The Boy Who Has No Hope (Soulless 6)

“I’m sure everything will be fine. Maybe you should take the day off so you can be there with your mom.”

She stopped eating and turned her gaze back to me. “I was going to ask, actually… That would be okay?”

“Absolutely.” She worked her ass off for me every single day, logging long hours without complaint, putting up with my bullshit when she shouldn’t have to. “No problem at all.”

“Well, thank you. It’s next Tuesday.”

“Alright.”

She started to eat again.

“And if you need time off for other things, you can always ask. I know there’s dentist appointments, doctor appointments, personal days… We never really talked about it. And if you want to take a vacation, we can do that too.”

“I haven’t been on a vacation in….” She chewed the inside of her lip. “Never.”

I grinned. “And you give me shit about never taking a vacation?”

“But I’m not a billionaire,” she said with a laugh. “If I were a billionaire, yes, I’d be going to Paradise Island or something.”

“Well, you should definitely take one sometime.”

“We’ll see…” She took another bite of her burger than wiped her mouth, getting the sauce stain that had been sitting there for a while. “What about you?”

I took a bite of my burger, thinking about how my dad never indulged in this sort of thing, and then finished chewing before I responded to her question. “I just said I don’t take vacations.”

“I meant about your personal life. Have you been on any dates lately?”

I didn’t want to answer the question, but then I realized I was obligated because I had asked the same question first. “No.”

“Fleur hasn’t made a return?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fuck no.”

She chuckled. “Good.”

“She was my absolute last attempt at a fuck buddy.” I didn’t know why I shared that personal information at that moment, why I just blurted it out when I didn’t think it through. I thought about everything I said before I said it, but with Emerson, I didn’t really think. I just lived in the moment and spoke my mind.

She held her fry in her hand but didn’t take a bite. “That was, like, two months ago…”

“Yeah, it was.” I dropped my gaze and fished out a fry from my container. When I went out on Saturday night, a beautiful woman showed me how much she wanted to suck my dick as she made out with the ice cube that had been in my scotch, but I wasn’t even slightly aroused, not tempted at all. If anything, it annoyed me. It was so superficial, this young woman wanting to fuck me because I was a good-looking, rich motherfucker. That used to be hot to me, but in that moment, I’d just wanted to go home.

Emerson seemed stunned by the revelation. “No attempt to get something started with anyone else?”

I shook my head and kept looking at my fries as I ate. “No.”

After a long pause, she took a bite. “We have been really busy lately…”

“That isn’t why.” Why the fuck am I still talking?

Now she stared at me, waiting for an elaboration.

I was put on the spot, obligated to finish the explanation. “I just…haven’t wanted to.”SevenEmersonI sat in his penthouse and got on the phone with Mark.

When he answered, he was still a bit grumpy, like he still hated me even though I’d quit three months ago. “Emerson, what do you want? If you’re asking to get your job back—”

“No. I’m Derek Hamilton’s personal assistant now.” And I make bank. Bitch.

“Oh…then what do you want?”

“I’ve been helping him finish his novel, editing it along the way. I’ll have it for you in a week. Just wanted to give you the good news over the phone, since the manuscript is so far behind on its deadline.”

“Very far behind.” He was still bitter, even though I’d just told him I edited the damn thing for free.

“Anyway, it’s coming, so you can start everything on your end.”

“I’ll be sending you a press package. I want Hamilton to do a few interviews, book signings, and book launches.”

“He’s never done that before…”

“Well, this series has lost a lot of traction since he took his sweet-ass time writing it. We need to get book sales up, get people interested in this series again. You know how many complaints I’ve gotten from readers that this series is taking too long to be finished? Thousands. He’s got to do some damage control.”

Oh no, Derek was not going to be happy about this. “I don’t think Derek will be comfortable doing that.”

“That’s too fucking bad. He wants to make things right? He’ll do this.” He hung up on me.

I tossed the phone back on the table and dragged my hands down my face. “Oh, this is gonna be bad…”I purposely waited until Derek finished the book before I broke the bad news. I was afraid he would be so pissed off that he would refuse to finish the novel in retaliation, or just lose all interest in the story.