"Is that why you undressed for me last night? Do you want to follow in your mother's footsteps?"
It was like he had dumped a cold bucket of water over my head. All of my life I strove to be the opposite of my mother. I looked so much like her that people some"
"times mistook us for sisters, so I did everything I could not to act like her—until last night. It was a mistake that had cost me dearly.
I stiffened and looked him in the eye. "I'm nothing like her."
Stepping carefully out of the tub while trying to keep all my privates covered, I moved my arm from my breasts to snatch the towel. I held it against me and finally moved my hand off the juncture between my legs to wrap the towel around me.
"Of course you are," Mason told me. "You've got the body to be a stripper too."
He smiled viciously at my surprised expression. "Yes, I know all about her illustrious past. With her good genes, you've got a great career ahead of you."
"Fuck you," I swore angrily, hating him even more for his condescending attitude.
"No thanks," he said. "Your friend already did last night and this morning. She's my girlfriend now. That was the deal."
With that bombshell, he opened the door. "Come on. You've got work to do."
" stared at the maid's uniform, if you could call it that. "I'm not wearing that."
"Yes, you are," Mason retorted. "If you don't, I'll send that picture out to all my friends, and you can be sure that someone will post it online."
My heart constricted at the thought of that happening, but I couldn't abide by his plans for me either. "I'm not going to let you use me for sex."
"I never said anything about sex. I told you that Addison already took care of that."
I looked at him warily. "Then why do you want me to wear that skimpy thing?"
"I'm just trying to help you get a head start on your career as a stripper."
My heart began pounding, and I shook my head in desperation. "I can't...I can't strip for you."
He stepped intimidatingly close. "You'll do anything I tell you to do," he warned. "So don't argue with me, or I really will make you strip for me. Now put it on and get your ass downstairs."
He strode out of the room and shut the door. I felt grateful for the privacy and then angry that I was feeling grateful for some "something I was entitled to. My anger surged when my eyes fell once again on the "uniform" on the bed. It was actually lingerie designed to look like a sexy French maid uniform. The black material that covered the breasts was sheer, so I went back in the bathroom and picked my bra up off the floor. I grabbed my shorts too and put them on over the black panties that had been provided with my uniform.
Mason scowled when he saw me, but I spoke before he could. "I'll get arrested for indecent s to clean my house and get it ready."
"You're not going to be screwing her behind my eing him behind my back for the duration of our friendship. She was the only friend I'd had that he hadn't chased off, and now I knew why. "You've been planning this for a whole year?" I questioned him in disbelief."
"Brilliant, isn't it?" he bragged. "I had to be so patient this time. I had to give her time to earn to your trust."
My gaze shifted to Addison. "So, you were never my friend?" I asked dejectedly.
She scoffed. "Who wants to be friends with you? Anyone can see from a mile away that you're a n this shit, you stupid bitch! How could you do this to me?" I finished in anguish, almost breaking down in tears again.
Her expression hardened. "Like you would give a shit about me if Mason hadn't kept you from being popular."
"I never tried to be popular," I insisted. "You know I can't stand those people."
"Girl fights are no fun unless you're ripping each other's clothes off, so let's go," Mason said.
I turned my ire on him. "You are such an asshole. I can't believe you want him to be your boyfriend," that sounded more panicked than threatening.
His cold gaze was fixed on me as he replied to her. "I don't associate with my inferiors. She's just a servant, and trash. The skank doesn't fall far from the skank tree."
"Yeah," I retorted, "that's why Addison should be worried. Like father, like son."
Mason stiffened. If I thought his gaze was cold before, it was glacial now. He had the pitiless, cold-blooded stare of a predator. His silver-gray eyes always held an animal magnetism, and they now looked like wolf eyes stalking prey.
I took an involuntary step back from him, my heart stuttering like that of a scared rabbit. I actually jumped when he snapped at me, his terse tone cutting across my taut nerves, and I scurried out to his car like he commanded.
He came striding out as I tried to take a breath, not giving "me time to compose myself before being trapped with him in his car. He was coiled tight with anger, making the atmosphere in that enclosed space almost unbearably tense. I clutched my knee as I" "kept my left elbow pressed against my side to keep it off the armrest and as far away from him as possible.
He didn't say a word until we arrived at his house. It was similar to mine, a Colonial style home that was a dream come true for me. "This is where I live now," he said in a harsh, disparaging tone.
"It's nice," I replied timidly, still cowed by the tension emanating from him.
His head turned toward me, and I regretted speaking. "Nice," he repeated in scorn. "Maybe for trailer trash like you. I grew up on an estate that was in my family for generations."
I remembered the place. I had felt like Cinderella at the royal palace during the short time I had lived there—before my mother got us kicked out. I hadn't met Mason, because he had been away at boarding school. I had seen pictures of him though, and I had dreamily imagined him as my handsome prince. What a naïve fool I had been, but I was only twelve at the time.
He got out of the car, and I reluctantly followed him into his house. I immediately noticed the "the dust on the entryway table. He saw me looking at it. "My mother isn't much of a housekeeper," he remarked.
I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself.
"What?" he questioned.
"Nothing," I replied."
"Tell me," he demanded.
"It's just, your assumption that it's her job to clean the house just because she's a woman. You live here too," I added, gaining confidence in my argument.
"So, you're a feminist," he commented, surprising me with an amused expression. "This is going to be fun." His eyes took on a wicked gleam that unnerved me again. "I'll show you where the cleaning supplies are."
He led me to the laundry room where there were cabinets containing all the usual cleaning products. He pointed to a corner of the room where a mop rested inside an empty bucket. "Bring the bucket," he instructed.
I grabbed the mop in one hand and the bucket in the other, but he told me to leave the mop. So I brought the bucket, and he had me fill it halfway with water from the faucet over the laundry tub before pouring in some Pine Sol. He then had me carry the bucket to the kitchen as he walked empty-handed. I felt like Cinderella again, but he was no Prince Charming.
As I set the bucket down on the floor, Mason grabbed a brand-new pack of cleaning rags "from the kitchen counter and ripped it open. "Here," he said as he handed me a rag.
I wet it at the sink and began to wipe the countertop.
"No," he snapped. "Mop the floor with it."
"But there's a mop," I protested."
"you what will happen if you argue with me. Do you want everyone to see that picture?"
His cruel expression left no doubt in my mind that he would do it, and I cringed at the thought of everyone seeing me naked, and in such a pornographic pose. Dropping the rag into the bucket, I began to crouch down.
"Take your shorts off first," he ordered.
Despite his threat, I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off before I could speak. "The shorts or the bra. It's your choice."
"Now!" he barked as I hesitated over what to do. "Or you'll take off everything."
I quickly pulled down my shorts and stepped out of them, feeling immediately exposed in the black lace panties covered only by the sheer, short skirt. They were so small that my ass cheeks were hanging out.
"Get down on your hands and knees and mop the floor," Mason commanded.
As I silently complied, I understood now what he was doing. Addison had been wrong. None of this was about sex. He wasn't making me expose myself to him because it aroused him to look at me. He just wanted to humiliate "And it was working. I had never felt so humiliated in my life as I did with him standing behind me as I wiped the floor in this demeaning position."
"Shit," he swore, "your body is fucking insane!"
His exclamation threw me. It sounded like he had uttered it spontaneously, and it was obvious that it wasn't part of his humiliation plan.
"Get up," he said gruffly. "Go get the fucking mop. It'll take you forever this way, and I've got a party to prepare for."
I hurried to comply before he changed his mind, but he didn't say another word as he watched me mop the floor. It was infinitely less degrading while standing on my feet, and there was actually something satisfying about removing the dirt to reveal a sparkling clean surface.
Mason appeared restless rather than satisfied though. "I've got to go get some supplies for the party. Finish cleaning the rest of the house. Mop the bathrooms too before you dump the water."
Without waiting for a reply, he left me alone in his house. I immediately put my shorts back on, so I wouldn't be caught in my underwear by his mom if she came home. I wondered how he would explain my presence, and my outfit, to her.
Wary of his threats, I got to work cleaning the rest of the house. I " I also wanted to get it done and get out of there.