An Allowance

James looked up from his paper work on the kitchen table, a frown creasing his brow as he saw Amber strutting in. He dragged his gaze from her heels to her long legs in spray on jeans, up to an expensive cinched white blazer, perfectly tailored to her cartoonish combination of non-existent waist and large fake breasts. As she turned he could see she had a blouse on underneath - he sneeringly told himself that she was trying and failing to me classy, but he was really disappointed that her cleavage wasn't on show.

He redirected that disappointment into his present grumpiness as she came closer. Placing her luxury handbag on the table, she flicked her long, straight dark hair back.

"What?" she said with a pout, already sensing his annoyance.

"Is there something wrong with your legs?" he asked, a mix of amusement and annoyance on his face.

"I...what?" she said, taken aback. His tone and quick wit often did that to her.

"Your legs. Did you injure them and I didn't know?" he glanced down at them and she did the same, closely inspecting the denim for some stain or rip - that would have been horrific. Nothing jumped out at her.

"Or maybe you lost your sight?" he continued. She could tell he was angry, which put her on edge.

"I...I don't understand..." she finally conceded, lost.

He tossed over a letter to her side of the table, "Well aren't you disabled? This just came for you. Well, for me since it's about my car. You parked in the disabled bay the other day and now I've got a £100 fine! Why the fuck-"

"It's closer! There was no-one else there and I was in a hurry so-"

"In a hurry!" James exclaimed, standing up, "Why would you be in a hurry? In a hurry for what? People like you are why..." he trailed off as he felt the tension rising in his body. Spoiled, stupid, entitled - Amber was proving to be everything he'd first suspected. Slowly he regained his composure.

"Look, if I had a driver like before..." said Amber.

"So it's my fault," he grunted, rolling his eyes. Here it would come again, the request for money.

But then a new thought came to him. Maybe if he gave her some, he could prove how wasteful she was with it? Despite himself, something delighted in confronting this dimwitted bimbo with her own wastefulness, her own low intelligence. James wasn't exactly a kind man and he hated being saddled with this dumb step-mother and his useless step-sister. But his father had asked and so...

"Ok, new plan," said James in a relaxed tone that caught Amber off guard, "I'm going to transfer you some money for a monthly allowance ok?"

He saw the excitement rise in her eyes but before she could speak he raised a hand to stop her.

"I don't have to, but I will. In return, you stop asking about money. You stop asking for anything beyond what I'm already giving you - food, a home, the essentials, and this allowance."

Amber thought for a second and then nodded, "Ok, I can do that but how-"

"How much?" pre-empted James, rolling his eyes again, "Of course that's all you want to know. I'll decide and then, when the month is through, we'll see how you did. If it's too little," he smiled, laying the trap, "We can see about changing it ok? And vice versa."

He tacked on the last bit hurriedly, quietly, knowing she wouldn't really worry about that.

"Ok!" she said, nodding delightedly and clapping her hands together.

For reasons even he didn't understand, James liked to torment Amber now that he could. He despised her lifestyle, her intelligence, her lack of achievement. Mostly he resented how she had used his father. But he lusted after her too, from the first moment they'd met. He absolutely understood why his father had married her and, even better, locked her down with a pre-nup. That agreement was perhaps going to be the best part of James's new inheritance.