Page 29 of The Game

I slipped down the curved staircase landing with a thud in the hallway where Sammy was stood at the open door. Scarlett, who had stayed overnight when I'd got home late, was there, her mouth wide open and a bowl of cereal balanced in her hand. Well, no spider was going to crawl through an open door. I turned and looked.

What the...?

Too many thoughts went through my head at once.

What the...?

Why?

Is it?

Oh, shit my hair.

My hands landed on my head, trying to cover as much of the untamed mess as I could, as I stared at Jase Willis on my doorstep. "What?"

His pale speckled blues blinked lazily as he glanced from my feet to my hair. That tick he suffered from flicked the very edge of his mouth. "Is this too early?" he asked.

Gah, pyjamas. I forgot my hair and covered my arms across my thin camisole. I couldn't make sense of what he was saying, too early for what? "But?" I was doing my very best cavewoman impersonation. Again, that tick afflicted his lips.

"You agreed to help me, remember?" He pulled a bat from behind his back. "I figured we could play." He cast his eyes over his shoulder at the surrounding garden. "You've got plenty of land here, and it will be private."

"But..." Come on Alyssa you've got to get a grip and put some words together. Go for two words at the minimum. I geared my brain, it was more painful than I would have liked. "But, no."

There you go, two solid words.

"No?" If I'd blinked, I would have missed it, but a faint smile flickered over his lips.

Sammy started jumping on the spot, a strangled, high-pitched noise escaping from his mouth as his cheeks flushed to vivid pink and his freckles looked like they were about to ping right off his face. "Yes, yes, yes," he said, grabbing my pyjama bottoms and pulling on them in a way which made me twist my fingers into the elastic to hold them up.

I frowned at the little guy and then at the bigger guy still looming in the doorway. I wasn't going to be bossed around like this by two of the male species. Shaking my head, I formed the words "No. Sammy, you know we have chores to do, food shopping, washing."

Sammy groaned and looked like he was about to burst a tear duct.

The Lion just watched me through those hooded lids, the brilliant blue flashing. "Okay." And with his words, he stepped into the hall. Scarlett was still speechless, and she backed away, her head whipping between the Lion and me.

"No, no." I grabbed at his arm. "I don't think you understand. I meant I've got things to do. I'm too busy today."

I needed time to mentally prepare for my one on one consultations with the Lion. Going into whatever these training sessions were going to be without being prepared would be like falling into the lion's den at the zoo. He would eat me alive—and then get me sacked for being shit. I knew this. I still didn't even know what the specialist had told him. Last night he'd said he'd visited the doctor, but I knew his idea of a doctor wasn't the local quack at the GP office, it would have been a specialist located in Harley Street.

He took another step into the hallway, his eyes flitting around the surroundings. "I'm in no rush." He shrugged like this should be obvious.

Was this man for real?

The little guy squealed and rushed ahead. "Come through here." He motioned for the Lion to follow him, which he did without a backwards glance in my direction.

"I'll just go and get changed then," I said to no one in particular.

Scarlett looked at me, her eyes bulging. "Is that...?"

I waved my hand. "Let's not talk about it." Glancing at my watch I dithered. "You should have woken me up. Are you going to be okay getting home?"

Nodding, she smiled. "I thought you'd had a late night."

"Hey, I was home early."

She winked. "Sure thing."

My own eyes bulged. "Oh no, no." I motioned to the kitchen door the Lion had walked through with Sammy. "He hates me, I can assure you."