Page 14 of Glow

Even for him that was a strong reaction. Prin took the opportunity to bolt back to his desk. Elliott was on a computer game website instead of doing the reports.

Honestly, this kid.

“I’d take your dad seriously, Elliott,” Prin said. “If you don’t get those reports to him, he’ll blow his top.”

Elliott shrugged. “He’s already cut my allowance for leaving the boat in Worthing.”

“You get an allowance?” Lydia asked.

“Of course I get an allowance,” Elliott replied. “You don’t expect me to live off the pittance they pay here?”

Darren glanced at Prin and rolled his eyes. Prin smirked. At least Elliott had achieved one thing—he’d united the team in their dislike for him.

“Imagine,” Lydia said.

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just my life costs more.”

Prin’s head ached. “Elliott. Can you get those reports done. Please?”

Elliott raised an eyebrow. “Wow. Sorry, boss. Chill yourself. Someone’s not getting any.”

“If I have to say it again, I’m escalating it.”

Even Elliott wouldn’t risk getting a telling-off from his father twice in one day. With a huff, he clicked onto the reporting software. Prin moved his laptop so he sat directly behind Elliott.

“Why don’t you sit on my shoulder?” Elliott grumbled.

“That’s the next stage.”

Elliott got on with his work at last. Prin read through some emails with one eye on his screen and the other on the spoilt little rich kid in front of him.

Sadly Elliott had been right about one thing. Prin was frustrated. He and his neighbour, Jeremy, would sometimes spend the night together. But Prin’s heart most certainly wasn’t in it.

If his Prince Charming was going to make an appearance, now would be a great time.

A few days later and Prin was sinking under a tide of calls. One of the servers had gone offline, which meant a ton of homeworkers had lost connection. Darren and Lydia were also looking frazzled. They were all sharing the calls. Even so, the system told Prin that plenty were queued.

As he finished up one from a particularly angry colleague from sales, he took his headset off and ran his hands through his hair. His eye was drawn to Elliott’s screen as Prin still insisted on sitting behind his workshy charge. While his teammates strove to help as many people as possible, Elliott appeared to be booking a holiday.

Anger rose in Prin. He might be quiet but this guy was pushing him over the edge. Prin got up and strode over to Elliott.

“I need to book it quickly,” Elliott was saying, evidently oblivious to Prin’s approach. “Don’t worry about that. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

Prin frowned.

“If you pay, I’ll give you the cash,” Elliott continued. “I can’t let it go through my bank. Just in case.”

Prin quickly moved away. He glanced around. No one seemed to have noticed him lurking behind Elliott. They were all too busy staring at their screens.

“Elliott,” Prin barked, making Elliott jump.

“What?”

“The server went down because you messed up the reports,” Prin said. “I think it would be a decent gesture if you had at least one call assigned to you today.”

“I’ve got to go,” Elliott said into his phone before sliding it into his pocket. “Fine. Sorry for taking a micro break.”

Mercifully, Elliott clicked on the customer support software and actually started to work.