Page 52 of Rake

“We always host.”

“We don’t do the holidays. Stopped after my mother died. I tried to keep it going for Benjamin, but my father…” She sighs. “Never mind. Maybe you can tell your dad he’s the pillar of our family and he’ll take him out instead.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, not again.” I blurt it out. But it’s true.

I don’t. And more than just in the passive way I feel about most things. It’s unfamiliar and unsettling. She shivers in my arms.

“If I could convince my father, I would.”

I think I’d even take the hit over the properties if it’d make a difference, but it wouldn’t. It’s an unwelcome thought and I push it away. I can’t throw everything away because of her.

“Why can’t you?” The tone of her voice lets me know she’s asking out of curiosity rather than as an accusation.

“He doesn’t respect me. He asked me to deal with the unionization, and as you can see, that didn’t go very well. But even if he felt differently about me, my father sees compromise as weakness. He’s insulted that the staff would even dream about forming a union when they have such an incredible giant to work for.” She clearly catches the sarcasm in my voice.

“I hope I’m never that arrogant,” she huffs. “That arrogant and that blind. You’re brilliant, Finn, but your father brought this on himself. Do you have any idea how underpaid your staff is? They have to pay for parking and for their own uniforms. The material requires dry cleaning. When one of the staff members complained about how unfair this was, he got fired.”

I frankly wasn’t aware of any of this, though I should have been. I should’ve interceded earlier and this whole thing wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have met Sasha, but she wouldn’t have been brutalized so badly she woke up screaming from nightmares.

“Luckily there are a lot of shitty paying jobs around here,” I say. Why not retreat into petulance like always? Christ.

She pushes up on her elbows. I try to pay attention, but it’s hard to keep my eyes off her breasts.

“People can’t constantly job-hop and make ends meet. Your father may save money on staff vacancies up front, but eventually it will cost more than it saves with the time it takes to onboard new employees. Plus the disruption in service is bad for customer service, and your bottom line.” She sighs and slides back on my chest. “Happy workers provide better service, which makes for stronger businesses. But your father is more interested in saving pennies on the dollar by squeezing it out of people who have nothing.”

I don’t want a fucking lecture. And with my father it’s more about getting people to fall in line and not challenge him than simply about saving money. But if I’d pointed these problems out to Callan sooner—my father actually listens to Callan—the organization efforts might not have happened and my father wouldn’t have felt challenged.

But I understand where she’s coming from. Her mother died due to penny pinching, and that can’t be easy to process.

It doesn’t change what’s going to happen, though.

“If I had a different family, I would’ve gone into something embarrassing like psychology,” I say, stroking her silky curls. It’s a pivot, but she takes it in stride. “Or worse. Archeology.”

“How is that worse?”

“Than psychology?”

“No, than working for your father.”

Doesn’t give up so easily, this one. I press my lips to her head.

“Archeologists get excited about digging up latrines. I’d be excited about digging up centuries old shit.”

She laughs. “Sounds okay to me.”

“What about you?” I ask. “If things had been different.”

She cuddles against me. Normally I hate that, but I’m surprised to find that I enjoy closeness with Sasha. I loved the sex, but just holding her is satisfying in a way that feels different. I shouldn’t be letting myself enjoy this.

“Lady pirate,” she says. “Freedom sailing the seven seas, stealing doubloons from the Spanish.”

“So a time traveler too.”

“Why not?” She sighs.

We’re both quiet for a while, and then she brushes a hand over my bicep.

“I’m afraid, Finn. I’m afraid to go back to sleep.” Her voice is barely a whisper.

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