Paid To Love

Episode 25

Paid To Love EPISODE 25

Victoria's POV

"Good Morning Mr. Davies!" James called, standing up from the table. He kicked my foot and I got the hint to do the same.

He didn't respond as he made his way into the living room, his eyes on me the entire time. He reeked of power and affluence — from his Armani suit to his black Italian leather shoes and his silver Gucci watch.

His skin glowing despite his age, every hair on his head was bright silver and the same with his facial hair. His beards were properly aligned with his jaw and ran up to his sideburns that connected it to his hair which was perfectly curled at the tips, not a strand out of place. As intimidated by him as I was, I couldn't help but think he was gorgeous.

He came to a stop in front of me, the same blue eyes I saw with Henry, looking right at me. Henry definitely had his looks. With the exception of the predatory look Mr. Davies gave me, like he was ready to decimate his prey being me. "You."

I straightened my back, doing my best to keep eye contact. "H-hello."

"Who are you?"

I glanced at James who cleared his throat.

"Mr. Davies, this is Victoria, uh..." He trailed off, grimacing a bit. I realized he didn't know my last name. Fortunately, Mr. Davies' eyes were still on me and he didn't seem to notice his hesitance.

"Victoria Clarke," I announced, holding out my hand.

He didn't take it. I awkwardly lowered it back to my side. "Why are you at my son's house while he's at work?" he demanded while still observing my every being.

Straight to the point, huh. "Uhm..."

"Mr. Davies, you can't just start interrogating someone as soon as you meet them," James spoke up.

He turned to him and crossed his arms over the other. "Mr. James, are you here because you're running away from your mother again? You and Henry have the habit of disappointing us. I see why you hang around each other."

My mouth fell open in shock and I immediately went to jump to his defence but a slight pinch on my arm gave me a sign to be silent. I bit my tongue, feeling my skin crawl. This was Henry's father? No wonder Henry didn't understand why I'd gotten offended by his words. He thought it was normal.

"Ha ha, I'm actually here just to keep Victoria company," James said with an obviously fake laugh.

"Henry has never let anyone stay over. Why in the world are you still here?" Mr. Davies asked, stern-faced.

"But um." Dammit Victoria, say something. What was I supposed to say though? Was I supposed to lie directly to his face? He looks like he would catch me out in a heart beat. What would I even tell him? Henry and I hadn't gone over this! How much did I need to lie about? There was no way I could pretend to be someone rich. I mean I don’t know how rich people behaved.

James sighed loudly, coming over and putting an arm around my shoulder. His touch felt relaxing and some of the tension left my body. "You're scaring her. This is why Henry can never keep a girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Mr. Davies repeated. Then his eyes widened a bit. "You are Henry's girlfriend?" His eyes scanned my body, observing every inch of me. If he wasn’t an older man and Henry's stern father I would assume he was almost checking me out. I became self-aware all of a sudden noticing I was still wearing Henry's shirt and my ratty pair of jeans. Oh s**t. Hadn't Henry said he'd be able to realize my social status by my clothing?

"I've never heard of you. Who introduced you to him?"

"That would be me," James answered before I could. I was grateful he was here with me. Lying while under pressure wasn't my best point. Especially when it came to lying about myself to make myself seem better than I was.

He gave James a harsh look. "Why? I had drawn up a list of candidates for Henry to meet."

"Her family was also looking for a suitable partner for her, so I suggested Henry. And I introduced both of them and they seem to like each other a lot. Her family and mine go way back."

"How come you've never mentioned her before?"

"She just got back from Madrid after living there for a few years," he lied smoothly. Dang, he was good. Must be the lawyer in him. But couldn't he have picked a country that spoke English as their main language?

Mrs. Davies looked at me expectantly. "Madrid you say? Did you study there?"

"Uh, Si," I responded and cringed inwardly. That sounded so lame.

"What did you study?"

"Um. Business Management?"

James shot me a look at my questioning tone. "She comes from a family of Spanish hoteliers. She's the next heir so she's come back to rekindle connections in the U.S and I thought it might be a good idea for the two of them to meet."

An impressed look crossed Mr. Davies's face and he appraised me yet again, this time with more interest. "You don't say? Perhaps a hotel I've stayed at while there?"

Oh, I am f****d man. Why did I take French in high school? Everyone else took Spanish, what was i thinking? I didn't know any Spanish! What the heck was I supposed to call the hotel? Something in Spanish? "Maybe," I finally said. "We're climbing the ranks of top hotels in Spain, but we're still growing. Maybe you've heard of Torres Hotels?"

He thought about it for a moment, tilting his head to the side. "Mmm, perhaps. Anyway it's been a while since I've last been in Spain. Have your parents come with you? I would like to speak with them."

"No, they're still in Spain," I said quickly.

Her lips twisted down a little. "I see. Still. It isn't right for Henry not to introduce his father to someone he's thinking about dating. Or for you to not properly greet me."

Thinking about dating? Did he miss the part about me being his girlfriend already?

"I will not recognize you as his girlfriend until I've met your parents and you prove your worth to our family," he continued as if reading my thoughts. Somehow he sounded more stern than when he first arrived.

"Our business needs to keep growing and keep evolving. Henry needs to be with someone who will help us reach our goals. I may have given him a bit of leeway for dating, but don't think anything will be set in stone. I'm only telling you this so you don't get your heart broken. It takes a lot to become a Davies. Some people just aren't cut out for it."

He ended as if he was trying to sound kind, but it didn't sound like that at all. It sounded like a threat. "What if it's what Henry wants?" I asked and James shook his head vigorously and gave me a signal.

He turned back towards me with a surprised look on his face. "Henry understands that the business comes first. No matter how much he might come to care about you, I can make him let you go in a heartbeat. There are many pretty faces out there. So don't get too ahead of yourself, Vicky"

"It's Victoria."

"Mm," she responded and I felt my jaw twitch. "When was the last time you went to the salon?"

I glanced down at a lock of my hair and grimaced inwardly. How did she pick up on that?

"Did you forget to take care of your looks after coming to America? Or do you generally look like someone who came from the slums?"

I felt my lips curl up.

James placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Alright, alright. It's a day off, excuse her looks. I'll help to arrange a meeting with her parents. This topic aside, is there a reason you came here, Mr. Davies?"

"Just to make sure his belongings were still here."

I moved to get up, but James held me down. "Hahaha, nice one Mr. Davies." This one actually got me pissed off. Was he implying that I would steal something?.

He smiled, but it was more like a sneer. "I respect that you and my son are both adults, but he has a reputation to uphold. Please stay decent." As if to make a point his gaze zeroes in on my shirt. He must've known it was Henry's, not that I cared anymore at this point. I still felt insulted and I wanted him to know bout it

"Not to worry Mr. Davies. We keep the action only in the bedroom," I told her sweetly, smirking deviously. "Maybe once in the kitchen and this morning on the couch was just great... But anyway we keep it indoors mostly ."

The look of complete scorn on his face suggested that I got to him totally. After a moment of both of us staring each other down, he turned his nose up at me. "She needs to work on her manners before she meets me again."

"Don't mind her. She gets a little grumpy when she's hungry. Right?" James said, punctuating his last word with pinch to my shoulder.

I chose to remain silent while still staring him down and eventually Mr. Davies began walking away. We listened to the sound of his Italian leather shoes all the way down the hallway until they disappeared. James let out a long sigh and I felt myself calming down... only for that feeling to be replaced with dread.

"Well. That could have gone better."

"I'm doomed," I whispered with wide eyes. The beating in my chest turned to pounding. Why couldn't I even take care of my hair properly?

"It's fine, Victoria. Next time you see her just apologize. Calm down."

I ran a hand through my hair roughly, sucking in a big breath of air. "Henry's going to kill me. This is my job. I messed up. He's going to kick me out so fast. Ah, I'm dead. I'm so dead. I'm going to be homeless and dead."

"Calm down," he repeated, moving his hand to my head and fixing my hair.

I looked up at him. "Why Spain?"

"Why Torres?"

"The soccer player? Don’t you watch soccer."

He snorted and then coughed. "Really?"

"Really. I'm screwed, aren't I?"

"Well..."

Groaning, I reached back for my phone and opened the listings again this time to look for jobs. I was going to need a new one because I was certain I'd be getting a phone call from Henry any minute telling me I was fired.

I knew I just messed things up.