He hits the delete button, and I shrug. “Well, it’s true. His question is a complete waste of both our time. Why not point that out?”
“You don’t say that shit to people, dude.” He scrolls up and winces. “Oh my god, this is a donor. What on earth were you thinking?”
I sigh, refusing to be amused by how he’s glaring at me. “I can’t be fucked with this person. They’re…needy.”
“They give you money. You bend over and take it. Now, go get me coffee. I have work to do.”
Neo’s gaze is solely on the computer now, his fingers flying over the keyboard. I clear my throat, but he doesn’t look up. I really should debate doing this. If I get up and do as he asks, he’ll get it in his head that I’ll do anything for him. And after last night, that’s not what I want to think about. I really don’t.
I need some distance between us.
But I can’t find it in myself to deny him. I pull up a delivery app on my phone. “What do you want?”
He bites his bottom lip, but doesn’t acknowledge the question. I’m not sure if he even heard me.
“Neo,” I say with more force, and he finally turns.
“What?” He sounds annoyed, which makes my nostrils flare.
“What do you want to drink?”
I hold out my phone, and he arches an eyebrow. “Where from?”
“Northbound Grounds.”
“Oh, fuck yes. That’s, like, the rich people stuff.” He grabs the phone from me, scrolling and tapping the screen a few times.
When he hands it back to me, I glance at the cart emoticon and frown. “Four items?”
“Yeah. Something to eat and drink for you, asshole. Even if you don’t deserve it.”
I pull up the order and see that he’s selected what I normally drink. Just how much attention is he paying to me that I’m not noticing? I glance over at him, but he’s back to work and ignoring me.
I pay and then set my phone down, scooting my chair away a few inches.
He just shifts his in the same direction until the arms are touching.
I sigh loudly. Aside from a tiny smirk, Neo doesn’t respond. He just stays hyperfocused as he flies through the emails. It leaves me to work on other things.
Like The Firm.
I shouldn’t when Neo is close enough to glance over my shoulder.It’s one thing to let him assist me with Umbra, but anything else? That’s a level of trust I don’t have in anyone aside from my siblings. I debate what to do before deciding it’ll be fine. Neo doesn’t seem particularly interested in what I’m doing. He’s extremely focused on what is happening in my inbox. And, really, I need to get on top of The Firm as well as everything else.
Going to the safe, I press my thumb to the pad and wait for the beep. After that, I enter the three codes needed to make the door unlock.
The briefcase is heavy as I lift it out; a physical representation of the work that awaits. Of all the people who need our help. Who need my help. Maybe that’s why I don’t have the patience needed for the donors.
Everyone needs a slice of me. The donors. The Firm. My family. All the time. Need, need,need.
Suddenly, I’m so very tired.
Neo doesn’t so much as lift his head as I open the briefcase. I sift through the requests—some handwritten, others typed. They all have one thing in common though.
Desperation.
I organize them into piles based on the nature of the request. As always, money ranks the highest, followed closely by murder. While we will honor the vast majority of the financial requests, it’ll only be a few of the latter that will be granted. Despite common belief, The Firm does not murder innocents. We aren’t just the executioners of St. Dismas, but the judges and jurors too. And, like judges and jurors, we consider all the evidence before delivering our sentence.
It makes the work extra arduous. Especially for me, given I’m the one who conducts all the background checks. I can’t rely on my brothers as I’d like to, even if they’ve made noises about being more helpful. Matthias has been around less and less since he got together with Wyatt. While Cade is happy to play the executioner, he’s not so quick to volunteer to help with the admin side of things. Samson has no patience for research, and Harley gets too invested in the targets. Which leaves Dalton. Dalton, who, with every passing day, seemsincreasingly more interested in whatever shit Jackson is getting himself into.
