Steal: A Bad Boy Romance (11 page)

CHAPTER 14

~ J
AMES
~

The walk back to the condo from
ARCANE’s headquarters was short—too short. It was impossible to process
what had just happened by the time I walked through the front doors of the
building.

I just fucked Kat.

I
didn’t just have sex with Kat. We connected on a deep, primal level. I’d pieced
everything I’d learned about pleasuring women in the past ten years into one
masterful performance.

The
way she’d looked, the sounds she made, the smell of her arousal and our sex filling
the air—I couldn’t shake the memories, reliving the feeling of her
wrapped around me, the way she welcomed me inside.

My
body operated on autopilot until I walked through the door of the condo and set
the duffel bag on the foyer floor. The TV blared in the living room, but paused
when the door shut behind me.

Addison
hopped off the couch and sashayed to the kitchen counter, putting her elbows on
the marble and resting her chin in her hands as she watched me take off my
shoes. She wore an over-sized sweatshirt and boy shorts, emphasizing her long
legs.

“Did
you get me my data?”

I
straightened and pulled the small hacking device out of my pocket. “I followed
your directions, so it should have everything you need.”

She
took it. “What about your other goal?” Her nose wrinkled. “Never mind. You reek
of sex. How was it?”

We’d
always had an easy camaraderie, and we’d talked about hook ups and conquests
before, but I still worried that she showed a little too much interest in my
situation with Kat. Her eyes were open, head slightly cocked waiting for my
response, and she appeared genuine.

“It
was incredible. Amazing. I don’t think I’ve even come off the sex high,
yet.”

Addison
turned and flounced away. As she walked back to the living room, she spoke back
over her shoulder. “Who’s better, me or her?”

Oh, shit.

How
was I supposed to answer that? Kat was the woman I’d been infatuated with since
I was a little boy, and Addison was my best friend and literal partner in
crime.

I
trailed after her, sitting beside her on the couch as she turned the TV back on
with a low volume. “Uh, that’s a tough question.”

“Not
that hard,” she said. “Simple, really. Did you like fucking her more than you
liked fucking me?”

It
had been over a year since Addison and I had last hooked up. Where was this
coming from?

“I
don’t know… It was different. Very different. I tied her down and teased her
for ages so I could sneak away and plant your device. Then I fucked her, and it
was the fulfillment of something I’ve wanted for as long as I’ve known what sex
is
. I don’t even know if I could
analyze it as just sex.”

I
could, though. Sex with Kat was so much more, and far better than with anyone
else I’d ever slept with, Addison included.

She
nodded, mollified. “That makes sense. She was the one you wanted back in your
teens. You never told me why you didn’t just sleep with her then, though.”

“That
is… not something I like talking about.”

Addison
curled up on the couch and stared at me. I couldn’t meet her eyes and had to
look away. “Tell me. I want to know. You’ve been hung up on this Kat girl ever
since we planned this job, and you’ve never told me why. Now you’ve finally
slept with her, and I feel you’re wavering on whether to go through with it. I
deserve to know what’s going on.”

I
sighed. She had a point.

“Fine.
But keep this to yourself, okay? I want none of this story getting around.”

She
laughed. “Who will I tell? You think your adolescent crush story is more
sacred than any of the other million incriminating things I know about you? The
FBI wants us bad, and I could hand you right to them if I wanted to. You could
do the same to me.”

Two
for two. Addison was on fire.

“Okay,
okay. You’re right. It’s just embarrassing as hell, and I’ve worked every day
of my life since then to distance myself from that day and who I was back
then.”

She
waited, eyes on me.

I
tried to start, but couldn’t summon the words. I had to delay. “Oh, I passed
our good friend Roger Clark on the sidewalk earlier today. I don’t know if it’s
just a coincidence, but I thought he was still in New York. You should be extra
vigilant every time you leave the condo.”

Addison
waved off the threat as though it was nothing more than a friendly honey bee.
“The FBI agent? Whatever. They don’t even know we’re working together, or that I’m
involved in anything shady at all. Unlike you, my face isn't linked to any of
the stuff we've done. I’m not exactly worried about it. You’re just trying to
change the subject.”

She
would not let me get around it. I sighed and collected my thoughts.

“Kat
and I grew up next door to each other. We were best friends since before I can
remember, and spent every day running around and getting into trouble. When
you’re that young, gender doesn’t matter so much, and kids don’t develop as
distinct personalities as they do when they’re older.

“I
was always a bit chubby as a kid, and that never went away. Think of me as the
typical, awkward boy. Into magic and sleight of hand, played way too many video
games, and except for my best friend, Kat, didn’t get along too much with other
kids.

“As
we got older, Kat got hotter. A lot hotter. She developed before the other
girls and had the body of an athlete from the sports she played at school. Her
social graces were far more developed than mine, and she had dozens of friends
she had to split her time between. Somehow, she still always made time for me,
and we remained best friends.”

Addison
tilted her head to the side as if viewing me with new eyes. “I just can’t see
you chubby. Or awkward—you’re one of the smoothest guys I know. I’ve seen
you walk up to a group of women at a bar and have them buy you drinks all
night.”

I
nodded. “I’m not that boy any longer, but I have Kat to thank for that. And she
doesn’t even know. When we got into our teens and puberty kicked in full force,
I became infatuated with Kat. It was only natural—we knew each other so
well, and not only was she my best friend, she was the best looking girl in
school.

“She
always dated older guys, the jocks, guys who ran in the most popular circles at
school—her circles. It felt like a betrayal, every time, but
realistically it made total sense. What made little sense was why she still
spent time with me, still included me in her life.

“Once,
her boyfriend at the time cheated on her. She was devastated, and I was
outraged. How could he cheat on such an angel? When she told me at lunch and I
saw that smug bastard sitting across the cafeteria, something snapped inside of
me. I charged over there to confront him—Kat pulled on my arm the whole
way, trying to hold me back and stop me from making an idiot of myself.

“Trent
Smith. I still remember his name. I yelled at him in front of everyone—I
don’t even know what I said. I don’t think it made much sense. Everyone in the
cafeteria stopped what they were doing to watch. He didn’t even bother trying
to defend his character, he said, ‘you’re just jealous that I fucked her and
you never will.’”

“Ouch.”
Addison had drawn her knees up to her chest and leaned forward, like she
listened to a campsite story. “What did you say, then?”

I
couldn’t help it, a flush spread across my cheeks. “Somehow, I thought this was
the perfect time to announce my love for Kat in front of the whole school. I
told her how we should be together, and that I would always treat her right,
unlike the assholes who cheated on her and disrespected her. I asked her out.”

“Oh,
my God! What did she say?”

I
winced. The words were still raw in my memory. It had been the turning point of
my life.

“She
said that we could never date. That I was like a brother to her, and she didn’t
see me like that. I swear I can still hear the laughter. Everywhere I looked,
all the other kids were crying from laughing so hard.”

Addison
shook her head. “Kids are dicks. What did you do?”

“The
only thing I could think of. I ran away. Literally just left the school and
never went back. My dad had been offered a promotion at work that would require
a move from Seattle to Chicago, and my parents were delaying until I went away
to college, but I told them to do it then, because I didn’t want to stay
anymore.”

“Did
you see Kat again?”

“She
tried to come and talk that night, but I told my parents not to let her in the
house. We moved away only a few days later, and I never told her. I didn’t see
her again until the other night when I started the job. I don’t blame her for
not recognizing me—I look completely different, and my attitude, voice,
manner, everything is just… so different.”

It
was the first time I’d told the story to anyone, and it felt better than I
expected to get it off my chest.

“That
is a ridiculous story,” Addison said. “I still don’t get how you’re so
different now, though. What happened when you moved to Chicago?”

Story
time had already taken longer than I wanted, and I had to keep some secrets for
myself, so I told Addison the short version.

“Kat’s
rejection had devastated me. I always knew I wasn’t the coolest kid ever. It’s
not like you aren’t aware of it, you know? After that, though, I was sick of
being the chubby kid who was always laughed at and left out. I focused everything
I had and all my energy into becoming someone new, someone better.

“I
worked out and watched what I ate, transforming my body from a formless blob
into something to be desired. That was only the physical layer. At my new high
school I fell in with a group of kids involved in shady stuff—they were
the only ones willing to talk to the new kid. We dabbled in petty theft,
experimental drugs, and generally being unproductive members of society. That’s
where I learned how to speak to people, how to read what someone’s feeling and
anticipate their emotions and reactions.”

“And
you went from there into being a con artist?” Addison asked. “I can’t believe
you never told me any of this before. You could write a book on this and make a
fortune.”

I
laughed. “Or end up in jail from confessing to a few big-time crimes. And I
didn’t make the leap to full out con artist then. I went off to college even
though I didn’t want to—my parents insisted. Since I had no interest in
classes, I soon found a group of like-minded delinquents to make friends with.
We planned out and pulled elaborate pranks, seeing how we could push boundaries
and get away with ridiculous things. It didn’t take long before one of the guys
and I performed a real theft—gained the trust of a wealthy asshole and
emptied his safe one night after he blacked out from drinking.”

“That’s
so cool.” Her eyes were wide, enraptured by my storytelling. “You’re making me
jealous. That’s an awesome back story for a thief. Mine’s so lame in
comparison.”

I
winked at her. “Oh, come on, graduating top of your class from MIT and then
dating a criminal mastermind for a few months is a perfectly acceptable way to
get into hacking for pay. Besides, if I hadn’t discovered you, your talents
would have gone to waste in a big corporation somewhere. Now you get to
exercise your creativity while stealing from assholes. Isn’t that a lot more
fun?”

“It
kinda
is,” she admitted. She held up the USB stick
with the ARCANE data. “Speaking of which, I should get to work on this. The
sooner I tear it apart and figure out what’s going on behind their firewall,
the sooner we can close out the job and get paid. So long as you can still pull
the trigger now you’ve got everything you ever wanted with Kat.”

She
unfolded from her curled up position on the couch and strolled across the
living room to the hallway.

Everything I ever wanted. With
Kat.

Did
I want to mess that up for the sake of the job?

CHAPTER 15

~ K
AT
~

“All right, Sean, do you have
confirmations from your shortlist?”

He
nodded and pushed a folder across the table. “I had commitments from five of
the seven. They were more than happy to agree to the terms in exchange for our
services, putting our
Secured by ARCANE
logo on their websites and transaction pages, and appearing in our marketing
campaign.”

I
tapped the top of the folder. “That brings us up to fourteen. That’s a good
start.”

He
nodded. “A couple of those are huge charities, too. That will increase our
exposure by a lot.”

The
past week of planning had yielded better results than I’d dreamed. Once I
showed Nick the estimates of the return we could expect from running this
campaign, he grudgingly gave the green light—with the warning that he
could pull the plug if he didn’t like the direction I took it.

Todd
cleared his throat. “I had a thought about the campaign launch.” When I waved
him on, he continued. “I’ve got a few friends in the media that I went to
school with—I might be able to get us good publicity on the press
release. If we can get the heads of a few of the charities to show up, we could
put together a press conference and extend the reach as far as we can.”

The
two men had surprised me with their work ethic since Marcy left. It was as if
the Todd and Sean I knew had been replaced by hard workers with initiative who
would complete the tasks I set them. Now I had a team I could count on, it
highlighted how painful it had been when I did everything myself.

“That’s
a great idea, Todd, thanks for bringing your resources to bear on this. Could
you follow up with your friends and let me know the status on that by Monday? I
want to push ahead with the launch as soon as possible—this campaign
isn’t doing us any good until it’s out there.”

I
assigned a few more actions for each of the men to take away from the meeting
and work on. The campaign was shaping up, and it felt
right
. The crushing despair about the state of my job and my career
that had nearly consumed me a few weeks ago had turned into a cautious optimism
that I could not only keep my job and add a stellar campaign to my portfolio,
but also help people in need at the same time.

“I
think that wraps up the meeting,” I said. “Unless there is anything else you
two want to bring up before we finish?”

Sean
spoke. “Actually, there is something from the public relations side of things.
We usually only get a few complaints here and there about minor things. Nothing
too major—I’ve never brought them to your attention before, since they
show up in the metrics. This past week, however, we’ve gotten several from different
clients, all related to security breaches.”

I’d
already mentally checked out of the room, thinking about James and the things
we’d done together that week, but Sean’s words hooked my attention and reeled
it back. “Security breaches? What do you mean?”

He
hesitated and glanced at Todd, who nodded back. “Well, these clients say that
information held inside the ARCANE protections was compromised. Banking data,
minor fraud—incidents indicative of a successful hack.”

“That…
shouldn’t be possible. They’re certain that the information was held only in
ARCANE encryptions and not stolen another way?”

He
nodded. “That’s what they say. Six different clients have reported incidents so
far.”

I
bit my lip. This wasn’t how I wanted to close out the meeting. “I’ll have to
escalate this. Have you forwarded the information to engineering?”

“They’re
aware. Refusing to believe that it could be a problem on our side, but they’re
looking into it.”

“Well,
you know what the official company stance is on things like this—we can
only protect the data they give us to protect. We can’t control if they lose it
another way. Unless we find out differently, that’s the story here. That’s a
lot of reports from a lot of clients at the same time, but it could all just be
a coincidence.” A big one, but ARCANE’s algorithms were
unhackable
.

We
vacated the meeting room and went back to our respective desks. In the comfort
and privacy of my office, I allowed the laser focus on work to slack.

As
they so often did over the past week, my eyes wandered to the table across the
room. The one I’d been tied to, naked, wearing nothing but a silk blindfold.
Vulnerable to James and any liberties he wanted to take with my body.

Thinking
about that first time never failed to turn me on. Even though we’d gotten together
four more times since, it would be hard to top the monumental tease and build
up that led to our first time having sex.

James…

We
fit together so perfectly, and it only became a better fit over time. The sex
was mind-meltingly amazing, so much better than with any other man I’d ever
slept with. A tier all its own.

That
wasn’t the only positive. All the little things, the small pieces of each
personal transaction, came together in perfect harmony. Like the way I hated
pickles, and James snagged them off my plate before I can even complain. When I
turned my alarm off in the morning, James pulled me close and woke me up
gradually with playful kisses.

It
had gotten to the point it was almost creepy. Humans were so individualistic,
I’d taken it as a given that no man could be a perfect match. Any couple had to
learn to live with certain aspects of their paramour’s habits and quirks. With
James, it wasn’t like that. It felt like we’d already known each other for
years.

Almost like we’ve been together
our entire lives.

A
strange thought, and not one I could afford to pursue any further—I had
work to do.

I
bundled the folders Sean and Todd had given me with an elastic, stacking them
on top of my notebook and tucking the whole thing under my arm. The familiar
path to Nick’s office took only a few seconds.

For
the first time, when I gave the door a couple courtesy knocks and tried to
twist the handle, it refused to turn.

The
door was locked.

Huh. He never locks his door.

I
knocked again, louder this time, and hovered my ear against the door.

“One
second,” I heard, barely audible.

That’s right, he’s got that
ridiculous soundproofing for his office.

After
a minute of leaning against the wall and checking my work email on my phone,
the door opened.

A
gorgeous woman stepped out, dressed to the nines in tall heels, hair down to
her ass, and a dress so tight that I could tell she wore no panties. She smiled
and walked away, the heels clicking with every step.

“Come
in, Katherine. Close the door behind you.”

I
walked in the room and coughed. The heavy scent of sex hung in the air.

“Who
was that?” I asked when I regained my breath.

Nick
smirked, the face of a man who’d just had all his cares relieved. “That’s
Tatiana. She’s the new intern.”

“Intern?
She looks like she should shoot covers for playboy. And it smells like you’re
turning ARCANE into a porn company.”

Nick
didn’t even shrug; there was no shame in his
demeanor
.
“She’s good at what she does. Since you aren’t filling the role I intended for
you, I had to make another hire who would. And she knows exactly how to fill
every position I need.”

“Gross.
I’m glad you sorted that out. Does that mean I can do my job like a normal
person, now?”

Nick
eyed me in that dispassionate way he had, like he was trying to figure out all
possible ways I could be of use to him. “Just because Tatiana has filled in
where you disappointed me doesn’t give you a free pass. You still have to get
me results this quarter with this harebrained charity bullshit of yours. The
only difference is that now I have Tatiana, I don’t need your mouth or your
pussy. If you fail, then you’re fired no matter what.”

The
thought of submitting to him to keep my job made my skin crawl—but
somehow, the guarantee of being fired was still chilling, even if I had no
intention of ever lowering myself to being his office whore.

Never
had I met a man who begged to be slapped hard in the face like Nick.

“Can
we please discuss work? I have the initial campaign partners here. Fourteen of
them, and there are a good mix of big and small companies. The majority of them
offer financial services to donors and NGOs in third world countries, so
this will triple the number of people using our services regularly.”

“Triple?”
Nick held out his hand for the folders. “That’s impressive. All these people
will use our servers for free, however. That’s a lot of added overhead that
will need more revenue to offset.”

I
nodded. “We’ve calculated the additional number of subscriptions necessary to
pay for the campaign, and it’s reasonable. Based on our conversion statistics
and the reach we’ll gain, I’m confident in saying we will have our best quarter
ever.”

“Is
that right?” Nick flipped through the folders and tossed them on his desk.
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

He won’t give me a single scrap
of credit, will he?

I
firmed my jaw. “We’ve also gotten complaints from clients about potential
hacks.”

Nick
froze. “What are you talking about?”

“My
team says there have been reports coming in from six different clients so far
of incidents involving fraudulent activity for accounts they insist are under
ARCANE encryption. Engineering is looking into it, but I thought you should
know in case you hadn’t heard yet.”

His
fist crashed into the desk. “I want you to quash all these
rumors
,
Katherine. Not a word is to leave this building, are we clear?”

“Uh,
yes? Did you think I was going to go shout it from the rooftops?”

He
didn’t look amused. “You’re the head of public relations. ARCANE’s reputation
has to be solid, do you understand? If there are any questions about the
proficiency of our encryption, we’ll never get off the ground.”

I
hadn’t expected this forceful of a reaction. “I’ll look after it. I don’t think
there has been anything more than clients reporting to us directly—it’s
been contained.”

“Make
sure it stays that way. Keep me updated as soon as you hear anything
different.”

I
took his words as a dismissal, eager to get out of the office that still stank
like sex.