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"Sure. What did you work out?"
"I can't afford anywhere near what you're asking. The most I could pay is half that, so if you could tend the lawns, I'll try and take care of the plants."
Bob kept smiling. "I tell you what, let's make it three hundred a month cash, and I'll still do the lot."
"That's very generous but unfair to you."
"Well, if you feel that way, we can always come to another agreement. Exchange your services for mine?" Any gratitude I had for him vanished immediately. Seeing it, Bob backpeddled. "Not those sort of services, Vera. I was thinking more mending tears in my clothes or doing my laundry. That sort of thing." Bob rubbed the back of his head. "Jesus, I would never ask a woman to do that other than for love or pleasure."
Shifting my stance, I stepped back inside and grabbed the money I'd put in an envelope. Limping back out, I placed the cash on the patio. Cringing at the tightness in my side, I held the still healing wound as I straightened. Bob's eyes narrowed in on my ribs.
"I'm afraid I'm useless in any way you'd benefit. Here is the money I owe for the shopping. Thank you for your kindness, but I'll manage on my own." Not waiting for a reply, I turned and limped back inside.
"Vera, wait?!"
Locking the door, I limped to my room. Steadying myself on the door frame to my bathroom, I swiped at the tears running down my face. My hand moved down of its own accord, into the band of my pants and rubbed over the raised flesh on my hip. The brand of my ownership to a pack of men.
Since I was a toddler, so young I couldn't even remember the face of my mother, I spent my childhood as their servant. Beautiful women would come and go from the estate. They always looked so lovely, got to wear pretty dresses, and treated like queens. I'd been invisible in the house until he came. Oh, how I wish I'd escaped the day he arrived.
Jumping free of my memories when the whipper sniper started again, anger grated on me. Why couldn't Bob leave? My ankle hurt, and I was exhausted from worrying about this new development, I laid down on my bed. I'd not counted on this. When I'd seen the cottage for sale, all I'd seen was a small house I could afford. A place isolated and away from the world. A safe home where I could live out my days in peace.
Now there were expenses I'd not accounted for in my budget. I wasn't meant to have money, so I'd never had bills to pay before. Homeschooled, at age ten the alpha had an outsider come in and train me up in graphics and web design.
From then on, I'd handled the web design of several of the brother's businesses. The freedom they gave me to perform that task enabled me to learn what life was like for others.
Not long after, I stumbled upon a site where you could offer your services for hire. Using a fake name and credentials that I traded from someone else on the site, I opened a bank account online. Using that same false name, I started developing web pages for other clients.
Eighteen years I'd worked and earned my own income below the table. Initially, I thought it would be nice to have in case I ever wanted to buy myself something. When I was fourteen, and he took over the pack, it became my escape plan.
Chapter 3
It took two months for bob to wear me down. He came every week to do the gardening, and Jeremy was still doing my shopping for me, even though I'd recovered. Even when I went into town to do my own shopping, he'd always turn up with what he thought I needed. After a fortnight, I gave up and let him.
As summer came on, I felt sorry for Bob out there in the heat. Sighing in resignation, I poured him a large glass of water with ice and walked out onto the back porch. Glancing up from where he was clipping the hedge around the patio, Bob smiled. "Well, you finally came to say hello."
Placing the glass of water on the step, I moved back. "I thought you might be thirsty." Hurrying back inside, I shut and locked the screen door watching Bob come up the stairs from the safety of my house.
"You're like a puppy at a new place with bigger dogs."
"Literally! Does that dog always wander the property unattended?"
"You've seen him since?"
"A few times a week. He comes down and sits on the other side of the boundary for a while and then takes off."
Eyebrows lifting, Bob tilted his head a little. "Really? Just sits there, watching you?"
Was that weird for a dog? "I guess."
"Have you tried making friends with him?"
Huffing at the idea, I rolled my eyes. "The dog attacked me."
A glimmer in Bob's eyes made them an even brighter blue, then his lips lifted in the most swoon-worthy smirk. "You were a stranger then. Now, he's gotten used to you. Try making friends."
"How would I do that?"
Finishing his drink, Bob considered me. "Have you never had a pet?" Dropping my gaze to my feet, I shook my head. Bob frowned in my peripheral. Raising the empty glass as he put it back on the patio, Bob cocked a brow in my direction. "Try offering him a drink, and something to eat, but don't stay standing by the bowl. Put it out for him, then come sit on the steps. Let him approach you when he's ready."
