Yours, Until Needed Chapter 4: Price

Chapter 4: Price

I was initially confident in my ability to afford his rates, but just as the sprinklers around the estate ca alive, my confidence seed to waver. I ca into this with a rough valuation of my assets; it should be enough.

"All I need is to be in so semblance of a relationship. In fact, all I need is to be able to freely say that I'm interested in soone." Had it been anyone else, I'd probably be paid instead. But what to do? I need his ruthlessness.

With his gaze on the estate's gate, he interjected, "We both know that's a load of bull."

"Once that dolt opens his mouth, I'll enter the crocodile's radar. And do you really think she'll just stop to watch?" Lucian sneered at the thought.

"Hmph. Like she'd be able to even touch you? You couldn't even be bothered to rember who she was!" I murmured, trying to haggle by making this deal sound less complicated.

"Just because a fly hasn't landed on

does not make it any less annoying when it zitters."

Montarily feeling bad for all these innocent creatures, I figured that negotiations wouldn't be as easy as I hoped.

"We haven't even gotten to the effects of this non-relationship agreent that you're going for."

Ahh, I was afraid he'd get to that. I blew up my cheeks in slight annoyance.

"I'm no saint. But to intentionally lead on a Thornhill? Are you planning to execute ?" Lucian continued to pile together the disadvantages of this arrangent, and I get it; this was precisely why we couldn't find anyone that fit the role."

"Let's just cut to the chase. You've been docile since earlier. I would've loved to just thank you and go, but we both know your silence had always been expensive." Like a lounging cat, Lucian had always been observant and alert, ready to pounce on anything he deed worthwhile.

He's smiling, like we haven't been talking about deceitful plots, so I continue to prod, "The fact that you haven't upped to leave ans that I have sothing you can consider." his smile growing even bigger. Gorgeous. But that's the face he sported when he's about to rip soone off.

"Now tell , why are you even here?" I asked, deciding to go big or go ho.

It's ironic how he looks so relaxed while I've probably developed more wrinkles today than I would've in a year.

"I need a wife." Without a hint of dread or an ounce of importance, Lucian managed to keep a straight face.

My ears rang for a while, wondering if I had misheard him, so I couldn't help but ask, "Co again?"

"I. Need. A. Wife." if he didn't spell that out for emphasis, I would imagine this to be the tone he uses to ask for the nu.

I gestured to point out how imbalanced and shocking his statent was. "You realize that I only need soone to chase, right? While you need an actual wife. One that probably breathes."

In a tizzy, my brain has tried figuring out how he's gotten into an even worse situation than

when it suddenly clicked. "The elders. The family head must've had you in a chokehold." I looked at him wide-eyed.

Probably predicting my take on the matter, Lucian decides to hit hard, "You think you just need so poster boy, but what happens after? Say you pine over a guy for a year, then what? For how long can your poster hold?"

He knows that I know. It's nothing more than a band-aid, a respite for soone as tired as I am.

Frankly, I'd have pined longer than a mourning wife after a year. Even then, I should consider myself lucky if the poster managed to hold on for a full year, and Alexa is a pro at this.

His argunts sounded reasonable, and anyone else would've jumped the gun from the beginning, but this is Lucian Sinclair, and if it were that easy to nab a Sinclair, then he wouldn't have wasted two hours of his asured ti.

Just to make sure, still optimistic that maybe there was another viable approach. "So, did you want

to find you a wife then?". Stupid, I know. He's looked at

just as Rina would look at Jasper.

Tis like this is when I get reminded that they're cousins.

I couldn't help but give him a full once over, still confused about why he was looking for a wife. "Save for your horrendous personality, what else could be so wrong with you that you've had to actively look for one?"

We've always been at odds, but anyone with at least a semi-functioning eye would have to admit that when the heavens decided to scatter the good shit, he was probably right there drowning in them.

What if he's impotent? Thinking deeply, Lucian glowered at , disrupting my wild conjectures.

"Go there, and you'll end up with a demonstration." Evidently pissed, I have decided to treat Lucian as a possible mind-reader.

"I need soone tolerable."

Wow.

No wonder he hasn't found anyone. If he kept opening up with that, anyone with a smidgen of self-respect would bow out.

"But that's just it. You cannot tolerate ," I said, failing to see the logic in his proposition.

"You've never needed

to tolerate you."

With my eyebrows almost leaving the plane of my forehead, I waited for an explanation.

"Have you ever thrown a tantrum for failing to receive my attention?" I'm looking at this alien while wondering about his usual thought process.

"Sounds haughty. But you should be the most familiar with this. Finding yourself in so hospital because soone threw a tantrum? Does that ring a bell?"

Taken aback, I listen for more. "What about getting random calls at work for petty cris done in your na? You're probably thinking that I'm to bla. But what do you do when all you've ever had in common was attending one charity gala?"

"What are you? The next Helen of Troy?" I couldn't help but empathize since Alexa had always been a full-blown riot.

"You need a loyal shield, and I need a ntally stable wife. If short-term relationships could have solved your glaring problem, then you wouldn't have chosen to deal with ."

I sat upright, very rigid. I was initially prepared to reject this deal but was insanely curious as to why he'd resort to this, but now I couldn't help but ponder it.

Driving through the gates and straight onto the main entrance, I managed to get out of the car. Still dazed over today's events, all I rembered was Lucian's last words before heading out.

"Think it over. After all, you'd only be married once."