Chapter 33

"Are you pissed off at him?" Aura eyed Rufus Shinra the moment the office door closed after Reno. The man's pale blue eyes met hers.

"What gives you that impression?" he asked mildly.

Aura raised an eyebrow and just gestured at the door.

"Just reminding him who is in charge."

"I think he knows that, yo." She set the open tub of ointment on Rufus' desk and looked at him. He began unbuttoning his shirt and Aura glanced back at the door, realising that she was alone with him in here now.

"You don't need to fear me. I told you that." He took the shirt off and lay it across the back of his chair. "Unless you ask me to, I'll not touch you."

"And I told you that wont happen." She retorted, unwrapping the soiled bandage from around his arm. The crooked grin he gave her didn't escape her notice.

"I wouldn't think so." He said softly, "now you've got your hands full of Reno…"

Aura couldn't help staring at him. "…what?" she muttered, continuing to unwrap the bandage.

"I am curious…" He leaned his head back against his chair as he looked up at her working on him. "as to who the better fuck is…"

"You can't be serious." She put the bandage in the bin beside his desk.

"I know Reno is a good fuck." He smirked at her again, "But, I know that I am as well."

Aura shook her head, her eyes focused on her work. "And just how do you know that Reno is a good fuck?" she asked, and when he didn't answer her she looked at him to see that smirk still firmly in place. "Really?" she asked, a little surprised.

"He is so very pretty." Rufus said mildly. Aura just went back to her task, cleaning his arm and shoulder before applying the ointment. She didn't know why she was surprised that Reno would have gone there, but she supposed that she probably hadn't really considered it. "So?" the man asked, "Who is better?"

"Isn't there someone else you can ask?"

"I'm asking you."

"You wont like my answer."

"Why's that?"

"I didn't want you." She said sharply, glancing up to glare at him. He looked away after only a moment.

"Ah…" He watched her smear ointment over him. "Well, I suppose you would be biased anyway."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Maybe I could give him a few pointers…" Rufus said mildly, "Maybe we could compare notes… I wonder if he noticed that little hitch in your breathing…" Aura snarled and Rufus blinked at her. "Wasn't he good enough to cause that?"

"That ain't your business." She said, picking up a clean bandage to go over the ointment. She started at his wrist, and began winding the bandage around his arm.

"I was better, wasn't I?" he smirked, "Even though it didn't go for long and you didn't do anything…" Rufus's hand came to rest on her hip and Aura froze.

"You said you wouldn't touch me."

"Did you think the words were literal?" he asked, amusement clear in his voice. "I meant I wouldn't fuck you. Not that I would avoid all physical contact. You're touching me right now."

"This is my job." She said, tying off the bandage.

"And I'm your boss." He replied, his hand now closing around one of Aura's wrists to prevent her pulling away from him. "Tell me I was better."

"No." she said, yanking her wrist from his grip. "You weren't."

All amusement and good humour died in Rufus Shinra's eyes as he looked at Aura. Slowly, he got to his feet and she shrunk away from him, back against the desk. As he had done before, Rufus leaned toward her, a hand coming down onto the smooth surface of the desk either side of Aura, effectively trapping her there. "Do I need to refresh your memory?" his voice was low and scary and Aura began to panic.

"No… You said you wouldn't…"

He tilted his head, considering. "That would really piss Reno off, wouldn't it… I bet it just eats at him inside, knowing that I got there first."

"I doubt he thinks about it at all." Aura replied, desperate to make this whole situation stop. Rufus just laughed.

"He would." He said, his eyes looking her over. "He can fuck you all he wants…" he purred, "As hard, as thoroughly, as creatively as he wants in whatever way he wants… but I will have always been your first." One of his hands came up to roughly take hold of her chin, making her look at him. "He can't fuck that out of you."

Aura stared at him, trying to keep her face neutral as tears stung her eyes. "You're a prick." She choked out after a moment.

"I know." He released her and stood straighter. Aura's eyes fell immediately to her own hands, twisting in her lap.

"You push him too far and you'll lose him." She said softly.

"If I can push him too far," Rufus replied, "then I don't have him."

"I don't understand what you're trying to do."

Rufus smirked and sank back into his chair as he looked at Aura. "I will maintain control." He told her, an odd gleam to his eyes. "Of what I have left… I will maintain control."

"Sad little king of a sad little hill…" Aura couldn't keep the mocking tone out of her voice and Rufus was on his feet again in an instant, one of his hands again seizing her face and holding her still as he brought his own face within inches of hers.

"Nobody talks to me like you do." He snarled. Aura pushed at him.

"Get off me."

He grabbed her by the throat instead and she kicked at him. He dragged her off his desk by her throat and pulled her around pushing her down into his chair.

"You wouldn't understand." He snapped. "You've never had the responsibility I have. You have no idea how hard it is to always think of everything and be responsible for everybody. All the time."

"That is not an excuse." Aura said, massaging her throat when he'd released her.

"I need people I can trust."

"Then don't hurt them."

Rufus laughed softly, sitting himself on his desk as he looked down at her. "You may win love and loyalty by being a sweet little innocent virgin, Aura… but that isn't how it works for me."

"Have you tried it?" she asked drily.

"I require unquestioning obedience."

"Why does that necessitate cruelty?"

"It doesn't always." He replied, "But it does require control."

"You want them to feel like your property…"

"They more or less are." He said simply. "Loyal to me and to each other."

"And you hate that Reno kept me a secret…"

"Yes, I do." He breathed, his pale eyes locked on every movement she made. "You… make him think that he's free. You make him think there's more than ShinRa and his obligations to me. You make him think he can have something else." He tilted his head, "He can only have what I allow him to have." Rufus leaned toward her, his hands on the armrests of the chair. "That is why I fucked you, Aura." He told her, "To remind him that he can only have the leftovers I allow him to have."

"And you didn't give a shit about me…"

"No…" he agreed, "I'm sorry for any anguish you suffered, and I did try not to hurt you… but you were a means to an end and keeping Reno in line was worth it."

"And how are you keeping him in line now?" she asked, "It's not as if you can deflower his virgin again…"

"He loves you." Rufus said with a shrug, "That makes him vulnerable to anyone who knows it."

"Does it?" her voice was flat and unimpressed.

"I told him very simply." He said gently, "You are safe as long as he behaves…" Rufus raised an eyebrow at her. "If he doesn't, he knows what will happen… to you."

"You'll what?" she asked, "Fuck me again? Kill me?"

"First one, then the other…" he agreed.

Aura swallowed, unable to look at him. She kept her eyes on the polished wood of the desk. "So when you say that you wont touch me unless I ask you to… that's bullshit?"

"Not if Reno behaves."

"Well, he's always been so good at that." Aura replied sarcastically.

Rufus lifted her face to look at him with two cool fingers beneath her chin. "Perhaps you should do whatever you can to keep him placated. Wouldn't want him hearing things that may set him off…"

"What…?"

"Think about what he might do if he thought I had broken my word to not touch you…" he said, his fingers moving across her cheek and down her throat to her shoulder. Aura shuddered. He was right. Reno would lose it. "It's probably best…" the man continued, pushing her hair back over her shoulder, "if he's unaware of certain facts… for his own good and yours."

"I thought you didn't like secrets." She said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Oh, I don't like secrets being kept from me…" Rufus replied, letting her go and sitting back up straight, "But keeping them? That's half my business."

Aura was silent for several minutes while Rufus just looked at her. Eventually, she spoke. "So, what you're saying is even if you do break your promise to Reno… if you do… touch me… I shouldn't tell him?"

"He would… misbehave." Rufus said, sounding entirely unconcerned.

"So… you're saying I have absolutely no protection from you."

The crooked grin he'd worn earlier returned. "You don't need it." He told her, "I'm a great fuck."

"And what if I just don't come back." She asked, "What if I never come back? I doubt Reno would be opposed to me telling him I didn't want to work for you anymore."

"Then I would lose my hold over him." Rufus said, smiling, "Which means I could no longer trust him… and I would have to take care of that."

Aura knew what that meant. She sought frantically for any way out of this trap Rufus had her in. "I… I…"

"You…" he said, getting to his feet and moving around to pick up his shirt from the back of his chair and put it on, "will show up tomorrow as usual. You will continue to do your job as usual. You will come when I call you and complete any services I require. You will do everything I ask of you, and you won't tell Reno anything I do not wish for him to know."

Aura sat, stunned. "What… services…?"

"Whatever I require."

"I'm not a whore." She said sharply.

"Oh, I know that." He replied, "I know exactly what it felt like being the first person inside of you."

"I'll not be a whore." She ground out between clenched teeth.

"I wasn't going to call you one." He finished buttoning his shirt, "Relax, Aura." He said, "I'm not going to call you in here every day to fuck you."

"Good."

He gestured at the tub of ointment on his desk. "Keep doing your job."

Aura got to her feet. "Can I go…?"

"Yes."

She picked her things up and strode for the door. "Remember," he said as she reached for the handle, "Not a word to Reno unless you want him to do something that will get himself killed."