Doppelganger
She pulls out the last curler, she just dyed her hair yesterday so the curler comes out of her hair slightly stained red. Shaking her hair, she let's the ringlets separate until they look natural.
Her client has very specific orders, and he pays enough to make it worth her while.
His kinks aren't the creepiest thing she's ever been asked to do, but they're definitely the most unusual. He didn't even approach her, it was a stiff named Coulson.
"You come highly recommended."
She stares blankly at the walking suit who just sat next to her at the empty bar and considers throwing a drink in his face. No one approaches her without going through her booking agency first, that's why they get 20% of her very exorbitant rates. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Susan."
Her jaw drops. No one had addressed her by her birth name in over a decade, she ran away from home at 12 and hasn't used it since.
"You have 2 brothers, 2 sisters-"
She begins to correct him.
"One you don't know about, she's 5 now. Don't bother asking how I know what I know about you. I know everything. The question is, would you like to take on a new client? We can make it very much worth your while... but you'll need to jump through a few hoops."
"Please tell me you don't mean that literally." Circus fetishists freak her out and her skin has a terrible reaction to clown makeup.
"I mean you'll have to get a security clearance."
She's intrigued. "Am I going to be fucking the president?"
"You'll be working for a man with a higher security clearance than him."
"Why does he need a professional."
He passes a contract to her. "Sign this, it's a not so typical non disclosure agreement. Then we talk."
She reviews for a minute, then signs.
"It's a agent with... special needs."
"He's in a wheelchair?"
"He's in love with his partner."
"Am I supposed to turn him straight?"
The agent laughs, it looks unnatural, like watching cardboard cutout laugh.
"He's plenty straight, that's the problem. You're supposed to help me keep him in line professionally." He slides a picture across the table.
Her jaw drops. "Holy shit." A man and woman are walking, the man is of average height, muscular build, sandy cropped hair military bearing, but the woman... "She looks just like me."
"Except she's a redhead. I'd like you to dye your hair as well, please."
This is completely throwing her for a loop. "Why are you doing this?"
"I'm in charge of their safety. His mental and emotional health are quickly becoming compromised by his feelings for her. I can't separate them as a team, and he needs an outlet before he destroys his partnership by doing something stupid."
"She's an agent too... won't she kill you for setting this up if she finds out?"
"I'm in charge of THEIR safety, mine is secondary."
She notices he did not deny the possibility of physical harm to himself from the woman. "What am I supposed to do, meet him by accident, seduce him? What is on the menu for him?" Some services cost more than others.
"He'll know your profession, and nothing is off the menu, we pay you double your going rates for discretion."
"Deal." She holds out her hand and he shakes it. "Nice doing business with you Agent Coulson."
This time Coulson calls 30 minutes before, telling her to cancel her next appointment and get ready immediately. "There's been an… incident. Your safeword is Green. And just so you know, I'm afraid you're going to need it."
She opens the door and he practically flies in. He looks like a wreck.
"Goddammit Nat how could you."
He hits her. Usually he's gentle, usually he's kind.
"How could you do this to me?"
He is literally shaking with anger. She swallows back the rising fear and remembers her fee... and her safe word.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't good enough!" He takes her wrists in one hand and jerks her arms above her head. "Sorry isn't nearly good enough." The grabs the top of her black nightgown and rips it off her shaking body. The underwear is black as well. Just as requested.
"What can I do to make it up to you?"
That only seems to set him off more, he laughs, it's a harsh, ugly sound. "You want to know what you can do for me, Nat?" He grabs the bra with one rough hand and tears it from her body. "You want to know what you can fucking do to make it up to me?"
He half drags half throws her onto the bed, radiating a level of rage she's never experienced before. "Get on your hands and knees." She obeys, remembering green. "You need to be punished, Tash." He approaches her from behind. "Eyes forward."
She hears the soft sound of his belt being removed. She closes her eyes. She can hear the sound as the belt moves through the air, but is still unprepared for the pain as it lands on her ass.
He brings the belt down again. "I need you to convince me." Again. "I need you to convince me you're sorry." Again. "Say it."
Oh god, something horrible must have happened with his partner, she blurts out. "I'm so sorry." It's the right words, but the wrong reason. He's past hearing anyway, so caught up in his rage.
"Never do that again, Nat." Another blow, with the full strength of his muscular arm. "Never." Another. "Ever." Another. "Again." She wants to howl in pain, she wants to use her safe word, but some part of her knows he needs this and she grits her teeth bearing more pain than she would normally ever allow a client to inflict.
"I'm sorry." She's sobbing the words now. "I won't do it again."
She hears the zipper being lowered, fingers trace the welts across her ass trailing up till they encircle her waist. Without warning he shoves himself fully inside her. "Liar." She shrieks in pain and shock. "So many lies from those beautiful fucking lips... But not to me, don't you dare lie to me." His fingers bite into her waist and he slams into brutally. She tries to pull away and he sneers at her efforts. "Not getting away from me tonight, Tash." The rough words are punctuated with punishing strokes. "Tell me."
"I'm sorry."
The next spank is delivered with his bare hand. "Tell me."
"I'm sorry."
The next smack is harder. "TELL ME!" the hoarse yell is both a plea and a command.
"I love you." She screams the words. She's never said them to a client before, it's one of her rules, but he needs this, somehow she knows that this is what he needs from her. More than sex, more than punishment, he needs to hear those word from her lips... no, he needs to hear those words from his partner's lips.
His thrusts lose any semblance of control and he empties into her, bellowing like a wounded animal.
They lie side by side and she pretends not to notice the tears that fall silently down his cheeks. It's unnatural watching someone cry without making a sound.
Minutes pass, the tears stop, he gets up and retrieves his clothing. "I'm sorry."
She's shocked as she realizes that he's talking to her, HER. He's not pretending she's his partner for the first time.
"It goes with the job." She smiles, offering absolution. "You going to be okay?"
He laughs and is still a wounded, but not ugly sound. "Probably not."
"You look like you've lost your best friend. What happened?"
"I may have... lost my best friend. I don't know." He throws on his jacket. "One thing I do know, I can't do this anymore. Not to you, not to me, not to her."
She smiles, she's known this for a while, it's been good money, and he's definitely not bad to look at, but she's known the feelings this man has for his partner can't be contained by a fantasy. She reaches up and kisses him lightly, chastely, he smiles back.
"Goodbye."
Finis
Authors note:
Did she get hurt? Did she sleep with someone else? Perhaps this is a lost chapter from the shattered universe? - I'd love to know what you thought Clint was so wrecked over.
So this is a little brainworm that needed to come out a few weeks ago after I drove home from work. It also distracted me from the fact that I had 3 unpublished chapters of shattered that were sitting there silently begging me to finish a cohesive storyline...