Wife for Hire

Chapter 18

(Jason) 

    “I need you and your wife to come by the house tonight. We need to talk.” My father had never been one to call me out to the house and when he did, I was usually in a lot of trouble, but I hadn’t been up to anything in particular other than spending time with Karmen and her mom. I occasionally went to see Derek, I had been planning on tweaking the contract a bit so that it would benefit Karmen a bit more, I was going to present it to her at a fancy dinner Saturday night. I had also been thinking about the fact that she thought I sent those pictures in. I know she apologized and was just stressed, but it made me really stop and think about the way that I was presenting myself to others and everything that my dad had been complaining about was finally starting to click. If I wanted to remain in Karmen’s life, even as a friend I had to change. 
    I left my room and went over to Karmen’s, I leaned against the doorway, knocking twice before she looked up. She smiled when she saw me standing there and motioned at a spot on the bed for me to sit on. I did. 
    “My dad wants us to come by tonight, I don’t know what kind of meeting this will be, but you can just dress casually.” She nodded and walked over to her closet. 
    ‘What time were you thinking about leaving?” She asked. I shrugged, it was already four in the afternoon. 
    “Probably 5:30 or 6?” She nodded and grabbed clothes out of the closet and went over to her bathroom. 
    “Okay, then I’ll start getting ready. I’ll see you in an hour.” I nodded and watched as she closed the door and flopped back on her bed. I wondered why my dad wanted her there too? What was he going to talk to us about? Had he found out about the contract? I tried to shake that thought from my mind, but it didn’t make sense. He had never called me over to the house before other than when I was in trouble. I had no idea what he had to say or do with Karmen. I tried not to think too much on it and went to my own room to get ready and change. 
It didn’t take either of us long to get ready and we decided to head out a little early. I wanted to hurry up and get the meeting over with before my anxiety got the best of me. 
    “Did he say what he wanted?” Karmen asked. I shook my head and ushered her over to the car, before opening her door, once she was in, I walked over to my side and got in myself. 
    “Ready?” I asked. She nodded and we headed over to my dad’s.

    Matilda, my dad’s maid opened the door for us when we rang the doorbell. She smiled a polite smile at the both of us and ushered us to my father’s office. 
    “You can wait here until he comes to get you.” She said before walking off. I couldn’t quite sit still. My knee kept bouncing from the worry of what he had to say. Karmen grabbed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. I tried to return it, but couldn’t. 
    “Hey, it’ll be okay. We’re a team, we’ll get through it together.” I nodded and let her words reassure me. I had to be strong, because I couldn’t let him say whatever he wanted to Karmen, to me that would be fine, but to her... let’s just say the aftermath wouldn’t be pretty. 
    The door opened and my dad’s secretary, Dylan, stepped out. He smiled politely at both of us and looked at Karmen.
    “Mr.Aldridge would like to see Karmen first.” I stood up confused. Why did he want to see Karmen alone? What kind of game was he playing?
    “Why doesn’t he want to see both of us at the same time?” I asked. Dylan shrugged and motioned for Karmen to stand and follow him into the office. I grabbed her arm and shook my head. There was no way I was letting her go in there alone. Karmen tapped my arm and I looked at her, she smiled at me. 
    “Jason, I understand why you feel the way that you do, but I’m a big girl, I can handle myself. I’m going to talk to your father, I’m not being sent to my death.” She said. I sighed, she didn’t know that being left alone with my father was the equivalent of being sent to one’s death. As much as I wanted to hold her back and keep her there, I knew it would make him even more upset. I let her go and watched as she walked into his office. Dylan closed the door behind her and stood in front of the door, he was making sure that I couldn’t eavesdrop. If I so much as even felt like something was wrong. I would go barging in there. I just prayed he went easy on her.