Page 206 of Night's Fall
“I supposeIhave to get used to that kind of thing,”Iremarked.
“As far asIcan tell,Alekseiis the total shit.Thatmale has it all together.ButIthink his greatest talent is not hurling when people line up to try to shove their noses up his ass.”
I watched as she descended to land in front of the gleaming, black, severe, one-hundred-and-fifty story, pointed spear of the famousSpireBuilding.
It was new, only about a year old, and had changed the skyline ofNocturnin whatIthought was an awesome way.
WasAleksei’soffice in theSpire?
This question led me to the uncomfortable realization that we’d been together for weeks, andIdidn’t know whereAleksei’soffice was.Or, really, what he did in it.
BecauseIhadn’t asked.
Oh gods.
WasImaking us all about me?
“A sobering thought,”Imurmured in reply toAntheme, but it was also a note to self, as she set down on a spot on the street that had indisputably been cleared just for us. “Mylife has changed a lot in a short period of time,”Ipointed out the obvious (considering that spot was indication of just that).
The craft powered down, andInoticed members of my detail positioned outside the building.Iusually had four, includingAntheme,Fannon,DiabloandGeleena.
Fannon was coming toward my door, whenAnthemespoke.
“You’re doing great.”
I turned to her. “Youthink?”
“Aleksei’s a maleIcould get a serious hard-on for,” she stated bluntly.
I couldn’t stop my surprised chirp of laughter.
“ButI’dnever do it,” she continued. “Evenbefore he found you, because getting involved with my charge screws with my ability to do my job.Also, he isn’t into females like me, soI’dnever have the shot.Butmostly, his life is a nightmare.Youeither gotta get off on the attention, like the princess did, or you’re in for a world of hassle.Youdidn’t have a choice.Youhad to accept the hassle.Honestly,Ididn’t think you had it in you.Butyou do.Andyou make him happy on top of that.Soa double score.”
It meant a lot more to me thanIwould have expected, havingAntheme’sapproval.
I didn’t say that because she wouldn’t care.
Instead,Isaid, “Youreally don’t beat around the bush, do you?”
“Nope.”Shesaid that hilariously popping theP.
I laughed again as she jutted her chin toward my side window and my door opened.
I caused quite a stir, not only on the pavement, but in the busy lobby of theSpire, and it wasn’t the first timeInoted how uncomfortable it was to simply walk through a space and be the object of everyone’s attention.
I totally got whatAnthemewas saying.
AndIcouldn’t imagine howAnnawould like this kind of thing all the time.
Of course, we didn’t bother with any of the public areas.
Instead,Iwas directed around a corner to a private lift.
“The hand thing again,”Anthemesaid once we were in it.
I put my hand on the palm plate, felt the prick, smiled to myself thatAlekseihad programmed me in to get to his office, and the lift zoomed upward.
The doors opened toMuriel, who smiled, came out from behind her console desk and took charge of me.Aftergiving me a warm cheek brush, she guided me to a set of stairs, and up them, to the next floor.
