I broke into a run and didn’t stop until I’d barreled past everyone to grab Grandma Nance and shout to our family, “He’s awake and he called Uncle Jett, Jett!!!”
The waiting room and outside hallway exploded with every kind of reaction you could think of. There was cheering, tears, laughter, all of it as they hugged whoever was near them. Grandma Nance laughed and cried as Uncle Jaxson picked her up and spun her around.
And from her double cushions, Grams held her face and whispered, “Well it’s about time, Lord.”
22
CHARLIE
“So you weren’t answering emails this weekend.” Brock leaned against my office couch in a navy blue, perfectly tailored suit.
“You’re right,” I muttered, typing in a chat window to one of our board members. “I didn’t. But I replied to all of them this morning.”
He was silently waiting for more. When I didn’t offer a deeper explanation, he pushed off and walked to stand over me. While his hands were casually slid into his pants pockets, the energy he was giving off was anything but relaxed. “Were you with Ethan Cocker?”
My fingers froze a beat before I tapped out the remainder of my chat message, slipped my glasses off and leaned back in my eggshell-white leather chair. “Why would you ask me that, Brock?”
The question confused him, not because he didn’t understand it, but because he didn’t know how to answer it. I was bringing to attention the fact that he’d guessed a little too accurately who I was with when there was no logical reason he should.
“There’s a rumor that…” he began but stopped, looking unsure of himself for the first time I’d ever seen.
“A rumor? Started by whom?”
He exhaled and glanced to the ground briefly before confessing, “Stacy, the intern who Cocker had…relations with, she overheard from Jeanine in engineering that you were seen talking together at Whiskey Blue.”
I frowned and stared at him. “This town is too small.”
His face darkened as he demanded, “So it’s true?!”
This was tricky territory. Brock had repeatedly asked me out since my grandfather died and I’d skirted the invitations with myriad explanations, or just flat out refusals. And here I was in a position to tell him I’d spent the weekend with a guy he’d deliberately set up by planting surveillance in his office for a reason I still didn’t understand.
And the worst part is I was jet lagged, hadn’t heard from Ethan since he dropped me off on his way to the hospital yesterday. My patience was painfully short.
“Charlie, answer me. Did you spend the weekend with him?” He cocked his head like it was a disgusting image.
“Yes! I spent the weekend with Ethan. Which is not any of your business, Brock.”
“Not my business?!” he exploded. “I’ve been asking you out for over a year. This guy fucks one of our interns and instead of firing him — you run off with him?! What the fuck, are you just stupid? Are all women fucking morons when it comes to that fucking family or what?!”
I jumped up. “Who do you think you are to swear at me like this? Get out!”
“Oh, I’ll get out alright. I’m OUT! You’ve got my resignation. And fuck the two weeks, I’m out now. Good luck with that guy, Charlie. He’s poison.”
Brock headed to leave and I saw Dolores through the glass wall eyeing him, then me. She’d heard us yelling.
He grabbed the silver door handle and jammed a finger at me. “Have fun telling the board I quit. You won’t find someone better than me.”
“I can’t wait to prove you wrong,” I dryly said, heart pounding with anger. “And Brock?” He was halfway out the door when he paused. “I was never going to say yes to drinks with you.”
The pent up rage that rushed into his eyes made me blink with surprise. Then he was gone.
Dolores quickly came in and shut the door. “Are you okay, Ms. Reed?”
“I need a new C.F.O. and an Advil, but other than that, I’m great,” I muttered, collapsing into my chair to resume working. “Please put out feelers to your network of secretaries, Dolores.”
“On it. Janice was telling me the other day that Cooper Industries was rumbling with discord, that there are a lot of unhappy execs itching to leave. I’ll see if there was any truth to it, and if anyone’s worth stealing.” She left me alone with my frustration and thoughts.
In times like that I did what I always do, twisted my mother’s ring in circles and turned to face the calming view. It was a sunny day with only three fluffy white clouds dotting a bright blue sky. I replayed what I had just done and as the seconds passed I felt better about it, not worse.
I hadn’t realized how much his attentions had weighed on me until then, how tired I was of hearing, “Get a drink with me this weekend?” or versions thereof. It was exhausting, and it was over.
I sighed and let my shoulders relax, until the phone rang and I sprang to answer it. Ethan’s name lit the screen and my heart leapt. “Hello?”
“Charlie?”
“So, we’re dropping the Ms. Reed thing already,” I teased.
He chuckled. “I forgot, Highness.”
I smiled, but then it hovered as I asked the hard question. “How’s your grandfather?”
“He woke up after I got here. He’s going to be okay.”
I leaned back, “So relieved! That’s amazing!”
His voice had the light back in it. “Has to take things gingerly for a while but you know what the good news is?”
“There’s better news than that?”
“The doctors told us that when you survive the first heart attack you have better chances of surviving another. My grandma is going to change his diet up. He eats a lot of red meat. He grumbled about it, but she doesn’t listen to him when he gets that way.”
I couldn’t stop smiling. “Guess she has to be firm with a strong man like him.”
“He’s a beast!” Ethan laughed. “Lived to tell the story, we’re all so fucking happy it’s crazy. I’m sorry I didn’t come in this morning.”
Shaking my head a little I turned to the view. “I didn’t expect you to. But Ethan, I do…well, actually the company does need you to finish what you started here soon. Brock just quit and I need to tell the board good news.”
“Brock quit? Why?”
“It’s a long story, but can you come in soon?”
“Totally. I’ll go shower. I’m at the hospital still. A lot of us are here, some went home and came back.”
“You must be exhausted!”
“Yeah, but so what? Only live once, right? If this taught me anything, it hammered that home. Hey Hannah! Hold on, Charlie,” he told me, then rose his voice again. “Tobias! Hannah! Can you give me a lift?” I heard distant voices and Ethan came back to say, “They’re taking me to my place now. I’ve really gotta shower if you still wanna be attracted to me.”
I laughed and refrained from telling him I didn’t think he could ever smell bad to me. “Thank God, please don’t stink up my offices.”
Ethan joked, “Brock did that well enough on his own,” and threw in a drum roll sound, ba duh dum bump. “See you soon, Highness.”
It wasn’t ten minutes later that Vanessa called on my cell, and I was happy for the interruption. “Hi!”
“Charlie, I’m mad at you,” she teased.
I fake-groaned, “Not you, too!”
The naughty smile in her voice vanished. “What’s wrong? Monday blues? Or did you lose the bet?”
Staring at the announcement of Brock’s departure I’d been agonizing over, I muttered, “What bet?”
“With Ethan? I never heard from you all weekend! How’d it go on Saturday?” Her voice shifted to add, “Since you don’t even remember it I take it you won and have put the whole annoying thing behind you. Was he that much of an idiot?”
“No! It’s not that, I’m just trying to find the right words to tell the board that Brock quit today.”
Vanessa was silent a moment and
said, “Wait, back up. He quit? Send it over to me. I’ll word it so you’re protected and can’t get sued. One wrong word and he could come at you, Charlotte. You need to protect yourself.”
I sat up, frowning even more. “I didn’t even think of that. Hang on, I’m sending what I have to you now. Give me a second. Okay, just hit send.”
She paused and said, under her breath, “Got it. I’m taking a look.” Reading pieces of the announcement aloud, her voice was quiet with concentration. “As of today, Brock Tyson…We have been honored to have him…uh huh…okay…you know what, let me just add a few things and get this back to you in five. What time did this happen?”
“Really? We have to state like a time of death or something? It was about twenty-five minutes ago.”
“Okay.” I could hear her typing before she said, “I’ll email this back to you. Wait, before I do anything! What happened with the bet? I’ve been dying to know who won!”
“We skipped golf. Cancelled the bet.” I gave a dramatic pause and when she started asking for the reason I cut her off, “So we spent the weekend together instead.”
Vanessa exploded with excitement, “What?! You did? How was it? I’m so jealous!”
Laughing I glanced to see Dolores typing at her desk, the door between us closed. But sometimes I thought she could hear more than she let on, so I lowered my voice. “It was incredible, and hard to explain. He’s an amazing guy.”
“How was Scotland?”
“God, I loved it! Have you ever been?”
“No! I really want to go some day.”
Subconsciously spinning my chair from side-to-side I was grinning. “We didn’t get to see all of it, but we had this amazing breakfast, and the place we stayed in was like having our home for a night. And the view atop…” My volume drifted away. “Wait, how did you know we were in Scotland?”
Vanessa said without pause, “You just told. You said, so we spent the weekend together in Scotland.”
“I did?” Laughing it off, I shook my head, “God, I’m so jet lagged.”
“I’ve got another call coming through. I’m going to write up this letter to your board of directors and I’ll shoot it right back as soon as I’m done.”
She hung up as I was saying, “Okay, thanks.”
23
ETHAN
As soon as the elevator doors opened I was heading for Charlie’s office just to say hey before I got to work on the breach.
Stacy sidelined me, a laptop clutched to her breast. She was dressed in what she wore when I’d made the mistake of fucking her. I cocked my head as I took her in. Before that day her wardrobe had been as varied as most women’s but she was in the same outfit again.
“Hi Ethan! Did you have a nice weekend? What did you do? Anything fun?”
She followed me as I changed course for my own office. I didn’t need Charlie to see this girl in tow. I’d say hello later. “It was good, but I’m really busy, Stacy so I’ve gotta get going.”
“Don’t you want to know what I did?”
Not wanting to hurt her feelings, I paused at my door and acted interested. “What did you do?”
“I found out who the hacker is.”
I froze. “What hacker?”
“The hacker. The one you’re trying to expose.”
Blinking in shock I lowered my voice. “Stacy, what are you talking about? Come inside.”
I hurried her into my office and shut the door. On my desk were four Grande Americanos. Pointing at them I asked, “Did you do this?”
“You liked that I brought you two so why not bring four!”
“Oh shit,” I muttered. I needed more sleep to be able to wrap my brain around this girl. Probably should have done that before I wrapped my fingers around her ass, but hindsight is a bitch who never forgives.
The dolphin fountain trickled serenely behind me. Stacy still had the laptop clutched to her, but her face was the picture of calm relaxation as she asked, “Do you like the Koi?”
I blinked from her to the base of the fountain and saw seven small, live koi fish happily swimming. Slowly I turned at full alert that something was off. Like boil your bunny on a stove, Fatal Attraction off. “They’re very nice.”
“I thought you’d like them.”
“I do. I like them very much. Did you get me those?”
She frowned. “What an odd thing to ask me, Ethan.”
“Is it?”
Her head tilted like I was the crazy one. “They were there when I got here this morning. I asked about them because I love Koi so much. Any fish actually. Have you ever snorkeled?”
Ignoring the question about my diving experience I asked a slow, “When you asked, what were you told?”
“That Ms. Reed told Mr. Tyson last Wednesday to give you whatever you wanted, so they delivered the Koi immediately. Or semi-immediately. Actually, they took a long time, didn’t they?”
I exhaled. “Okay, okay, good.”
“Why did you think I got them for you?” she asked.
I wanted to say, Because there are four fucking coffees on my desk and I’m only one man? Oh, and you’re wearing the same outfit like it might have been the reason I had you lock the door and you’re trying to replicate that attraction?
I opted instead to detour the conversation back onto a more important route. “Tell me about the hacker.”
“Okay, well, I go to M.I.T., too, just like you did.”
“I didn’t know that.”
She shrugged like it didn’t matter, and unfolded her laptop onto my desk, in front of the other three computer screens. Taking it off sleep mode a slew of code flashed across the screen. She pointed to parts of it as they whizzed by. “See this upside down ’S’ here?”
I leaned in. “An S is the same either way.”
“Not this one. See everywhere else it appears, the bottom is ever so slightly larger. But in this one, the top is. It’s turned over. And it occurs here.” She pointed. “And here. And here.”
“It keeps repeating,” I whispered, amazed at what she’d caught.
She pulled off the cap of one of my gifted coffees and began drinking it for herself. Quirky was this girl’s middle fucking name. In between sips she told me, “I couldn’t sleep on Saturday, so I touched myself a few times.”
My eyebrows shot up.
She continued, “I was thinking about you and that hot sex we had, right here, and that got me thinking about you, which I do all the time, and then about why you’re here.” Sip of coffee and a short pause. “Then I thought I’d try to help you, hack into the servers here and have a look.”
My jaw dropped. “I encrypted the server to prevent the hacker from diving deeper until I could —”
She cut me off. “—until you could keep him out for good. I know. So I broke in past your encryption and I helped.”
“Uh-huh,” I slowly said. “Go on.”
“I found this rogue letter S, and then I found an M that was the same. One side is ever so slightly thicker, it’s his signature to toy with letters that are the same when you turn them around.”
“Like the V.”
“No, not that one. He only picks a couple. He left a trail like most hackers like to do.” Stacy rolled her eyes. “They’re so proud of themselves they always leave crumbs just in case someone like us is looking. It’s like they hope we’re smart enough to find them. So anyway I did, I found him!”
“You’re blowing my mind right now, Stacy. Who is it?”
She smiled like the compliment was as good as a diamonds. “I know where he is, not who he is. It was too dangerous to go over there myself. But I thought you might since your cousin Wyatt is a cop.”
I stared at her. “He’s training to be one. How did you know that?”
“I know a lot about you, Ethan.” She said it frankly as if it were okay to be that fucking creepy.
“Great, well, let’s just…huh. I’m trying to process everything you’ve just told me and there’s a lot
.”
On many levels.
“Pretty amazing huh?” she smiled.
I didn’t know how to tell her that she was part amazing and part psycho. She seemed harmless, but who could know for sure. So I decided to go with my instinct and think she just had a crush and was way too good at computers for her own stalking good.
“Yeah, very. I have to call Char…Ms. Reed. Have to call Ms. Reed and tell her this.” Pulling out my phone I eyed the intern. “You’re getting full credit of course.”
“It was both of us!”
“Kind of but not at all.”
Charlie answered, “Hey you.”
“Hi Ms. Reed, we’ve had a break in the hacker situation. Can I come to your office?” I hung up, grabbed a coffee and told Stacy, “Why don’t you come with me?”
She handed me the second coffee, why I had no idea, and picked up the fourth, so now we were both double-fisting. “Ms. Reed might want this one since you didn’t seem too excited about it.”
I chuckled and motioned for her to go ahead of me. “Ladies first.”
I wanted to keep Stacy where I could see her.
What. The. Fuck.
24
ETHAN
Charlie spotted me through the glass as I told her secretary I needed to talk to her. She waved me in and then her hand froze mid-air as she spotted Stacy. I guess she hoped it would be just me.
We walked in and Stacy extended a coffee. “I brought this for you. Actually I brought it for Ethan but he didn’t want four.”
Charlie frowned at the paper cup and took it, then glanced to me. “No, I can’t see how he would.”
“That makes one of us,” Stacy muttered with rolling eyes.
“Anyway,” I interrupted. “You ready to be blown away, Ms. Reed?”
Cobalt eyes darted between the intern and I. She didn’t look ready. “That depends.”
Cocky Genius: Ethan Cocker (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 9) Page 12
