Jonah immediately got on the phone and his laptop. He looked up. “Nothing.”
“Yet.” My lips felt numb.
“You have seven minutes left.”
I wanted to leap over his desk and tackle him, pummel his face with hard fists until he was a bloody wound. It was difficult to hold back. I turned toward Cassius to distract me. To ground me. It worked.
The light from the window where he stood ran through his hair like low simmering embers. Kirion’s hair had had the same effect. I’d spent a small amount of toxic time with him before he became, technically, my stepfather. But Cassius’s was darker gold. His lean body sported the same t-shirt and jeans from yesterday when I’d dropped him off. He hadn’t had any time to change because he had been locked away. How dare they? Because I didn’t leave a review?
Whenever I got this angry, Malinekan grew tense and wanted to shift. My fingernails ached to be claws. My tailbone felt like itmight burst with a barbed spike. My skin itched with a desire for scales.
Down, boy.
Cassius stared at the floor, his hands clasped in front of him. He had no control of his life. None. How could that ever happen to a living being that wasn’t actually livestock? But that was how he was treated. Comically, I imagined his bed was probably made of hay.
But none of this was funny. Not the fifty-year rental price. Not the $160 worth of a human. Not the fact that Cassius was punished because I didn’t give him a star rating.
When had this world come into existence? And when had it become mine?
I knew the answer to the second question. It was at the party when I’d heard the loud voice and the glass breaking in Bish’s changing room. It was when I’d walked in to see a set omega hellbent on keeping what little dignity he had left.
Jonah’s voice rang across the room. “The money has populated into our account.”
Klonis gave me an astonished look.
“What? Did you think I was lying? About money?” I fake-laughed to mock him as he could only stare.
Jonah was chuckling softly to himself. “You’re a fool,” he mumbled. “Such a fool.”
“Shall I take Cassius to gather his things?” Klonis asked.
“Don’t bother.” I walked toward the door. “He doesn’t need any of your stuff.” I turned to look at Cassius, whose face was in utter shock.
I added, “Unless you have keepsakes or something like that?”
He shook his head hard, the stunned look not going away.
“Good. The sooner we leave this place, the better.”
As we walked out, Jonah was still laughing like a stupid kid. Klonis led us back through the maze of hallways to reception.
I was in a daze, but it didn’t show. I had gotten my way. Gotten what I wanted. Cassius belonged to me now. Then a thought came from Malinekan.
He’s yours now. But is he really?
Yes, I owned him. But mine? Malinekan was right. That meant something different altogether.
In under three minutes, we were seated in my car, the engine roaring to life. Wondering what in all the hells I’d just done, I sped away. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
14
Cassius
Malin was speeding. A part of me loved it. But the other part….
What was he going to do with me? I had nothing. No money. Just the slept-in clothes on my back.
And what he’d paid for me? It wasn’t flattering but more embarrassing. In fact, stomach-turning.
