It was my turn to gape. I found the courage to peek at Becca, expecting anger. Her head was down, and she wasn’t looking at me. I stole a glance at Gerald, who was shaking his head.
“I’d like grandkids, Reid. But even given our friendlier status, I’d prefer to be kept in the dark about your plans to achieve them.”
Becca made a strange choking sound. Panicked, I turned in my chair. “Becca? BB? You okay?”
Her head fell back, and she began to laugh. Peal after peal of loud laughter. Katy joined in, and Gracie clapped her hands in delight.
Richard and Gerald exchanged a glance.
“You warned me, Richard. The kid is gonna keep me on my toes. You were right—entertaining as shit, though.” He mouthed the word shit, but we all got it.
I leaned over. “Becca?”
She cupped my face, still laughing, and kissed me. “I love you.”
I grinned against her mouth. “Is that a yes?”
“We’ll talk.”
I settled back in my chair, letting them all laugh at me.
It wasn’t a no. I was good with that.
The flight attendant handed me a bottle of water, that I accepted with a thank you. I sipped as I stared at the screen of my laptop, not really seeing anything. I shut the lid, deciding not to try to work. Maybe I’d watch a movie instead. Becca had fallen asleep almost as soon as we got on the flight, tired from the weekend. As I scrolled through the list of movies, her sleepy voice startled me.
“Given up on work?”
Turning, I pressed a kiss to her head. “Yeah.”
“Anything good to watch?”
“Same ones as the way here. Maybe I’ll have a nap.”
She snuggled close, laying her head on my shoulder. “Okay.”
She was silent for a few minutes then tilted her head back up. “Thank you for yesterday.”
I grinned. “Your dad and I are buds now.”
“You certainly are.”
After brunch, Richard took his family home, and we spent the afternoon with Gerald. It turned out that he loved playing cards, so he and I got into a serious game of rummy. He told me how he often passed the time with solitaire, and I asked him if he ever played FreeCell on the computer. When he admitted he only used the computer in the lobby on occasion, I had shown him the game on my laptop. He loved it so much that while he and Becca took a walk around the garden, I slipped out and bought him a tablet, then loaded it with a bunch of games I thought he would enjoy. I showed him the messenger feature so he could keep in closer contact with Becca. I laughed when he asked if I was listed in his contacts, and I added myself.
“Wait until I show everyone this beauty tomorrow!” He grinned. “They’re all gonna be so jealous of my technology. Tom is always bragging about his tech-wiz son and all the computer stuff he does, but he doesn’t have anything this slick.”
“Glad to be of service.”
“So I can send Becca a message anytime?”
I met Becca’s pleading eyes across the room.
“Ah, no, there’s a limit. You can send her five a week, and she can reply.”
“Oh, like a phone plan.”
“Yes.” I nodded seriously. “Just like a phone plan.”
“Well, hey, five is good. You too?”
I threw her a grin. “I have a bigger plan. You can send me seven.”
“Great.” He tapped at the screen awkwardly. “This is going to keep me busy for a long time,” he muttered, not looking up. “Thanks, son.”
The whole weekend was worth those two words.
Becca squeezed my arm. “You were amazing.”
“Your dad is pretty cool when he isn’t being such a jerk.”
She sighed. “I know.”
I nudged her gently. “Kidding.”
She smiled, dropping her voice. “And what about you, Reid? Anything you want to say about your revelation you dropped during brunch?”
I feigned forgetfulness. “Which one?”
“About getting me knocked up and marrying me?”
“Ah, the baseball conversation.”
She laughed. “Yes, that one.”
I turned in my seat to face her. “I didn’t know I had said my thoughts out loud, Becca. I meant them, though.” I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, caressing the tender lobe with my fingers. “I want to marry you. Have a family.”
“I see.”
“Is that something you might want one day?” I paused and looked into her eyes. “With me?”
Her gaze was warm and soft. She slid her hand over mine. “I want everything with you, Reid. But I want us to know each other more. I want you to be sure you want to marry me because you love me, not simply because I was the first girl to give you a blow job.” She winked, letting me know she was teasing.
I leaned my forehead to hers, chuckling. “Well, you are pretty stellar at that. That’ll keep me interested for at least fifty years. We can figure something out after that is done.”
She giggled. “Sounds as if you have it all figured out.”
I kissed her fast. “That didn’t even make my list of why I want to marry you. There are a hundred and one other reasons.”
“Why don’t you tell me what they are over the next few months? When you’re finished, we can discuss it again.”
I lifted her hand and kissed her wrist. “Sounds like a plan. The first and most important is I love you. Every single thing about you.”
Her smile lit up her entire face. “That’s a great start.”
“So we’re hedging toward a yes?”
She leaned her head on my shoulder. “So far, so good.”
I grinned. “Okay.”
I arrived at work early the next day. I knew Becca had a meeting first thing outside the office, and I was anxious to get into work. I wanted to catch up on what I had missed.
I hadn’t heard from Aiden or Maddox again after I had texted them and said I’d handled the situation. I knew they weren’t pleased with what occurred, but I was sure once I sat down with them, and they understood why I did what I did, everything would be fine.
A text from Aiden appeared as I was going through emails. It was short and to the point.
Bentley’s office. 5 minutes.
I stared at the words, anxiety beginning to tighten my muscles. If Aiden had called me into Bentley’s office and hadn’t dropped by to tell me, it wasn’t going to be good. I groaned as my head hit the back of my chair. Bentley was probably going to give me shit about what I did on the weekend. I knew he had spoken to Richard.
I walked down the hall, stopping at Sandy’s desk. She studied me with a serious expression.
“Should I be scared?” I asked, trying to get her to smile. It didn’t work.
“You took a big risk.”
“It was one I had to take.” I drew in a big breath. “How angry is he?”
“Enough you should be prepared.”
“Even though it all worked out?”
She shook her head. “That isn’t the point, Reid.”
“I know.” I met her eyes. “I had to, Sandy. I had no choice.”
Her gaze softened. “I know. But there are consequences to our actions, even if they are done with good intentions.”
“Okay.” I squared my shoulders. “I’ll go in and take it.”
She squeezed my hand. “Good luck.”
I knocked before stepping into Bentley’s office. All three of them were there, their faces grave. I swallowed at the sudden thickness in my throat, wondering if I was as prepared for this as I thought a few minutes ago.
I sat down in front of Bentley’s desk. He studied me for a moment.
“You had a busy weekend.” His tone was cold.
I shifted in my chair, uncomfortable. “Yeah.”
“If your plan had gone awry and you’d been detected, a multitude of problems would have arisen. The implications of all of them disastrous. If you’d been caught, you’d be back in jail.”
&
nbsp; “But that didn’t happen. I was careful.”
He carried on as if I hadn’t spoken. “You would have ruined your life, embarrassed the company, and ended up in the one place you swore you would never go back to.”
“I had to do it, Bentley. I know how these hackers work. By the time the bank got to it, they’d have sold Becca’s information and debts would have been racking up against her. It would have taken years for it to all get sorted! I knew I could shut it down. I had to do it.”
“That wasn’t your concern.”
I reared back, shocked. “What? How the fuck can you say that?”
“Reid,” Aiden admonished.
I ignored him.
“Not my concern? Becca is my concern!”
“Your concern should have been your prison record and staying clean. What were you thinking? If you’d been caught, Reid, I don’t know if we could have helped you!”
“I wasn’t caught, and I knew I wouldn’t be. I took the necessary precautions—extra, even. Technically, nothing I did was illegal. I didn’t touch the bank’s site. I only used it for a reference point. I went directly after the people causing the issue. I shut them down. Nothing I did can be traced back to me, BAM, or The Gavin Group.”
Bentley ran a hand through his hair and glared at me. “You were still hacking. As for The Gavin Group, that’s another thing. Involving a business associate. I’m not happy about your doing that.”
“Richard gave me permission. He said he spoke to Graham.” I huffed, my anger starting to build. “At least he trusted me to know I wouldn’t do anything I wasn’t supposed to.”
Bentley leaned on his fists, fury rolling off him. “What you were supposed to do was let the bank and their people handle it. You can’t break the law every time it suits you, Reid. This needs to stop.”
It hit me. The whole maelstrom of emotions from the weekend. Too much had happened, and I was done with reacting calmly to it. I was furious, the words out before I could stop them, my voice louder and more abrupt than I had ever used when speaking to my boss.
“So, what are the rules, then, Bentley? I can break the law, use my talents, when it suits you? The company? It was fine when you needed my help to find your girlfriend. Or when Maddox needed my skills to stop his past from ruining your company. Let’s not forget how thrilled you were when the system I built brought the company accolades, or the reports I created made you all look good with your new business partners.” By the end of my speech, I was almost snarling in anger. “So it’s fine to bend the law for you or Aiden or Maddox? But not for the woman I love? Not without your permission?”
The room was silent. All of them stared at me in shock.
“Screw that. You’re angry with me? Fine. Fire me. But I don’t regret it. I will do whatever it takes when it comes to Becca. What I did not only helped her, but some other people who were caught in this fraud ring. The information I sent to the police will help the bank and the fraud squad stop these criminals, and the only thing I feel is relief I was able to help. For your information, I knew the risks and I was prepared for those consequences.” I stood so fast my chair toppled over. “But I wasn’t prepared for this bullshit. I thought, of all the people who knew about it, you three would understand and support me. Obviously, I was wrong.”
I turned toward the door. “I’ll be in my office. If you want me out of here, let me know, and I can be gone in an hour. You won’t have to worry about me embarrassing your company again.”
I stormed down the hall, ignoring Sandy and headed to my office. I shut my door hard enough the hinges rattled and headed to my desk. Dropping into my chair, I held my head, cursing myself.
What had I done?
I’d yelled at my boss who had the right to be angry with me. Basically, I told him to fire me. I pulled on my neck muscles. I had let my temper get the best of me. I reacted instead of thinking, the exact way Rodney used to warn me against doing.
I was an idiot.
I glanced around, sadness and regret replacing the anger. It wouldn’t take me long to clean out my office. I knew there were some filing boxes in the cupboard, and I dug around to find them. I set them on the sofa, but I sat down again, unable to start the process of transferring my things into the containers. They had just given me a condo, which I was certain they would take back. Where was I going to go?
How was I going to explain this to Becca? She would be so disappointed in me. Of everything I could think of, that would be the hardest part to handle.
I wondered if Bentley would allow me to apologize. Thinking about what I had said, I was sure the answer was no. Nobody spoke to him the way I did a short while ago. Not if they wanted to work for him. I had blown it.
Defeated, I hung my head again, not even bothering to lift it when the door opened and I heard heavy footsteps.
“I haven’t touched the computer, Aiden. You can take it and change all the passwords while I pack up,” I mumbled. “Leave Maddox to watch over me so you know I don’t steal anything or touch the system.”
“I don’t need your computer,” Bentley’s voice informed me.
I lifted my head. He stood inside my office, his arms crossed. Aiden and Maddox were beside him. This was my only chance, and I wasn’t too proud to try.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked. “I’m really fucking sorry, Bent.”
“For what you did, or for telling me off?”
“Telling you off. But even losing my job, I don’t regret what I did.”
“Did you quit?”
“No.”
“I don’t recall firing you.”
“I assumed that was why you were here.”
“You assumed wrong. I came to apologize.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out.
“You’re right, Reid. We can’t expect you to use your hacking abilities and extreme knowledge when we need you to for our own purposes, then forbid you to use them when you feel it’s necessary. That would be unfair to you and extremely selfish of me.”
“But?” I asked, sensing there was more to his words.
He shrugged. “Everything you said was right. We have asked you to lay yourself on the line when need has called for it. And you have never refused us. I hope never to ask you again.” He stepped forward, loosening his arms. “I hope you never are put in the position of deciding the result is worth risking your freedom.” He sighed. “I overreacted, and I shouldn’t have. I didn’t mean to call your character into question. I know how much BAM means to you. I know everything you do for me—for this company.” He shifted on his feet. “I was upset when I heard what happened, Reid, but not for the reasons I stated earlier.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You have become like a younger brother to all of us. The thought that you put yourself out there without our protection upset me. The thought of you going back to jail horrifies me. I can’t imagine this place, or our lives, not having you in them.”
“I didn’t do it to upset anyone. I try, Bent. I stick to the law. I don’t look for opportunities to hack. This was an exception. What I did for you guys were exceptions. It’s my way of protecting you.”
Our gazes locked. His was serious and concerned. Mine determined and sincere. But not angry. That emotion had passed for us both.
“No more, Reid. We need you here.”
“All I can promise is to try. Maybe you guys need to stay out of trouble too.”
They all laughed, breaking the tension.
Bentley held out his hand. “Deal.”
I stood, and we shook firmly. “So, I still have a job?”
He rolled his eyes. “As if I’d ever let you go. You know you’re too valuable to us.”
“Would this be a good time to ask for a bigger budget? I want to expand the server room.”
He laughed. “Nice try.”
I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
He clapped my shoulder. “You do so much more than that, Reid. So much more.” He squ
eezed the muscle tightly. “You’re part of the team. Be sure to stay around.” He studied me. “You stood up to me. Very few people do that.”
“Yeah, I did. I guess I should apologize for my rudeness.”
“No, I deserved it, so I’ll let you off the hook this time.” He smirked. “You’ve come a long way, Reid.”
He turned toward the door, then glanced back with a wink. “Don’t make a habit of it, though.”
He pulled open the door and left. Maddox clapped me on the back and followed him. Aiden regarded me, shaking his head.
“What?”
“You keep things interesting, kid.”
I chuckled.
His hand fell on my shoulder. “Be careful, Reid. We need you here. Becca needs you here.”
“I will, Aiden. I swear. I had no choice. Not with that.”
He nodded. “I know. But we care.”
It was my turn to clap his shoulder.
“I know. You’d be lost without me.”
He flexed his shoulders, grinning. “Whatever, kid. I just like having you around to order pizza.”
“Should I charge it to Maddox today?”
He opened the door and winked. “I think Bentley.”
“I’m putting your name on it.”
“Right on,” he called, walking down the hall. “I’m good with that.”
Becca came into my office, holding her laptop. “Reid, this is . . .” Her voice trailed off as she took in the boxes still sitting on my sofa.
“What’s going on?”
I waved my hand. “Nothing. It’s fine.”
She set down her laptop on my desk and looked behind her. “Why are there boxes on your sofa?”
I sighed. “Bentley wasn’t overly happy with me, and we had words. I might have yelled and told him off.” I shrugged. “Or something to that effect.”
“Because of what you did? For me?”
“Yes.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Well, I have something to say to him myself.” She headed toward the door, determined and angry. I jumped up, catching her around the waist before she made it there, and pulled her back. I closed the door as she tried to wiggle out of my hold.
“Hold up, tiger. We’ve settled everything.”
“You aren’t losing your job over this!”
Reid: Vested Interest #4 Page 23