THE DEVIL'S AFFECTION

3. THE DEVIL'S SCHEDULE

WHEN I WAKE UP, I'm shocked to realize where I am. I'm in the same high-end hotel room I fell asleep in and I nearly forgot all that happened yesterday. Now I work for this Hanes guy. What the hell am I meant to do with him?

He's not in the bed when I wake up so I slide out and adjust this crappy silk dress that's now slightly wrinkled from sleeping in it. It was extremely uncomfortable to sleep in.

The hotel room is silent and I question if he already left. I sure hope he didn't change his mind and leave me here. If he did, I don't know what I'll do with myself.

Just as I find myself beginning to panic, he gets in the door. He's talking to someone over the phone. When he sees me he just nods and carries on.

I have no idea what he wants from me now or what he wants me to do. I know he said he wanted me to still be his escort to events but what do I do for the rest of the time?

After a few more minutes, Hanes hangs up the phone and turns to me.

"Okay, you're awake. We're leaving within next ten minutes to head a little ways out of town for another meeting I have. The room over there will be ready by 2." He walks around as he talks, constantly moving and constantly doing something.

If I didn't already know he was a busy man, I'd be able to tell just by the way he organizes himself.

"So... what do you want me to do. I mean, you said I work for you now, like I'm your escort. But you can't possibly need an escort all the time. What do I do for the rest of the time?"

He stands up and looks off into the distance as he purses his lips in a quizzical way. He clearly doesn't even know himself.

"Whatever you want to do, I guess." He shrugs. "Just stay out of trouble. You don't do drugs, do you?"

My eyes go wide at his blunt question.

"Not regularly."

Then his eyes snap to me since it seems he didn't like my answer.

"What drugs did you do irregularly?"

"Nothing hard. Sometimes I liked to smoke weed after a rough night."

He nods. "Okay. That's not a problem."

He carries on packing up his bag. While also rummaging through another.

"I'm not here to tell you what to do, but as long as you're not out doing drugs or day drinking, I could care less what you spend your free time doing."

"So you're hiring me as an escort some of the time but want me to follow you around?"

He stops what he's doing and sighs.

"Listen, I like you, Viv. I don't have time for friends and I certainly don't have time for a relationship so I'm paying you to basically be my companion; like I said last night. You come with me wherever I go, accompany me during my evenings and maybe I'll pay for a little more entertainment sometimes if that's something you're interested in. When I'm away and there's nothing for you to do, you can do whatever you'd like."

"So I'm more of a sugar baby?" I cross my arms.

He pauses for a moment and raises his eyebrows. "Is that what you want this to be?"

I smirk. "Better than being called an escort in my opinion."

"God that makes me feel like an old man." He looks away, continuing on with whatever he was doing before. "Sure. Call it what you'd like. You're my employed friend. Sometimes at events people might suspect more but we keep the labels at 'lady-friend'."

I chuckle. "Lady-friend..." I mumble.

"I don't think calling you my sugar baby would be overly professional." He zips up his bag.

"No, that's fair enough." I shrug. "Who knew I'd be living in Pretty Woman."

"I'm no Richard Gere but that's quite funny considering your fake name." He chuckles.

"You'll have to work to learn my real name now."

"I am the one paying you, aren't I?"

"Do you want this to be fun, Hanes, or do you want this to be strictly monotone and business-like much like the rest of your life?"

"This is just business." He shrugs. "I guess I'll let you make the rules."

He picks up his bags and sets them by the door. I go to grab the coat but his voice stops me.

"Don't bring that fugly thing. If you need clothes you can get more. Leave that for the maids."

I can't help but smile.
This could be fun.