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  When she didn’t say anything, Dr. Washington cleared his throat and continued. “Mr. Anderson, your new subject, Miss Reyna Carpenter.”

  No one spoke.

  Reyna stared at the figure before her, and he simply stared back. All the times she had thought about coming to Visage and becoming a blood escort, she had never truly known what to expect. She had never considered the vampire that she would have to live with. This man made her want to run as fast and as far away from him as possible. This man was a thing of nightmares. How the hell am I supposed to live with him?

  “Well…” Dr. Washington said uncomfortably. “What do you think?”

  Beckham broke her gaze to turn to the doctor. “Yes. Fine. She’ll do. I have a car waiting and a meeting to attend. Get her ready to leave immediately.”

  Reyna raised her eyebrows in surprise. That was nothing more than a short perusal. The paperwork had already been squared away, but she would have thought that he would want to ask her a few questions to get to know her. She was after all going to be living with him indefinitely. She guessed this was what an arranged marriage felt like.

  “I believe she is ready to leave,” the doctor said without acknowledging her. “We need your approval signature and then she can be discharged.”

  The doctor handed over the last piece of paper she had signed, and Beckham scrawled his name across the line with a flourish.

  “Great. She’s mine. Can we go now?” Beckham asked sharply.

  “Yes. Yes, of course. Reyna, come along.”

  Reyna forced herself to move one foot in front of the other. She could do this. She could leave behind everything she had ever known to go live with this strange man…vampire. To live with a strange vampire who was going to suck her blood on a regular basis. She swallowed hard and held her chin up. She was doing this for Brian and Drew, but also for herself. She wanted to make something of herself. One day she would.

  Every journey begins with one step. Hers began with this one.

  She moved over to the doctor, feeling marginally more comfortable with him. Her Sponsor was already busy checking his cellphone. He wasn’t paying attention to her at all.

  “He’s not going to hurt me, right?” she whispered, never taking her eyes off of Mr. Anderson.

  Beckham’s nostrils flared, and his eyes darted to hers. “I am not here to hurt you. You are my employee. I will treat you like an employee. And as my employee, we are in a bit of a hurry, so anything else you might wish to discuss with the doctor will have to wait. If everything is in order, you will remain silent and we will leave.”

  Reyna stared up into the black pools of his eyes and realized she was drowning. She was floundering through an empty abyss with no way to escape. If she had once known how to swim, the ability had fled her mind. There was only her and this man and her inability to say something to tamp down his ever-increasing anger. Very little was clear about what would follow once she walked through that door.

  The only thing that was really very clear was that Beckham Anderson was a complete and total asshole.

  Chapter 4

  Silence.

  Apparently that was Beckham’s MO. He was silent. He liked her silent. His phone was silent. Even the Town Car, the unbelievably sleek beautiful shouldn’t-even-touch-it-was-so-shiny Town Car, was silent.

  They drove out of the Visage facilities and then headed east toward the coastline. The Town Car zoomed at unbelievable speeds, driving away from her shitty home, away from her brothers, away from her life.

  Reyna glanced over her shoulder and back through the rear window. Her pulse raced with regret at leaving everything she knew behind, and yet she wouldn’t have changed her decision. They needed the money. This was the perfect opportunity. Though she knew it wasn’t the one her brothers would have chosen for her. Few hard choices in life were ever the one you wanted to take.

  When she didn’t show up at home tonight, Brian and Drew were going to have a panic attack. She wished she had gotten to say goodbye. Since they didn’t have a phone, she had no means of contacting them, and she couldn’t reach their employer without risking backlash at the factory. Maybe she should have left a note letting them know where she was going. They probably would have been just as panicked when they found the note. No matter what, she would have to find a way to let her brothers know she was okay.

  With a heavy sigh, she sat back in the seat, leaving her world behind her.

  Then the city came into view. She had always found it hideous, cold and disgusting. When she had been forced to move in with her uncle for those few horrible years, she had learned to hate the city. Dirty and unforgiving. And filled with people neglectful and careless of their neighbors. Everyone trapped like rats.

  With nothing to their name, her brothers had taken her and hitchhiked out of the city limits. They had moved from this hellhole and into a new one. She didn’t mind trading one hell for another since her brothers were able to get work in the warehouse distract.

  “So…” Reyna said softly. “Where exactly do you live?”

  Beckham looked up at her over the top of his cellphone. His eyes were fierce and supremely disinterested. Black as night. He sent her a look that said, Why the fuck are you talking to me?

  “You will see soon enough,” he said, his tone dismissive.

  She swallowed hard and averted her eyes. It was hard to look at him head-on. His eyes, though black and lifeless, were equally terrifying.

  Her first instinct about him was absolutely accurate. He was a very powerful man, and he exuded that power in everything he did. Just turning his head to look at her made her want to shrink in her seat. She didn’t out of pride, but she wanted to. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have seen a vampire like Beckham before the blood type cure had curbed their more gruesome baser instincts.

  They drove into the heart of the city, and she plastered herself against the window to look at the tall buildings, masses of people, and strange sights and sounds. After she left with her brothers, she hadn’t set foot in the city again. It wasn’t a safe place for anyone alone, and her brothers would have never allowed it even if she had wanted to go. Which she didn’t.

  The next building took up an entire block. Visage was scrawled across the entrance in big, bold red letters. She had never seen their downtown offices. It was all glass and impossibly tall. Even craning her neck, she couldn’t see the top.

  “Do you work there? In that?” she asked before she could stop herself.

  He sighed rather heavily. “Yes. Now would you please be quiet, sit still, and stop gawking? I have business to attend to, and I can’t concentrate with you breathing on the windows.”

  Reyna snapped back into her seat and glared in his direction. What an ass! She was just curious about this new life she was about to lead. The least he could do was answer a few questions. He obviously didn’t know this was her first time in the city in ten years. He obviously didn’t care either.

  She let her eyes drift back out the window in frustration. It all looked the same anyway. Dark and bleak. Just like Beckham’s attitude.

  A few tense minutes later, they slowed in front of another enormous building. Beckham’s driver pulled up into the circular loading zone, and a valet rushed over to open the door. Beckham exited first without a backward glance in her direction. With another agitated sigh, she scooted across the seat to follow behind him.

  Reyna trotted across the empty space to catch up with Beckham. Spotless sliding glass doors zipped open at their approach, and they entered into a colossal lobby entranceway. As she stared around at her lush surroundings, her mouth dropped open, and her eyes were big as saucers. The room went up as far as the eye could see. A clear glass elevator shot quickly up its track to the highest reaches of the building. She trekked across a highly polished marble floor, past furniture so luxurious she couldn’t
even name the fabrics they were made out of, and all the people…

  She couldn’t even fathom it. They were all beautiful. Beyond beautiful. Wearing expensive clothing, with impeccable skin, and perfect hair.

  Her eyes fell down to her outfit, and she picked at the jagged hem of her favorite T-shirt. Her jeans were old, and nearly worn through at the knee. Her sneakers were an old pair of Converse someone else had grown out of. She and her brothers couldn’t afford brand-new shoes. They’d always had to make do with what they had. She clearly didn’t fit in here at all.

  As she passed, people blatantly stared at her. She ducked her head to her chin and ignored the stares. It was worse that she couldn’t help staring at the incredible room. She wished for once that she could be as invisible as she was back at home.

  Beckham swiped a card over a black box and the elevator door opened. He used another swipe card once they walked into the glass elevator and pressed a button to take them up to the top floor: PENTHOUSE.

  Her heart sputtered.

  “You live in the penthouse?” she gasped. “Who does that?”

  “I do.”

  That was it. Nothing more from him. He was clearly a man of few words.

  The elevator shot them up so fast Reyna felt like she left her stomach behind on the first floor. Once she had finally righted herself, it slowed to a stop so high up that the people below looked like ants. The door dinged open on the top floor, directly into Beckham’s penthouse. She took one step forward out of the elevator and into an enormous room.

  And what a room it was.

  Reyna stumbled forward in a daze of luxury she couldn’t process. He owned an expansive living room with a large sectional couch and a television large enough to fill an entire wall. Gorgeous black-and-white photographs on canvas covered the otherwise empty walls. A massive stainless steel kitchen was off to the right. It appeared too clean for her to even walk into let alone anyone to cook in. Her eyes were drawn back to the living room and the panoramic view of the city looking out at Visage’s downtown building. It even had a balcony with an infinity pool and Jacuzzi.

  Who would have guessed living with a vampire was like being surrounded by a slice of Heaven?

  “Wow,” she breathed. “Your kitchen is bigger than my whole apartment.”

  Then she cringed. She hadn’t meant to mention her home. She didn’t want Beckham to know anything about where she came from. Not that he seemed like the type to ask. But if this was her job, then she had no intention of mixing business and pleasure.

  She covered her embarrassment by wandering farther into the living room. Her eyes were drawn to the photographs on the walls of the apartment. They showcased dark city landscapes; an up-close shot of a pretty woman drinking coffee at a café; a cloudy skyline; a view of a square block from on high; a collection of people walking down the streets, their faces and movements blurred; and on and on. All of them were mesmerizing. Such a dark and gloomy version of the city…yet still striking in its own way.

  “I love these,” she said, her fingers running along the black frames.

  When Beckham didn’t say anything, she turned back to him. He was staring down at his phone and completely ignoring her. She waited another minute for him to say something. Anything really.

  Finally, he finished whatever he was doing and tucked his phone into the pocket of his suit. She felt his eyes on her and balled her hands into fists at her sides, determined not to look away again. She didn’t want to fear him.

  “Well, this is my place. You’ll be staying here…indefinitely. So, get used to it.”

  She wanted to laugh. Get used to it? Was he for real?

  “I have some ground rules that I would like you to adhere to while you are living here.”

  “Okay,” she said apprehensively.

  “First, no outside guests of any kind at any time.”

  “Wait, what? Really?” she asked in surprise. She couldn’t ever bring anyone to the new place she was living? That seemed unrealistic if she had to live here basically forever.

  He glared at her. “Was I unclear?”

  “No, but why can’t I bring anyone over?”

  “I wasn’t aware that I needed to explain myself to you, Miss Carpenter. As your employer, you will follow my rules or you will leave empty-handed. Am I understood?”

  She swallowed down her anger. Not that she had ever intended on bringing anyone else here. The only other people she knew were an hour drive from the city and didn’t have cars. But it would have been nice to have the option in case she made friends. Hopefully she’d make some friends…

  “Yes. You’re understood,” Reyna said.

  “Fantastic. Second, you must stay here every single night.”

  Reyna furrowed her brows. “Where else would I stay?”

  He crossed his arms stiffly and stared at her with an all-knowing look on his face. She blushed at the insinuation in that look. Oh, sex. Right.

  “Do I have a curfew too?” she asked sarcastically.

  He didn’t even justify that with an answer.

  “Third, I want to be able to get ahold of you at all times. So, you will need this.” He produced a phone from his pocket and handed it over to her. It had a long shiny display and felt odd and clunky in her small hand. She’d never had one of these. Never even held one before.

  “Um…how does it work?”

  He sighed, exasperated, and showed her the basic mechanics of the phone. After a short introduction, she knew how to turn it on, make a phone call, send a text message, and access the Internet. What the hell she would do with all of these new functions was beyond her.

  “You need to have this with you at all times. If I try to reach you and cannot get ahold of you, I will be very displeased,” he said.

  By the look on his face, she gathered that displeased meant that once he found her, he would tear her apart limb from limb.

  “Okay. Got it.” She slid the phone into her jean pocket. She hoped she remembered all of that.

  “A few final things—your room is down the hall to the right.”

  He pointed behind her.

  “And where is yours?” she asked.

  As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. She couldn’t believe she had just asked that. It made it seem like she was interested in being in his bedroom, which was not the case. She knew that some of the people who started working for Visage ended up giving up more than their blood, but she wasn’t here to have sex with anyone. She was here to give her blood and make some money.

  That was it. She wasn’t a whore.

  “My room is none of your concern, Miss Carpenter.”

  “Of course,” she mumbled, looking away. “I didn’t mean…I just…never mind.”

  “As I was saying, your room is down the hall. The refrigerator is completely stocked, but if there is something specific you like, you have access to my butler, who will get you anything you like.”

  “I’m sorry…did you just say butler?”

  “His line is programmed in your phone,” Beckham explained.

  “So, really anything?”

  “Within reason, of course. Now, that is all the time I have for you today. I must get back to work.” He turned and began walking away from her.

  “Wait!” she called, reaching her hand out. When he turned and looked at her as if she were the biggest nuisance he had ever seen, she let her hand drop. “I just want to make sure I understand the rules. I can leave?”

  Beckham raised an eyebrow. “So, eager to leave already?”

  “No,” she said, taking a step backward at his look. “I just wanted to know if I was permitted to leave.”

  She needed to see her brothers as soon as possible, but didn’t want to break any rules on the first day of her new…job.

/>   “You are not my prisoner. You may come and go as you please, but as my house guest I do like to know where you are at all times. Just text me when you come and go.”

  “Oh.” She breathed out softly.

  “I’m paying a lot of money for you to be here. I don’t want to waste my investment,” he said plainly.

  She shuddered at the word. It made her feel as cheap as the term whore. She was here as a feeder and nothing more. He didn’t even have the decency to hide the underlying humiliation of her purpose.

  “Investment,” she repeated hollowly.

  “Yes, Miss Carpenter. You are a very, very expensive investment,” he repeated harshly.

  “I see. So, are we going to do this, then?” she spat.

  Her anger flared and intensified immediately. She yanked her shirt aside at her throat and bared her neck. This was what she was here for, right? Forget the fancy penthouse, new cellphone, a refrigerator with enough food to feed her entire apartment complex back in the warehouses, her own room, or a butler. Plain and simple. She was food. She sustained him. If she was here to do a job, then she wanted to remind herself exactly why she was here. She couldn’t be blinded by the fancy place she had walked into. None of this was hers. She was here at the mercy of a vampire who could send her away for a replacement as easily as he could drain her dry. She refused to forget that again.

  Her hands trembled as fear pricked at her. And she waited, refusing to back down, even when Beckham made no move toward her.

  Beckham cocked his head to the side, simply watching her. “I’m not hungry and you should…” He looked her up and down. “Freshen up.”

  And with that he walked down the hall, into a room, and slammed the door.

  She righted herself slowly. Her breathing was uneven, and she couldn’t believe what had just happened. He had rejected her. Completely and utterly rejected her.

  Somehow that damn man made her feel even more insulted in his absence.

  Chapter 5

  Reyna jolted out of sleep and bolted upright in bed. She slapped her hand to her heaving chest. Her heart rate was through the roof, and for a moment she couldn’t remember where she was or why she was there. She breathed out twice heavily as she took in her surroundings.