Page 25 of Collin: Episodes 1-3
“You want me to submit to you. Like Damian.”
“Yes.”
“Physical things. Sex things. And life things.”
“Yes.”
“How did you even know I existed?”
“I was in the back of the room last August when you delivered your summer research defense on the economics of intra-city aquatic farming. Someone had informed me that there was a student with an idea of adapting some of the old factory buildings in some of the southern neighborhoods into aquatic fish and lettuce farming with solar power. Your numbers were good. The political will isn’t quite there to make it happen. But that could possibly be changed.”
“That was over a year ago, last August.”
“Yes. I put your name down on my list of interesting people, but I didn’t have room in my schedule at the time to take on your idea. And you still needed to graduate. I put a note in my calendar to reach out to you three months before your graduation date.”
“What changed?”
“You parked my car three months ago during an event at the hotel, the bank party. You looked sick, but you were professional and you handled the mess with the lady’s handbag with decorum.”
“I was sick. And she was just a little confused and stressed.”
“Not everyone saw that. But you did. I had one of my people check to see if you were still enrolled. You were, and you were working too many hours. A quick call to the person who invited me to see your talk confirmed that they were concerned about you. So I went down to the bar where you work, and I watched you.”
“And I didn’t notice?”
“I can be unnoticeable when I want to be.”
“That’s hard to imagine, sir.” Collin flushed. Mr. Reevesworth being unnoticeable was preposterous. But also likely true.
Mr. Reevesworth half laughed and shook his head at Collin. “I liked what I saw. I liked how you worked. And Émeric liked my imagination when I came home each evening. So I had the background checks run. I read your papers for your professors. I read all your social media posts. I called your mother asking for background for a newspaper article for scholarship award winners.”
“You called my mother?”
“Yes.”
Collin swallowed, hard. “That’s…invasive.”
“Yes.”
“I see what you mean by highlighting the difference in our power dynamics. I barely know you. And you’ve already seen me naked.”
“I wanted to know who you were. I look for certain things. Sometimes, after all this, I make a job offer. My companies are filled with people who caught my eye, and found their place in one of my offices, perhaps without ever meeting me. I mentor and look after my people like a gardener. But in a few people, like Damian, like you, I find myself wanting more. And I find myself believing that offering more would be an honest exchange.”
“Damian said it cost him his dignity, his secrets, his time, and the luxury of hiding from his fears and his rage.”
“Damian has a way with words. And he also speaks the truth. I want a dominant-submissive relationship with you. Something of a modern-day, ancient-Greek arrangement between a younger man and an older man.”
“I serve you sexually, and you, what, help me get started in the world?”
“More than that. I shape you into your full potential, and you trust me, and together we use our combined abilities to make you the greatest force for change and good that you can be.”
“And this includes sex and submission, which I don’t fully understand, but I think I get.”
“I want you to live here. You will work the hours I set you; you will have a salary for the hours you work. You will keep that salary. You will finish your degree, though perhaps at a slower rate than you are currently going. I will pay for your medical care because you will be receiving medical care that matches my standards, not what you can afford. You will eat what I tell you to eat, in consultation with a certified nutritionist, at least until you receive a perfect bill of health. You will work out, based on goals you want for yourself and your ideal physique for yourself with my personal trainer. You will wear what I tell you to wear. You will meet the people I deem it important for you to meet. I will give you structure and support.
“And I hope, as the last few days have shown us, that there will be affection. I want access to your body. But you do not have to give it to me. At any time, you can say no.”
“I don’t know how I would be able to say no, sir. Not when you’re offering all that.”
