Terms
CLYVE
“DO YOU really have to question my sincerity and intentions? Of course, I have wanted to help him since the first time I saw him. I couldn’t watch people die if I could do something, Westley. Don’t ever doubt it.” I looked at her in the eye. “I have money, plenty, and I don’t spend them just for luxury. I can buy a yacht, do a party, or sleep with different women every night, but that’s not me. I prefer serenity. I love sex, but I choose to sleep with my girlfriend or someone I like other than sleeping with a woman I barely know.”
After saying my side, she just stared at me as if I transformed into an alien.
“What?” I asked when she hadn’t said a word.
Westley kept staring at me, her eyes enormous. This time, there was a minuscule admiration glittering in them.
I spoke again. “I was planning on opening an art gallery once I get back. I already asked someone to look for a place big enough to separate the studio from the gallery. I thought I would like to help people who suffered from trauma. My case isn’t really traumatic, more likely I walked down the wrong path, but I experienced it myself, how it helped me a lot when I was in the process of healing. I wasn’t even good at painting, drawing, or anything of some sort, but it somehow made me more focused, and I was able to express my emotions through those colors.”
“I completely misjudged you, Linton. I feel terrible about that. I’m sorry.”
A smile curved across my lips. “I know you are.”
“Oh, shoot me in the face with your ego.” She rolled her eyes.
“I’m just happy you reach out to me, Westley. It means a lot. I was just waiting for you to make a move since you warned me before, but trust me I won’t stop bugging you even if I already left this place. Honestly, Keene is a good lad.”
“Couldn’t agree more.”
“Pull yourself together on Monday. I’ll come with you and Keene if that’s okay. I mean if I won’t be too intrusive. I want to hear it myself of whatever his doctor is about to say.”
“Sure. His dad died of cancer. Before that, he’s been suffering from asthma. Thank you, Clyve.” Now she’s back to Clyve. She moved her face closer, and that made my body stiffen.
The blood rushed so fast all over my body. I felt lightheaded when her soft and wet lips touched the skin of my face. It was a quick kiss, and not an act of lasciviousness, yet my body reacted as if we did it intimately.
Shit! Pull yourself together, Linton. This woman is just kissing you out of gratefulness.
Being in a terrible life at a young age hadn’t given me much of a chance to experience a good relationship, no-strings-attached-sex-because-it-feels-amazing to have different pussies every night. That was why my sexual exploitation had not been far way near to my brother and his best friend, Brett. But I could still differentiate the sexual tension, lust, and what I had been feeling towards Westley. And that scared the living shit out of me. The fact that she didn’t like me the way I liked her made me feel more like a loser.
She stood up and stepped back. “Keene might not gonna like this, but I can be tenacious. He doesn’t like someone planning for him behind his back.”
“Trust me, no man does, but I can convince him.”
“Have dinner with us tonight.”
“That I won’t say no.” I chuckled.
“I should go and prepare for lunch. I’ll bring some over.” She smiled, and that smile alone warmed my heart.
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Oh, please, we’re friends now, aren’t we?”
Bloody friends! I almost snorted with absurdity.
“Join us, please?” she insisted.
“That would be too much. I have to wander around the town and might eat at the diner. So don’t worry too much about your guest.”
She rolled her eyes again. “I’ve already apologized, haven’t I?”
“Apology accepted.” I stood up and followed her to the door.
“Call the house if you need anything. The car keys are in the flower pot.”
“Yeah, I could use that one. I’ll fill the tank. Thank you.”
“Don’t let those ladies get into your pants so easy, city boy,” she said as she walked out of the door.
“They’re not my type.”
“I’m not surprised town girls don’t pass your taste.” She laughed.
“Nah. It’s just I’m fancy a girl named Sindy Kate these past few nights. So I just stick with her for a while.” I watched how she stop to a halt and how her body shudder. It was another proof that she was the same girl.
Believe it now, mate.
She turned around slowly. When she opened her mouth, she clamped it shut again. Her face turned paler as she met my gaze.
“Please…” She swallowed and looked away.
“This stays between us, Westley.”
The walk back to me took so long like a thousand steps. “Please, don’t tell Keene about this. He’s gonna hate me.”
Watching her chin tremble made me feel like a daft for letting her know I’d been her viewer. But she needed to know that otherwise. And I just killed her fine smile.
“I won’t, and that’s a promise.” I wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek.
“Thank you.”
“If you’ll stop it starting tonight,” I quickly added before I changed my mind. I thought plan B did just fine.
Her blue eyes widened. “What? I-I can’t.”
“Why the hell not?”
“I need money.”
“I’ll pay you twice how much you earned every night.”
“You can’t do this to me.” She huffed.
“Try me.” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned on the doorjamb. If she was stubborn, so did I.
“Don’t do this.” She hissed.
“Right now, you only have two choices, haven’t you, Westley? My money or Keene’s treatment.”
“Don’t be an ass, Linton!”
“Then be my guest.” I stood straight, readied to retrieve inside.
She swallowed. “But…”
I knew she wanted to argue with me, but I was a selfish bastard if I let her viewers watch her and do whatever indecorous acts they asked her every night. I could blackmail her in different ways if I ever saw her online again.
She could be stubborn as she was, and I could be as determined as I wanted to be. Her choice, but I knew exactly who would win this game. This time, I have the Ace.
“No more but, Westley, because I can’t fucking watch you every night showing off that-” I gestured my finger to her body. “To all the males out there while they pleasure themselves when you should only be doing that to someone who cares and respects you. Don’t get me wrong my respect for you doesn’t change a bit because you definitely have valid reasons on why are you doing what you’re doing behind Keene’s back.” I made sure she knew what she agreed upon-on my own terms.
“I need the damn money!”
“Are you even listening?” I almost growled as I narrowed my eyes at her, determined to shut this argument for good. “I said, I will pay you twice or even ten times. I don’t give a fuck!”
“I can’t just take your money for free.”
“Who said it’s free, darling?”