Page 34 of The Bargain

“Is the whore giving you trouble?” he asked with a small side smile.

I snorted, as I walked to the wet bar. Grabbing a glass, I helped myself to a healthy dose of honey bourbon. “Don’t worry about her, Phil. She’s just a cheap whore of limited intelligence.” I shook my head as I took the seat across from him. “She is no match for us. It's a matter of days.” However, I was starting to suspect it would be the opposite - I was quite reluctantly, starting to think that I may have underestimated her. I’d seen the books she’d picked from the library. She was not an idiot, this woman. I was sure that, given the right circumstances, she could become someone.

“Uh… If you say so.”

“I do.” I gave him a dark scowl.

He nodded.

“Why are you here, anyway? You’re not expected for at least another hour.”

He cocked his head to the side. “I’ve wanted to discuss business with you for a while and you’re never in the office anymore.”

I could not deny that. I hadn’t planned on staying at the estate all this time. I’d planned on going back to Philly at least three times a week, but I’d been only once since I’d brought her back here.

“I work just as well from here.”

“You do,” he confirmed. “But I’m old-school, Dean. I’m fifty this year. I like to be in the same room as my interlocutor, and there are a few strategies I’d like to discuss for the new Mariners contract.”

“Okay, lets go to my office.”

“Helle came to the office again,” he added just as I stood up.

I froze, looking at him warily. Helle was my latest squeeze, a Danish model I’d met a few months ago. She needed a place to stay, so I’ve been letting her use my luxury condo. Given I used her rocking body, it was a fair trade.

But that didn’t make her a whore, did it? Not like the woman upstairs. It was the irony of double standards.

“She caused quite a commotion. I had to take her to my office.”

“What did she want?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “You, it seems. You’ve been avoiding her calls.”

I rolled my eyes. “She’s been calling twice a day, Phil. She’s not my girlfriend. I don'tdogirlfriends. She is my latest steady fuck at best.”

“Yes, a steady fuck that has been unused for three weeks,” he added with a dark chuckle.

His eyes glinted with wickedness. The man was twisted in ways I never wanted to find out.

“I still allow her to stay in the apartment as repayment for letting me use her. Did you know she could do the splits? Just for that, she deserves the place.”

Phil laughed. “I think she wants more, my friend, Your bank accounts, your name, and your dick - probably in that order.”

I nodded. I had a nice dick, bigger than average, and I was a skilled lover, but Phil was right - nothing attracted them more than my fortune and name, the size of my dick be damned.

“I’ll just have my assistant send her a necklace or something. I’ll go to Philly next week. I'll want her by then, but after that, I don’t want her there anymore. Make sure the security team in the building is aware that her dismissal will happen soon. Book her a suite at the Waldorf in New York for a month. It will soon be time for her to find another rich dick to ride.”

“She’s going to go nuclear.”

I shrugged. “She knew what she was signing up for.” They all did, but they never cared. Just the chance of getting a ring on their finger, just the opportunity to change me, was enough to have them agree to anything. If only they knew that they couldn’t change me, that they couldn't have my heart because I had none. That useless organ had stopped functioning twenty-four years ago when I’d walked into the white marble bathroom tainted red.

“I’ll deal with the crazy consequences,” I replied, getting out of my own head and the path my thoughts were taking.

I tried to concentrate on the documents that Phil wanted to discuss, but my mind kept going to Opal and all the horrible things she was probably telling my sister. I was relieved when the butler interrupted the more than usual dull working session.

“Sir, the guests are arriving.”

I nodded, standing up. “Very well, thank you. Please make sure that Mrs. Beaumont and Ms. Collins will be joining us downstairs.”

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