The Billionaire and His PA novel Chapter 52

“I’m done with Lily’s drawing!” Aaron declared proudly as he waved his drawing wildly in the air. Unlike Emerald with her letter, Aaron’s piece of paper was actually important. He ran towards Cassie and Felix – who had disentangled their bodies the moment he shot up from Felix’s chair – and held up his drawing so that they could both admire it. “That’s Cassie and that’s me and that’s Lily.” He explained, pointing to the various stick figures on the paper. As Felix didn’t own any crayons, Aaron had done his drawing using pencils and blue and black pens.

“It’s beautiful Aaron. She’s going to love it.” Cassie assured.

Felix squinted at the drawing. “Is that a squid?” He asked, pointing at the blue creature with black polka dots that the people in Aaron’s drawing were sitting on.

“No.” Aaron answered with a frown. “It’s a horse. See the mane and the tail.” He explained pointing at various things. “Lily likes horses. I do too but she likes them more.”

Felix nodded even though he couldn’t see the alleged mane and the tail. To him, the ‘horse’ looked like a squid suffering from some sort of musculoskeletal and dermatological disease.

“Let me just keep this for you.” Cassie said. “So that way, it won’t be rumpled when you want to give Lily.” She collected Aaron’s drawing from him and folded it into quarters. Drawing in hand, she hobbled over to her handbag which was sitting on her desk and slipped the paper in-between a book in her bag. “I think we should get going.” She declared, zipping up her bag.

After Lily’s blood transfusion, the doctors at the pediatric center had said that they would like to observe her for the next twenty-four hours after which she was free to go home if everything was fine. Cassie’s original plans had been to stay with Lily all throughout the twenty-four hours but Amanda had managed to convince her to go home with Aaron, rest and then come back to the pediatric center to complete what was left of the twenty-four hours in the morning. Not wanting to leave Lily’s side, Cassie had first strongly disagreed. She later caved in when Amanda had pointed out that as an emotional wreck, she wasn’t exactly in the best place to take care of Lily and would most likely be better suited at home with Aaron who was only shaken up but not physically hurt. The earlier she got home and went to sleep, the better she would be in the morning when she went to see Lily.

She looked back at Aaron. He was explaining the difference between horses and ponies to Felix who was either genuinely paying attention or good at faking concentration. As far as she was concerned, it was probably the latter. “Come on Aaron. It is way past your bedtime. We should be on our way before it gets any later.” Cassie declared. It was almost eleven o’clock. She had never stayed that late at Tech Town; not even during the torturous week she had worked for Bethany.

“I can drive you home.” Felix offered. “That way, Aaron can continue to tell me the pros and cons of horses and ponies.” He declared. He moved past her, with Aaron acting as his second shadow, to his desk where he began to riffle through his things for his car key.

Cassie stared after him with utmost confusion. What on earth was going on? She wondered if Felix was serious about his offer and what his thought process had been like while he had made it. This was Felix Callahan, snobbish multibillionaire and her boss. People didn’t call him the Ice King because he gave free rides to his employees. She waited for him to rescind his offer. When she saw him pocket his car key, signifying that he was dead serious about driving her home, she decided to speak up.

“It’s fine. We can find our way home.” Cassie said.

“I know.” Felix said, shrugging on his suit’s jacket. “But like you said, it’s already getting late and correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t have a car. If I let you, you and Aaron are going to go back home on the MARTA and by this time of the night, that’s no place for a kid. And besides, driving you home is the least I can do after everything you’ve been through today.” Felix explained.

Cassie wanted to protest. She wasn’t a charity case. But she was tired. She was in no state to begin to lug Aaron back home as she was tired and her leg hurt badly. And besides Felix was right about the MARTHA. Both Aaron and Lily had been on the train multiple times but never that late. After a few seconds of internal debate, she decided that she would accept Felix’s offer. Aaron’s safety was a lot more important than her pride.

“Thank you.” Cassie said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She followed Aaron and Felix out of the office and into the elevator. Her fist unclenched as the elevator doors slid close. She looked down at her hands. She had been unconsciously prepared for any form of altercation with Luther in the hallway. Her hands had been clenched in full preparation to punch Luther in the face should he have been present in the hallway and attempted to say something even remotely negative to Aaron. She was fine with him being an asshole to her, but no one, absolutely no one, could get away being an ass to any of her siblings. She refused to let what happened a couple of years back repeat itself.