Page 50 of The Fallen Man

“Good morning, Mr. Jackson.”

Jackson suspected that Theo had somehow managed to install a camera on the door that allowed him to open it before visitors knocked.

“Morning,” said Jackson.

“Mr. Aiden is in the library if you care to join him.”

“What’s Aiden up to?”

“Couldn’t say, Sir,” said Theo. “But from the stacks of books accumulating, I believe there was some sort of book hunt going on. Will you be wanting some breakfast?”

“No, I ate already. But some coffee would be good.”

“Very good, Sir.”

Theo wandered off. Theo was one of the more challenging adjustments for him to make when Jackson had become a Deveraux. Theo resisted all attempts to get to know him. He did not want to be treated as an equal, but he occasionally treated Jackson as if he were a craft project that had gone awry.

Jackson entered the library and found Aiden sitting on a table surrounded by a pile of books.

“Hey!” said Aiden looking up from a four-inch think volume.

“Books?”

“Granddad had a book on early New York case law that I want. Only I can’t remember what it was called or what it looked like.” Aiden paused, his eyes narrowing as they ran over Jackson. “Where have you been? As if I couldn’t guess.”

“What’s that mean?” asked Jackson dropping down onto a couch. He kicked off his shoes and, since he knew Eleanor was in DC, fell over and stretched out full length, putting his feet on the far arm of the sofa.

“You’re wearing the same suit as last night,” said Aiden, looking amused.

“How would you know?”

“Olivia posted a pic.”

“I wish she wouldn’t do that.”

“Dominique told her to. It’s part of her mission to make the Deveraux family more likable.”

“Who gives a shit?”

“Grandma’s re-election campaign. We all have our jobs, and that’s Dominique’s. Anyway, was she hot?”

Jackson groaned. “So fucking hot. Like, her ass…” He made a wordless gesture of appreciation. “Her entire fucking body… I can’t even…”

“Talk? Yes, I’m getting the picture.”

“You don’t understand,” said Jackson. “Have you ever just… I mean, you get done, and you can’t eventhinkwords?”

Aiden was laughing at him. “Sounds like you still can’t think words. Does Miss Mindblowing have a name?”

Jackson sighed. He wasn’t going to call Katie. Katie was the kind of girl who cared for stray kids and made sure they went to school. That kind of girl had to be looking for some other do-gooder to pair up with. And that was not him. Not calling her was the right thing to do.

“Yeah,” he said, “but it doesn’t matter because, as it turns out, she’s also a spectacularly nice person.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t date nice people,” said Jackson.

“I’ve noticed,” said Aiden, putting aside his massive tome and going back to the shelves. “What’s with that?”