Dark Favors

“Then what?” She said.

“Consider yourself a sort of personal assistant,” I said.

“So I’ll be doing paperwork?”

“Something like that.”

“Mr. Locke....forgive the question, but why don’t you just wait until next week? I get paid from my regular job, and I can pay you back.”

“I think you’ll enjoy working with me this week,” I told her. “Besides, I can sweeten the deal,” I said.

“What?”

“I’ll make it worth your time,” I said. “You’re interesting to me.”

“Am I?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Quite.”

“Why?”

“You’re an unusual sort of person, Paige. Not a lot of people interest me.”

“That’s not very believable.”

“No?”

“You’re rich,” she shrugged. She gestured at the space. “Look at all of this. You can have anything you want. Why do you want me to be around you so much?”

“I think we can help each other out, Paige.”

“Yeah, you said that,” she said, standing up. She started pacing nervously in the center of the room. “But you didn’t say what you’d be doing for me. You want me to be some sort of glorified secretary. Not,” she added sharply, pointing a finger. “A hooker. Okay. I get it. What’s in it for me?”

“Besides wiping your debt clean?”

“Besides that,” she nodded.

It was time to show her some of my cards. Not all of them, of course, but a few. It was time to let Paige know exactly why she should be working with me.

“I know who your father is,” I said simply, and Paige turned white.

Chapter 8

Paige

There wasn’t a chance in hell he wasn’t messing with me. How could he possibly know that I didn’t know who my dad was? More importantly, how could he know that I cared so very much? My dad? This was an elusive concept, an elusive person.

“Why did you just say that to me? I whispered.

“You’re pale,” he said. “You should sit down.”

I wanted to argue. My ass still hurt from the spanking, and I didn’t want to sit down on his office chair. The real reason I didn’t want to sit was that I didn’t want him to think I was doing it to please him somehow. There was nothing within me that wanted Locke to know that.

“Sit,” he repeated. I knew what was going to happen if I didn’t. I knew that for some reason, he’d spank me again. Unfortunately, I found the idea to be appealing. I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me that I was okay with Locke spanking me in the middle of his office, but there you go. Sometimes bodies didn’t make sense, right? Sometimes the things we thought were important ended up not being such a big deal.

“You said you know who my father is,” I whispered, slipping into the chair. I melted, really. My entire body felt heavy, and I leaned back against the chair. I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

“Yes, I do.”