Supposedly, she had signed up for a week of sex with a stranger. The logical thing would be to have sex with her, but he could tell she wasn’t comfortable with her surroundings yet. And something was off. He couldn’t tell what or why.
&nbs
p; Heading back downstairs, he found that Jake hadn’t yet returned, so he made the calls he needed to make, including one to his uncle Gordon Lee, who was in a tight race for mayor of Oakland. Just as Ben finished up his third call, he heard the voices of men and women. Vince must have opened the door because seconds later, Derek and Jason spilled into the room. They must have been drinking on the ride up because they appeared off balance. Two giggling women followed behind them.
“Cuz, you beat us,” said Jason.
“I took the jet,” Ben replied.
“Ohhh, you have a jet?” the woman of Southeast Asian descent asked, stumbling toward him. She was as thin as a reed—maybe thinner. “Like a corporate jet or a private jet?”
“Ben has both, I’m sure, probably more,” slurred Derek. “The Lees are one of the wealthiest families in China. What did Forbes peg you at? Twelve, thirteen billion?”
The eyes of the women lit up.
“That’s impressive,” said a redhead with a champagne glass in hand.
Jason wrapped an arm around his petite date. “Ben, this is Lisa. Pretty sweet find, hunh?”
The redhead introduced herself. “And I’m Ryan.”
Jake returned then with the blond, who looked a little worse, as if she had been crying. She looked embarrassed to be wearing her pink cocktail dress while Lisa was casually dressed in a sundress and Ryan was in tight cropped leggings and a halter.
“Hi, I remember you,” said Lisa to the blond. “You’re Claire. You got the highest bid at the auction last night. Congratulations.”
“There’s no Claire here. Her name’s Slut #1,” Jake corrected.
The women did a double take, then Ryan turned to Derek. “Do I get a nickname, too?”
“Sure, you can be Slut #2,” Derek replied.
Ryan giggled.
“That one’s taken already,” Jake informed
“Slut #3 it is.”
“And that would make me Slut #4?” Lisa asked.
“She can count.” Jake grinned at Jason.
“Of course she can. Asians are supposed to be good at math,” Derek joked.
“Just select Asians: Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Indian,” Jason said.
“Are you saying I’m not as smart because I’m Thai?” Lisa demanded.
Jason pulled her to him and kissed her neck. “Pretty much, babe.”
“I did hate math. It was so boring, but I got a passing grade because all the boys around me would do the work for me. I call that being smart.”
“Here, you’re graded on something much more fun than math.”
They touched foreheads, and Lisa giggled.
Ben turned to Claire. “There are sandwiches on the table.”
She glanced timidly at Jake, as if not daring to hope for the chance to eat. Ben decided he would have to beat the motherfucker up if he didn’t feed her.