Bought and Paid For

Once Jade had started talking, the words wouldn’t stop. He poured out his misery and loneliness and anger and fear and felt her absorb it all, taking it away from him. He told her about his life in Hunter’s house, the lowliness of his position and the unpredictability of his situation. He told her about the damage they’d done to him, though he omitted Davey’s part in it: remembering they were friends. He told her about the days on his own, and the hours of violent sex. The flow of consciousness only stopped when he ran out of things to say and his voice started to give out.

She listened intently, coaxing the painful parts out of him, reassuring him the whole time. By the time he had finished confessing all she was thoroughly overexcited, plotting elaborate rescue missions and outlandish schemes for revenge. He begged her to take this seriously; it may be exciting for her but his life may be in danger. She told him she’d call back and hung up, leaving him cold and naked in his room, utterly drained and feeling sick to his stomach at what he’d just done.

Numbly, he’d dressed and attempted to do normal things, both to alleviate suspicion, and to keep his mind from conjuring up horrific scenario after horrific scenario of what his immediate future may hold. It had been late night before his phone had rung.

He’d snatched it up, adrenaline pumping again, and Evelyn had hissed terse instructions at him, hanging up before he had time to question her or tell her to stop. Heart beating, he simply stopped thinking and did as he was told: packing a few, less-valuable clothes and some essentials into a backpack and dressing in warm, dark clothes.

Switching off the lights, he had padded softly through the house, heading for the back stairs, away from most of the surveillance – though everywhere had cameras. He’d slipped out of the house through the kitchen area, and hurried across the grounds in the darkness, with just faint moonlight adding texture to the shadows.

The East fence was eight foot tall but thankfully not topped with razorwire – it being on the guest’s side of the house and emphasis having been laid on looks. He’d waited in the cold for what felt like hours, terrified of being caught out here even though he hadn’t done anything wrong yet.

A small black sports car had pulled up on the other side of the fence, a few dozen yards to his right. He’d hurried over, tapping softly on the wood: three fast, two slow, like she’d told him. His rhythm had been repeated back to him and he’d sighed in relief. In shushed whispers she’d explained the plan, which was remarkably simple: she’d throw a rope ladder over the fence, he’d climb over it. Jade had thanked all available deities that she hadn’t actually done the helicopters and ninjas she’d mentioned gleefully on the phone earlier.

Once over the fence she’d hugged him hard, exclaiming at his lack of weight, though he was exactly the same size as when she’d last seen him. She’d bundled him into the car with the rope ladder and his belongings on the back seat and they’d sped off into the night, exhilarated by the success of his escape and heading for the relative safety of the Carson household.

_______________________________________________________________________

It was like the day he moved to Hunter’s house all over again. Despite Evelyn’s best attempts to use her own keys and sneak in a side door, a member of her staff was upon them in seconds, relieving her of her handbag and looking quizzically at Jade. He hoped desperately that she wouldn’t leave him in the hallway to flounder the way Hunter had, but he needn’t have worried. The lady of the house took his hand and gave it a squeeze, raising her other hand and clicking her fingers sharply. The sound echoed coldly around the hallway and no less than three neatly dressed young men appeared in front of them.

“Evening! This is Jade.” – no explanation – “Can we organise him some food and some clothes, please? Actually, you can include me in the food, I am bloody starving.” Evelyn had started up the grand central staircase by the time she’d finished, heels clacking against stone, and Jade followed up on the shaky legs of a newborn foal. The stairs themselves seemed endless, followed by daunting labyrinths of corridors that even Evelyn didn’t look too sure about. Jade peeked into all the rooms that had open doors, guest room after guest room until his hostess threw a door open and the master suite materialised.

Jade wavered in the doorway, clutching his few belongings, staring after Evelyn for a clue. She looked amused. “You can speak, you know? You’re a guest, you daft boy.” Jade look startled and gawped stupidly for a couple of seconds before managing any coherence.

“Where…” He cleared his throat, trying to muster some masculine force and not quite managing. “Where shall I put my stuff?” Evelyn chuckled and skipped towards him, sliding close to his increasingly uncomfortable frame and slipping warm hands around his waist, under his t-shirt.

“Wherever you like, darling. There’s a spare drawer in that dresser…” She waved a hand at the far side of the vast bed and gathered fresh pillows from what Jade had thought was a wardrobe. He spent a few long moments fumbling for an innocent explanation for him to stay in this room with her, but couldn’t find one.

“But… Adam’s… I can’t…”

“Oh for goodness’ sake Jade, don’t worry. You can stay with me until Adam gets home – Thursday, maybe? – and then, well, we’ll see what happens.” The end of that sentence sounded ominous, but Jade compliantly paced around to set his things in the spare drawer. Despite Evelyn’s constant reassurance that he could speak his mind, he didn’t much feel like voicing his objections. What right did he have to object, anyway? She’d rescued him, taken him in: he should do whatever she wanted. He just wished he knew what that was.

After all, providing physical affection was what he was trained to do, and she was gorgeous, as far as women went, but… there was something so scary about her casual attitude to letting another man waltz into her doting husband’s place for a week. Unreadable. Totally, utterly unpredictable and it scared the hell out of him. It reminded him of Davey. He wondered what he was getting himself into.