AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How?”
“I’ve got security looking into it, but the only time that would make sense is during changeover. Footage is being pulled right now.”
“How is it we’ve been breached again?” First the palace, and now Hush.
A sombre expression blackens the weariness in his eyes. Whether we say it out loud or not, we both know this can only mean one thing— “There’s a traitor in our midst.”
I’ve known it from the very beginning, and now it’s time I do something about it.
CHAPTER SIX
EVE
“So go on, tell me about this new job.” Jess, my sister-in-law, smiles at me while we wait for the kettle to boil.
“There’s not much to say,” I reply, aware that there’s not much I can tell her.
Although she wouldn’t tell anyone my business, I signed the contract. There’s also this nagging thought that I’d be betraying Henry, and despite his surliness, he’s been nice to me. A part of me is always waiting for him to flip, but for now, Dr. Jekyll isn’t around.
In fact, there are times when I find myself enjoying his attention. The way he watches me is intoxicating, to say the least. Sometimes, his eyes are so intent on me that it feels as though he’s somehow touching me, even from the distance he puts between us.
“That’s not what your eyes are saying or your silence,” she chuckles teasingly.
“Well, it pays well, and it helps with the scholarship credits thing. I mean…”
“You mean?” Jess coaxes me to finish with a gentle bump of her shoulder to mine.
While I finish making our teas, I think about what to tell her that will satisfy her curiosity. There isn’t anything, though. Jess will just keep going until I tell her everything, and I always do. Or normally, I do.
“It’s a means to an end.” I shrug, grabbing both of our teas and heading outside so she can have her cigarette before we wash the dye from her hair.
“A means to an end, as in you hate it? If you do, I’m sure they’ll give you your job back at Heath House. They still haven’t found anyone to replace you.” She sits on the wall in front of her place. It looks straight into the lounge, where George, my eight-year-old nephew, is working on the puzzle I brought for him today. When she lights her cigarette, I sit beside her. “I’ve picked up some of your shifts, but they won’t let me do any more overtime. It’s so stupid.”
“Is it? You can’t do overtime on your overtime, Jess. At some point, you need to rest.”
“Cash is king, Eve, and it definitely trumps beauty sleep. I’m desperately trying to get George into a better school.” She gives me a grimacing sigh with a long pull on her smoke. “Last week, he kicked his teacher because she accidentally touched his hand.”
“She knows he doesn’t like being touched.”
“Yeah, she does, but it was an accident when she was helping him put his coat on.”
“There isn’t room for accidents with kids like him.” Jess has had the same problem with every mainstream school George has attended. The teachers just aren’t equipped to deal with the special needs of an autistic child.
“It took a lot of arguing with them to get his suspension retracted. At one point, I even considered flashing my tits at the headmaster,” she jokes, but her grin doesn’t reach her eyes.
“Jess…”
“It wouldn’t have worked, anyway.” A dry laugh pushes from her rolled lips. “I don’t have the tits for it, and I’m not his type.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” God, she’s like a bloody dog with a bone. “Do you like your new job?”
After a short debate while I check her hair, I tell her, “It’s not that different from Heath House, except that instead of making drinks, I’m playing my violin.”
“You’re the entertainment,” she sings with a wide, proud smile.
“And your hair is done.”
