself. He would never normally choose to drink anything from a can (least of all a Carlsberg) but at least it was cold out of the fridge. Emily carefully poured it into an empty glass for him and set his beer down on a coaster.

'There you are, Tom,' she said with that cute smile of hers. She was irresistible when she smiled like that.

It was in that moment that Tom began to formulate a few ideas. He mumbled a quick 'thank you' and took a swig of cold lager while thinking through his next moves. Emily perched herself down on the two-seater sofa just beside the armchair where he was sat.

'You know, Emily,' he said, putting the beer down, 'I was thinking a little bit -- about what you were saying.' He was speaking very carefully, choosing his words.