Paid To Love

Episode 20

Paid To Love EPISODE 20

Victoria's POV

He pulled his phone away from his face, frowning deeply. "The lock is broken, remember? Your door doesn't shut completely. Another reason you can't stay here. If there's anything valuable still left, grab it."

"I don't need to go to your house, I'm fine," I insisted, wiping around my eyes in case my makeup was smudged.

"I know it might not be in our contract, but I'm not doing this because of our work relationship," he shot back at me.

I stared at him, surprised. Had my earlier comment offended him? Maybe I'd been a little harsh. Well, not maybe. It'd been really harsh. Especially to a guy who apparently had waited outside my apartment building because he didn't want to leave me alone. "Are you sure?" I finally asked.

He folded his arms over his chest. "Hurry up and gather your things. I'll wait by the door."

I followed right after him because there was nothing left that I cared too much about. I hated thinking of the money I'd have to spend to replace all my clothing, but thanks to Henry's payment it wouldn't be a problem. I really only cared about the outfit he'd bought me and my father's blanket- everything else could be replaced.

"What should I do about my car?" I asked him.

He hesitated for a second before answering. "You can bring it to my house."

"But what about your mom? You said she'd figure everything out."

"Don't worry about it," he said, hunching his shoulders.

I bit my lip. He'd been so adamant about not bringing my car over earlier. Was he saying it was okay now because he felt too bad to say no? "Why don't you follow me to the coffee shop and I'll drop my car off there. Then you can just bring me back to it."

"You're going to go to work tomorrow?" he asked, rounding on me. "You should take a sick day. I'm sure they'd understand."

"I don't think..."

"Victoria," he said so disapprovingly that I felt it weigh on my shoulders.

"I'll text my boss," I responded, pulling out my phone. It was probably for the best. Tomorrow I'd have to come back and clean up and deal with the landlord. Hopefully, the police had gotten in contact with her already.

Half an hour later Henry and I were in his car again, heading back to his house. I felt jittery in the passenger's seat. It was going to be weird staying at his place. Where would I sleep? The couch? He wasn't expecting us to share a bed, was he? What about in the morning? What time did he wake up? Would he get up before me? He was definitely going to see my just-woke-up look.

When we arrived, we went straight in and I stiffly followed after him. "I'm going to clean up first," he told me as we went into his living room. I helped as best as I could, but he pretty much just shooed me away. So instead I wandered back to the balcony stared out the window at the lake.

Henry joined me there a few moments later, his hands in his pocket. "If the dark makes you uncomfortable, I can shut the shades."

"You can do whatever you want, I don't mind," I told him.

"Well I want you to feel comfortable," he mumbled.

"It's your place," I argued.

He turned to me, a sheepish expression on his face. "I'm not so ignorant as to not know that you might be finding it strange to be staying at the house of a man you barely know."

"You're making it more weird by saying that."

"I haven't had anyone stay over in a very long time. I'm not sure what I should do," he confessed, looking apologetic.

"Pretend I'm not here!" I said immediately. "I can occupy myself. You have a book i can read or something?."

He shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Don't feel as though you're imposing on me. I'm the one who offered."

"But I know you don't like people over-"

"I already told you you're different," he said, cutting me off. "Forget I said that. You're a comfortable person."

I blinked. "Oh, uh, thanks."

He seemingly became embarrassed because he turned away from me and cleared his throat. "You're welcome to take a bath, if you'd like. My Jacuzzi and some Hawaiian bath oils works wonders in relieving stress."

Somehow that didn't suit his image and I found myself smiling. "Hawaiian bath oils? Really?"

"They do work," he responded, offended.

"Are you telling me to take a bath just so you can accidentally walk in on me while I'm naked?" I inquired with a smirk.

He turned back to me with his jaw dropped. "Just how badly do you think of me? I'm not a pervert!"

I laughed and it felt nice. "I'm just kidding. A bath doesn't sound too bad. Thank you, Henry."

He c****d his head to the side, his green eyes piercing into me. "For what?"

"Letting me stay here. I'm guessing you're just as nervous as I am. I hate to intrude in your space, but I appreciate it," I answered, suddenly feeling shy under his gaze.

"It's the least I can do. I know you don't have money to stay at a hotel," he responded.

I narrowed my eyes slightly but decided to let that one go. He could get away with it for just tonight.

Henry’s POV

The rain poured heavily and shot against the glass wall in my living room and I tried hard to focus on it and not the young woman who was currently soaking in the Jacuzzi in the room above. I sat on the couch with one leg crossed over the other, I grabbed my T.V remote and started scrolling through all the channels to take my mind of the temptation of the other gender unclad upstairs. After so many years of solitude in my house, it felt strange to have another presence around. James usually only stayed for a couple hours when he came over, but Victoria was staying the whole night.

I looked down at the couch where she’d probably be sleeping. Victoria was small, but I didn’t think she’d be able to lie down comfortably on it. I’d mostly bought it for the sake of the design in my living room and the fact that it was a good brand. It wasn’t meant for sleeping on. But what was I supposed to do? Offer for her to sleep in my bed with me? I’d most likely get slapped- and I definitely wasn’t going to be the one sleeping on the couch.

She’s been through a stressful situation, I scolded myself. I couldn’t be selfish at a time like this. I wasn’t sure what drove me to invite her over, but I knew I couldn’t let her sleep in that place. She seemed to be handling it well, but from what I’ve seen from her she also seemed like the person to not show it if she wasn’t handling it well. The only glimpse I’d got was when she found out the dress I’d bought her had gone missing, she actually cried.

“It wasn’t even a big deal,” I muttered to myself, resting my elbow on the armrest of the couch and plopping my chin onto my hand. She’d cried over it. A silly dress. Had she cared about it that much? Was it because I’d bought it for her? Or was it because she felt bad that she let it get stolen? I couldn’t figure her out.

What I did know, though, was that she didn’t rely on me at all. I thought I was a rather reliable person and yet she didn’t want my help. I didn’t understand. Were all girls this hard to understand? Or was I too used to the girls who wanted any attention from me because of my status and wealth? Victoria didn’t care about that at all.

A sharp pain throbbed behind my eye and I winced, bringing a hand to it. This was probably the worst night for a migraine to make an appearance. I debated about waiting for it to ease away. Then I felt that dull pulse of pain and i realised it’d just be better to take some pills. Sighing, I pushed myself up from the couch and headed to the master bathroom. It’d almost been a week since my last headache. Why return now? The last thing I wanted was to be rolling around in pain all night when Victoria was here.

I went into the bathroom and checked the upper cupboard, I realised I had used up all the painkillers in there so i went to the door in my master bathroom and pushed open the other spar room door, my hand still over my forehead. There was a small gasp and then a splash of water and I stopped dead. I turned before I even realized what I was doing and came face-to-face with a wide-eyed Victoria, who had sunk down to her chin in the water. My mouth went dry and I tried to utter an apology but all that came out was, “uhhh.”

“W-what?” she said, her eyes never leaving my face.

My gaze travelled down to the cloudy water that hid her body then it snapped back up and I felt my cheeks warm. “Sorry, I’m not used to-“

“It’s okay,” she interjected, her voice a couple pitches higher than normal. “It’s your house. Do what you need to.”

I swallowed, not sure where to look. There was something sexy about Victoria when her hair was wet and I didn’t want to be having those thoughts about her while she was staying at my house. Or in general. I had to act confident. “I just have to grab something.”

“Sure,” she answered as I forced myself over to the medicine cabinet.

I hunched my shoulders as I searched for the right bottle. My head didn’t feel too bad, so I didn’t want to use any of the more expensive prescription pills. However, I also didn’t want to be in here any longer so I grabbed the Paracetamol pack and made a beeline for the door.

“And you said you wouldn’t walk in on me,” Victoria taunted sheepishly as I stepped out.

I closed the door maybe a little harder than I should’ve and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. In this situation, shouldn’t she have been the one more embarrassed than me? Just what kind of girl was she?

My head throbbed again so I returned to the kitchen and got a glass of water, downing two of the pills. Hopefully, they would be enough. I’d been doing well with keeping my headaches at bay. Maybe it was because Victoria was over? I didn’t feel stressed by her though. Well, that was not totally true. I was a little on edge.

I fell back onto the couch and closed my eyes, trying to rest. That lasted about three seconds because my phone started ringing. Groaning, I pulled it out of my pocket and noticed the screen read Gerald. “What?” I answered flatly.

“Mr. Davies!” he cried in such a dramatic manner I winced.

“What?” I repeated.

“This is bad! Really bad!” I could pretty much imagine him biting his nails as he spoke. “Our construction team for the Bahamas resort have announced they are cancelling our contract!”

I sat up straighter in my seat. “What?”