Six Feet Under • Anthony Lockwood

|03|

after

"You've heard of us?" Lockwood took control over the conversation quickly after their first initial impression of Lucy Carlyle and Amelia shared a concerned look with George once she noticed the interested gleam in his eye. She knew that the new associate was to ensure that something like the Holloway estate never happened again, but it brought her flashbacks of when her and Georgie stumbled through his front door with nowhere else to go.

"No." Lucy commented seriously and Amelia hid her smile behind a biscuit as Lockwood scoffed quietly at the girl's admission. He was a man full of pride and she sometimes wondered if he thought he was better than anyone in the entire world, but she knew that underneath that prideful exterior was a heart of gold. He cared about them and she couldn't deny that the man was the best she had ever seen with a rapier, so his pride was justified.

"My CV." She stepped towards Lockwood carefully avoiding the leg that Amelia had propped up on the table in front of her to hand him her credentials. It was something that Amelia would love to look at but the only person in the room that Lucy seemed to have eyes for was Lockwood and it was why the nervous girl had missed the raised eyebrow in her direction when her bag hit the side of her knee.

She wanted to drag George to his room and take a nap like they always did on Tuesday afternoons, but she knew that George hated change, absolutely loathed it, and he would want to sit and watch what he believed would be another train wreck of an interview. It didn't matter that she knew that Lucy Carlyle was the real deal compared to the others from one look at her, it just mattered to her that she wanted to hear the answers the girl provided to Lockwood. Something about the entire situation didn't sit right with her and the face that she made when she handed her credentials over proved that.

"Would you like some tea?" Lockwood offered with a charming smile, one that she had seen directed towards her many nights when he coaxed her to come to his room so that he wouldn't be alone to suffer through his dreams. The pointed look that followed that charming smile in George's direction was not one that she had seen on Anthony Lockwood before. He had never tried to dismiss them from something because he believed that they were a team, but something about the pointed look in her best mate's direction sent a wave of distrust through her, something that she had never felt in Anthony Lockwood's presence before. "Or has George already offered?"

"I thought I'd wait until after the first test, see if she's still here." George commented lightly his smile plastered on his face, but she could see the wariness that resided inside of it. She could almost sense that he was regretting his part in the hiring of a new associate but would never admit to it due to the possibility of the smug smile that she would surely send his way when it was all said and done. "We've wasted enough tea bags today."

"Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and pop the kettle on." Lockwood urged once more, his eyes glancing between George's hesitant demeanor and the sharklike grin that Amelia was once again hiding behind her treats.

"Oh, don't look at me." Amelia commented with a grin on her face as she turned to look at Lockwood who was urging her to go with George to make the girl tea. She refused to move from her seat because she was comfortable and she refused to do anything that she didn't want to do. "My arse is not moving from this seat and if George uses one more bag of my tea, then I will make you both go out and do the grocery shopping for the entire week. I know that you two despise that task and it would make me extremely happy to watch you both suffer."

"All right, but I reckon she's a bolter." Amelia almost choked on her biscuit from the words that came from George's mouth, her eyes widening at the way that he said them aloud in front of Lucy. George had grown out of his shell since they had moved into the house, Lockwood's influence helping shape the boy into a more confident man, but he had never said something in front of someone that had the potential to harm their feelings. It was out of character for him and she knew that the idea of change was starting to finally catch up with him.