10. Jonah
10
JONAH
“Do you want to shower first? We still have a lot to get through today.”
I throw myself onto the couch and glare at Claire’s back. I’m exhausted and can barely walk thanks to Thor, and she’s expecting me to entertain her calendar? No.
“I’m starving. I’m not doing shit until I eat.”
She huffs out a tiny laugh. “So order room service. I’ll shower first.”
She disappears into the bedroom, so I sit up with a groan. I open the hotel app on my phone and pull up the room service menu.
“Yo, come tell me what you want before you get naked.”
The moment the sentence leaves my mouth, I frown. It’s too nice. Too thoughtful. And I don’t like the way my thoughts immediately go toward her standing naked in the shower. I haven’t decided how to handle her yet, but being nice and picturing her naked was ruled out as an option even before she dumped a pitcher of water on my head this morning.
Claire steps back into the main room of the suite, a towel and clothes in her arms. From the way her eyes are narrowed, she’s thinking the same thing I am. Nice is the last thing she expected. Nice is suspicious. Nice is not welcome.
She actually looks cute when she thinks I’m up to something—pert little nose all scrunched, full lips tilted downward. I almost smirk before I remember that she’s an annoying, ankle-biting dog that needs to be muzzled .
“I’m fine. But thanks.”
“You’re fine ?” My brows slant, and more thoughts bust through my filter before I can stop them. Fuck Thor, man. I can’t be calculating when my body is in distress. “You did like a hundred squats and then full-out sprinted for half an hour. Aren’t you hungry?”
She freezes for a fraction of a second, head jerking back in surprise before she catches herself and gives me an unbothered shrug.
“I had something this morning.” She turns toward the bathroom and calls over her shoulder. “You could have, too, if you’d woken up with the alarm.”
Then the door shuts, effectively ending the conversation. I stare at the spot in the hallway she just vacated. Her reaction has alarm bells going off in my head. There’s a weakness somewhere. Something I can exploit. Something I can use. I just don’t know what.
A knock at the door breaks me out of my trance. I haven’t even ordered my food yet. I’m prepared to tell Hammond or whoever it is to fuck off and come back later, but when I open the door, my scowl vanishes.
“Boss,” I greet, sticking out my hand so Levi’s daughter Brynn can slap me a low five, then I glance over her shoulder and jerk a nod toward Sav’s personal security guard. “Red.”
Red nods but says nothing. I look back down at Brynn. She smiles up at me, so I give her a small smile in return.
“Hey, Jonah. Are you busy?”
Instead of answering, I swing the door wide and usher them in. I don’t bother engaging with Red. I like him just fine, but knowing Sav sends him as a chaperone anytime Brynn comes over pisses me off. What does she think I’m going to do, snort something in front of the kid? Offer her weed? I’ve done a lot of dumb shit, but I have never and would never do anything to hurt Brynnlee. To hurt anyone . I’ve always kept my destruction contained so I’m the only casualty, and Sav knows it. Well, until now. The reminder that she doesn’t trust me makes my ears ring, and I have to force away the urge to dig into my stash and take another pill.
I inhale slowly and focus my attention back on Brynn. “What’s the word? ”
“Ebullient,” she recites as she takes a seat on the couch. “Adjective. Extre?—”
“Extremely lively. Enthusiastic. Joyful.” I drop to the couch next to her. “The young girl became ebullient when talking about science but hated her literature classes.”
Brynn grins and rolls her eyes. “I thought I’d get you with that one.”
“Gotta try harder, kid.” I drop my attention to the paperback book and laptop computer in her lap. “Whatchya got?”
“ The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.” She scowls at the book. “Have you read it?”
I arch a brow and take the paperback. “What do you think?”
“Good, because I need help with this dumb assignment.”
“You don’t like it? This one is a classic.” Her expression flattens into one of disdain, and I chuckle. “For someone who loves words, you sure hate reading.”
She groans. “Dictionaries are easy. Fiction books are dumb. Like...why do I have to know this stuff? None of it is real. I shouldn’t have to analyze why these fake people do what they do in this fake story. It’s a waste of time. I should be working on my coding project, not writing a book report about why this horsey kid is obsessed with sunsets.”
“You mean Ponyboy?”
She groans again. “That’s another thing. Why do they have such stupid names? Who names their kid Sodapop? It’s dumb.”
My lips twitch, and I have to bite my cheek to keep from smiling. I don’t want to laugh at Brynn. She hates struggling with schoolwork, and English is her worst subject. It’s been the hardest transition for her when she moved to online learning when the tour started. I can empathize. I used to be the same way. I refused to fail at anything until the anxiety became too much, and I stopped caring. I don’t want that to happen to her.
“You’re right. The names are weird.” I tap her computer, then open the paperback to her bookmark. “Pull up the assignment. We’ll knock it out together.”
“Oh. Hello. ”
Brynn and I both look up from her laptop screen. Claire is standing in the doorway wearing another of her professional pencil skirts, and I take my glasses off so I can look her over. Straight hair. Light makeup. Confused, scrunched little nose. The sexiest, most deceptive kind of trouble.
“I’m Claire. What’s your name?”
Claire walks to the couch, and Brynn grins up at her. “I’m Brynn. I’m with Savannah.”
“You can call her Boss, Davis. She’s Levi’s daughter.” Claire flicks her eyes to me and nods before turning her warm smile back on Brynn.
“Nice to meet you, Boss.” When Brynn giggles, Claire’s smile grows, and she darts her eyes between me and the kid. “What are you guys doing?”
“Jonah is helping me with an English assignment.”
“He is?” The way her eyebrows rise with surprise has a smirk curving my lips.
“Thought I was illiterate?”
“No.” When Claire smirks back, my heart picks up pace. “Legacy or not, you wouldn’t have gotten into Yale if you couldn’t read.”
“Yale?” Brynn’s jaw drops, and she whips around to face me. “You went to Yale?”
“For less than a semester,” I answer honestly, without breaking eye contact with Claire. “Couldn’t do Yale and Heartless, so I chose Heartless.”
Brynn hums. “Makes sense.”
There’s a lot more to it than that. From the look on Claire’s face, she can tell, but the answer satisfies Brynn, so I change the subject.
“Actually, Davis, I haven’t ordered room service yet. Could you do that? Breakfast. Eggs and bacon. Some scones. And coffee. Black.”
“Of course, Mr. Hendrix.” Claire’s answer is flat, no doubt unamused by my ordering her around, but when she turns to Brynn, she’s nothing but sunshine and kindness. I roll my eyes. “Would you like something too, Boss?”
“No, thank you.”
Claire pulls out her phone to order, and I go back to discussing The Outsiders with Brynnlee. The whole time, I can feel Claire watching me. It makes my skin prickle with unease, and suddenly, I don’t want her to see this part of me. I don’t even know why. I just keep replaying her words from last night.
Without the rock star facade to hide behind, you’re everything you hate.
Fuck her for being right.
Fuck her for seeing me so clearly yet getting it so fucking wrong , too.
I keep my eyes off Claire and on Brynn’s computer. I talk her through symbolism and character development. We discuss the importance of the sunsets. We hammer out an outline for her book report. We finish up just as the food comes, and when Brynn stands to leave, I can tell she feels more confident in her understanding of the book.
“Still hate it?” I ask, hooking my glasses onto my shirt collar and standing.
Brynn shrugs. “Nah, I guess not.”
“Maybe we could watch the movie,” Claire chimes in, and Brynn gasps.
“There’s a movie?” Brynn turns accusatory eyes on me. “Why didn’t you tell me there was a movie?”
I shoot Claire a glare, then point at Brynn. “The movie never covers everything you need, and we don’t cut corners.”
Brynn sighs. “Fine. But once my report is turned in, can we watch the movie?”
I nod. “Sure. Now get out.”
Brynn laughs and says thank you, and I watch quietly as she and Red walk out the door, leaving me alone once again with Claire.
“How old is she?”
I turn and find Claire staring at the door, a tiny smile playing on her lips. It makes me want to smile too. Brynn has that effect on people.
“She’s nine.”
“Nine?” Claire shakes her head in surprise. “She’s nine ? I didn’t read The Outsiders until middle school.”
“Yeah.” My smile slips, pride surging through me even though Brynn’s not my kid. “She’s fucking smart. Keeps Levi and Sav on their toes.”
“Seems like she’s keeping you on your toes, too.”
I avert my eyes and shrug, then sit down at the table to eat. I try to ignore her, but she doesn’t move. She just keeps staring. I sigh and look over at her.
“What do you want now, Trouble?”
She arches a brow at the nickname, but she doesn’t comment on it. Instead, she nods to my chest. “Contacts?”
It takes me a minute to realize that she’s talking about my glasses hanging on the collar of my shirt, her question from last night circling back into my mind. Surprised to see you with brown hair and glasses. Do you wear contacts?
I turn back to my plate, shove a forkful of omelet into my mouth, then answer while chewing.
“LASIK.” I swallow and take a drink of my coffee. “I just need them for reading now.”
We fall back into silence, but Claire still doesn’t move. I can feel her eyes dragging over me, her attention scanning me for information like some sort of enemy agent. I sigh again, louder.
“ What , Davis?”
“Nothing.” She shrugs in my periphery. “You have twenty minutes to eat and shower. Then we get back to work.”