“Stacy has something she wants to say.”
“Oh shoot, I forgot my computer in your office!”
Charlie muttered, “She was in your office?”
I looked at her because I caught something in her tone. Stacy took a sip of coffee, set her cup down and ran out of the room.
“Be right back!”
That left Charlie and I alone, me with two cups of coffee in my hand that she was staring at. “She gets these for me. Has a little crush. Don’t worry about it.”
“Why should I be worried?” she sarcastically mumbled as she walked behind her desk and took a seat, looking regal as ever.
“I like your suit. Cream. Almost naked.” I was trying to flirt but Charlie wasn’t amused. I felt like we’d gone back to square one, which was weird because the mask she had on wasn’t there during our phone conversation earlier. “You’re jealous of Stacy.”
Charlie shook her head, but her lips were tight. She set her coffee down like it had a disease. “Nope. Why would I be?”
“That’s a good question. Why are you?”
“I’m not,” she fake-smiled, eyes cold.
Sighing I put the cups I was carrying down by Stacy’s. “Is it just this office that winds you up?”
“I’m not wound up! I’m working. This is my company, remember? Everything is fine.”
Stacy sprung back in, laptop already open. “Did you tell her?”
Charlie eyed me, “He didn’t tell me anything about you.”
I cocked my head at her like, be nice. “I wanted you to tell her, Stacy, go on.”
Oblivious to the tension, she jogged behind the C.E.O.’s desk like it was a normal place for an intern to be, and plopped the computer down. Charlie visibly reacted with her tension momentarily put on hold like when a puppy jumps on your lap. It’s got dirty feet and has ruined your clothes but it’s so fucking innocent you can’t yell at it.
“Listen to what she has to say.”
Stacy launched in and pointed to the screen. “Well, I couldn’t sleep on Saturday because I was thinking about Ethan.”
I winced. “Skip to the good part, Stacy!”
Charlie muttered, “Oh, there’s more?”
Stacy said, “Yes! Way more!” and she launched into what she’d discovered about the hacker.
Charlie’s face went from distant and furious to astounded and excited.
Stacy finished by explaining, “He was very smart. Hid his coordinates so well even I almost didn’t find them.”
I mouthed to Charlie, “Hire her.”
Stacy continued, “But this is where he hid them. See how sneaky? And so I did the math and found out where he lives. Or where his hideout is. But either way, I know that’s where he’s set up.”
The room was quiet as Stacy and I waited. Charlie stared at the laptop and whispered, “What now, do I call the police or what?”
“Ethan’s cousin is training to be a cop!”
“Dear God,” I muttered, rubbing my face. “Stacy, would you give us a minute?”
She looked at Charlie’s face and saw the tight line of her lip. “Did I get Ethan in trouble?”
I answered, “No, you’re great. Please give us a minute.”
“Sure.” She walked around and looked at the three coffee cups, my two and her one. “Which one’s mine?”
“Just pick a cup. It’s cool.”
Her hand shot out and grabbed the nearest one. She slipped out as quiet as a mouse. I was about to talk when she ran back in and switched to the other cup. “This one was mine.” Off my look, she shrugged and whispered, “I’m a germaphobe.”
As soon as she was gone Charlie spun her chair around and leapt up, walking to the view. She’d worn her hair straight and free and it hung in sweet smelling, red sheets down her back. The cream-colored suit looked fantastic on her and I wanted to pull her to me and tell her how good it was to see her. But despite how Stacy made me look by busting open that hacker’s code on a whim, I was no dummy.
“You said I was jealous of her,” Charlie began, “as though there were no reason to be, when clearly she’s crazy about you.”
Emphasis on crazy.
“Doesn’t it matter who I’m crazy about?”
Charlie stiffened. She was dead set on staying pissed. “I should have known better. Actually I did know better, I just ignored it and went ahead and had sex with you anyway.”
My chest felt like she’d punched it and I sat on the back of her couch, staring at her profile. Now she was calling it just sex. Yesterday on the plane we hadn’t fucked and it was the most intimate thing I’d ever done with anyone, to do all of that stuff and not fuck. I was perfectly happy kissing her on that couch, being quiet together, bathing her after the food fight where we’d laughed ou asses off, laying with her in my arms until the plane landed. The sweetness of how she’d told me to call her whenever I could, but not to worry about her.
Well I was worrying now. “I see.”
She looked at me. “You see what?”
“You’re going to think what you want. Why don’t you just ask me?”
She whirled around, eyes flashing with hurt. “Did you have sex with that girl?”
I stared at Charlie and saw the fork in the road she presented me. I could go down the lying path and build a relationship on uneven soil. Or I could be honest and risk losing the permit to build at all.
“Shit,” I muttered, looking at the view. It was a clear day, but I said, “Look at that haze huh?”
Charlie frowned and glanced out. “It’s crystal clear!”
“No, Scotland, remember? The overcast. How you looked against that backdrop. Your eyes, Charlie, they killed me.”
Her shoulders shifted. “Ethan…”
“Yes, I did.”
We stared at each other, both struggling and neither looking away. “You did?”
“I had sex with her, but it was before I met you. And I can’t take it back. But I wish I could.”
Charlie blinked and walked away from me, raking her hair with shaking fingers. “Oh fuck,” she whispered staring out.
“Where do we go from here? Because I know where I want to go.”
She turned her head a little to look at me over her shoulder with big, scared eyes. “Where?”
I walked to her and ran my hand down her back. “I can touch you now, since I’m no longer working for you.” Off her confused reaction I explained, “As soon as that hacker is arrested it’s done. Stacy can code better than I can. She broke my encryption, so you should have her code the next one. I have a feeling nobody will breach it.”
Charlie was listening, but the look in her eyes hadn’t lost the fear. “Ethan…”
I lowered my voice, “What is it? Just tell me.”
“Brock installed surveillance capabilities into your computer cameras.”
She turned to me as I backed up, eyes narrowing as I began to understand what she was saying. “Wait a second, let me get this straight. You already knew about me and Stacy? You were testing me just now?” My voice cracked. “You saw us? You watched?” I cleared my throat as puzzle pieces slammed into place. “He set me up and then you didn’t say anything.” Locking eyes with her, I rasped, “How many days were you guys watching me? Did you just sit in there and laugh? And then when I didn’t know who you were, you must have thought that was fucking hilarious, didn’t you?”
“No, Ethan, I didn’t—”
I held up my hand and cut her off, heading to the door. “So in the break room when you called me a delivery guy you were just playing me. Insulting me for the fun of it?” I reached for the door, disgusted. I was dying inside and in a childish move I told her, “You know how I said people were after me for my invention, in Scotland when you were suspicious of everyone, remember that? Nobody’s after me. I just told you that for my own entertainment. There. We’re even!”
Her jaw dropped and I left, passing her secretary so fast her head swung up in surprise.
&nb
sp; “Two people quit today,” I called over my shoulder. “She’s doing a bang up job in there.”
25
CHARLIE
I stared after him knowing I’d made a terrible mistake. I was trying to tell Ethan that I hadn’t known who he was in the break room. But he was so fired up I couldn’t get a word in.
Dolores rose from her desk and walked in. “Ms. Reed?”
“Yes?” I whispered, distracted and lost.
“May I offer some advice?”
“What is it?”
“Go after him.”
I blinked at her. “Excuse me?”
Dolores wrung her hands over her ample stomach because she normally didn’t overstep her bounds. But she decided to break that rule, and sighed. “I saw two men storm out of here today, and only one of them put that look on your face. That man was Ethan Cocker, wasn’t it? I saw his name on the payroll. But between you and me, if he’d had green eyes I would’ve spotted him in a lineup without a second glance,” she chuckled.
“You know him?”
“I know his family. They go way back in this town. His grandfather and I went to high school together. I was a freshman when he was a senior.” She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Oh, what a handsome man he was. All the girls wanted him.” She smiled at me, pausing. “Of course I watched on the sidelines as he became Congressman. How I rooted for him! And he even came here once to have lunch with your grandfather, when this office belonged to him.”
“Michael Cocker was here?” I was shocked.
“Oh yes. In this very office,” Dolores smiled on the memory. “I could barely type a thing that day. Put files in the wrong drawers. I was a mess. His wife is a lucky woman.” She pointedly stared at me.
I started walking and my footsteps became progressively faster until I was running after Ethan down a hallway. Wyntech employees returning from lunch saw me and moved out of the way, whispering to each other questions of what was wrong.
Ethan’s office was empty, the relaxing fountain trickling with nobody to enjoy it. I sprinted for the elevator and shouted, “Everything’s fine. I just have to catch…never mind! We’re all good. The hacker has been found!”
My employees cheered and I winced, thinking well, it’s almost true and I’m only human.
The elevator was on the ground floor and we were on the tenth. The second car was broken, the third was freight and it was stopped on the 3rd floor so long that I knew someone was holding it there.
I took the stairs but my heels were impossibly high. I’d worn them for Ethan. That whole outfit I’d worn for the look he’d give me once he saw me in it, and then I had to go and act like a cold bitch.
Why didn’t I just trust what we had?
I knew he didn’t like Stacy.
I was being jealous and petty and look where it got me.
I rushed back up the stairs and ran to my office, kicking off my heels and grabbing them off the ground so I could run barefoot and make better time. Dolores saw me coming and called after me, “Didn’t catch him?”
“No, but I will!” I shouted as I lunged for my phone and purse, dialing his number as I ran to pass her again.
“A hurricane is coming, Ms. Reed!”
I screeched in my tracks. “What? It’s a clear day!”
Dolores shrugged, “You know how unpredictable Georgia storms can be.”
The call went to voicemail. I tried him again and hurried away, saying over my shoulder, “I’ll be working remotely today.”
She gave me a wink and said, “Yeah you will!”
I weakly explained to the same employees I just passed, “Forgot these. Heh Heh.”
They nodded, but clearly thought I was being wilder than we were supposed to be at Wyntech.
Ethan wasn’t answering his phone. I hung up and didn’t leave a message, not with everyone in earshot.
At the elevator I pushed the button and turned around, shouting to the floor that housed my highest level executives, “Everyone! Hey, everyone!”
Those in the hall stopped walking.
Office doors opened and people appeared.
Curious eyes waited patiently.
“Tomorrow I want to see you all in the conference room. We’re going to discuss six-hour workdays. Sweden is doing it. They discovered you get more done when you’re less tired, and have a better home life. We’re going to do that here.”
The suits — male and female — were shocked. One started clapping and a couple others joined in, but not all of them.
The elevator opened behind me and I jumped inside and called out, “I’m not kidding and I’m not drunk. I run this company, and I’ve been running it like my grandfather did, God rest his workaholic soul. Not anymore! There are going to be some changes!”
The doors closed and, catching my breath, I panted. With my purse and phone in one hand, heels in the other, I leaned against the wall and grinned, watching those numbers light the way down.
In the lobby Neil saw me and called over with protective severity, “That man who was bothering you last week left in a huff. I take it you fired him!”
“No, Neil, that man is the best thing that ever happened to me. And he quit!”
I broke into a run, leaving the confused security guard staring after me.
When I got to my car and jumped in, I felt free and I tossed my heels in the backseat without even looking. I couldn’t get this smile off my face. I knew I was going to get Ethan Cocker back, and I couldn’t wait.
Someone threw a sack over my head and hissed in my ear. “You hit me with those shoes, Charlie.”
I screamed and felt my head swim as darkness overtook me.
26
ETHAN
“Answer the phone, Charlie,” I muttered as the storm began to crackle outside my bedroom window.
I regretted not picking up when she called earlier. I’d been too angry. Wasn’t thinking straight. Should have turned around, gone back upstairs and just told her she was being stupid, I didn’t want Stacy, let’s go back to being together. My ego got the best of me like it would most men. When someone attacks you, you fight back. It’s a primitive response. It’s how wars got started. And divorces.
I tried again, but her voicemail came back on.
“This is Charlie Reed. I’m sorry but I can’t get to the phone right now. Please leave a message. Thank you.”
“Hey, it’s me again. If you’re listening to these, stop being stubborn and call me back. I’ll make you forget all about this, I promise. I’ve got handcuffs and lube. I’m kidding. Seriously Charlie, I’m sorry. I don’t want Stacy. I want you. And I don’t care about the damn video if you don’t. Call me.”
Trees outside my window bent under the pressure of the impending hurricane. I walked to my fish and stood watching them swim around. The stingray was hidden in sand, eyeballing me like he didn’t think I could see him. Kneeling down I said through the thick glass, “Yo dude. I see you. Don’t think you’re being sly. Everyone wants to hide from me today, huh? Well, only one of you is successful and it ain’t you.”
In a flurry of motion sand clouded the air as he shook himself a little deeper under cover. I chuckled despite my mood. “Yeah, that didn’t help, buddy. I still know you’re there.”
A blowfish ambled by and I rose to standing as I followed his journey. The phone rang in my hand and I nearly terrified the little guy with how much I jumped in response.
But it was just my cousin Ben.
“Ethan, hey, what are you up to?”
“Being ignored by a woman I’m falling in love with, how ‘bout you? When are you going back to the farm?”
He paused a beat. “You met someone? Why didn’t you tell us at the hospital?” At my silence he muttered, “Yeah, probably not the best time for news like that.”
“I told Grandpa though. But let’s not talk about her. She’s not returning my fucking phone calls so let’s talk about anything but her. What’s going on with you?”
“Speaking of women we can’t understand, I just got a text from an ex. That should be a band name, Text From An Ex. Anyway, you remember Summer?”
“You really expecting me to keep up with your exes, Ben?”
He persisted, “The blonde with blue eyes who I met while I was visiting Elijah at Yale. Hot and heavy, didn’t last long. We all went to that bar together, the one with the darts.”
“Oh yeah, and you guys couldn’t keep your hands off each other. I remember her, why?”
“She’s in Atlanta and wants to see me. Come with. There’s a hurricane. I figure we can day-drink and watch it from the outside patio of JCT Kitchen. It’ll be closed but they leave the chairs out there.”
Staring at my tranquil fish I knew I’d go out of my mind if I stayed another minute with all this silence. “Yeah, they know us. Won’t care if we sit outside,” I muttered, figuring it out as I went. “Upstairs bar is closed Mondays, but we can grab beers from the main bar and bring them up.”
“Exactly.”
“Why do you want me there?”
“This girl is Kryptonite, plus she’s a little nutty. Bi-sexual, which is awesome, but she had this girlfriend when I met her, who kind of lost her fucking marbles when Summer and I started dating. It got weird. Problem is this — Summer’s so damn hot I will fuck her tonight if you’re not there. I can’t go down that rabbit hole again. It was hard enough to shake her outta my skin the first time.”
Didn’t even hesitate. “I’m in. Where’s my key fob?”
“Don’t forget to latch all those windows you’ve got, Ethan.”
My cousin knows me too well.
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” I muttered and hung up.
27
ETHAN
The wind was vicious as my car pulled up in front of the poor valet guy. “They didn’t give you the night off, huh?”
“Need the money.” He winced as his longish hair whipped his cheeks. “This is a nice Tesla, man!”
I pulled out a hundred dollar bill from my wallet. “Take care of my girl.”
Cocky Genius: Ethan Cocker (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 9) Page 13