Being a mistress on the side, it might not appeal to fools like you.

[flashback]

 

I tiptoed past the toys on the floor, stepping on a Barbie and having to bite down on my tongue to keep from crying out. I kicked it aside, all the way under Francesca's bed so she would be mourning over the loss of her precious toy tomorrow. Unlike me, most of the kids in the foster home had once come from an actual home, an actual family. I came from nowhere. Okay, technically I came from Liverpool where my biological parents had decided to put me up for adoption, an explanation I'd never get from them since I had no desire to even spare my birth certificate a glance. Going in and out of foster homes my entire life, I finally gave up hope when I turned ten. I was 15 now and too bitter to love. For god only knows why, I had ended up in Italy. Hardly anyone spoke English, but I felt like that was by choice, like an actual excuse to not have to speak to me. Compared to them, I was trash with a bad accent.

I crept down the hallway, pausing when I heard a giggle coming from one of the boys rooms. I pushed the door open shamelessly, it was already cracked open in my defense. A redhead was nuzzled against the neck of one of my foster "brothers," Dominic I think. I'd been here for a week and had been referring to him as "the hot one" whenever Francesca spoke about him. "I'm pretty sure that we're not allowed to have guests," I said flatly, the girl rushing off of him with bright red cheeks. Of course he was the favorite and could get away with doing this shit. If I was straddling some guys lap? I'd be thrown out on my ass.

She rattled off some Italian words to Dom and then looked at me while I openly judged her, my nose wrinkled since he could easily do better. "What do you want?" He finally asked then looked back at the girl to say something to her in Italian.

"I asked a question and I'd like the answer," I said like a brat, crossing my arms over my chest when I realized that what I had said wasn't really a question. "Are we allowed to have guests over? I think it's midnight. Where'd you find this slut? Walking the streets?" I smiled at her, knowing she had no idea what I was saying, her mouth was wide open and her eyes were blank. He stared at me for a moment, his face matching his and for a second I wondered if the words that he just spoke were the only ones in English that he could manage... but then he laughed, he laughed so hard that the girl looked scared. I stared back at him, silent while he said something else to her and she stood up, making a point of kissing him long and slow on the lips before brushing past me and walking right out of the front door like she had done this before. And she probably had. So my new "brother" was the slut. "Did she have a corner to return to?" I asked, hating the silence.

“You made her uncomfortable. You should learn to speak Italian," He sighed, grabbing a pack of cigarettes from the night stand and then continued to push the window of his room open.

I rolled my eyes, “People here don’t want to learn how to speak English, why should I try?”

He raised an eyebrow, inhaling the thick, cancerous smoke, “We’re not in England, are we?”

“Why is your English so good?” I ignored his comment and asked my own question.

He finished off the cigarette and lit another one, “My father is Irish, my mother was Italian. It was a bilingual household," He shrugged, annoyed with me already. 

I crossed my arms over my chest, watching his eyes drop down to my cleavage. I didn't know what my mum looked like, but she'd given me a great rack. “Was? Did she change ethnicity or something?” I let out a sardonic laugh.

“No, she’s dead," He told me as a matter of factly. I didn’t flinch when he told me, so used to hearing the same story time and again. I felt bad of course, I was only human, but I never showed compassion towards my new siblings since they came and went so fast, never to be heard from again. You weren't supposed to bond, these weren't life long friends.
 
“Am I supposed to feel bad or something?” I raised a brow, acting heartless since it was the easiest emotion. 
 
He chuckled, “Not at all. You asked a question and I answered. Isn’t that what you wanted from the beginning?” He referred to the statement I made only minutes ago, “That is the reason you scared off my… guest.”

"Guest? Is that what you call them?" I laughed and sat down on the bed, wrinkling my nose at the smell of smoke since that was one smell I couldn't stand. It reminded me too much of the last family I had stayed with, the one who was clearly using children to do their housework. It all sounded like a bad movie, but the reality was that there were plenty of families like that. People were awful. 

"By all means, make yourself at home on my bed," He said sarcastically and I nearly jumped up, looking at him with a pained expression. 

"Am I sitting in sperm??"

He stared at me for a moment before grinning and shaking his head, "Not from tonight unfortunately."

I stared back. Was that supposed to mean that I was sitting in dry sperm? I set my palms flat on the bed instead of booking it out of the room, finding some kind of pleasure in talking to another human besides the four year old I shared a room with who still spoke like a baby. Looking around the room, the bare walls, it reminded me a lot of my own room upstairs which wasn't surprising since this specific family didn't allow us to hang posters up or decorate in any way. "So how old are you?" I asked without looking at him.

"Why are you interested?"

I rolled my eyes, "Why are you an asshole?"

“Is that all you can do? Hurl insults my way?” He eyed me, “Because I’m sure I could throw a few ones your way.”

I scoffed, “I’m sure I’ve heard them before.”

He leaned in closer to me, “Honestly, you look like a tight ass who could use a good fuck… If you didn’t notice, I could fuck you until you’re begging for mercy. I’m sure it will change that attitude real quick.”

My glare didn’t wave, but my breath quickened. I grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it out the window, “That thing is disgusting.”

“Tight ass.” He grumbled, “Well, since you’ve effectively ruined my night… I’d like to get some shut eye.” He ignored mu existence as he stood up to push down his jeans and threw his shirt on the floor, his body a little too perfect for someone our age. I mean, he couldn't be over 18. But he had abs, god he had the kind of abs you wanted to lick. “Unless you’d like to join me. Then we won’t have to sleep.”

“There’s a million other men I’d sleep with before you, don’t flatter yourself," I stood up, but my eyes were stuck on him, first his bare torso and then landing on his boxers.

“With the way your eyes are staring… I’m sure I’d be a little higher up on the list," He smirked back smugly.

I rolled my eyes once more, hating that he caught me staring. “You are so full of yourself,” I said as I walked towards the door. 

He grabbed my arm and pulled me against his hard body. “If you want, you could be full of me," He raised a brow, too cocky for his own good.

I laughed, “Does that work? That’s an awful line.”

“You set yourself up for it.” He shrugged, “I know it’s crossed your mind Brown Eyes."

"What has? How bad I want to fuck you? Yeah," I scoffed again. "You've got me all figured out."

He cracked a grin and moved his hand to my hip, making me wonder why I hadn't pulled away from him yet, "On top of being a tight ass, you're a smartass too."

"I'm not a tight ass," I said flatly, thinking that I was far from being a prude. Technically I hadn't had sex yet, but I'd done everything else... usually not by choice. But still. 

"Prove it," He replied, knowing how to push my buttons. On top of being hot? He had that manipulative kind of personality that probably made girls blind to the way he used them. Fortunately, I wasn't one of those girls.

I grinned back at him and shook my head, "It's not going to be that easy with me. Sorry, but it looks like you're going to be sleeping alone tonight. I hope your girlfriend didn't leave you with blueballs."

"Let me guess; virgin?" He grinned at me, or my chest more like it. 

"I guess that you'll find that one out when I finally fuck you..." I smirked and pulled back, running my eyes down his body. "But not tonight."

[present]

I walked around the desk, surprised that the pesky secretary didn't stick around to wait with me. Women rarely trusted other women, or maybe that was just me that they didn't trust. I eased myself onto the flat surface and crossed my legs, my skirt riding up my thighs and making me feel like a hired escort. I uncrossed them, silently hoping that Dom would be here soon since I still wasn't sure that this was a good idea. We hadn't seen each other in almost ten years and we were never real friends. Friendships didn't exist in foster care. Letting out a sigh, I crossed my legs again, fuck it. I looked at the clock, five minutes had passed but it felt like much longer. My fingers accidentally stumbled onto a file that was laying out, I opened it and let my eyes scan the words, the business deal that didn't effect me in any way. 

“Excuse you?” 

I broke out of my daze and looked up to find him in the doorway, looking even better than he did when he was a bratty teenager with way too much confidence. I gave him a wicked smile, “Dominic!” I pushed myself off the desk and sauntered towards him.

“Do I know you?” He asked, confused but taking me in nonetheless. 

“Am I not that memorable?” I smirked, “Let me give you a clue. Italy. Foster home. I stumbled upon you and that nasty redhead?”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “Olivia?"

"Good guess. What gave me away? The fantastic rack my biological mum blessed me with?" I smirked wider before biting down on my bottom lip. 

His lips quirked into a grin and he shook his head, "You haven't changed."

I faked a pout, "I hope I've changed a little from when I was 15 years old..."

He let out a chuckle, "You look -" "Amazing, I know," I cut him off and let my eyes take him in. The suit wasn't what I expected, but it looked good on him nonetheless... Okay, it looked really good on him. He looked like walking sex. "What's with the suit? It's so..." 

"Not me?" He said when my words trailed off. "Surprised to see me successful?" 

"No," I shook my head even though yes, I kind of was. I had a bad attitude, but Dominic's? He was just as bad, if not worse. "I am surprised that your secretary isn't a hot young thing with huge boobs though."

"Are you looking for a job?" He retorted with a grin, the kind that made a girls panties wet. 

"No," I matched his grin with a tilt of my head, letting my hair fall over my shoulders. "Well yes, but that's not why I came here today."

His eyebrows lifted again and he looked interested in my words, "And here I was thinking that you came here to say hi to an old friend."

"Well there's that too of course," I smiled, keeping my eyes locked on his because I didn't want to let them wander. I mean, he was really fucking hot and if we had a one night stand then that was going to get me nowhere. "I actually... kind of need a place to stay. It wouldn't be permanent. A day or two," Or a month I added in my head. I had a lot of pride and never asked anyone for favors, mostly since I never had anyone to go to. I wasn't even sure why I was bothering him, I probably shouldn't have. Definitely shouldn't have. "You can say no. It's totally fine. I'm staying at this old Victorian style hotel in the Tenderloin, it's attached to a bar. I can get drunk and just stumble upstairs to my room, doesn't get any better than that, right?" God, why was I still talking?

“The Tenderloin?” He raised a brow, “Why would you stay there?” 

I shrugged, “I can’t afford much else.”

He scoffed, “That dress has to be a couple hundred.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

I laughed, “I make sacrifices. This is Phillip Lim!” I told him as if he was aware who that was, guys were so clueless though. “Never mind. It was stupid for me to come here asking you for favors.” I sighed passive aggressively, turning around to set the file on his desk as I rubbed my ass unintentionally against his crotch. He groaned from behind me and I bit down on my lip, trying to resist the urge to do it again but harder. “It was nice seeing you again," I grabbed my bag and started towards the door.

“Wait. You don’t have to make a whole scene and be dramatic.”

I turned back around, “What are you talking about? Me? Dramatic? Ha," I laughed with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t trust you to be all alone at my place… Are you going to be okay here while I make a call and we can head there?”

My mouth dropped, “I’m not that bad!”

“Sit," He told me authoritatively, pointing to the couch.

I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest, “You’re an ass.”

He nodded, “I know.” He sat down at his desk, pulling up information for a conference call before dialing the number. It was a short conference call, every second I listened boring. 

I smirked as the call finished, “Hmm, now I can see a bit more how you became successful. It’s kind of sexy.” 

“Let’s go," He told me, walking out of his office, “Jane, have them pull the car around now. I’m going to take a personal day.” She nodded, scurrying to have it ready by the time we got down to the first floor.

The two of us silently rode the elevator until I spoke up, “Why are you doing this? If I remember correctly, you were an ass when we knew each other and it doesn’t look like you’ve changed much.”

“You’re pushing your luck, Brown Eyes," He called me by the nickname he gave me years ago and besides the occasional bitch, slut, or most recently, homewrecker, its the only nickname I'd ever been given. “And I can’t let a fellow foster kid to be on the street.” I raised a brow at her.

“Well… thanks," I said quietly as the doors opened and the town car out front.

“Where are we going sir?” The driver asked, opening his door.

“The Tenderloin, we’re going to pick up Ms. Lawson’s things and then head to my place.”

He eyed me in curiosity, most likely wondering why Dominic was picking up a womans belongings. Everything about the man screamed one night stand. He looked like the type who fucked a girl and then made up an excuse to get her to leave. I'd been in that position before, couldn't blame him honestly. I smiled at the driver, my most seductive smile. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture, Dom rolling his eyes before climbing into the back seat. "Chivalry is most definitely dead," I muttered under my breath before climbing in after him. 

He stared at me blankly while the driver closed the door and then got into the front seat, the car already running as he eased away from the curb. "What was that?" He asked, even though he had heard me.

"What happened to ladies first?"

He let out a snort, "You're no lady."

"I am," I replied shortly, wondering what the fuck kind of insult that was.

"What's the address sir?" The driver asked, making me wonder what his name was. Probably Alfred, maybe Jeffrey. 

Dom looked at me with his eyebrow raised, I was starting to think that it was permanently raised. "Sweden House Hotel," I told Alfred who gave me a nod back and took a right, heading towards Market. A few minutes later we were pulling up to the old building, Dom leaning forward and grimacing at the site. "It was only $79 a night," I said as if explaining why I'd possibly risk my life staying a night in this place. 

He wrinkled his nose, "That's how much you value your life? A measly 79 bucks?"

I rolled my eyes and climbed out of the car, "Are you coming?"

"Unfortunately," He said with a sigh and climbed out behind me, walking beside me into the building and up to the fourth floor where I used an actual key to open the door. He let out a low whistle at the view, clothes and accessories everywhere; mostly in boxes but some stuffed in bags, some thrown here and there. I wasn't given much notice when the Harrison family kicked me out. "I hate to ask, but are you on the run for robbing a store?"

I stared at him blankly before stuffing some clothes into an empty bag on the floor, not wanting to show how offensive his words were, "Can we have a few of your minions help us with these? Maybe call Alfred up to help?"

"Alfred? I'm not Bruce Wayne," He scoffed while I stared at him, wondering if he might roll his eyes next. "Nevermind." He shook his head and walked outside, "Carl, do you mind helping Ms. Lawson and I with her things?" 

He nodded, "Of course sir."

"So you're nice to him?”

Dom sighed, ignoring the comment, “Just start getting your things together. The less time I spend in this shithole, the better.”

“You have such an awful attitude!!” I exclaimed, “How did you make your money? Because I don’t know how anyone would put any faith in you.”

“Awful attitude? I offered you a place to stay, did I not? Or would you like me to rescind that invitation?” He narrowed his eyes at me and I didn’t speak, “That’s what I thought.”

"Asshole," I grumbled under my breath, annoying with him already. 

Carl helped the two of us to quickly gather my things and stuffed them in the trunk, though there was barely room.

“Is that all?” He asked to make sure.

I nodded, “Yes, we can go now.”

He sighed, “Finally.”