Chapter 11
chapter eleven
baby steps
Iwalked back into Research, anticipation knotting in my stomach. “Anything?”
Oscar simply threw his head back far enough that he was seeing me upside down. And even from that angle, I could see the bags under his eyes that had become permanent features since trying to crack the data breaches. “If we had anything, do you think I’d be here right now?”
I shrugged, my mouth tugging. “Fair point.”
We’d had two more breaches since losing the Alcott files.
That phone call went down a treat, let me tell you. It was so bad that several news outlets had already sniffed out a story that did nothing for the new clientele we were seeking. I say “sniffed.” Whoever was doing this probably tipped them off.
But even as I said that over my head, I still couldn’t make sense of it. We’d had attempted takedowns before, but every time we’d figured out who was doing it within an hour, and never had it leaked to the press.
Fuck.
It was just going to be one of those days. I could feel it.
I sank into the room, letting my feet drag me to the chair beside Oscar, sinking into it as my elbows planted on the desk, my face in my palms.
“Ever the morning person.” Oscar snorted from beside me, before groaning as he stretched.
“I just haven’t had coffee.” I leaned my back against the chair, folding my arms. “I might need a double.”
Oscar huffed, clicking the mouse I’m surprised hadn’t fused to his hand. “Risky move. You’ve got that meeting with Amber this afternoon, and I’ve lived with you long enough to know what too much coffee does to you—”
“Shut up.”
He grunted a laugh I was surprised he had the energy to grunt. “I’m just trying to save you from even more embarrassment this week.”
I turned to him, my face stony. “Do you like working here?”
“No.” He flashed his shit-eating grin that looked an awful lot like mine.
“Alright then. Do you like your current salary?”
I swear I saw him lose a little colour in his face. “Maybe.”
My eyes rolled as I sat back, touslling his hair as a laugh slipped from him.
Giving each other shit had just been something Oscar and I had always done, to the point where I’m sure I was flipping off his sonogram when Mamá told me I was having a brother.
But this job wouldn’t be doable without him.
Hell, this company wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t been there, pushing me to never give up, reminding me of what it meant to both of us.
To the family.
“How’re things with Miss Holland?”
Oscar’s voice had me turning to face him. I lifted my chin at him. “It’s Cora.”
His brows screwed up. “But we don’t—”
“I know.” I nodded. “She wants to be called by her first name, so that’s how we’ll be addressing her.”
“Oh.” Oscar shrugged. “Okay.” He went back to tapping for two seconds before his head popped up again. “How’s it all going anyway?”
Without realising, I felt the corner of my mouth turn up. Not big enough to be a smirk, but impactful enough that Oscar noticed. “Good?”
I nodded. “Better.”
And that was the truth.
Things were still a little awkward, naturally, but she wasn’t being the defiant little creature she’d shown me she could be when we first met. She was listening, and after we made a game plan on how both of us could survive without killing each other, things had been going smoothly.
We still had a long way to go. She didn’t fully trust me.
But she listened when I told her that keeping tabs on her via the spy software I laced her phone with was better than me waiting outside her classes.
I got regular updates on her location, and if she went anywhere the software hadn’t noticed before, I’d get a text telling me exactly where she was.
As though it could hear my thoughts, my phone buzzed, and I whipped it out of my pocket. My screen lit up with a notification that she was on the move, the little moon icon that symbolised her moving between the halls in the Liberty Grove campus.
“That her?” Oscar asked, and after watching the moon stop at her last class of the day, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and set my eyes back on him.
“Just the tracking system. She’s fine.”
As I stretched my arms over my head with a yawn, he let me watch him click a few times before I felt his eyes on me. “Has she had any more texts?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
He clearly clocked the sour mood that invaded my face. “That’s a good thing, right?”
I shrugged. “I guess. It’s just…” I leaned back. “It’s stupid to waste our time wondering if this could be anyone else other than Radcliffe, right?”
Oscar bunched his sleeves up at his elbows as he mirrored me. “It doesn’t make sense for it to be anyone else but him, but I thought he wasn’t allowed to contact her. Surely he’s not that stupid to ignore a restraining order that could risk him never working again.”
“Didn’t stop him from fucking up the first time.” I raked my hands through my thick strands. “If he was obsessed with her, a restraining order won’t keep him away.”
Before I knew it, I felt myself slipping into that ancient hole I’d fallen into once before.
This was the only part of the job that I didn’t like.
The obsessing. The guessing. Spending hours trying to crack cases that were colder than the surface of the moon.
But something about this thing with Cora was pulling me deeper than the others had.
Perhaps because it was so close to home. So close that I’m sure Oscar was thinking the exact same things I was.
And I knew I was right the second I let my eyes drift up, and I saw his cursor hovering over Lana’s files.
Not today.
“Coffee?” I asked abruptly, standing up from my chair and stalking towards the door.
Clearing his throat, Oscar swivelled around in his chair. “Um… yeah. I’d love some. Thanks.”
I tightly smiled at him as I watched him turn back around, and as he did, my eyes flew to his screen, now back to the usual background.
“Sure thing,” The words slipped from under my breath as I stalked back out of the room, both hands pushing at the doors.
It was easy to think back to Lana when dealing with a case like Cora’s, but that didn’t mean it was easy letting go of the memories that came with it. But still, I tried every single day to right the wrongs I did during that time in our lives.
And trusting Cora when she said she felt uneasy with this mystery stalker was just one of them.
As my mind flew back to her, I whipped out my phone and pulled up our empty chat conversation.
Cora
Today at 15:01pm
Make sure you’re at the assigned entrance after your class. I’ll be waiting there.
what did i tell you about this morning?
Jesus.
This girl was relentless. Seriously. For someone who never used her manners with me, she sure was hell-bent on turning me into something proper.
Fine. PLEASE make sure you’re at the assigned entrance after class.
congrats, you just gained a bit of your soul back.
and i will. i’m just going straight home tonight.
Noted.
I’d been around Cora for a little over a month now, and already I’d seen her change more than she probably realised. It was the little things that she wouldn’t notice until someone pointed them out. And every time I saw something different in her, it made her angst worth it.
If Cora was still reeling from what happened, if she was too scared that I’d turn out like Jamie, then I didn’t blame her. The only thing I could do was not give up until she was adamant that she was safe with me.
And if that letting her correct me and smiling as she did to make her happy, then so be it.
I quickened my pace when Cora came into view. And… oh shit. That stare did not bode well—
“You’re late. And it’s pissing it down.”
Great, as well as the fabulous weather the city had been graced with, Hurricane Cora was a Category Five and in full force.
That stormy look in her eyes hit like a lightning strike. “Have you seen what time it is?”
I shook the rain from the umbrella as I ducked under the stone awning where Cora waited, vines and purple wisteria dripping overhead.
“Sorry,” I rushed, looming over her. “Traffic was—”
“Uh huh. Yeah, great. Can we go?”
That fire, the one that only seemed to ignite when she was around me, roared to life.
It was everywhere; her voice, her eyes, the way she stood.
Her voice struck the truest. That thing was a weapon, and every time I got near her, it was pointed straight at me.
Some naive part of me thought I’d be desensitised by now. Clearly I'd thought wrong.
I forced on my fakest smile and offered her my stiff arm. “Of course.” I lifted the umbrella. “After you, angel.”
Her dark eyes rolled hard enough that it felt like a stab in my chest. “Call me that again and I’ll put a restraining order on you, too.”
My chest rumbled with a laugh. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Catching the very end of her glare, she speed-walked ahead of me, but with my long strides I kept up with her, protecting her all-black outfit from the rain until we reached the car and she was buckled in.
Our car rides had been oddly quiet since our brief heart-to-heart when I caught her with the other Rhodes twin. Well, if you didn’t count the steady in-and-out of her breathing, then it was quiet. The rain was covering it today though. Not sure why that made me feel weird.
Gridlocked traffic escorted us all the way home, and all she gave me was a flash of a smile before she got out and slammed the door, all before I could ask if she still needed me to take her to her evening shift at the bakery she worked at.
“Pleasure as always,” I whispered to the spot where she’d just been, before locking up the car and closing the door—
“Shit.”