Suneha stepped out of the Tube station into the evening air. The weather had turned cooler over the past few days and she had needed a coat when she left home this morning, but the Tube was warm and now she carried it over her arm along with her bag. Walking slowly eastward along Oxford Street, almost oblivious to the peak hour crowds that swirled around her, she accidentally bumped a stocky older woman in a tweed hat and coat. She woman glared at her. Suneha mumbled an apology and walked on.
Her head was filled with the images, the sounds – and the shame – of her last visit here. It was only a week ago, but it seemed like a lifetime of humiliation as she had relived it over and over in her mind in the intervening days. She had debated incessantly with herself over whether to come back at all, but here she was. She did not know how she would face the two women who had humiliated her, how she could look them in the face remembering what they had done to her and knowing that they knew her secret shame. The thought terrified her, but she remembered what the older woman, Christine, had said to her; “I might have to send Amanda around…” Thinking of that girl coming into her home, and what she might do there, had forced Suneha back here.
She lifted her head, set her jaw determinedly and increased her stride. She wore her long hair down as she had done all week. She had phoned in sick on Friday but even after the weekend when her swollen lips and other injuries had healed, the bruise below her left eye had still been visible. Though she had covered it with makeup and it had faded over the course of the week, she had worn her hair down around her face to partially obscure it, which had drawn some covertly admiring glances from the men in her office. That made her smile to herself, and she flicked her head, tossing the thick mane of her hair back from her shoulders.
She glanced at her image in a shop window as she rounded the corner into New Bond Street. Her habitual work attire of black satin skirt and crisp white silk blouse accentuated her long legs and svelte figure as always, but today she had taken extra care. Her pencil skirt was a little longer than usual, its hem half-way down her calves. She had checked her clothes and makeup in the ladies room before leaving her office and had opened one more button on her blouse, revealing the gold coin pendant that hung around her neck. She wore a wide stretch belt that pulled her blouse in tight at her waist and emphasized her jutting breasts. Her black patent leather pumps were perhaps an inch and half higher than normal, showing off her shapely calves and the curve of her bum beneath her skirt. She flashed herself another brief smile, satisfied with her appearance.
A blue Vauxhall nosed out from between two buildings and she stopped to let it pass. Glancing momentarily down the alley, her mind leapt back a week to when she had stood in the darkness in a similar alley just around the corner, chained to a rubbish bin by a collar and leash, wrists bound tightly behind her, her back hung round her neck. Hurting everywhere, bleeding from her mouth and nose, she had nevertheless been so aroused she could barely stand. Even now she blushed as she remembered how she had tried to rub her aching thighs together to assuage her perverse desire. She pushed the shameful thought from her mind and walked on.
Her feet grew leaden as she approached her destination, a hundred unwelcome images crowding into her mind. What would she say? What would they say? How could she bear to look them in the eye? She forced herself to push the door open and step into the boutique.
Amanda, the petite but rather buxom blonde who had beaten Suneha so badly a week ago, was sitting at the antique writing desk that served as a counter, staring at a computer monitor. She looked up as Suneha entered, and a mocking smile spread across her face. “Oh look, our favourite customer’s back.”
Suneha walked up to the desk. With an effort, she managed to look Amanda in the eye. The girl’s face, immaculately made up, bore no trace of the damage Suneha had inflicted on her. She was dressed all in black as at their last meeting, though the scoop-necked jersey dress she wore today exposed a considerable amount of cleavage. “I’m here for my blouse,” said Suneha coolly.
The girl did not get up from her stool behind the desk. “Yeah, I thought as much,” she said, her accent pure Cockney now, with no trace of the elocution it held when they had first met. She held Suneha’s gaze and her smile widened a little. Suneha felt the blood rising in her cheeks. “Chrissie and I had a little wager on whether you’d come back for it. She thought you would. I said you didn’t ‘ave the nerve, so now I’m out ten quid.” Her eyes narrowed for a moment but then her smile grew even wider. “Of course, it could be that a skanky pain slut like you just doesn’t ‘ave any shame.”
Suneha’s shoulders tensed but she held her temper as fury and terror warred within her. She hoped the girl would not notice her trembling. “Well,” she demanded, “are you going to get it?”
Amanda raised her eyebrows. “I seem to remember that Chrissie told you to be more polite to me.” The smile did not move but her eyes narrowed again. “I don’t think that was very polite at all.” She stared at Suneha for a moment. “Why don’t you try again?”
Suneha bristled, but she noticed the tension in Amanda’s shoulders. The girl was a coiled spring and a tremor of fear coursed through Suneha. She sighed and struggled to keep her voice level as she asked, “Please…Amanda…will you get me my blouse?”
The girl tilted her head back, considering Suneha’s request with mocking deliberation. “Nope,” she said at last, “that was definitely not sincere.” She thought a moment longer. “I think you should get on your knees and ask me really nicely.” Her scornful smile grew broader still as she watched Suneha’s fury battle with her fear. “Unless, of course,” she added slowly, “you’d like another taste of last week.”
Suneha stood rooted to the spot, her lips clamped tightly together. She wanted to scream, fly at the girl and tear the smug smile from her face, but she dared not. Amanda gave a soft chuckle. “What am I thinkin’? Of course you do.” She sighed theatrically and then sneered, “Makes it bloody impossible to threaten you lot”, managing to inject bottomless depths of disdain into the phrase ‘you lot’.
Renewed shame joined the war of emotions in Suneha’s head. “Well?” asked Amanda quietly. She held Suneha’s gaze and her eyes spoke volumes. Suneha finally blinked and looked away, down at the desk. She swallowed hard, put down her bag and coat on the edge of the desk and slowly stepped around the desk until she stood in front of Amanda, who smiled up at her derisively.
She bent, lifting her skirt above her knees and, never taking her eyes off the younger woman’s face, dropped first one knee, then the other, to the carpet. ‘All the way down,’ warned Amanda sternly and Suneha sank back until her bum rested on her heels. ‘There, that’s better. Now, you were saying?”
A tear of anger and shame escaped Suneha’s eye. Feeling it trail down her cheek, knowing she had betrayed herself, only added to her humiliation and she stifled a sob. Grinding her teeth, she managed to get the words out. “Please…may I have my blouse?”
Amanda chuckled. “There, that’s much better,” she said, tilting her head mockingly to one side. She rose from her stool and stared down at Suneha, standing so close that Suneha had to crane her neck to look into the girl’s eyes. “I’ll just go an’ get it then, shall I?” She walked over to the doorway that led into the back room where…Suneha pushed that thought from her mind. Amanda drew the curtain aside and then paused, turning to look back at Suneha. “Oh, and get up, dear. You look ridiculous.” She disappeared through the doorway.
Suneha put one hand on the corner of the desk, rose to her feet and walked back around the desk. She shook with anger, not at Amanda but also at herself for enduring the girl’s taunts without retaliation or even compliant. Her hands were balled into fists and she did not trust herself to pick up her bag and coat in case she dropped them. She wiped her tears carefully with one hand and waited in seething silence.
Amanda returned with a stout white cardboard box in her hands, and placed it on the desk. “Here we are,” she said breezily, with no trace of the ridicule with which her voice had dripped just moments ago. “Let’s just make sure everything’s in order, shall we?” She slipped the lid off the box and unfolded the white tissue paper beneath to reveal the silk blouse. “That’s the one, isn’t it?”
Suneha needed only the merest glance. “Yes,” she confirmed softly, “that’s the one.”
“Well that’s fine then.” Amanda went to refold the tissue paper over the blouse and then stopped. “Oh dear.”
Suneha looked at her. “What’s the matter?”
“Oh nothing important,” Amanda assured her. “There’s just a thread hanging off one of the buttons.”
“That’s all right,” Suneha replied. “I’m sure I can – “
“No, I can fix it” Amanda interrupted her. She reached over to the far corner of the desk and drew a pair of dress-maker’s scissors from a caddy that held pens and other items. “Hang on.”
She lifted the front of the blouse in her fingers and snipped delicately at a button. “Uh-oh.” She lifted her eyes to Suneha’s and held up the button, which she had just cut from the front of the blouse. “Look what I’ve gone an’ done.” All the disdain flooded back into her voice. “Pity.”
Suneha’s rage overcame her fear in an instant and with an animal growl she lunged over the desk. The fingers of both hands snared Amanda’s hair over her ears and Suneha jerked the girl bodily off her feet and over the desk, ignoring the agony in her still-tender stomach muscles.
She meant to slam Amanda’s head down on the desk but the girl thrust her arms out and absorbed some of the impact with her hands. Nevertheless, her momentum carried her over the desk and Suneha side-stepped as Amanda hurtled face-first to the floor, landing in an ungraceful tangle of limbs that exposed a lot of thigh and a pair of black thong panties.
Suneha aimed a vicious kick at Amanda that connected hard with the girl’s bum and she groaned, grabbing her left buttock and rolling away, holding her face. She came to one knee, reaching out for the desk and Suneha kicked at her again, crying out as she put all her strength into the kick. She aimed for Amanda’s ribs but the little blonde pulled herself back at the last instant and the toe of Suneha’s shoe slammed into the underside of her left breast. Amanda fell backward but kept going, her momentum carrying her feet over her head so that she ended up on her knees.
The girl came to her feet effortlessly, even in her high heels. Her left breast had popped free of her low-cut dress but she ignored it. She stared at the blood on her hand where she had clasped her face. “Shit,” she said matter-of-factly. “What the fuck is it with you an’ my fuckin’ nose???” Glancing down at her feet, where a hand-sized bloodstain marred the cream carpet, she added, “Oh, and now there’s blood on the carpet. Chrissie will have a fuckin’ cow.”
She took a step toward Suneha who instinctively stepped back, swinging her arm up at the girl’s bare breast. Amanda twisted her torso, caught Suneha’s wrist and reversed her grip, wrenching Suneha’s arm up behind her back. She grabbed a fistful of Suneha’s hair in her other hand and threw her backward to the floor. Suneha lay still for a moment, winded by the heavy fall.
Amanda stood over her and stared down into her eyes, blood dripping from her nose onto her chest. Her one exposed nipple was flushed pink and erect. “Bitch, you have got to learn to fight better,” she noted with a deep breath, “or else learn to hold your fuckin’ temper.” She wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. “Now this,” she said as she stepped astride Suneha’s torso, “is for last week,” and dropped her knee hard into the pit of Suneha’s stomach. Suneha’s head and feet whipped upward off the floor as the impact tore the air from her lungs.
The little blonde back-handed Suneha across the mouth before she stood up. Suneha lay gasping like a fish out of water. With an effort she managed to move one arm to cradle her injured belly, and rolled away from Amanda onto her side. Amanda aimed a precise kick at her kidneys but Suneha lacked the breath to scream.
The girl let Suneha lie there for a moment before she bent and grabbed another handful of hair in one hand, and the back of Suneha’s stretch belt with the other. Hauling Suneha upward with a savage, sudden jerk that drove the newly returned breath from her chest yet again, she pulled Suneha half-way to her feet.
“It seems,” offered Amanda, “that you need another, tougher lesson.” With that, she hurled Suneha through the curtained doorway into the back room.
***
Suneha stumbled as she crashed through the curtain and landed in a heap on the floor, just managing to break her fall with her outstretched arms. She lay still, fighting to breathe, until she heard a noise and lifted her tear-stained face to peer over the heavy wooden desk in front of her.
Christine sat behind the desk, leaning forward on her elbows, gazing down at Suneha. She was faultlessly made up as before, her hair pulled up and a quizzical smile on her heart-shaped face. “I see our troublesome customer has returned. Apparently she didn’t learn her lesson the last time she was here.”
“Obviously not,” agreed Amanda from behind Suneha, “and she’s gotten blood on the carpet out front, too.” Suneha could feel her presence and desperately wanted to turn her head but she dared not move.
“Most of it yours, it appears,” observed Christine with mild reproach. “That was careless of you.”
“Sorry, Chrissie.” Amanda’s voice was contrite.
“Never mind, darling. We must teach her some manners, and this time we’ll ensure that she doesn’t forget her lesson.”
“Gladly, Chrissie,” agreed Amanda with relish. She stepped closer, her stiletto heels astride Suneha’s waist. “I’ll mess her up, good an’ proper.” Suneha felt a thrill of fear course through but she also felt another kind of thrill, deep in her belly that terrified her even more. She clenched her teeth. She would not let them shame her again.
“No blood, dear, if you please,” Christine warned her. “It’s hideously expensive to get it out of the carpet. I’ll already need to bring the cleaners in for the front and I’d hate to have to do out here too.” She smiled at Amanda’s sigh. “Never mind, it will just make it a little challenging for you.”
Amanda snorted. “She won’t be no challenge at all.” She suddenly dropped and slammed her bum into the small of Suneha’s back, crushing her into the carpet. Suneha‘s eyes bulged and she let out a massive ‘whoof’ as the breath rushed out of her yet again.
The blonde reached forward and grasped Suneha’s left wrist, pulling her arm up over her head. She grabbed for Suneha’s other arm and Suneha fought her, pulling away from her grip but Amanda slammed a fist into the side of her head that made her see stars and before she could think again, the girl had both her arms.
Pulling Suneha’s arms up over her head, Amanda wrapped one arm around them at the elbows, pinning them against her own chest. She leaned backward, pulling Suneha’s head up and bending her back like a bow. “How does that feel, bitch?” she murmured in Suneha’s ear.
Suneha moaned, fiery needles of pain shooting up her spine, the outraged muscles of her belly screaming as Amanda put more of her weight into the hold. She clenched her eyes shut but failed to stem the tears that coursed down her cheeks. Her drawn out cry, when at last it came, was filled with rage, frustration and despair.
Amanda whipped her free arm over Suneha’s right shoulder, dug her nails into the flesh of Suneha’s right breast and clawed upward. She did not break the skin or tear Suneha’s blouse but her hooked fingers caught Suneha’s bra and dragged it upward over her breast. Suneha gasped as the hard underwire raked her nipple. She squirmed but Amanda bent her back even further, stilling her struggles. The girl grabbed again at Suneha’s breast, now shielded only by the flimsy silk of her blouse, and twisted viciously. This time Suneha screamed. She writhed in Amanda’s grip, grunting with pain and exertion but the little blonde held fast.
Finally Suneha felt her fingers against Amanda’s ear, grasped and twisted hard. “Ow! Fuck you!” Amanda shrieked as Suneha threw herself sideways, still clinging desperately to the girl’s ear. She crashed to the floor, losing her grip on Suneha’s arms.
Suneha rolled away, onto her side. Her skirt had ridden up part-way up her thighs and she struggled to push it down. Through the anger and the pain as Amanda had held her helpless, Suneha had felt her lust begin to betray her, felt the wetness gathering between her thighs. She could not let it happen – not again.
She pulled herself up to her hands and knees but her preoccupation with her skirt had taken precious seconds and Amanda was already on her feet. “Worried about your clothes gettin’ wrinkled?” she sneered. “Prissy cow!” A sharp-toed shoe thudded into Suneha’s exposed belly. She collapsed with a sob, rolling onto her back.
Amanda kicked her again, in the right kidney. She moaned and arched her back, holding her hand feebly against her side to protect herself. “You nearly tore my ear off, you bitch!” exclaimed Amanda venomously.
“She has no style whatsoever,” remarked Christine from her vantage point behind the desk, “but she certainly has determination.”
“Too stupid to know when to give up, more likely,” replied Amanda, “or maybe she’s just enjoyin’ it too much.” She nudged her foot into Suneha’s bum, pressing her skirt up between her buttocks. “Yeah, she’s lovin’ it, aren’t you? Pain slut!”
“NNNOOOO!!!” Suneha shrieked as she rolled and whipped her leg upward in an arc that connected her foot solidly with the side of the blonde’s head. Amanda grunted with the impact and fell sideways onto her knees.
“Yes, she definitely has determination,” repeated Christine.
Amanda rose to her feet, rubbing her ear, murder in her eyes. “Oh I am so goin’ to make you suffer,” she declared.
Suneha scrambled backward, whimpering with fear as the girl advanced on her, but found herself backed up against the front of the desk with nowhere to retreat. Amanda bent and twisted her hand in Suneha’s hair, jerking her head up onto the desk and holding her there by her hair with the edge of the desktop digging into the back of her neck. Her feet scrabbled at the floor as she tried vainly to get them beneath her.
“I’ll teach you to give me lip,” snarled Amanda, and a hard knee thudded into Suneha’s right breast, crushing it against her ribs. Her legs collapsed and she screamed from the pain in her chest and in her neck as her entire body suddenly hung suspended. Her high heels dug desperately at the carpet. The girl drove her knee into Suneha’s left breast and Suneha howled, her arms flailing uselessly.
Amanda let her drop, landing hard on the base of her spine, but kept her grip on Suneha’s hair. Hauling Suneha to her feet she spun her around, away from the desk, then smashed a fist into her midriff that dropped her to her knees once more.
Still holding Suneha’s hair, she hauled her partly to her feet and drove her hard into the edge of the desk, its sharp wooden corner catching Suneha under her ribs. Suneha made a gurgling sound and her fingers scratched at the desktop in her agony. She saw spots before her eyes as she battled to breathe against the screaming pain of her tortured stomach muscles. Eyes popping, mouth working wordlessly, she found herself staring into Christine’s impassive face. She had no time to recover before Amanda jerked her upright by her hair, spun her round and slammed her backwards onto the desk. Another fist smashed into her belly and she opened her mouth to scream but no sound came.
Amanda kept hold of Suneha’s hair, reached down with her free hand, grabbed Suneha’s left nipple through her blouse and bra, and twisted savagely. Suneha managed a gurgling moan that sent spears of agony through her ravaged stomach muscles, but at the same time she felt her legs twitch and her hips buck upward off the desk momentarily. Even through her pain she recognized that her cry had not been entirely one of pain, and her face flushed with shame as saw through her tears that her tormentors had noticed it too.
Christine raised an eyebrow and looked from Suneha to Amanda. “I do believe she’s rather excited by all this, darling.” She rose from her seat and moved around the end of the desk to stand at Suneha’s feet. “Let’s check.”
She grasped Suneha’s ankles. Suneha kicked at her, struggling simultaneously to clamp her knees together but the woman was surprisingly strong. “Don’t pretend to fight it, slut,” Amanda taunted her. “You know you want it.” Her fist crashed into Suneha’s wounded belly and she moaned in agony, offering only token resistance as Christine pulled her legs apart and slid a hand beneath her skirt.
Suneha wriggled feebly as she felt Christine’s fingers glide up her calf, over the inside of her knee and on up her thigh. She twisted her hips, mumbling in despairing protest as the woman’s fingers touched the edge of her panties. “Ah, wet”, murmured Christine with a knowing smile. “Very wet indeed.”
Suneha sobbed and tried to bring her knees up to kick Christine away but Amanda jerked her head savagely backward over the edge of the desk, pinning her there by her hair. “Don’t move, slut!” She bent over, her face very close to Suneha’s. “Just lie back an’ enjoy it.”
Tears of rage and shame coursed from Suneha’ eyes. “Please…” she whispered, “please…”
“Please what?” laughed Amanda cruelly. “Chrissie, I dunno whether she’s beggin’ you to stop, or to give her a good seein’ to.” She twisted Suneha’s head to one side and stared disdainfully down into her wide, terrified eyes. “Probably the latter, I reckon.”
Suneha cried out as Christine’s fingers slipped inside her panties and stroked the length of her sex. She moaned despite herself, her hips squirming as her body betrayed her, and Amanda laughed scornfully.
“Perhaps we should give her what she wants,” suggested Christine mockingly. “After all, she is begging so prettily.” She stroked Suneha again and a strangled, anguished groan escaped her lips.
Christine glanced over at Amanda. “Oh don’t stop, darling,” she implored the younger woman. “After all, it’s what you’ve done to her that’s got her all hot and bothered in the first place. “Please – continue.”
“With pleasure,” smiled Amanda, pulling down on Suneha’s hair, bending her neck back even harder over the edge of the desk. She pulled her fist back to her shoulder and drove a devastating jab into Suneha’s belly. Suneha convulsed, wailing in misery as the two women pleasured and punished her.
***
Suneha tried to fight them, willing herself to rise up off the table and punish them for humiliating her, but her body betrayed her. It was all she could do to breathe, her face contorted into a savage grimace at the agony in her stomach muscles. Every attempt at movement sent lances of pain stabbing through her belly and chest. Added to that were Christine’s ministrations between her thighs; two fingers deep inside her, stroking unerringly, insidiously at her g-spot while the woman’s thumb rubbed insistently at her clit. The pleasure and the pain conspired to doom her, and Suneha could do nothing but surrender.
She managed to bring one arm up and grasped weakly, blindly for Christine’s arm but Amanda jerked her head back over the edge of the desk so hard that she thought her neck would break. “Lie still, slut!” The blonde lifted herself up and then dropped, driving her elbow into Suneha’s belly. Suneha shuddered, too agonized to scream but even that tiny movement increased the terrible, delicious sensations between her legs and she moaned in anguished lust, her legs jerking spastically.
Amanda snorted vindictively in her ear. “Oh you’re so enjoying this, aren’t you? Come in ‘ere all high an’ mighty like lady muck, but you’re just a dirty little whore.” She twisted Suneha’s head toward her. “Go on, admit it. Tell me you’re a dirty whore.”
Suneha shook her head despite the pain it caused her when Amanda’s tight grip pulled on her hair. She clamped her eyes and mouth tightly shut, refusing to even look at the blonde. “Go on! Say it!” A fist smashed into her side, rocking her sideways, twisting her hips on Christine’s invading fingers. “No….mmmmaaahhhhh!” her denial turned into a scream as Amanda’s fingers twisted her nipple brutally.
She sobbed, choking, her eyes still clenched shut. She had felt the gush of her juices as Amanda tortured her breast, and the shame rose up to overwhelm her. Her lips moved silently, grudgingly, soundlessly.
“I can’t hear you,” Amanda sneered. “Look at me, and say it!” She pulled hard on Suneha’s wounded nipple, provoking another whimpering cry.
Suneha opened her tear-filled eyes and looked up into Amanda’s scornful gaze. Pain, terror and lust warred across her features. “I’m…” she sobbed, fighting against the words, “I’m a whore….a dirty….little whore.” Her face crumpled and her shoulders shook as her heard the words.
Amanda laughed and Christine too let out a soft chuckle, though she did not cease playing with Suhena’s pudenda. “I believe she wants to climax,” said the older woman.
“Of course she does,” agreed the little blonde. “She’s a dirty little whore, after all.” She took hold of Suneha’s other nipple, which was protruding visibly through the silk of her blouse, and pinched it spitefully between her long nails. Suneha cried out and her arms flew up in a feeble effort to protect her chest, but the effort was too much for her and she flopped down again, gasping.
So completely defeated was Suneha that Amanda did not even bother to maintain her hold on her victim’s hair. She merely kept a hand under Suneha’s chin, holding her head back as she took a step to her right, along the edge of the desk toward Suneha’s waist. “She’s goin’ to beg you to make her cum, aren’t you, slut?” Suneha whimpered but remained silent, trying desperately but vainly to ignore the growing tide of pleasure that spread implacably outward from her loins. “Aren’t you?” Amanda’s voice grew insistent and Suneha gasped as the girl drove a fist into her abdomen, so low and hard that she felt her insides clamp down on Christine’s fingers. “Beg!”
“Please…” Suneha’s voice was a plaintive whisper. “Please…”
“Please what???” Amanda hit her again and Suneha felt her hips buck, driving herself down on the fingers that impaled her. Her blood pounded in her ears. She wanted to thrust, to grind, but embarrassment, pain and exhaustion kept her still.
“Please….let me cum,” she pleaded, and cried out in despair. Her shame was complete.
Christine smiled and the tempo of her fingers increased, ever so slightly but enough to overcome the last shreds of Suneha’s resistance. She screamed in agonized ecstasy as the terrible force of her orgasm wracked her body, writhing in a frenzy of mindless passion until the tremors subsided and she lay gasping for air.
“Extraordinary,” remarked Christine as she withdrew her hand. She wiped her fingers carefully on the hem of Suneha’s skirt. “I must say I’ve never seen anything quite like that.”
Amanda’s lip curled derisively. “Me neither,” she agreed, ramming the steepled fingers of her hand into Suneha’s tormented belly one more time. Suneha’s mouth worked in silent agony. The blonde grasped her hair and dragged her sideways, off the desk. Suneha tumbled to the floor where she lay prone, her body heaving as she tried to cradle her belly and force air into her lungs. “Pain slut.”
Amanda grabbed her under the arms and lifted her upright, propping her against the desk. Suneha was a dead weight in the girl’s arms. Leaning with her bum on the edge of the desk, she could barely keep herself upright, leaning forward and clenching her hands over her belly. Her stomach muscles throbbed unbearably from the pounding they had taken. She could feel the two women watching her, feel their scorn. Her shoulders shook as she cried in wretched humiliation.
“Take out her out front, darling,” said Christine, “but don’t let her leave yet. I’ll be out in just a minute.”
Amanda nodded and took the unresisting Suneha by the scruff of her neck, pulling her to her feet. Even that motion made Suneha’s back and belly scream in protest and she gasped, keeping her balance carefully as she walked slowly through to the shop, Amanda holding her by her neck and the back of her belt.
Suneha stopped by the counter, where her bag and coat still lay where she had placed them. She picked them up with trembling hands and stood there, not daring to move, nor even to look at Amanda.
Christine came through the curtain, holding a small, folded piece of note paper in her hand. She walked around in front of Suneha and stood there, silently, until Suneha looked hesitantly up at her through her eyelashes. She held the paper up in front of Suneha’s face. “On this paper,” she said, as she slipped her fingers between the buttons of Suneha’s blouse and tucked the paper into the strap of her bra, “is an address, a date and a time. You will be there. Do you understand?”
After a moment, Suneha swallowed hard and nodded silently. “Good,” Christine continued. “Do not be late. Do not speak of it to anyone, and do not even think about failing to appear. Remember, we have your name and your phone number from your order and in this day and age, that means we can discover your address in a few minutes. It would be a pity if someone,” she looked meaningfully in the direction of Amanda, ”had to escort you.”
“Now,” she said, inclining her head, “off you go.” Suneha obediently turned and shuffled toward the door.
Christine glanced downward suddenly. “Oh…one more thing.” She held up a white paper bag in her other hand. “You forgot this.” She handed the bag to Suneha who, looking inside, saw a cardboard box identical to the one Amanda had brought out with her blouse. Puzzled, she glanced at the counter where the ruined blouse still lay in its bed of tissue paper. “It seems Amanda made a mistake,” explained Christine. “That one was the shop sample with the tear on the seam. The one you ordered was out the back all the time.”
“Oops!” exclaimed Amanda with a mocking pout. “I guess I got them mixed up.” She held the door open for Suneha. “Sorry.” Suneha could not bear to look at either of them as she took the bag and slowly, painfully stumbled into the street.
THE END
