"Nine o'clock," he replied. "I checked. I get up at seven so we're fine. My driver will take you to Harvard when I'm done with you. You'll have enough time to change your clothes, get your books. Whatever you need."
When he was done with me… Was he going to bed now? He wasn't going to make me fuck him now?
He was going to make me stay the night, fix him a bath and breakfast, and then fuck me in the morning? After his bath or before?
My mind was whirling with questions and possibilities. I was shocked that Hunter hadn't ordered me onto my knees to deliver a blow job.
In fact, part of me was disappointed that he hadn't. At least then I'd know what to expect.
"Then I want you back here tomorrow night at ten."
"I can't stay here every night," I said, frowning. "I have a job. In fact, I'm on the schedule for double shifts and tomorrow night, I'm working late."
He frowned. "Why are you working? I thought Spencer promised you wouldn’t have to work if you threw me over. Wasn't that your thirty pieces of silver?"
My mouth fell open. "Who told you that?"
Of course, it was true. Spencer had promised me that. How Hunter must hate my guts…
"Graham told me. So, my questi
on remains, why are you working?"
"I told you, Graham lost my inheritance. I can't pay for my dorm at Harvard."
"Oh, yeah… that's right. He lost the entire fucking inheritance? How much was it? Half a million?"
I nodded. "The interest was paying my room and board."
He stood there, his hands on his hips, considering. "Tell you what," he said, his eyes narrow. "I'll pay your room and board. But I want you here every night that I'm not working. You'll stay the night. You'll do whatever I ask. Whatever I ask." He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "In the morning, you'll make my coffee and breakfast, run my bath, and then you'll go to your classes. Rinse. Repeat. I think repaying your debt this way might be a pretty good deal. Sound fair?"
"For how long?" I asked, swallowing back my nerves at the ‘whatever’ comment.
"Well, let's see… Eleven hours a night, three hundred hours to work off just on the interest alone. If we add in the room and board, which is…"
"Fourteen thousand," I said.
"Fourteen thousand, that makes one hundred sixty-four thousand—"
"A hundred fifty-four," I said. "Graham already paid off ten thousand."
"I stand corrected," Hunter said, his hand on his chin. "So, that comes out to about four weeks of work. If I paid off your entire inheritance? That would be…" He paused and mimed calculating. "A lot of days, Celia." He smiled.
"I said anything," I replied. "I meant it."
"Good. Just so we know where we stand."
He stood there looking at me, and I didn’t know what to do or say in response. I felt relieved that he'd pay back my inheritance. In truth, being paid five hundred dollars an hour was way more than I could make in a week at the pub as a bartender, even with twice the number of shifts. It was a deal, I realized, except that I was pimping myself out like some call girl.
"Is five hundred an hour cheap or expensive?" I asked, my eyes filling with tears.
"Cheap," he said, his face expressionless. "But consider yourself lucky. It's usually a thousand an hour with the really top-of-the-line girls." He glanced at me, his eyes moving up and down over my body. "You'll have to work a little harder if you want to compete with them."
"I don’t want to compete," I replied, wanting to stand up for myself. "I just want to get what I'm worth." Of course, that made me feel even worse, and I had to bite my cheek to stop more tears.
He nodded. "I think you're getting a fair deal. Look at it this way. If I hadn’t paid off Graham's debt, Graham would be dead now, and Stepan and his boys would be after you for your inheritance—with interest. You'd probably owe him three hundred thousand instead of one-fifty. You'd still have no money. You'd have to work two jobs to afford your room and board at Harvard. You’d probably be so tired, your grades would fall. You'd lose your tuition scholarship. Then you'd really be in trouble. You'd be working for beans at a job seven days a week just to scrape by. This way, you get your inheritance back, you get to stay at Harvard, and keep up your grades. That sounds pretty sweet. There are probably thousands of people who would jump at the chance to have your little ethical problem."
Then he turned and left me alone, going down the hall to his room and closing the door.