Jewel Monster (House Beasts #2)

Reap What You Sow

He breathed in deeply before starting to go through his contacts. It was just a call to Lola, he told himself; but really, he knew that it was nothing but wishful thinking.

Not that he feared Lola's reaction to the news he was bringing, but because the price he had to pay to bring her said news left a bitter taste in his mouth: the taste of being used. Which was a paradox, considering he was using Dimor for his own means to an end. One might even say that it was karma coming to bite him in the ass. That didn't change the feeling of betrayal. That didn't stop him from replying, again and again, the look of embarrassment on Dimor's face as he thought of a polite way to fuck off. It hurt to think of it, so he didn't want to, but he was going to have to report it to Lola in some capacity for her to understand.

And he dreaded that.

In order to stall, he turned to other things. He put his phone down and told himself he would do it after he went through his emails. That would do.

At the very top was one from Eng, reminding him that he had not replied to the first one he had sent. In fact, with everything that had been going on, Eric had not even taken a look at his resume. Now was a time as good as any to do that, if ever. He opened it and went through it.

The more he read through, the more suspicious he became. This Eng was no nobody. He didn't recognize some of the companies that were cited, but when he looked them up they were big. And all the work titles mentioned seemed to be important. The words "lead" and "manager" kept coming up. And his references were bafflings - more internet searches made the CEO of an international company come up.

Either it was a scam, either Eric was out of his league just having Eng on his phone. But the phone numbers, the names, and the dates matched. The document looked legit.

What the fuck did a guy like that want with them?

This just made Eric even more uneasy than he already way. He would rather phone Lola.

She quickly picked the phone.

"Eric?" she asked. "What is it?"

"I convinced Dimor."

"Convinced Dimor?" She realized what he meant. "He agreed to help us make the glass?"

"That's right."

"That amazing." She remained quiet for a while, then repeated, "Amazing. How did you even do that?"

"Let's just say that we had a long conversation."

As if summoned when others spoke about him, Dimor came out of the kitchen, fish leftovers from yesterday on a plate in his hand, fork in the other. He sent Eric a look that the latter couldn't really decipher - Perplexity? Annoyance? Surprised? - and installed himself at the low table of the living room to eat. He laid on his own coils, using them as a pillow. Eric didn't know how comfortable he would be with having a tail in the place of his legs but it sure looked very practical.

"Can I be a hundred per cent honest with you for a moment?" said Lola.

"Yeah?"

"I honestly thought that this was something you could never accomplish. I'm glad that you proved me wrong. You are rather good at what you do despite everything."

"Despite everything?"

"Everything that happened with you freeing Dimor's powers."

"Oh." Silence. "Well, it did turn out all right in the end."

Dimor shook his head, strongly disapproving this statement. Could he hear both sides of the conversation with magic? Eric had not seen him cast a spell, but he could have done it in the kitchen. It annoyed him a little that Dimor would be so nosy, but again he had nothing else to do.