Page 34 of Underground Prince

Sipping on my coke with rocks, I vaguely listened to the conversation near the front entryway. Georgie’s trill was the loudest, and I pictured her pressing a hand to her throat and simpering, You’re so hilarious, Sax, even though there was no dimension in known existence where Theo could ever be considered funny.

“What are you doing here?”

I nearly choked mid-swallow. Theo hovered over me, coming out of nowhere, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Hi,” I said in answer, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

“What…are you doing here?” he repeated, slower this time.

“Well,” I said, uncrossing my legs. “I’m working. Not right now, but I was. I’m on break.” I held up my glass as proof.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Georgie hovered into my vision, bobbing behind Theo and mirroring his body language, but finishing it off with a smirk.

“Why not?” I asked. “Kai, aren’t I doing a good job?”

Kai, previously resting his elbows on the kitchen island, cleared his throat and turned away.

“Traitor,” I said to his back.

“You’re too green for this,” Theo said. His eyes never strayed from my face, not even when I addressed Kai.

“I think the term is ‘fucking cherry,’” I said.

He didn’t react. “You haven’t been cleared to be without Verily, and I doubt Georgie agreed to take on a…fucking cherry.”

“There haven’t been problems,” I said, and peered around his shoulder to include Georgie. “We’ve worked well together, haven’t we? Perfectly seamless.”

“There’ve been a few mistakes on your part,” Georgie said, lowering her arms to prop them on her hips.

“Which I fixed,” I said to Theo. “It’s been completely fine.” It didn’t look too fine. Thunder was brewing behind his expression. “And if you’re going to go after Verily about this, please don’t. I begged for this opportunity. I thought with a little more experience—”

“Impulsive,” was all he said.

My jaw tightened.

“Impatient,” he continued. “All the reasons why you’re proving to me you can’t be taught.”

“You mean you were thinking about it?” I asked. “Teaching me the game?”

There was a clatter behind him, players coming in from the balcony or drawing away from the food under the TV, readying for another round. A noise came from the back of Theo’s throat, a cross between an mmm and grrr, as he finally decided to dissolve our moment and clue in to our surroundings.

“You’re dismissed,” he said as he turned to the table.

Georgie covered her mouth, giggling.

“Dismissed?” I repeated, testing the word.

“Verily’s taking your place.”

“But I—”

“You’re lucky you still have a job,” he said. “The only person who makes decisions around here is me. Not Verily, not you.”

He said all this as he ambled away from me, and I stood there like a schmuck with only Georgie as my witness.

“Off you go,” she said.

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