Page 6 of Patience
“Kamakura isn’t as suited for excursions as Ito is,” Haruka suggested hopefully. She was a perfect choice to go with Eli. She was huge, knew several different forms of martial arts, and her family had worked for his for generations. The fact she was a lesbian had nothing to do with it.
Eli bolted for the door. Haruka was so stunned he failed to react until the boy reached the hallway. By the time he caught up with him, Eli was already in the room next door.
“Kamakura-san, you’re coming with me today.” Eli’s eyes flashed at Haruka, daring him to argue.
Haruka was a smart man. He didn’t say a word. Instead, he glared at Kamakura and imagined launching him into the sun.
Kamakura’s eyes flicked to Haruka warily. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going skiing.”
“You aren’t going skiing,” Haruka said firmly.
“Please don’t make me take you skiing,” Kamakura said, just shy of begging.His eyes darted back and forth between the bickering couple.
“Eli, don’t make me regret letting you keep him.”
“He’s not a pet.”
“He acts like a pet.”
Kamakura wisely stayed silent and did his best not to look like an uncomfortable puppy. He failed.
“If you get to go to Tokyo alone to deal with your awful aunt, I get to go skiing with Kamakura-san.”
Both choices were unacceptable, but one was slightly less unacceptable than the other. Haruka knew how this was going to go down, but he still had to try one more time.
“I’ll be back in three hours. We can go skiing then.” Haruka offered, but he could already tell from the look on Eli’s face that it wasn’t going to fly.
“No deal.” Eli crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at him.
Haruka leveled his gaze on Kamakura. “If anything happens to him, you’ll wish Eli had let me send you to Russia.”
“We’ll be fine. Come on, Kamakura-san, you get to teach me how to ski.”
“Get him an instructor!” Haruka called after them.
Kamakura trailed behind Eli, saying, “Being fired isn’t as bad as you think, Talosa-san. Really, you don’t have to keep fighting to save my job.”
Eli laughed. It was his evil one. “Don’t be ridiculous. Haruka isn’t as bad as you think he is. Once you get to know him, he’s a cream puff.”
“You haven’t seen what he’s like when you’re not around . . .” Kamakura’s voice faded as they walked down the hallway.
Haruka could only hope the man’s fear would make him sharp enough to keep Eli alive.
* * *
In the end, Haruka didn’t even givehis aunt an hour. When he entered the boardroom, he’d taken one look at the drunken argument between the head of PR and the trio running the personnel allocation department and texted Chiharu to get his helicopter ready for takeoff ASAP. If his current helicopter couldn’t be ready in fifteen minutes, she had orders to get him another one.
Presiding over the fight was his aunt, smiling her secret, viper smile and adding fuel to the fire every time it appeared as though the two parties would reconcile.
“This is your last-minute proposal?” Haruka asked in disgust.
“Haru-chan, I’m so glad you could join us. Drink?” Chiba Hitomi swiveled in her chair and waved a tray-bearing assistant forward.
Haruka waved her off. “I’m not staying.”
“See? Even our CEO knows what a pile of bullshit this proposal is!” Echizen Daichi flung a hand dramatically, forgetting he held a martini glass in it and soaked his cringing neighbor. “There is no way I can put a positive spin on this. The media would eat us alive.”
