Enemy Beloved

4 | conditions

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C L A I R E

Conditions?

I didn't think about that. As much as I hate to admit it, there should have been no conditions if everything went as per my blackmail plan. I should have been the one in control of this conversation, not him.

"What conditions?" I ask, pulling away from Vaughn.

"Nothing much." He shrugs, taking a step forward and I take steps back immediately.

He keeps walking towards me until I find my back hitting something behind, preventing any further movement. He stops, his hands bracing themselves on the vanity behind me and I find myself trapped between his arms.

It is unfair that he gets my body reacting wickedly every time he is close.

I never thought I would have feelings for him but I did.

It started when I was fourteen and Chris brought Vaughn and his girlfriend home to show off his football trophies. The moment I saw the redhead in Vaughn's arms, something inside me broke. I rushed into my room and cried for hours without having any idea as to why.

"What conditions, Vaughn?" I repeat, snapping my mind away from those bad memories.

"This deal stays between us." A twinkle crosses his dark eyes which doesn't go unnoticed by me. "We'll be lovers for others."

I think about it — it doesn't sound like much. Lovers and Vaughn never go in the same sentence because Vaughn doesn't take lovers. Lovers make love, Vaughn doesn't. Vaughn just fucks.

An image of him alone in his bed with a hand stroking his cock flashes through my mind — drops of perspiration trailing down his taut abs, his one hand gripping his hair in a fist, the rise and fall of his chest as he reaches closer to...

I shake my head, horrified at the thought.

But on the plus side, it will only annoy Dad even more. I can accept that — purely for convenience and not because I can see Vaughn throwing any PDA my way.

"Okay," I mutter indifferently. "It'll be more convenient that way."

A corner of his lips tilts to a smirk. "Good. Now for the next..."

"There's a next?"

"There is," he snickers with a boyish look on his face that made me weak on my knees once. "I don't come cheap, blondie. You're asking me to commit to you — body and soul — for six months."

I sometimes forget that Vaughn has a flair for the dramatic.

I glare at him. "What's next?"

"Break up with Mason."

I shoot him a quizzical look. "Mason? Why is he in this conversation?"

His bringing up Mason Holiday again sounds funny. Mason has been my boyfriend for a year now — at least that's what I think he is if I ignore the numerous times I caught him cheating on me in the one year we have been together. With guys like Mason, you can never be sure of your relationship status. The only reason I am stuck with him is because he gets obsessive every time I try to break up with him.

"I have a reputation to maintain, Claire," Vaughn proceeds. "Reputation brings money and we Jacksons live for money."

I should have known. Vaughn Jackson loves only two things in this world — money and enemies. Reputation is just a get-along theme; it is incredibly tainted if the scandals are summed up. From my brother's death to being caught by the media leaving a hotel with the minister's wife, Vaughn makes sure to always be a part of some new controversy in LA.