Cell Division
28
Would my plan work?
I watched him, noting his periodic bouts of tired sighing and forehead-rubbing. Despite having taken today and tomorrow off, he was working, just not in the lab. A personal project, perhaps?
My plan had to work.
It felt odd to sit around in pants and nothing else. He hadn’t let me put the shirt back on. My nipples felt entirely sensitive now, and every time he looked at me, at them, I felt I would spontaneously combust. It didn’t help he’d sat me down with Velvet Shame and told me to mark what I thought interesting.
So far, Lady Alandra seemed like a shameless, screwed-up hussy. If she’d dragged her butt into my office with a marriage issue, I’d have committed her.
“Elbows away from my view,” Hojo ordered quietly, his third reminder to the same. I kept holding the book up for a better read and blocking his sight.
I sighed. I couldn’t read like this.
I got up and dragged my chair over to his desk. Instead of putting it across from him, I put it less than two feet from his side. I then plopped down, mindless of my chains until they pulled most pleasingly. There. He couldn’t help but see me now, and I could read without holding the book at arm’s length.
“Improvisation is a sign of a flexible mind,” he murmured.
“Letching is a sign of a dirty one, sir,” I said tonelessly.
“How can such beautiful lips be so dualistic?” he posed.
“I’ve asked myself that question all week,” I said flippantly. “Sir.”
He chuckled.
Even men like to be told they’re beautiful.
I smiled and turned a page.
His door chime sounded. Hojo growled. “What now?” He picked up my shirt. “I could use you to make others insanely jealous,” he muttered. “But, you already inspire that in others.”
I put my shirt on, both relieved to cover myself and disappointed to lose those black eyes upon my breasts. Still, my nipples stood straight out against the soft cotton. The texture made me shiver in pleasure. If I didn’t watch out, Hojo would make a sensualist of me, too.
Knocking, now. Hojo got up. “Yes?” he called out irritably.
“It’s Rufus. I have a matter to discuss with you.” The president’s voice sounded just as irritable as Hojo’s. “I’m alone.”
“I can see that.” Hojo took his eyes away from the door scanner. He operated the panel and stepped back.
“What takes you so long?” Shinra snarled, coming in quickly. “You never used to answer so slowly.”
“I’m busier these days,’ Hojo answered mildly.
Shinra glanced at me. For a moment I felt the weight of his eyes on my breasts. “I imagine,” Shinra said dryly. “Your final word, no sharing?”
“Absolutely not.” Hojo leaned against the wall, his hands behind his back, studying his employer with glittering eyes. “She’d rip you apart anyway, Rufus.”
“She wouldn’t if you gave me mako, too.”
“I refuse to give the most powerful man on the planet anymore power,” Hojo shot back.
Looking almost mollified, Shinra smirked. “Good to hear you say it. I guess I got the title after your son died?”
“Sephiroth will return, I have confidence, so don’t get comfortable.”
I felt my eyes widening. General Sephiroth, enemy of the planet and the focus of the Jenova Project, was Hojo’s son? I looked at him, suddenly startled by the resemblance. Why hadn’t I seen it? Those cheekbones, that nose, even the lips…
“We’ve yet to get information from Still,” Shinra said. “I’ve brought him to you. Looks like we need your skills after all.” He grimaced. “I don’t particularly want to see it.”
“Yet, you will,” Hojo replied, his face thoughtful.
“It’s my duty to hear what he says.”
Hojo tapped his finger against his lips. “That’s one thing I’ve always admired about you, Mr. President,” he said quietly. “You will face the unpleasant. Your father didn’t have the same sort of dedication.”
Now Shinra looked pleased. I supposed he got tired of comparisons to his father, but to hear he was better than the elder Shinra probably soothed. And, Hojo didn’t hand out compliments easily.
Except to me. Come to think of it.
Shinra glanced at me again. “What are you reading?”
I looked at Hojo for approval. We hadn’t discussed the true, domineering aspects of master and slave in this aspect, but a sub usually sought permission for nearly everything, apparently. This book suggested such.
“You can answer him if you wish,” Hojo said.
“Velvet Shame,” I said, holding up the book. The devil-tenant in my head cackled and urged me to play. “It’s about bondage, domination, that sort of thing. The master assigns homework.”
Shinra swallowed hard. “I see,” he murmured. “Are you…enjoying it?” he asked, managing to sound polite.
“It’s very interesting,” I half-lied. “Though, I haven’t discovered any toys similar to my master’s.”
Behind Shinra, Hojo bit his lip. Black eyes amused, he leaned back.
“And, the male dom isn’t interested in having his flesh ripped open, unlike my master.”
Shinra’s eyes grew very large. Hojo bent his head to hide his smile.
“But, I’m less than a quarter way through the novel, so perhaps I’ll be pleasantly surprised,” I went on. “There is, at least, an accurate representation of blood play. I found the golden showers rather dull, but the master assured me he likes to piss on men instead.”
Hojo couldn’t hold it back any longer. Giving a great bark of a laugh, he leaned his head back on the wall.
“Would you like to read it when we’re through?” I enquired facetiously. “I don’t expect it will take longer than a week to copy the actions of the two main characters.”
Shinra nodded slowly. “I’ll…get back to… your master about it,” he promised, looking shell-shocked. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. President.”
“Alright, Miss Grey,” Hojo said. “We’ll let you read, now.”
I obediently put my eyes back to the book, but kept my ears open.
“Where did you put Mr. Still?”
“Your big orderly has him in the containment showers now.” Shinra said in a shaky voice. I risked a look upward, seeing the mogul eyeing Hojo in a half-frightened, half-attracted but entirely respectful way. “If you can do as much with him as you’ve obviously done with…Miss Grey, we’ll have answers quickly.”
“I won’t be fucking Mr. Still,” Hojo said. “We’ll see. Come in the morning for observation, say around nine? Don’t eat breakfast.”
“I hadn’t intended to eat before watching you play.” Shinra turned for the door. “I threw up the last time.” He paused as the door slid open for him. “What did you poison me with and what was the antidote?”
“I’m afraid that’s a trade secret.” Hojo pushed him out. “Good night, Mr. President.”
The moment the door shut, Hojo leaned his head on it and began to laugh. “Oh, my dear,” he said after a moment. “Delightfully, subtly vicious. Bravo.”
“Thank you, sir,” I replied. “I would have flashed him, but I couldn’t work it into the conversation.”
Hojo chuckled a little more and wiped the corners of his eyes. “Ah, a vindictive woman stirs my soul. My pants too, actually.”
“Your cock, you mean,” I said.
“Ah, semantics.” Hojo came to me and yanked the book out of my hands. “The master assigns homework, indeed, Victoria.” His smiled radiated pleasure. “I told you to mark what you thought interesting, not craze and crush Rufus.”
“You enjoyed it.”
“Of course I did.” Hojo flipped through the book. “You aren’t underlining?”
“I don’t treat books that way.”
“This isn’t a book; it’s a bundle of neurosis and kink delivered in a recognizable format.”
“Ah, semantics,” I replied, copying him.
He laughed shortly. “You are a handful.”
“I’m a double-handful, according to you.”
“And, delightful,” he added. He looked at his watch. “It’s bedtime.”
“Are we sleeping together?” I rather hoped we were. I wanted to feel him in bed with me, to smell him up close.
He looked at me. “You want me to,” he murmured softly.
“Yes, I do.” I wanted him to get so used my presence in his life that he’d stop separating our values. I felt determined to make him as dependant as I found myself becoming.
Hojo gave me a strange, wistful little smile. “Then, I will,” he said.