Love For Hire

It was seven-fifteen when she walked through the door of the palace. The man at the door began to pat her down, looking for weapons. “There is no need for that,” Octavius said as he came into the foyer. He smiled pleasantly at her. “I trust she is not packing,” he said, standing in front of her. “So nice of you to come.”

“Well, I am curious it is the only reason I came.”

“Please follow me,” he said, leading her away from the door through the house. Octavius led Kinsley through the building to a large room with a dining table. The table was set with two place settings, one at the head of the table and the other right next to that one. She walked over to the table and looked at the quail and asparagus on the plate. It looked great, and she was starving.

She made to sit down when the Prince walked in. Octavius cleared his throat and looked at her subtlety gesturing for her to rise. She stood up as Nicholas made his way over to the table. “Please sit,” he instructed as he took his seat at the end of the table. Kinsley looked back at Octavius, who nodded that it was ok to sit now that the Prince had. Kinsley felt out of sorts. She did not know what proper edict with royalty was. “Leave us,” Nicholas instructed as Kinsley took her seat. Octavius bowed his head respectfully and then exited the room pulling the large double doors closet to give them privacy. “Thank you for coming,” he said, picking up his full glass of wine.

“Well, Octavius said you might make it worth my while. Since he paid my rent this afternoon, the least I could do is show up. Besides, I get a free meal out of it,” she said as she picked up her fork and knife. “You have until I am done eating to say what you want, then I am leaving.”

“You seem miffed with me.”

“You think?” She snapped. “You got me fired.”

“I am sorry that had not been my intent.”

“Well, your apology will not pay my bills.”

“No, I suppose it will not. I had Octavius call the agency this morning to see if I could schedule another date with you. I wanted to apologize, but they told me they had let you go. So, we tracked you down….”

“Yeah, I do not know how I feel about you investigating me. Where do you get off snooping in my life?”

“It is standard protocol. Everyone must have security clearance.”

“Well, I do not like it,” she said as she wolfed down the last of her quail and started in on her asparagus. “Why am I here? Last night you could not get rid of me fast enough.”

you

want me to

like an entertainer,” he said. “I just want you

“Doing what?”

anything. Talk, watch a movie,

“Fuck?”

would be

not that what LA’s Angels

consistency. I want the ‘girlfriend experience’ without

at him, confused. “You do not strike me as the type of man that would have trouble

do not want commitment. I just want a

people

compensate you for your time. If you come to stay in

think I heard you, right?” She said sure she had misunderstood his offer. “You want me to spend three months with you, and for my time, you are going to pay my rent for the next two years, square away my outstanding debt, and pay

“Yes.”

just go out and meet

still in his hand. “I am dying,” he confessed. She was speechless. Kinsley did not understand he looked healthy. The question on her face prompted Nicholas to explain. “A few years, I was diagnosed with Bacton Disease. It is a rare degenerative genetic disorder. The end result of this disease is premature death. Those who it affects have a life expectancy of thirty years. I am twenty-five. I have five years to live. But in that time, my body and mind are going to fall apart. I am going to go blind and lose my ability to communicate. My motor skills will become impaired. I will lose my ability to walk. My cognitive capability will degrade; I will slip into psychosis and then dementia. I will develop a form of Parkinsonism.

to say. His

the time. My coordination is lacking. And I can feel my mind slipping; I have been hallucinating. I do not have a lot of time left. I just want to feel normal for a few months, even if I am just

a long-sleeved shirt again, hiding the scars she had seen the night before. “Is that why you tried to kill yourself?” She was just assuming he had attempted suicide and that

too if your future was a

“Why me?”