Streak

Chapter 25

Daniel

Does she have any idea what she’s doing to me?

“I know. I’ll just clean up and then we’ll talk, ok?”

She nodded and went to the couch.

Standing in her bathroom, I stared at the shower.

The thing was tiny. It took a lot of concentration not to break anything every time I lifted my arms, and I was pretty sure I had a couple of bruises on my elbows from smashing them into the walls.

I found a clean towel in a small linen closet near the sink and grabbed one, realizing there was no way I had enough room to dry off and get dressed in there without colliding with all of the things she had near the sink.

The towel didn’t even go around my entire waist. I just held it in front of me and ran to the door to close it quickly, praying to whoever would listen that she wouldn’t decide to walk back to the kitchen at that moment, because she would definitely see me. Why didn’t I wait to shower at home?

This is ridiculous!

I felt like a teenager sneaking out of a girl’s house. I was over thirty, for fuck’s sake, and she was twenty-eight. We were both adults, and an accidental flashing wouldn’t kill anyone. I got dressed and sat on the bed with my hand on my face.

All I could think of was the soft humming sound she made when she sipped her coffee and the way her fingers moved over the scar on my chest. When I pulled her hand to the tattoo, I was so scared she would pull back, but she kept touching me.

Did she even notice the goosebumps that covered my arms?

Her eyes were so focused on the scar. Her lips parted for just a second before she realized what it was.

I couldn’t stop staring at her. I wanted to kiss her until I remembered her panic the night before and everything that had happened to cause it.

She got control of her breathing with me standing close to her, touching her. That’s gotta count for something, right?

After spending so long feeling her hands on my waist when we were on my bike and then sleeping in her bed, my brain was a mess.

I stood up and jumped in place for a few seconds before going out and sitting beside her on the couch, trying to ignore what I was feeling when her gray eyes and white lashes turned to me.

I’m fucked, I’m fucked, I’m fucked. Get it together. You’re a ranger. You’re a CEO. Lydia might be in danger because of you.

That last thought brought me back to reality like a bucket of ice.

“How are you holding up?”

“Overwhelmed, but fine. I need information.” She shifted her body on the couch so that she was turned to me, with one leg folded underneath her.

“You know that Mason Corp works with the military. Do you know what we do for them?” I asked.

“I’m assuming what you do for every other client.”

“Yes and no. Our teams find vulnerabilities in clients’ networks and systems and correct them, but with the military, we use our algorithms to break into systems if needed.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t think I’m supposed to know this, Daniel.”

“You’re not. But you’re in this now and I’m going to trust you to keep quiet.”

She nodded. She was starting to trust me—I needed to trust her. I did trust her.

“An op went bad. I don’t know the details of what exactly happened or what the mission was, but there were casualties because comms were compromised.

We were tasked with analyzing the breach.

Whoever did this used code that looked a lot like ours.

Not exactly the same, but too close to be a coincidence. ”

Her eyes never left mine, and her face was completely neutral. I knew her enough by now to know that her mind was racing. I let it all sink in for a few moments before thinking that she might have zoned out again. That seemed to happen a lot when she processed information.

I put my hand on her knee. “Lydia?”

“Hmm? Oh.”

She didn’t react to my hand, so I kept it there.

Real mature, bro.

“You with me?”

“Yes. Mason Corp has been compromised. Someone stole proprietary code and used it to hack into military systems to listen in on an op.”

I sighed. “Yeah. I can’t think of any other explanation for the code we found. It was tweaked but it’s definitely ours.”

“And you think they’re watching me for…what? They already have the code—oh.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“How does the delivery guy fit in? He’s part of this, right?”

“Yes. A contact in the military sent me information on the op, which I was hoping would shed light on what happened.”

“Did it?”

I sighed and started moving my thumb on her knee. “No. Most of it was redacted and I can’t rely on the information there anyway since it was intercepted. My contact has gone AWOL, so I can’t exactly ask for more info.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes. Okay.”

I moved a little closer to her, trying to see if she was going to panic, but her breathing looked normal.

“Talk to me, Lydia. You’re kind of scaring me.”

Her eyes focused on mine. “You scare easy for a ranger.”

“Not usually. You’re just… I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

She frowned. “Are you sure you’d like to?”

I chuckled. “Not so sure now.”

Her frown deepened a little bit, and I realized she couldn’t tell if I was serious. “I’m kidding, Lydia. Yes, of course I want to know what you’re thinking.”

“Okay. I’m thinking that someone got your code and used it so that you’d get blamed if anyone found out.

Maybe they would have left you alone, but you found out, the CEO of the company they stole from, and you started investigating, so now you’re a threat.

I’m assuming they couldn’t watch you directly or hack into your devices, so they went with the next best thing—the only people with access to your office.

They want to make sure you don’t find out anything important. ”

I nodded, wondering why she thought I wouldn’t want to know those thoughts.

She sighed and continued. “And I’m thinking that I had a good job in HR.

I was safe in HR. And then the delivery guy happened, then your sister and Howard, and now people are breaking into my apartment and hacking into the military…

I’m an office assistant. I chose to be an office assistant because it’s quiet, simple, and safe. ”

Fuck.

I moved closer and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a hug and preparing myself to be pushed back or yelled at. She didn’t move for a moment, and then I felt her lean her forehead on my chest, but her arms stayed on her lap.

“I’m so sorry, Lydia.”

“I’m not blaming you. But this is a lot for me, and I don’t know how to deal with it. Is this normal for you?”

I chuckled and held the back of her head, touching her hair and trying to focus on her words, and not her warm breath on my chest, which I could feel through my shirt.

“Yeah. You read about my family. Things get crazy when you’re around a lot of money and power. Becca and I are used to it, I guess, but I never wanted to drag you into any of it.”

“You didn’t. If I hadn’t told you about the delivery guy, I’d have been back in HR by now.” She shrugged.

I sighed. How do I even answer that?

“What happens now, Daniel?”

“I’ve got people investigating it—the op, the comms breach, the breach into Mason Corp, and now the one into your devices.

My researcher is working on the altered code to find clues and keep the military off our backs.

They don’t know what we found yet, or they’d cut ties if we’re lucky and blame us if we’re not. ”

“And in the meantime, back to normal?”

Her hands on my chest were making my heart pound. She had to have felt it. She pushed back to move out of my arms, waiting for my answer.

“I don’t know yet. Terry could find something today or in a week.

We can’t make a move until we know where that data is being transmitted.

Whoever was watching is hopefully still in the dark, thinking your laptop and phone are in your apartment so they don’t cut the signal.

Once we know where it’s going, we can plan our next move. ”

“That’s why you took the week off.”

“We took the week off. Chris and Dianne, too. Reception can take any messages from incoming calls and forward them to Chris if it’s important. Terry either gives me a location by the end of the week or tells me he can’t and we deal with it.”

She opened her mouth to answer and closed it when my phone rang.

“It’s the law firm,” I muttered

Lydia nodded and leaned back on the couch, watching me.

“Mr. Mason, sorry to bother you on a Sunday. We just got an email from Ethan Howard's firm that he’s pulling the offer. He’s refusing the additions you made to the agreement.

I tried to talk to them, negotiate, but they said he doesn’t want the deal at all if you’re going to change things after you’ve already agreed to his terms.”

“It’s fine. If the deal’s off, it’s off.” Fuckin’ finally.

“Your changes were extremely minor, sir, I’m sure we can—”

“No. I prefer not to close deals with someone so fickle. Thank you for the update.”

“Of course, Mr. Mason. Have a good day.”

I hung up and smiled at Lydia.

“Howard backed out,” I said with a grin.

“Took him long enough. What about Brad?”

“We have proof of him meeting with Langford, but we couldn’t get audio or see any documents they shared between them.”

“So no actual proof.”

“It’s enough to fire him and threaten him to stay quiet but yeah, we don’t have enough to do anything to Langford.”

“Or Howard. Three people who will get away with it.”

“Yes. But Becca will be safe and her deal will go through. She’ll outgrow them.”

She shook her head. “It bothers me.”

“You two have gotten close.”

“She offered me a job. Two months ago, after we met at Mel’s.”

I froze, and Lydia frowned. “She said she’d tell you.”

“Do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. I have a feeling being her PA won’t be quiet either.”

I smiled. “No.”

But she won’t be your employee. That’s good, right?

For fuck’s sake, Becca.

“What about Condukt? They won’t just let it go because she changed shipping companies,” she said, shaking her head.

“No, they’ll plan something else.”

“And?”

“And nothing. Competition and enemies will always plan something to bring us down. It’s just the way it is. Becca knows to be more careful now and we’ve got people snooping around Langford to try and figure out his next move. Nothing else we can do.”

She sighed and leaned back on the couch with her head facing the ceiling and her eyes closed. “And while we wait to find out what happens?”

Stay together for the whole week, preferably in my apartment, where there’s a bigger bed.

Instead, I said, “I don’t think anyone will try anything during the day. This neighborhood is pretty busy—someone would hear or see it.”

“Then you can go.” Her eyes were still closed, and her tone gave me nothing. Was she just stating a fact or telling me to leave? Fuck, if this were anyone else, I’d be offended, but I can never tell with her. She opened her eyes and stood up, looking at me with her usual cold expression.

Does she play poker?

“Daniel?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have to stay here. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Why not?”

“You’re the CEO of a giant corporation, you’ve got this investigation going on, there’s Becca’s thing with Condukt, and I’m guessing just being a Mason has its own responsibilities based on what I read and what you told me about your family.

To put it bluntly, you’ve got shit to do and it doesn’t make sense for you to be here. ”

You’re the only one I want to do right now.

I smiled and walked up to her. “I like that you’re blunt, Lydia.”

“Then I’m sure you won’t be offended if I tell you again, you can go. Thank you, really, but you said I’ll be fine here, and I need to be alone.”