[ON GOING] All Of Me 18+ Only (Book 3 of Lastor series) #Wattys2020

Chapter 2

I stared out the window as the plane passed endless white clouds, tapping my fingers against the table along the music playing on my phone. I caught a flaw in the flow of the rhythm and gripped my pencil, writing the correction on the sheet while keeping my eyes on the sky. I rewinded the piece a few beats and inwardly played the correction over the existing flaw, letting the piece carry on until it finished. I read through the music sheet, tapping my fingers on the table to play them out. It didn't sound right. It felt... pretentious and forced.

I crumpled the sheets into a ball, tossing them to the floor along with the rest of the sheets I discarded. I was about to play the piece over again but Georgiana, the brat, snatched the phone away.

"I swear to all that is holy, if you play it again, I will throw myself out of this plane," she bit out.

I rolled my eyes, tossing my pencil aside and leaning back. "The damn thing is garbage whatever I do with it, anyway." I looked back out the window, leaning my head against it. "How infuriating."

"You know, when you agreed to be my mentor, I was ecstatic," she went on. "Learning from one of the greatest minds to have been borne in our family, it was a dream come true. But you're more mad than brilliant, I've realized."

"Then go away already," I muttered, shifting to lean on my side and pulling my legs to my chest.

"Unfortunately, it's too late for me to find another mentor. If I don't produce any phenomenal achievements by the end of the year, Master Jude will strip me of my seat and make me go back to training. So will you-"

I swung my arm towards her, snapping my fingers. "What did I say?" I said softly, turning my head to look at her. "Don't mention him or anything relating to the family."

She swallowed hard, looking at my fingers as if they could cut her throat. "I'm sorry. It slipped out."

I sighed, bringing my arm back and tucking my hands underneath the side of my face. "You're too eager, Gia," I said in boredom. "That's all well and good, but eagerness is only effective if you put work behind it."

"I am willing to work, but you won't let me," she insisted.

"Because I see no use in you. Why should I use something useless?"

She slammed her fists on the table. "Then tell me how to be useful. That's why I'm here."

I cracked a smile, chuckling lightly. "You don't ask how to be useful. You show it and people take notice. That's how I did it."

"Well, forgive me, but I am not you," she spat back. "You can't expect me to build myself into something if you don't give me any idea how."

I tilted my head back, looking at her. "I was a deranged fifteen year old with a growing drug addiction and alcohol dependency when I started building myself. Are you saying you have it worse?"

She pursed her lips. "No, that isn't what-"

I pulled myself up on the table, kneeling on it and grasping either side of her head. "Rome ne fut pas faite toute en un jour," I murmured softly, reaching behind her head and tugging her hair loose from the tight bun she constantly put it up in. "You won't be useful for a long time, make peace with that and lay bricks properly, and steadily." I tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, smiling. "Eventually, you will have your empire."

She averted her gaze, pushing away my arms and standing. "Spare me the eccentricity. It's redundant. My father has been using that trick on me since I was a child." She glared down at me. "I'm not a child, Angel. Stop treating me like one."