Page 25 of The Dis-Graced
“Well, then give me a verbal lashing.”
“I will do my best, sir.”
Chapter 7
Grace
As much as I loathe Drake Dallanger and all of his arrogance, the sight of him stepping out of the elevator carrying two full bags of Chinese food has me squealing with delight.
“I didn’t know what you’d like, so I ordered half the menu,” he says as he sets the bags down on his oversized kitchen island.
“Why didn’t you just call?”
He exhales an exasperated sigh. “Because, that would mean I’d have to talk to you, and you’re not always nice, in case you didn’t know.”
I punch his arm lightly, to which he replies with an exaggerated wince, then, I punch him harder.
“ALAN! Did you see that!” Drake says, looking around in a panic.
“If you are referring to Grace Anders physically assaulting you, then yes.”
“Oh, come on! That was not a physical assault!” I gasp.
“You saw her, ALAN! You saw her! Don’t let her trick you. She hit me, not once, but twice.”
“Do you need me to send for help? I was given an emergency trigger that will alert authorities if there is an emergency.”
“NO!” Drake and I shout in unison.
I narrow my eyes at Drake. “You need to watch what you say to him!”
“Well, you need to go to anger management,” Drake returns.
We load up our plates with entirely too much food and head over to a small table that sits two.
“I hope you and ALAN have been getting along,” he says while forking a bite of orange chicken into his mouth.
“He’s…interesting.”
“How so?”
“He’s formal, yet oblivious. It’s like you programmed selective manners into him.”
He chuckles, covering his mouth to avoid spitting food all over the place.
I try not to stare, but the sharp angle of his jaw is mesmerizing. Has there ever been a man so well crafted? Not one that I have ever seen.
Drake Dallanger may be a pompous asshole, but he is physical perfection.
“I have to admit, I like the temperature now that you’re here.”
“How did you even live like that? Waking, eating, sleeping in eighty-degree weather.”
“I went on some sabbatical in Europe several years back, to this recluse community. The people there were from the modern world, but they chose to move out to this place and live without modern conveniences.”
“Must be crazy.”
“On the contrary, there were a lot of engineers and scientist types. They just had a different view of things. They had some machines to help them, but only when it made sense. They had a tractor, but they’d do a lot of the work by hand because people were meant for that kind of work instead of just sitting at a desk and relaxing all day. They shunned air conditioning because it wasn’t natural.”
