Chapter 5

HAILEY:

Sarah stands up from her seat. Saying she is shocked would be an understatement because she looks more than that.

She takes a few steps backward as she stares at me weirdly. It was as if she needed to have a better view of me but I knew what stunt she was trying to pull.

“I refuse to believe it,” she says, still staring at me weirdly.

“Believe what?”

“That Jax Reinhard would actually tell you to his woman,” and in a rush, she was standing right in front of me. She then starts to examine me which actually seems weird to me. “Tell me what you did to him to make him fall head over heels with you. Did you charm your way into his heart?”

“Stop,” I say as I shove her hands off me. “Nothing like that happened,”

“Then why else would he tell you to be his woman? It’s obvious he has fallen for you.”

I shake my head. “If only you’ll just calm down and listen to me before jumping into conclusions,”

As if on cue, she sits back down. Then she says, “Is there supposed to be something else other than him falling for you? Because I don’t think any other thing would make sense in this situation,”

“True,” I supposedly admit to her. “Except there is a contract involved in the would-be relationship,”

“What do you mean?”

“Yes, he wants me to be his woman. But only on paper. Which means I would have to sign an agreement with him that would last for a period of time.”

“I still don’t get it,”

I sigh in frustration. “Aren’t you listening to me, Sarah? You know what, think of it as a business deal between a potential client and a company. Now to ensure that deal comes into place, the company and the client would sign a written agreement to document the terms of the deal. Does that make sense to you?”

Her face brightens a little in realization. “Oh,” she says. “So you mean you two would have to sign an agreement that would ensure you both would be in a relationship, is that it?”

“Yes!” my voice is filled with excitement about finally being able to get her to understand what I have been intending for her to understand. “Where did your senses go before?”

She all but ignores me and proceeds to say, “If a contract is involved, then it would mean there would surely be an amount that binds the agreement,” She then pauses, and much later adds, “Is there?”

“Yeah,” I nod. “A hundred grand a week,”

“And how long does he want the relationship to last?”

“A month,”

“So you mean you stand a chance to earn four hundred grand by the end of the deal?”

“Which is something I would not even dream of making in five years working in my last job,”

“Wow,”

And we both stay quiet as we reminisce on the issue at hand. Just like me, she is whelmed by such an extravagant amount that the Jax of a man intends to part with by being in a relationship with me. Such a surprising amount of money.

A little while later, Sarah breaks the silence between us, “But what’s the use? Why does he want a woman that he only wants to be with for a specific period? He can’t just come out of the blues and say he wants that type of relationship. Not to forget about the kind of money he’s willing to part with,”

“He told me he’s trying to secure a position in his company. I don’t know what he meant by that but I do know that it involves business. So I’m part of a business deal and that’s that.”

Sarah reaches for my hand and intertwines my fingers into hers. “Do you want to do it?” she asks, looking squarely into my eyes.

I shrug. “I don’t know. This is why I need your help to know if I’m making the right choice about all of this. The deal looks simple, yes, but I’m afraid that I might be setting myself up for some sort of emotional blackmail. And with the way it seems, I have the feeling that I might regret my actions,”

“Then don’t go for it if you’re not too keen about the idea,”

“But I’ve lost my job. And you know how hard it is to get another high-paying job like my last one. This is why I think I should go for the agreement with Jax Reinhard. At least for a month. Perhaps, after that, I could start the whole job-hunting thingy again,”

“You’re just so contradictory, girl. Didn’t you say for yourself how skeptical about the idea of being a contract girlfriend to a man? Tell me, is there any sort of intimacy involved in the contract?”

“Apparently, no. And one of the terms states that I must not have any feelings whatsoever for him. Any slip up, and the contract would be annulled indefinitely,”

“And you think you can go for it? I know you too well, Hailey. I know how fragile your heart is. How easily you give into a man. Yet you want to take this bold step just because of the money?”

I cannot help it so I stand up to go to the kitchen. I grab a bottled water from the mini-fridge and then pour out of it out into a glass cup. Instantly I gulp down the whole content and take my time to relax my nerves which are highly tensed from discussing such an intense topic with Sarah.

When I feel better, I go back to the living room and sit down back where I stood up from. Sarah is staring at me weirdly again and I almost roll my eyes at her act.

“So what were you saying?” I ask, intending to go back to where we stopped in the discussion.

“You want to act like you didn’t hear the last thing I said before you ran off into the kitchen?”

“I did,” I say, “but I do not know what to think. Look, I’m confused alright. I only need to be put on the right track before taking any step,”

“Do you have a deadline to get back to him?”

“Yes... two days.”

“Then figure it out yourself in those two days. I don’t want to be part of a plan that I do not feel you good about,” then she stands up from the sofa. “I’ll be going into the room now. I’m tired and need to sleep badly,” she says and goes to grab her small bag of items as she heads off to my room.

“Sarah?” I call her before she opens the door into the room.

She stops for me. “Yes?”

I quickly shift my position so I could face her as she is behind me now. “Uhm, you might be here for just two days,” I say, biting my lips as I do so.

“Why?”

“Because he wants me to move in with him should I agree to the contract,”

“What!”

*****

JAX:

My arms feel a bit weary from using them too much for a particular task. I thought it would be fun to go on an exercise routine for the night but little did I know that it would result in this for me.

I stand up from the bed with my sweaty skin and just my shorts and then walk up the door leading into the bathroom. But swiftly I turn around to stare back at the bed and memories of this morning flashes back into my head.

I remember her sitting right there as she went through a lot of emotions in just a few minutes. She definitely was not expecting everything that happened to her today and it did amuse me a bit to see her in such a state.

It wasn’t until I realized that I might be thinking too much about this morning did I decide to go into the bathroom to shower.

As soon as I head out of the bathroom, I was informed by the head butler about the visitor that I have. And this instantly makes me rush in getting dressed so I could go attend to the said visitor.

I choose a singlet and another pair of shorts before I head down to the living room to go attend to the person.

“What are you doing here, Richard?” I ask in sighting the visitor. Without even staring at the person’s face, I collapse into one of the sofas, still weary from the intense exercise done in my room.

“Did she agree to it?” is the first thing I hear the man say which only makes me pissed.

I lift my head from the rest that I have it on. “Is that why you are here at this time of the night? You just want to know if she agreed to the deal or not?”

“Yup,” he says, nodding his head. “So did she or did she not?”

I shake my head in disappointment. “For a man, you have the most uncalled for attitude,”

“Just answer the question.”

“She hasn’t agreed to it... yet,” I tell him. “And didn’t I tell you that I would give you the full details tomorrow on how it went?”

“You should know me better by now. I can be the most curious being on earth when I need to be,”

“Except you’re not close to being called a being,”

“Put that aside,” he says. “I really hope she gets to agree to the deal. Because she seems like the perfect choice for this. I cannot quite tell yet but something tells me she is an interesting one,”

“So I realized,” I state, indirectly agreeing to his claim. “I would never have gone for her if nothing was interesting about her. Other girls would have jumped on the deal the moment they heard about it but she chose to take some time to think it through. Which I know is to discuss with someone else,”

“Didn’t you tell her about the non-disclosure agreement?”

“I would, but I wanted to make it easier for her to think through the offer. Trust me, she’s going to agree to it in the next two days,”

“You sure of that?”

“I know she will,” and then I scoff. “Humans? They never learn.”