It hit him hard, and he picked it up, staring at it. “They low jacked me?”
“Yes. And he knew you went to your old apartment today, which was why he started in on you when you got back.”
He was angry all over again, but he saw Mars pull a button from his pocket. “Leave the jacket. I told him you’d figure it out eventually. There’s one in each of the new suits he sent.”
It shouldn’t have surprised him. “Those who do dirty deeds on the daily are a little paranoid.”
“You’re the philosopher. Maybe use that.”
It was late before Lee got home, and he went right to Eli’s room, throwing open the door and storming through without knocking.
Eli was lounging on his sofa in shorts and a tank top, facing Lee as he made it into the sitting room. “What the fuck?”
“I’ve figured some things out, Lee. I have a proposition for you.”
Lee was pissed, it was coming off him like crazy. “You quit!”
“I changed my mind. Please, sit and let’s talk.”
Lee was still angry, but he did sit, barely. He was perched on the edge and his eyes were barely open, they were so narrowed. “Do you think you call the shots?”
Swinging his legs to the floor, Eli copied his body language, leaning over his knees as he looked right at Lee. “No. I know I have no real power, but I have enough. I know you want me to fuck you.”
Eli took great enjoyment in watching Lee’s brows raise impossibly high, but his laughter was what truly made him smile. “Oh, you just think you know things, don’t you?”
“Well, I do. I know you hired me, so you’d kill two birds with one stone. You got an assistant that is completely under your thumb because of his debt, and you just happened to choose an assistant that you want to have sex with. Well, I’m in. You want me to fuck you, I’ll do it, but I want to renegotiate.”
“Right. You want more money. Your dick worth more than what I’m paying you?”
“Yes. But I don’t want money,” Eli said, watching Lee’s smile fade.
“You don’t want money. Well, I can’t get you in Congress any more than what you are. What could you possibly want?”
It was perfect timing that they suddenly heard the chanting of protestors outside the house. Lee ran to the window and yanked the curtains aside, but Eli’s room was in the back of the house.
“Lee, they are angry and hurt over the things the government is doing.”
“They’re a bunch of whining children who all want handouts.”
Eli went to him and turned him from the window. He saw the anger there, but he looked deeper for the first time since meeting the guy. There was hurt there. “Lee…why don’t you listen to them? Let them know that you are willing to listen. I get it, you’re one man and you’ve got centuries and a status quo that you’d have to fight. It’s got to start somewhere.”
“They’re never going to listen to me.”
“Then listen to them. Maybe some of these people simply need to know that someone is listening. If you start to do that, even a little, if you try to change things, even a tiny bit, I’ll fuck you better than you’ve ever been fucked.”
Lee turned to the door and called over his shoulder, “For now, you’re a fucking assistant. The rest, I don’t fucking care.”
Eli sat on the couch, smiling to himself, and figuratively patted himself on the back. He’d gotten through. Even if it was just a tiny bit, he got through.