fredbassett

Title : All That Matters
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 18
Characters : Caroline/Leek
Disclaimer : Not mine, no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Word Count : 3,796
Warning : Some elements of dubious consent.
Summary : Written for the primeval_denial challenge:team fest from a prompt by reggietate, How did Caroline hook up with Leek, and why?

Caroline put the finishing touches to her make-up and stared around her bedroom, checking that everything personal was safely hidden from view. This was to be her third meeting with Oliver Leek, but it was the first time he’d insisted on coming to her home. She might not have a university education, but it didn’t take a genius to know what that change signified.

She’d done the same thing in her small living room, leaving no visible trace of anything important to her. Leek had no doubt checked her out before he’d recruited her for his pathetic little attempt at spying, but she still didn’t want him getting his greasy hands on anything she cared about.

The sound of a car being parked outside the flat drew her to the window.

He stepped out onto the pavement and glanced up. Caroline plastered a smile on her face and ignored the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She pressed the button on the entry system to open the outside door and waited for him at the top of the stairs, thankful that Mrs Steadman from downstairs was out doing her weekly shop.

“How nice to see you again, my dear,” he smarmed, talking to her breasts in his usual way.

She smiled and held the door open for him. “Would you like a coffee, Oliver?”

“That would be lovely.” He followed her into the tiny kitchen and watched while she made drinks for them both, probably making sure she didn’t spit in his, which she would have done, given half a chance.

Coffee mug in hand, he walked back into her living room and, after brushing imaginary food crumbs onto the floor with his hand, sat down on the sofa. She’d vacuumed the entire flat only an hour ago and knew full well there had been nothing there to remove. Caroline seethed, but dredged up another smile from somewhere and sat down opposite him, putting her own mug down on a mat on the glass-topped table. Her flat was immaculate and Leek knew it, but as ever, he was trying to throw her off balance.

“Well, do you have anything for me?” he demanded, having clearly exhausted his quota of social niceties for the day.

“I’m sure I won’t disappoint you, Oliver.” She kept her voice light but it was a strain. A week of pretending to be interested in Connor Temple’s babble wasn’t exactly her idea of a good time and she wasn’t actually very confident that she had found out very much of any use, but as Leek hadn’t been specific about what he wanted to know, she felt very much like she’d been working blind. And for all the fact that he never bloody stopped talking, Connor Temple was remarkably close-lipped about what he actually got up to all day with the irritatingly supercilious bottle-blonde he shared a flat with.

Leek drew a white envelope out of his inside jacket pocket and placed it on the table. The arrangement they’d entered into was that he would pay her £1,000 up front for each week she worked for him, plus a £500 bonus on delivery of any useful information. So the envelope should contain another £500. Money she desperately needed. She also hoped he had another envelope to cover a second week’s work. As if he’d been reading her mind, Leek pulled another envelope out of his pocket and started to toy with it. It obviously contained more cash.

“Well?” he repeated, thin eyebrows raised in enquiry.

Caroline picked up a notebook from the coffee table. She’d recorded every conversation with Connor that had even touched on what he did for a living in great detail. He claimed to be a part-time student – she hesitated to use the word mature in his context – and also to do some work on the side as programmer for a company designing computer games, as well as helping them to fix general IT issues when they cropped up. She knew perfectly well he was lying, but had played along with him, just as she’d been instructed. She’d also made a note of every time their evenings together had been interrupted by some mysterious – and clearly fabricated – summons to deal with an unspecified problem in the office.

“Their systems certainly go down a lot where he works,” she commented as he read through her notes, drawing his attention to something she thought he might be interested in. Her theory was that Leek worked for a rival firm and was involved in some sort of industrial espionage. “Connor’s always getting called out at odd times.”

“Tell me about Maitland’s flat,” Leek demanded, tucking the notebook into his pocket.

“She must spend a fortune on electricity,” Caroline commented. “And you don’t afford a place like that by just being a zoo assistant. The other thing I don’t understand is why she’s always dashing off as well whenever he has to go out.”

“The flat, my dear,” Leek prompted, still playing with the envelope in his hands, while casting meaningful glances at the one lying on the table.

Caroline described the interior of the light, airy flat, something she was deeply envious of. It made her own home look pokey by comparison and she resented that. On top of that, there wasn’t much love lost between her and the other woman. Abby Maitland clearly disliked her and gave the strong impression that she considered Connor to be her personal property, which was a bit rich considering she never seemed to show any interest in him, even though he clearly adored her. So they hadn’t exactly got to the stage of sharing girl-talk over a glass of wine yet and probably never would. But in the interests of keeping Leek firmly on the hook, she glossed over that and started telling him about Abby’s collection of exotic pets, just for something to say.

“A flying lizard?” To her relief, Leek finally exhibited the first sign of interest in what she was saying to him. “What sort of flying lizard?”

“She calls it Rex.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t care what its name is. I want photographs.”

She handed him a disk in a paper envelope. “They’re on there.” She didn’t really know why she’d even taken the snaps on her phone when Connor and Abby had both been in the kitchen one evening, but Leek had told her to look out for anything unusual and the lizard was certainly unusual. Abby had said it was something called a Draco Volans – Caroline had nipped to the loo to make a note of the name – a South-East Asian flying lizard, according to Connor, but something in the looks they’d given each other had made her suspicious.

The envelope containing the disk joined the notebook in Leek’s pocket. “Well done, my dear. How very clever of you.” He leaned over and slid the envelope on the table in her direction and then stood up. “I think that’ll be all. You’ll find your bonus in there, as promised. I’m a man of my word. However, I’m not sure there’s enough coming out of this little exercise to justify any further expense.” He tucked the second envelope back into his inside pocket. “I won’t be needing your services any longer, Caroline.

Her heart thumped uncomfortably in her chest. This couldn’t stop now, it just couldn’t, she had to have that extra money, she’d been counting on it…

“I’m sure there’s more I can find out, Oliver,” she said, jumping to her feet. “He’s just starting to open up to me. He’ll tell me more, I know he will.”

“But at what price, my dear?” Leek’s expression was heavily laden with mock-sympathy. “You complained enough about his tongue in your mouth. I’d hate to think of him coming near you with anything… how shall we put it? More… intimate.”

“I can handle him,” she said quickly, regretting her previous complaints. “He’s gagging for it. It won’t take much to make him spill…” The double-meaning inherent in her words brought a blush to her cheeks.

Leek’s smile widened and his eyes lingered lasciviously on her breasts as he commented, “I don’t imagine it would.” His thin face took on a thoughtful expression. “So how far are you prepared to go if necessary?”

“As far as it takes,” she said, regretting her words the minute they’d left her lips.

“Really?” He dropped one hand and skimmed it across the very obvious bulge in the front of his trousers that she’d been trying to ignore since Connor’s fumbling attempts at intimacy at first been mentioned.

She debated telling him that her body wasn’t for sale – at least to that extent – but she knew perfectly well that it would be a lie. She needed the money and anyway, as he’d no doubt take great delight in telling her given they’d already established the principle, it was now just a case of haggling over the price.

“I can help you with that, Oliver,” she said, staring at his groin and making what she hoped was an attempt to sound sultry.

“I imagine you can, but I’m not made of money, you know, and I’ve had very little return on my investment so far.” He patted his pocket to check the notebook and disk were still in place. “I’ll bid you good afternoon. I suspect Mr Temple is actually proving more resistant to your charms that you would like to think.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” she repeated. She took a step forward, unable to keep the pleading tone out of her voice. “Let me prove it to you…”

She couldn’t let him leave now. This arrangement had to continue, at least for another week, and then she’d have enough money. Just another £1,000 was all it would take, the £1,000 that was now in the envelope in his suit pocket. Anything on top of that would be the icing on the cake, but she had to have that second envelope today.

Leek was staring at her breasts again, that was a good start. She reached up and slowly unbuttoned her blouse, slipping it back off her shoulders and letting it fall to the carpet. His face remained expressionless, but she caught sight of the tip of his tongue as he moistened his lips. It reminded her of the flickering tongues of Abby’s horrible snakes. Caroline reached behind her back and unclipped her bra, dropping that onto the floor as well. She had nice breasts, enough men had told her that in the past, and from the look in Oliver Leek’s eyes and the hard-on in his trousers, he thought so, too.

She stepped up to him and slipped her hand in his, drawing it up to her right breast and pressing his fingers against her warm flesh. His palm felt clammy and it was like having a dead fish up against her tit, but Caroline allowed no hint of distaste into her expression. She could do this. She knew she could.

He rubbed his palm against her breast then took her nipple between his finger and thumb and pinched it. She failed to stifle a gasp and his smile widened in response. He let go of her and dropped his hand to his fly.

“I haven’t got all afternoon. Some of us have work to do.” Leek pulled his hard cock out of the confines of his underwear and stared at her meaningfully.

Caroline knew she wasn’t going to get any money in return for delivering nothing more than a hand-job. If she went further, she was taking a risk, there was no doubt in her mind about that. She could easily end up sucking the slimy little creep off and having nothing more to show for it than a mouthful of his come, but it was a risk she would just have to take.

She dropped to her knees on the thin blue carpet and reached up, taking his cock in both hands and pulling back the foreskin to expose the flushed pink head. She hated going down on a bloke at the best of times and she loathed it even more when they were uncircumcised. Caroline closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath and leaned forward, taking him in her mouth and swirling her tongue around the engorged flesh. He stood absolutely still, arms at his sides, giving no sign that she’d done anything worthy of note. The bastard was going to make her work for her money. Over the next five minutes, Caroline employed every trick in her considerable armoury, but Oliver Leek still remained obstinately unmoved by her attentions. Her jaw ached, she felt sick and she hated herself. But nothing she tried seemed to get her any closer to bringing him off.

Caroline looked up at Leek under her long eyelashes. He was staring down at her thoughtfully, his face still expressionless.

“No wonder you aren’t getting anywhere with Temple,” he said smugly. “You’re going to have to try a little harder than that, my dear.”

Blood rushed to Caroline’s cheeks. She was good at this, she bloody well knew she was, but this bastard was good as well. Better than she’d given him credit for, in fact. He’d played her like a fish on a line and he was now reeling her in. But she’d show him…

Caroline bent her head again and started sucking, her cheeks hollowing with the effort, and at the same time she reached up and started stroking his balls through the material of his suit trousers. She knew immediately that she’d made a good move when his breath hitched slightly and his cock twitched. If she hadn’t had a mouthful of Leek’s dick, she would have smiled. She carried on fingering him there while she slid back up his hard shaft and teased at his slit with the tip of her tongue, tasting the bitter pre-come beading at the tip. It looked like she was finally getting somewhere.

Without warning, he gripped her head in both hands and leaned forward, holding her firmly in place as his cock slid over the roof of her mouth towards the back of her throat. She fought a losing battle against her gag reflex, but that only seemed to excite Leek even more. His fingers pressed hard into her skull. She tried to breathe through her nose and relax, horribly conscious of a snail-trail of spittle now leaking out of the side of her mouth. A couple of thrusts like that were clearly enough for him and with a grunt, Leek pulled back slightly as he climaxed, letting his come flood her mouth.

As his cock slipped from between his lips, Leek kept his grip on her head and ordered calmly, “Swallow, Caroline. It isn’t polite to spit.”

Caroline was trembling and her eyes were closed. She couldn’t do this, she just couldn’t. It was like having a mouthful of snot and being expected to swallow it. Disgusting. She felt his fingers carding through her hair and she knew that any attempt to pull away would be a mistake. She swallowed, terrified she was going to start gagging again and throw up. Tears were tracking down her cheeks, probably taking her mascara with them. She swallowed again.

He released his grip with one hand and patted her hair, then tucked himself back into his underwear and pulled up the zip of his trousers. “There, there, my dear, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Leek offered her his hand, smiling as though nothing had happened, as though he hadn’t just fucked her face and filled her mouth with come. She wanted to run to the bathroom and be sick. She wanted to pivot on one foot and kick him in the balls with the other in a move she’d practised often enough at her kick-boxing classes but had never had cause to do in anger. But more than anything, she wanted that damned envelope in his inside pocket. So all she did was accept the hand he was offering to her and let him help her to her feet.

Conscious of the tears on her cheeks and the spittle on her chin, Caroline pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at the mess on her face, being careful not to make the mistake of wiping her mouth. She dredged up a smile from somewhere and said huskily, through a throat that felt raw and tainted, “I’m sorry, Oliver, I’m a little out of practice, but I’ll do better next time.”

He smiled at her and reached up inside his jacket.

Her heart leaped. He was going to give her the money…

“You’ll need to do better than that with Temple, my dear. You wouldn’t want to seem anything less than enthusiastic about his attentions, now would you? You can’t just rely on him popping his cork at the first lick from that sweet little tongue of yours, now can you?”

She shook her head in answer to both questions. She knew perfectly well where this was leading, but she needed that money and she’d already come this far, so it wasn’t as if she had anything left to lose. She looked at him from under her tear-damp eyelashes. “I’ll do anything you want, Oliver. You know you can rely on me for that.”

He reached out and ruffled her hair. “I’ll come round at the same time tomorrow afternoon, my dear. I’m sure by the end of the week you’ll be more than ready to tackle anything that young Mr Temple has to offer…”

“Thank you, Oliver,” she said quietly. “I know I can get what you want out of him. You can trust me, honestly, you can. I’ll make sure you get full value for money…” She hesitated and then added, “In all respects.”

Leek drew the envelope containing the extra cash out of his pocket and held it tantalisingly in front of her. She resisted the urge to snatch it out of his hands and kick shit out of the bastard. If she so much as laid a finger on him, let alone a foot, she knew she’d live to regret it. Something in his eyes had told her right from their first meeting that it would be very unwise indeed to make an enemy out of Oliver.

“You’re a good girl, Caroline. I’m happy to give you a little more time to prove yourself.” He held the envelope out to her and she took it carefully, half-expecting him to snatch it back out of her fingers. “See, I don’t bite,” he chided with mock-gentleness. “And it’s a good job that you don’t, either, but there are aspects of your… technique… that need a little work. I shall see you tomorrow. Until then, maybe it’s time to let Connor get just a little bit closer…” He brushed a hand lightly over her naked breasts, then walked over to the door of her flat. “No need to see me out, my dear.”

And with that, he was gone.

With shaking fingers, Caroline tore the envelope open. It was stuffed with used £20s. She tried to count the notes but couldn’t see through her tears. It was the full £1,000, she was sure of it, the bundle was too thick to be anything else. She’d got the money, she’d got the fucking money!

A wave of sickness crashed over her like the tide breaking against a sea wall. Pausing only to place her hard-earned money carefully on the coffee table with the other envelope, Caroline bolted to the bathroom.

When there was nothing left in her stomach to bring up, Caroline cleaned her teeth, swilled her mouth out with mouthwash, even swallowing some, in spite of what it said on the bottle and then stripped off her clothes. She dumped them all in the laundry basket and took the hottest shower she could stand, scouring her skin hard where Leek’s hands had touched her, but even when she’d finally exhausted her supply of hot water, she still didn’t feel clean. She didn’t actually think she’d ever feel clean again.

Wrapping the largest towel she had around herself, Caroline walked back into her living room and this time managed to count the notes with hands that only shook slightly.

£1,500.

She reached for her mobile phone and selected the number she needed. When the person she wanted to speak to answered, she said brightly, “Hello, it’s Caroline Steel. I’ve got the rest of the money. I’ll bring it round in half an hour… You can do it on Friday? That’s fantastic, thanks. I’ll see you shortly.”

She ended the call and leaned back on the sofa, closing her eyes and finally allowed exhaustion to claim her for a moment. Everything was going to be all right now, she knew it.

* * * * *

Caroline opened the front door with a flourish and manoeuvred the old woman’s wheelchair inside.

The metal rails of the newly-installed stairlift gleamed brightly in a shaft of sunlight. The small hallway smelled of fresh flowers and everything was spick and span. Caroline had spent the morning cleaning the entire house so that everything was ready for her grandmother’s return home.

A bad fall four weeks ago had led to her beloved Nana spending time in hospital and hating every minute of it. Until then, Caroline had believed mixed wards were a thing of the past, but she’d soon been disabused of that notion. Her grandmother, an intensely private woman, had hated every minute of the time she’d been forced to spend there. As nice as the nurses had been, nothing had made up for the fact that she’d been cooped up with other people, some deeply disturbed and clearly unsuited to an open ward. One man had even climbed in bed with her in the middle of the night and left her upset and shaken.

Caroline hadn’t been able to wait for the local authority to process the paperwork for the application for a stairlift: that would have taken a minimum of six weeks and she couldn’t stand to see her grandmother turning into a frightened, frail old woman with every passing sleepless night. With the help of the stairlift, she would now be able to live an independent life in her own home again.

“You’re a good girl, Caroline,” her grandmother said, in a voice filled with pride and love, unconsciously echoing the words Oliver Leek had taken to using on their now-daily encounters.

Caroline fought back her tears. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t. Her Nan was home now and that was all that mattered.