The Favor

I held back a sigh of relief. “Okay.”

“It was good talking to you, princess. You come to me if Mr. Boss Man here upsets you. Got me?”

“I got you.”

He nodded, satisfied. His gaze went out of focus as his head flicked to the side. His brow creased with a brief lash of pain. He blinked a few times, almost as if he had something stuck in his eyes. Then my dad was looking at me. He straightened in his seat and pulled his arms tight to his body.

“Hi, Dad,” I said softly.

He cleared his throat and gave me a faint smile. His eyes flew to Dane. “You startled me earlier.” He rose to his feet and held out his hand. “I’m Simon, Vienna’s father.”

Dane reached out and shook his hand, as cool and calm as always. “Dane Davenport, her boyfriend and her boss. My apologies for walking in uninvited. I saw Vienna run in here in a panic, and she didn’t close the door properly. I wanted to check that she was fine.”

“Understandable. I’m glad you care enough to check on her. She’s special, you know.”

“Yeah, I do know.”

Rubbing at his nape, Simon said, “Um, sit down.”

I thought Dane would make his excuses and leave, but he took a seat at the table while I made everyone drinks. They fell into a conversation that quickly turned to sports, of all things. It was as if both of them were determined to lighten the atmosphere, make the moment normal.

After handing out drinks, I returned to my seat. It was a little surreal to watch them interact so well. I hadn’t expected Dane to take my father’s disorder in stride—it wasn’t every day you watched someone switch from one personality to another. But Dane didn’t refer to it or ask any questions. He behaved as if Deacon had been a separate person who’d now vacated the room. Which, in some respects, was kind of how it worked.

“You’re coming to the barbecue on Sunday?” Simon asked him once we’d all drained our cups.

Dane nodded. “I am.”

“Good. We can talk more then.” They stood and shook hands again.

“I’ll walk you out,” I said to Dane. I wasn’t ready to leave yet. Not until I was confident that Simon was okay.

Dane nodded and followed me to the door. Outside, he turned to me. “Your father has DID?”

“Yes. You’ve heard of it?”

“A little. How long has he had it?”

“For as long as I’ve known him.” Simon had once told me he believed he’d started dissociating when he was around four or five, but I didn’t say that. Dane would only ask why he began to dissociate like that, and it didn’t seem right to relay the story without Simon’s permission.

“Who is Corrine?” asked Dane.

It took effort not to tense. “One of his triggers.” That was as much as I was willing to say on that subject for now. “I know you wanted us to talk, but it can wait, right?”

Dane stared hard at me for a long moment, almost as if he was really seeing me for the first time or something—it was hard to explain. “It can wait.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I kept my eyes mostly on my tablet as I made notes while conversation flowed around me in the conference room. Dane had back-to-back meetings all day, and he’d wanted me to be present for most of them. It could be exhausting, but I was used to it.

I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t look his way. He’d been watching me all day. Watching me like … It was hard to describe. But it was like I’d become some sort of puzzle he wanted to piece together. Or something. I really didn’t know. I just knew the whole staring thing was bugging me.

Well, at least it had stopped me from spacing out a few times with worry for my father. Simon had been fine when I finally left him last night, but the nightmares would continue to come while his brain worked through everything he pulled out of his mental vault.

Once the meeting was finally over, Dane quietly informed me that he wanted to speak to me in his office. Oh, grand. Holding back a sigh, I followed him into the spacious room and closed the door. I held my tablet against my chest and crossed my arms.

Dane leaned back against his desk. “I confronted Travis yesterday about the little tale he told you. As I’d expected, he claimed you lied. He tried twisting the situation to make it sound like you were attempting to cause a divide between me and him.”

Like there wasn’t already a huge divide between them. “How very predictable.”

“Indeed. He talked of confronting you. I made it clear that the consequences he’d face would be … dire if he dared to do so. But he may ignore that warning, which is why I went to see you last night; I want you to be prepared in case he does something stupid.”