“Listen up. I have been in charge for over a year. Before that I worked for a few years in preparation of taking over. I don’t think taking one day off in all that time is asking so much. I’ll say this one more time. I was offering the information as a courtesy. It’s one day. I was not asking anyone’s permission. Nor am I obliged to give anyone an itinerary. Meeting adjourned.”
Diesel exited the room, knowing four shocked gazes followed him out. He didn’t care. He headed to his office in hopes of finding some peace and quiet.
Aunt Dixie was seated at Nova’s desk. “You better not let Nova catch you there,” he said in a low tone on his way by.
She stood up like a shot and followed him into his office as Nova entered the reception area.
“Were you sitting at my desk, Dixie Lou?” Nova asked.
“Course not. It’s very uncomfortable anyway.”
Nova rolled her eyes. Aunt Dixie stayed on his tail and closed his office door behind her. “Heard a rumor you’re taking tomorrow off.”
“That was fast.” Somehow she’d gotten the information in the time it took him to exit the meeting room and get to his office, maybe twenty seconds. That might be a new record.
“Are you going to see someone, like a date?”
Diesel walked behind his desk and gave his aunt a sharp look. “How could you possibly know that?”
“I know things, Diesel.” He shook his head. No one knew about this. He’d been tight-lipped all week on purpose.
“No doubt,” he said under his breath as he sat in his chair. “Are you about to yell at me, too?”
“Course not. I’m all for it. You haven’t had a day off in years.”
“Thank you.” Diesel looked up into her face. She didn’t look happy for him, exactly, but definitely very pleased with herself about something. She’d had the same look the day she came into the Cosmos Café with eight inches of her silver lamé uniform skirt whacked off and her hind end hanging out for all the world to see, insisting it was the only way she could earn a living wage.
“You’re welcome. I hope you have fun.”
Diesel wasn’t fooled. She wasn’t prone to wishing him well. More likely she was rubbing her hands together in glee and planning something diabolical in his short absence that he wouldn’t approve of, but whatever, it would be someone else’s problem tomorrow. He could deal with any Aunt Dixie fallout when he returned.
She turned to leave his office, but said over one shoulder, “Besides, it’s about time you settled down and found a wife.”
Nowthatwas the Aunt Dixie he knew and loved. She was gone lickety-split, so he didn’t bother responding, but he did smile for some unfathomable reason. Well, he fathomed it was because it made him happy thinking about pursuing Juliana as his future wife. However, it was way too early to hope for that.
This foray from his responsibilities was admittedly unusual, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He couldn’t wait to see Juliana again.
Before the door closed all the way behind Aunt Dixie, Cam pushed it open and entered with a portable Defender in one hand. He plunked it down on the center of Diesel’s desk.
“Take this with you, just in case.”
“Just in case of what?” Diesel wasnottaking a Defender with him. He pushed it across the desk toward Cam. “I won’t need it.”
“I know where you’re going.” His brother pushed the white and blue Defender back to the center of the desk.
“Do you?”
“You’re going to see that earthling. Take it.” He gestured to the device. “You’ve been strange all week since meeting her. I saw the video of your second time speaking to her. You kissed her again.”
“No, I didn’t. She kissed me.”
“Semantics.” Cam leaned down and patted the Defender. “Take it.”
“I’m not taking it, Cam. And if you press me, I’ll change all my passwords top-a-s-s-w-o-r-d.”
Cam glared. “Fine. Go. Don’t erase any of her memories. Do what you’re going to do, but get her out of your system and move on. We don’t need this kind of dangerous exposure.”
“I hardly think a writer preparing a travelogue for a book comes to the level of dangerous exposure. Besides, I still maintain that our interstellar guest from Moogally wasn’t authorized to use that emergency exit as an entrance back to the underground facility.”
