Paid To Love

Episode 16

Paid To Love EPISODE 16

Victoria’s POV

He suddenly cleared his throat and looked at me nervously. “I’ll go make some coffee.”

I wanted to tell him that I’d just come from working eight hours at a coffee shop and coffee was the last thing I wanted, but as with many things I wanted to say to him, I didn’t. “Sounds good.”

“The spar room we have on the floor above us has a hot tub and a Jacuzzi tub if you want to check them out.”

I clenched my fist and let out a silent cheer. He had both a hot tub and a Jacuzzi inside his house, and what is a spar room anyway? Anyway i really wanted to see how deep they were. “Don’t mind if I do.”

I hurried back up the steps, i just realised i didn’t know where the spar room was, i went down to end of the hallway and opened the first door. It definitely wasn’t the spar room and it was definitely Henry’s bedroom. A huge ass king sized bed was placed right in the middle of the room along the furthest wall, with a giant glass window behind it letting in light. I itched to jump on the bed— it was huge, it was more like two king sizes together huge –but I refrained. I couldn’t be lying on some strange guy’s bed in his house. There was a laptop on his bed and a desk in the corner of his room. Car like seat was screwed to the wall in front of the bed and a huge bookcase lined the wall next to me. The wall opposite of his bed was completely made out of mirrors, with green imprints of trees over it. Next to that, he had a door opened at the other end of the wall, which turned out to be his wardrobe and then a smaller dresser inside the wardrobe room. As with the downstairs, he had few plants in his room. His room wasn’t what I was expecting at all. It was kind of mysterious and dark.

I went deeper into the wardrobe room and there was a door by the desk in the corner and I went over to it wondering if it led to the bathroom. It didn’t. It led to a huge walk-in closet. My mouth dropped at the sheer amount of suits and button-ups this dude had. There was a display with a bunch of watches and cuff links and so many ties I didn’t even want to begin counting them. Did he really need the an entire room with a dressers and this closet for all his clothing?

“I’m so jealous,” I huffed, walking out the closet and out of the room, pausing to shut the door behind me. I didn’t want him to find me in there.

I moved onto the next door and pushed it open to find the spar room. I was more curious about the last room, so I closed it for the moment and headed to the last door. As soon as I opened it the smell of meat and something sweet met my nose and I wrinkled it. Was it a storage area? The shades were down and they blacked out the room entirely. I searched for the light switch along the wall and before I could find it, a hand gripped my shoulder and yanked me out of the room. I let out a surprised yelp, nearly losing my balance. The door slammed shut as soon as I was out and I looked up at Henry in surprise.

“Don’t go in there,” he said, his voice hard.

I blinked at him. “S-sorry?”

His expression didn’t lighten and his words were tense. “I didn’t tell you. It was my fault. Please don’t go in there again.”

“I won’t. I’m sorry, Henry.”

It took him a second but he managed to school his features. He rubbed his forehead. “I didn’t mean to pull you so hard. It’s just that no one is allowed in that room.”

“It’s not your room? Does someone else stay here?” I asked cautiously.

“Not anymore,” Henry murmured, eyes on the ground. “Forget about it. Just don’t go in there.

“Alright, got it. Sorry again.”

Henry stared at me for a moment and then forcibly smiled. “The spar room is right here,” he said.

He opened the spar room door again and any thoughts of his strange attitude were momentarily lost when I caught sight of his Jacuzzi and his hot tub. It was big enough to swim in. “It’s like a pool! It’s so deep!”

“If you’re lucky, I’ll let you take a bath with me,” Henry said with a wink, light-heartedness returning to his voice. He seemed much more at ease now that we were away from the other room.

I shot him a dirty look. “Nice try.”

“Why not? We’re dating, aren’t we?”

“You’re a pig,” I said, shoving him in the shoulder. Although to be honest, I considered it for one, teensy moment because I really wanted to use it.

Het let out a quiet chuckle. “I’m kidding. Feel free to come back and use it whenever you’d like. I wouldn’t suggest using it during the day because there’s no air conditioning in the spar room and it will get hot, but at night it’s nice.”

“Do you plan on having me over again? I thought you said you don’t like people here,” I responded. I figured today was a special case. Especially since I’d obviously invaded his privacy that he wanted to keep to himself.

“If it’s you, I don’t think I’ll mind,” he answered, shoving his hands into his pocket. “You can feel free to come over whenever you want. This is the most lively my house has been in a long time. I think I like it.”

I suddenly felt a little shy. “Oh, um, thanks.”

“Don’t tell James I told you that though,” Henry added.

“Why not?” i said smiling.

A forlorn look came to Henry’s eyes. “I’d never hear the end of it.”

A ringing noise met my ears and Henry’s hand shot to his pocket. After looking at the screen he grinned triumphantly. “It’s my dad.”

My heart skipped a beat. His plan had worked that quickly? That was crazy!

“Well Hello Father,” Henry greeted as he swiped to answer the call. “Oh, you were spying on me again huh?” He gave me a thumb’s up. “Yes, she’s a girl I’m seeing. Her name is Victoria.”

I stood silently, wondering what his father was saying. Judging by Henry’s expression, she was saying exactly what he wanted her to say. “You’ll eventually meet her,” he said, leaning against the sink. “I know. Yeah. No, you can’t talk to her. No, Dad don’t ruin things. You’ll scare her off.”

He was silent for a moment.

“Don’t even joke about that!” he cried and I jumped. “Stop trying to take away my car for every little thing,” he snapped.

I rolled my eyes. Of course.

“Dad, I’m making her dinner. I have to go. Goodbye.” With that, he hit the end call and stuck his chin up. “Perfect.”

“That’s all you wanted?” I asked him. “A phone call? Really?”

“It’s the start we need,” he told me. “You coming over is the best sign of seriousness we can give. The fact that he called proves it.”

I still didn’t understand but I didn’t think I ever would, so I just nodded. “Well, I’m happy it worked out. Does this mean I can go home now?”

He shook his head. “No, she’ll probably be all over the cameras to see when you leave. You don’t mind staying a while, do you? I’ll make you dinner.”

“It’s my job so you can make me stay as late as you want,” I told him, exiting the spar room. I was pretty hungry, so dinner sounded like a good idea.

“You wouldn’t want to stay if you didn’t have to?”

“I didn’t mean...”

“Do you feel pressured to do as I say?” he asked, moving around me so that he was in front of me. He frowned deeply. “Victoria, you don’t have to do something I ask of you if really don’t want to. I know you don’t think too highly of me, but please don’t think that badly of me.”

I cupped my elbow and dropped my gaze. The seriousness of the look he was giving me made me uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just think it’s better if we don’t get too close. That way this is easier.”

“How does it make it easier? We’ll just continue to be delicate around each other. Then we’ll always be uncomfortable. Shouldn’t we be friends at the very least? We might as well have some fun with this.”

Our gazes met again and I swallowed nervously. “You sure you want a broke ass friend?”

My sad attempt at humour worked and his solemn expression broke into an eye roll. “It’s an experience I’d like to have at least once.”

“Hey.”

He smirked at me. “Just kidding.”

I watched him warily. He wanted to be friends? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. When Henry was alone he seemed like a completely different person. I could see myself being friends with him in his relaxed state. It was worth a try. “Alright.”

“Just don’t embarrass me,” he said.

I pressed my lips together. Something told me it was going to be a very trying friendship.