Chapter 14
Adladd - Aftermath
Rhys
What. A. Bloody. Night.
I didn’t get a wink of sleep. Searching for clues when I’m trying to rest is not the best choice in the world, and when I drag myself out of bed, there’s a steady pulse of pain in my forehead. Treacle grips my feet as I tread down the stairs, my limbs heavy and sore.
Shit’s never been this bad before. Shouldn’t have been that easy for someone to get into our systems and create havoc. I fucking slipped up. Should have anticipated it, written back-up plans that detailed ways to fix it straight away. Not left our networks wide open for attack.
This job’s like chess, and I have to be eight steps ahead all the time. A physical break-in’s always at the top of my list, but I took my eyes off what could happen online.
Someone hacked our security system. What else have they stolen? All our computers and devices work off the same network. Supposed to be the most secure set-up money can buy.
One thing’s for sure – I’ll be dragging Aled here by the ear later to sort it all out. He’s the git who put it all together in the first place. It’s his job to fix it.
My first task this morning is to check on the system, make sure the additional firewalls will hold until he can get here.
My route through the house takes me past a load of cameras, routers, and cabling, and I check every one of them, making sure they’re working again as planned.
Coffee wafts from somewhere in the house, but I don’t stop at the kitchen to find it. My head’s down, my goal’s my office.
Can’t have our whole network on the blink when Gethin and Cai get back. Needs to be fixed, like nothing happened last night so they can continue trusting me with this shit.
The steady patter of typing clatters out from Lucy’s office, and I poke my head around the door to find her on the sofa in her giant bay window, already at work on her laptop. Gentle music plays at a low volume over her speakers. Instrumentals of some sort. Nothing with a lyric or a decent beat.
No idea how she works this way.
Bothering her when she’s got her head in her computer will destroy all our hard work from last night. I turn on my heel, about to leave her be.
‘Rhys? Is that you?’
Or I’ll bother her now. ‘Nah, it’s Gethin.’
I edge into the room, leaning against the doorframe to take some of the weight off my sleep-deprived body.
Her office is brighter than mine. White linen curtains are already pulled back to let the grey morning sun in.
Margaret picked neutral tones for the walls and floors, creating a calm sanctuary that’s probably lovely to work in.
Luce’s office is a massive leap from all my black paint, the walls covered in posters of my favourite horror films. Her classical music’s more peaceful than the rock music usually blasting out of the speakers I upgraded.
‘That’s a lie because I know he’s not back from Manchester yet.’
‘Stalking him now, are you?’
‘Absolutely not. I— it’s just—’ The bluster only lasts a quick second. With a few clicks on her mousepad she spins the laptop around to face me. ‘I manage his diary too.’
I take it as an invite to step further into the room, and settle into a soft pink love seat opposite her, letting the plush fabric cradle my aching body.
Oh god, this is like sitting on a cloud.
How come she gets the more comfortable shit?
I’m gonna have to have a word with Cai. This is blatant favouritism, which should only benefit me.
The scent of coffee tickles me as soon as I’m settled, warm and bitter enough to ease the pounding in my head a little. A couple of cups wait on her table next to a paper bag. My fingers itch to snatch, but I sit on them instead. They could be both for her. Why would she buy me anything?
‘When’s he back?’ Instead of having an evening and the next day off like the rest of us, he took advantage of the spare time to make final checks on our first venue on the tour. Weirdo.
‘Not until this afternoon. I managed to get him an earlier meeting and train, but it’s three and a half hours home. He’s confident you have it in hand, though.’
Could have told me that. Haven’t heard a peep from him since I called last night.
‘Also,’ she adds, ‘I ordered us breakfast since we’re both too tired to go out for it, and I wasn’t sure if Cai would want us eating his food without permission. Pastries as well as coffee.’
Her nod is the permission I’ve been waiting for.
My cup’s the one without a lipstick mark on it, and I grab it and drink half of it in a second flat.
Next I dig out a croissant and shove all of it in my gob.
The pastry melts in my mouth and the caffeine brings warmth to my soul, helping to lift the weight of sleep-deprivation from my body.
I’m about to close my eyes to enjoy it more, and maybe take a small nap right here on her chair, when I catch her shaking her head at me. Her ponytail swings with the action.
‘What?’ A cloud of pastry flakes explodes from my mouth.
She picks at her own croissant. ‘You do like your food, don’t you? I’ve never seen anyone inhale a pastry that quickly.’
There’s one more in the bag. I help myself to it, taking a massive bite and making a huge teasing show of chewing. Then chase it with another swig of my coffee. I smack my lips together. ‘I’m a growing lad.’
‘You grow any more and you won’t fit on the tour bus.’
‘Oy!’ Lucy wants to jib, does she? I’m here for it, if it means less nagging in my life.
‘It’s not like I’m a pig. It takes a fuck ton of energy to do my job, and I’m starving all the time.
’ I polish off my second croissant and take the time to suck every remaining pastry flake from my fingers.
‘Chuck in daily workouts with Cai so I can keep up and I need more calories than your average thirty-five-year-old.’
‘Say the word, and I’ll fill out your schedule. Then there’ll be no slots for the gym.’
So tempting. ‘And have you accusing me of being fat? No way.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with being fat.’
Her attention goes straight back to her laptop, and I cringe against my seat. Great. Here I go putting my foot in it as we’re getting back on track. I open my big stupid gob to apologise when the corner of her mouth twitches and her tired eyes light up. Oh, she’s trouble.
I drag my eyes down her body. There’s nothing wrong with the way her blouse fits her chest, the buttons straining enough to give me the tiniest glimpse of white lace underneath.
In fact, I kind of enjoy how it looks like she’s been poured into her skirt the way the material moulds to the natural flare of her hips.
‘There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being fat.’
Pink fills her cheeks. Are we…are we flirting? Doesn’t feel as wrong as it probably should.
‘I’m glad you think so.’
I hold her gaze for only a moment longer before letting it drop to my coffee. I drain my cup, then ask, ‘Have the newspapers come yet?’
The colour dissolves from her face, and she shifts in her seat.
Her eyes flit from the floor to me, to her laptop then to the floor again.
She’s hiding something. She must be. She’s acting like the time Beth broke my favourite action figure when she tried to marry him to her Barbie.
All suspicious, like she was scared of speaking the truth out loud.
Having a dad who expects perfection will have that effect on someone.
‘What you hiding, Lucy?’
She chews the tip of her pen, her gaze now narrowed to me.
It’s like she’s assessing me, my mood. Eventually, she huffs then lifts a pile of papers from the floor next to her sofa and plonks them on the coffee table, knocking over both our empty cups.
‘Jasper has written about you. Us, really. He says we deliberately cornered him and isolated him from the rest of the conference to deprive him of an opportunity to ask the right questions. There’s a picture of him with a black eye.
’ A tendril of hair escapes from her tight pony, and she pushes it behind an ear.
‘Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have moved the conference, because then—’
‘No. No pity parties here. Not anymore. You’re not to blame for this. At least they’re not talking about Bethan and Cai.’ I abandon the paper I was about to open when her lips disappear into a thin line. ‘They’re still talking about Bethan and Cai?’
‘About her giving up her job to come on tour, yes. I didn’t know she was joining us.’
‘Me neither. I doubt she will. Probably a rumour or something Richie misheard.’
I read the article about me and Lucy twice over before folding the paper back onto the table. The press are getting better at writing shit about me. Not that I should be the centre of their attention.
Jasper’s Bully Bodyguard article makes me out to be an arsehole, a guy bent on abusing my power, but it mentions nothing about how he intruded on Cai’s privacy, how he broke the rules all journalists signed up to, and came to the event uninvited.
No, because that would look bad for him.
Instead, he’s picking on me and Lucy to distract from the fact he’s a massive bellend.
Across the table, she twists her hands together. She’s never been in an article before. At least, I don’t think she has. This must be hell for her.
I reach across, tempted to place a hand on her knee to comfort her.
But I panic and the best I can do is grip the arm of the sofa.
So compassionate, I am. She might not want me touching her, especially after all the shit things I said about her the other day.
A colleague putting a hand on her knee’s gotta be out of the question.
I’ll have to comfort her with my words, instead.
‘It’s okay,’ I tell her. ‘There’s no evidence. It’s not like he can press charges against us. Doesn’t have a leg to stand on, especially because we can prove he was there uninvited and caused an issue. The place is crawling with CCTV.’ She’s still fiddling so I add, ‘You okay?’