Persistent Tree

7. Counting in Seconds

"Down, girl," I said, tugging on her collar. "Don't slobber all over him." For some reason, Champagne never listened to me when Onyx was involved. I put my hands on my hips and frowned as Onyx willingly wrestled with Champagne, vigorously rubbing her as she licked his face.

"Champagne, put him down. You never know where he's been!" I loudly called.

That made Champagne back off, and drew surprised gasps from the already astonished employees. Onyx narrowed his eyes at me as I realized what I had said and burst out into apologies.

"Sorry, I didn't mean you specifically! It's just that she knows that command is not to be disobeyed under any circumstances, otherwise she would have ruined your..." I eyed his now disheveled suit and his slobber-covered face. "...suit."

For a long moment, Onyx's expression didn't change, and I swallowed nervously. But then he smiled warmly, and I visibly relaxed as he let out a laugh and whistled, making Champagne lope over to him.

"C'mon, Houston," he said, grabbing a hold of Champagne's collar. "Let's take the party upstairs. Faith, would you please have Hilde put a box of paper towels in my office? I'm out of those again."

I followed Onyx into an elevator, keeping my nervous dog close. Once the door closed, though, I quickly realized that he and I were in closed quarters, and would be by ourselves for quite some time. I shot a glance at Onyx, and he seemed to be coming to the same conclusion, because he looked at me too. We shared a shy smile and tried to shift away from each other, but there wasn't enough distance no matter how much we pressed into the walls. Once we reached his floor, we walked to his office in silence and took our respective seats.

"So." Onyx cleared his throat again. "So."

"Living arrangements," I reminded him. "You were going to get someone to help me on that."

"Oh, that." Onyx suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Looks like it's you and me on this. My staff refuses to work with the Jade Houston wedding."

I smiled. "I wonder why," I said sarcastically.

"I''m sorry."

"I am too - but for you, not for anyone else."

Onyx smiled nervously. "You really don't like your family, do you?" he asked.

My response was automatic. Keep up thee image. Nobody who doesn't need to know should know. "No, they just tend to be way too fastidious. They don't mean to be so hard to deal with - they're just perfectionists."

Onyx was not fooled. "I can't tell whether you're being defensive or delusional, Lady," he said, frowning slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry for being so intrusive, but you and your family are at odds and I can see it. The way you and your sister look at each other, the way your family never greets you when they arrive, the way they never come with you - it's not normal. I've done a lot of events, Amethyst. I know people's behaviorisms."

I looked at my hands in my lap, feeling scolded. "So?" I mumbled. "Everyone has problems. They get sorted out."

"In most cases," Onyx said, his tone laced with sarcasm.

"Okay, living arrangements!" I said loudly, making both Onyx and Champagne jump. "Let's get it done, I don't want to keep you busy for too long."

"Ah. We'll see about that."

************************************

It took us two hours to get things going. Everybody had preferences and complaints, and adjusting them all was giving both Onyx and me a headache. I accidentally mumbled that my head hurt, and it sent Onyx into a frenzy. Before I could stop him, he scrambled for my bag, dug out my bottle of pills and pushed it into my hand with a bottle of water.