8. BARTER

~ Zoie’s POV ~ “Why does it have to be him?!” Zoie stomped angrily into Damon’s office and her dad followed right behind her. “Why can’t it be any other bodyguard?!” Zoie had kept quiet all night long during dinner, but once dinner was over, she couldn’t hold back. She brought her dad to his office to give him a piece of her mind. Meanwhile, everyone else had retreated to their rooms and Asher was out in the garden, smoking a cigarette. “Because I need someone to go with you on the inside. Asher’s gonna go with you to all your classes. He can pass off as a student,” Damon explained, walking around to stand right in front of her. “Besides, isn’t this what you want? Subtlety?” “Subtlety?” Zoie scoffed. “You think you’re being subtle by sending in a chain-smoking freshman with tattoos for an arm, who also happens to be homeless, to go to Stanford?” “Zoie,” Damon warned her sternly. Zoie let out a sigh and crossed her arms. “How’d you even get him into Stanford anyway?” she muttered. “You