Right now, I just wanted Zoey in my arms. I stepped off the little podium to allow the geniuses the chance to take some public credit for their work. Today was really their victory, anyway. Matthews and Gonçalves stepped hesitantly up to the brightly lit podium and began taking questions.
In truth, I’d been a glorified test monkey in the Starflier 1 today. Except for executing the landing, which went perfectly, my presence was largely incidental. Not that I cared; I got to go to space. I’d be a test monkey anytime if it meant I got to have experiences like the one I’d had today.
But right now, I had more important considerations to attend to. Zoey was waiting for me off to the side of the room, watching me with her beautiful wide dark eyes. She seemed a little bit shell-shocked by the whole launch, but she still looked incredibly sexy in her black dress and pumps. I had a surprise for Zoey, and I was ready to dispense with the whole delayed gratification thing. I really just wanted to be alone with her.
Standing off to the side of the press corps, I saw Cecelia appear next to Zoey and wrap an arm around her. They were hugging? What the hell had happened while I was up in space? The two women had not seemed to have the greatest impression of one another before, what with all the accusations and interrogations and all. Apparently, all I needed to do was leave the earth’s atmosphere for them to bond. Cecelia was pulled away from Zoey for her own turn at the podium as I fought my way through the crowd toward Zoey. As soon as I could wrap my hand around her wrist, I dragged her away from the gathering and down a hallway. Soon, I was half-running and half-carrying her away from the growing crowd of excited employees and lingering press that were chasing me.
Once we got out of range of the cameras and away from the prying eyes of my employees, Zoey threw her arms around me and I pinned her to the wall to kiss her. She looked like she’d been crying, and I was somewhat confused for a second until her mouth found mine. Our tongues sought each other briefly, clashing in an adrenaline-fueled kiss that only served to reignite the desire I’d had to fight down prior to the launch.
“Mr. Breyer,” a semi-familiar voice interjected before I could get enough of Zoey’s warm, eager mouth, “do you have any comment on the arrest of Ms. Hunt?”
I pulled back enough to find Phil Paderewski of the Philadelphia Monitor standing expectantly next to us. He must have followed us back here. Creep. The number of reporters I enjoyed the company of was exactly one, and it definitely wasn’t Phil. Secondary to my surprise were the questions of ‘Ms. Hunt’ and ‘arrest’.
“He has no comment,” Zoey snapped murderously at Phil, “get out of here before I smack you into next week. You’re in a restricted area. Don’t fuck with me Phil. Not today. Go.”
Phil opened his mouth with a retort, paused, took one look at Zoey’s flushed face and my matching glower. He fled back out the door he’d slipped in through without a word.
“Nice,” I said to Zoey, then confused, “Angelica did what?”
Zoey slumped against me. A tear slid down her cheek and I kissed it away. She was trembling slightly, and I held her tighter.
“Zoey?” I repeated, growing afraid, “What’s going on?”
“Maybe we should go sit down for me to explain,” she finally managed in a small, panicked voice, “it’s kind of a long story.”
I wrapped an arm around her and guided her back up to my office, sitting her down in a chair. Cecelia appeared from nowhere at the door, apparently finished with her public statement. She would have had to sprint up here to get here so quickly, but that was probably exactly what she’d done. She did look a little bit winded.
“Did you tell him yet?” She asked Zoey in a breathy voice. She shook her head wearily and then inclined it to allow Cecelia to lead the explanation. Cecelia looked at me with a direct, angry look in her eyes.
“Angelica Hunt was found in the upload link room right before launch,” Cecelia explained, “She was messing around with something to do with the launch controls. We had to do a hard server reboot two minutes before the launch. Zoey did it, following Victor’s instructions. He walked her through it over the radio.”
My blood ran ice cold in my veins.
“You rebooted the servers two minutes before liftoff?” I repeated, stunned and now experiencing some fairly extreme second-hand stress. There was a good chance that I’d come incredibly close to blowing up on the launch pad. Closer than I ever wanted to come. And I’d been completely oblivious the entire time.
Zoey and Cecelia both stared at me and nodded in silence.
“Why didn’t you scrap the whole launch?” I asked, completely confused. That would have been the regular course of action. There was a whole procedure for an emergency shut down. We’d practiced it literally hundreds of times in the simulations.
“Angelica overrode all the safety protocols,” Cecelia explained, shaking her head in what appeared to be confusion of her own, “whatever she was attempting to do must have been fairly sophisticated.”
“Angelica was doing sophisticated programming?” I questioned, “That doesn’t make any sense. She doesn’t know anything about computers. She majored in fashion design, but I don’t think she even ever graduated. Plus, she wouldn’t have a reason to do this, right? I mean, I’ve known her for our entire lives. We aren’t best friends or anything, but she has no reason to try to murder me. Our families are intertwined. If there’s anything she cares about, it’s herself. This was seriously risky.”
“She says she was forced by Oleg,” Zoey finally spoke up. Her voice was soft. “Victor and I were watching the video stream in the uplink room the whole time Cecelia was trying to get to her. Angelica kept looking at the phone while she was working, like she had instructions on there.”
“But Oleg is dead!” I interjected.
Cecelia and Zoey both nodded. The wore identical looks of confusion.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” Cecelia added, “maybe she was working with someone else. Maybe Oleg had friends.”
“And now Angelica’s been arrested?” I followed up. At that, Cecelia and Zoey both smiled. Cecelia’s was triumphant. Zoey’s just looked shocked and bemused.
“Yes,” Cecelia answered, “she’s been arrested. The sucky thing is that the server reboot wiped both the footage of her tampering with the uplink terminals and the programming she was trying to introduce to the launch. But Victor, Zoey, and I saw her do it.”
I tried to wrap my mind around Angelica’s actions. The idea that she would willingly try and murder me was beyond the pale, even for her. She wasn’t a very nice person- in fact, as I’d once told Zoey, she could be absolutely ruthless. However, Angelica’s actions were always fundamentally self-serving. It made sense only if she’d been motivated by blackmail. If Oleg had something on her that was sufficiently damaging, I could easily imagine her doing just about anything to keep her reputation, such as it was, intact. The fact that she’d continue with the plot after Oleg was dead, however, made a lot less sense. At this point, I had far more questions than answers.
Zoey sighed, burying her face in her hands. She was clearly exhausted.
“Zoey did the server reboot?” I asked Cecelia again, and she smiled and nodded approvingly.
“She did a great job,” Cecelia replied proudly. Clearly Cecelia and Zoey had made up and then some.
Zoey had held my life in her hands when she’d been rebooting the system in the server room. Maybe she didn’t even know how close I’d come to dying, although from her reaction, maybe she did. Clearly, we needed to make some changes to our safety protocols to make it easier to scrap a launch. As much as I never wanted to get in this situation again, the idea that someone would have to run to the server room to switch things off and on again was terrifyingly archaic.
“Zoey,” I asked gently, “are you ok?”
She looked up at me with wide eyes, saying nothing and clearly thinking about it. Finally, she shook her head, her eyes widening until I could see her pupils dilating as she stared at me. Ce
celia backed out of the room, closing the door discretely behind her. I pulled Zoey into my arms and rocked her back and forth to comfort her.
“It’s ok,” I promised her, “It’s ok.”
She melted against me like she had on Tuesday night when she’d let me in her bed, completely exhausted and drained. As stressful as it was to go to space, I could only imagine how powerless and frightened Zoey must have been when she didn’t know if I would be safe. I tried to put myself in her shoes and found it twice as scary as actually being in the Starflier. I’d take being oblivious over being terrified any day of the week.
“Do you want to get out of here?” I asked Zoey, and she nodded tiredly. “I’ve still got a surprise to share with you.”
She blinked up at me. She’d obviously forgotten. Not that I could blame her. This had been an eventful afternoon.
“Is it a good surprise?” Zoey asked, a hint of her good humor returning to her eyes, “Because I don’t think I stand any more bad surprises.”
“I think you’re going to like it,” I replied with a grin, “come on, let’s go.”
44
Zoey
Nathan buckled me into the passenger side seat of his car and closed the door for me. Even though he was obviously excited to show me something he was treating me like I was made of glass, which was smart, because I felt like I might shatter if anything else happened today. Overwhelmed didn’t even begin to cover it. This week was turning me into the sort of person that can deal with all kinds of weird, stressful situations I’d never thought I’d encounter.
Yet even though I felt fragile and vulnerable, it also felt good in a fucked-up way to realize that I was growing into the sort of person who could deal with this level of stress. I was getting stronger. Maybe by this time next week I’d be eating fried tarantulas and laughing while I juggled fire on a unicycle.
Nathan slid into the driver’s seat and let the car drive itself back to his apartment. Ordinarily, I would have complained about the car driving itself—I hadn’t realized his sleek, fancy sedan could even do that—but at this moment I was beyond such trivial worries as basic vehicular safety. Nathan was alive. I was alive. No matter what, we’d survived and were together again.
Whatever the future brought, I could content myself that I’d helped to keep him safe. We drove in silence, but I kept stealing glances over at his handsome profile. He wasn’t going to be mine for long, but I could love him anyway. I now knew that I’d love him forever.
The drive wasn’t long, and before I knew it, Nathan was leading me by the hand into the elevator and then out into his penthouse. He’d been quiet for a long time now, and I couldn’t tell if it was anticipation or nervousness that had him so silent and careful. He brought me into his office, sat me down behind his desk, and set a manila folder in front of me.
“This is your surprise,” he said gently, smiling finally and gesturing at the folder.
“A folder?” I asked tartly, my personality returning in a rush, “oh, just what I’ve always wanted. Does it come with some highlighters too?”
Nathan smirked, then reached over to turn the cover of the folder, revealing a legal agreement of some sort within.
I started reading, looked up at him in shock to see him grinning, and then snapped my attention back down to keep reading.
A section immediately stood out:
This Stock Purchase Agreement (this “Agreement”) is made among Durant Industries, a Pennsylvania corporation (“Buyer”), Eric Sorenson of GBH Media (the “Shareholder”), and The Philadelphia Monitor, Inc., a Philadelphia corporation (the “Company”).
The Shareholder owns all of the presently outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company (the “Shares”) and desires and intends to sell the Shares to Buyer at the price and on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth below.
The Buyer desires and intends to acquire the Shares from the Shareholder at the price and on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth below…
“What is this?” I asked Nathan, stunned, “you’re buying the Philadelphia Monitor back from GBH?”
Nathan nodded, a shy smile tugging at the edges of his mouth.
“Keep on reading,” he urged. I didn’t really need the prompting.
I continued to read through the dry legal agreement. I noted that the price that Durant Industries was acquiring the Monitor at was higher than the what GBH had been rumored to have paid for it. Why Nathan would purchase the paper for more than it was worth was a mystery to me until I reached the sixth page where a highlighted paragraph annotated with a little red heart out to the side caught my attention.
APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS.
RESOLVED, that the following persons are elected to the office(s) indicated next
to their names to serve until their successor(s) shall be duly elected, unless he or she resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise disqualified from serving as an officer of this corporation, to take their respective office(s) immediately upon such appointment:
Office Name
President and Chief Executive Officer: Nathan Breyer
Senior Vice President and Executive Editor: Zoey Atkinson
RESOLVED, that the officers of this corporation are, and each acting alone is, hereby authorized to do and perform any and all such acts, including execution of any and all documents and certificates, as such officers shall deem necessary or advisable, to carry out the purposes and intent of the foregoing resolutions.
“Holy motherfucking shit,” my mouth swore foully before my brain caught up, “Nathan?”
My gaze darted up to his face. He was grinning broadly now. His brilliant blue-green eyes sparkled mischievously in his face.
“Nathan,” I repeated slowly, nearly dumbstruck, “Is this a joke?”
He shook his head happily, brushing my hair back from my face with a gentle hand. My heart was banging out my pulse in my ears like a timpani drum. I’d thought that I’d reached my limit of emotion today, but again, my ability to continue to absorb change expanded just slightly to accommodate this. It wasn’t quite enough.
“This—this is real?” I repeated, looking at the legal document that practically gave me my own damn newspaper in awe and disbelief.
“It’s real,” Nathan confirmed confidently, continuing to run his fingers along the side of my face and tame my wild hair that had escaped my ponytail in the last few hours, “it’s one hundred percent real. And one hundred percent done. If you want it. This is my surprise for you, and why I insisted on delayed gratification. I have to keep you in my life, Zoey. Will this keep you here?”
My mind was positively spinning. I looked down at the agreement and saw the paper becoming dotted by my tears as they flowed out of my eyes with abandon. They were tears of joy.
“Yes,” my mouth said, again just babbling ahead of my conscious mind, “of course it will. Jesus Christ. Of course, it will. I love you.”
This was about thirty years ahead of schedule but being the executive editor of a paper was my dream. I didn’t deserve this job, not by any stretch of the imagination, but Nathan had just given me a gift that most reporters never even got close to. More and more, real papers were a rare commodity. Even the Tallahassee Picayune was in financial trouble, I knew that when I’d accepted the job. How could I refuse such an opportunity, even if I hadn’t earned it? I’d just have to strive to be worthy of what I’d been given.
A thousand thoughts competed in my brain for attention. What would I tell the Picayune? What would I tell Nika? My parents were so excited to have me back in my home town, I’d be disappointing them tremendously if I stayed in Philadelphia. What about my apartment? I’d already given notice. How would I manage to run a newspaper? Would the staff even respect me? What if I failed? The thoughts kept coming and coming, but then Nathan looked at me and they all fled back to the dark corners of my mind where I could deal with them later.
Nathan scooped me up and set me on his lap in the c
hair instead of standing behind me. The moment he started holding me, I could feel my tears dry up. I was safe in his arms, safer than anywhere else in the whole world. He buried his face in my hair, and I could hear his heart pounding in his chest. He’d been nervous? Had he thought there was a chance I would refuse? As if I even could.
My heart felt like it was going to break with joy. Then, a sudden fear surfaced and clawed its way through my happiness. This one couldn’t be beaten back down. It needed an immediate answer. I forced myself to voice it.
“Nathan,” I whispered into his neck, doubt warring with my hope, “what if you change your mind about me? What if you stop wanting me?”
“Never,” he whispered back, slanting his mouth over mine.
45
Nathan
Zoey clung to me with an intensity that made feel more out of my body than floating in zero-g had that afternoon. Her tongue twined, danced, and swirled around mine, and her little, soft fingertips explored every inch of exposed skin she could find. Shifting my grip on her, I lifted her up out of the chair and carried her to the bedroom. The time for delayed gratification was over.
She stiffened in my grasp while I carried her, squealing in surprise with a girlish giggle. I loved the sound of her joyful, sweet laughter. The bright, breathy sound made my heart beat faster every time I heard it.
Dumping her unceremoniously on the bed, I made quick work of her little black dress. Thankfully it was stretchy fabric this time—no frustrating, hidden zippers or buttons. I could just rip it over her head. At some point we would need to have a talk about how difficult some of her dresses were to get into. She needed more like this one.
Beneath the dress I found more of Zoey’s lingerie collection. She had on an honest-to-goodness corset, complete with lacing in the back and little hooks in the front. It stretched from just beneath her black strapless bra to her hips and connected via straps to her thigh stockings. I admired her for a moment in awe, loving the way the garment clung to her curves and pulled in her waist tightly. The thought of her picking this out and lacing it with the intention to seduce me made me ache with need for her.
Kiss and Tell (Scions of Sin Book 2) Page 19