THE DEVIL'S AFFECTION

10. DINNER WITH A DEMON

"Miles, I'm telling you if you don't meet us, expect your last pay check to be sent to hell!!" Hanes snaps.

I jumped at his raised voice as I return from the shower. He hangs up the phone and turns to me.

"Good, you're out. I have your outfit for tonight on the bed." He motions to it. "We're leaving within thirty minutes to, hopefully," his voice grows bitter. "...meet with another employee of mine."

"Alright." I nod.

I walk over to the bed to change into the black dress he has laid out on the bed. I bring it into the bathroom and change into it. It slips on easily. The thin black straps hold up the form fitting dress. There's a slit in the front, showing off my legs. I feel like a trophy wife in the best way.

I walk out and see Hanes standing there still looking down at his phone with a scowl. It isn't until he looks up that his expression changes to something much softer.

"It fits." I smile awkwardly, feeling strange having his eyes on me.

"Ehem..." he clearly his throat and adjusts his composure. "I'm glad."

I walk over to the bed and grab my bag, ready to head out.

"Actually..." he walks over to me. "The back is undone. Do you mind if I...?"

"Oh, no not at all." I say standing with my back to him as I pull my hair out of the way.

I feel as his fingers pick softly at the zipper. He pulls it up gently, careful not to catch my skin underneath. He lingers behind me for a moment after and I begin to wonder what he's thinking about. I hear him clear his throat before I turn around to face him.

"Well, that's just fine." He says looking me up and down with a strange look that I can't quite read. "Let's head out now, then?"

I nod and grab my bag before following him to the door and heading out.

HE'S FURIOUS. His employee called him on the way here and cancelled on dinner. Ever since then he's been steaming with anger.

"Have we decided on what we'd like to have this evening?" The waitress asks in a very sweet voice.

"We just sat down with our drinks! Can't you give us a minute!" Hanes snaps causing our waitress to almost immediately jump back in fear.

"I'm so sorry... of course..." she says before scurrying off.

"How dare you treat her like that!" I snap at him in a hushed tone, trying to not cause a scene.

"I can treat her any which way I like. I'm the one paying her bills, am I not?!"

"You could very well say the same thing about me but at least you show me the slightest bit of respect."

"I could treat you the very same way and you will say nothing about it because I'm the only way you're surviving right now!" His tone is harsh and rough,  causing me to feel like there's a dagger slowly dragging down my chest.

"You're being cruel." I lift up the menu, trying to distract myself from my discomfort.

"Everyone thinks they can just disrespect me and get away with it. Why should I treat anyone else any differently?"

"No one is disrespecting you right now." I nearly slam my menu down to look at him. "You're blowing things way out of proportion and blaming everyone but yourself. Other people have lives too you know. Just because some of us aren't lucky enough to live away from you doesn't mean we think you're the centre of the universe." I snap, still quiet but forceful.

His eyes burn through me as he glares. I can tell he hated every word I spoke, even if he knows it to be true. I know I'm out of line and I'm not sure what has come over me to give me the balls to say any of that but I said it. I regret opening my mouth at all now that I'm seeing his face but it's been said and there's nothing I can do now. All I can do is accept the consequences, no matter how harsh.

"How dare you speak to me that way!" He scolds me. "You're my employee!"

"But you don't own me. You don't own the waitress and you don't own your worker. I'm saying this now, probably not for the final time... you'll never own me and you can't treat me as if you do."

I can feel my eyes burning through his now and shockingly, he backs off a bit.

The waitress quietly returns.

"I'm sorry to bother you." Shes clears her throat anxiously. "But I just wanted to see if you had, perhaps, decided?"

"We would both like the duck breast, please." I speak up, not giving Hanes a chance to speak again. "And a bottle of red wine for the table."

I look at Hanes as he just frowns while watching me order. The waitress nods at me and then looks to him, seemingly for approval, but she recieves none.

"Of course," she begins collecting the menus. "I'll have that right out to you."

"Thank you." I smile half-heartedly to her as she walks away before glaring back at Hanes.

"What the fuck was that?" He asks, getting increasingly more irritated with me.

Might as well bury myself since I've dug the hole.

"Taking the stress of ordering off of you since it was such an inconvenience."

Maybe I should have stopped before. Now, I'm just antagonizing him. I guess a part of me feels like he wouldn't hurt me... he wouldn't hit me, not like others have. Then again, maybe he just hasn't been triggered enough to do so yet.

"You're lucky I like you, or else this could end very badly for you." He nearly grinds his teeth.

"It's not like I haven't seen the worst of it before." I say deadpan, as the waitress comes over with the bucket and wine.

"Here we have—" the waitress begins to present us with the wine but when Hanes shoots her an ugly glare, she presses her lips into a line and sets the bottle down for us. "Let me know if you need anything else."

Then she walks away quietly.

"I'd never put my hands on you, Viv."

"I have a hard time believing that."

"Then why push me if you think I'm some abusive prick?" He leans in.

"Because sometimes you just get sick of sitting in this shit."