Page 8 of His White Moonlight
“I never thought I would miss school,” I said under my breath.
He paused and glanced back at me.“Because you can’t chase after Aiden and Karter?”
“No.Because I have the joy of experiencing house arrest and death by boredom.Welcome home, Wren.”
His pupils did that dilation thing again, letting me know I’d struck a chord.
Good.He could go tell Mom and Dad that I was already wanting to leave.Maybe they’d be more accepting of the “I’m going away to college” bomb I planned to drop later.
“If you’re bored, follow me.”He left the kitchen without looking back.
I glanced at the pot rack hanging over the island and cursed my five-foot-two-inch T-rex reach before following in his wake.
He took the hall leading to my old bedroom.I narrowed my eyes when he walked through the door, fully understanding why I’d been displaced.
Bennett.
I entered the office and watched him unplug the second laptop from the desk.
“Here,” he said, handing it to me.“Twelve subsidiaries are operating at a loss so far this year.Look at their expenses and find a way to mitigate further loss.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me to slam my head in the door?”
He sighed heavily.“I know you’re smarter than you pretend to be.Do the work.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“What do you want?”
My attitude did a quick about-face.Bennettnevernegotiated.That was what made him so boring.Had he actually loosened up a little while I was gone?
I considered him as I thought about what I needed most.Backup, inarguably.But could I count on Bennett?No.I needed to start small with him and build up some trust that these negotiation tactics were safe…then BAM.I’d own him.
“My dear,dearBennett, you’ve asked the right question.”
His pupils flipped out, dilating and contracting at an alarmingly non-human rate, serving as a reminder that blatant flattery annoyed him.So I quickly toned it down.
“Going through five months of expenses for even half those subsidiaries is going to take forever.How about one, and you call Aiden to tell him I broke his moon lamp.”
Bennett’s typically stoic expression cracked a little, and I saw a very brief frown.
“Are you going to break his lamp?”
“Of course not.I know he loves that thing.I just want him to experience a little emotional damage.A teeny amount of harmless revenge for standing me up today.That’s all.”
“No deal.”
I set the laptop on the desk and turned to walk away.
“One subsidiary, and I’ll take you for a drive.”
I whirled around.“With me behind the wheel?”
“Yes.”
“You have yourself a deal.”
Did I want to drive Bennett around?No, I did not.But this wasn’t actually about getting something I wanted.This was about opening negotiations with the resident dictator.
