by Robin Leaf
“So you think since you’re some kind of twisted Robin Hood for la puta rica, it makes it okay that you broke into a –”
“I didn’t break into anything. I just made a wire transfer.”
“Santa mierda, Mateo, that doesn’t make it any less illegal. What if it wasn’t Noah who found out? What if it was the feds? You would have screwed your future for a greedy little heiress –”
He looks at me like I’m the crazy one. “She wasn’t greedy. She was getting robbed.”
“So, because she was ‘robbed,’ that gives you the right to go robbing banks? What, did this puta flash her chi chis or promise to let you in her eighty-dollar designer bragas?”
He scoffs. “No. She had a boyfriend and was older than me.”
“Wait,” I step back. “How old were you?”
“Sixteen.”
It takes a minute for me to formulate a thought. “This happened three fucking years ago, and I’m just now hearing about it?”
“Yeah, well, it was my first big job. If it happened now, Noah’s guy would have never caught me.”
“First?” I ask, flicking him on the forehead. “So you’re still doing jobs?”
“Not like that one,” he defends, rubbing his head. “Mostly, my work is for Noah, so –”
“Mostly?” Noah asks calmly, raising an eyebrow at Matt. “The deal was that you stop the hacking altogether.”
Matt shakes his head and takes a deep breath. “The school asked me to see if I could hack into the grading system to find any weaknesses.”
“So you’re not doing anything illegal?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
“No, Nana. I swear.” He raises three fingers in the air. “Scout’s honor.”
“That means nada, Mateo. You quit the scouts.”
He shrugs. “I hated the uniform. It was so itchy. Plus, they denied me that fucking badge that I earned fair and square.”
“There was no make-your-own-flamethrower badge, Matty. It’s not pyromaniac school.” I roll my eyes. “I still can’t believe you used Mama’s wedding dress as a target and ruined my chances of wearing the dress for my wedding.”
He smirks. “If you married a firefighter, it’d be cool.”
Noah picks me up easily as I lunge at my brother, tossing me gently over his shoulder.
“Can you help your sister or not?” he asks calmly, standing in front of my brother with me frustratingly dangling like a helpless female for the third time since I’ve known him.
Matt removes his laptop out of his backpack and sits on the couch.
“Aww, Kermie, have I ever let you down?”
“I’m going to explain stuff to your sister in the kitchen. Do you need anything?”
“Just some of my trail mix, if you have any left,” Matty says, not looking up from his screen.
“I do, but your sister here,” Noah smacks my ass, making me grunt, “ate all the chocolate out of it earlier.”
“Yeah, she’s always done that.” Matty looks up and sticks his tongue out at me. “The sunflower seeds are my favorite anyway.”
Noah carries me to the kitchen and sets me down on the counter in the same spot he had me before breakfast.
“What the fuck, Noah?” I whisper yell. “You have my kid brother working for you doing questionable shit and you didn’t think to tell me?”
“He’s doing nothing illegal, and no, I didn’t think to tell you because one, I promised him I wouldn’t tell your family, and two, we haven’t really had the opportunity to talk much since we’ve been a little preoccupied with all the shit going on around us.”
I bring my thumb to my mouth. “I guess he’s lucky it was you who caught him.”
“Yeah, because if he had gotten away with the theft, he probably would have done it again. This opportunity saved him from ruining his future. When he graduates, he can work for me full time until he can start his own business. I can get him government contracts.”
“So, what’s with the coconut-water code shit?”
He laughs. “He calls his laptop ‘the coconut.’ I’m not sure why, and the code is because I might have done too good a job making him paranoid about ‘big brother’ watching him. Your brother really buys into the hype that the government listens to phone conversations.”
“But you are asking him to break the law by getting into the server of the show.”
“No, I’m asking him to create a program to get the information I need from their computer system. Scotty will do the hack. The program will give us access to their email accounts and accounting software, which hopefully will tell us where the pictures originated and maybe lead us to the person they paid for them.”
“What if the person delivered them in person or mailed them to the show?”
“I doubt even a rookie would be that stupid; we have to hope they were emailed. I’m thinking we may gain access to the offices to dump the program onto a computer and hope the computers are networked. We’re hoping that if we can infect their server, we can gain access to every computer within the network.”
Gah. That worries me even more. This is like high-tech espionage.
Noah steps forward, placing both hands on either side of my thighs. His nose grazes my cheek.
“Don’t worry, cariño. We’ll find out who did this.”
Placing my hands on his chest, I gently push him back.
“I don’t want my brother to find out about us.”
The look on his face almost breaks my heart. You’d think I’d popped his balloon or stole his lollipop. My hand caresses his cheek, and I love the way his beard feels against my hand.
“Although he’ll promise not to tell Mama, she’ll somehow know he’s hiding something and use some brujería to get it out of him.” My forehead leans on his and I lower my voice. “I need to be the one to tell her.”
He smiles, and it makes my heart so happy.
“Just the fact that you are willing to tell her is enough for now.” He kisses my lips quickly. “Please promise to do it soon.”
Thirty Four
Noah
“Bryan is going with you, no arguments.”
I just wish I could go with her. She has a meeting this morning with a new artist about another video, and then a tour wrap-up meeting with the record company. Since Scotty and I are going to The Sippers headquarters, I have to trust someone else to keep her safe.
“Jeez, güero, stop with the bossy thing. I wasn’t even gonna argue.” She pats my cheek. “I agreed to the babysitters yesterday, and I don’t go back on my word.”
I pull her to me by her hips. “But I like it when you argue with me.”
She smiles. “I’ve noticed, but this time, there’ll be no pissed off sex against a wall.” Kissing my lips quickly, she lowers her voice. “I need to go or I’ll be late.”
When she attempts to step away from me, I tighten my hold and slam her against me, crushing my lips against hers. I move my hands up her sides to cup her cheeks, holding her where I want her while my tongue thoroughly says goodbye to hers.
When I pull away, her eyes look up at me like I’m her sex god.
“I like that look,” I say, kissing the tip of her nose. “You think about that while you’re away from me. While you’re at it, think about our date tonight.” Releasing her, I step away and grab my keys, handing her one to my apartment. “And what comes after our date.”
I watch her leave, then I get ready for my day infiltrating The Sippers headquarters. She knows I’m going there, but I do not tell her my plan on how to get Scotty time to find and gain access to their computer system. There’s no way she’ll like it. I mean I wouldn’t like it if she had to do something similar. I’m certainly not asking permission, so I may be on my knees later… you know, begging forgiveness… and possibly performing some strategic tongue maneuvers. I have absolutely no problem groveling at her feet. In fact, she’s the only person I would grovel for.
She’s my forever. I’ve known it si
nce I first saw her. I just have to be patient and let her realize that I’m hers. I think she already knows, but she seems to be having a hard time accepting it.
It’s okay. I can wait.
I’m the man who took six painstaking years to collect evidence against a treasonous asshole. I personify patience. Of course, we’ll ignore the fact that it wasn’t actually my evidence that brought him down, but whatever. Point is, I am tenacious, relentless, and patient.
And I’m not going anywhere.
***
“Hello,” I croon to the receptionist, pulling my sunglasses down my nose. “I’m here to see Jacquie and Michelle Van Mourik.”
She swallows, her eyes traveling down my chest to the company logo on my brown shirt, which she doesn’t scrutinize close enough to notice the misspelling, and back up to my face.
“May I,” her sweet, southern voice falters, so she clears her throat. “May I ask what this is about?”
I smile and wink. “You may ask.” I lean my elbows on her desk and whisper, “But I have a secret package to deliver to them…” wagging my eyebrows, I add, “personally.”
Last night, after Cristiana fell asleep and Matty was creating the program, I did some research. The sisters who host the show mentioned in yesterday’s broadcast that they were celebrating their birthdays this weekend. So I formulated a plan.
The receptionist doesn’t take her eyes off mine as she picks up the phone and dials an extension.
“Jacquie, a hot delivery guy is here to see you and your sister.” She blushes and turns her chair away from me, lowering her voice. “I don’t know, but he says he has a package for y’all, and trust me, it’s a nice package.” She glances over her shoulder at me. “Umm, no. I’ll bring him to you.”
After hanging up the phone, she gestures for me to follow. I pick up the box off the floor and slowly make my way after her. We walk down a long, winding hallway to the small set I recognize from the show.
The two Sipper sisters are already there, both standing at the edge of the set with their arms crossed. Several other crew members and people are milling around, but it’s not everyone who works here. Let’s see what we can do about that.
“Why are you here?” the shorter one asks with a scowl.
Whoa. I wasn’t expecting hostility.
“Forgive my sister,” the taller one says, stepping forward and not making any bones about checking me out. “She’s a little gun shy since the last hot guy who came here asking to see us served us with subpoenas.”
I grin. “I can guarantee you I have no papers to serve, ladies.” Holding out my arms, I turn in a slow circle. “Feel free to search me.”
The taller one steps forward, but the shorter one grabs her arm stopping her. “Michelle,” she reprimands, much like any older sister would do, “no assaulting the delivery boys.”
“Yeah, but he asked me to do it.”
Michelle is shoved behind her sister, which means she must be Jacquie, who places her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow. “Please tell us what you have for us then.”
“A little birdie told me about your birthdays, ladies, so this is a birthday gift. Whose birthday is it?”
Michelle pipes up. “Mine is Tuesday. Jacquie was born four years and two days before me. Hers is Sunday.”
I crouch and remove the box top, pulling out my portable sound system. Standing up, I shout so all the people in the room can hear. “You ready for my package, ladies?”
Pushing play, I wait for Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” to begin to play quite loudly throughout the large space, and hopefully, it’s loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the office.
Yeah, I’m stripping for The Sippers.
Since this was a hastily-made, last-minute decision, I didn’t have time to rehearse anything. I figured it would be easy to just get in here and wing it, fly by the seat of my pants, so to speak. Yeah, that was a bad decision. I’m so intimidated by the crowd staring at me, waiting for me to do something, that I’m stunned for a bit, trying to think of something, anything to do. Shit… I gotta just move.
I work my way through the room, approaching each female to stop and shake my ass in front of each of them. There’s cheering and lady cat calls, which draw a bigger crowd, working better than I planned. The first chorus of the song plays, and I make my way to the guests of honor.
“Who’s first?” I ask, passing my gaze to both of them.
“Oh, me!” Michelle calls out, stepping closer to me.
“May I touch you, Michelle?” I ask, lowering my voice to a seductive growl.
“Fuck yes,” she blurts, then turns red.
Smiling, I grab her hand, leading her to the chair. I adjust it the way I want it, and help her sit. I do my spiel, thrusting and gyrating in front of her, finally lifting her hands to my shirt and helping her rip it open. Screams can be heard behind us as I slide the shirt down my arms. I grab her hands to feel down my chest and watch her breathing turn to panting. Honestly, it’s a great ego boost.
I lay her hands on my belt and encourage her to pull, and now, she’s damn near hyperventilating. If I don’t stop, this girl is gonna pass out before I get my pants off, so I turn around and shake my ass in her face. She swats my ass, so I jump forward out of her reach and turn to shake my finger at her. She shrugs unapologetically, and it’s cute.
Leaving her, I make my way to the sister. Jacquie eyes me nervously as I take her hand, walking her to the chair on the other side of her sister.
“May I touch you?”
“Nowhere naughty, stud,” she says, and I chuckle.
“Fair enough.”
She sits, and I turn to swivel my hips as I slowly pull my pants down to reveal my small, and I mean small, bright blue underwear. My ass cheeks hang out, and they’re not particularly comfortable, but it’s all for the greater good.
“Oh, sweet Jesus,” I hear Jacquie say.
I turn around and grab the back of Jacquie’s chair, thrusting my hips toward her, careful not to touch her. I tilt her chair backward, laying it down carefully, before doing a kind of push up thing, rolling my body dangerously close to her face. I swear I feel her tongue on my lower abs.
When I stand, I right her chair.
“Did you just lick me?” I ask, laughing.
Holy shit, the girl turns purple and shakes her head, looking down. “No, of course not.”
My fingers find her chin and lift it. “Be careful,” I whisper, “or your panties will catch fire from the lying.”
Her smile is a bit devious as I push off her chair and go back to entertaining the ladies in the crowd. I notice that Scotty is standing in the back of the room against the wall, shoulders shaking, with one hand over his mouth and the other holding up his brand new, company-issued iPhone’s camera pointed at me.
Fuck. I’m not living this down.
The song ends and I grab my pants, forcing my legs in them quickly before another woman can grab my ass or try to touch my dick. Groans fill the room.
“Sorry, everyone.” I point to Scotty before I bend over to pack my sound system in back in the box. “I’d love to stay, but my boy is telling me we are late for another job.” I stand and turn to the Van Mourik sisters. “Happy birthday, ladies.”
As I make my way to Scotty, the ladies have a lot to say.
“Why are all the good ones gay?” I hear one whine.
“Did you see the size of his package? Damn, I bet that would break me in two.”
“I have never seen an ass so perfect before.”
“I just wanna lick chocolate off those tattoos.”
“I wanna know why his ride didn’t strip, too?”
“I hope someone thought to record that so we can replay it on tomorrow’s show.”
Fuck, I didn’t think about that. My face on their show would be not so good.
“Oh, shit, no. I didn’t think about it.”
Whew.
I walk around the corner, shoving my arm
s into my shirt. I hear the song repeating faintly behind me, and Scotty’s footsteps falter as he tries to keep up with my pace. I’m sure he’s watching the video and laughing at my expense. Fucker.
We exit the building and make our way to the car.
“Delete that video or you’re fired,” I bark before opening the driver’s side door.
He opens the door and plops in the passenger’s seat, tears running down his face from his fit of hilarity.
“Yeah, get it all out now,” I growl, shoving the key in the ignition. “Just remember, my little show gave you the time and space to do your job.”
He pulls out his phone and makes it a point to let me watch him delete my performance.
“Man,” he whines, wiping his eyes, “you’ll do anything for this girl, won’t you. Even have literal blue balls.” He doubles over, holding his stomach, trying to catch his breath.
“Yes,” I hiss. “And what I did today stays between you and me. Got it?”
“Yeah, jefe.” He whines, taking a few deep breaths to get himself under control. “I got it. Just get me to my computer so we can hopefully hit pay dirt.”
***
“You know, pacing in that thong can’t be comfortable,” Scotty deadpans to me in the control room. I didn’t realize I was pacing.
I ignore his “thong” comment, especially since he told me that it shouldn’t take long. I guess my concept of time is a bit different than his.
“Can you give me a timeframe?”
“Settle, jefe. There’s a few more emails to go through than I thought there would be.” He pushes away from the desk and turns the chair to me. “Why don’t you go change and come back. I might have something then.”
I take his advice because honestly, he’s right. This thing is really chafing.
Once I’m changed, I head back downstairs, rounding the corner to the control room.
“Fuck yeah,” I hear Scotty say.
I storm in to find him doing his own little victory dance.
