Bearilicious - Collection (26 page)

The Playbear’s Offer

Ashley Hunter

 Copyright 2015 by Ashley Hunter

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced

in any way whatsoever, without written permission

from the author, except in case of brief

quotations embodied in critical reviews

and articles.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any

person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

First edition, 2015

Chapter 1

Rosalina’s cell phone rang.

That alone was enough to make her suspicious. Her family had no money, and she could only afford the most basic cell phone plan. Fortunately, it came with unlimited texting, but very limited minutes. Everyone knew not to call her.

When she picked up the ringing cell and checked the display, it said the name of her county, but nothing else. Her first instinct was to ignore it, and she set the phone back down.

But what if it was some kind of an emergency? Now afraid it that she was missing the call, she snatched up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Rosalina Carvey?” a woman asked on the other end.

“Speaking.”

“I’m calling to inform you that your father has had a cardiac arrest.”

“Oh my God,” Rosalina said, covering her mouth.

“He’s alive, but we need you to come down and fill out some paperwork. Is your father allergic to any medications?”

“Not that I know of, no.” She knew he’d been sick, but she had no idea it’d gotten so bad. Shortness of breath, chest pains, dizziness. She’d always assumed it was just exhaustion because he worked so hard.

How could she have been so blind?

“I’ll be right there,” she said as she stood from the table and went to get her things.

The nurse gave her the room number to ask for. The next four hours were spent filling out paperwork at the county hospital, speaking with doctors and nurses.

As much as she wanted to stay by her father’s bedside in case he woke up, she couldn’t. He worked for the richest family in the city as their chef. Rosalina was studying to be a chef as well, having won a scholarship to the local culinary academy.

Occasionally, she would take over shifts for her father, as his health would prevent him from making it in. The family was understanding and allowed her to take over, despite the fact they were a bit callous in the way they treated him and his health.

As it was his health insurance that would barely cover his current stay, and if it went longer than a few days, the bill would quickly grow to astronomical heights. If he lost his job during that time, she didn’t know what they would do.

After heading home and gathering her things, she headed over to the Florence house to take over the rest of her father’s shift. It would be rough balancing work and her studies, but she could manage it for a little bit.

Her father was a tough man. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he’d pull through and be on his feet in no time.

He had to.

Mrs. Florence had been very kind when Rosalina showed up, and showed real concern about how her father was doing. Apparently, he’d lost consciousness in their kitchen, and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Rosalina did her best to stay positive, and explained she’d be taking over for him while he was in the hospital.

That night, as she cleaned up after cooking them dinner, Reginald, the Florence’s son, came home from wherever he’d been that day.

The man was ridiculous. In his early thirties, he still lived at home with his parents. Of course, it wasn’t like there wasn’t room. The place was a literal mansion.

When Rosalina was a child, she used to get lost walking the halls. Even now she wasn’t familiar enough with the house to wander it with total confidence.

Reginald was a womanizer if there ever was one, and had tried time and again to get into her pants. At first Rosalina had been young and naïve, flattered by the attention of such an extremely handsome man. Once she realized all he wanted was to claim her as yet another conquest of his, she refused to acknowledge his existence.

Now, after all these years, she watched him go through girl after girl. It was like they were tissues and he had allergies.

Psh, allergic to commitment, more like.

There was a distinct bitterness shared between them. In fact, he was the reason she was still a virgin. After the close call she’d had with him, Rosalina had become quite protective of her maidenhood.

She quickly grew wise to the ways of men, and she decided that she was more valuable than just getting off. Any guy could come along and claim she and all her curves were beautiful, but it took a real man to accept her refusal to have sex before she was ready.

So far, no one had been man enough to step to the plate and wait to swing.

“You cooked tonight, huh?” Reginald asked, walking to the fridge.

“Your parents seemed to enjoy it,” she said defensively, knowing an insult was incoming.

“Uh huh, I’ll have to watch out for hair in the leftovers.”

Rosalina sighed and rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know why you won’t think of some new material. It’s really getting old.”

Reginald closed the crisper drawer and pushed the refrigerator door closed with his hip.

Taking a large bite out of an apple he said, “Yeah? Then stop putting hair in my food.”

“I haven’t yet. Not me or my father. We take precautions.”

“Tell that to the hair …”

“That hair you found was blonde!” Rosalina grabbed up a handful of her own long chocolate locks.

“What does this look like to you? Huh? I have my father’s hair.”

“Bleached by all of the chemicals you put in the food.”

Rosalina grunted in frustration and let it drop, going back to straightening up. There was no point in arguing it any further.

He was just doing it to get a rise out of her anyway. After she refused to respond to his prodding, he eventually left her to her work.

Chapter 2

The next day Rosalina did a quick check on her father’s condition, which hadn’t improved, and then back to the mansion to fix breakfast.

It was as she was studying just before lunch that her phone rang again. It was the nurse again. Rosalina’s father was getting worse, and the procedures to fix what was happening would cost more than she and her father both made in three years.

What was worse was that if they didn’t perform the surgeries now, they’d lose him. The choice to authorize the hospital to do whatever they had to was an easy one, but as soon as Rosalina hung up the call, she cried.

The sense of overwhelming terror at how much everything would cost crashed over her in a torrential wave of anguish. Even if they were able to save him, what sort of life would he be living?

With the hospital bills, and school, not to mention all of their living costs, she just couldn’t do it on her own. She’d have to drop out of school, which was for certain.

There was just no way she could pay for it as well as everything else. That means she’d never advance in her career. It would never get better. This would not only end her life, but make whatever time her father had left miserable. He’d be filled with guilt at ruining her chances at building a better life for herself.

All through her childhood he apologized for their situation and pushed her to excel in everything she did. No matter what, he would see that she lived a better life than the one he could provide for her.

Now things were about to get worse.

“Making a tuna sandwich isn’t that complicated, is it?” Reginald asked from the doorway.

Rosalina was so startled by the sound of his whiny, arrogant voice that she screamed.

Reginald cried out himself and put a hand to his chest.

“Good God woman, it wasn’t that hard of a question was it? Or do you have something against tuna?”

“Not now,” she said, keeping her face down. If he saw her tears, there was no doubt he’d dig his hooks in and drag her all around the emotional landscape.

When she heard him laugh, she knew it was too late.

“Oh my God, are you crying?”

“Go away, Reggie.”

“Hah! You are. You’re actually crying. What was it this time, huh? The latest episode of…”

The sentence trailed off as he saw her clutching her phone so tightly that the plastic casing squeaked under the pressure.

“Hospital?”

Rosalina glanced up to him, giving him her hardest glare, and then looked back down at the coffee table she’d been studying on, and nodded.

Reginald flopped onto the large reclining chair across from her, one leg dangling over the arm. As if toying with her, he reached one long finger out to pivot her book so that he could glance at it, then pushed it back into place.

“He gonna pull through?”

He asked it as casually as he could, like he couldn’t care any less, but there was a definite note of concern in the question. Somehow, that surprised her more than anything else he’d done in the last seven years.

“Maybe,” she said, but her lip began to quiver and she didn’t trust she could get out any more words without breaking down again.

“That bad, huh?”

She nodded.

He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t leave either.

Rosalina waited for him to add to the conversation, but there was just silence. When she looked up at him, his eyes were fixed on her books as he chewed his thumbnail.

“The bills are going to break us,” she said finally.

He gave a short grunt of acknowledgement without looking up from his fixed point, and then looked up at her and readjusted himself in his seat.

“Sucks, doesn’t it? You should’ve taken me up on my offer.”

“Offer?” she asked, confused.

When he smiled with his eyebrow raised, she realized exactly what he meant.

“You pig! I don’t care what you think of me, there’s no way I’m going to sleep with you for money.”

Reginald laughed and slumped back against the chair again.

“No, but if you had let me enjoy myself, you know, all over you, I’d be far more sympathetic to your plight.”

All of Rosalina’s grief turned to rage in a single heartbeat. Nearly shattering her phone on the table, she pushed her papers together and slammed her books closed.

“Lunch will be ready momentarily.”

“Hey hey, wait,” he said, leaning forward to grab her hands.

When she pulled back a fist to punch him, he flinched and jerked his entire body backward.

“Whoa, whoa! Calm down, would you?”

“My father is lying in the hospital, dying. My life is over, and you’re still –
still!
– bringing up this old crap? You’re unbelievable. Don’t ever touch me, you filthy bastard.”

“I’ll give you the money.”

Rosalina froze, refusing to believe she’d heard what she just thought she had. “What?”

“I’ll give you the money.”

“You don’t even know how much it is.”

Reginald leaned back in his chair; his hands held out indicate the house they currently sat in.

“You think I’m worried about that? When you get the bill, just hand it to me. I’ll pay it.”

He folded his hands in his lap and crossed one leg over the other as he added, “In total.”

Rosalina swallowed the lump in her throat, forcing her anger back down. This wasn’t the time to be mean or prideful.

It was a struggle to find the words, but she finally willed her voice to a calm, civil tone as she said, “Thank you. That’s really… human of you.”

Reginald smirked and held up a finger. “Wait.”

Rosalina’s body went cold, even as she felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

“I told you I wasn’t going to sleep with you for money.”

“Who said anything about sleeping with me? You know, for someone so adamant about never wanting all of this over all of you, you sure do bring it up pretty often.”

“Reggie, I swear,” she said as she put the heel of her palm against her forehead.

“Hear me out,” he said and gestured for the loveseat she’d been on just moments before.

Heaving a massive breath to calm herself, Rosalina sat down and looked at him.

“As I said, had there been an “us”, I’d be far more inclined to do this nicely. No strings, as it were. But you’ve been quite rude to me.”

“Rude? You’re the one that…”

“Rude,” he said sharply, “and argumentative.”

Rosalina closed her mouth but made sure to stare daggers at him. Daggers, she hoped, that would pierce those impertinent blue eyes of his.

“And since that’s the case, we’re going to have a little fun. I will give you the money, on that you have my word. Now, you may not like me for whatever reason, and I can’t think of what reason that might be, honestly.”

“Ask me, I think it’s pent up sexual frustration, or maybe that unspoken primal bond we almost shared just waiting to break free. Whatever the case may be, you know I’m a man of my word. I tell you now, you will not owe the hospital a single penny for any of this,” here he held up a finger,

“if…”

When he didn’t pick up the rest of the sentence, Rosalina reluctantly asked, “If?”

“If you act as my personal maid for a month.”

“A month!”

“One month. You do whatever I ask, without complaint. Agree to this, and I’ll pay your father’s hospital bill.”

“Screw you.” Rosalina stood up and stacked her books.

“All right. So you have some other way of paying the bill then? That’s good.”

She paused, and hated herself for even considering it.

They both knew he was right. There were no other options. She idly adjusted the books so that the spines were flush, her mind locked in indecision.

“One month,” he said softly, leaning forward like an animal ready to pounce on its prey.

“That’s all. It’ll go by like nothing.”

“No sex stuff,” she said.

“No sex stuff.”

“It wasn’t a question.”

“I know. No sex stuff. Promise.”

“Reggie, if you’re lying to me, or if this is another one of your jokes…”

“Oh, it’s one of my jokes. I promise you that. Don’t think you’re getting off lightly. This is going to be hilarious. But I’m also serious. Do this, and I will pay his bill.”

“No matter how high it is?”

The last thing she wanted was to go through all of this, and then find out that Reginald had a price limit suddenly. If she could get him to
say
it, she knew she could get him to stick with it.

No matter how much she hated him and his childish ways, it was true that he was a man of his word.

When he squirreled around an answer, it was a sure sign he had no plan to uphold his end of the bargain.

Knowing that, it was all the more surprising when he said, “No matter how high. I will pay it in its entirety. But, only if you play along.”

Rosalina drummed her fingers on her books, afraid to agree, but unable to think of any other options.

“Deal,” she said, surprising herself.

Reginald laughed and slapped his hands together.

“When do we start?”

His eyes darted around the room wildly, his face split into a grin.

“After lunch? Yeah, let’s start after lunch.” Leaping to his feet, he dashed out of the room.

“One month,” she called after him.

“Whatever,” he yelled back.

It did not instill confidence.