AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I looked up in surprise. “But you said—”
“I said you were complicated,” he clarified. He angled a look down to me, and something in his eyes gentled a touch. “I don’t think you should go wandering around outside by yourself. That’s all I’m saying.”
I swallowed hard, bouncing a look over his expression. “I’ve done fine on my own.”
“No, you haven’t,” he argued softly. He reached up a hand and traced a half-moon under one of my eyes. “And you’re not telling me the truth, still.”
My back went painfully rigid. I forced my face to stay calm and unaffected. “I’ve told you the truth about my parents.”
He clicked his tongue in censure. “We need to work on your interrogation skills. You’re abysmal.”
“You need to work on your communication skills,” I volleyed back. “What was I supposed to think when you said that?”
Kael’s temper lashed out visibly. “You’re supposed to think your ass is staying here, and you’d better not go running off to join a group of Medieval Times jousters or whatever bizarre job you had in mind next.” Kael’s face had hardened again, and his grip tightened on my elbows. “Especially not if you’re going to keep lying to me.”
Anger blossomed in my stomach and nearly puffed through my nostrils like I was an enraged dragon. “You do not get to tell me what to do.”
He leaned in close, pulling me into his body and surrounding me with the scent of mint and eucalyptus. “Try me.”
A knock sounded on the glass behind Kael, and I looked around him to find Tabitha standing there with a burrito on a plate and her eyebrows pulled all the way up to her hairline. “Hey there.”
“Sit down,” Kael glared at me.
“You sit down,” I snarled.
“This is charming, really,” Tabitha continued, crossing the room to bring the plate to the floating shelf next to the bed. “We should take hostages more often.”
“I’m not a hostage,” I argued hotly, stepping away from Kael and plunking myself down on the bed. “I’m an employer. I offered him four million dollars to help me, but he’s being stubborn.”
Tabitha’s dark eyes swung from me to Kael. “Oh?”
“You are not an employer,” Kael replied dismissively. “You’re a compulsory guest, and neither Tabitha nor I answer to you. Eat your burrito.”
“Did you come out of the womb this bossy?” I asked, leaning back against my hand and feeding coal to my snark machine vindictively, “or did you wait until they cut your cord to demand they powder your ass?”
Kael’s eyes went grim reaper dark. “That mouth is going to get you in trouble someday.”
My mouth got me in trouble every day, but I didn’t bother to mention that. Plus, my body decided to hack up half my lung, and I bent over double while I waited for the coughing spasms to recede.
Tabitha folded her arms and ping-ponged a look between us. “Okay, but boss, she has a point. What’s the plan, here? She offered you four million dollars, and you’re ignoring it?”
I sat up straight and grinned with sharky teeth. “Yeah. Explain your logic.”
Kael rolled his eyes, sitting back in his curved, white armchair. “Don’t give her ammunition, Tab. Just don’t.”
Tabitha waited expectantly, watching her boss. She wore a soft, well-worn band T-shirt over athletic-style leggings, and her neon yellow shoes looked like professional running sneakers. Her hair had been braided into two perfectly tight French pigtails, and from the way her toned thighs fairly burst out of her spandex, I was pretty sure the chick worked out a lot. Which made sense, given what line of work she was in.
“Excuse me.” I raised a lazy hand. “Hired goons? A word? I have a brilliant plan that will solve all our problems—”
“You don’t even know my problems,” Kael cut in.
“—and stop my parents from being global assholes.” I aimed a pointed glare at Kael’s apathetic face. “If you would have asked, I would have told you.”
“I’m not asking,” he intoned.
“I’ll bite,” Tabitha said. “Let’s hear it, Mattie.”
“Turn me in,” I announced.
