“You’re telling me the only way for you to paint is this? I don’t buy it.”
“Sounds like you don’t buy anything,” I say. “And Abel Magwitch is Pip’s patron, not Miss Havisham.”
Ash frowns. “Who even is that?”
At the bottom of the valley, I take one big step into the shallow water and splash him.
“Nice.” He reaches down, forearms flexing as he cups some of the creek in his palm.
I swat it away just before he drinks, my fingers brushing his knuckles, too cold and too intimate at the same time.
“Don’t drink that,” I snap, to cover the flush creeping up my neck.
“It’s freshwater.”
“It’s filthy.” I shove my bottle at him. “I’d let you, but I’m not lugging you around this mountain while you shit your brains out.”
He snatches the bottle, gulps, then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
“You think Alistair will be angry?” he asks, quieter now. Less sarcastic. More… worried.
“You’re obsessed with this.”
“You want to talk about something else?”
“He won’t even remember this happening,” I say. “But what do you care?”
Ash hesitates, and I watch his jaw work before he answers.
“No sense keeping this from you now. I was going to ask…” He swallows. “If you could introduce me to Alistair.”
I stare at him.
“I need his endorsement.” His voice is small for the first time since I’ve met him. “To get promoted.”
There goes the fragile bit of decency he’d been building for himself, smashed for a shot at a nicer title from the man who has me under his thumb.
CHAPTER 12
ASH
“Unbelievable,”Kael mutters, arms crossed as we stall in the creekbed between the hill we just conquered and the next monster ahead. “You really are a heartless one-percenter.”
“I did tell you not to reply to him,” I say.
“Basic decency gets you no points.”
“If it doesn’t cost you anything…,” I say, but he’s already trudging up the next hill, forcing me to chase after him. “Alistair’s endorsement is more than a promotion. It’s years of freedom. It’s not ending up like?—”
I bite my tongue, leaving Pawpaw and my parents unnamed.
“Please.” Kael flaps a hand behind him. “Spare me.”
It feels like staring at my first college rejection letter, my dream life already crumbled, with one pathetic chance to appeal. Kael’s made his decision, but if I don’t make him understand what’s at stake, no one will.
“HR literally told me the only hope for my career is Alistair Blackwood’s personal endorsement.”
“Sounds like you fucked up,” he says, and yes, I guess, that is the headline.
