Archer
It was dark when I woke up, with a thin stream of light coming in from the roof. For a second I thought I was back in the hole in the ground, and I sprang up and threw myself against the wall. There was a splintering sound, and a woman screamed.
Hazel flipped on the light. I winced as I looked at the hole in her wall.
"Sorry, forgot where I was for a second," I mumbled.
When my brothers and I first escaped from the compound, I would get nightmares about being locked in the hole in the ground when I misbehaved. I thought I was over it by now, though. I was a billionaire. I ran a successful company. Women threw themselves at my feet. The fight with my mother must have triggered it, I decided.
I snagged Hazel around the waist and threw her back onto the bed. The metal frame groaned under the force.
"You know," I told her, "I've done a lot of questionable things for sex. But this is the last time I fuck you in this closet."
"It's not that bad," she said as I kissed down her neck to her soft, full, round breasts.
I owned two hotels in Harrogate. Why we did this here was beyond me. "Next time," I told her, "it's you, me, and the presidential suite. Huge bed, killer view."
I kissed her deeply, and she pushed me off before it went too far.
"You have the presentation," she gasped, pulling out her phone from the pile of clothes smushed between the bed frame and the wall. "You're going to be late."
"No, you're going to be late," I said, kissing her one last time.
"Me?" she asked, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat. "I don't know anything about the project."
"You made the painting. They've already seen our presentation about the design. Besides, you're related to two of the people on the decision board. You have to be there," I told her.
"I don't have anything to wear," she fretted. "I need to shower."
"Me too. Just grab your stuff. We'll change at the estate. Besides, I don't even think I can fit into that cave of a shower. I don't know how you do it. You need to do some renovating."
"Er, yeah," Hazel said and went to look at the rendering she'd done of the convention center. In the daylight, it was even more spectacular.
"This is so cool," I said.
"I hope your brother likes it," Hazel replied, placing the canvas carefully in a wooden box.
"All that matters is that Amos likes it. And I think Amos is going to love it."
My phone was awash in messages from my brothers on the group chat.
Greg:Archer where are you? The presentation is in a few hours.
Mike:Seriously Archer.
Mace:Archer don't forget you have to cook tonight.
Garrett:It was on the schedule. Don't say you didn't know.
Mace:We are not asking Josie to do anything more.
Liam:You better not! I have a big marketing campaign coming up. You useless idiots need to man up and cook your own food.
Fuck.
I looked at Hazel. "I have one more job for you…"
* * *
