Chapter Nineteen
It was true that Opal had an appointment, but it was not a job interview. There didn't seem much point continuing that depressing search, not now that she was selling her soul to make some big money. While she did feel like she was giving up her good moral integrity by tricking Boyd, she didn't feel at all like she'd given away her body as part of that. Last night had been unplanned, unexpected, but definitely not unwanted. No, Opal had been yearning for that kind of release for some time now. It had taken a different sort of man to help her get there.
While she'd been having regular orgasms since she was a teenager, Opal was not used to such raw and passionate pleasure. It didn't feel dirty like she thought it would. She actually liked it, a lot; even the thing with the hand tying and all that oil. Boyd might get some more sessions with her, before being completely screwed over by his own uncle's diabolical plan. That was more than a lot of people got, and others were given the short end of the stick without deserving it. She had to keep telling herself that Boyd was a pig, and he'd broken the law and hurt innocent people in the process. She didn't know the extent of what he'd done, or she would already have the evidence that was so sorely lacking in this plan. But she just could not let herself believe he'd done anything truly bad, not actually harmed people or ruined lives.
On the other hand, for women everywhere, Opal was feeling a bit like a hero. She was giving this man a taste of his own medicine, even while letting him have her in whatever way he liked. It was empowering as it was naughty. There was no reason to feel guilty, not really, right?
Those were the things that Opal kept telling herself on the taxi ride over to meet up with Carl. She had promised to meet with him after her first date with Boyd, so that's what she was doing. The guy's office was in a warehouse down in an industrial part of the city. It didn't much look like the sort of place a wealthy older man would have as his headquarters. Then again, this guy was apparently "old school", or maybe not quite right in the head, for all Opal knew. Doing business where his workers did their thing, instead of in an office building, that could just be part of a hands-on leadership strategy.
The secretary was short with her, on the verge of being outright rude. "Yes? Can I help you?" the short brunette said with a sour face, and no time to say hello.
"I'm looking for Carl."
"Do you have an appointment? He's very busy today, very busy every day." She went back to typing, as though she had already assumed that Opal was going to say no.
"Actually, he asked me to meet him here at nine."
"Oh, alright then," answered the rude woman. She looked flustered about that, and added, "Well, you're five minutes late. Please be on time if you're asked to come for another appointment."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Or I could just leave if you think you know best who your boss wants to meet with?"
"No, no, take a seat. I'll tell him that you're here." The secretary glared through squinted eyes, then shifted her focus back to her computer and picked up the phone on her desk. "You're nine o'clock is here, sir. She's running a little late, sorry." She glared back at Opal as she said the word "late", to add emphasis to it without doing so vocally. Placing the phone back down, she said to Opal, "You can go in. And again, be on time next time."
"You didn't even know he had an appointment with me. Thanks all the same," Opal said. After her wild night of living free, she sure didn't feel like taking crap from an entry level worker who must have not had enough coffee yet.
"Hello, Opal. Please come in," said Carl as she opened his office door, which was clearly marked with his name: Carl Houston. That's when it occurred to Opal that she hadn't looked into his background. Yeah, she'd checked up on Boyd enough to make sure that he was really the guy she needed to go after, and maybe to see what type of person he was. But she didn't do her due diligence in making sure that this Carl person was actually Boyd's uncle. The shared surname was a relief to see. The next time she agreed to take part in ruining someone's life for financial gain, she would try to remember to do her homework first. Still, no harm had been done, not yet anyway.
"Hello, Carl. Well, you asked me to show up, and here I am. Your secretary out there seemed pretty annoyed that I was a few minutes late. I think the fact that I walked in the building at all ruined her day."
"Oh, don't worry about her. She's probably just having her—" He stopped and looked like he had just dodged a bullet or something. "Uh, a bad day." It sure seemed like he was about to say that his employee was 'just having her period'. What a pig, Opal thought. But at least he was smart enough to catch himself before saying something to the wrong person. She would need to be cautious of this man; something else that had not really occurred to her; too many mistakes lately.
"Do you have any good news for me?" he said without missing another beat. Straight to business, not waiting to waste time with pleasantries. Opal didn't answer him. Instead, she was trying to think of the best way to sugar coat being completely unable to find any damning evidence against Boyd. "Let me guess, you couldn't find anything? Not even when you went to his spoilt-brat playhouse?"
"No, sorry. I searched his entire place for hours. Wait, how did you know I went there? Oh, never mind. I forgot you had your hired goon."
"That's goon-s, multiple. And you shouldn't forget it." He guessed what she was thinking. "Don't worry," he said with a sultry smile that could turn a gal's stomach, "They don't tell me every little detail."
"If your guys keep tabs on what your nephew does, why are you wasting your money on me? Just have them spy on him."
"Believe me, I would much rather use someone I can trust—no offence. But Boyd is a slippery little bastard, no offence to my dead brother and sister-in-law, may they rest in peace. He's smart, but he gets really dumb fast when he's infatuated with a woman. Problem is, he doesn't let them get close enough to use that against him. That, or he just goes for the type that he would never care for on a personal level. Anyway, enough of the touchy-feely bullshit. We've both got business to take care of. You're going to need to encourage him to do something stupid, Opal. If you can get him to like you, maybe even trust you, believe that you're a good girl who just wants to play at being bad, that might be a way in. He could trust you then. I know he would."
"Look, Carl, sneaking around like a criminal was bad enough, and I did try to get him to do something illegal, to a degree. What you're talking about is on a whole other level. I'm not sure I'm comfortable manipulating someone like that."
"I don't believe you. I think you enjoyed it. Why else would you have left his building this morning wearing the same clothes you had on last night? Boyd is a terrible person. Any self-respecting woman should be proud to have a hand in taking him down. If you only knew the way he used women for his own pleasure, and how he uses his parents' money to walk all over everyone he meets. He's a bad guy, Opal. You'd be doing a noble thing … even if your methods are not quite noble." He nearly sneered at that, like he was getting his jollies thinking about Opal getting fucked for his little plan. Shit, he almost definitely was. "Also, there is the whole matter of your mother. I could take care of her expenses, take a little pressure off you financially."
"I want you to pay up all her expenses for the next six months, as well as my rent and utilities. That's in addition to our agreed price. This is some serious shit you're asking for, and I'm not helping another day unless you make good on what I want."
"You're not as spineless as I might have assumed, Ms. Wright. It's a deal."