Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
WEST
“ Y ou don’t look like shit, but you do look pissed.” Jack places a coffee down on my desk.
“I got sleep.” I give it to him, hoping he drops it there.
“Not in your bed.” Of course he noticed. Nosy bastard notices everything.
“Have my cameras or the shadow tags come yet?” I change the subject, not entertaining him. It takes an additional day to deliver items to the island. I’ll have to find a solution to that.
“What are you trying to find?” Jack leans over to see my screen, and I shut it. “Was that the Lighthouse High School website?”
“Is there something you need?”
A slow smile spreads across Jack’s face.
“I’m going to strangle you with your stupid bow tie.” We’re on an island and barely go anywhere, and he’s still wearing it every day.
“Don’t be cruel.” Jack pretends to straighten it. “You’re just mad I can pull one off while you’d only look like an overgrown cat that can't stay out of the treats and your collar is now too tight, if you wore one.”
“Sorry,” I say dryly.
“Drink your coffee.” He moves it closer to me. “Now tell me what you want to know about the school.”
“I wasn’t aware it started today.”
“I put it in the notes.” Jack has a tab that keeps daily notes on things he thinks I might want to know. I scroll through them at night, but I was busy last night.
“Must have missed it.”
"That can happen when you're cuddling on a sofa with a pretty girl asleep."
“You saw us.”
“I make sure the house is shut down each night.” I lean back in my chair, running my hand down my face.
“It’s fucked up.”
“It is. When did you start watching reality TV? I’ve been trying for ages for you to watch Big Brother with me.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.” Jack sits down in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “You can fight it or go with it.” Why is he making this easy for me? He should be trying to sway me to leave her alone, not encouraging me.
“She’s in fucking high school,” I remind him.
“I know, and it lets out at two.” Of course that fucker knew what I was searching for on the website.
“It’s wrong, and you know it.”
“What I know is that in all the time we have worked together, you have never dated or entertained a woman before, and some have tried.”
“No one tried.” I don’t know what he’s talking about.
“You don’t recall Rebecca Simms?”
“I remember her. She came up with some of the tech I used in the shadow tags.”
“That’s what you remember?”
“Those shadow tags are some of my best work.” How could I forget that?
“But you don’t recall her fawning all over you? Asking you to get dinner?”
“No.” I try to think back, but I couldn't even tell you her hair color. A blonde? No, maybe her hair was red.
“Oh, and what about Vivian from Fallware?”
“Who?” I am familiar with Fallware, but I can't recall any instances of a Vivian.
“Precisely.” Jack chuckles, and I don’t know what’s so fucking funny. I’m coming undone at the seams. My eyes glance at the clock. It’s only ten. Why does each minute feel like a goddamn eternity today? I shouldn’t be counting down time; I should be coming up with a way to keep my hands to myself.
“What is the point here, Jack? I have things to do.” Like stalking a pretty, curvy brunette. I still need to find out who the prick was that Willa asked if she was going to message. What was his name? David? No, Derrick!
"You notice Teddy. You don't notice anyone else." Jack stands from the chair. "Think about that."
Could it really be that bad for us to be together? Shit, I don’t know if she’s with Rich. All we’d done was fall asleep together. She wrapped herself around me in her sleep. It was me who suggested we lie down.
Teddy is so sweet to everyone. She would have offered to make anyone in the house dinner or that hot chocolate. I’m learning that’s her nature. So maybe she was just extending that courtesy to me. I greedily want it all to myself when I know the twins need that too.
I attempt to immerse myself in my work for a few hours, but my thoughts always return to Teddy. I sent off a request about Derrick with the information that he likely goes to Lighthouse High and is around Teddy’s age, along with tracking down her number.
Zero comes through and gives me more information than I’d asked for. He’d been the one to do a deep dive on Teddy and her mom. He provides me with all the details about Derrick, including his school schedule. Zero also integrated location tracking into Teddy's phone remotely. That man can get into anything, and he’s also in with everyone. There isn’t a place he can’t touch you if he can connect to it in some way. He’ll infiltrate everything.
The tracking shows her still at Lighthouse High, which is another fucking reminder that she is still in high school. That detail will continue to haunt me. I glance over the information on Derrick, who is on the football team and barely keeps a C average. I’m sure just to stay on the team, otherwise he’d be kicked off.
Zero threw in links to Derrick’s social media, which is a string of pictures of himself at the gym, on the field, or at a party. I can tell he’s a cocky fucker. He's easy to read, and given Teddy's comment last night that he's slept with everyone, I'm going to view him as less of a threat for the time being.
But I don’t miss that he and Teddy have the same first class together and lunch. I review Teddy's schedule again and notice that a few classes are missing. That can’t be right. Then I remember that seniors have the option to leave early if they are enrolled in enough classes to graduate.
I shut everything down quickly and grab my shipment that finally arrived. Now is my chance to install some of it while no one is home. The cleaners that showed up have left, and Jack went to town.
I install detectors on the side door that is most frequently used by everyone, as well as the ones that lead from the kitchen to the patio. Teddy uses that door sometimes when she heads to the guesthouse. I’m telling myself I’m installing them for everyone’s safety, but I know it’s so I can keep an eye on Teddy.
Outside, I notice a small, white SUV, always parked by the guesthouse. It belongs to Eden, but Teddy has used it a few times. I glance around to make sure the coast is clear before I clip on one of my shadow tags, one that sticks on like a piece of tape on the undercarriage.
It's an asshole thing to do, but if I'm already doing things I shouldn't, why stop now?