Facade

All of them.” He waved them away as if he was swatting flies. “I want dinner in my rooms upstairs and I want you to bring it in, no one else. Show him where it is.”
    Nicky pointed at Jonas, turned around, and paced out the room, leaving all of his painted entourage lost and clearly dumbfounded.

    TEN minutes later, Jonas was led into a darkened room by the charming Tanna.
    “Sorry about the lack of light. It’s how he wants it,” Tanna said, her voice as subdued as their surroundings.
    “And I don’t suppose you ever do anything he doesn’t want?” Jonas replied.
    “He’s our meal ticket, Mr. Hunter. It would be foolish to throw that away.”
    At least she was polite and not half as condescending as the others. “Would do him a world of good,” Jonas murmured.
    “Excuse me?”
    Tanna interrupted his thoughts, and Jonas realized he had spoken out loud. What did he have to lose? This job? It was a favor 4
    Zahra
    Owens
    for someone, not his meal ticket. “You look like the only one he would listen to, and I think it would do him a world of good to be grounded.”
    She sighed. “I take care of him, Mr. Hunter, and believe me, he needs taking care of. If I give him reason to hate me, then he has no one.” She turned around and returned with a trolley filled with food. “Try to get him to eat something, and then… well, I don’t need to tell you how to do your job.”
    His eyes now adjusted to the half-dark, Jonas saw the soft compassion in her gaze. He’d expected something else, not her understanding, and it unsettled him more than if she had looked down on him.
    “I’ll leave you now. Please be patient; he may take a while to get here. If he asks, you can tell him that I’ll be in my room and all the others have left.” With that she silently left the suite.
    Jonas sat down on one of the sofas, grateful that it was comfortably soft, worn leather, nothing like the antique chair he had sat on downstairs that looked as if it had come straight from Versailles. He waited a few moments in total silence. The only light came from the street lights outside shining through the creases along the sides of the heavy drapes. He felt around the side table and flicked on the small lamp he found there.
    “Turn it off, please,” a soft, low voice coming from the other side of the room asked.
    Jonas was mildly startled, wondering how long he’d been there. He looked in the direction of the voice but saw only a doorway with a long dark shadow.
    “Your assistant asked me to make sure you ate something, and I don’t think we can do that in the dark.”
    “She’s not my assistant,” Nicky answered quietly, still not stepping out of his darkened corner. Jonas thought at first he was going to add something, but he lapsed back into silence.
    “It’s a little difficult to talk with me here and you over there.
    Why don’t you come here, get comfortable, have a bite to eat, and Façade
    5
    then….” Jonas didn’t finish his sentence, figuring they were both grown-ups and fully aware of why he was here.
    “You’re not paid by the hour, so there’s no rush. Besides, I don’t eat.” Nicky’s voice sounded high and mighty again, as if he’d regained some of the arrogance he’d displayed when he walked into the house, but it waned quickly. “And I don’t like strangers seeing me like I am.”
    Jonas’s patience was growing thin. “Listen, I’m not judging a beauty pageant here. Believe me, there’s very little that throws me off about a person. A man,” he corrected himself. He hoped a little humor would help break the ice. “I draw the line at trolls and werewolves.”
    Nicky didn’t laugh. “Just turn off the light.”
    “No,” Jonas replied, determined. Instead he got up and walked to the trolley, where he lifted the covers off the plates. “This looks good, Nicky; you really should eat something, you know.”
    “You’re not my mother.”
    The source of Nicky’s voice had moved around the room. “No, I’m not, but I don’t think you’re just a spoiled brat either.” He started putting a few things on the two plates, some scalloped potatoes, green beans, and a few strips of roast beef.
    “Just fuck me, okay? That’s what you’re here for, and all you’re getting paid for.”
    “Like you said, you’re not paying me by the hour,” Jonas replied calmly. “This is all part of the service. Besides, I think it was Tanna who hired me, and she was the one who asked me to get you