Page 24 of Payback

Charlotte twisted around on the bed and positioned herself on her hands and knees, the back of her pleated gray skirt facing the camera. She flipped up the garment, revealing a skimpy thong, its white crotch already wet with arousal. I shook my head. For all that talk of Rudolph being disgusting, she was certainly enjoying herself now.

“Very good,” he said, voice breathy. “Now give yourself a hard spanking.”

I stepped away from the screen and stared at Henry. The corner of his mouth curled into a smile, and I smiled back. This was ridiculous. Watching two of my worst enemies have Skype-sex. In all the fuss about Charlotte, we hadn’t had a chance to have our heart-to-heart.

Ignoring the sounds of slapping, Charlotte’s fake whoops of pain, and Rudolph’s excited words of encouragement, I laced my fingers with Henry’s. The arousal I had felt earlier after the restaurant receded to the back of my mind, dampened by the activities in the room.

“Good girl,” said Rudolph. “Now, sit down.”

Rudolph’s voice broke me out of my Henry-induced stupor, and my gaze snapped to the screen. I blinked several times to focus my eyes, not quite believing what I was seeing. Rudolph had somehow zoomed out his webcam, so it showed him sitting on the leather armchair of a hotel room, naked and with his legs akimbo. His withered right hand pumped an angry red penis that stretched like elastic with each movement. It was probably still flaccid while he waited for the help of Viagra.

“Will you help me with my woes?” Charlotte crooned.

“That depends entirely on you, my dear.” Rudolph frowned down at his unresponsive member.

Charlotte leaned into the camera and fluttered her lashes. “What do you mean?”

“If you please me on camera, I will consider your request.”

She made an exaggerated pout. “What shall I do?”

“Those big jugs straining through your blouse, the ones with the thick, juicy nipples… I want to see them.”

Charlotte unbuttoned her shirt, and I twisted my fingers, indicating for Henry to turn his head. He turned his back to Charlotte, who now sat on the bed with her shirt undone. Her enormous boobs bulged out of a skimpy, red bra that barely covered her nipples. I winced, wondering if she suffered from back strain.

“Pull out those udders,” said Rudolph, his voice hoarse. “I want to see you suck on them.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to ignore Charlotte’s slurping sounds and the urgent pounding of Rudolph’s fist hitting his groin.

For the next few minutes, we stood with our backs to Charlotte, staring into the opposite wall. Wet sounds of her dildo sliding in and out of her core filled my eardrums, as did Rudolph’s grunts and groans. The slimy tendrils of disgust warred with the warm fires of triumph. With this video, we could humiliate Rudolph and ruin his reputation. Mom would get a chance to divorce him on the grounds of infidelity, and we’d be free of the psychopath.

Charlotte made loud porn-star cries as she reached what I suspected was a fake climax, and Henry wrapped his hand around mine and squeezed. I glanced up into his scrunched features. He probably thought this was as ghastly as I did.

Rudolph made a strange gurgle in the back of his throat then let out a noisy gasp. “Good girl. I will be in touch with your next assignment.”

“Wait,” said Charlotte. “I thought you would finance Father’s legal defense if I did this.”

“It’s a start. Standby for further instructions, my dear.” Skype made a hanging up sound, indicating the end of the video call.

“Did you get the recording?” Charlotte asked through clenched teeth.

“One second.” Skipping my eyes over the figure on the screen, I minimized Skype and double-clicked Stealth. The video I had recorded popped up. “Yes. I’ve got it.”

“Send me a copy,” she snapped. “And turn around while I get changed.”

I hadn’t been looking at her, anyway. Tiny sniffles filled the air. It was hard to tell if Charlotte was genuinely upset or making the noises to garner Henry’s sympathy.

Part of me felt responsible for her predicament. If I hadn’t sent the Correspondent a recording of Alice telling me about her brother’s gambling problems, they wouldn’t have published a damning exposé on her family. And Charlotte’s father’s secretary might not have decided to blow the whistle on his embezzlement.

I blew out a long breath. It was too late for self-blame. Charlotte had hurt me with the doctored shampoo, the gauntlet, and other pranks, and I’d acted in revenge. Then she and Rudolph had conspired to get me abducted by Mr. Carbuncle. I would say she had gotten retribution.

It took a while for Charlotte to put on her clothes. Henry stood as still as death, still staring at the opposite wall, while I walked to the window and inhaled lungfuls of fresh air. Rudolph was stringing Charlotte along. He had given her just enough to carry out the tasks he wanted while dangling the carrot of paying her family’s legal fees.

“Are you decent, yet?” I asked.

“Henry,” she said. “Did you see me?”

“No,” he replied.