Dark Favors

by Sophie Stern

  With that one word, that “okay,” I suddenly felt like truly, everything really was going to be okay. It was going to be better than okay.

  It was going to be wonderful.

  I’d find another way to tell Paige about her father. It wouldn’t be at the gala. It would have to be another time. Maybe in a month, maybe in six. I didn’t know. Josiah Regan wasn’t going anywhere, and knowing Paige, I suddenly felt like it wasn’t such a pressing thing for me to seek revenge on my little sister’s killer.

  Suddenly, I was starting to wonder if I’d been living my life all wrong. This entire time, I’d been fighting pain with pain. What if it was time to let all of that go? What if it was time to forget about the past and start looking forward?

  I wondered if I could do that with Paige.

  She was sweet, and she was wild. She was sassy and beautiful and funny. It wasn’t easy to make me laugh, but somehow, with her foot-stomping and her bratting and her jokes, she always managed to make me feel like I was the luckiest bastard in Ruby City.

  “Kiss me,” I commanded, happy that she was going to go with me, and she did. She wrapped her arms around my neck and she climbed onto my lap. She kissed me, reaching down to rub my cock over the pants as she did. I was hard, and I was ready, and she started stripping off my clothing. Piece by piece, she pulled off the suit, and along with it, her dress.

  And then we were naked.

  She kissed on my neck, moving around to my front, and then she moved down to my stomach, and then lower.

  “Okay,” she looked up at me. “This really is a huge bathtub.”

  I wanted to laugh, but I also wanted her to keep going, so I compromised and tugged on her hair, urging her lower.

  “Paige,” I said.

  “Don’t worry, Mr. Locke,” she murmured. “I won’t stop.”

  And she didn’t.

  In the history of blowjobs, I was certain Paige gave the very best ones. She made me feel like I was coming to life, and that wasn’t a very easy thing to do. She played with my balls and she slid my cock into her throat. She groaned, and I looked down to see her hand between her legs.

  “You look so fucking sexy,” I told her.

  “You love it when I suck your cock,” she said, looking up. Her eyes look wild with arousal, and she was excited. I loved seeing her like that, loved watching the way she licked my body like she was made to do this.

  “I love so much about you,” I murmured, and I closed my eyes as she played with me. Soon I was close: too close for comfort.

  “I want to ride your cock,” she looked up at me.

  Then she waited.

  It was a strange sort of look. She was always so damn brave, but right now, she looked nervous, as though I was going to tell her no.

  When it came to Paige, I wasn’t sure I could tell her no even if I wanted to, and I definitely, definitely, didn’t want to.

  So instead of telling her no, I said the stupidest thing that popped into my head.

  “I don’t have a condom,” I whispered.

  I hadn’t carried one in years. Not that I’d slept with anyone in a very, very long time. I hadn’t. Not since I lost my sister. It was like a switch had flipped on the day I’d found out that she had died. I suddenly aged fifty years overnight. Suddenly, nothing seemed interesting or fun or wild anymore.

  At least, it hadn’t until I had met Paige.

  Then everything had definitely changed, and my world had seemed to crash into hers in a way I had never expected it to.

  “I’m clean,” she whispered. “I’m on the pill.”

  That was good enough for me. I trusted her completely. Probably, I shouldn’t have. Trusting people was a fast way to get hurt or robbed, but when it came to Paige, I just couldn’t find anything bad or rotten. She was an innocent, and she was too good for me.

  I pushed those thoughts aside, and I reached for her, pulling her up and over me.

  “Tell me you’re sure,” I whispered.

  “I’m sure.”

  I grabbed her hips and held them in place as I thrust up into her. She closed her eyes and groaned as I filled her up with my cock. I pulsed into her, thrusting up over and over again. She reached for my shoulders, and she held on as I fucked her right there in the damn tub.

  Her breasts bounced, and I reached out with my tongue and flicked it over one of her nipples.

  “Mr. Locke,” she whispered.

  “Paige, my cock is buried inside of you,” I told her. “You can forget your manners for a little while.”

  “Nathan,” she whispered, and hearing my name – my first name, my real name – on her lips, just about made me lose total control right then.

  I made love to Paige to what felt like an eternity. I reached between us, rubbing my fingers over her clit.

  “I’m close,” she whispered.

  “Wait,” I told her. I shifted, sliding down into the tub, and I pushed on her bottom, urging her to climb up. “Come on my face, princess,” I told her. She didn’t even hesitate. She just climbed up, pressing her body against my mouth, and she rode my tongue until she was coming undone. It was the hottest thing I’d ever done in my life, and when she slid back down, moving onto my cock once more, I couldn’t hold back any longer.

  I came, whispering her name, pulling on her hair, filling her up.

  I came so hard that I felt dizzy, and for a second, everything went back.

  Just for a second.

  For just one, unforgettable moment, everything in my entire world seemed to stop, and everything seemed like it was going to be okay.

  Then I opened my eyes, and she was there, watching me. Paige cupped my face with her hand, and she reached out, pressing her lips to mine.

  I almost told her I loved her. It was on the tip of my tongue. Even though I knew it was wrong, and that it wasn’t something I should say, I almost did it, anyway.

  I almost told her that I wanted her to be mine.

  Almost.

  I opened my mouth, trying to ignore my brain, and I was just about to tell her when my phone rang.

  “Hang on,” I said. “Fuck.”

  I fumbled for my suit jacket. It was undoubtedly completely wrinkled, and probably totally destroyed. I didn’t care about any of that. I managed to get my phone out, and I answered it. There was no worst time for Amber to call with an urgent message about the gala. One of the transporters for the art that was going to be displayed needed a signature. Fuck. I had to go.

  I hung up and looked at Paige.

  “I have to go,” I said reluctantly, hating that I was going to leave her after everything we’d just done. We hadn’t just had sex. We’d made love, in my opinion, and it had been even better than I’d imagined it would be.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I totally understand.” She smiled at me, letting me know there was no judgment there. She said that she understood why I was going.

  I thought that she did, too. She didn’t seem angry or tired or mad. She just seemed like she understood that I had shit I had to do, and that was part of what running a company was like.

  Again, I wasn’t really sure how I’d gotten so lucky as to spend my time with someone like her. Paige was perhaps the most understanding human I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was wild, and she was wonderful, and she was much too good for someone like me.

  “I’ll call you later,” I pressed a kiss to her forehead, and I climbed out of the tub. I reached for my clothes, pulling them out of the tub and onto my body. “Take your time,” I told her. “And lock the front door when you leave.”

  I handed her the key to the mansion, showing again that I trusted her, and then I left.

  I couldn’t wait to see her again.

  Chapter 16

  Paige

  We fucked.

  Mr. Locke and I had totally, completely, absolutely fucked in the bathroom of a mansion, and I didn’t even feel bad or sorry about it. Maybe I should have. Would that have been the correct respon
se? Should I have felt bad or guilty or sorry about what happened? Should I have been uncomfortable with the way we’d handled things?

  I didn’t.

  I felt the opposite.

  I felt good: good, and maybe a little bit wild.

  After he left, I just sort of sat in the bathtub for awhile. It was a huge tub, and as I sat there, I imagined what it might be like to grab some blankets and pillows and make a little nest for myself right there in the bath. It would be quite wonderful, I thought, and it would be something nobody would ever expect.

  Finally, I climbed out of the tub. I needed to get going. I couldn’t just loiter around all day when there was homework to do. As I stepped out of the tub, I heard a little noise, and I looked down. Something had fallen onto the bottom of the tub. A flash drive. It wasn’t mine. Maybe it had fallen out of Locke’s jacket. He might need it for his meeting.

  I headed outside, locking up the mansion as I did. My car was parked right there, and I slid inside and took a deep breath. I still couldn’t quite believe what we’d done, but I was happy about it. That was a good sign, right?

  It was good to feel sexy after fucking some guy in a random mansion. That was important. I pulled out my cell and called Locke. He answered on the first ring.

  “Paige? Is everything okay? Did the key work?” He sounded out of breath. He’d probably just gotten to the office and was in the middle of something.

  “Oh, yeah, it was fine,” I said. “It’s just that I found a, uh, well, it looks like a thumb drive of some sort. I wasn’t sure if you needed it today.”

  Silence.

  It wasn’t often that Locke fell completely silent, and it wasn’t ever a good sign. What was on the flash drive that had him suddenly so uncomfortable?

  He instantly tried to play it off. I could practically hear him shaking his head, brushing it off, and putting on his “it-doesn’t-matter” voice.

  “It must have fallen out of my pocket,” he said. “You didn’t access it, did you?”

  Why the fuck would he ask me that? Of course, I didn’t access the files.

  “Uh, no?”

  “Okay,” he breathed out. Had he been holding his breath? Was that a sigh of relief? What the hell was on the flash drive?

  Suddenly, I wondered if it had anything to do with my dad. Maybe it had his name. Maybe that was the secret Locke had been keeping from me.

  “Can you bring it by the office now?” He asked. “I’m just signing some final paperwork for the event next weekend.”

  That’s right. The gala. The one he had invited me to.

  The one he was going to get me a dress for.

  Being invited to see his late sister’s art had been incredible. It had been an honor, really, and I was looking forward to it. At least, I had been. Now, I wondered what the hell I was holding in my hand.

  “Sure,” I said. “No problem at all. I just have to get gas, and then I’ll be there.”

  “See you soon,” he said casually, and then he ended the call.

  I dropped my phone and instantly reached into my backpack, which was sitting on the passenger seat of my car. My laptop was still in there. I’d forgotten to bring it into the house the night before, and now I was thankful for my carelessness. Normally, I wouldn’t go through other people’s shit, but this was different.

  This was Locke, and he was keeping something from me.

  He might be an expert at body language, but I was an expert at something else: reading assholes who tried to keep secrets.

  My mother had spent her entire life dealing with jerks, and she’d taught me exactly how to tell when a guy was lying to me or playing me. One of the biggest signs? That shit Locke had just pulled on the phone. It wasn’t until I said that I hadn’t looked at the drive that he’d relaxed enough to ask me to bring it over.

  What if I’d said yes?

  Well, I was about to find out.

  I powered on my laptop and plugged the flash drive in. I was only slightly surprised to see that there was a password, but fortunately for me, Locke wasn’t exactly a guru when it came to security. He might be brilliant when it came to reading people and making deals, but I had a feeling that Caleb played a huge role when it came to making sure that Locke’s data was all kept safe.

  I’d never exactly been a hackerman when it came to stuff like this, but I desperately wanted to know what Locke was hiding there. Considering that I didn’t think he was the type of guy to memorize a random series of numbers or letters, I thought his password was probably something important to him.

  I tried his sister’s name and date of death.

  Nothing.

  I tried his dad’s name.

  Nothing.

  Dad’s date of death.

  Zilch.

  On a whim, I tried his birthday, but there was still nothing.

  I stared at my laptop. I didn’t have a lot of time before he realized I hadn’t gone to get gas and that I wasn’t at the office yet. How many guesses did I have before I got locked out of the flash drive? Was this like a movie where after a certain number of attempts, the whole drive was wiped?

  I didn’t think so, but I also didn’t want to keep guessing and screw with everything.

  Finally, knowing that there was no chance in hell it was possible, I tried my own birthdate.

  And everything opened.

  “What the fuck?” I whispered out loud.

  Why the hell had my birthday been the password?

  “What are you hiding?” I asked, and then I started clicking. Almost instantly, I felt sick. It was all here. My entire life was here. Locke knew just about everything about me, and not only about me, but my mother.

  I clicked on a PDF. It was a copy of a newspaper article from the night the woman went missing at the mansion I’d just had sex in. There was a picture of the missing girl, and right away, I recognized my mother.

  Only, she had a different name.

  Instead of Elizabeth Key, as I thought her name was, the woman in the picture was called Theresa Smith. She was barely out of high school when she’d vanished, and nobody ever knew what happened to her. For weeks, people had looked for her, but eventually, everyone realized it was useless, and the world moved on.

  Only, Locke hadn’t moved on.

  He’d found out who she was.

  And he’d found out who my father was.

  I started crying as I looked through all of the pictures, newspaper clippings, and recorded interviews. My dad wasn’t just some schmuck who’d run off because he didn’t want a kid. My dad was actually Locke’s arch nemesis. Josiah Reagan was my father, which meant that not only did I have a dad, but I had an older half-sister, too.

  Did Annabelle know about me?

  Did she know what her dad had done?

  I kept clicking, reading through all of the material, and soon I figured out exactly what had happened all of those years ago. Josiah had slept with my mom, and when she’d gotten pregnant, he’d threatened her. The event at the mansion was the last time she was ever seen in public under her real name. She’d worked for him briefly as an assistant of some kind, and no one had really thought too much about their relationship at all. He’d been questioned when she vanished, but he’d been cleared, and the world moved on.

  So why had she vanished?

  And why hadn’t he killed us both?

  Finding out that the biggest asshole, and also the biggest real estate tycoon, in Ruby City had an illegitimate daughter?

  That was news.

  People in Ruby City loved a good gossip story, and they loved seeing their beloved heroes fall on their faces. This was the kind of story that would destroy Extrance for good. The shareholders wouldn’t want to be associated with the kind of guy who would get someone pregnant and then try to kill her. They definitely wouldn’t want to be associated with the kind of guy who would abandon his unborn child.

  “Mom, what did you do?”

  My mother had never told me where I’d come from.
She’d never told me that she used a fake name. Fuck, even after she’d died, I hadn’t found anything that would have told me the truth. This was a secret that she wanted to die with her, apparently, but something had happened.

  Rebecca Locke had happened.

  I found her research paper on the flash drive, along with all of the information she’d gathered about my dad. And despite being a college student, she was wildly clever. She’d found out exactly who he was, what had happened, and then she’d found something else.

  Hush money.

  My mom had run away, disappearing into Ruby City with me. There was a reason we’d lived off the books in the trailer park. There was a reason we’d rented a trailer without signing any sort of contract. My mom did everything she needed to in order to protect me and keep me safe.

  And she’d blackmailed Josiah Reagan into sending her money every single month.

  Rebecca had found a post office box where the checks had been sent, and I realized that it was something I hadn’t checked since my mom passed away. It had only been six months since she died. Would the box still be open?

  I grabbed my keychain and looked at it. Thumbing through my different keys, I finally found it. I had the key to her post office box the entire time, and I hadn’t known it. My mother had loved keys, and she’d collected them sometimes. This one had been her favorite, but I hadn’t known it was really a key that worked.

  I didn’t know it was a key that held a secret.

  If my mom hadn’t died so suddenly, would she ever have told me?

  I needed to go to that post office and open the box. I needed to see if there was anything else there that could help me.

  What was I going to find?

  I took a deep breath. I had almost gone through everything on the file. It was a lot of evidence that basically ensured Josiah Reagan’s reputation would be totally destroyed, and for good reason, but there was one more thing that I hadn’t clicked.

  There was one more file I hadn’t opened.