Chapter 15

15

H adley | Sacramento, California | Early 2000s

"You're telling me that you got to go to a party in this house in that dress you wore on Halloween?" Hector asked, his mouth hanging open. Hector's car, though visually in great shape, purred like an angry kitty cat, shaking violently as Hadley got out.

Hector parked his beat-down burgundy SUV a few houses down and rushed around to the trunk before bringing a gallon jug of water back up to the front hood. He popped the hood and began pouring water somewhere in the thick of black, steaming metal car parts.

"Maybe after you're done here today, we can throw some of that money into getting this radiator fixed. You know, if you suddenly have a mega-rich sugar daddy out of the blue."

"You sure changed your tune on this quickly." Hadley rolled her eyes.

She looked back up at the house, its extravagance overwhelming her even more in the middle of the day. At night, it felt somewhat spooky, but now it was just an extreme show of wealth.

Hadley noticed a few neighbors peeking out at them through their windows. Hector was right. They should get his radiator fixed.

Hector pulled his body back out from the car's hood, smiling at Hadley like a regular heartthrob mechanic from the romance books she read in high school.

"I would switch places with you in a heartbeat," she said, anxiety building up more and more every time she glanced at Sheng's house. She didn't understand why she was here. Sheng being so insistent that she came back so quickly made her uncomfortable. She grabbed her wrist, the feeling of being tied up flooding back to her.

"Blow his brains out, princess," Hector laughed, throwing his arm around her shoulders. "I'll be back in a few hours after dance class, but if you need me sooner, I won't silence my phone."

"Wait, you're leaving me here? You're supposed to stay for my protection." Hadley looked at him in utter disbelief.

"Why? You've already met him. You've established that he's not a serial killer and willingly have come back."

Hadley considered it for a moment, recalling that Sheng did save her from the pirate. Then, it hit her; maybe she was needed back because she hadn't done her job. She didn't have sex with anyone that night. Maybe she was here to be confronted about it. She was in no mental state to suddenly perform for multiple people.

"I'm not going in," she said, walking back to the passenger side of the car and opening the door with every intent of sitting and pouting.

"Miss Hailey, is that you?" a man's voice came from behind her. Hadley whipped her head around to see the security guard who checked her into the party last night on the sidewalk. "I almost didn't recognize you without all the . . . frills."

"Who is this?" Hector jumped right into the conversation, a little more into the man's pulled-back ponytail than he should have been.

"Real subtle, Hector," Hadley said, hushed while clenching her teeth as she watched her friend undressing him with his eyes .

"Amis, you can call me Amis," he held his hand out to Hector, who shook it. Hadley realized that she couldn't tell which male initiated the lingering skin contact.

She raised an eyebrow at the two and crossed her arms over her chest, cocking her head a little, and smiled.

"This is Hector," Hadley blurted out, regretting not giving him an alias. Hadley's nerves came flooding back and got the best of her as she fidgeted with her hair, feeling stuck between her obligation and the choice she was about to make. She was about to go home, she was about to leave.

"Well, I was just walking down to Sheng's house. I park a few blocks away to secure the neighborhood. I work as a private bodyguard for my employer and I believe you, Miss Hailey, are on the visitor list today. I'd be happy to escort you up." Amis held an elbow to her, urging her to accept the invitation.

Hadley bit her lip and sighed, closing her eyes before accepting and closing the car door behind her.

"Keep your phone close," she said, passing Hector, who smiled using only the right corner of his mouth and replied with a head bob. She was going to kill him.

Hadley wrapped her free arm around the opposite side of her rib cage, hugging herself as she walked arm-in-arm with the overly stiff bodyguard. He was dressed in all black, the same uniform she remembered him wearing last night. Despite the long sleeves, he didn't seem hot or sweaty. His skin had a beautiful golden hue. It was a complexion not uncommon in this area, since popular forms of entertainment were river tubing or hiking. Not that Hadley did any of those things. She tried to stay away from mountain lions and rapids when thinking of ways to entertain herself.

"Do you go to the river a lot?"

"What?" he asked, laughing.

"Oh, it's nothing, never mind."

Amis turned his head to make eye contact with her, noticing she was also studying him. He smiled at her, and it was dazzling, nearly inhuman. Her heart dropped. Something about that beautiful smile made her forget to breathe, her intuition yelling, not wanting to be ignored.

Run. You should run.

She wished Grant was there; his weird, overbearing personality was good at keeping her both distracted and confident. She loved Hector, but she promised herself right then and there that she would never cut Grant out again. He was a true teammate with something like this. If there was a next time, of course. Of course, there wouldn't need to be a next time.

This is the last one. Get in, get out.

The two had made their way through the extravagant driveway, through the stone slab path in the front yard, and up to the large double doors. Instead of opening the door or knocking, Amis moved to the right side of the door and bent down, popping out a part of the siding like a secret drawer.

Hadley watched, stunned, as an electronic keyboard slid out. She listened to Amis enter a six-digit code, and the clicks on the pad were quick and rhythmic. The keyboard slid back into the wall, and the sound of a powerful lock clicking inside the door echoed in Hadley's ears.

"That's normal." Hadley looked at Amis with wide eyes. He grabbed the large carved door handle and pulled on it, using most of his body weight, until the door groaned and opened.

"After you, Hailey." Amis gestured for her to step inside.

Hadley's heart beat heavily in her chest as she entered the familiar entry room with the pentagram in the ceiling. She stared up at it and Amis noticed her lingering.

"I've heard it's actually a secret portal to another world." Amis looked at her, his expression dead serious, before cracking a smile at her confusion. He put his hand on her back and guided her towards the furthest hallway across from her. "Sheng usually does his backyard time during this part of the day, so I'll just take you out there."

The last time she had been down this hallway, her feet were killing her in those ridiculous heels. They emerged into the kitchen, her sanctuary of the night. It was now empty and clean, pots and pans hung above stoves, and countertops shinned incredibly. The sun poured in from the surrounding windows, reflecting copper hues on the otherwise sterile white walls. On the other side of the counter, where Sheng and Hadley had eaten their BLTs together, was a set of French doors leading out to the yard.

Hadley noticed that one of the doors was propped open as if the air conditioning bill did not exist in this new world of mansions and sex parties. Her penny-pinching mother would have had a heart attack if she had seen that. Hadley smiled to herself at the thought, and her heart ached, wishing she was here.

Shame flooded her a moment later. Her mom would have had to be so disappointed in her. She would never have allowed her to be in a situation like this. She would have figured something out. She would have protected Hadley from her own desperation.

What the fuck am I doing?

Hadley stepped out onto a brick patio. The white chalky substance in between each brick was so bright that it almost looked like it was painted on. She was underneath an awning that was attached to the back of the house, and there were arches in front of her to pass through to enter the rest of the yard. A large stone fireplace surrounded by a few couches and chairs was a dedicated centerpiece before leaving the awnings, though when she did, she wasn't sure if she had stepped into a fairy tale.

Large green trees and lush grass surrounded the brick patio. Bushes of blue flowers planted in a pattern against trimmed square hedges gave the feeling that she was in an ethereal garden, leading to a quaint area with an outdoor grill and patio set adorned by colorful cushions and tablecloth.

To the left, the space opened up expansively. Amis indicated to Hadley that she should walk in that direction and left her, going back inside the house. Hadley walked on the perfectly trimmed lawn until she reached a series of circular stones forming a path to a garden area in front of her.

There was a square gazebo framed by a family of rose bushes and a shirtless man on a ladder towards the top of the structure. His skin was pulled tight over the powerful back and arm muscles as he painted the exposed wood, a bucket in one hand and a brush in the other.

"Hi," Hadley said, walking right up to Sheng and looking up at him. "Whatcha doing?"

"Hailey, you're here!" Sheng responded with a smile larger than his face, his white teeth glinting even from their distance. He set the paint can and brush down on a flat surface of the gazebo roof and climbed down the metal ladder. It clicked and bent against the structure it was propped against as he climbed.

Once his feet touched the ground, Hadley giggled, realizing he was barefoot. He held his index finger up, asking her to wait as he cooly leaned over a rosebush and emerged back in front of her a few moments later, holding a silky yellow rose.

"It's not as beautiful as you," he said as she took the rose. "But a gesture all the same."

"Ouch," Hadley gasped, not careful enough to avoid the thorns, dropping the rose to the ground. A bright red fat dribble of blood pooled on her finger. Sheng looked at her hand and frowned, turning his head as if confused.

"Sorry, I can be a bit of a klutz," Hadley explained, blood rushing to her cheeks.

"An interesting first experiment," he mused. His eyes shined bright as he moved swiftly, turning her around with his hand on her waist and guiding her out of the garden.

"It's quite hot today, and I can take a break from winterizing the gazebo. Let's head inside, shall we? I could stand to put on a shirt." He winked at her, his face inches from hers.

"From the urgency of you needing me here, putting clothes on seems to be counterintuitive," Hadley said, feeling bold. She wasn't as tense as she had been before she saw Sheng, but her gut hadn't stopped telling her to run. She thought about Hector's car, both of their future careers in the arts, and the path that they would eventually forge. She wasn't alone, and she could push through it .

Sheng looked at her with his eyebrows raised and lips pulled in as they walked into the kitchen from the double French doors.

"I don't know what you mean," he said, seeming genuine.

"I'm an escort, Sheng," Hadley said, pulling away from his touch and stopping in the middle of the kitchen. "Why else would I be here?" She didn't like this, didn't like to degrade herself in the first place, but then having to play a silly game of cat and mouse was not something she could pull herself into.

"Yes, a stubborn one at that." Sheng smirked, throwing Hadley off guard. "You know, Hailey, I expect you to fall in love with me one day. Making you have sex with me seems like it would start our relationship off with an odd sort of power dynamic, would you not agree?"

Hadley stared at Sheng, mouth open, slapping her right hand to the side of her cheek. She took in his v-lines, making a perfectly crafted triangle under his gray, loose-fitting jeans. She bit the inside of her cheek before she let out a sigh, too overwhelmed by both his words and his body.

"Fine," she snapped back, determined to seem unbothered, despite having failed already. "What are we doing, then?"

Sheng walked past Hadley, smiling, and stopped before the door frame that led out of the kitchen into the hall. He pressed a button on a small, pearly white intercom, a low beep replacing the awkward tension in the room.

"Amis, let's get Miss Hailey her payment, please," Sheng purred into the intercom.

A prompt, "Yes, sir," came, the intercom filling the room with Amis' voice before another low electronic tone confirmed the line's disconnection.

Hadley realized that she had forgotten to ask for payment up front. If it weren't for Sheng being so honest, she would be breaking all the rules Grant had taught her. The fact that she was alone here again had her sucking on her bottom lip. Everything felt too informal; she didn't like that. She couldn't believe that she wanted it, but she wished they could just get the sex over with so she could sprint out of there and be done with it.

"Well, I do have some friends coming over later that I'd love for you to meet. It's just a casual cookout in the yard, some beers and steak," Sheng began, "but that isn't for a few hours, so until then, maybe we could play a game?"

"What game?" Hadley crossed her arms over her chest, realizing she wasn't going to get this over with anytime soon.

Flutter your eyelashes and make the best of it, she thought to herself.

"Cards, maybe? That's all I think I have here. How do you feel about poker?"

"Strip poker," Hadley said, feeling more comfortable making this about work.

Don't let this get too personal. He is not your friend.

Sheng's eyes smoldered and his lips curled like a beautiful villain that Hadley could easily picture in the dark. He nodded his head at her request.

Amis walked in at that moment, carrying a small white envelope, and handed it over to Hadley promptly. She took it, feeling a noticeable thickness as her hands held it. She thanked Amis before he turned away, leaving them alone once more.

"I wanted you to have that payment right away so that you know you can leave anytime. You now no longer need anything from me. You now hold the power if you choose to stay."

Hadley, skimming through the bills in the envelope, calculated that this was enough money for more than twenty-four hours of their special agreed-upon rate. The envelope that she held in her hands was life-changing. She was stunned, but did her best not to let her emotions get the better of her, fighting off the tears pooling in her eyes. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. All she knew was that she had a real lifeline, a safety net.

This wasn't sinister. This was luck. This was an accumulation of what the universe owed to her for her grief and pain over the years.

You are a fool to walk away from this.

And yet, something still tugged in her gut. Some part of her still wanted to leave the estate, along with the envelope, behind. A piece of her pleaded to not let this man own her, despite his dazzling smile, despite how he had come to her rescue.

She pushed that feeling away and focused on the weight of the bills in her hand.

"Now, do you still want to play poker?" Sheng asked, gesturing down the hallway she remembered leading to the opulent gathering room with the staircase.

"Well, I am curious what this place looks like in the daylight," she responded and walked right past him, leading the way.