by V. Theia
For if I ever wanted to grab coffee.
I blinked and took it automatically as he mingled back in the crowd, winking before he disappeared.
Not sure if he really wanted a date or to find out the scoop on Noah.
Either way I wouldn’t call him.
I spent the remainder of the evening with a couple of Noah’s friends who turned up to support him.
One was a hot-shot lawyer in the city, the other owned his own food truck fleet.
My poor ankles were screaming at me in the cab on the way home.
My legs were not meant to carry me on heels for hours on end.
It was one of the many reasons I liked my job, I could wear converse sneakers every day of the week if I wanted to.
No one cared about my dress sense, I was there to fix their tech glitches, not decorate their offices and I was great with that.
It was 4am and my body clock was ready to power down preferably face down in my bed, but I was willing to conk out right there.
“How do you do this every night and still wake up with god?” My head turned on the rest behind me to look at Noah. “Are you part machine? You are, aren’t you?”
He grinned and leaned over to grab my leg. I didn’t even have the energy to squeal. He slipped off my strappy shoe and began kneading my arch. I was not shamed at all for the sex moans I let out for god and cab driver to hear.
Of all the pleasures in life, and I’m including chocolate and boxset seasons of Parks and Recreation, nothing felt as nice as having Noah’s knuckles dig into my instep.
By the time we arrived at our building he’d dug his thumbs into both feet and turned me into his sex slave. Not that the man realized it, but I was willing to drop to my knees and thank him with slurps.
I felt decidedly lighter walking towards the elevator car holding my shoes, Noah gently guiding me as I sleepily rested on his shoulder. “I swear I feel drunk. I only drank two. No one should be awake at this time of the night...day…whatever. It’s unnatural.” I whined slow blinking, the car taking forever to reach my floor, were we going backwards?
“You’ll be in bed soon.”
“Love your dirty club, lion. you’ve done amazing things tonight.” I smiled, eyes closed. I’d had such fun, more than I thought I would. “That one guy, tanned with baby blues who danced to Feel It, he needs a raise for the way he pumped up the audience. I threw twenty dollars at him.”
Noah chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do, though it’s his first night, maybe wait to see if he earns it.”
I was so happy to see my front door I could hear my bed screaming for me. Momma is coming, baby, one more minute.
“Go to bed, man-robot, get your usual two minutes of sleep to recharge.” I told him, hugging him briefly around the waist. He stopped me from face planting my exhausted ass inside my hallway with a hand on my shoulder, turning me bodily, he took my chin in between finger and thumb.
His eyes looked incredibly blue, not a hint of tiredness, seriously, how did he function?
“You looked beautiful tonight, Sena. Thanks for coming.” He hovered over me like a shadow, his eyes explored my face lazily in that way that made me feel the sole focus of a god. Alive.
I smiled. “I wouldn’t have missed it. So, fucking proud of you.” Maybe my belly got prior notice of what came next because it tightened in a hard knot and my brain released a wave of adrenaline so fast I felt dizzy. My pulse skyrocketing. When I thought he was going to give me another hug, he dipped down and brushed his lips to mine.
Not our usual greeting, this kiss lasted longer than four seconds and I know this because my previously brain-dead mind came online all at once and counted the seconds. Four. Five. Six. Seven.
Lips against lips.
And then it was over. Eight beautiful confusing seconds later.
“Get inside to bed,” he was gone down the hallway and took the stairs as he always did rather than waiting for the elevator to carry him up.
Jesus.
My lips were on fire. I reached up touching them, feeling him there. My heart raced in hard thumps, arousal full force was in control of my hormones as I stumbled inside, locked the door and leaned against it.
Dammit. Just when I thought I had a handle on this shit, he goes and kisses me.
No big deal to him, a kiss is a kiss.
To me, it was everything. A kiss from Noah was … everything.
I didn’t go right to sleep after all. I laid naked in bed obsessing over a pair of lips that I wanted to do more than peck. Even though I told myself there was no point in analyzing this to death. I became very female and did the thing I warned myself again, like a neurotic dumbass, because that’s what I was at times. I fully admitted it, the heart won, and the brain joined in with my neurosis, my deep-seated crush bloomed so fierce I was willing to accept the fact that maybe…Possibly…My gay best friend wasn’t so gay with me.
Nah, that was preposterous and so much wishful thinking.
But, what if?
Had he kissed me for a reason, or just another one of those Noah things where he expressed himself tactilely?
I wish I knew.
Crazy thoughts.
I fell into sleep and dreamed I was being chased by a Pitbull dog reporter holding a cup of coffee with very sharp white teeth.
FOURTEEN
My self-employment was perfect every other day except when I’d slept only four hours and I needed to schlep it all over Manhattan. Noisy, rude, busy streets that I ordinarily loved were my enemy as I stepped off the subway and hoisted my too heavy bag over my shoulder. The thing weighed ten pounds if not more.
The plan for the next year was to have an office somewhere I didn’t have to brace against every form of weather, today was brisk, a chill in the air, making me wear in layers, and fight the lines in coffee shops to wait for my mocha latte with an extra pump of vanilla syrup, or wait in impossible traffic.
The city that never sleeps was horrendously crammed.
I arrived at my destination ten minutes late, never a good impression and I mentally kicked myself, momma always said it was better to arrive early than late, and she was right, that curl of anxiety in my belly was present as I pushed my way into the florist shop on 9th and West. It was run by a sister duo, and over the last six month they’d noticed a dip in their profit margin and then invoices didn’t make sense and the last straw before they contacted me for a full system sweep of their operation was something didn’t look right with their online banking.
It smelled of fiddling somewhere along the line.
I was greeted by a scowl and a smile. I focused on the smiling woman, older than her sister by a few years from my estimate.
“Hello. I’m Sena Black. My apologies for being late, the subway was murder today. Do you want to point me in the right direction? And I can get started.”
I was right to focus on the smiling sister, the other one barely paid me any attention except to mutter about time keeping. You try staying up with strippers until 4am, lady, and then rise for work, see how well you do.
I worked for the rest of the morning. It seemed straightforward at first, until I found layers of firewall installed on their computer with a back door.
Firewall not installed by them.
Oh, the mystery of it. This was why I loved IT. Coding and programming was my jam, I could sit and pick apart coding all damn day with a bag of gummi worms at my elbow and a diet Sprite but offer me the chance to dig into an impenetrable security system and I might pee with excitement.
“Can I get you a coffee?” Smiling sister asked from the doorway. I turned a grateful face on her.
“God, yes please. I’ll take cream and sugar, thanks.”
“How is it looking? Were we right to worry?”
“Oh, yeah.” I told her, and her eyes widened, halting momentarily. I rushed on. “But don’t worry. At least you know nothing more can happen, I got this.”
“Thank god. We can’t afford to keep
losing money and when Noah told us about you—”
I spun around on the desk chair, the thing had wheels and slid me a foot across the floor, shimmying myself back to the computer I asked. “I was recommended by Noah Fierro?”
“Oh, yes. Sweetest guy.” I mentally snorted. Egomaniac would love that. “He comes in regularly to send flowers to his mother and he caught us on a day when four thousand dollars suddenly disappeared out of the bank, we were frantic. He said he knew an incredibly smart computer genius and gave me your card, we called that same day to book an appointment with you.”
I was all warm and gushy inside.
She went to get my coffee and I grabbed at my cell to send a text to the egomaniac in question.
SouthernBelle: You got me this job at the florist. I owe you pizza.
Not even a minute later.
KingOfManhattan: Please, not pizza. I want a grown-up meal. Cooked at home on the stove not delivered in a box.
I snorted. He was such a food snob.
SouthernBelle: Done.
I’d make him Momma’s baked Ziti. It was one of the few recipes I knew by heart without having to call the woman and have her talk me through it for an hour.
The florist shop situation all became clear a few hours and many rejuvenating coffees later. My belly full of caffeine, I’d tied my hair back as I’d hunched and traced the security breach, picking it away one ribbon at a time.
I knew I was getting close when I felt my pulse spike.
It was a rush figuring out a technology mystery.
Man, it was like a hit of sex for my brain. I loved it.
When I released my aching fingers from the keyboard I felt the stab of achievement, only it wasn’t going to be as such for the two ladies who turned their eyes on me as I made my way to the front of shop where they were putting together gorgeous pale lemon bouquets.
“I have good news and bad news.” I announced.
The smiling sister, as I suspected she would, spoke first. Worry etched on her brow. She had a pencil stuck in her hair bun and I found it charming. “Hit us with it. It can’t be worse than we’ve been thinking.”
“Do you know anyone in Wagner College?”
I knew instantly they did when both ladies looked at each other. And then the scowling sister spoke. “My son. He’s on a football scholarship, it’s his senior year. Why?”
Smiling sister had already joined the dots herself. Red mottle crawled up her neck and face until she was pure anger. “You know why, Sylvie! Didn’t I tell you. Didn’t I say! That little shit has been stealing from us. Hasn’t he?” Eyes turned to me.
“That I can’t say. But the breach leads directly back to a server on Wagner grounds. Whoever it is, is good, he bounced the signal all over the city, but that’s the trail. There was a back door purposely hidden in your security to easily access to drain little amounts of funds without sounding an alert no one would really notice until it was too late.”
“No! He wouldn’t. Bab! He promised. He said.”
Ut oh.
“He said nothing but fucking lies. I’m going to kill him.”
This was a Lifetime movie in the making.
“He’s focused on his football.” Not sure who she was speaking to, me or her sister, but Sylvie’s face went chalk white, knuckles burning from her tight anguished fists. I felt for her. Nothing screwed you over better than family, nothing surprised me more than to know most of the time embezzlement began with someone you knew and loved.
“He’s wasting his skills on football, ma’am, if he can hack a security system and your bank account and not be detected for months.”
“No one knew because we’re hopeless with computers.” Bab informed, fuming as she paced the small entryway to the store. She flipped the open sign to closed. “Are you absolutely certain of this?” she asked me.
I always printed the evidence; my customers could make of it what they would. I wasn’t the law, I just found the leaks. I handed over what I had, watching carefully as she read over every bank drop the boy had supposedly siphoned into his own account over the period of eighteen months.
“That greedy little, lying shitbag. You call him right now, Sylvie. Right fucking now, you tell that lanky weasel to get his ass home!”
“But—but.” Poor Sylvie was ashen, tears brimmed her lashes. It had to sting worse for her, not only family fucking them over, but one that had come from her loins. Kids were so damn ungrateful and didn’t want to work for anything these days. While as a computer hacker I could admire his skill, damn, kid, you did your mom wrong.
“Now!” She yelled at her sister then turned a quieter, no less frantic tone to me. “Ms. Black, can you fix the problem in our security, so he can’t do this again? I don’t want the little thief to be able to ever do this again.”
“Already done. I suggest you change your passwords to something more elaborate that Muffy55 though.”
What an eventful afternoon.
That was another reason I loved my job; no two days were the same.
As I packed up my bag I heard Sylvie on the phone pleading with the son in question to tell her it wasn’t true. Only when Bab grabbed the phone did the call turn violent in tone, screaming for him to get his bony ass home so his uncle Mike could rip his head off.
I suppressed a laugh. If the boy had any mind he’d run far and quickly.
I tech-doc two more computers that day, just home desktops full of porn and nudity then I made my way home to nap like a doggo.
I think I caught my second wind on the ride home, and when I was in the elevator about to hit my floor I instead pressed the penthouse level. My plan being I’d grab a sweet tea with Noah and tell him about the boy genius hacker and then pour myself into bed for a power nap before dinner.
I fished out my key to his place, no doubt he was hunched behind the command center wheeling and dealing, how much money does one person need? A lot is always his reply when I asked. He was driven, more than anyone else I’ve ever known. I love his work ethic, his utter focus for going out for what he wants, never deviating from the path he’d set himself.
Noah came from a humble family, great mom and dad, both high school teachers, two sisters, one elder, one younger, both married with kids which left him in the middle to earn the millions and earn them he had.
They lived in Long Island and I know he loves them, loves spending time with them, they’re one of those families who vacation together as often as they can, and god help Noah if he ever passed up a holiday without going home then his two sisters and his mom would turn up on his door and read him the riot act before sobbing on his shoulder asking why he doesn’t love them anymore.
As any woman possessed in her arsenal, emotional blackmail is the best tried and tested method and since Noah hated tears he gave in like a punk.
He loves his family and that was a great trait in a person.
I didn’t expect to be greeted by noise as I let myself in.
Two deep voices, one I knew instantly belonging to Noah, he’s amused, and I know this because he gets this husky lilt to his voice.
I paused in the long hallway, not sure why until the second voice registered and everything in me turned ashen cold.
It’s a voice I haven’t heard in, god, how long? Maybe two years? Longer?
Tom the ex.
Or as I like to think of him; Tom the dick-munching goat fucker.
Yeah, I hate him.
“Hey, babe, remember that Strypes gig we went to For Keenan’s birthday?” Tom asked, and Noah chuckled. “You still have that CD?”
My heart both plummeted and raced hearing Tom’s steady, charming voice again. And in the penthouse of all places.
Why was he here?
Why the fuck was Noah laughing at the dickhead?
A maelstrom of emotion sputtered like erratic butterflies inside my chest almost making breathing impossible.
I know one thing, I didn’t want to see the manwhore, or I might put my fi
st in his pretty model face.
I retreated as quietly as I’d entered the front door with no one none the wiser I’d been there.
Memories of two years ago were easy enough to remember since I didn’t like the guy much, not for jealousy reasons, I was pretty much in control of my crush back then, before any sexual fiddling had happened, but it was more than obvious Tom didn’t like me, either.
Not that he openly showed it. He was snake charming to my face. In front of Noah he made out like he loved Noah’s best friend. But there was no concealing Tom’s animosity and irritation when it was just us. He made it clear he wanted me out of Noah’s life.
I tried to stay out of the way towards the end, declining invites to go places with them. It was something Noah questioned after shit went south with them.
Just my damn luck the elevator didn’t return to me in time to avoid seeing him when I heard the door open and turned my head to see the irritation leaving Noah’s apartment.
Great. Just great.
Inhaling, I asked Jesus to take the wheel.
Slightly shorter than Noah, Tom was lean like he’d never licked a piece of fatty bacon in his life and built for clothes to look just perfect on his ripped frame. With the right amount of facial hair on his angled face and dark brown-hazel colored eyes, plump lips and his sweep of chocolate hair and brown skin he was to the world the perfect man.
He ought to be since he was one of the world's best male models of the moment. I hated seeing his smarmy face plastered around Manhattan.
“Well. Well. Look who it is. Little Sena.” He always pronounced my name wrong. SIN-A. Bastard did it to rile me.
Well I wasn’t rising to his bait.
I curved a smile fake as Christmas in July.
“Hello, Tom. You’re looking well.”
You still look like a dickhead and I’d really love to punch your smug mouth.
“So do you, sweetie.” Unfriendly eyes swept me up and down, taking in my cheap converse and comfortable denim, yeah, his dismissive glance said I was one rung down from garbage collector.