"It's hard to accept that horribly evil and despicable acts can sometimes produce wholly good and pure results," Jasmine ventured philosophically. "I have a great friend, Clint. Well, you saw him. He was the old man who brought your trunks to the suite. He is one of the wisest, most well-read men you could ever meet. Clint would say that Precious is a paradox."
"I guess you had your own paradox this week," Piercely inferred, seeming to immediately grasp the concept. "If Dweeb hadn't planned this whole program to sweep you off your feet, you wouldn't be a . . . superstar!" They giggled.
Jasmine stopped laughing and looked pensive. "I don't know what to think of Mick. He protected me, but then he was so nasty and insulting." Jasmine paused in sudden realization. "Why was he lurking outside my door in the first place?"
"I called him."
"You?"
"Please don't tell Geek!"
"I won't, but . . . why? Did you know?"
"I . . . suspected. I didn't want the same thing to happen to you that happened to me."
The two young women stared into each other's eyes. Jasmine momentarily took Piercely's hand and whispered, "You were wrong about one thing, Piercely."
"What?"
"It's not too late. What you did for me today makes you exceptionally precious in my opinion." Piercely beamed. "Thank you," Jasmine offered in genuine gratitude.
"He loves you," Piercely confided with confidence.
"Who?"
Piercely grinned sheepishly. "Who? Why, Mick, of course."
"What? Did he say – "
"No, but I waited in the hall with him. If you could have seen the look on his face as he listened at the door, you'd know. I called him in case Dweeb tried, well, exactly what he did try. Mr. Loneshark immediately came. If your celebration had progressed to a, uh, mutually consensual act, then he would have had no right to interfere. As he listened to you two laughing and toasting, I've never seen a man stand so still and suffer so deeply with such strength of will. When you cried out, he moved like a lynx. Geek and Piercely came running out of our room when they heard the commotion."
"I – " Jasmine began.
"I'm sorry," Piercely cut in, "I'm afraid I've made your confusion worse instead of better." Jasmine could find no response.
"So, you see, Mr. Loneshark . . ." Dweeb stated respectfully as he prepared to conclude the technicians' tale, ". . . we didn't think Brad possessed such advanced programming skills and
