Page 12 of Wild and Bright

His voice grows firm. “I’ll pay you ten grand a month.”

This time, I can’t keep my jaw from dropping. “You can afford that?”

“Of course.” He says it like it’s nothing. “It’ll be for six months, so sixty K total. That should be enough to get you on your feet.”

I huff out an almost hysterical giggle. “Yeah, that should be enough.”

He narrows his eyes, staring at me for a moment with what looks like contemplation. “It’s really not that much money. It might seem like it now, but you’ll want to spend it carefully.”

Somehow, I’m able to keep my eyes from rolling. It’s a sign of how much his life has changed that he doesn’t think sixty K is a lot of money. He can’t even remember what it was like to be an average person.

“Don’t worry about how I spend my money.”

“I’m sorry.” His voice is much softer. “I was just speaking from experience. I thought I struck gold when I made my first sixty K, and it was gone pretty fast.”

When he was still living in New York, he means. When River of Sight was just starting to take off. But that was different. He knew he’d be getting another sixty K soon. He was probably blowing most of it on his Brooklyn apartment. He didn’t have a daughter to take care of.

It wasn’t a life changer for him.

“Well, you weren’t drowning in student-loan debt, so it was different for you.”

He sighs. “You’re right. I don’t know what that’s like. It must be stressful, especially for a single mom.”

Warmth spreads over me, and I hate myself for it. That was hardly a complement to my parenting. And yet, as always, I find myself devouring Cam’s crumbs of validation.

It’s gross.

Steeling myself against it, I narrow my eyes at him. “You still haven’t explained why you want me of all people to do this for you. Why can’t you just find someone to do it for free?”

His eyes grow hesitant. “Hunter said sex would be part of it. He said it was sort of a—I don’t know—a sugar-daddy situation. Would that be the case with me, too?”

My eyes nearly pop out of my skull. “Hunter told you that?”

My question seems to set something off in Cam. “You thought he wouldn’t, huh? You thought he’d keep the secret from me.” He huffs, shaking his head. “But I would have known if you were living with him, even if he hadn’t told me. It’s always been this way with you two. This was bound to happen eventually.”

The accusation in his tone would raise my hackles if I weren’t so bewildered. Why on earth would Hunter have told him that? It doesn’t even make sense, especially if he wanted Cam to go along with our plan without raising an issue. Then again, Hunter did seem pretty fed up with Cam’s behavior lately. Maybe he’s finally reached his limit.

Maybe he wants to fuck with him.

A smile rises to my lips. “We really only agreed on blow jobs.”

Cam’s look of horror makes me want to giggle, but I can’t show my cards yet. With effort, I keep my lips from twitching.

Seeming to compose himself, his expression grows stern. “I would want more than that, and I don’t think that’s unreasonable for ten grand a month. It’s nearly five times what Hunter was willing to pay, and I’m only asking you to go to an occasional party with me. If you’re really okay with this, I want everything.”

The electric heat that shoots into my groin would make me hunch if I weren’t making such an effort to compose myself.

Holy shit.

He really means this. He really wants me to be his sugar baby. Doesn’t he know that I’d have sex with him for free?

Jesus Christ, I’d pay him to have sex with me.

When his gaze narrows on my face, I realize he’s waiting for an answer. And now is my cue to tell him the truth. A mature person, a real adult—the person I’m striving to be—would tell him right now.

But damn it, this is too tempting.

“Why would you do this? Why would you pay me for sex when you could get almost anyone you want for free?” My eyes are drawn to the notch in his chorded neck as it rises and falls.

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