Page 11 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

“I work for you, but that doesn’t mean you can dictate everything in my life.”

Beckham tilted his head down and stared at her as if she were a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. He slowly walked toward her. “I said trash your clothes. Now. Purchase new clothes if you don’t like the ones ordered for you, but I can’t be seen with anyone dressed the way you are right now. You already made a spectacle of yourself last night in the lobby. Would you like to continue to embarrass yourself?”

His words brokered no argument, and Reyna wordlessly shook her head. With him standing so near her, she was trembling from head to toe.

“Good. Then go change.”

Reyna dropped the whisk in the bowl, maneuvered around him, and then disappeared back into her room. She couldn’t believe she was letting him order her around and dress her as if she were a child, but how could she say no?

She located the least extravagant outfit she could find—a white chiffon button-up blouse tucked into a rose gold sequined skirt—and tried not to feel ridiculous walking around in the ensemble.

Beckham’s nod of approval did nothing to make her feel less awkward. Though it did make her feel a slight glimmer of relief that she had done something to garner that approval even if she had just fought him on it.

“Here,” he said. He slid a black card across the counter to her.

“What is it?”

“The company has set up an account for you with access to your payments. It’s all in your savings. You can charge anything else to this card. It doubles as a key pass for the penthouse. Your first payment has already been deposited.”

She took the key in her hand and stared at it in awe. She was holding a small fortune in her hand. It was so surreal.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t lose it. Those are not easy to get ahold of.”

She nodded and then went back to her breakfast. She finished her omelet and sat down to eat it, shifting her skirt so that her ass wouldn’t hang out. When she sat down next to Beckham, he looked up from his phone. He seemed surprised she was still there. He appeared to be so used to being alone that having another person in his house was throwing him off.

“Yes, well then…” he said as a way of farewell and then headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” she called.

He stiffened at the question. “Work.”

“When will you be back?”

“I downloaded my schedule to your phone. Access the calendar feature, and you will have the updated information.”

“Oh. Calendar feature. Right,” she said. Of course he had a schedule for all his work-related things.

Without further ado, Beckham walked out of the penthouse, leaving her all alone. And she had no better idea as to what the hell she was supposed to do in the first place. They hadn’t discussed when he was going to feed, and he hadn’t asked to drink from her once. Vampires needed to eat every couple of days but could go as long as a week without sustenance. Yet all of the information at Visage had made it seem like her Sponsor would wish to drink from her every day.

Isn’t that what he’s paying me for?

Chapter Five

Reyna paced the apartment.

She had finally managed to check Beckham’s schedule on her phone. He was supposed to be gone most of the day with work appointments. She had double-checked to see if he had scheduled time in his extremely busy calendar to eat but had no luck. She wasn’t on there at all, and as far as she could tell, unless she was reading things wrong, he never took a break. He never slowed down. He didn’t seem to doanythingexcept work.

Which was just fine by her.

With him gone for the day, she could go see her brothers. It would be a quick trip. No more than three or four hours. She would be back before Beckham even knew she had left the city.

Not that he had said that she couldn’t leave. In fact, he had specifically said that she could. However, it didn’t make her any less frightened about what he would do if she did something else that displeased him. Wearing her old clothes had almost set him off. He was a ticking time bomb, and she was worried that she would end up on the wrong end of his explosion.

Still, shehadto see her brothers. She would make sure she didn’t break any of his rules, and she would be golden.

She jotted out a text to Beckham. The buttons were hard to manage, and she had to backtrack a dozen times before she got the message right.

---