Page 10 of Prospecting

“I’ll be out in a minute,” she said still not looking at him.

***

He waited, put clean sheets on the bed, shifted it to a table. They needed to sit and talk. He was going to put his dick in his pants and keep it there. Something happened to her and it hurt her. He wanted her to share, to tell him.

“You put the bed away,” she said surprised. “I didn’t think you ever did.”

“Depends on the work,” Cade said. “Have a seat, I’ll grab the food.”

She sat on the long bench, curled up in the corner. Cade rounded the corner. Anger ripped at him, she looked small, scared, and shattered. He set a plate of spaghetti in front of her. “My dad’s recipe,” he said. “Dig in.”

“Thanks,” she said. Twirling spaghetti, she ate, said nothing. He finished his food, watched while she ate.

“Tell me about you,” he said. “What did you want to study at school?”

“Business,” she said. “I want to own my own business someday.”

“What kind,” Cade asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t want to work for someone who can suddenly say, we don’t need you anymore.”

“Your dad or your mom,” he asked.

“Both of them,” she said. “They worked for the same company for eighteen years. The owners walked in one day, said they sold it, and all of the employees were fired.”

“Rough,” Cade said.

“It was nearly sixteen months ago,” Sheridan said. “My grandmother left money for my education. She didn’t like my sister. My mom said it was because they were too alike.”

“I didn’t want to go to school because I knew it would be a hardship,” Sheridan said. “But they insisted. I applied, got accepted, the money was paid, and …” She pushed her plate away, frowned.

“Why did you withdraw,” Cade asked. She started to tremble. He held out his hand. She stared at him, considered and moved over to him. Rubbing her back, he waited.

“My sister was involved with a man,” she said. “She’s a couple years older than me. He swept in, swept her off her feet and took her away from us. My mother tried to reassure us she was fine. It happens when couples first get together,” she said.

“It can,” Cade said. “But there was more.”

“While she slept, he took out her fertility block,” Sheridan said. “He got her pregnant and when he found out she was having a girl, he sold her to pay his debt.”

“Bastard,” Cade said anger rippling around his heart.

“She contacted me before he sold her,” she said. “She snuck out and met up with me. She wanted to come home. I helped her get away from him. We went home but he’d made her sign an agreement. He owned her. He owned her child.”

“Shit,” Cade said. “He came and took her back. You and your parents weren’t able to legally stop him.”

“No,” Sheridan said. “He always creeped me out. He would kiss her, touch her but look at me.”

“I’ll kill him,” Cade said wanting to get up and turn his ship back to find the man.

“No,” she said. “We were able to find her. He sold her on the proviso she be sold for at least a certain price.”

“Making sure you and your family couldn’t mortgage your life to get her back,” Cade said.

“It’s a brilliant business strategy,” Sheridan said. “I found out where she was. I convinced the man to let us raise the funds.”

“What did you have to give him,” Cade asked.

“He put my innocence on auction,” Sheridan said.

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