Page 63 of Total Exposure

“It’s not what you think, Ixion. Why do you always assume the worst of me?”

“Because dude, that’s all you show me.”

“Really?” he asks. And then he huffs out a breath of air that says he finds my remark incredible. “You never ask for anything, Ix. If you did I’d give it to you. You know that.”

“I don’t ask because I don’t need anything.”

“Well, then I guess it’s all gonna work out then, right?”

“Yeah,” I say, eyeing Evangeline as she tucks that foot back under the covers. She must be cold. “I guess it will.”

“We good?” he asks.

I say nothing. Because… good? Yeah, right. There’s no way we’re ever gonna be good again.

“Why did you even fucking take the job then?” Jordan snaps. “I mean, you could’ve said no.”

I shake my head and sigh. “You just don’t get it, do you?”

“Whatever,” he says. “Later.”

I press end. But the call drops with three beeps, not silence. Which tells me he hung up before I did.

“Whatever, indeed,” I say back to the dark room.

Tomorrow is a new day. And Mr. Wells had better rest up for it. Because he’s about to become a major player in my game. He just doesn’t know it yet.

Chapter Twenty-One - Evangeline

Sleep was fitful and not the least bit restful. Usually when this happens it’s because I’m riddled with anxiety and can’t shake it off. My heart beats fast all night, even though I’m doing nothing but lying still in a bed. My whole body buzzes with some kind of pent-up charge that has nowhere to go. And my mind races with thoughts of dying. I make plans about calling 911 to ask for help, then revise and make plans to just let myself die alone.

Thinking about it now—since that’s not what kept me up last night—it feels very sad.

My heart wasn’t beating fast last night. My body wasn’t tingling with fear that I was dying.

I was calm to the point of lethargy. Satisfied. Which makes me huff out a laugh under the covers. I want his cock inside me.

Maybe tonight? Maybe he’ll come to me again?

I try to think of what made him offer this… this bonus in the first place.

Compliance, I decide. He wanted a story about me. Why I was here. And he wanted it to be personal. He liked my poem. He likes honest emotion, maybe. I gave him something real and he rewarded me.

Maybe I’ll keep doing that?

I swing my legs out of bed, eager to go downstairs to see if there’s another note waiting. If he’s got more demands. More ways in which I can please him.

And when I get to the kitchen I can’t stop the smile even though I want to. My heart races as I walk over to the counter and pick up the notebook I was writing in yesterday.

Evangeline,

You want to know what I look like?

I’m short. Overweight. Balding and with acne scars. Not to mention a patch over one eye. That’s why they call me X.

I laugh. Because I felt his body last night. He’s not bald, he’s not overweight, and he’s not short. I might not know all the other details that go with those facts, but I don’t need to. I’m not even sure I want to.

Anyway, I made a deal with you. You give me a story, I give you one back. So here goes.