His Price(24)

“This isn't fair. It's wrong!” Red started to drain into the back of my eyes, my feelings turning from confusion to rage.

How dare he try to control her and her treatment! He couldn't do that. Could he?

“Then stay and do as I ask. That's it. And your mom, your family, you'll all be set for the rest of your lives.”

“I had sex with you! What more do you want? How long do you need me for?” I spat between my teeth, hands flailing around wildly. I couldn't understand what else there could be.

He had his fun, made his way into my pants. There was nothing left for him to gain from this, from me. I gave him the only thing I ever kept away from my job, sex. Hegan had been the one and only guy to ever make me cross that line.

I'd found myself caught between hate and a lust filled desire. He was hot, had muscles that wrapped every inch of him. The small dimple in his chin, his green eyes that sparkled when he smiled. All that pulled on me, pulled me into him.

A loss of control that I've never had before.

“Copper, I need you for something bigger than that.” Bridging the gap between us, he stepped behind me. His thick fingers stretched over my shoulders squeezing firmly. Bringing his lips to my ear, he softly said, “You're going to carry my child.” The hot whisper flamed inside my skull.

What did he say? Did he really just say I'm supposed to have his baby?

The room began to spin, the static walls now whirling around each other. A purple fog began to fill my vision, weaving in and out of my eyes. The sweltering haze coated my body, a thin tunnel transformed in front of me, and then...

Black.

***

Bright light filled the back of my lids. A buzzing sound radiated around the inside of my head, the noise extending to a dull voice in the distance.

Slowly my eyes peeled open, blinking rapidly, my mind was a page of blank pictures. Forcing my vision to clear, Hegan's face hung just above my nose. His mouth was moving but his sound was a mess of blurred words.

Shaking my head, the dark images seeped back in. Where I was, who I was with, and the words that crushed my soul.

'Carry my child.'

'Carry my child.'

The three words clammed together playing on repeat. Over and over they imprinted themselves like a tattoo in my head. Branding the idea, the sick joke he had to be playing on me, into one giant burn.

Have his baby? Was he serious? He can't be, that is the most obscene demand anyone could impose on a human being.

“Copper, are you alright? Copper?” The words strained against his tongue, forced out anxiously. A look of worry was painted on his face. His eyes were popping out to their limit, brows standing straight up.

I pushed myself up from the floor, scrambling back on my hands. Resting my back against the cupboards, a searing pain surged through my neck and shoulders. The back of my scalp stung, rubbing the area I could feel a knot swelling beneath my hair.

Hegan asked me again, “Are you okay? You hit the floor like a sack of rocks.” Raising up onto his knees, he leaned in closer. “I've never seen someone go down so fast, except for when my fist's involved.” Cracking a smile to his ear, he gripped the edge of the counter and lifted to his feet.

Narrowing my eyes, I asked, “How can you joke right now?” My fingers spun across the floor, following the grains embedded in the wood. The other hand continued to massage the egg growing at the base of my skull.

“Let me get you some ice.” Hegan filled a baggie, the sound of the ice bouncing against each other as they fell inside echoed through the headache I had forming. Pinching the edge of the plastic closed, he lowered back down to me.

I didn't want to look at him, fear I might throw up on the floor if I looked into his eyes churned inside my gut. It was hard to swallow the thoughts filling my mind. He had told me he hired me to have his baby.

What is wrong with him? I'm not doing that. He's crazy if he thinks I'm going to have his child!

“I'm not doing it,” I said sternly.

“A thanks for the ice would have been nice.”

“I'm not having your baby. I don't even know you. And I don't care about the money, that's too much to ask of me.”

“I'm not asking. You're doing this, you don't have a choice.” He tossed the bag of ice down onto my lap.

“Everyone has a choice.” Forcing myself to look at him, his face was still as stone. Every muscle sat in a temporary suspension, the cold glare fixing firm on me.

“How are you going to help your mom if you walk out of here? My deal with Gloria is set. She's banking on you having the baby. If you do, like I said before, your family will be set for life.” Folding his arms across his chest, he thumbed his chin. “If you don't, Gloria still makes out fine, but your mom's treatment will have no more green going into it.”