“—I think I’m just surprised. Why isthistoo much? Why is this the line you won’t cross? Of all the things . . .”
“Max, be serious.”
“I am being serious.”
“Aside from the obvious reasons why this situation should be disturbing to anyone— The girl’s not even eighteen. Even I am not as depraved as that.”
Max shakes his head. Holds up his pen. “Actually, she’s been eighteen for four months.”
Anderson seems about to argue, and then—
“Of course,” he says. “I was remembering the wrong paperwork.” He glances at me as he says it, and I feel my face grow hotter.
I am simultaneously confused and mortified.
Curious.
Horrified.
“Either way,” Anderson says sharply, “I don’t like it. Can you fix it?”
Max sits forward, crosses his arms. “Can Ifixit? Can I fix the fact that she can’t help but be attracted to the man who spawned the two faces she’s known most intimately?” He shakes his head. Laughs again. “That kind of wiring isn’t undone without incurring serious repercussions. Repercussions that would set us back.”
“What kind of repercussions? Set us back how?”
Max glances at me. Glances at Anderson.
Anderson sighs. “Juliette,” he barks.
“Yes, sir.”
“Leave us.”
“Yes, sir.”
I pivot sharply and head for the exit. The door slides open in anticipation of my approach, but I hesitate, just a few feet away, when I hear Max laugh again.
I know I shouldn’t eavesdrop. I know it’s wrong. I know I’d be punished if I were caught. I know this.
Still, I can’t seem to move.
My body is revolting, screaming at me to cross the threshold, but a pervasive heat has begun to seep into my mind, dulling the compulsion. I’m still frozen in front of the open door, trying to decide what to do, when their voices carry over.
“She clearly has a type,” Max is saying. “At this point, it’s practically written in her DNA.”
Anderson says something I don’t hear.
“Is it really such a bad thing?” Max says. “Perhaps her affection for you could work out in your favor. Take advantage of it.”
“You think I’m so desperate for companionship—or so completely incompetent—that I’d need to result to seduction in order to get what I want out of the girl?”
Max barks out a laugh. “We both know you’ve never been desperate for companionship. But as to your competence . . .”
“I don’t know why I even bother with you.”
“It’s been thirty years, Paris, and I’m still waiting for you to develop a sense of humor.”
“It’s been thirty years, Max, and you’d think I’d have found some new friends by now. Better ones.”
