Demons at the Door

Look. But don't touch.

"Hmm."

My fingers dig into the hard brush as I scrub vigorously at the stone on the fireplace. My stomach is in knots as my ears register the rustling paper and the soft groans coming from the other side of the room. 

Grantley was getting too fresh behind that paper and doesn't think I know... 

From the moment I arrived this morning, he had a wicked gleam in his eye, as if he knew a dirty secret that I didn't know. His leering gaze and weird little actions had me on edge all morning as I cleaned his home thoroughly. 

He has made my job hard today, from purposely spilling and dropping things, to making me get on my hands and knees to scrub a fireplace. All so that he could look at my ass whilst he got up to no good with himself.

Perhaps it was a fetish of his, a cleaner or maybe it was the risk of being caught?

All I know is that it creeps me the hell out and I am going to the office after this to get his ass removed from my client list. Once and for all. 

"Put a little force into it." He says making me growl and scrub even harder, wishing it was his face against this stone and not a brush. 

I sit back briefly to wash out the brush before leaning back over and going back to it. Determined to finish this task so I could go. 

"Oooh." He sighs making a bit of sick crawl up my throat. 

I gulp hard and promise myself that we will make it out of here without being sick, because if I am sick, I have to stay even longer and nobody wants that. 

Well maybe Grantley does...

A few minutes later, he lets out a final moan, a final hard puff and soon the paper is rustling, he is clearing up and then tries to make out he read a really interesting article on climate change.
I feel like a whore when he informs me that he has added a little extra to my wages this week, when I am leaving.

****

By the time I get to the office, the cuts in my fingers register and I spend the next 10 minutes cleaning my hands before using a strip of band aids to cover up the wounds.  I make casual conversation with my colleagues, catching up on bits of gossip and telling them all about Grantley and his perverted ways. They all agree with me that something needs to be done about him. 

I continued my chats with them whilst Rachel was on the phone, and when she put it down, I made a bee line for her office. Walking in  I find her typing away,  so I pounce.

"I want to stop going to Grantley's." I tell her.

Her long fingers pause on the keyboard, I know I've stopped her mid thought but if I didn't get it out in the open, the chances are that I wouldn't and come a few days time, I'll be back in the same situation.. With Grantley and his damn paper.  Rachel looks at me before she folds her fingers together. "Why?"

"What he is doing is disgusting and I will not let myself be subjected to it. I felt like a whore leaving there today." I tell her. 

Rachel cocks her head "And what was he doing?"

"Jacking off to my backside behind his paper as he made me scrub his fireplace. Look at my fingers!" I lift up my hands to show her the band aids. 

"Grantley is harmless-"

"He is a predator. He set that up today and thinks I am too stupid to notice. But you know what, I'm not and he can hardly read a paper when it is upside down! You know, he has given me a tip for it? For being a pervert.  Did I tell you that?"

"I have seen that the payment is different." She says glancing to her screen quickly as if she can see it on her screen. 

"Because he was being a pervert! It's so gross. I'm sorry Rachel, I've put up with it for long enough. The guy is a total creep!"

"Riley." Rachel frowns.

"I'm not going back. I'm sorry. But I refuse. Call me unprofessional, but I will not go back." I tell her, folding my arms.

"You've said that about Zak.."

"That was different."

"How so?" She pushes.

"He wasn't jacking off behind a newspaper for one."

"And what am I suppose to do with Grantley? He is a paying customer, he pays well. Am I suppose to just refuse his custom?" She asks.

"I don't know. Give him a warning? If he doesn't listen then tell him that we are no longer able to cater to his needs. You are a manageress to a cleaning company, not a pimp." 

She looks less than impressed with me, but I stand firm on my decision until she eventually agrees to look into it. I'm sitting opposite her as I fill out my timesheets when she speaks again.
"Zak called yesterday. Said you returned to clean his home?" She questions.

I smile instantly remembering the state of him and Gracie. "Yeah, I have."

"Good. However, from what has occurred between the pair of you, I think it is only fair that I remind you about the company policy and that you need to remain professional at all times." She says looking at me with slightly raised brows. 

"I know."

"It will be considered an abuse of power and violation of trust in the company. I do not want any bad feedback through workers who cannot learn to keep their lives separate from their work lives. I know I don't need to really tell you this, Riley. But I think there is a muddled path between yours and Zak's. Stay on the professional one."

I listen to Rachel's warning and nod instantly. I'm not sure if Zak has said something to her when he called her, or maybe it was my smile, but she smells a rat and like an exterminator, she has come in to kill it. Hard.

My need for this job hits home hard, without it I can't afford my apartment, I can't look after or feed myself and I can't help Avery when she needs it, so I heed her warning and tuck tail, surrendering to the master. 

It's just my luck that Rachel comes in with this, especially after my high yesterday when I left Zak's. Nothing was going to bring me down... I said nothing, but Rachel did just that.

Now I was floating back down to Earth with a realisation that no matter what, I can look but I can't touch. Ever.

**********************************

Authors Note. ( You can skip this if you want.) 

How are we all?

I hope you are all enjoying this story. It's jumped from #300 in ghost to #57! You guys did that! This is the first authors note I've done for this story and it's just to get feedback. Do you like it? What do you love? What do you hate? What do you think is gonna happen in the future? I've got a lot of curveballs coming up!

Happy reading my book worms!