The Arrangement Anthology (9 page)

Sean
grins at me. He leans in close—his lips are next to my ear—
and answers, “Will you scream my name, because I’d like to hea
r that.” Before I can answer, Sean
presses his lips to my throat, takes me in his arms, and lays me back on the bed. Sean’s bo
dy is on top of mine. I feel his hard length
pressing against me
.

That hard body
is all
mine
. My fingers rake down his back as he kisses my neck. The edges of my vision flicker. When I close my eyes, white bursts of light appear. The throbbing between my legs connects to every kiss.
Slowly,
my legs
part and I want
him there.

That’s when
the night goes to hell. In a matter of moments, everything goes from
complete ecstasy to complete crap. I hear a high pitched chirping sound coming from across the room. Sean looks up at the same time I do. Neither of us recognizes the sound.

Sean asks, “Is that your cell?”

Shaking my head, I answer, “No. My phone doesn’t make that noise.” And I have no idea what does.

Sean stands and leaves me
lying
on the bed. I turn on my side as he walks toward the windows, toward the noise. He presses his hands against the glass and looks down.
“Fuck.”

CHAPTER
3

“What is it?”

Before he can answer there is a knock at the door. Sean turns in time to see the door open
, and drops the black box back into my purse
.

Miss Black stands flanked between two large men. They’re dresses like hotel patrons in expensive suits, like they might have come to the hotel for a business dinner.
They must be the kickass ninjas that Mel mentioned.

Miss Black step
s into the room.
I take the bedspread in my hands and cover myself. “Mr. Ferro, I believe you’re in violation of your contract.” She doesn’t even look at me when she steps across the threshold. “Get dressed Miss
Stanz
. You’re leaving.”

I don’t understand what’s happening. When I don’t move, Miss Black waives a hand at one of the large bald men flanking her. The one with dark skin and inky eyes steps toward me. He picks up my dress
from the floor and hands it to me. “Dress
yourself
, Miss
Stanz
, or I’ll have him do it for you.”

Sean leans against the ledge of the window frame with his arms folded over his chest. He loo
ks pissed. “Mind telling me which
rule was violated?”

“You know very well which rule, Mr. Ferro.” Miss Black looks down at her dress, like she’s looking for a piece of lint. She
smooths
the skirt and glances at me as I pull my dress over my head. I have no idea what she’s thinking, or what we did, but here she is.

“Humor me,” Sean replies. The look in his eye
says he’s not happy. T
he muscle in his jaw
works,
while he waits.

Black looks him over, with her little brow pinched.
“Very well.
You took our property off
premises
. We don’t do three strikes here, Mr. Fer
ro. You were careless
and you know
,
as well as I do
,
what happens to careless clients in this business.”

S
e
an
walks toward her slowly, “I am well
aware,
however, the violation was an oversight.
Miss
Stanz
followed me outside.”

“Why would you do that?” Miss Black’s gaze slips from Sean’s to mine. I stare at her, heart racing, knowing that I’m going to be busted. Sean can get another virgin to screw, and I’ll get kicked to the curb.

I open my mouth to confess, but Sean cuts me off.
“Because I asked her to.”

“Mr. Ferro, rules are set in stone. We cannot have clients disregarding them. The rules aren’t guidelines, they are
mandatory.
I’m afraid that you’ll need to seek your needs elsewhere.” Miss Black snaps her fingers at me. “Come, Miss
Stanz
.” Miss Black turns on her heel and walks through the door. I glance helplessly at Sean. He inclines his head slightly, telling me to go. I grab my purse
and
follow Miss Black out. The two large men are behind me.

Miss Black’s long strides are quick. I hurry to keep up. “What happened?” I ask as the elevator doors close. We’re alone.

She sighs, like she’s annoyed. “He really told you to go outside?” I nod, sticking to the story. “She presses her manicured fingers to her temple. “Men like that
are
nothing but trouble, always pushing the limits to see how much they can get away
with. I’m sorry for putting your through that, Avery. It won’t happen again.”

“I don’t understand how you knew.
We didn’t go very far.
And what was that beeping sound?”

“
There’s a transmitter in your bracelet.” She glances at my wrist. “I already told you that. We know
exactly
where y
ou are
. Where is it?”

“I put it on my ankle.” I point and it’s still there. “It didn’t fit around my wrist.”

Miss Black acts like I’m a first grader. “Wrist, Aver
y—it has to be on your wrist. I’ll have it resized
.” She shakes her head like I’m an idiot.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Well, you wouldn’t. You just started. The beeping noise was a pager we put in your purse.” She takes my bag and opens it, taking out a little black box. “It goes off when we are outside the building. That only happens if a client violates t
heir contract. It lets you know that we’re coming
.
I don’t normally show up at all, but with you being new, I didn’t think you’d leave willingly with the security personnel.
”

I nod and look at my purse, wondering when she put that inside. I thought I had my bag with me all night. Sean must have seen the pager when he walked over to the window. My purse has an open top and was
laying
right next to the window. I wonder how he knew what it meant. Sean seemed to know that Miss Black was coming. “Has he done this before?”

Miss Black looks at me
,
confused. The elevator slows as we reach the ground floor. When the doors open, she resumes her hastened pace. Looking over her shoulder at me, she says, “No, not that I know of. He was a new client.”

A car is waiting for us at the curb. Miss Black walks toward it with her head held high. A valet holds the door open for her and she slips into the car. I follow behind her. The men that had entered Sean’s room with Miss Black are gone. I don’t see them anywhere.

“Stop looking, dear.
They’re invisible when they need to be.” Miss Black slink
s
back into the seat. Her brow is furrowed and her eyes are pressed closed. “How far did you get? Tell me that you’re still a virgin,
please.” Miss Black looks straight ahead. I’m sitting next to her on the limo seat.

“We didn’t get that far. A
nd yes, I am.” And I’m not happy about it either. Or maybe I am. I don’t know. Tonight was nothing like
I thought it would be.

“Good,” Miss Black
says relieved. “You will be paid for your services for this evening. Mr. Ferro was required to pay in advance for this evening. So, you don’t need to worry about getting stiffed.”

“Bad pun.”

She laughs and looks at me. I’m staring straight ahead, shell shocked. “You’re an amusing girl.”

“That’s one word for it,” I mutter. Glancing at her, I say, “I’m sorry. I feel
a little nuts
. I thought I was going to—”

She cuts me off. “I know. This
job can be an emotional roller
coaster. Don’t worry though. It gets easier.”

I doubt it, although I say nothing. We arrive back at Miss Black’s. I step out of the limo. Before I can walk away, Miss Black says, “I’ll find you another client by next weekend. This won’t be for nothing. I
promise. Come up and let’s get this squared away.”

I nod, and silently follow her upstairs. I’m paid an insane amount of money, in cash. It isn’t anywhere near what I thought I’d be getting, but it
is
enough to get me through a few wee
ks, as long as nothing else goes
wrong. I take my money and shove it in my purse and head to my car.

After I spray the engine, it starts right up. I drive back to the dorm shivering
, with wintry wind blasting my face
.
I consider
ed
sealing the window with duct tape, but that’ll look even more ghetto.

When I get inside
the dorm
, I bypass my room for the moment and go to find Mel.
Her door is cracked. It’s a little after midnight. I wrap my knuckles on the wooden door and push it open. “Mel?
You here?”

Her roommate, Asia, is sitting on her bed talking on the phone. She shakes her head at me, shaking that short shiny black hair. “One sec,” she says to the person on the phone. Raising her voice,
Asia
says to me, “Mel is working late tonight. She said she wouldn’t be in until after 2:00am.”

I nod. “Thanks.”

Flustered, I walk back to my room. If Amber barricaded the door, I’m going to kill her. I slip the key into the lock and twist. Surprisingly, the door opens. My shabby little room is empty. Thank God! As soon as I know that I’m alone, the tears come and they don’t stop until I pass out on my bed.

CHAPTER
4

The next morning sucks. Amber
and De
n
nis
are arguing. I cover my head with a pillow, but it still doesn’t block them out. To top it off, she has the heat cranked up so high that I’m sweating. I get up and turn down the heater.
Hiding under the blankets doesn’t work when the room is 150 degrees.

“Don’t touch that!”
Amber
snaps at me. “It’s freezing in here.”

“I’m melting, Amber. Leave it off for a while.”
I sound reasonable, but s
he makes a face at
me. As soon as I walk away, Amber
turns the thing back on.

She turns her anger on me.
“You’re such a bitch, Avery. You can’t do whatever you want, whenever you want. I live here too!” Amber is seething,
like she’s justified.
Den
n
is
watches her, but his eyes flick to me when I explode.

I round on her, growling, with my hands ball
ed
into fists at my sides.
“Are you fucking insane? I never get to do what I
want! You’re here all the time, you lock the door, you block me out of my own goddamn room, you have sex on my bed when I’m not here, your boyfriends use my blankets to clean up after they stick their dick in your nasty self! If anyone’s a bitch, it’s you!” Amber is staring at me, her eyes becoming glossy like she’s going to cry. I don’t care. I so don’t care.

“You’re so mean,
Avery,”
Amber
sobs and turns to De
n
nis
, who holds her in his arms loosely.

Dennis listened to my little rant. It’s quiet for a second before he asks
her
,
“What did she
mean,
boyfriends
?” He emphasizes the plural part of
the word. “I thought we were exclusive, Amber? Have you been fucking other guys?”
He pulls her away and shouts in her face.

I’m so angry.
I grab my clothes and run out the door. As it slams behind me, I hear Amber sobbing, saying nasty stuff about me,
denying
that she was with anyone else. I
don’t know why he would care. Dennis
screws any girl that lifts her skirt. Enraged,
I walk down to Mel’s and knock
. It’s still early.

The door creaks open and she looks at me with bleary eyes, “
Awh
, hell. You want me to go punch
Tramperella
in the face?
Cuz
I’ll be all over that piece of trash. You just say the word.
I could hear you
guys
screaming from here.
” Mel
yawns
the last part and glances down the hall. When I don’t answer, she blinks hard and pushes past me. “I’m
gonna
go all ninja on her white ass. You come on and watch.”

I grab Mel’s arm
and stop her.
“Maybe later
.”
Mel looks at me and then back down the hall. I coax her. “Let me use your shower and I’ll take you out for breakfast.”

Mel gives me a look that’s distinctly Mel. It’s all
attitude
. “I want chocolate chip pancakes, and not that shit the diner serves. Are we talking IHOP?”

I laugh.
“Yeah, if that’s what it takes.”