Deliciously Damaged

by Winters, KB

  “I don’t know his last name. He’s a consultant. That part’s not important. What I’m trying to explain is that someone like that would come in and do the job, but they would know I was digging and would probably assume I was just trying to steal formulas to adjust my existing product line to make more money. Something stupid.”

  A flush of shame drained my cheeks as I had thought the exact same thing at one point in time.

  Now that I could clearly see the full picture, it was like pieces of a kaleidoscope finally coming together into one picture.

  “Cooper, why didn’t you just tell me all of this in the first place? You said that you trusted me, that’s why you gave me the job, but then you held all this back from me. Why?” I asked, gesturing over at the beautiful mansion.

  He made a frustrated noise and for a moment, I feared I’d pushed too hard. He was obviously raw over the situation with me and his sister. And me ragging on him almost every day was the last thing he needed. Still…I deserved answers. I’d been left emotionally wounded ever since I found him at her house. The fact that he had a good reason and wasn’t screwing around behind my back didn’t take away that pain and frustration.

  “I lost my fiancée and then my father, and now—” His voice thinned. “Now, I’m losing Angela too. Can you understand why I wouldn’t want to talk about this? Most days, I can keep it pushed to the back of my mind, which sounds barbaric, but I have to do it. I have to be able to function. So, the less people know, the easier it is to put it aside so I can focus on keeping the company alive.”

  His confession hit me hard in the chest. My fingers twitched against my knees. They were straining to reach out and comfort him. But what could I do? I was now the source of his discomfort. The reason all this pain had been forced back to the surface.

  “I come and visit her as much as I can because I honestly don’t know how much time she has left. They won’t give me a straight answer. Her doctors switch her meds constantly. I have more money than all of them put together and it means nothing. I can’t save her,” he continued.

  Each word sliced deeper and deeper into me. I placed my hand on his forearm and ran my thumb along his wrist where his jacket met his skin. “I’m so incredibly sorry, Cooper. I had no idea. I wish there was something I could do to help.”

  “There is, Allison. You’re doing it by finding out who is using the chemicals so I can bring them to justice. That is what you can do to help. Tell me you understand that.”

  I nodded and kept my face neutral while inside me, a storm was raging as guilt joined the other horrible emotions that were building. Everything was so intense that I thought for sure I was about to burst. I’d spent an entire week working on a spreadsheet, trying to avoid hacking. Meanwhile, not only was the competition stealing our data right out from under us, but I was also wasting time to see about getting justice for Angela, all the while cursing her existence because I thought she was a threat to my relationship with Cooper.

  Fuck. I’m an idiot.

  I wanted to confess to Cooper that I’d been too busy spying on him and wasting my time on idle tasks, but I knew it wouldn’t make a difference. All I could do was put that behind me and move forward.

  “Okay, I’m all in. I’ll get you what you need.”

  Our eyes locked on each other across the central console. My hand was still on his wrist, my thumb stilled against his pulse.

  “Thank you,” Cooper said—his voice still brittle with emotion.

  I wished I could take away his pain. I’d dealt with my own share of tragedy in life, but in comparison, it all seemed rather insignificant. I’d never had someone close to me die, and Cooper had had two and was now facing the very real possibility of a third.

  My heart broke all over again at the realization.

  I squeezed his wrist and held on a little bit tighter.

  “Thank you for telling me everything. I realize now that it wasn’t easy. I’m sorry that I doubted you and said all those horrible things to you.” I dropped my eyes to my lap, no longer able to look him in the eye.

  He was silent and when I looked back up, his face had changed. He seemed to be more like himself and less like the lost man I’d just seen. He started the engine and pulled onto the street, giving one last look over his shoulder at Angela’s house as we drove away.

  “Cooper, this isn’t the way back,” I said, breaking the silence that had surrounded us as we drove back to the city. Cooper was on an unfamiliar road, but I could tell we were getting further away from the city center, not closer.

  “I’m taking you home. I don’t want you riding this late at night. It’s not safe,” he said.

  A shot of heat exploded in my core at the thought of him taking me home with him. I knew what would happen next, and after the intense emotional ride of the evening I would understand if he needed a release. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want him. Being in such close proximity to him over the past few hours had done nothing but send all my senses into overdrive. Anytime that I was this close to him, it was like being exposed to some sort of drug, and my resistance lowered and crazy, unwelcome ideas entered my mind on their own accord.

  But no…not tonight.

  I was too raw, too tied up in my own mind to let him have access to me. What I needed was time alone, to think and process everything that had happened.

  “My bike is at work. I need it for tomorrow.”

  He flew past another exit. “I’ll have a driver pick you up tomorrow morning and take you to work.”

  “Cooper, no. I don’t want you to do that. I want to get Cherry Bomb tonight and go to work tomorrow on my own.”

  He sighed. “Allison, I don’t care. We are almost to your apartment. I’m dropping you off. End of story.”

  I pulled away my hand that had still been resting on him. I crossed my arms and looked out the window, well aware of the fact that I looked like a petulant child.

  It was amazing how fast my irritation could rush back to the surface, bypassing all the other emotions that were fighting for head space.

  Luckily for Cooper, I was too drained to fight anymore. I’d said my piece, he’d ignored it, and for now, that would be the end of it. Par for the course. I rolled my eyes and stared out the window, watching the cityscape whizz by in a blur of lights against the dark sky. It was late, nearly eleven o’clock, and I knew that as soon as I hit the pillow I would be out.

  Cooper pulled into my apartment complex and parked. He insisted—much to my chagrin—on walking me up and we exchanged an awkward goodbye at my front door. Once inside, I stripped down to my tank top and panties and collapsed into bed. As I rolled into a ball around Sam’s fuzzy body, the last thing I thought about was the sweet way Cooper had stroked his sister’s hair as he’d sat by her bed.

  Chapter Twelve

  Despite my late bedtime, I shot out of bed like a cannon the next morning. The events of the night before had filled me with a new sense of urgency and I was raring to go as soon as I left my bed. I needed to get to work and dive headfirst into the dark and seedy world of hacking to get Cooper the answers he needed. Now that I knew the reasons behind his request, I was fully on board and eager to get to the bottom of the mystery.

  I got outside before remembering that I had no ride. Cherry Bomb was still stuck across town at the office, and my clunker car had died about a week before. I now had the money to get it fixed, but hadn’t bothered yet. My phone rang as I was standing on the front stoop.

  It was Cooper.

  “Hello?” I answered on the second ring.

  “Good morning. My driver will be there shortly. There was a pile-up on the freeway and he is running late. Come to my office when you arrive.”

  “Okay.”

  He hung up and I looked at my phone, wondering what mood he would be in once I arrived. His manner on the phone seemed so distant from the very intimate situation of last night. I sighed. That was Cooper, though. It was like being in a game of tug-o-war. He k
new how to pull me close and then something seemed to pull me away again.

  I waited on the steps of my apartment for a few more minutes and then, as promised, a town car pulled up to take me downtown to the office.

  The elevator ride up to Cooper’s office reminded me that I still had no idea why he and Tessa had been skulking around after hours. I knew I’d promised Cooper that I would trust him once he told me who Angela McKinnon was, and he’d held up his end of the bargain, so I knew it wouldn’t be wise to start poking around for information about Tessa. At least, not to him. I would have to figure that out on my own.

  Maybe Bryce would have an idea why they were meeting. He was still working at Spotlight and had been there long enough to have the pulse on the other employees within the company.

  I made a mental note to call him up and ask him about it once things settled down.

  I stepped off the elevator and made my way towards Cooper’s office, cringing as his assistant, Kimberly came into view when I rounded the corner. She’d always been such a pain in the ass towards me. Secretly, I figured it was because she wanted to keep Cooper all to herself, and saw me as a threat, but I was determined not to let her rattle me.

  “Good morning, Kimberly. Mr. Brighton is expecting me,” I said, using the sweetest voice I could muster.

  She gave me a pinched smile and punched a button on her phone.

  I took that as my dismissal and went to sit in the small waiting area. I was there less than a minute before Cooper’s door opened and he appeared.

  If possible, he looked even more delectable than I’d ever seen him before. He was wearing a dark gray suit with a navy tie against his stark white shirt. The fabric melded to him perfectly, enhancing the hard lines of his toned body. It had barely been twenty-four hours since we were down one floor, fucking like crazy in my office, and yet, I felt like it had been years since I’d had the pleasure of running my hands all along his perfect body.

  I clasped my hands together and told myself to get it together as I followed him into his office.

  “Thank you for sending the driver,” I said as I sat in one of the chairs across from his desk.

  He unbuttoned his lower button and sat down. “Of course. Can I ask what happened to your bike’s seat? I noticed last night that it was covered in duct tape.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at his question, unsure why he was asking. After everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, that’s what he wanted to talk about?

  “It has some tears. I’m going to get it replaced as soon as I can.”

  He eyed me as if he knew I was holding back. “Tears? The rest of your bike is in immaculate condition. I find it hard to believe there are tears.”

  I rolled my eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Cooper, if you must know, my d-bag ex-boyfriend thought it would be funny to carve the word whore into the seat. I didn’t want to look at it, and I didn’t have the money to fix it, so that’s why it’s taped up. Happy?”

  “Not even remotely. What’s this guy’s name?”

  “Why?”

  “Allison, just tell me his name,” Cooper repeated.

  His eyes were steely and had the look I’d seen so many times before. I wasn’t going to win this argument.

  “His name is Marx Harrison.”

  “Good. Thank you.”

  “Cooper, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to see that Marx pays for your bike to be repaired.”

  I let out a hollow laugh at the idea. There was no way in hell Marx would ever cop to even being the one who had vandalized my bike in the first place, let alone cough up the five hundred bucks to have it fixed. But, if Cooper wanted to spin his wheels, fine. It would keep him busy and out of my way for a little while.

  “Is that all you needed?” I asked.

  “Yes, thank you. Let me know as soon as you find anything,” he said.

  I stood up and started towards the door. I heard Cooper get up and follow after me, but resisted the urge to turn back and look at him. I knew that I would never get anything done if I turned around. One thing always led to another with him and right now, I had one thing on my mind, and it wasn’t him.

  For once.

  I reached for the handle, but Cooper beat me to it. He was standing so close that I could feel his body heat all the way down my back. If I took even a fraction of a step backwards, I was certain that I would be fully pressed against his body. His scent enveloped me and I teetered in my heels, slightly leaning, but then stopped short. I wanted to, but I couldn’t.

  I looked up and found him staring down at me. His eyes were dark and I could tell he was mulling something over. I wanted to ask what was on his mind, to get inside his head just for a minute, but I knew that if I asked, he would likely give me some bullshit answer. In the course of our relationship, Cooper had given me few glimpses into himself. And, while those moments were breathtaking and real, they were hard to come by. Most of the time, he was behind a wall that I couldn’t climb.

  But, I realized that was likely because I was too busy crouching behind my own walls.

  “Thank you, Allie,” Cooper said, his voice in a soothing whisper.

  “For what?”

  “For understanding.”

  My stomach twisted at his words and the soft tone of his voice. His face was inches from mine. It would be so easy to fall back into his embrace, and let him take my mind off the ugliness of the world for just a few hours.

  Before I could decide what to do, he opened the door and we were exposed again, the moment gone. I stepped into the hall and gave him a last look before hurrying past Kimberly’s desk and heading downstairs to my office.

  After all, I had work to do.

  Coffee in hand, I sat down behind my computer and started getting ready to dive in to the hacking. I was determined to get the answers to Cooper by the end of the day. I put all my cloaking in place and then tapped into the competition’s database. I resisted the urge to destroy the entire thing and instead worked my way through the different sections until I hit pay dirt.

  All the formulas.

  I copied everything to my computer as quickly as possible, knowing that I could be kicked off at any second. I’d been careful to cover my tracks, but I still felt unsure as I watched the data being copied over.

  Once the last of it had been cataloged, I closed out of everything and sat back in my chair, breathless.

  It was done.

  I had everything Cooper would need to build a case against the company that had potentially ruined his sister’s health, and the health of countless other women who had used the products. The knowledge that I’d helped vindicate so many innocent victims was absolutely heartwarming and I couldn’t hold back a broad smile as I compressed the files and copied them to a USB drive to deliver to Cooper personally.

  Before leaving my office, I heard my email dinging for attention. I pulled open the program and quickly worked my way through the inbox. Mostly the messages were inner office memos that I deleted but then I saw an automatic email notifying me that someone had responded to my post about the identity of the hacker in the hacking forum.

  My heart raced as my fingers flew over the keyboard to log in. I pulled it up, silently urging the internet to work faster as I waited for the page to load. I clicked the link to my thread and gasped at the reply.

  The hacking signature belonged to Clay Gregson.

  AKA…Bryce’s boyfriend. Clay had been the one to hack into the Plush database.

  But why?

  My mind spun and then lurched as I recalled another detail. Cooper had mentioned a Clay last night, and I hadn’t stopped to ask but it seemed too coincidental to not be the same guy. What had he said? I struggled to remember. The information had been jumbled in with everything else that had occurred.

  And now…this.

  Suddenly, it hit me. Cooper had said that Clay was trying for the job here at Brighton Enterprises, a job in the tech department.

&nb
sp; But, I had received the job instead. So, had he been hacking in revenge?

  Or, had Clay been hired by Plush’s competitor to hack into our database and wipe it?

  Maybe they knew that Cooper was on to them, or at least worried about it. But then, why not hire the hacker to cover their own tracks? Why try to erase our information?

  I couldn’t figure it out, but my heart was still beating furiously in my chest and I felt sick at the sheer amount of possibilities.

  I pushed back from my desk and raced to go back upstairs.

  I had to talk to Cooper.

  Now.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Cooper was leaving his office as soon as I arrived. “Allie!”

  “Cooper!”

  A quick glance told me Kimberly had heard, and noted, our casual use of each other’s names. But I was too distracted to really care anymore.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  He ushered me inside his office and the full story about Clay and his involvement in the hack spilled out as I paced back in forth in front of him, too amped to sit down.

  “So, what do you think?” I ventured, when the whole thing had been unpacked.

  Cooper stared at me, but it was like he was in another place, his eyes slightly glazed over.

  “I don’t know if this was out of revenge for not giving him the job, or if there is something more sinister going on. But, I do know that now, more than ever, I need you to get into their database. We need that information before they wipe it.”

  “Oh, shit!” I fumbled in my pocket. I’d been so wrapped up in the Clay mystery that I’d forgotten the most important part.

  “Here,” I slid the USB drive across his desk. “That’s everything you should need.”

  “You got it?” His face was lit up with wonder and barely contained admiration as he looked over at me.

  I nodded and smiled at him. “That drive has all the formula information. It was really quite easy to get once I hacked into their database. It looks like it goes back at least ten years, so it should be enough to get someone poking around over there.”