The Road To Price

by Justine Elvira

  *****

  I'm lying down on the bed and can’t sleep. My mind is replaying everything that happened with Sebastian. His lips... his tongue... his rough voice... his hands all over my body... his hips grinding into mine. I need a distraction or I will never get to sleep.

  Reading always helps me fall asleep so I decide to read over the contract. The legal terms should get me to sleep in no time. I flick the bedside light on and pick up the contract from the nightstand.

  Twenty minutes and fourteen pages later I want to shoot myself. This is why I could never be a lawyer. I would fall asleep during my own cases. Why do they have to use legal terms? Basic words would work fine, too!

  I have just finished reading my background check when I get to a letter from a man I've never heard of. The letter is dated with today’s date.

  Mr. Price,

  This is the information I found on Mia Dechino. It’s the best I could do in the few short hours you gave me. If this isn’t sufficient let me know and I will continue my search. I wish you the best of luck.

  Charles Scott

  The Scott Private Investigation Team

  Miami, Florida

  What the hell? He hired a private investigator. I guess a background check isn’t enough for the rich and powerful. I turn to the next page to see what this guy has pulled up on me.

  Name: Mia Grace Dechino

  Age: 23

  Birthday: September 24th

  Hometown: Riceboro, Georgia

  Population: 768

  Children: One son named Miles Dechino. Deceased at the age of 6.

  Boyfriend: none

  Marriage history: none

  Criminal history: none

  Law suits: None. She did have a legal case that was thrown out of court when she was a minor. The defendant was Kyle Monroe. He pled not guilty and never served jail time. Mr. Monroe is currently in jail for a string of rapes that happened in Atlanta, Georgia, four years ago.

  My background information continues for seven pages. It feels like I’m looking over someone else’s life. I continue to read.

  History: Mia grew up in a small town outside Atlanta, Georgia. She gave birth to a boy at sixteen years old. The pregnancy occurred after a rape by a neighbor when she was just fifteen years old. Mia kept the child and worked part-time jobs while in high school. Mia received her High School diploma when she was seventeen years old. She then went to college at night and over the Internet. She received her associate’s degree when she was twenty. She had been working for a financial institute up until five months ago. Her son, Miles, passed away after an automobile accident. A friend of the family was driving. Mia attended the funeral, but a month later left town. Mia has had no contact with her family, her previous employer, or her friends. She is not considered missing because she placed a call to her mother a month after leaving just to let her know that she was okay.

  I stop reading. This feels wrong. He has no right to know this information about me.

  This is one of the things I'm running from. I don’t want the poor Mia looks. The girl who was raped and then lost her son, now has to run away so she can cope. This must be what he is thinking. Well, he can fuck off. He crossed the line and I need to make sure he knows it.

  I get up from my bed and throw on a tank top and some sweat pants. I don’t care that it is late and I probably look like a lunatic. He is hearing about this now. I know he said he has something to do, but that can wait. My privacy is more important.

  I walk into his home and go on instinct. He is in his office… he has to be.

  I make my way down the west wing. The doors to the lobby of his office are open. As I walk in I can hear some soft noises and movement coming from behind his office doors. I debate briefly if I should just walk in.

  Well, he invaded my privacy so why shouldn’t I extend him the same courtesy. I open the double doors to his office, ready to rip him a new one. I freeze, my hand still on the door.

  Rachel, the woman who prepared my dinner, is standing with her chest pressed against the top of Sebastian’s desk. Her head is turned toward me, her eyes are closed, her mouth slightly open, and her pants and thong are around her ankles. Sebastian is fucking her from behind and his pants are completely missing.

  I can’t move. My eyes are trained on their bodies and Sebastian moving in and out of her. They haven’t noticed me and Rachel’s moans get louder and louder. Sebastian’s hands are on Rachel’s hips, guiding her faster on him.

  Then the unthinkable happens. Rachel opens her eyes.

  The second she sees me she screams. Sebastian’s head turns toward me to see what has happened. When he sees me he stops moving. His hands drop from Rachel’s waist. Our eyes hold for several seconds before I break the connection. He almost looks ashamed.

  “I’m so sorry. I came to talk to Sebastian about something important and I didn’t realize he was in here with someone. I’m leaving right now,” I say embarrassingly.

  I race out of the office and close the door. I don’t stop running until I'm back in my room with the door closed and locked. Tears start to slowly run down my eyes.

  Really?

  I’m crying over a man I met less than twenty-four hours ago. I used to make fun of girls like me. I have no reason to be upset. I am the one who told him that nothing would ever happen between us. I rejected him.

  Sebastian is a stranger. I know nothing about him. My body needs to get the memo that I am not this girl who falls for a guy she barely knows.

  My tears aren’t because I’m some lovesick, pathetic girl who is attached to her boss she just met.

  I’m upset because he was about to have sex with me just a few hours ago and now I see him fucking another woman a few hours later. I’m upset because he obviously doesn’t respect any of us. I’m upset because he looks at women as a way to get off and nothing more.

  I should be a treasure, dammit! Rachel, Vanessa, Michelle and all the other girls may not have respect for themselves, but I do.

  This just confirms what I already know. Sebastian has no feelings for me. What I felt earlier was lust and nothing more. I can control lust. I just need to make sure I guard my heart because if I don’t, Sebastian will surely break it.