THE BILLIONAIRE'S BARGAIN

I winced as a sharp pain shot through my head. I tried moving but it was difficult. I couldn't feel my legs either. Fear from nowhere overwhelmed me and I began to panic. After some kind of internal struggle, my eyelids fluttered open but closed back immediately, after my eyes saw too many bright lights. A while later, I opened my eyes again, squinting as I tried to get them used to the illumination. That unmistakable antiseptic smell whiffed into my nostrils — I was in a hospital. But how did I get here? “You’re awake already” That was Tanya. I knew her voice anytime, anyday. She moved her chair closer to the bed but I realized that she wasn’t with my seven month old baby, Rebekah. “Where’s Bekah?” I asked, eyes popped in fright “Chill” She said when she noticed my fear “I left her with Claire” Claire was the nice old lady across the street where we both lived. “I just couldn’t bring her here” Tanya said and I nodded. “What happened?” My voice came out hoarse; raspy. “You got into an accident. I came as soon as I heard. The doctor said you had a concussion and a couple bruises” That was when I looked at my feet and realized my shoes were gone. “What about—” I was saying when the door clicked open and a man whose left hand was in the pocket of his sweatpants walked in. He was tall and his blond hair fell in his face. He had blotches of dry blood on his mint colored tee while my purse and pair of heels were in his right hand. I connected the dots immediately. “It’s obvious you have no eyes in your head, ’cause look what you’ve done to me” I blurted out, my forehead furrowing in annoyance. “What were you watching, huh? If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be lying here!” I charged aggressively at him, forcefully raising my body and pointing my index finger at him, but the pain on the right side of my body shot through my system, paralyzing me and making me fall back into the bed. “Be careful now, so you don’t put pressure on your shoulder” Tanya rubbed my arm soothingly. I had a sling on my shoulder. “You know if you hadn’t stepped into the road, you wouldn’t be lying here” He blurted out and I looked at him like he had grown seven heads. “Have you gone nuts?” My forehead creased “It’s you who hit me. If you hadn’t, then I wouldn’t be here!” I retorted and for the next couple of minutes, which seemed like eternity, we hurled insults at each other, firing derogatory words in the process until Tanya, who had long been trying to keep us quiet, shouted us down. “Enough! Enough you two! For f**k’s sake, we’re in a hospital! Do you wanna disturb its peace and quiet?” She expounded, annoyance written all over her face. For a moment, the air in the room shifted and tension loomed over us like a fiend. “You know what? I’m outta here. I’ll be back when you guys are sane!” With that, she stomped out in high dudgeon. The room was quiet for a while until he broke it. “Here. Your shoes and purse” He first dropped my shoes beside the nightstand. As he made to drop my purse on the nightstand, three condoms fell out. Holy Moly!! My cheeks flushed red. I looked away as I scratched my nape. The room suddenly became thick with tension and uncomfortable silence. “Did I interrupt something?” The corner of his lips curled into a sly smile. I tried to speak but no words were coming out. I wouldn’t be having condoms in my purse if Tanya hadn’t tossed them in there. Tanya on the other hand, wouldn’t have had to put them there if I wasn’t headed for a date night with Jace, my previous boss’ son — a date that was definitely going to end up in his bed, afterwards he was going to give me money for my daughter’s surgery. She had a congenital heart condition which the doctor called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. After being laid off from my job as a cashier from the hotel I worked at, due to the illegal drug trade the hotel ran, I landed another job as an attendant in a fairly large coffee shop. Everything was going just fine until my boss’ son began to make advances at me. At first, I rejected his advances but Jace wasn’t one to give up easily, so he persisted, which made me insult and even slap him at some point, but that didn’t cost me my job yet. A lie did. I was framed for allegedly stealing some money made from sales and till today, I still feel like Jace was the mastermind but I didn’t and still don't have proof. Lisa was a nice woman but had to fire me after the incident. Out of annoyance, I ranted about how her son had been trying so hard to get into my panties, but she didn’t believe me and hurled hurtful words at me instead. If only she knew the nuisance of a son she raised. It now got me wondering if this stranger knocking me down was fate not wanting Jace to get into my panties after all, because I had weighed all my options and he seemed like the only savior in sight after making me agree to go out with him in exchange for a huge sum. “Alright, alright. I did; my bad” He continued when I didn’t respond. “Such a shame that your boyfriend’s plans got ruined because his girl couldn’t make it. Was it supposed to be all night?” He darted his eyes to mine as he tossed a bubble gum into his mouth. My jaws clenched and my nose flared. The strained atmosphere seemed to be gone. “That’s none of your business! Keep my s*x life out of your mouth!” I glared daggers at him “Too bad he’s not here to see you and I wonder why. Or has some other girl taken your place already? I mean, you might never know” “Mister or whatever your name is—” I was saying “Aaron. Aaron Steinberg” He cut me mid sentence “Aaron, why don’t you focus on damage control instead, and stop yapping about my s*x life? You’re meddling and that’s a really dumb thing to do” I tutted “Damage control?” He stared fixedly at me, still chewing on his gum. His Adam’s apple bobbed and I found that oddly attractive but this wasn’t the time to gape at a stranger. Worse still, the person who put me in this condition. “That has already been taken care of. I mean, who brought you here to the hospital and who’s cleared the bills?” He shoved his hands down the pockets of his sweats as he spoke. “Well, you’re supposed to, so don’t make me sound guilty for saying so” “Whatever” His voice came out in a rather hushed tone and afterwards, silence. A familiar notification tone rang in the room, breaking the silence. I recognized it immediately — that was my phone. As I turned on the bed to fetch it from my purse which lay on the nightstand, I saw Aaron retrieve my phone from his back pocket. “Give me that!” I quickly snatched it from his hand “Arrgggh” I yelped in pain as my shoulder which had the sling was strained “Careful now” “Aside from being a reckless driver and a pickpocket, what else do you do?” I fired at him. “Why do you always have to jump to conclusions?” He queried, brows raised “Earlier when I was collecting your things from the road after I had put you in the backseat, your phone beeped with a message, more like a threat. So, when I got here, I just tossed it in my back pocket while I brought you your shoes and purse with the intention to give it to you but of course, it skipped my memory” He explained “Why would I steal that when I can get tons of them whenever I want?” His explanation seemed believable so I bought it, but didn’t tell him so. My eyes squinted as I read the message on my phone screen. ‘You can’t escape us. Pay now or suffer later'