have cut out the extra and just enjoyed my company.
In the same instant that his laughter stopped, his eyes found mine. He studied me, and I did the
same to him. I realized it was the first time his guard had ever been down. I saw the vulnerability, the
sadness and self-doubt. Under all the bat-ish crazy was a human, a beautifully flawed human.
Annoyance took over my mood. I didn’t want to feel anything for him.
“Why didn’t you just offer to pay me?” I blurted out, interrupting our observation of each
other.
He looked confused. “What do you mean, pay you?”
I was confused, too, and I blamed him. A minute before, I was chastising myself for
aggravating our situation. Now I was going take it a step further by asking him a question that I knew
would most likely set him off again.
Maybe I should take a few of his meds, I thought.
“Pay me to fuck you, play house, to do whatever it is you have me here to do. I know your
family is one of the wealthiest families in Florida. Why all this?” I swept my hand around the room.
“This room and this stuff in it, the staff that waits on us, it can’t be cheap. You could have just paid me
to fuck you. It would have been easier and cheaper than this. Shit, it didn’t even have to be a lot of
money.”
By the time I finished my rant, his mouth had fallen open and his face was bright red. Even the
tops of his ears were aflame, and his lips were tightly pressed together in a thin line. A storm brewed
in his eyes. Abruptly, he stood from the bed. He charged at me like a crazed bull. It was becoming a
habit of his.
I should have expected it, but I didn’t. I couldn’t move in time to get away. My back hit the
floor, hard. He landed on top of me, knocking the breath from my lungs. It took a few seconds for it to
return. In that time, he’d managed to grab my wrist and pin them above my head.
His face was so close that I could feel his lips move against mine when he spoke. “You’re a
whore now, Eve? You’re telling me that you would have been willing to sell your body to me, the
same one you haven’t given to anyone in years?” He snarled down at me.
I was tempted to truthfully answer. Yes, I would have taken his money. I would have paid off
some of my student loans and fucked him until he got tired of me. I would have done it without regret,
but the expression on his face told me he wouldn’t like my honesty.
