Chains by Shandi Boyes

Author:Shandi Boyes [Boyes, Shandi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shandi Boyes

15

“Cleo Garcia?”

Hugging my dressing gown tightly to my body, I nod to the male caller standing on the stoop of my stairs. With the clock only just hitting 8 AM, and it being Black Friday, I’m somewhat ill-prepared for guests.

“Sign here please,” he instructs, twisting a steel clipboard around to face me.

After scribbling my name across the courier delivery strip, the blond-haired man tears out the receiver’s copy of the delivery confirmation form and hands it to me with a plain white envelope.

“Thank you,” I stutter out, confusion in my tone as I shut the door.

With the early winter chill left outside, I loosen my grip on my dressing gown and rip open the thin envelope. Before my eyes can skim the six-page document, I spot Lexi staggering out of her room. Her eyes are puffy, and she has a large drool stain on her left cheek.

“Did I hear a male voice?” she queries, her voice groggy from waking up.

I nod. “Yeah, it was a courier driver delivering this document,” I reply, nudging my head to my hands.

Shock morphs onto Lexi’s face, mimicking mine to a T. As she slowly trudges toward me, I drop my eyes to the document. The longer my eyes scan the official-looking paperwork, the more my empty stomach rumbles. It isn’t grumbling due to lack of nutrients; it's protesting about the blank non-disclosure agreement the courier delivered.

Upon spotting the contempt on my face, Lexi's pace quickens. "What is it?" She stops beside me. The smell of her Roxy perfume filters into my nostrils when she leans across my body so she can peruse the document.

“This is your idea of normal,” I mumble, the fast rate of my heart relayed in my voice. “Master Chains requires me to sign a non-disclosure agreement before we can meet today.”

“No shit,” Lexi squeals, her eyes bugging out of her head. “I told you he was loaded.” She emphasizes the last word of her sentence with a shameful flair money-hungry trophy wives use.

“More like insane if he thinks I’ll sign this,” I interrupt, my tone lowering as anger boils my veins. “Not only can I not legally sign this form, I morally refuse to.”

“You have to sign it,” Lexi debates, removing the document from my hand. “If you don’t sign it, you can’t spend the weekend with Chains.”

I shrug. “Exactly. No skin off my nose.”

I barely catch Lexi’s dropped-jaw expression as I spin on my heels and stride to my bedroom.

“Cleo, we discussed this last night. I thought we came to an agreement?” Lexi bickers, shadowing me into my room.

“That was before he slapped me with an NDA,” I interject, padding to my bed. “If you think I’m going to spend a weekend with a man who requires me to sign a contract before we can officially meet, you don’t know me very well. That document isn’t just rude, pretentious and arrogant, it undermines every conversation we’ve had the past six weeks.”

“How?” Lexi disputes, watching me like a hawk as I hunt for my cell phone in the overnight bag I stupidly packed in haste this morning.

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