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CHAPTER SEVEN: BRASS TACKS - PART ONE
Trying to block out all the busy café sounds, Harri sat across from Azel, her head hanging down. She couldn’t even bear to look at him, crossing her legs and arms around herself to make herself as small as possible in the industrial, chrome-and-glass styled space. How could she face him, after what she’d done? As it was, it’d taken her about a week to contact him again, to see if they could meet. “First off, I want to say that I’m sorry. I was angry before, but I had no right to treat you that way.”
Azel huffed wordlessly, his arms tightly folded across his chest.
“A-and I totally understand, if you want to back out of our deal,” Harri continued. “I’ll pay you what I owe — for the full agreed-upon month, if you think that’s fair — but we can be done now. If that’s what you want.” Please, don’t. She wanted to scream, to beg, to plead with him not to leave. After the disastrous meal with Nate — or, more accurately, after Nate told Harri’s mother about the dinner they shared — everyone in her life began acting as if they were back together again. All the progress she’d made since leaving him was gone again. She didn’t know what to do.
Azel studied her, his black eyes ruthlessly scrutinizing her. His words clipped and harsh, he said, “I’m assuming nothing’s changed since we started all this. I still need money; you still need someone to keep your ex at bay. Is that right?”
Harri winced but nodded.
“So we stick to that.” He pulled out a small sheaf of paper. “It’s the original contract, with all the stipulations we’d made before, as well as a few new ones.”
New ones? “Like what?”
He narrowed his gaze, looking foreboding and unmovable. “While we will meet at least four times a week, we will limit our time together to Nate-related activities.”
“Nate-related?” What did that mean?
“Either events he’s at or ones he’s sure to hear about.” He tilted his head at a knowing angle stiffly. “No point in our being together, if it’s not furthering the objective.”
Harri fought the urge to flinch at his words. They were so cold, detached. Like they were discussing some business merger or trade deal. Which, she admitted, they sort of were. “Okay.” If that was what he wanted, she supposed, that was for the best.
“And no more extraneous gifts. No unearned advances. No free meals. No offering to get or send or pay for things outside the parameters of the deal.” He shook his head. “You can reimburse me the cost of our dates, through the agreed upon methods, but, if it’s not pertaining to the contract itself, your expenses are yours, mine are mine. You’re paying for my time and my services, but I am not for sale.”
This time Harri did flush. Oh God, had she insulted him by flaunting her money in his face? That wasn’t what she’d intended. In pretty much every relationship she’d had since college, she’d always made more money than her partners, even her friends and family. It’d just become habit to want to help them out financially, to take care of them. Even splurge and spoil them at times. It was how she showed them she cared.
But, she supposed, she and Azel weren’t in a relationship. She stared at the papers in front of her. They were in a relationship contract. “I’m sorry.”
“Lastly, when it comes to Nate himself,” Azel continued as if she hadn’t spoken, “unless directly spoken to or about, I will not have any further involvement or interaction with him. He is your problem; I’m merely your means to a solution. You will deal with him as you see fit, without any more input or interference from me.”
Harri stiffened in her seat. She hadn’t expected that. Maybe she should have, given their fight. But she’d thought they were in this together. She could still remember how he’d encouraged her to stand up to him on the phone. They’d felt like a team.
But he was right; Nate was her problem. It wasn’t his responsibility to deal with him. She’d told him that herself. God, no wonder she was such a failure at relationships. She wasn’t even in a real one and she was already fucking it up.
“So do you agree to the terms?”
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