"It's not funny, Sara," Gillian told her. "I got drunk!"
"Hey, I was just kidding. You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, not hurt, but it was just terrible," she told her.
"Want to tell me about it?"
"I guess I should tell you because you'll probably find out anyway, but please, no lectures. I need advice."
"Sure," Jessica answered and sat down on the bed and listened patiently as Gillian poured out the whole story, every sordid detail of it.
"Well," she commented wryly, "I always knew that he fooled around, but I didn't think that he'd pick on you so soon. Don't worry about it. he won't go around bragging about it, I know."
"How?" she asked.
"Let you in on a little secret. I had a go around with him at one time myself, but then I met Andrew."
"I really don't feel like going into the office," Gillian said lamentably, looking dejected and ashamed of herself, "I don't know how I can look at him."
"That's ridiculous, you're grown up, so don't let it blow your job, I know that you have every reason to be upset, but if you feel that strongly about it' just don't let it happen again. You can say no can't you?" she joked.
"Of course, but I'm afraid that he'll ask me out again and if I say no, I'll lose my job anyway."
"No, I don't think that he plays that way, but at any rate, you're all right for the time being, so get dressed and come to work with me. I'll be your moral support."
"Thanks, I do need some. It was the strangest thing, I never thought something like that could happen to me so quickly without my even knowing the man!"
"It happens to all of us at one time or another, but you just have to roll with the punches, besides, he's not a bad guy and he'd take you to nice restaurants. In fact, you may even get to like him."
"Oh, it isn't that I don't like him, well… I can't explain it, really."
"Alright, but hurry up or we'll be late."
Gillian took a quick shower dressed as fast as she could, then she went to the tube station with Jessica.
Tony Wiles didn't arrive at the office until almost noon and he walked quickly through the rows of desks, not pausing to say hello to anyone, not even Gillian. She was about to go to lunch when he called her into his office, however, and her legs felt as though they were made of rubber when she opened the door.
"You wanted to see me," she stammered, trying to act as if nothing had never happened between them.
"Yes, I wanted to tell you what a lovely time I had last night, and here's some money for your dress that I tore, I'd like to make it up to you tonight, if you'll have dinner with me again.
"I don't think that I can," she told him, hoping that he wouldn't press his invitation. "I'm awfully tired and I'd like to get some sleep."
He laughed and said, "Come here," and he got up from behind his desk and walked towards her, taking her arm and pulling her close. His hands fondled the soft, large swell of her breasts and she tried to pull away.
"Don't… please…" she whispered, knowing that the walls were not very thick.
"You don't know how much I want you again… right now," he said, his voice thick and low.
"I don't want to see you ever again and if you persist in bothering me, I will have to quit my job" Gillian said, surprised at her being able to master a rather firm voice.
He laughed maliciously and held her even tighter.
"What makes you think that I would let you alone if you left the firm. I could find you, believe me."
"Don't threaten me," she told him, "I don't like it."
"You will," he chuckled sadistically. "That's what all you women need, to be threatened."
His hands roamed over her body, squeezing the ripe mounds of her buttocks, then massaging the hillocks of her firm, full breasts. His hands sent tiny electric shocks through her body and she could feel herself grow weak as he held her. She didn't understand what kind of animal magnetism this brute of a man emanated, but it attracted her, it appealed to her inflamed senses. He had been such a brute, yet she had responded to him like never before.
"We're gong to have a little party at my hotel tomorrow night, I want you to be there. I'll let you off tonight so that you can rest, but tomorrow I insist."
"I won't come," she hissed. "I won't"
"You will, and bring Jessica, I know all about her little affair with Andrew and I have a surprise for everyone."
His voice was cold and cruel and his lips were firmly set so that he nearly hissed his commanding words.
"I don't understand," Gillian cried miserably, "I can't make Jessica come!"
"Tell her that if she isn't there too, that Andrew's happy home life will be ruined, as well as his career with the company. There's a director's meeting soon and I have to submit reports on all my employees, so I want to make sure that they all know where they stand.
I'm extending the invitation to Andrew myself, and by the way, your friend Duncan Jones will be there too." He chuckled viciously and gave her breasts a hard squeeze. "You'll see, it will be lots of fun."
"Oh no," she murmured and looked at him horror struck. "You're insane!"
"You may go now," he told her, biting her neck and rubbing his hand over the juncture between her legs before releasing her.
She went directly to Jessica's desk and told her that she had to talk to her at lunch, it was important "But I've got a date with Andrew," she protested.
"Break it, this is more important, believe me. It concerns Andrew too."
Jessica looked at her puzzled and nodded, then dialled Andrew's extension and told him that she couldn't see him until tonight and then she would explain everything.
Gillian and Jessica chose a small table in the corner of a restaurant not too far from the office and Gillian told her roommate what Mr. Wiles had said.
"That bloody bastard," Jessica choked out, her cheeks coloring furiously with indignation. "He is crazy, what are we going to do, Gillian? I really can't suggest anything!"
"I guess we'd better go, Jessica. Think of it, not much can happen if we're both there, can it?"
"I hope not, but if he's crazy enough to plan something like this, who can tell! Poor Andrew, he'll be so upset, it will ruin him!"
"Maybe it will work out all right, but I don't like the sound of it, I don't like it at all," Gillian said firmly. "We're all in a bind, so let's make the best of it."
The girls agreed that they would have a few drinks after work the following day and go to the party together. They didn't know what kind of blackmail Wiles had in mind, but they had no choice, they had to go.
If Gillian didn't go, Jessica would suffer and if Jessica didn't go, Andrew would, and Jessica was the only friend Gillian had in the city, she couldn't lose her now.
The next day they were jittery and nervous, not able to concentrate on their work.
"Looking forward to this evening?" Wiles whispered to Gillian as he passed her desk. "Hope you got lots of rest last night, it will be a long evening."
The two girls gulped down several martinis when the office closed, hoping that the liquor would steel them for whatever lay in store for them that night, but it really didn't help much. They grabbed a taxi and told the driver to take them to Mr. Wiles' hotel.
"Let's not go," Gillian said at the last minute, "What can he do to us?"
"It's too late now," Jessica moaned, "Besides, what about my poor Andrew?"
They pushed the button for his floor and stood shaking in the corridor before pushing the buzzer.
"Come in, ladies," Tony Wiles told them and offered them a seat "The rest of the party should arrive in a little while, but I wanted you two here first."
He poured them both a drink from a decanter that was on the bar and handed it to them.
"Here, this will relax you girls. what's the matter, you look upset?" he laughed cruelly, knowing that he was in complete control of the situation.