“I’m going to request time with the president today,” Jacob said as we walked toward the main cafeteria where the special forces ate breakfast. The White House was a maze of long halls, unused rooms, and these huge grand spaces. We hadn’t explored that much, but from what I’d seen, it was overkill to the highest order.
“You’re going to ask to go home?” Had he taken my warning yesterday seriously? I needed someone to, because my bad feeling about this situation only continued to grow stronger.
He shrugged. “I might get to that, but mostly I’m going to ask what the fuck is the point of this entire thing if he’s not actually spending any time with us. I thought about what you said yesterday, and if he’s planning something, this might shake him up. I’m not worried, but I’d like to be prepared.”
Relief that Jacob was ready to start pushing for answers hit me. If there was anything I'd learned in my life, it was that you couldn't let these "people" get too comfortable. That was when they started to plan their evil bullshit, and no way was I blindly trusting a president whose ego was larger than his brain.
Nope. Been there, done that. Men fucking sucked.
When we were halfway to breakfast, we were intercepted by Marcus.
"You're going to be late!" he barked.
Jacob didn't miss a beat. "We're not late because we don't work for you. And even if we did, we still wouldn't be late."
Marcus opened and closed his mouth, so used to his orders being carried out without question. Jacob’s rebuttal had actually stunned him.
He recovered quickly. "I heard what you did with Colin last night," he hissed, leaning in closer. "You better watch yourself. You should realize who we are and who you're in the company of—"
Before he could finish his attempt at a threat, Jacob's arm shot out, his long, tanned fingers wrapping around the soldier’s throat. With no visible effort, he lifted the human so high that his feet left the floor and he was looking down on the fey.
"Tell the president to come and find me this morning," Jacob said, his voice low and without inflection, "or I’ll kill you.”
Jacob dropped him and the soldier managed to catch himself before he face-planted on the ground. Marcus gasped, face murderous as he held his throat.
"Guess the time for diplomacy is over," I noted as we started to walk again.
Jacob snorted, before he scrubbed a hand across his face and shook his head. "Look, I found some inner peace last night, but it wasn’t enough to stop today from happening. I’ve reached my breaking point. Happens to the best of us."
I laughed, enjoying the tendrils of humor finally making their way back into his personality. Jacob the jokester was not my favorite, I was a bit of a sucker for his alpha male side, but it was still an important part of how he portrayed himself, and it was nice to see it return.
When we reached the cafeteria, filled with a dozen or so long tables for staff and security, there was a beat of silence. We didn't stop though because this awkward pause happened every time we entered the room. We were famous like that.
"Coffee?" Jacob asked, and I tried not to smile at the lame married couple routine we had going on.
"Sure, extra strong today," I said, and his smile was slow and sexy, and I had to swallow hard and force myself to turn away.
Jacob Compass was dangerous. Really fucking dangerous.
While he got our coffee, I put some bread in the toaster so it had time to cook while we grabbed hot food from the buffet. The food here was actually rather good and one of the few positives I could find in the entire situation. The president liked his people well-fed, so that was a point for him.
So far he had exactly one point.
Grabbing two plates, I spun to hand one to Jacob, who was right behind me.
"Spicy rice is a special today," I choked out, trying not to notice how green his eyes were. I swear that they were almost reflective, as I found myself caught in his stare.
“Good, you know spice is my favorite.” I did know that. I knew more about Jacob than I realized, despite how hard he was to read.
The air practically sizzled in the space between us, and I wanted to shake my head to clear the fuzziness. Something was shifting between us again, and I wondered if it was his communing last night, or the fact that he’d suddenly decided to start pushing the many and varied issues around here. Either way, today was the day it all changed. I could feel that in the air.
"We have to ask to go home today," I burst out, trying to break the emotional tension that was wrapping insidious tendrils around us.
"He really has no choice," Jacob said, this tiny smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "He agreed to it in the initial deal."
I shrugged. People lied. A lot. President John Caine was no different. If anything, a politician was the lie-iest liar of all.
Turning away, I cleared my throat, trying to regain some equilibrium by randomly piling food onto my plate. I took more than usual because I was distracted. Buffets were a new concept to me, the thought that you could eat as much as you wanted and come back for more … so weird.
