"You don't even want to be here, do you?" Dolly asked.Jia looked up from where she had been staring down at her hands in her lap. They had been sitting in silence for only a few minutes now, Dolly on the far sofa and Jia sitting opposite her on the single-seater couch. The electric fireplace was happily crackling away just a few feet to their left."You don't have to keep up the whole professional thing here, by the way. I'm probably going to get smashed in like half an hour and not remember anything that happens tonight, so there's really no point."...But there was no alcohol stocked here, Jia wanted to point out. She'd peeked around the kitchen and pantries to make sure the other woman wasn't lacking anything, and the closest thing to wine she had seen was a carton of grape juice in the refrigerator. No alcohol at all."Um...There's no...""I have my ways," Dolly told her before she even f

 Luckily, conveniently, there was a man waiting to drive them to headquarters in a small limousine instead of a cramped sports car. Why Atlas had picked Dolly up himself was a mystery in that case, but perhaps he simply wanted to make doubly sure that she was ready for him. Well, all things considered, Jia had made sure the job was done well. She was tired and she was sure she had dark circles under her eyes from the exhaustion creeping over her, and Dolly did look like she had just bit into an entire lemon, but they were all packed into the vehicle now and well on their way to Pandora Lights. The two women sitting next to each other and facing the rear, Atlas sitting across and watching them with his now-familiar cold stare. Black asphalt and white sidewalks and pristine buildings slid past them as they trundled down Manhattan streets in 8AM traffic.  Besides the incessant honking that had begun to go up, how nice and

By the time Jia finished her gripping story of the wild redhead woman and the adventures at the burger joint (Lydia's eyes had nearly bugged out of her head at the mention of such an undignified dinner experience), they were both standing in the hallway one door down from the conference room Atlas, Daniel, and Dolly were in. Soundproofed and solid, there was no way to tell if the talks were winding down yet, but that was fine with Jia: she liked talking to Lydia like this."And then we came here," she concluded, artfully omitting any mention of her working a night shift and leaving Dolly on her own until the morning. "It was a wild day yesterday. And after all that, she's leaving again this Sunday?"The blond nodded. "That's how it is most times. Mr. Grayson's clientele are all high-demand, so they lose a great deal of money the longer they remain not working under contract. Ms. Munson's a special case since all her contracts require redrafting, but

 Who knew that standing here motionless for this long could take such a toll on the body? Atlas had the advantage, having only been out here for the last half hour, but Jia had been on her feet ever since she and Lydia had filed out into the hallway far earlier than that. These stilettos were doing a number on her heels. Surely her spine had compressed a few inches by now?And why was Atlas still standing out here as if he expected Dolly to beg him to come back inside any moment now? Jia hadn't known the woman for long yet, but she was confident that even Dolly were on fire inside the room this very moment and Atlas possessed the only fire extinguisher in existence, she would readily reduce herself to cinders and dust.Not too long ago, Jia had had the same opinion of him. Up until last night when she had spent eight hours wondering what exactly her game plan was, going forward. She still disliked him, but if he provided the paychecks, she would give him honest ef

"And...Dolly? This seat's open."On the other end of the table, the redhead turned her gaze on Jia only to give her a single baleful scowl. "It is open," she agreed. "Doesn't mean I want it." With that, she turned away again and leaned back in her chair, aggressively massaging her own shoulder with an angry look on her face."Aren't you hungry?""I can eat over here."Jia pressed her lips together for a second, and then turned them up in a wide smile. "You look sore. And tired. Why don't you eat and I'll take care of that?" She beckoned her over again with a flap of the hand.Dolly stopped for a moment and threw her a suspicious stare. "Take care of what."Jia didn't miss a beat. She raised her hands to shoulder height and pantomimed giving the woman a massage with a few flicks of the wrist before speaking again. "I'm at your disposal," she said cheerfully. "...If you'd like to join us. But you don't have to if you'd rather