Heath doesn’t laugh.
“Yes.”
Josh carries on with the tomfoolery regardless.
“They pay me pretty well.”
“I don’t give a fuck. I’d pay you better.”
“In that case, I’d take you over them regardless. Pay rise!” Josh rubs his hands together.
I could thump him in the ribs for evading the question like that, because that’s not what I was asking, and he knows it. He knows what I wanted to hear – even if curiosity does kill the cat.
Josh’s turn next. I see the dark humour in his eyes as they land on mine.
“Tit for tat. Ella, would you rather give up your entire client base, or give up Heath?”
Shit.
It’s not as easy a question as I figured it would be.
Instinct has my mind whirring through all of the clients I’ve formed dirty bonds with since taking up my position at the Agency. FromDaddyto the masked CNC freak who chases me through cowsheds, to the utterly crazy savagery of the Agencyfoundersand the blissful subspace that comes from their insane rounds of sadism…
Mr Monthly and our messy fun whenever I’m on my period. My roleplay clients… the incredible humiliation scenes where I get to be a trashy piece of meat for hours on end and love it.
The thought of giving up all of that gives me a thump in the guts far harder than the thump in the ribs I wanted to give Josh. And I get it. From the intensity in his eyes, I get it.
He felt the same way… it’s not an easy call.
So, I use the same fucking copout he did.
I turn to Heath with a beaming smile.
“Would you outbid the rest of my clients if it came to it,Heathy baby? Or is that privilege reserved for Josh?”
“Of course I would,” Heath answers.
“In that case, the answer is obvious. It’s a yes from me.”
Heath puts a hand on his heart. There is a steely depth to his stare, despite the fact he’s smiling.
“Well, I am flattered. If I gave you a pay rise, you’d opt for my company over any other’s. What a beautiful thing to hear. Such adoration.”
He laughs, but he’s not being genuine. He’s as fake as we are.
Alarm bells go off in my head, because as proposals go, we’re failing bad at this one. This isn’t college humour and games, this is… personal.
“You should be flattered,” Josh says. “I have some incredible clients I’d have to give up.”
“Ditto,” I say, but Heath brushes it aside.
“I’m sure you do, and good job this is awould you ratherrather than awill you have to. I’m happy to share.”
Is he, though? Really?
“Strip poker time!” I say. “Come on, I want to see you two with your cocks out. I’m too horny for much morewould you rather.”
The guys buy into it, and Heath takes out a poker set from a drawer underneath the coffee table. I breathe a sigh of relief as he sets us up, and I paste on a smile – happy to be back in the familiar turf of performing and nudity.
