A maid and two brats

11

I released a long sigh I did not know I had been holding in as Dalia walked out of the room. My eyes took in the sight of my new haven one more time. It was going to be my small little world where I could easily hide away and be tucked from all life had to serve me and it damn attractive.

My box and bag were laid carefully next to the closet, it was not much to sort out in there. More than half of the contents of the box were my books. I had worked really hard too but, actually, all of my money went into providing for myself for school. If there was one thing I loved more than anything else, it was school.

My biggest dream, the one dream I had shared with no one else, not even my best friend was to be a neurologist.

I know what you're thinking.

How does a legit nobody like me with no parents and no one intend to make it through school and come out as a neurologist? The simple answer? I work. Even if it would take everything I had, I would work my ass off to make my dreams a damn reality. Thankfully, I did not have to worry about the brains for it, I was at least gifted with brilliance. Not to boast but at least I was allowed to flaunt the one good thing I had. A smart brain.

A smile crept up my face as I thought about waking up tomorrow, in a new house, a new life with new people, and more importantly, a new damn school. I would have no more of holly telling me why I had to disappear from the face of the earth. That was the best part of my life right now.

I walked to the large dressing mirror in the closet, almost gasping t the humongous bathroom. Okay, new flash forgets about the mansion itself, this room was comfortably three times the size of my old house. And it was mine to live in.

Wow!

The thought was enough to leave me grinning.

I dug my hand through my blue straight hair. I was a natural redhead. I know, redheads are supposed to be anything but me. The main rason I made sure to dye my hair as often as possible. Red hair looked too ridiculous with my personality and I needed no further comments on my body. The words "you are too skinny was enough for me."

It was not my fault that I was skinny though. Let me explain it to ya.

I had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning every single day, head off to my first job of taking care of the neighbors' dogs, and sometimes I had to deliver a few papers and mil too, then I had to rush home, sneak in and out to the house and head to school Whatever little I made it went into more important things than snacks or food. Then I had to leave school once the bell went off and go about the three other jobs I had before they ran out. Between all of these events, the most I could eat was an apple.

I guess the saying an apple a day keeps the doctor away could be applied in my case.

So I did not exactly choose to be thin enough to break from just a punch, I was conditioned like that. At least my face was not so bad.

After taking a much-needed warm bath, I put on a pair of jeans and a striped button-down shirt. My long hair was due to be trimmed, which would have to be sorted out later, for now, I would finish up with some homework and doze off.

Occasionally, my mind wandered to the asshole called Damien. Knowing that I was just a few doors away from him was nerve-wracking enough and when I remembered his cold emotionless glare downstairs, a shudder raced through me. I half anticipated him to be at my door a few minutes early to drag me out. I would not out it past the self-entitled bastard.

Before the thoughts were out of my mind there was a small rap in my door. I jerked up in surprise as my mind flew to thoughts of him being on the other side of the door ready to pounce on me once I opened it.

"Who is it?" I asked in a timid voice.

"B-belle..." a small stuttering voice answered. "I'm here to give you lunch."

Oh..phew. It was not the psycho. Though I wondered why she stuttered, I was the very opposite of intimidating.

I pushed the chair back and dropped my pen, turning to answer the door. Regret washed through me as I opened the door to meet his cold and emotionless eyes. The girl who had spoken was standing next to him, holding a tray of cookies and some juice, she gave me an apologetic look before bowing her head and looking down.

I held the doorknob easy to bang the door shut, I was not fully prepared for a showdown with Damien. His long slender hand shot out first, easily overpowering me and holding the door open.

"What do you want?" I yelled at him in frustration, giving up the fight to close the door.

He turned to the maid who had not raised her eyes since. "Get lost!" he barked and she scampered away like a terrified cat, nearly toppling over with the tray in her hand.

Typical of Damien to use her so easily and toss her away like garbage. I had no doubt all the girls he dated suffered the same fate.

"Move," he said to me.

"No, you go away. This is my room now, so you do not get to barge in whenever you like." I folded my hands across my chest, glaring at him.

"Watch me." he lifted me from the floor with ease, like I was nothing but a f*****g piece of paper, and walked in, banging the door shut with his feet.

"Put me down you asshole." I thrashed his arm, only managing to hurt my weak hands.

H dropped me so hard I almost lost my balance and without a word, he moved to take out the seat I was using to study. "Sit down."

I folded my arms and raised a brow in surprise. "How about you get out of my room and let me study."

"I will not say it again. Sit." he barked.

"Do I look like some puppet to you?" I yelled back, "why are you here?"

"Why are you in my house?"

"Because I live here now, jump into Brooklyn bridge if you cannot handle that." I shot him a wry smile that did enough to make him boil more. "And from what I hear, we'll be schoolmates soon." I pointed to the uniform laid out on the bed neatly.

"Hell no!" he barked, "hell f*****g no!"

"Why do you have such a big problem with me?" I asked with a sigh. I had too much school work to do and I still had to read the brochure for my new school.

"Because I do not like you, end of the story. And I cannot live in the same house as you, your ugly face might just give me nightmares." he feigned a shudder.

"You know Damien I just looked in the mirror and I'm really not so ugly, maybe you need glasses." I almost chuckled as my comment made his nose flare.

"You are talking too damn much today." he chuckled humorlessly. He was not wrong, most times I did say all of these words, but only in my brain. "Maybe I need to remind you who I f*****g am and what I can do."

I meant to give him a fitting reply but wisely clamped my mouth shut. As much as I wanted to be brave, I was in his territory, and from what I had seen about his relationship with his mom, she may not be able to do much if he decided to make me a target in here too.

"Damien, can we just call a truce?"

He barked a long peal of laughter. "Why would I want a truce with you."

"Because as much Is I hate to admit it, I need somewhere to stay until my mom is out of jail and I cannot have you loathe for me, f*****g this up," I admitted.

"How is it my fault your mom gt into hot water with the law and why should my sister's bedroom have to pay for that?"

"Damien, can you please put your hate for me aside? I really need this. I'm not your biggest fan but I'm willing to put all my dislike for you aside and stay out of your way completely for the rest of my time here. You won't see me, you would not hear my voice, I ould be no more than a ghost within these walls, just please don't make my life more difficult than it already is."

"And where's the fun in that?" he smirked. "also who says that's what I want from you?"

"I thought you hate me and always want me away from you." I raised a brow.

"You read my actions wrongly. I don't hate you, I just love how terrified you look when you're around me."

"You are an asshole," I spat in disgust.

"I know that, but I also know if you want to live in my house, you have to do what I want." a wicked smile crossed his lips.

"And what could that possibly be?" I threw my hands in the air.

"My maid just quit...they're always so useless," I did not like where this conversation was suddenly heading.

"And?"

"I need a new one, I hate doing anything by myself."

"Then get one," I said defensively.

"That's why you're here, you are going to be my new maid," he said with a note of finality.

"Try to stand up comedy sometimes you know." I walked past him and picked my books off the table, a universal sign to show that I was done talking.

"That's not funny," he growled.

"Who said you had to be funny to do stand-up comedy?" I said ruefully. I could almost see the smoke from his head.

"Deborah!"

I turned around and tilted my head, "Damien!"

"You know I always get what I want." I thought of what to say to that but no words came out. "and if I want you to be my maid, you will be my maid, no matter what you decide."

"Your mom would never agree to that."

"A lot of people think my mom is too pampering towards me, but have you met my father?" my heart thumped in my chest. His father was coming back tonight and if he was going to do what I thought he was then my life here was going to be much worse than I presumed. "I'll give you until dinner to make a choice. Dad will be landing in a few hours. You have three options, willingly accept to be my maid, forcefully accept to be my maid, or leave." he shrugged in the last part. He was going to use my weak point against me. I should not have expected better from him. well, I should not have been surprised by his actions. I was anyway.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?!" I yelled to the empty room as he banged the door shut.

***************************

The evening arrived much sooner than I expected, and soon enough I was called to dinner. I had too much on my mind though and could not stomach any food. I had to go anyways.

Damien was right, there were three ways in which tonight could end. And none of them were in my favor.

One, take the job without a fuss and be at the minister's mercy for god knows how long.

Two, be forced to be his maid and be mir at this mercy.

And three, turn down his offer and leave maybe tonight. That seemed like the most unfavorable choice to make seeing as it carried more consequences than being at Damien's beck and call.

I stroked that last option off in my head. Leaving was not an option. Not now.

"You're late!" a stern, deep voice boomed from the head of the large dining table in the center of the dining room as I hurried down the stairs.

I looked up to find an older-looking man, or maybe his face had so many wrinkles because he clearly never smiled. He regarded me with a boring gaze that would have been mistaken for a glare. I stuttered in my own words as I tried to speak in my nervous state. I paused and took a deep breath.

"I apologize, it took some time finding the diner," I explained.

I returned a weak smile to Dalia, but that soon changed into a grim expression when I saw the triumphant smirk on Damien's face as I took my seat as far enough from him as possible. He only had that smirk when he had achieved a new way to make my life hell and if he had it on now, that could only mean one thing.

Shit!

"Deborah darling, I would like you to meet my dear husband David Mcarthy." Dalia started as I got comfortable in my seat.

"Hello, sir." I forced a smile that did nothing to loosen his deep frown. I did not need to hear or see more to know my presence was unwanted by another member of the Mcarthy family.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush r pretend to like you," he said with surprising harshness. "I think my wife made a terrible mistake hiring you without proper background checks."

"David," Daila chastised in a hushed tone. "please not here."

"What? If we open our doors to everyone who cast their shadow on our doorstep, very soon we will be running a charity organization in here."

His words stung and before I could think twice, I blurted, "I don't mind having to pay for my stay here Mr. Mcarthy." The words were out of my mouth before I could notice the grin on Damien's face.

Everything was clearly going the way he wanted, and I was following along like a lamb being led to the slaughterhouse.

"And tell me how you intend to pay such a debt?" he regarded me like I was no more than some dirt on his luxurious three-piece suit that hugged his chiseled body perfectly. In just a few minutes, I got a clear hint where Damien had gotten both his good looks and cold heart from. "My wife and I spent no more than a fortune to get that room organized beautifully for our daughter. Where do you intend to get even half of that amount since you're talking about paying."

"David it's rude to talk about money like that." Dalia looked more upset right now, but I did not expect her to counter her husband on my behalf. "Please, do not humiliate the girl any further, your son has done enough this afternoon."

"I'm a businessman Dalia. I believe in profit and loss and this girl is nothing more than big loss, seeing as she's bringing no profit to us."

I was seething and my mind raced with the thought of how to shut him up. He was even meaner than his son. "I don't mind working here to pay whatever debt may arise from my stay here. I assure you, Mr. David, I never take anything for free." I worked to hold back an eye roll.

"No..." Dalia started to speak, but someone interrupted her rudely.

Maybe senior asshole or asshole junior. I was too upset and humiliated to care. "That's a great idea. We are in need of a few maids, so that's perfect."

"Dad, I need a new maid, the last one quit for some flimsy excuse," Damien took the chance he had been waiting for. "we're about the same age, so I don't mind having her as my maid."

"You don't have to explain yourself, son," he said with pride, then threw me a smile that did not reach his eyes. "You do not mind too much dear do you?"

"Not in the very least." I gave him my own fake smile too. I was not going to pretend I was not expecting this, but that did nothing to make me feel better. "when do I start?"

"That would be Damien's decision."

Dalia got to her feet, banging her fists on the table. "I'm so very glad that once again father and son have decided to ruin a choice I made for their arrogance. I'm done with dinner, I feel top disgusted to eat." when she looked at me, her face softened. "Debby love, please see me in my office tomorrow morning. Excuse me."

Damien leaned back in his chair, giving me I told you so look as he sipped his juice slowly. f*****g jerk.

"I hope you're not upset Deborah," David asked.

"Of course not. I completely understand." I kept a straight face as I told the lie.

"Good...it's just business."