by Soraya Naomi
When I bend down to put Strawberry’s leash around her neck, he comments, “I have to go, Mary.”
My gaze shoots up in dismay. I was looking forward to us spending the day together.
In reaction to my obvious disappointment, Henry adds, “I just remembered that I have one thing to take care of for your brother, so you can come home with me if you want to.”
Relieved that he still wants to hang out with me, I stand up, smiling. “Okay, I don’t have any plans for today. Can I bring Strawberry?”
“Yeah, I guess the dog can come too.”
Without thinking, I entwine my hand in his and he’s motionless for a split second before he tangles our fingers, and after I run upstairs to get my purse, we head to Henry’s car to drive to his apartment.
CHAPTER 20
Henry
I’m browsing through a document Adriano sent when it hits me that since I moved to the Loop four years ago, this is the first time I’ve felt comfortable enough with someone to have them present while I’m working in my apartment. But goddamn if Mary isn’t sprawled out on my sofa behind me, watching TV and as relaxed as can be. Occasionally, she murmurs softly, laughs, or bolts upward when something exciting happens while she waits for me to finish my task. Even Strawberry is steadily sniffing around, apparently just as at ease here as her owner.
Still seated in my desk chair, I turn around and announce that she’ll be the sole object of my attention now. “Done.”
After throwing the remote onto the walnut coffee table, she stands up, approaching me. “So this is where you do all your hacking from.”
I smile. “I don’t just sit and program all day.”
She waves my comment away, taking the Fedora from the corner of my desk and placing it on her head before perching herself in my lap and swinging us back to face the computer.
“Teach me something.” She points to the hat and grins. “I want to be a black hat hacker too.”
I chuckle at her, tilting the hat up with my thumb. “No can do. It requires a specific type of knowledge, skills, and creativity.”
“I can be creative.”
“I know,” I whisper, pressing my front to her back as I log in to my network. “Hacking isn’t glamourous, Mary. To be a good black hat hacker out to exploit data, you need to explore topics such as network ports, firewalls, and IP addresses. It’s all boring programming stuff yet exhilarating when you breach a system.” I look at her. “I can, however, do this. Tell me, what system would you like to access?”
She frowns.
“Is there anyone you want to track down? Or is there anything you want to know? Maybe something from your student records?”
Her eyes round. “Yes! They’re not announcing grades until Monday, and I want to know what I scored on my last art paper.”
With my arms around Mary’s middle, I instruct her, “Sign in to access your student account.”
“But they haven’t uploaded the grades yet.”
“If it’s going to be online on Monday, I’ll bet it’s already processed in the system but just not linked to your student account yet,” I explain, grinning at her when she types and mistypes her password twice. “Okay, I’m in.”
I slap her hands away from the keyboard as she laughs and rests back against me, and I find the portal the staff uses easily, breaching the firewall and gaining access.
“Oh, my god. I’ve never seen this screen,” Mary says in awe while I type her name.
“Here you go.” I laze back and read from the screen that she bombed the paper with a fifty-two. “An F, Mary?”
She smirks, not bothered. “I knew I screwed it up.”
“How?”
“I didn’t put any time into it. I’m not really enjoying my major. Let’s forget that.” She flings off the hat and rises. “We should go back to my place. Then we can watch Narcos. I’m still at episode five. I haven’t watched any more since the last one we saw together...”
“Neither have I,” I confess. I was getting used to following that show with her. “We can watch it here.”
“We can?”
“Yes, my technically challenged lover. You can just watch it on Netflix on my TV.”
She cocks her hip. “If I can’t call you lover, then you can’t either.”
“I have many more words I’d like to call you...” My eyes sweep over her.
Her smile is my reward, but she snaps her fingers in that enticing, bossy manner of hers. “Focus. Narcos?”
“Right. Okay, so I have an even better idea. Want to watch it on the big screen?”
“What do you mean?”
“I have a projector.” Gesturing to the blank white wall to her left, I show her where we can display it.
“Oh, like movie theater big? Yes!”
“To do that, you need to sign in to Netflix on my laptop.” I reach behind me for my laptop and get a cable from the desk drawer and set them on the table as Mary drops down onto the couch again. Then I take the projector from my desk, arrange it on the corner of the table, and connect it to the laptop. Mary signs in to Netflix while I switch on the projector, and the laptop screen appears on the large wall.
I sit down next to her, and as I slide my finger over the mousepad on my laptop to start episode six, I unexpectedly feel her stroking my neck and it’s turning me on.
“This is awesome. Why have we been watching it on my tiny TV? I’m impressed.” She positions a pillow at the far end of the sofa and reclines against it.
Disregarding her question, I counter, “I’ve been doing something wrong if this impresses you.”
She stifles a chuckle, cocking up one knee, utterly relaxed. “This isn’t the first time you’ve impressed me and you know it.” Her foot moves toward my cock, but I catch her ankle, ignoring her words.
“I’d rather be doing something else than watching Narcos.” Sliding her to me, I place one leg over my thighs and bend down to nip the corner of her mouth, right at the beauty mark.
Then I cup her chin and stroke her lower lip with my thumb, briefly dipping it between her lips before I remove it and put it in my mouth, her chest rising and falling. And I think she’s getting turned on herself, but unfortunately, she pushes me away. “We can do that later. You need to learn to just do nothing once in a while.” Without waiting for a response, she leans back.
Fascinated by how perceptive Mary is, I smirk. She’s quite pragmatic about our lives, and her carefree ways are rubbing off on me. So as the opening credits start, I take Mary’s advice, lying behind her and pulling her close. While I spoon her, I recognize that something in me is changing, and this friendship is altering into something bordering on a relationship. Somewhere deep down, I feel guilty for not informing her about Tara, because I get the sense that she’s much more trustworthy than I initially thought and that if I’d told her in the beginning, she would’ve kept it to herself. But I simply can’t take the risk that she might tell one of her brothers one day. Moreover, Mary would be upset if she ever found out, which is something I desperately want to avoid.
Since I don’t want Mary to be alone in her apartment with its lack of security and Tara knowing her address, she stays over, and before I realize it, we’re watching episodes back to back. It is freeing to take a break from working, or scheming, or being busy in general.
So we spend a long weekend binge-watching Narcos, living in a world of our own making with takeout and a TV series. I even manage not to be on my phone or behind my computer constantly.
However, I should’ve never let things slide with work, not even for a weekend, because others are now one step ahead of me. And I discover it in the worst way possible.
CHAPTER 21
Mary
This entire week, I’ve been on cloud nine because Henry and I were together all last weekend. For two whole days, we didn’t leave his apartment and he showed me a side of him that he usually keeps to himself. Although I saw glimpses of a caring man before, now I’m positive that
he isn’t just someone who fucks around for fun. It took a while to find the chink in his armor, but I’ve penetrated it. He’s letting me in, letting me see the man he is behind the façade of a hacker. That man isn’t just tech savvy; he’s also gentle, sometimes even tender, like when he caresses the birthmark above my lip.
While Rosalia and I are walking along the curb in the downtown Loop area on Friday night, my daydreams are interrupted when my phone vibrates in my jeans pocket. As I reach inside for it, a teenager darts past me, almost knocking me down.
Henry: I’m tempted to watch Narcos without you.
Mary: No! You can only watch when we’re together.
Henry: Fine...because you’re the boss.
My heart warms as Rosalia peeks at my screen.
“Well, well, well, you and Henry seem to be chummier. Has it happened?” she asks, her eyes crinkling.
“It happened, and it was so good.” Biting my lip, I hesitate to share my faux pas yet continue, “But I said the stupidest thing. I said out loud I wish you were my first.”
“Ooh, no...That sounds like something I’d blurt out,” she teases as we halt at the stoplight to cross the street.
“I know! I was thinking that I’m not usually as blunt as you are.”
“How did he react?”
“How do you think?” I retort.
Around the widest smile, she says, “That there’s a Henry-shaped hole in your door where he ran out.”
I throw my head back, laughing. “Actually, no. He stayed.”
“What?!” Her gaze shoots to me as the light turns green, and we continue.
“I swear. He kind of let it slide, or he didn’t hear it. But he didn’t mention it at all, and it wasn’t uncomfortable between us either. Quite the opposite.”
“Hmmm, interesting that he didn’t bolt. But I still suggest you be cautious and not fall in love too quickly with a man like Henry.”
Rounding the corner, I admit, “Um, too late.”
“Oh, babe. That’s quick.”
“Well, we’ve been dancing around each other for a while. And the better I get to know Henry, the more new things I discover about him. He’s just very private because he’s used to being alone and working with computers and data. Anyway, I love the way he’s opening up to me.” Abruptly, I stop and seize Rosalia’s arm. “This is the place.”
She grimaces, evaluating the shady hole-in-the-wall bar. “Should we do this? Logan’s going to flip if he finds out. And I’m guessing Henry won’t be too happy with us either.”
“Well, they’re not here, and the rumors of the dogfights haven’t abated. They say one’s being held somewhere in the area.”
We shuffle inside to find the place filled with people, the smell of beer in the air. It seems more like a frat party with an older crowd, and I notice how sticky the floor is as we make our way across the room where I see some men disappearing down the hall.
“Rosalia.” I gesture toward them. “Look, they’re all going back there.”
Hurriedly, we pretend like we’re part of their group as they go down a flight of stairs in a narrow, poorly lit passageway, following them to a metal door that’s guarded by a bulky man.
The guy at the front says, “They’re with me,” motioning behind him without looking back, and the guard pushes down the door handle, granting the entire group, including Rosalia and me, access.
A commotion on the other side of the door has the bodyguard leaving his post, so Rosalia and I hurry inside but stop as we’re greeted with the pungent scent of smoke and sweat while the cheers of a few dozen people assault our ears.
Rosalia grips my hand as her gaze rests on the same scene that I’m witnessing straight ahead. A square cage with a low fence of a few feet wide is set up in the center of the windowless room, and two pit bulls with crazed looks on their faces are being riled up and baited to attack each other by an audience.
I gulp, appalled. As I thought, this is the illegal dogfight. It’s demented, horrific, and worse than anything I could’ve ever imagined. More dogs are chained in the corner of the room, abused and howling in pain. Some of them are emaciated and stare into the distance with miserable eyes that’ll haunt me forever.
Rosalia mutters with a tremble in her voice, “I didn’t expect this. Mary, wipe the shock off your face and let’s get out of here.”
“Oh, my god.” My vision blurs and I flinch when the animals bark as we head toward the exit. “We can’t just do nothing!”
When we reach the door, only seconds from escape, we turn to each other. Sweat forms on my palms and Rosalia’s eyes are also filled with tears. “But we need to go before someone realizes that we don’t belong here. What do we do? Call the police?” she grumbles with a disappointed glance, knowing they have even less power than we have.
“Well, it’s either that or call Adriano, and then Logan will know I dragged you into this with me. But I can’t leave. I-I just can’t. We need to call the police, but neither you nor I can call it in and give our names with our Syndicate connection.”
“We could give an anonymous tip?” she suggests, twisting her fingers together in nervousness.
“I’m afraid they won’t act quickly then, and if what I’ve heard is true, they constantly find new locations, so this will be gone after tonight. Fucking lunatics. This is our chance for the police to bust them.” I’m unable to allow this kind of brutality to carry on.
Warily, I peer around to make sure no one’s watching us when a familiar tall brunette slips through the throng, approaching Rosalia and me and scalding me with a dubious look.
What the hell is Tara doing here?
CHAPTER 22
Henry
“Goddammit!” I fling my glasses onto my desk after checking my bank account.
I’m increasingly frustrated with trying to figure out how much I can give Tara to satisfy her and get my divorce, and I just keep coming up blank. Because although my Syndicate payments are starting to roll in, I only have twenty thousand dollars in my account, not nearly enough to pay her off.
At a time when things are finally getting better due to the Syndicate, due to Mary, something from my past has to come and threaten it, and it’s beginning to fucking piss me off.
Furthermore, I still don’t know the identity of Anonymous – the person who tried to hack into Club 7’s computer system – which is my main current assignment for the Syndicate. And I’m also not positive they aren’t somehow connected to Tara’s return.
Granted, I’ve been preoccupied with a petite beauty who’s managed to worm her way into my life ever since I lost the battle to keep her at a distance, and now it seems impossible to say no to her. So much so that she’s become my favorite diversion these days. She’s the only one who can pull me out of my thoughts and worries so that I can do nothing, as she calls it.
Without thinking twice, I drive toward the West Loop, eager to escape my life for a bit while I more thoroughly explore Mary’s body, a body that fuels my lust. She gives me what I need, yet I always want more.
***
Arriving at her apartment, I let myself in, as usual. Even though Mary hasn’t given me a key, she’s never given me shit about constantly breaking in. The door clicks open after I wriggle my credit card to get the bolt to unlock, and I’m surprised to find the entryway dark as Strawberry sprints toward me, barking loudly until she recognizes me and quiets down.
“Your greeting is getting much better.” I continue into the living room where there’s light coming from the table lamp, calling out, “Mary?”
I’m met with silence, glancing into the kitchen before I move to her bedroom with Strawberry on my tail, but she’s nowhere to be found.
“Are you alone?” I ask the dog, fishing out my phone to dial Mary and bringing it to my ear.
Then I shake my head, realizing that Mary’s rubbing off on me. I’m talking to her dog!
I clench my jaw when the call goes straight to voicemail, which is odd since
we texted each other not even an hour ago.
“Dammit, Mary!” I roar aloud, gripping my device so hard my knuckles turn white.
Dread like I haven’t experienced in years blisters through me, shadowed by anger. For a second, I’m livid that I possess this raging desire that seems to be turning into an obsession for this woman. It’s after eleven, and the one woman whom I need to always answer her phone manages to be unreachable, and here I am, hanging on the edge of true madness.
Where the motherfucking hell is she?
CHAPTER 23
Mary
Cheers erupt, and I flinch inside this hellhole as Tara moves toward Rosalia and me with her brows furrowed.
“Do we know each other?” She nervously tucks her brown hair behind her ear.
Clearly, I didn’t leave an impression on her.
Rosalia widens her eyes, telling me to hurry. “Yes, we saw each other at Club 7.”
“Oh, yeah,” she mentions idly, biting the inside of her cheek and appearing to be upset as well. “What the hell’s going on here?”
Did she also sneak in?
“You’re not part of this?” I grimace, ready to get away from this sickening place as dogs bark.
“I’m too damn curious for my own good,” she grumbles with a quiver in her tone.
It seems as if she’s just as horrified as we are. However, before I can consider it further, a huge, scary-looking man who’s walking past us looks straight at Rosalia and me, and I grasp that we need to leave ASAP. Tara may be of use though.
“One of us needs to call the cops so that they can catch them before they have time to get away.” I hope Tara will make the call, yet she doesn’t even move a muscle.
Sliding my hand inside my pocket, I take out my phone, and thank goodness, I’m in luck. Holding it up, I say, “I’m not getting service down here.”
Fortunately, Tara takes hers out of her black purse that’s hanging off her shoulder and checks it. “I am.”
