Page 55 of He Who Sleeps

“Easton said something about not allowing me to come round to your places...”

“Probably because his place is a mess. Not a shit hole, mind you, but he’s an artist and it bleeds into everything.”

“Something about the Elders...”

“Fuck those guys. But I wasn’t asking to bring you to my apartment on the Parkway. I was asking if you wanted company in that shower and the nap...maybe even tonight.”

“Don’t you have things to do?”

He nodded. “You. If you want to.”

“When would I ever say no to you, Jack?”

“Not yet...probably not ever.” He turned to her. “Come on, sexy. You’re all relaxed from the yoga but I think a couple orgasms are just the thing to send you into that nap right. What do you think?”

“I think if it’s your bendy ass giving me the orgasms I’m counting myself lucky.”

“We haven’t played in the Kama Sutra pool, have we?” he teased. “Oh, the things I wanna show you,” he said and wrapped his arm around her, steering her toward her street.

She couldn’t wait.

Chapter 22

“We will be arrivingin Philadelphia in about thirty minutes, sir.”

Emerson looked up from his notebook and smiled at his steward. “Thank you, Yale. Seeing the family this week?”

His steward nodded. “Yes, sir. And thank you again for the generous time off.”

“Nothing to thank me for. I’m not traveling for a few months, so...”

“Yes, but paid leave is...generous.”

“Honestly, think nothing of it,” he said, the matter closed. With Petra in Philadelphia and the main concerns of his overseas businesses handled, he was largely free to put all his energies into wooing their girl. He was behind, well, not as behind as Kendrix was, given the man’s proclivities, but he needed to step it up.

Gods below, he never thought he would be in this situation, certainly not three years ago when he had found that passage about the pact...