Chapter 7 #2
I took a step back from the animal, pulling my plate toward me, but he stepped closer and started panting.
I glanced at Franny. “Um … orbiting is great. It means we all have our attention on you, missy.” I shifted my gaze back to the dog, not sure if I should trust him today. “Does your dog want something?”
“Your food,” Archer said, glancing toward the door now, as if ready for our boss to walk through.
Rosy laughed and pointed to the cupboard behind me. “He wants his treat, and Franny wants her chocolate. Means grandma is gone, huh?”
Franny smiled big. “She didn’t even let me put chocolate chips on the pancakes today. So, I need double the chocolate now, Ms. Darling.”
I wasn’t so sure. “Your father and Hades don’t seem to be too keen on sweets. So don’t tell—”
And as if he were conjured from my saying his name, Hades walked in. “She won’t tell anyone, but I will,” he said as he glared at Rosy like this was all her fault.
“You would tell,” she scoffed, tension snapping between them, and turned to go back to her skillet. “If you don’t want sweets handed out, probably should stay out of my kitchen.”
“See”—Hades looked down at Franny as if she’d gotten him in trouble—“I told you we had to stay out there while she cleaned up.”
“She wants you out, not me.” Franny rolled her eyes so dramatically, her dark curls swung as she eyed me expectantly. “The chocolates are by the dog treats in that cabinet.”
Hades glared and Rosy raised an eyebrow.
A test to see which side I was on. Maybe it was because I’d always yearned for a friendship I’d never had or because I wanted to shove it to Jameson and his team any way I could, but I reached up and grabbed the chocolate jar and dog treats.
Franny smiled while Malek’s tail wagged.
The winning moment was when Rosy’s face relaxed like she knew she could trust me as I handed both the biscuit and chocolate out.
“Unbelievable,” Hades grumbled, but I think I saw his shoulders ease, too, as if he were relieved to know I had a backbone. “Jameson won’t be happy.”
“Don’t pout, Uncle Hades. It’s uncouth. Daddy will be just fine if we stay on schedule.
He has other things to worry about.” Franny explained, “Being a doctor is hard.” She grabbed Hades’s hand as she turned him toward the door, having gotten all she needed from us.
“So, maybe keep this trip to the kitchen to yourself. Daddy has so many calls and meetings today that he can’t worry about this. You understand?”
Her tone was so haughty and mature that each of us started laughing while Hades attempted to frown at her like he’d been outwitted.
“What’s so funny?” Jameson’s voice rolled smoothly through the kitchen but still made everyone straighten up as he walked in with his suit pressed perfectly. His expression was almost relaxed until he saw me. Then his stride faltered just a fraction, though enough that I clocked it.
The laughter on my lips died along with the comfort in the room.
Instead, unease twisted its way in and held us all captive.
His blue eyes found mine and pierced straight into my soul.
“Well, this is interesting,” he said with a scowl.
“I see there’s a party in the kitchen this morning.
” His voice was cold and low, as if such a thing was against the estate policy.
Was there an estate policy? A handbook of some sort?
“I felt it was better to eat here with Ms. Darling on her first official day than disturb your breakfast,” Archer offered quietly.
“I don’t believe I asked you to make decisions based on how you felt, Archer. Ms. Darling was to either dine with us or be brought to Franny and me after she ate in her room.”
Jameson didn’t even glance Archer’s way.
The way he held his power over Archer without even looking at him had my feathers ruffling and my hackles raised.
I’d requested his presence because he’d shown me loyalty and compassion.
Archer was a good egg, and I wouldn’t have him take the fall for me.
So, I let Jameson’s stare dig into mine, and at his intimidation tactics, I lifted my chin.
“It wasn’t Archer’s decision. It was mine.
He’s not going to physically restrain me … unless you’ve given him permission to?”
Rocking back on his heels, Jameson pulled at the back of his neck. “It’s too early for this, Mia,” he grumbled under his breath and then said, “No. No one is going to bodily restrain you to a specific location to eat.”
“Oh, well good then.” I clapped my hands together and smiled brightly. “I wanted to eat here and help Rosy clean up.”
“You’d rather eat standing up instead of sitting down in your room or being brought to have a meal with me? You could have eaten in the dining room with us.”
“No thanks.” I wrinkled my nose at the thought. And then, when I realized how rude that sounded, I tried to follow up with, “I’m not really—I don’t belong at that table.”
“Everyone here belongs at that table and has been invited to eat breakfast with us in the morning.”
“And yet no one does,” I pointed out.
The silence was so thick, a drip from the faucet practically echoed like a damn countdown. Jameson obviously didn’t get that no one would be sitting with him at that table anytime soon.
Or so I thought. But then he skimmed his thumb over his bottom lip slowly and asked, “And why do you think that is?”
I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him. “An employee-boss boundary, Mr. Knight?”
He stared at me like he was reading every part of my face before he chuckled and murmured, “Rosy, is that the reason?”
“I think you know it’s because your mother is ridiculous.”
“She was even worse this morning,” Hades added, and my jaw dropped.
“She’s stressed about the situation but also completely intolerable.
You’re right.” Jameson took his time reaching behind me to grab a chocolate from the cupboard.
He leaned so close I felt his breath across my cheek as he whispered only to me, “Might be time for you to rethink that employee-boss boundary. I like my staff honest; no need to sugarcoat the truth for my benefit.” His gaze sparked and ignited with mine, clashing and wrestling my confidence away from me.
“I’m not sugarcoating anything,” I argued, immediately offended.
“I think you’re used to everything that comes out of your mouth being sugarcoated,” he said with an undertone that mocked me, and I wasn’t sure how to even respond.
People pleasing had been a part of my job and maybe a part of my life for a long time too.
He smiled at how tongue-tied I was and whispered, “That is … unless we’re in private.
You seem to have a mouth that bites then. Have a good day, darling Mia.”
And then he was gone, leaving Hades to say he was going to walk with Archer and Franny to the study so I could finish up breakfast with Rosy. Once they walked out, Rosy smiled. “Oh, you’re so screwed.”
“What are you talking about?” Fifty-fifty chance she’d buy my faux innocence.
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m even better at catching a lie than Jameson, although he’s gotten quite good at it over the last few years.
” She saw the questions on the tip of my tongue.
“Ask me anything you want, and I’ll answer what I can.
The rest will be met with silence, because I hate dishonesty. ”
“Why would a doctor need to catch people in a lie?” I blurted out.
“I think you know the answer to that one.” She leaned a hip on the counter and pointed to the pancake I had yet to finish. “Multitask so you won’t be hungry later.”
“The only answer I can come up with is that he’s not a doctor.” I took a bite before asking, “So what does he do if that’s the case?”
“He was a full-time surgeon at one point.”
“But a full-time surgeon doesn’t wear a business suit all the time. Or spend whole days in meetings or on calls.”
“Well, you’re an observant teacher.” Her plump lips curved into a smile like she was proud of me. “Have you asked him what he does for a living?”
“He said it’s best I don’t know.”
“And he’s probably right.” She waited a beat before saying, “But it might be best for you to decide that over time. Sometimes a person holds the truth back not to hurt you but to protect you.”
Paradise Grove was well known. Everyone had heard how rich the residents were. And the whispers that came with that luxury weren’t exactly respectable.
These people were dangerous. I knew money like he had was laced with some sort of corruption. “I’ve taken extra precautions to avoid secrets in my life and things that are too good to be true.”
“Isn’t that what the summer school job was?”
“Yes and no.” I hadn’t made the decision lightly. I’d built a life in a way no one could take from me, or so I thought. I’d abandoned my parents’ hopes and dreams for me, following my passion for helping children into a reputable teaching position. But I’d acted out, done what society deemed wrong.
Again. It put me in a position where I had to flounder, where I had to make one questionable move in order to right the ship again. “Blackstone Academy is renowned.” In some circles. “A job offer from them is a coup. Accepting it isn’t out of the ordinary.”
“I’d assume a teaching job with armed guards is, though.”
“You know a lot about Franny’s institution then?”
“Not because of Jameson or Hades.” She waved away the men like they were ridiculous.
“Franny tells me things she doesn’t care to share with them or her grandmother.
Or Valerie, at that.” She wrinkled her nose at the woman’s name.
“She’ll be here this evening, by the way. Avoid the shrink at all costs.”
I wrung my hands. “Really? She that bad?”
“She doesn’t like other women around.” Rosy shrugged. “She’ll be territorial with you.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re sweet and pretty and, although you’re not his normal type, he’s made an exception with you.”
“An exception how?”
“He didn’t kill you.”