<em>"And I suppose we should consider the cost of time, as you stated hiring two entertainers would cost three times the fee of one, but also that hiring your head of security would be more expensive than a single entertainer's fee.. Are we to assume then that the cost of Atticus' time will be threefold what you would ask for him alone if Nicholas hires two?"<br/><br/>"Atticus, because he's not a whore, would be one and a half the price of a whore, and without the more carnal delights, I might add. It's basic math, really. It only becomes complicated if one would wish for Atticus' non-sexual services and a whore's sexual ones."</em><br/><br/>He felt his blood run cold at the idea of being given a fee three times any others worth. What did they wish him to do, to offer so much? Still, his heart raced at the small fortune offered up, so willingly. It was a seductive, powerful lure... yet he felt the cowardly tang of relief when Master Ryan established his cost at half again one of the House whores cost. His eyes shut for the briefest of moments as he mastered the whirl of emotion.<br/><br/>It was a smart amount to ask. Enough so that it was respected that he was not usual, but not so much that his worth was utterly exhausted. That they wouldn't complain if he wasn't up to snuff. They didn't know he use to be a whore. They shouldn't expect him to act like one... fuck like one.<br/><br/>Then the Master surprised him again by making clear what services Atticus was not going to be giving. Why? Was it protection, a ploy to let the man see and not touch, an indirect order, what?<br/><br/>Why couldn’t he understand Master Ryan. Wasn’t this what he wanted? All those hints he had given this morning... as if the idea of putting Atticus back on the list had been going through his mind. But if he had, it didn't make sense to make certain his sexual services were removed from the equation. Perhaps Master Ryan didn't think he could preform again, so soon after release, and didn't want the house shamed.<br/>