by Ravenna Tate
He nodded slowly. “You’re right. That’s a very good point. Colleen, how do you think we should proceed here? We have to let your aunt know what’s going on, but I don’t want to put you in a bad position with her, and I don’t want to violate a confidence to my friends.”
“Can you trust her?”
He finally met her gaze. “I have no choice. If what you say is true, she would want to know about this email from Brad.”
“I agree. Blaine, I swear to you she is not involved in this. She will be very upset to learn the last hacker has been talking to Brad without anyone’s knowledge. What I don’t understand is why he sent the email to all of you. Was it a threat?”
“More like a heads-up.”
“May I see it?”
“Yes. I think you should.” Blaine picked up his phone. “But I have to tell the others first. I hate to end this evening on such a downer, but are you up to a video chat with them?”
“Of course I am.”
He pulled her close again. “Thank you for telling me what you did about your aunt.”
“Thank you for trusting me with what Brad sent to you. Funny, isn’t it? The way this turned out?”
“You mean because your aunt might be the one person who can fix all this?”
She smiled. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I mean.”
He kissed her neck. “If I hadn’t met you, I would have suspected she was involved, like the rest of my friends do right now.”
She moved away so she could look into his eyes. “Then I guess it’s a good thing we met.”
He gazed into her eyes for long moments, and Colleen held her breath. His expression was so thoughtful and intense that she had the unmistakable feeling something else was going on, but she didn’t know what.
“You have no idea how glad I am we did.”
His voice was soft, sexy, and it was difficult not to say the hell with a video chat. She wanted to make love to him again in the worst way. “So am I. Let’s go call your friends.”
A quick shadow of what Colleen swore was disappointment crossed his face, but then it was gone. She followed Blaine into his office.
Chapter Thirteen
Blaine’s head reeled from the look in Colleen’s eyes just now as he set up the video call with the other Weathermen. This extraordinary woman was as into him as he was into her. He’d bet a shitload of money on it. He wanted to talk about it. He needed to man up and simply ask her, but this was too important to wait. Unfortunately, dealing with this situation trumped discussing their feelings for each other.
Once the others were on the call, Blaine introduced them to Colleen, then brought them up to speed on what she’d told him concerning her aunt and Brad. “I think we need to seek VP O’Leary’s help with this.”
“Sounds great in theory,” said Viggo. “But are you sure we have to tell her this soon? No offence to you, Colleen, but wouldn’t it be better to do our own investigation first?”
“I don’t agree,” said Ace. “We don’t have time to look into this. If it gets out to the press, we start all over again fighting rumors and lies.”
“I have to agree with Ace,” said Emmett. “We’ve had our suspicions about Brad for a while now. As far as I’m concerned, this solidifies them. He thinks because he is who he is, he can send us an email like this and we’ll cower in the corner, waiting for him to make the next move.”
“Exactly,” said Kane. “Let’s get the jump on him and go above his head. He won’t expect it.”
“But it’s no secret that Colleen and Blaine are dating,” said Atticus. “Since Brad and O’Leary have a history, he likely knows that Colleen is her niece, so he might expect it.”
Blaine swore mentally. Ace was the only person who knew about his past with Charlene, but now he realized he might have to spill his guts to the others. “I don’t think we should sit on this. Brad could go to the press at any time.”
“Sounds like we might be split on this,” said Damien. “How many agree on waiting?”
Viggo, Atticus, and Oliver were the only ones who wanted to wait.
“I’ve known Sam for years,” said Oliver. “Let me send an email to Brad, asking to speak with Sam. Maybe I can reason with him?”
“I think that’s risky,” said Grayson. “We don’t know what history those two have together, or what Sam has told him.”
“I say we get in touch with O’Leary tonight,” said Dominic. “Why should we fuck around with Brad or Sam? What the hell have either of them done for us? Obviously they’re setting us up for something big and bad. Let’s beat them at their own game before this hits the media.”
“Colleen,” said Addison, “can you reach your aunt tonight if we need you to?”
“I can call her, yes. Whether she answers the phone or not is another matter. But if I text her and tell her what’s happened, she’ll probably find a way to call me back as soon as possible.”
“I say we come up with a text message for Colleen to send,” said Barclay. “Right now.”
“Are you three okay with that?” asked Kane.
“All right,” said Oliver. “Let’s try it this way.”
“I’ll go with what the group wants,” said Atticus.
“I will, too,” said Viggo, “but I’m also going to dig into this on my own. Any objections?”
No one had any, so they wordsmithed the text message until they came up with one everyone could agree on. Colleen sent it, and then they waited. She felt awkward sitting there, glancing at her phone every few seconds while the Weathermen made small talk on their conference call. Apparently they intended to stay on it until she heard from her aunt. Should she tell them it could take a few hours? It might even take a few days.
So much for sex with Blaine tonight. They could be here a while, and he looked quite comfortable with his shoes up on the desk, leaning back in his chair so far Colleen hoped he didn’t tip over.
She rose with the excuse she needed to pee. After she spent a few minutes in the bathroom to make it look good, she wandered back into the main area of the apartment. She could hear Nick in the kitchen, cleaning up the remnants of their dinner. Not wanting to disturb him, she went up the back stairs and into the room that now contained at least half her clothes and personal items.
The past three weeks had been so surreal, but at the same time, she’d enjoyed them far more than she’d enjoyed anything in her life to date. Blaine was the perfect man. He didn’t pressure her to spend every waking moment with him, yet when they were together, he was totally focused on her.
He was fantastic in bed, and he was easy to be with and talk to. She obviously could trust him, and he hadn’t gone back on his word to her yet. She didn’t expect him, too, either. She could tell from the way he and the other Weathermen communicated with each other that all of them had integrity.
The media stories had these men wrongly depicted. They weren’t criminals. They hadn’t held the hackers hostage or duped the public for years about what was really going on. If anything, it was the other way around.
Blaine’s distracted manner this evening was unusual, but now she understood why. Something was very wrong at HCS, and who knew where else? Her aunt had been right to start an investigation. Colleen imagined her aunt was also very grateful never to have become so entrenched with Brad Sykes that now she’d have to make explanations.
She’d dated him years ago, and that would likely resurface if whatever her aunt found went public, but Colleen had seen Charlene O’Leary weather some nasty media storms quite well over the years. She’d weather this one, too. As for the rumors about Brad vying for the Cabinet position, Colleen did not believe her aunt knew anything about that.
And as for Sam Preston, she doubted he had anything of substance on the Weathermen. Hadn’t Oliver said Sam had worked for him since before everyone moved underground? And before that, he had worked for NSSL, like so many of the others involved in ruining The Madeline Project. If anything, the Weathermen had more
dirt on the hackers, and on Dave Perry, than the public would ever know.
Colleen frowned as she realized she was defending Blaine and his friends. She had it bad for him. But did he feel the same way? He had given her some very curious and heart-shattering looks earlier, but she was reluctant to allow hope to build. She’d only be setting herself up for hurt. No. She needed to keep some distance and let this relationship take its natural course.
Her phone rang, startling her back to the present. She answered it as she made her way back down to Blaine’s office, asking her aunt to hold on for a second so she could put the phone on speaker.
“Are all of them there?”
“No, not in person. I’m in Blaine’s apartment. The others are on a video call with him.”
“How did you end up in Blaine’s apartment on a Monday night?”
Colleen was nearly out of breath because she had run down the stairs. “Aunt Charlene, can we discuss that part another time?” She burst into the office and laid the phone on the desk in front of Blaine’s computer. He sat up straight, a question in his eyes.
“I’m putting the phone on speaker, all right?”
“Is that her?” he mouthed.
Colleen nodded, then pressed the button. “Can you hear me, Aunt Charlene?”
“Yes.” She didn’t sound happy. Tough shit. “Hello, Blaine.”
“Um, hi there, Char—Madame Vice President.” Blaine cut his gaze toward the monitor. “The other Weathermen are on a video call. I think you know most of them.”
“I know their names, at least. Hello, everyone. Here is what Colleen told me so far.”
While Colleen listened to her aunt reiterate the story, she studied Blaine’s profile. He looked a bit uncomfortable, but not embarrassed or guilty. This was what they all had wanted. She had put them in touch with her aunt. She only hoped it would turn out the way they hoped.
“All right,” said Charlene, once she’d finished telling them what she knew from Colleen. “Here’s what I need from each of you. Blaine, will you take point on this?”
“Okay.” He gave Colleen a questioning look, but she merely shrugged.
“I need each of you to put together as much detail as you can recall about incidences involving Brad that made you suspicious of his activities at HCS. I’m talking about events that called into question his ethics surrounding his job duties, not his personal life. I can’t use any of that. Colleen said several of you have reason to think he and Sam are working together. I need more than assumptions.”
“I can help you with that,” said Oliver. “I’ll pull the systems logs of everything he did on his work machine since he began working for me. Do you want me to email those to you via Blaine?”
“You have those? That’s very helpful. No, I’ll give you an email address and you can send those to me directly. Blaine, I’d like you to coordinate gathering the rest of the info and then forward it to the same email address. Will forty-eight hours be enough time for all of you to accomplish this? Colleen said you expressed concern about this leaking to the media, and I agree. We can’t let that happen.”
The Weathermen all agreed forty-eight hours was plenty of time. Charlene gave them the email Blaine and Oliver would use, and then she asked her niece to take her off speaker and continue the conversation in private.
Colleen’s face burned with embarrassment at being singled out like that. She shot Blaine an apologetic look, then took the phone out into the hall.
“Don’t ever do that to me again.”
Colleen was pissed off at her aunt’s condescending tone. “What exactly did I do wrong?”
“You ambushed me into speaking with them as a group.”
“No, that’s why I texted you first. To give you the choice.”
“Colleen, I have a history with Blaine. That was very uncomfortable for me.”
Colleen stopped herself from confessing she knew her aunt’s history with Blaine. She had promised him she wouldn’t say anything. “If it made you uncomfortable to speak with him, why did you ask him to coordinate everything?”
“Because he’s the only one I know that well.”
“Is that why you objected to my dating him? Because you have a history with him?”
She heard her aunt’s sigh. “I don’t object to it. I merely don’t want to see you hurt.”
“You said some pretty rotten things about all of them to me. Have you changed your mind? Do you suddenly trust them all now?”
“Why are you calling me out like this?”
“Because I can’t help wondering why you suddenly don’t view them each as evil on two legs. Is it because you now realize they can help your investigation?”
Colleen counted five seconds of silence, but knew she hadn’t lost the call. She could hear her aunt breathing.
“You don’t fully understand my situation. I have a history with Brad, too. It wasn’t fun for me to find out he’s been abusing his power at HCS for years. I also have special interest groups breathing down my neck over everything connected to The Madeline Project, from finding the server on which its stored and blowing it up, all the way to keeping everyone alive underground instead of letting them rebuild the surface.”
“We can’t do that. Ask Oliver about—”
“I know all about the oxygen issues, but a lot of people still don’t believe that’s true.”
“I believe it. I’ve seen the data. I’ve been on the surface. The air is different. It’s thin.”
Colleen heard voices in the background. “I have to go. I’m not blowing you off. I really do have to get off the call.”
“Okay, but I need to know if you trust them now.”
“Why is that so important to you?”
“Because I don’t want to find out you’re using them. I like Blaine. I want him to be able to trust me.”
“Don’t fall for him, Colleen. It won’t work.”
“Just because it didn’t work for you, doesn’t mean it can’t work for me.” That was a low blow, but she wasn’t going to discuss her feelings for Blaine with her aunt. “Do you trust them, Aunt Charlene? Yes or no?”
“Yes. I trust them, but only because you do. I do hope we don’t both regret that one day.”
The call disconnected, and Colleen stared at the phone for long moments, playing the conversation over in her head. She hoped she wouldn’t have reason to regret her decision, either, because one thing was suddenly crystal clear. She definitely had fallen in love with Blaine Parker, and she wasn’t afraid to defend him to anyone. She was in very deep shit here. Very deep.
Chapter Fourteen
The next two weeks flew by for Colleen. Blaine mentioned several times that Kane’s and Julianne’s wedding was to be held in Central to make it easier for everyone to travel, and he wanted to know if she was coming with him.
Colleen couldn’t help wonder if Kane and Julianne had chosen Central for their wedding as opposed to NorthEast, where they both lived, because of what was going on at HCS. She suspected the Weathermen might be paying a surprise visit to government officials while they were all in Central for the wedding.
Blaine kept her apprised of what each of the Weathermen had sent to her aunt, and while she hadn’t told him so, she was grateful he had because it meant she wouldn’t be blindsided if Aunt Charlene went off on one of her ego trips again.
Colleen had debated whether to tell Blaine about the conversation she’d had after the video call, and finally did. He hadn’t been upset by it at all, but she told him she thought her aunt was taking herself a bit too seriously.
“She has an important job. She has to take her role seriously.”
“I mean I think she resents me dating you, Blaine.”
He had pulled her close and kissed her until she could hardly breathe. “She’ll just have to get over that, won’t she?”
He’d been more affectionate and attentive these past two weeks than Colleen had experienced in any relationship. She stayed over his place a
lmost every night now, and he had begun texting or calling her during the day simply to talk. While the gesture was nice, it wasn’t easy for her to have a private conversation at work, and she finally told him so. Afterward, he texted first, and didn’t call her unless she texted back that she could talk. Then he called.
She was more surprised by how she didn’t feel about all the extra attention. In the past, if a man had started consuming this much of her time, she’d have felt smothered and ended the relationship. But now, she looked forward to Blaine’s text messages and calls. She even found herself watching the clock if she hadn’t heard from him in a few hours.
Was this what people usually did? How did they accomplish any work? He was up on the surface nearly every day as well, so he either had to find a computer and plug in his Internet phone to make a call or send a text, or he had to go back underground. Which meant he was going out of his way to talk to her all the time.
Blaine had explained more than once in the past two weeks that one of the first things he intended to do once his towers were up and functional, was find a way that phones could connect to each other when one caller was above ground and one was underneath. He launched into a complicated discussion about the satellites and cellular technology working together that Colleen had only half listened to.
Normally, she loved hearing about his work, but each time he brought up this subject, he reminded her of the applications she’d already seen where the applicants expressed the same concern. Until cell service was restored on the surface, talking on phones where one party was above ground and another was below ground proved difficult.
Colleen had gone to her supervisor and explained how important she believed it was for them to rethink the restrictions on cell towers for everyone, not only for select individuals, and why. He had promised to send it up the chain of command, but warned her they would encounter resistance. There were special interest groups who didn’t want the surface to become a copy of what it had once been. She didn’t think there was much chance of that happening, at least not anytime soon.
