AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I might have been raised within that community, but I wasn’t a follower. I didn’t have the same beliefs. For the most part, I was an outcast among the people. I saw the negativity their religion bred, and I couldn’t bring myself to accept that as my way of life. I had first-hand experience of the type of cruelty the teachings of the elders caused, and I refused to believe that any God would want such ugliness for his children.
It was ironic, really. They called themselves Enlightened, when truthfully, they were anything but.
And I was going to show my new boss I belonged right here. That I was nothing like them.
We stopped at another door farther down from Cash’s and he threw it open, revealing a bed much larger than the one I’d had back at the Oakes’s house. There was a single nightstand on the right side, a chest of drawers against the wall by the door, and a long dresser on the wall across from the bed.
A squat chair upholstered in a soft creamy fabric sat tucked in the corner closest to the window, and the first thought in my mind was of how nice that chair would be for curling up to read. A little farther down, on the back wall, was a small writing desk and chair.
There was a door that led to a nice-sized bathroom with a tub, toilet, and pedestal sink, and inside the bathroom was the door to a large, empty closet that would be home to all the new clothes and shoes Myra had bought me the day before.
The furniture was nice and sturdy. Honestly, the room was amazing, so much bigger and brighter than the one I’d grown up in, but aside from the furniture, the room was empty. The mattress lay bare within the bedframe, and there wasn’t a single thing on the white walls or dressers. There was no personality. This room was the complete opposite of Cash’s just down the hall.
“I figured you’d want to decorate it in your own style,” Laeth said gruffly, explaining why there weren’t even curtains hanging over the window. “I’ve placed a stipend aside for you so you can buy necessities. Sheets, towels, things like that. I don’t really care what you do in here, just as long as you don’t put any holes in the drywall. You want to paint, go for it, just don’t ask me to help. I hate doing that shit.”
My cheeks heated at his easy use of such harsh language, but I bit my tongue against the desire to chastise. It was ingrained behavior from how I’d grown up.
He was a grown man. This washishouse, and he could talk however he wanted. Who was I to judge?
“Mr. Harker, this is very nice. Thank you so much.”
He let out another grunt. “Call me Laeth. No need for that Mr. Harker bullshit.”
“Right. Laeth. Sorry.” I knotted my fingers together in front of me and chewed on my bottom lip as I nodded in understanding.
His eyes traveled down to my mouth, and I could have sworn his thundercloud eyes grew even darker. His nostrils flared on an inhale, reminding me of the Johansson’s bull. That thing had scared the daylights out of me when I was younger. It was always snorting and pawing at the ground like he was ready to charge right through the fence at any moment.
Laeth was kind of like that bull in that moment. But as he stared at my mouth with those fathomless eyes, the reaction my body summoned up was very different. I didn’t want to run and hide from the angry beast.
No. I wanted to getcloser.
My body’s reaction was strange enough to startle me, and with a sharp inhale, I took a step back, hoping I wasn’t being too obvious.
Laeth blinked slowly. Once, twice, then a third time, like he was shaking himself out of a stupor before coming back to reality, and once he was there, he looked even angrier for some reason.
“Go ahead and unpack. Once you’re done, we’ll sit down and I’ll fill you in on what I expect from you.”
With that, he turned and stomped back down the hall. The way he said it felt ominous enough to send a shiver up my spine. I was sure if I had been any other woman, that statement, spoken in such a harsh voice, would have sent me running for the door. But this was quite literally my only option. Leaving was out of the question.
I knew that, and my gut told me he did as well, and he was planning to take full advantage of it.
It didn’t takeme long to get set up. Even with the shopping spree Myra had taken me on, I didn’t have much in way of personal effects. I hung my clothes in the closet, barely taking up half of it, and lined my new shoes on the top shelf. My new pajamas and underwear went into the chest of drawers, and the toiletries Myra had insisted on spoiling me with were set up in my new bathroom.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure how to use half the stuff she bought me. I didn’t know what most of it was. There were hair masks and curling putties and serums. Cleansers, lotions for your body, then totally different ones for your skin. My new shampoo and conditioner were made for curly hair—something I didn’t know was possible—and left my whole head smelling sunny and fruity.
I hadn’t bothered with the makeup yet, too intimidated by it to crack the packages open.
The books Myra had given me, the very ones I’d had to turn down that day at the market—an action that spurred all these sudden changes—now rested in a place of prominence on the tiny table next to what would soon become my reading chair. I couldn’twaitto dive into those worlds.
The cellphone she’d insisted on purchasing for me was on the nightstand, plugged in and charging. I’d fought her hardest on that one, but she’d put her foot down, literally, and quite forcefully, I might add. When she threw back that it was downright dangerous to not have a way to call for help if an emergency arose with the child I’d be looking after, I’d given in, knowing she was right.
My mother’s sewing machine sat on top of the desk, and as I looked at it, my fingers itched to put it to use on something funand bright. The idea of buying fabric to make my own curtains and comforter made me smile from ear to ear as I pulled the door to my new bedroom open and stepped out.
I moved down the hall, my footsteps quiet on the thick rug that stretched the entire length. Stepping into the main part of the house, the first thing I noticed was Cash sitting at a little red and white plastic table, using the box of crayons in front of him to color in a coloring book. The second was that Laeth was fully dressed and in the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
I remembered the sign of his building readingElite Security, but I wasn’t sure what that meant or the kind of security they offered.
Whatever they did in that building must not have required a suit, because he was dressed in a pair of dark-washed jeans that hung perfectly from his tapered waist, and a long-sleeved cotton shirt that stretched perilously over very broad shoulders.
