Chapter 12
She figured she eventually fell asleep, because she woke up wrapped in Plutus’ heavy, claw-tipped arms. She came to all warm and snuggly and safe feeling, until she realized the blare of her preset work alarm sounding from the living room was what woke her.
“Shitshitshit,” she muttered to herself before she heard a loud oomph from behind her.
In her rush to get clear of Plutus and her bed, she’d accidentally elbowed him in his stomach.
She thought he should be able to take it, what with his general god strength and all those abs, but she still threw out a “sorry” as she scrambled to her feet.
In ten minutes, she was done with the bathroom, her teeth brushed, makeup light, and hair pulled back in a manageable pink pony.
E stripped out of her pajamas as carefully as possible so as not to waste the quick work she just did then threw on a crisp white button up and buttery-soft gray slacks from the clothes haul Plutus gave her what felt like ages ago.
“Why so frantic, little one?” Damn, but his morning rough voice, somehow even deeper than his regular deep voice, made her core quiver. But no time for that.
She sat on the bed as she pulled out a shoebox to find a pair of shiny patent leather ballet flats with, once again, a tell-tale bloody bottom.
With no time to think about the mass of money now in her closet, she turned her head to look over at a rumpled and sexy af monstrous god stretched across her bed.
“I have work this morning at my internship. Then an afternoon meeting with my academic advisor about my thesis. And I left my phone in the living room last night after-”
“My dessert,” he purred, knifing up quickly to trial kisses along the side of her scarred neck as if he didn’t notice the light pink ghosts of burns past.
“Ugh, yes,” she whined out before she managed to shove him away. “None of that. Not now, anyway. I’m already running late because it took me forever to hear the alarm from under all that muscle this morning. If the bus is behind or anything I’m for sure late.”
He cocked a head at her in question then said, “The car is downstairs waiting for you.” His tone sounded as if she were the one being absurd. How was E supposed to know he’d have a fancy car service at her beck-and-call?
“No time to argue about it. Actually, I won’t argue about it. It’s a good thing this morning.” She jumped up only to spin and bend deep into the bed to give Plutus a quick but thorough kiss. “Thank you.”
Luckily, with her happiness over Plutus’s gift for her the night before, she’d transferred all her stuff from her old bag after he sexed her up in bed. Stuffing her phone and her extra charger in the thing before zipping it closed, she called out “Later” before she slammed the apartment door shut.
Thank the god (who she suspected was responsible), the very kind driver had a steaming cup of strong coffee in his hand, passing it off to her as he opened the back door.
She felt weird, being surrounded by the leather luxury of the backseat without Plutus by her side, but she pushed it out of her mind in favor of plunking her head against the soft seat and resting there for the duration of her ride, sipping the luscious coffee along the way.
The driver managed to make it uptown in record time and she rushed into her workstation with a few minutes to spare.
“E,” Anne chirped, a jaunty wave and smile ready for her. She stood close to Mitchel, not far from her desk.
Her boss gave her an up-and-down. Not abnormal, except his gaze snagged and locked on the bag slung across her shoulders.
When she slipped free from the bag and plopped it down on her desk, the soft thump of it shook off his look.
With clipped, assured steps, he came over to her desk, a saccharine smile on his lips.
Something she didn’t really need given her rather frantic morning, but he was her boss so she couldn’t exactly tell him to leave her the hell alone.
Instead, she managed to say, “Good morning, Mitchel,” like a respectable adult.
“Edith.” He said, shitty and formal as always. A little shorter than normal but not unheard of from Mitchel. He reached up to adjust his tie before he said, “Have an enjoyable weekend?”
“I did.”
He nodded and hummed some non-committal noise in reaction.
His hand left his tie and smoothed over her bag; his touch weirdly intimate on the leather.
E’s body lurched in automatic reaction, both from the idea and the fact of him touching something of hers.
Something Plutus gave her. She just managed to tamp down the urge to snatch the bag away.
“Interesting new briefcase, Edith.” She said nothing, and he looked up, pinning her in place with cold eyes. “Rather interesting, and expensive, given you asked for a raise only days ago.”
Of course he knew it was a luxury bag. He probably had one just like it in his closet. E shrugged. “It was a gift.”
“Umm-hmm,” he said, still staring. “I’m sure.”
What the hell did that even mean? She figured he had some idea about the working poor now confirmed by her expensive bag, like she got government assistance to buy luxury items or something.
Asshole. She crossed her arms at her chest and tapped her foot, which brought his gaze down.
He smirked (not in a sexy Plutus way) but he said nothing.
Mitchel turned on his heels without a word and strolled from the work room, off to hide in his barely lit office and leave the real work to the peons he oversaw.
“Yeesh,” Anne said, taking his place in front of E, though she looked behind her at where Mitchel just disappeared.
“What’s his problem?”
“Oh, it’s probably me,” Anne said. “I came in early to tell him about the missing book. I mean, he gave it to me and it poofed, so I thought he should know. It’s still not in the database.
He had some excuse about wonky IT issues and other missing entries when he locked onto you for whatever reason.
As always, his actions are a mystery, just like the missing book. ”
“Yeah, a mystery,” E mumbled, looking away from the woman. She of course knew the answer to one of those mysteries: where The Book of Desires was.
As for the other mystery, she didn’t give a damn, unless it meant more random weirdness from Mitchel.
“Oh, well,” Anne said, her sunny personality coming back through as she toyed with the beaded chain dangling from the arms of her glasses and looping around her neck. “Mondays, am I right?”
E snorted and nodded and the woman moved back to her workstation.
Sitting at her own desk, E pushed thoughts of the “missing” book and odd boss out of her head so she could focus on the actual book in front of her, or the pamphlets she was trying to free from the book binding in front of her.
Whatever Mitchel’s deal, she didn’t have time for it.
“You’ve done truly excellent work so far,” Dr. Hamilton said after taking a little too long to look over what E’d recently written as E sat there awkwardly.
E liked her academic advisor well enough. Respected her very much, especially as a woman who’d been in the field for decades. However, Dr. Hamilton was often a little late in reading her work. She also dismissed her financial needs, as if rigorous academic study by itself could pay the bills.
Still, despite the occasional awkwardness, E learned a lot from her, so she looked forward to their talks about her work.
“Thank you,” E said. “I’ve basically finished everything but the distillation of my last surveys.
Once I’ve combed through the data, I can craft my last section, and hopefully be finished. ”
Dr. Hamilton leaned back in her chair, nodding her head so her thick, straight gray bob bounced around her head.
“I see no problem with your timeline. Your methodology is sound, your understanding of the literature impeccable. If you give yourself the proper time to peruse the data and reach your conclusions, you will be fine.”
E’s jaw tightened at the last line. It was a favorite of Dr. Hamilton’s. The professor probably thought it was comforting, but it grated on E. “You’ll be fine” always sounded dismissive of her worries and fears.
Dr. Hamilton continued. “I wished to talk about one more topic with you this afternoon.” E sat, still and silent, unsure what would come next.
You never knew what might happen. “I recently sent my evaluation of your graduate work to the head of Special Collections at Ohio State. Glowing, of course, as you deserve. Yet, I wonder if this is really what you wish to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, to be frank, I think you have the potential to be more. You have a bright mind and a tenacious work ethic. I think you should consider continuing with your graduate studies.”
“Like get a PhD?”
“Yes. It is sadly a little late for you to apply for this coming academic year’s cohort, but I believe your application would do well given the current graduate committee. You would most certainly be offered admittance for the following year. Maybe even with a stipend.”
The “maybe even with a stipend” hurt. E managed to just barely hold back the flinch.
Would she like to spend her days studying with other like-minded people, talking old books all day?
Sure. However, she wasn’t in a position to do more graduate education she couldn’t afford.
Then she remembered Plutus’s little deposit in her account.
Actually, she could freely study all she wished.
Well, for at least the four to five years it’d take her to get a PhD.
If she also had the stipend. Who even were these people who could do graduate school without stipends?
And how out of touch was Dr. Hamilton with E’s own history to think it would be an option?
“I greatly appreciate the recommendation and I’ll consider your thoughts on my future here more. I have several more months before applications are due, correct?”
“Yes, yes. Practical as always, Ms. Micheals. Finish the work in front of you before committing to more in the future.” Dr. Hamilton turned back to her laptop, clicking through a few things before she looked up again.
“I suggest we meet one final time early next month to go over the data and what you have written up this far. It would then give you a few weeks to finish writing up the results, do any final revisions on your thesis, then present it to your committee in plenty of time for an August graduation. I’ll even petition for you to walk in August prior to your defense. ”
“Plenty of time” might be pushing it, when such a timeline would only give her a week or two buffer for the deadline for graduation, but she knew she could do it.
The thought of walking across the huge stage, kneeling in front of Dr. Hamilton, made her heart race with both nerves and excitement.
It was the big symbolic end to all this work and worry.
“Thank you,” she said, meaning it with her whole heart.
Dr. Hamilton nodded her acknowledgement of the thanks and they then worked out a specific date and time for their next thesis talk.
After, E felt both stressed and elated, a peculiar sensation she’d gotten used to while in graduate school.
She loved learning, loved talking about what she learned with others who also loved learning, but there was a whole lot of pressure that came along with that luxury.
Add in the money issues– but she didn’t have those money issues anymore.
Which left her with a singular question: did she want to do all this over again or did she want to move on and start her career?
Big, heady question she’d have to mull over another time, because she spotted Plutus, in his human guise, leaned against the car, waiting at the curb for her.
“How long’ve you been here?”
“Only a few minutes. No need to worry about me blocking the loading zone just for you.” He winked at her as he opened the door and waited for her to scoot inside. He climbed in after her and as soon as the door closed behind them, the driver shot off.
“So you don’t have to ask,” he said to her with a green twinkle in his eyes, “I have no concrete plans for this afternoon. I thought we could do whatever you wished to do.”
She thought for a moment and spoke. “I want a good cocktail. And a slice of cake.”
Plutus’s smile widened. “I think we can manage that.” He rolled down the divider and told the driver to take them to some address up around Midtown.
She trusted him to know where she could get a good drink and a tasty piece of cake.
But to be honest, she’d be just as happy eating him up.
She wasn’t about to tell him that, though.
She knew they’d get there at some point in the day, anyway, what with the way they seemed to crash together whenever they were alone.
E decided a little luxury sure was nice, and let Plutus take the lead with a quiet but comfortable car ride to liquor and dessert.