Page 94 of Powerless

“Thank you. Enjoy yours, too.”

She smirks and arches a brow. “I’m going out for a night on the town,” she says with excitement.

“Oh, where are you off to?”

“I have a friend coming in for the next two nights, and we’re having dinner and drinks.”

“Sounds wild,” I tease.

“Oh yes, sir, it will be. I might even stay up past midnight.” She lifts her hand and places it to her mouth, as if she’s telling me a super-secret I should be scolding her over.

“It is a school night,” I warn.

“Well, don’t worry. We’re not playing beer pong.”

I chuckle as I shake my head. “Good to hear. I wouldn’t want you showing up tomorrow hungover.” Esther and I both share a small laugh. “Have a good evening with your friend.”

“Will do.”

As I close the door, I turn and find Liam in my office. “I heard beer pong. Now, if it’s going to be a wild night, I need to prepare myself for it.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “I’m thinking we sneak in the strippers and they can bring the pizza.”

“Strippers and pizza, sounds like we’re about to have a wild night too!” I clap a hand to Liam’s shoulder as we walk out of the Oval Office. “I’ll have the chef prepare a couple of steaks.”

“Steaks are good. Not too much of that green shit though, Mr. President.”

“Liam.” I tilt my head down and glance at him as we head toward the elevator to go up to the residence. He knows when we’re out of work to address me by my name. “Go ahead to the dining room, I’ll put my briefcase away,” I head into my bedroom and place my briefcase on the table. A photo on the mantel catches my eye. I walk over to it and pick it up. Sweeping my thumb over Kathryn’s face, I let out a small sigh. “I miss you.” I place the frame back on the mantel and stare at it for a moment before leaving my bedroom.

Liam has two scotches ready for us on the dining table. “You’re not sleeping in the master bedroom?” I shake my head. “It’s been thirteen months, Bennett.”

“I can’t bring myself to go back in there.” I lift the scotch and walk over to the fireplace. “I miss her.”

“You’ve thrown yourself into work, and you’re barely sleeping—”

“How do you know I’m barely sleeping?”

“Let me see.” He taps his finger to his chin as he stares at me. “I’ve been your best friend since we were kids.” He lifts his scotch and sips on it. “Other than an occasional dinner in the residence, you’ve shut down.” I open my mouth to argue but he holds his hand up to me. “You’re in the office at two in the morning, and you don’t leave until whatever time you think is good to go.” Liam’s right though, I’ve been avoiding everyone I’ve ever had a connection with.

I slam the rest of the scotch back and head over to the bar to pour myself another. “This job is the only thing I have going for me. It’s keeping me alive.”

“Look, I know this is hard, but you need more. I miss Kathryn too. You know I often think about what we did and how the hell did a bunch of teenagers pull that off.”

A smirk tugs at my lips. “We were just kids.”

“It was crazy. But, we did it. We all kept it together long enough that you ended up with Kathryn and Jen was able to break away from her over-controlling parents.” There’s a tense pause as I sit and look at the rug, thinking about how crazy we were to even think that we could make it work, but somehow, it did. “Maybe it’s time to take a step forward.”

“I can’t,” I honestly admit. In truth, since Kathryn’s death I have been putting up walls and not letting anyone in. Not even Liam. “I’m not ready to let her go.”

“I’m not asking you to. This is a lonely job, Bennett. You’ve got me, but we both know that it’s been different since Kathryn passed.”

I shake my head as I take a sharp breath. “It’s not like I can go down to a bar and pick someone up.” Liam opens his mouth to say something, and I hold my hand up to him. “Nor do I want to.”

“What about having someone as a companion?”

“I’m not sure if you know, but I can’t go anywhere and find a companion. My face would be plastered everywhere.”

“There are other avenues. Here.” Liam takes his wallet out of his back pocket, and hands me a card. “They’re discreet.”

I take the card and look at it. My brows rise as I read the matte black card with gold-embossed, elegant writing. “Julianne?” I turn the card over in my hand and there’s a number in the same font as the front. “What’s this?”

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