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“I just like to use them occasionally!” she clarifies, a bit sheepishly, I think.
“Yes.” Richard nods. “But that occasional use”—he put air quotes around the wordoccasional—“is interfering with your ability to work and act like a normal, responsible adult. That’s why your dad’s got you a role in his movie. You can’t get fired because he’s the boss, and you’ve got a month before filming starts to get yourself clean and your life back on track. Have a holiday, do some sightseeing.”
Still refusing to be beaten, Jade lifts her chin proudly and meets Richard’s stern gaze. I admire her spirit. She’s nothing if not stubborn. Sergeant Lance would call itfortitude,but he always was given to optimism.
“And if I don’t want to?”
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.” Richard sounds so final, as though this whole thing is a done deal and whether or not Jade wants to go along with it is irrelevant.
“Of course I do!” she scoffs. “I’m twenty-two years old! I’m not a little child! You can’t tell me what to do anymore!”
I don’t even try to hide my smirk. Her utter indignance makes her voice rise in pitch so she sounds young and bratty, exactly the same age as the little child she’s adamant she’s not. It’s cute. Or it would be, if I didn’t have to curb it.
Richard leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest before fixing Jade with a stern stare. “If you refuse my intervention, you’re on your own. I’ve already talked to your father and cut off your credit cards. Jaxon has a card to take care of all your needs, but if you walk out of here, you leave with nothing. Your father will not support you any longer.”
This will be interesting. My smirk widens. It’s obvious Jade thinks he’s bluffing. I watch, my arms folded casually across my chest, as they stare at each other across the desk. An entire conversation seems to happen between them, held with nothing more than looks. A conversation I’m not privy to.
Jade slinks back in her seat. It appears that Richard has won. I would wager that this is the only argument with Jade he’s ever won in his life.
“Do my cards not work at all?” she asks pathetically.
“No.”
“But what about shopping? My beauty treatments? My nails? My hair?” Her whining grates on my last nerve. Do women bring out that specific tone specially to make us cave?
“Jaxon will take care of all that,” Richard assures her. “They do have shops in New Zealand. And restaurants. I’m sure they even have beauty parlours.” He smiles, and I’m not sure if he’s amused or mocking. Both, probably. The man clearly has a sense of humour, because this has to be hard for him.
“You’ll have to behave yourself if you want to avail yourself of them though,” I announce, quite enjoying the showdown. “So far you don’t seem to be very good at that.”
Instantly, she turns to glare at me. “Nobody asked you,” she snarls.
I wink. “I’m the one with the credit card.”
“I haven’t said I’m going yet,” she reminds me furiously.
I just shrug. It’s really no skin off my nose whether she comes or not. If this job doesn’t work out, there will be more. But I can’t resist baiting her. The asshole within me sometimes just begs to get out. Although, if I’m honest, there’s a tiny little part of me that will be sad if she somehow manages to bring Richard around to her way of thinking. There’s something about the feisty brat in front of me that I’m attracted to.
“You will.” Even to my own ears, I sound like an asshole. I really need to work on that.
Panic flashes briefly across her face. The aftereffects of too much partying, too much alcohol and cocaine? Or just the thought of flying to New Zealand with me?
She leans forward against the desk and puts her head in her hands while Richard opens one of the drawers of the huge mahogany desk before tossing a slim plastic folder onto the newspapers in front of her.
“Your ticket.”
Jade looks up. “What happened to Dad’s private jet?”
Richard frowns. “Nothing happened to it.”
“But I can’t use it?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re flying commercial. I think it will do you good to be treated like a normal person instead of a Hollywood princess.”
Richard’s description is apt. Very apt. It’s just as well she doesn’t turn in her chair to look at me right now because she’d probably slap me if she did. The grin of approval on my face is a mile wide. But it fades somewhat as Jade sinks back into her chair, totally defeated. I might be an asshole, but even I can have compassion for someone who is clearly confused and hurting. She really should have been given discipline long before this. As amusing as this is, it’s really unfair on her.
