“Nothing, Miss Conspiracy Theorist. Take off the tinfoil hat; it’s not a good look on you.”
“You haven’t been home in days.” Chantelle’s voice was impatient. “My mother baked cookies and you didn’t come over.Cookies, Taylor. Chocolate. Chip. Cookies. Don’t try to tell me that’s normal behavior.”
Taylor forced herself to sound cheerful. “Hey, I just got fired, which means I have no job to report to, and now I’m taking a mini-vacation at a billionaire’s house. You got the product samples, right?”
“Yes, I did, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I really mean that. But I’m worried. I don’t know, I just have a weird feeling.”
“Chantelle, this is me. You’ve known me forever. If there were something wrong, I would tell you.”
“Not if you were being held prisoner with a gun to your head or a knife to your throat.”
“You’ve been watching too muchLaw and Order. Is that even rational? Why would a hot billionaire hold me prisoner?”
“He is pretty hot,” Chantelle conceded.
“Yes, he is. And I’m using him for sex. Lucky me.”
Cliff choked on a laugh.
“Come on,” Taylor continued. “Don’t I deserve to get lucky for once? I’ve been working at that horrible job, I had a nightmare of a boyfriend…maybe the universe is finally just throwing me a bone. Yes, the double entendre was on purpose. It’s a very large bone.”
Cliff’s smirk stretched wider.
“Let me talk to him.”
Before Taylor could object, Cliff grabbed the phone.
“Hello, this is Cliff,” he said. “Your friend is making me feel cheap and easy. I think she’s just using me for my body. Is she always like this?”
Taylor heard Chantelle laugh. Good move on Cliff’s part, being charming and funny. He could be that way when he wanted to.
But it didn’t dissuade Chantelle for long. She was too sharp for that. “Yes, she’s a man-eater, so watch your back and guard your heart. Now, I want to see my friend,” she said. “When, exactly, is Taylor coming back? You’re a busy billionaire, I can’t imagine that you have time to lie around in bed 24/7. No matter how sex-ay my BFF is.”
“Well, I was about to surprise her with a trip to Europe,” Cliff said.
“What?” Taylor and Chantelle cried out at the same time.
“But now you made me ruin the surprise,” Cliff finished. Wow, he was smooth. He’d just come up with an excuse that was good for at least a few weeks more.
“I haven’t said yes,” Taylor said loudly, and gave Cliff a dirty look.
She talked to Chantelle for a couple more minutes, then hung up.
Cliff frowned. “You shouldn’t have said that,” he said, looking annoyed. “I need to be able to give your friend a plausible reason why you won’t see her for a couple of weeks. You know how important pack security is.”
“And you know how much I hate feeling like a prisoner. By the way, I noticed that you only gave Chantelle three more months of treatment. You could have given her years and years’ worth. You did that so you’d still have leverage over me.”
He didn’t flinch from the terrible accusation. He nodded, his amber eyes fixed on hers. “Yes. I need to. Until I’m sure that you’re a member of this pack, and fully on board with protecting us and keeping our secret, I have no choice. We still don’t know how you turned.”
“You guys have done blood tests, which have come up inconclusive. You’ve examined me from head to toe; I don’t have a bite mark anywhere. You had James do his weird mind-mojo stuff on me and verified that I’m not some kind of spy from the government and I really have no idea how I got werewolfed. I’m not going to out you; aside from the fact that you know I don’t want to cause you harm, I would also be outing myself. Can you promise me I’ll be able to leave pack property after the full moon?”
He looked regretful. “I can’t absolutely swear…”
She bit back a curse, then turned and walked away, heading back to the house.
That afternoon, she sat with him for a few hours and let him talk her through her future shift – having her imagine it, showing her his shift several times, talking to her about the history of werewolves.
But that night, she insisted on sleeping in a separate bed. It was torture, she hated it…but she was also at a boiling point over feeling like a prisoner and having Cliff monitor her every move, phone call and text.
