Chapter Six

MIA

I scrambled to my feet immediately, utterly embarrassed to be seen in that position. It made me feel like the slut I was sold to be.

I heard Keith’s deep growl, and I couldn’t tell what his feelings were.

“Jackie, what are you doing here?” Keith asked her disgruntledly.

He sounded disgusted.

“Really, Keith?” She asked him without flinching.

She didn’t seem to be moved by Keith’s harshness. It was as though she was used to it already.

“The least you could have done was knock,” Keith told her.

She glanced at me, but her eyes were hot with fire and rage, and it burned into my skin. I couldn’t even hold her gaze.

Jackie, as Keith referred to her, was strikingly beautiful. There was something about her that screamed power and class, and looking at her and Keith, they seemed like the perfect match.

A slice of jealousy cut through me instantly. 

Gosh, I don’t even know who she is, and there is nothing going on between Keith and I, so why did I feel slightly jealous?

“We need to talk, Keith,” Jackie said, eventually taking her eyes away from me.

“Leave us,” Keith ordered.

For a second, I didn’t know who he was ordering out of the room. I thought it was Jackie because she was the intruder, but when Keith looked at me stiffly, I understood that it was me.

“What the fuck are you still standing here and staring at?” Jackie barked at me. 

I dashed out of the room, more embarrassed than I had ever been.

Then I heard the door slam loudly.

I guessed it must have been Jackie. She seemed really hostile and upset, and it made me wonder why on earth she would be upset with me.

She didn’t know me and I didn’t know her either.

Anyway, curiosity didn’t make me leave. Instead, I glued my eyes to the door and eavesdropped on them.

“Who is she?” Jackie asked Keith tightly.

“That shouldn’t be any of your business, Jackie,” Keith responded.

She sounded like a jealous lover to me, especially from the way she glared at me. If Keith already had a lover, then what was he doing with me? 

“He bought you as his sex slave, duh,” a voice in my head reminded me.

“We are business partners, and as such, your affairs concern me as well,” she stated.

“And the last time I checked, this is personal,” Keith said. “How does my personal life affect our business together?” He asked.

Okay, now I understood it; they were business partners, but from my point of view, it seemed as though Jackie saw Keith more than that.

Well, who wouldn’t?

Keith was handsome and well built, and he carried with him an air of masculinity and power, and judging from everything I had seen so far, he was wealthy.

“Who is she, Keith, and don’t tell me that what I saw was exactly what was about to happen before I came in?” She asked, insisting on the first question.

“Why are you here?” Keith asked, deliberately ignoring her question.

They were simply going back and forth, and it didn’t look like either of them was ready to surrender to the other.

“You shouldn’t be eavesdropping on them, Mia,” a voice in my head warned me. “If you get caught, you might be in a more dangerous situation than you already are.”

But I didn’t walk away.

Where would I go? 

Keith merely commanded me to leave. He didn’t say where, and I couldn't see anyone around, so I held onto that as my excuse for eavesdropping. My mum had warned me several times about fixing my ears into other people’s business without being asked, and that it would land me in serious trouble someday, but I didn’t listen to her.

“You should be concentrating on escaping and not listening to a back and forth banter between two business partners,” the same voice told me.

Yes, I knew that I should be doing that, but somehow, I couldn’t move my feet away from the door.

“Why are you being secretive with me, huh?” Jackie asked Keith.

She was refusing to drop the issue that Keith obviously didn’t want to talk about. Even a blind and deaf man could tell that she was obsessed with Keith. I spent only a few minutes in her presence, but I could tell. She might be an alpha female, but she was terrible at hiding her feelings.

So how couldn’t Keith tell? Or maybe he was just feigning ignorance.

“I have never discussed my private business with you, Jackie,” Keith told her gruffly.

“She is not even your type!” Jackie said.

Instinctively, I looked down at myself and felt somewhat inadequate. This was the first time that anyone had ever made me feel this way.

“She is too young for you, Keith, and too bland. There is nothing special about her,” Jackie continued to insist, as though she was trying to force Keith into agreeing with her.

“Why are you here?” Keith asked instead, pretending he didn’t hear all that she had said.

“I have been calling you, Keith, and it seems as though you are allowing your ‘personal’ business to get in the way of our business,” Jackie said sourly.

“I have been busy,” Keith responded, almost sounding nonchalant. “What is this shout?” He asked.

“There have been some problems that require your urgent attention, and you know I wouldn’t have come all the way down here just to tell you about it if it wasn’t,” Jackie said.

I fastened my ear to the door, wanting desperately to hear them. I wanted to know what Keith was into. As far as I could tell, he was a stranger, and I couldn’t trust him. He bought me for an outrageous amount of money and killed a man in my presence, and now, I was in his residence. So I really needed to know.

Again, I should be focusing on fleeing, I knew that, but…

“Hey,” I heard a stern voice.

And I jumped in shock.

Standing in front of me was Cain, the man I saw earlier with Keith. He had obviously caught me eavesdropping as he cocked his eyebrow questioningly.

My heart pounded hard against my ribs.

I was in deep trouble!