DEVIL FOR A HUSBAND

The curtains to William's room flung open as the sunlight hit him across the face. He shifted his hand slightly to the side and came across the bare back of his last nights conquest. He placed an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"William, get up!"

That was the voice of Dave. His personal assistant, his friend, and more so his boy Friday.

"And tell your guest to get up and leave too."

"What do you want Dave? Let me sleep." William mumbled in his sleep.

"You have a board meeting in 30 minutes. And it's going to take you 45 minutes to get up from one end of the city to another. So yes, get up!"

Dave flung clothes at his bare naked body and at his lady friend too. William got up groggily and sat up on his bed. His lady friend -whose name he didn't bother remembering got up from the bed and grabbed her clothes and began to dress herself up. Dave turned around to avoid looking at a stranger dressing herself while William could care less.

As she began to leave, she leaned in to give William a parting kiss on the lips but he moved his face away just in time. "No lip kisses." A rule he always stuck by.

"I'll see you later?" She asked, hopeful.

"I don't think so." He replied, not wanting to give her false hope.

But he actually didn't believe in love or relationships or even sleeping with the same person -especially a one night random hookup more than once.

Dave turned around to face his best friend, trying to mask his displeasure. William turned around to face him.

"Don't give me that look."

"Take a Tylenol and drink some water. Take a hot shower and be down in 5. You reek of booze and sex. I'm sure the board members do not want the next CEO to be a drunk sex addict."

William flipped Dave the bird before making his way to the washroom, in all his naked glory.

************""

"Dave, where is he?" Trevor Smith asked, furiously throwing the expenses file he was holding onto the table

"He must on his way, Sir."

"I told you to stay with him! Why did you leave him?"

"Yes Sir, I understand. But Anand sir asked me to come to the office immediately and when I left, he was already in his car, and ready to leave."

Before Trevor could reply back to Dave with a few choice words, the door to his cabin opener and in walked in William, wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, leather jacket and dark lensed sunglasses.

"You called?"

"Do you know what time is it now?" Trevor asked, annoyed at his sons attitude.

"Dave, what's the time? I think Sir's watch stopped working." William asked rhetorically; taking his glasses off and folding them before slipping them into the pocket of his jacket.

"Oh grow up, William! We had a board meeting, 1 hour ago! It was your time to tell the board why you deserve to be a CEO. But no, where were you? At home, sleeping with another one of your meaningless one night stands. Do you not care about your future at all? What do I tell the board?"

"That I am a very good and dedicated doctor."

"The board doesn't care if you are good or dedicated. It cares about how you come across to the general public and what kind of publicity the hospital gains from having you as the face of it. And this. This is me helping."

Trevor threw a newspaper across the desk. "This. This is exactly what the board doesn't want in their next CEO. You can't go around punching bouncers at a club because they are kicking you out for being too unruly."

"I punched them because they shoved me first. They could have asked nicely."

"And you could have left nicely instead of becoming the front page headline of today's newspaper. Look William, the board wants someone who is very trust worthy, someone who will be in the news for good reasons. Not bad ones."

William folded his arms around his chest in a defensive stance.

Trevor took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. "I know you don't like me meddling in your life. And I get that. I'll be the bad guy here. But you need to clean your act up. The board is voting for the next CEO in one month's time. And the choice is between you and Fred."

William's lips tightened onto a flat line at the mention of Fred's name.

"And you don't want Fred to become a CEO, do you?" He stated, putting a final nail in the coffin.

William refused to say anything and looked away; avoiding any sort of eye contact.

"I didn't think so. So clean up your act. Now. Stop picking random bar fights, stop sleeping around like a man-whore and most importantly, stop becoming front page news. Or I'll have to clean up your act for you. And we both know how you feel about that."

William turned around to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I have patients to attend to. I may not become a CEO but I'm still going to be the best cardiac surgeon in town. So now if you'll excuse me, my patients need me."

And with that, William made an exit from Trevor Smith's cabin.

"Do you see how he talks to me? I'm his father goddamnit."

"Yes sir." Dave lowered his head to avoid the brash lecture he was going to be receiving regardless.

"You need to keep him on a tight leash, Dave. He can't afford anymore screwups."

"I know, Sir. I'll try my best."

"Not try, Dave. You have to be the best if you want to reign in the best."

"Sir..." Dave hesitated.

"What?"

"I have an idea. I don't know if William will like it but it can work."

"It doesn't matter what William wants. What's the idea?"

"I know of this company. Who provides services. Under the radar. And it's damn good at it too. William comes off as rude, brash, playboy to the media. And we both know he has no plans to settle down."

"And?"

"But what if we make him a well rounded, family man who has a stable girlfriend, possibly marriage, is known for charity and all the good in the world? We can manufacture well publicized relationship for him."

"You're right. It doesn't matter what William does behind closed doors as long as the public does or get a whiff of it."

"Exactly. But..."

"But it'll have to be a gradual change. So for that you may need to push the board to delay the vote, at least by a few weeks."

"That's my problem. I'll handle it. You get William a girlfriend and get him on board with this plan."

"Yes, sir."

Dave exited the room and let Trevor Smith maul over in his own thoughts. Talking about the contract girlfriend was one thing, but finding one who wouldn't be easily charmed or phased by William was going to be the hard part. But most important was to convince William to be okay with this contract relationship. And that he knew for sure wasn't going to be easy.

"One more song please?! Please?" 10 year old Ria begged as Olivia was about to pack up her guitar and head out.

Olivia glanced at her watch and saw the time ticking by at 3pm. It would take her about 2 hours to get across the city to her other job for a 5pm start. She was cutting it close to her start time as it was, she couldn't afford to sing another song for the orphanage kids even though that's what her heart desired.

Olivia looked up to politely decline Ria's request due to time constraints but saw the other kids has chimed in as well in Ria's support. Olivia glanced at her watch again and gave in to their wishful eyes. Although that meant she was probably going to have to forfeit the cheap transit alternative and instead opt for the costlier Uber to get to her other job. A job that didn't pay her much as it was.

"Okay, one more song and then I have to leave!" She plastered a huge smile on her face and unpacked her guitar.

A round of hoorays and cheers sounded around the community center room, making Olivia 's heart flutter. Seeing the happiness and innocence of the kids around her made her happy, made her content and that was her end goal. She wanted to open a music corner for kids -kids who didn't have much resources -and connect them with music to help then become the best version of themselves.

As Olivia began to sing, her eyes kept shifting to the clock at the back of the room. She knew she was going to be late. She was already on her last warning from the manager. She knew she couldn't afford to make any more mistakes.

~*~

"You're late. Again." Paul, the manager at Panache, a high-end, illustrious luxury restaurant taunted, pointing toward his watch which clocked in at 5;30pm as Olivia walked into the back kitchen carrying a notepad and pen.

"Sorry. It won't happen again."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. How many more times will you say sorry? If I remember correctly, you said the exact same thing to me last week."

"I promise, Paul, this is the last time. I won't be late. Again. Please don't fire me. I really need this job." I folded my hands in front of him in plea.

Olivia hated Paul with every fiber of her being. He had once been a colleague of hers, waiting tables just like her. But to her bad luck or his good luck, he was promoted to manager and now the power had gotten to his head.

And now instead of helping his fellow colleagues, the man was on some weird power trip. But she also needed this job to get by until she came across something better. So she just had to suck it up and apologize.

Paul gave her a devious smile, "Make sure it never happens again. Or else don't bother to even show your face around this establishment." And with those last words, he turned around to exit the kitchen.

"Asshole." Olivia whispered, involuntarily. She hadn't meant to say it, especially not now when she was already on his radar, but old habits die hard and Olivia was never the one for take an insult lying down.

1

And she guessed he wasn't either. Paul stopped in his steps and turned around to face her.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing." She avoided eye contact with him.

He had heard what Olivia had said clearly, but he didn't want to make a scene in front of his entire staff. But that didn't mean he could let them think it was okay to call him an asshole either.

Paul walked up to Olivia and grabbed her notepad and pen out of her hands.

"What..."

"You're on washroom duty."

"But...," She began to protest.

"Either that or be fired. Your choice."

Olivia lowered her eyes in submission. "Yes, sir."

~*~

Olivia glanced at her watch. 10pm. Only 2 more hours to go before she was able go home and sleep. She knew why Paul had put her on washroom duty. It was the worst and slowest way to finish a shift. A mere 5 minutes felt like forever when you had to wait on women to finish doing their business just so you could offer them a hand towel and fresh breath mints as they left.

But that's what she gets for being unable to keep her mouth shut so really, she had no one else but her to blame. She really needed to find a new job, one that pays well so she could make all her dreams come true.

A dream of opening her own music corner. Yes, she could ask her family for help but they were already against her choice of a career, so it wouldn't do her much good anyway.

The door to the bathroom opened and in walked in a lady wearing black stiletto heeled Louboutins with what looked like a very expensive gown. Her well manicured nails also looked like they cost a few thousand rupees from what she could see.

But for some reason, her face looked familiar. As Olivia pondered over where she might have seen this lady, the woman had already finished her lady business and was standing within an arms reach washing her hands.

"Linda?" Olivia asked, unsure of her guess.

"Olivia ?"

Linda looked up and took the hand towel that Olivia was holding our for her.

"Oh my god. You have changed so much!" Olivia exclaimed, her shock skyrocketing at seeing a prior colleague of hers looking like a million bucks.

Linda giggled in acknowledgement, "I know."

"But how?! It's been barely 1 month since you quit!"

Linda has not only been her friend at work but also her roommate for the last few years. That was until Linda had abruptly quit her job at Panache and moved out from their apartment a month ago. It was as if she had just disappeared off the face of the Earth one fine day only to show up as a patron at the exact same establishment she waitressed not even a few weeks ago.

"It's...complicated." Linda replied, avoiding the question. "But you tell me, how are you doing? What about your plans to open a music corner?"

"Same old man. I still need to get the funds. I don't even know if I have enough money to pay this months rent. I eat off restaurant scraps sometimes."

"I'm so sorry..." Linda replied, touching Akahds's shoulders gently.

"But I'll get through it. I always do." Olivia gave Linda a bright and hopeful smile. She hated pitying herself and her situation.

"I know you do. You always do."

"But I am genuinely very happy for you. You look amazing. I love that you are thriving." And Olivia was happy for her. From the bottom of her heart. She as genuinely very happy for her friend.

"Thank you," Linda replied. "I have to go," she said, pulling Olivia in for a quick hug.

"Oh yes, of course! It was nice to see you."

"You too."

Linda stopped in her steps as she began to leave and turned around and handed Olivia a card.

"Here. I normally don't do this. But you have been a good friend to me Olivia . You helped me out when no one else did, so I want to do the same to you."

"What is this?" Olivia flipped over the card. Matchrimoney. What the hell was Matchrimoney?

"It's how...I became this." Linda pointed to her gown and shoes. "It's a see if that connects people like us -"

"People like us?"

"People who are in dire need of money with people -rich, influential people -who would pay a lot of money for our services."

"An escort?! You want me to be an escort? Never!"

"Not an escort, Olivia ! Sometimes depending on the clients needs and the contracts you sign, you won't even have to touch them let alone sleep with them."

"Are you sleeping with your client?"

Linda hesitated for a minute, "Yes. But only because that's the contract I signed and that's what he required. Everything is consensual. I have to go now, but call the number and ask for Caroline . And tell her I gave you the number. Trust me. You won't regret it."

Olivia avoided replying back and allowed Linda to leave. Olivia watched as Linda placed her hand in the palm of a very older gentleman and gave him a soft smile. The older gentleman, probably aged 60 or so, slid his arm around Linda's waist as they walked out of the restaurant.

"Never." Olivia scrunched her nose up in disapproval as she stuck the card Linda had given her in the back pocket of her skirt. She needed money, but she wasn't desperate enough to sell her body and soul for it.

Olivia woke up to a loud banging on her apartment door. She looked over at the digital clock on her nightstand. It was 7am. She had barely slept since coming home from work at 4am. She groaned on her sleep and prayed the banging stopped. Probably just the neighbors kids making a fuss before going to school.

But the banging did not stop. Instead it got incessantly louder. Olivia covered her face and ears with her pillow trying to smother the noise away but to no luck.

She woke up from her jolt and stomped over grumpily to see which person hated sleep as much as she loved it. But like the wisemen say, sleep deprived people tend to make the most mistakes. And that's exactly what she did. She didn't check her peephole to see who the person on the side was before flinging the door open.

Her landlord, a ghastly looking lewd 40 year old man stood in front of her, holding out the numerous envelops filled with rent overdue and eviction notices she had been ignoring for the last few weeks.

"Charles ."

"Olivia ."

"What brings you here at 7am in the morning?"

"You and your overdue rent payments."

"I didn't get any notice saying the rent was overdue." I replied, feigning innocence.

"Don't act smart with me. You owe me 2 months worth of rent. And mailing the notices I leave at your doorstep back to me isn't going to make your problems disappear."

"You have known me for 3 years now. I may take time but I get the rent to you somehow or the other. I just need some time. Please."

"Because I know you for 3 years is the reason I haven't kicked you out yet. And I'm already undercharging your for rent."

"I know."

"You have till tomorrow to give me all the money you owe me."

"But..." She began to protest.

"Or else I'm changing the locks. Money in my hands by 7am tomorrow morning or your done. Evicted. I've been lenient enough. No more." His demeanor then changed. He gave Olivia a once over glance, his eyes eerily looking over her bare legs up until her chest and bare arms. She folded her arms around her chest in order to hide her lack of bra. "Unless you want to work out a deal of some sort. I'm open to that."

"I'll have the rent by tomorrow." Her voice was forceful, finite as she slammed the door on his face. She leaned her head against the door to calm her nerves down.

She wanted nothing more than to bash the creep's head into a near by wall but she also couldn't afford to be homeless or have the funds to bail herself out of prison.

Olivia dragged her feet to her bed, suddenly wanting to do nothing but lay down in her bed and eat nothing but ice cream, chips, and brownies. She had no idea how she was going to pay 2 months worth of rent in 1 day.

Olivia flopped onto the bed, her back hitting the mattress with a thud as she spread her legs and hands out like a butterfly. Her phone chimed and a message popped up on her WhatsApp from Zia, a work acquaintance. It was a link to a video.

Olivia flung her phone away to ignore the text but accidentally ended up tapping on the video link. A video surfaced of a man, butt naked on a balcony covering his penis with a pillow while a woman, wrapped in a blanket was show flinging his clothes at him and locking him out of the apartment. Olivia 's cheeks turned pink as she tried to suppress her laughter at that poor man's luck. Nonetheless, it was going to be so

The man than proceeded to put his pants on and his shirt before climbing his way down the balcony. He then bumped into the man who was pointing his camera at him. The large brown eyes and the curve of his jawline caught Olivia 's eyes. He was a very good looking specimen for sure. The way his brows furrowed and his nostrils flared as he approached the guy filming him made him look hot. Exceptionally hot.

The pompous rich jerk playboy with an anger problem cliche energy oozed out of him like cheese out of a burning hot oven fresh pizza. The Greek God reincarnate in human flesh smacked the camera away from the poor guy filming him and sounds of commotion were heard behind the scenes.

"Why the hell are you filming me?" His voice was deep, commanding. That was the last thing heard as the camera went black.

Asshole. Who would be this narcissistic and rude to other people? And suddenly Olivia did not feel bad for the dude who got locked out on the balcony by the girl -whomever she was. If that was his attitude, he certainly did something or the other to deserve her wrath.

"And that was Dr. William Smith, the best cardiac surgeon in this city. Do you see how he punched me?! Is that what doctors do nowadays?"

The man looked up with fear in his eyes but quickly changed to relief as a card was handed off to him.

"Smith Hospital. They'll do your treatment, free of charge." It was his voice again, behind the camera and then he was gone.

Olivia was curious. What kind of doctor beat up a person first and then offered to stitch him up? A crack doctor maybe. She really hopes that Dr William Smith's patients were all in good health because clearly he seemed a bit insane.

But why did she care? It's not like she could ever afford treatment in a big hospital such as Smith Hospital. She closed her phone and went back to thinking about her current state of affairs. She needed to make enough money for rent. That was her biggest concern right now.

Olivia looked around the room for a hint, any sort of answer to her problems when her eyes landed on the card laying on her nightstand that she had been handed yesterday by Linda. She picked up the card and ran her fingers across the name Matchrimoney.

Should she give it a call? Clearly whatever Linda was doing was working out for her. But Olivia knew that she could never let a stranger touch her much less sleep with him for money. That was one principle she refused to compromise on. But Linda did say you could chose the client you wanted as it all depended on the terms of the contract. Maybe she could find one where physical intimacy especially sex was not a part of it?

Olivia pondered over her options. She needed money, fast. And she knew Paul wasn't going to lend it out to her from the goodness of his heart. He'd want something in return and Paul was not the type of man she wanted to owe favours to. Olivia bit her lip in hesitation. She clearly didn't have any other option and amongst the ones she could think of, Matchrimoney seemed like the safest bet.

Ah, fuck it. What was the worst that could happen? She got up from the bed and dialed the number on the card before she had a chance to talk herself out of it. Her stomach did summersaults as she waited for someone to answer on the other end.

"Hello?"

Too late to back out now, Olivia . She took a deep breath. "Hello, my name is Olivia . Linda gave me this card and told me to talk to Caroline ."

"Alright, just give me a second."

Olivia closed her eyes, rocking back and forth to calm her nerves down.

"Caroline speaking."

"Hi Caroline , my name is Olivia and Linda gave me your number. I...I need..." What exactly did she say? And how? She didn't even know what she was doing?!

"A mark. We call them marks."

"Yes. I guess."

"Olivia is it?"

"Yes."

"Normally, people aren't allowed to contact us, especially me, directly. We contact them. However, if Linda gave you my number that means she's vouching for you. I'll text you an address. Be there in 1 hour sharp."

"1 hour?" Olivia looked at the clock on her side table. There was no way she was going to be able to get anywhere in an hour.

"1 hour. It's very easy to pick up a phone and dial a number. Show us you are actually dedicated enough to follow through with it. We only hire the best. So think of it as a test almost. 1 hour. Texting you the address now."

And the line went dead. Her phone chimed with a message of an address at the other side of town from an unknown number. Olivia sucked in a deep breath and made a beeline to the bathroom. 1 hour and her countdown started now.