SAVAGE LOVE

Chapter 6

“You pay… in full… or you will pay another way. There will be no negotiations.”

“But we don’t have anything to give you,” I snapped, dropping my guard slightly and showing how exasperated I was before I rechecked myself and took a deep breath.

“Oh, but I think you do.”

He stood up from behind his desk, and that’s when I realized what a truly formidable man this Micheal Douglas was. He was taller than Timothy, with a solid, manly build. The black suit he wore was tailored to perfection on his body. His legs looked like columns of pure, powerful muscle as he strode out from behind his desk. The air of dominance and authority that’d swirled around him before was stifling now; drowning us in its force. This man was a powerhouse of control and supremacy. I felt totally and utterly inadequate. I needed to up my game. My plans to manipulate and dominate were sadly lacking. It was as if Mr. Micheal Douglas was on a different level from the rest of us. He was immune to any charm I brought to the proceedings, that was for sure.

He stood in front of us and leaned back on his desk, crossing his arms over his wide chest. He glanced at Timothy, then at me, and when our eyes met again, I felt my skin start to perspire. My breathing became heavier and more labored under the intensity of his stare. This time he wasn’t just looking at me, he was appraising me, and not in a good way. I felt naked and exposed. Despite making me feel so undone, for the life of me, I couldn’t break eye contact. I couldn’t admit defeat or show any hint of weakness.

“We have nothing… I have nothing,” Timothy piped up.

Without taking his eyes off mine, Micheal Douglas gestured to me with his right hand.

“You have her.”

“What?” I screwed up my face in disgust. What the hell was he suggesting? That Timothy pimp me out for payment? That I prostitute myself to pay his debts? Hell and freezing over came to mind. I loved Timothy, but I had my limits.

“I’m not some object he owns, you know. I don’t belong to anyone.”

He had the audacity to smirk at me. I wanted to slap it right off his smug-ass face. His very handsome, rugged, and tanned face, but smug all the same.

“Bianca isn’t on the table here. That’s non-negotiable,” Timothy said, without the unwavering conviction in his tone of voice that I’d have expected from him.

The image of me being some kind of sacrifice on any table made my skin crawl, and I held my free hand over my stomach.

Micheal Douglas’s eyes followed where my hand lay and he raised an eyebrow.

“Got something you want to share? A new addition in a few months maybe?”

“I’m not pregnant!” I spat out in shock. What business was it of his even if I was? “I just feel sick to the stomach at the thought of what you’re suggesting, Mr. Douglas.”

“Which is…?”

“Well, I don’t know exactly, but I’m not gonna sleep with you to pay off Timothy’s debts.”

He rubbed over his stubbly, square jaw, then pushed his hand through his brown, wavy hair, temporarily pushing it out of his eyes, before it fell over his forehead again. He was frowning now. What the hell was going on in this guy’s head? I couldn’t second guess him. He pinned me with a forceful, dare I say, seductive stare before he spoke again.

“I don’t force women into my bed, Miss…” He raised his brows in my direction, taking pleasure in showing me he didn’t know who I was either.

“Green. Bianca Green.” My voice sounded smaller than I expected.

“As I was saying, I don’t need to force women into my bed, Miss… Green. When you come to my bed, it’ll be because you’re begging for it.”

Timothy gave a low growl, but I just laughed at him. He had no idea who he was dealing with. I was no pushover in that department.

“Oh, I don’t beg, Mr. Douglas. I don’t have to.”

I leaned to the side and rested my head on Timothy’s shoulder, as he snaked an arm around my waist to secure me closer to him. Surprisingly, this seemed to piss Micheal Douglas off more. Was he jealous?

His face took on a mask of pure fury in reaction to our little display of affection. He pushed away from his desk and walked over to stand directly in front of us, no doubt to intimidate us further. He eyed Timothy in some show of male dominance, taking his time to scope him out before he made his next move.

“One month. With her. In my apartment. Then I’ll write all your debts off. The whole debt… gone.”

He flicked his hands like some kind of magician to symbolize something vanishing. His arrogant smirk made me want to smash something. I gasped and Timothy just shook his head, muttering, “No way. No. That’s not happening.”

I couldn’t stop myself, couldn’t hold back.

“Are you deaf as well as insane? I said I wouldn’t sleep with you. What makes you think I’d spend a month with you?”

“I didn’t say anything about f*****g, did I? I said one month. Living in my apartment-”

“For what? The pleasure of my company?” I laughed a nervous laugh, but he didn’t share in my humor. His face was deadly serious.

“You could say that. I have certain… contracts that I’m trying to get signed off, and applications with the local government. Having you on my arm at these functions I’m forced to attend could help with that. You see, I don’t have the best reputation in this city-”

“You don’t say!”

I couldn’t hold my tongue. The insults just rolled off of their own accord, and the flash of indignation behind his eyes told me I’d pissed him off. Good.

“Having a steady girlfriend, albeit a fake as s**t one, would go a long way to improving that for me.”

The way he emphasized the word fake told me he thought I was a fake, a phony. One of those women who live life for what she can get; The designer clothes, handbags, jewelry, cars, you name it. He had me all wrong, and although it shouldn’t have bothered me, it did.

“You’d be expected to attend as my significant other and use your influence to get me what I want; and no, Bianca, it isn’t s*x I’m after. I can get that anywhere, anytime I want. It’s the appearance of an ideal these people seem to want to be associated with that I’m looking for. The normality that they’ll readily do business with. Doesn’t matter what the sick f***s get up to behind closed doors. They want squeaky clean when it comes to business. That’s where you come in, Bianca.”

He said my name like it was a dirty thing. Jeez, this asshole loved himself. I frowned though. What kind of influence did he think I’d have? A twenty-three-year-old who’d buried her head in books and university for years. I felt like a fish out of water at most parties, let alone a function like he was describing. That sounded more like my parents’ domain. Maybe that’s what he was getting at? Did he want to cash in on my parents’ name? I shrugged that thought off straight away; he had no idea who I was. He hadn’t even known my name when I’d walked in. No, he just figured I was a pretty piece of arm candy who could sweet-talk the men in the room. Maybe my manipulative skills hadn’t gone unnoticed after all.

“I won’t say it again, Douglas. You’re not getting Bianca.”

Timothy tugged on my arm and I looked at him, shocked to see how much he was hurting at the thought of me being with someone else.

“It’s not happening, babe. Don’t even think about it.” I brushed my free hand down Timothy’s face. He smiled down at me, causing warm waves to smother the butterflies—or were they wasps—that’d set up residence in my stomach since we’d entered this room.

“Looks like you’ve got three days left then.”

Micheal Douglas turned his back on us, and sat down behind his desk, engrossed in his laptop and ignoring us as he read something far more pressing on the screen. The man was so arrogant, that he couldn’t even dismiss us with some degree of dignity. He just shut us out as if we were less than nothing, which to him, we were.

“If that’s all, please leave. I’ll expect payment by midday Friday, as usual.”

Timothy and I looked at each other. He shrugged, and we walked out feeling completely defeated. We’d achieved nothing and everything felt desperate and hopeless.

“That went well,” I said sarcastically, as I slumped onto the couch and sighed out my frustration. It didn’t help. I still felt like smashing and breaking stuff in anger.

“What did you expect? I told you he wouldn’t listen. Why would he? He’s got nothing to gain from making a deal with us.”

“Except me,” I bit back and instantly regretted that it’d come out of my mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

He threw his jacket down on the seat next to me and stormed off to the bedroom, leaving me feeling guilty about anything and everything. Sometimes my mouth ran in a different time zone than my brain.

I got up and wandered over to the bedroom door to apologize, only to find him getting dressed up as if he was going out somewhere.

“What’s going on? Are you going out?”

I felt nervous and timid all of a sudden. Tiptoeing around him and scared of what his reaction might be.

“I’ve got somewhere I need to be. Is that okay with you?” he snapped, and the look on his face told me he was probably imagining what a month in the company of a man like Micheal Douglas would really involve for me.

“I’m not your keeper, Timothy. But it’d be nice to know where you are. I worry.” He smirked and shook his head. Why was he letting what’d happened in that man’s office get between us? “Don’t do this, Timothy.”

“Do what?”

He was angry now. He rarely got angry, and never with me.

“You’re pushing me away.”

He let out a huge sigh as he looked up to the ceiling, then walked over to where I stood holding my breath. He held me in a tight hug, burying his nose in my hair as he whispered, “I’m sorry. I just hate the thought of that man anywhere near you.”