“No work tonight,” he says. “But how do you know you aren’t staying in my room?”
A tremble runs through my entire body, followed by a chill. How could I have been so stupid? This man bought me and basically owns me now; why wouldn’t he want me in his room with him?
“Am…am I?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper as alarm bells go off in my head.
Sterling stares down at me, his hand clutched around mine like a vise. Even if I were able to somehow get free, where would I run to? He would catch me, and my father would still be in his debt.
To my surprise, he laughs and shakes his head.
“No, you’re not.” A warm, soothing, wave of relief washes through me as he smiles. “Come on, princess. Your room is this way.”
My legs move as if on auto-pilot as he takes my suitcase from me and leads me up the stairs and left down the hall to a room that looks like something out of a magazine. He switches on a bedside lamp and opens the closet door to show me.
“Plenty of room for your things. Bathroom is next door. I’m down the hall if you need anything. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”
“Good night,” I reply.
And like that, he’s gone, out of my room and down the hall to his, leaving me standing there trembling, trying to wrap my mind around what will be my new existence for the foreseeable future.
4
Leia
It’s still dark when I wake up. I reach over and grab my phone and look at the clock to see it’s only 2:36 a.m. and groan. I’m generally a pretty sound sleeper and not usually one to wake up in the middle of the night, but I guess being in an unfamiliar place and an unfamiliar bed may have triggered something in my subconscious to make me uncomfortable and woken me up…
But then I hear it. The sounds of it going on down the hall in Sterling’s bedroom.
I may never have done it, but I know what it sounds like, and I know what a moaning woman sounds like too.
I sit up in bed and listen harder. Yes, I can definitely hear the sounds of rhythmic thumping and a woman having a good time coming from down the hall.
“Son of a bitch!” I hiss as I swing my legs out of bed. I grab my pajama bottoms from my suitcase and slide into them and quickly step out into the hall where the moans and the thumping are louder.
Here I was starting to think that despite everything, Sterling was somewhat of a decent guy, and what does he do on the first night he has me over at his house? He brings another woman over and has sex with her.
He acts like a gentleman—buys me lingerie, holds the door for me, carries my bag, even gives me my own room at his house, and then he does this. But now I see why he gave me my own room—so he could go ahead and do whatever he wants while I’m here and treat me like I’m just his side piece or something.
I can feel my anger boiling up inside of me like a volcano ready to explode as I trudge down the hallway toward his door. The sounds of whatever they’re up to in there don’t stop as I get closer. I guess they’re having too much of a good time to even hear me approaching. Without hesitation, I grab the doorknob and just barge right in like I’m Mrs. Romano and I’m catching my husband cheating on me.
What I see is a fully naked tan woman’s back and butt on top of Sterling, riding him like she’s completely possessed or doing her best to stay on one of those mechanical bulls they have at bars. She turns around and looks at me like she’s just been completely busted, eyes wide, mouth agape.
Sterling, on the other hand, looks out at me from around her, just as naked, and just has a dumbstruck look on his face like he’s forgotten how to speak.
A stabbing feeling hits me right in the gut, like I’ve been run through with a sword. My heart rate skyrockets as I see them there together. So much for our little lingerie trip being something special, I guess.
“You!” I shout, pointing right at him, overtaken with fury. “What the hell are you—?”
Suddenly, I’m opening my eyes and sitting up in bed, heart racing, sweat all over my body. I’m panting heavily and suck in several deep breaths, doing my best to calm myself down.
“Holy shit,” I whisper as I grab my phone.
It’s 11:37 p.m. A dream. Just a dream.
I close my eyes and run my fingers through my hair as I try to calm myself down and regain a grip on reality.