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Fair enough.
“And no, she hasn’t been to most of them. Maybe a quarter of them.” She grabbed her laptop and pulled open the right file before handing it to me.
“Do we have pictures of these places?” I asked as I scrolled through the list. “Is this place in Thailand any good? I’d love to have a nice quiet—”
“Jasmine, can you focus please?” Elijah sighed.
“Sure, I can be a monkey to dance for you,” I drawled. “I only know a few of these. So what? I barely get to be at the condo I love. Why are you asking?”
“And who is he asking around? What is this bet even for?”
Right, I hadn’t even thought to ask that since I always trusted Elijah, but… “This conversation is over. Enough with sharing information about me. I would think as my attorney, you were tighter-lipped than you have been lately. Clearly, we need another discussion in the sparring room. I’ll get it set up after you rest. You’re going to need it.”
I reached over and hung up the call.
“You okay?” Melissa asked gently.
“No.”
And I was tired of that being the answer.
10
“Before you rush off to whatever is next, I did a bit of hunting in my free time,” she told me, rooting in her bag and handing me some files. “I know you’re busy, but I don’t like the plan for all the rescued demons. We’re spreading everyone out and that’s easy to pick us off. I think we need a better plan.”
“I’m all ears,” I told her honestly, accepting the files.
“I’ll help in any way I can. I was honest with Chun that I’ll be his help however he needs, but my soul is on this mission with you.”
I leaned in and kissed her hair. “I’ll review it tonight. Owen wants me to relax a bit, so I’ll have the time to sit on the couch.”
“What’s in there won’t make you relax but hurt your heart,” she warned.
That was normally how things went. Still, I thanked her and left.
I arrived back at the villa and found Owen, Evan, and Mason all sitting at the table, clearly waiting for me. “I feel like the mom who’s coming home to find out the kids broke something and it’s not a vibe I like.”
Evan cracked up laughing which made me feel better. “Nothing like that, love. We’re kinda still catching up on how cool you are.”
I was confused at that, so I was glad when Mason elaborated.
“I called Kiera to find out what else you liked so we could have something nice for dinner,” he told me. “She told me not to be stupid and waste time cooking unless I wanted to and simply order from any club and they’d bring it to us. Or to home base and I could get it there so not every club knew this location.”
“It’s a bit overwhelming,” Owen added.
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t want to be with me for the perks but yeah, there are a lot. My teams get them more than like the legal department that’s nine-to-five. But overall, anyone who works directly for corporate and not just the company get those kinds of perks as long as no one abuses it. The VPs are sort of expected to abuse it so we’re focused on where we should be instead of grocery shopping.”
“Though apparently there’s someone for that according to Lewis,” Mason muttered, staring at his phone. “He’s kind of treating me like a house husband?”
“Ignore him, and that’s not a reflection on you. That’s his dream of being a kept boy toy by a rich woman who gives him everything,” I explained as I sat down with them. I cleared my throat and decided to explain more so I didn’t sound as spoiled as I was coming across. “Some of it was set up to hide how much I eat. I don’t eat what normal demons do, even ancient ones.”
Understanding lit up Owen’s eyes. “They assume you order one huge spread from a club because you finally have the time to eat while on assignment or have so much going on.”
“That’s normally true, but they don’t know about all the takeout and fast food too. Or if I’m not on assignment and doing all this behind the scenes—the kitchens of the clubs don’t talk to each other. They won’t know if I eat like that three times a day. Yes, it costs us more to have that setup, but treating our people good keeps them loyal. Mostly. There are always some assholes.”
Mason hurried onto the topic they had wanted to focus on when he saw I was getting uncomfortable. “So what are you in the mood for? Are there certain clubs that have the best of what you like?”
“You’re not my house husband,” I hedged, worried he would feel like that.
