Rich Bitch // malum & lashton

seven

MICHAEL NEARLY CHOKED ON HIS OWN SPIT. He couldn’t believe what she had just said. She thought that he would be willing to be Calum’s slave. Slavery was outlawed. Only in certain countries was slavery still around. Australia was not one of them.

“What?” he squeaked.

“Sorry, it was a bad choice of words. His . . . baby-sitter, almost. You just look after him and I’ll pay you.”

He pushed out a breath of relief, because slavery and baby-sitting were so not the same thing. “How much?” he couldn’t help but ask, because he knew that him and his mother wouldn’t survive long without much money.

“I’m not like those stereotypical rich people I pretend to be, Michael, I’m willing to pay as much as you want to pay off the debts you and your mother can’t pay. I love my son, and I want him to be happy. I believe you will do that.” No pressure. “How long have you been picking him up and dropping him here?”

“Only recently.”

Okay, so maybe Michael lied. Maybe he’d been doing the routine for a couple of months, but nobody needed to know that except for him. He hadn’t even told Luke. He didn’t know why he kept it so secret. He guessed it just felt nice having a secret that nobody – not even his best friend – knew.

It all started when he went up to the beach to drown himself. He regretted every second of that stupid night, except for seeing Calum run in the water, butt-naked, asking him why he had clothes on. He got out and tried to get him clothed, having pity for the guy because he was absolutely hammered and was going to have a massive hangover in the morning. Shortly after, he drove him home.

Then, it happened again and again and again. Different places, pure coincidences. He liked how Calum always got so drunk that he would never remember the things he did in the morning. If he did remember anything, he’d probably would’ve asked about it.

Michael didn’t want Calum to remember. As much as he hated to admit it, he cared about Calum. And he knew how his reputation would go down the drain if anybody found out their secret, and he’d probably get bullied.

“You can baby-sit whenever you want, and I’ll pay you whenever you want. But there are times when I’ll need you to come over. I may need your phone number.”

“I don’t have a phone . . . I could never afford one.” He said awkwardly. “This is my friend’s.” he gestured to the iPhone in his hand.

“I’ll get you a phone, yeah?”

“You’ll get me a . . .” Michael was in shock. “You don’t need to do that.”

“How else am I going to contact you?” she asked and he shrugged.

He didn’t want to feel like a charity case, but he could tell that she didn’t like his stubbornness. So he shut up. Soon after, he left. He was still in shock. Never had he ever thought that rich people could be so nice to him.

He walked home with a smile on his face. He didn’t bother going to his work. His boss would never know he wasn’t there, anyway. He walked through the front door and went into his mum’s room. He turned on her lights and she groaned.

“Mum!” he squealed. “I just got us out of debt!” he jumped on his mum’s single mattress and hugged her tight. She tried to listen to her son, but she couldn’t understand one word. All that she knew that he was unbelievably happy.

“Michael, slow down, what did you say?”

“Okay, so I’ve been bringing this guy home because he’s always pissed. Anyway long-story-short his parents are rich and they’re paying me for baby-sitting him. His mum said they’d pay out debt off. Mum! We can buy nice things!” he said with tears in his eyes.