AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ash sputtered as I drank my coffee. “W-well, I need more than that going forward,” he said quickly. “Come on. You see what I can do.”
“You’re a fumbling newbie,” I said.
“You came so hard on my dick you almost broke it!” he snapped.
I stared at him. Ash’s anger dissolved in seconds. I watched as he shrank in on himself, that fearful look from the night before returning.
“Sorry,” he said quietly. “I didn’t mean it like that or shit, sorry,” he muttered.
I laughed. “Someone is feeling really confident in themself today,” I said, looking him up and down. “Fine, then I’ll ask one more time. How much do you want?”
“A hundred thousand every time we sleep together,” he said quickly, spitting the words out as if he was just trying to get them out before he changed his mind and said nothing instead. “I did the math. I would have to sleep with you fifteen times to clear my debt. And if you wanted a few more times so I could earn some money to live on. I was thinking twenty-five times total,” he said, trailing off as his eyes examined my face. “That’s what I want.”
I laced my fingers together and nodded. “You drive a hard bargain, but I have to admit seeing you stand up for yourself a little is making this worth it. I really worried you were going to act like a kicked puppy for the rest of your time here.” I tilted my head before I stuck out my hand. “Deal. Besides, I might get bored before we get to twenty-five anyway. If I do, I’ll give you five hundred k, we’ll split ways, you can live your life. How does that sound?”
Ash’s eyes lit up as his jaw dropped. “You’ll do that? Really?” He squeezed my hand, pumping it up and down as he nodded so hard I thought his head would pop right off. “Yes, yes, I agree! Thank you!”
“Don’t wet yourself, kid,” I said. “Besides, there’s no telling if this little agreement will even pan out. We have to go see my brother.”
His face fell. “Your brother?”
“Yeah, older brother. Benito. He runs things.”
Ash’s hand fell away from mine. It took everything not to grab it and put it back where it had been, inside of mine. Instead, I raised a brow as a look of disappointment settled over him.
“What?” I asked.
“I thought you were the boss,” he blurted. “Oh my god! I slept with you for nothing?”
As I stared at him, my chest constricted. I rubbed it. “Goddamn. I don’t think anyone’s ever said anything that actually made me this fucking irritated,” I growled. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You some kind of power-hungry slut? We dealt with one of those already, don’t need another one.”
“No, I…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong! I was just saying that if you don’t have the power to keep our agreement, then what was the point of this? I can’t go back to my father. I can’t,” he said quickly, panic settling on his face. “And I don’t want to be on the streets. I’d never survive.”
Ash’s eyes watered, and I looked away from him.Shit. This is exactly the kind of BS I didn’t want to deal with.Growling, I stood up and shoved my plate away.
“Shut up. The deal stands.”
“But your brother might say no,” he stressed.
“You think Benito can tell me what to fucking do?” I asked, jamming my thumb into my chest. “I can do whatever the hell I want. Just fucking get ready to go. We’re gonna be late.”
I stormed out of the kitchen before I gave the kid a good, long, hard shake.How dare he look at me like I’m some little bitch? What? He thinks I have no power against Benito? Like I’m some kind of punk? Why is he irritating me so badly?
As I gathered my keys and wallet, I tried to calm the part of me that wanted to go off the deep end. No one ever got to metoobadly. I was good at keeping people at a distance. But the little fucker had wormed his way under my skin in five seconds flat.
What the hell is going on?
“Giancarlo!” Ash called. “I put your coffee in a to-go mug,” he said, holding it out toward me.” He searched my face. “Seriously, I didn’t mean anything by what I said.”
I held up a hand. “Fuck it. Let’s go.”
As he continued to stare, I turned on my heels and headed for the door. I wasn’t about to tell him that my goddamn feelings were hurt. Why the hell did I care what he thought?
“I slept with you for nothing?”
The words played in my head on repeat as I shoved a cigarette between my teeth and stalked toward my car. Why did I feel like I had been used?
I fucked up.Why did I have to let my mouth run like that? One night away from my father, and already I was messing up. I peeked at Giancarlo from the corner of my eyes. He hadn’t touched the coffee I packed for him, and his grip on the steering wheel was testing just how much the leather could take.
