Bought (His For A Week)

He wasn’t about to explain to his younger sister that he needed to check on a woman he had bought for two hundred thousand US dollars.

“Nothing of concern to you,” he replied.

She sniffed out part of the truth anyway. “Hmm, like a woman?”

“Goodbye, May.”

“Is she someone you’re just banging—”

But he had hung up and walked back inside. Jake was at the bar, making himself a vodka tonic. Ben glanced over at where the women sat around the coffee table.

Kimani was cleaning spaghetti off herself. It looked like the whole pasta bowl had landed on her lap. Her legs were covered in sauce.

“Master, may I get some towels for her?” Claire, a young and slender blond, asked Jake.

“Sure, because you’ve been a good little slut today,” Jake replied, “and I’m such a nice guy.”

Kimani gave him a hard look. Ben wondered if Jake had anything to do with the spilled spaghetti.

“You can use the bathroom in my room to wash up,” Ben told her.

“Maybe one of the other sluts can lick her clean.”

It wasn’t the worst idea Jake had, but Ben wasn’t in the mood for food play. He looked at Kimani. “Go on.”

Claire came back with paper towels, and she and Lisa helped clean the mess on the table so that Kimani could go wash up. Even pasta sauce looked good on her. Ben thought about following Kimani upstairs to clean her himself. Instead, he went over to Jake.

“How did spaghetti end up all over my sub?” Ben asked.

“Want one?” Jake replied after taking a swig of his drink.

“No.” Ben didn’t drink much and had even less desire than usual in present company.

“Her bowl was right on the edge of the table. I accidentally bumped it when I walked by.” Jake turned to Claire. “Isn’t that right, slut?”

Claire nodded her head vigorously.

“Hey, cuz!” Jason called. “Jake’s going to help me become a sports agent.”

Ben turned to his cousin. “I was going to talk to Father about having you work on the resort in Thailand with me.”

“Yeah, but the family doesn’t really need me on that when they’ve got you. Besides, sports is much more interesting than real estate development. Maybe I can work on recruiting Tyrell Jenkins and take that off your hands.”

Jenkins was the prospect that Ben hoped would sign with the Golden Phoenix, one of the teams currently struggling in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Ben glanced at Jake. “Your idea?”

“I think Jason would be great at it,” Jake answered.

Bullshit. Jason had zero professional negotiating experience, and while he was an exuberant fan, he knew little of sports management. Jake would walk all over him.

Now, it was possible that Jake was acting out of friendship. He and Jason had been close since they were dormmates in college, but Ben wasn’t going to give Jake the benefit of the doubt so easily.

“Let him do it,” Jake urged. “It’s not like being a sports agent is your real job.”

But Ben’s father, the head of the Lee Family Corporation, was the Golden Phoenix’s biggest fan and patron. He wouldn’t want just anyone taking the lead. The coach and team manager had allowed the Lee family to intervene because the last sports agent had burned them, wasting time with subpar talent while asking for large contracts.

“You’ve never expressed an interest in the business of sports before,” Ben said to Jason.