Chapter 5 #2
It reads I Know the Effect I Have.
My knuckles crack. Did he conjure this up in the middle of the night as a fuck you to me?
Probably. Knowing him, he has a screen printing press under his bed. Or maybe he found me twisted in my sheets last night, my breathing heavy, my mind reeling.
He has no idea the effect he has on me, on my dreams.
On what I seem to need.
Or maybe he knows exactly what you need.
He catches my stare and grins at me.
“Where’s my coffee?” he asks, grabbing a chair and pulling it over to my side. It slides over the wood floor, and for a moment, I wonder if it will leave scratches etched in it. Not that I say anything about it. That won’t accomplish anything.
I frown. “I don’t have your coffee.”
Neo tuts. “You should know better. I always function better with it.”
I adjust my tie, which suddenly feels too tight. “Since when am I your assistant?”
He rolls his eyes and shoves the chair as close to me as he can before flopping into it and grabbing my laptop.
I was in the middle of…well, attempting to answer an email. I thought perhaps he’d changed his mind, or was going to outright refuse to assist me.
I didn’t think he’d show up late to fuck with my schedule. I should have known better.
“God, seriously?” he says, looking at my screen and reading the email I’ve been toiling over aloud. “This could have been a text, but unfortunately it’s not…”
He hits the delete button, and I shrug. “Well, it’s true. His question is a complete waste of both our time. Why not point that out?”
“You don’t say that shit to people, dude.” He scrolls up and winces. “Oh my god, this is a donor. What on earth were you thinking?”
I sigh, refusing to be amused by how he’s glaring at me. “I can’t be fucked with this person. They’re…needy.”
“They give you money. You bend over and take it. Now, go get me coffee. I have work to do.”
Neo’s gaze is solely on the computer now, his fingers flying over the keyboard.
I clear my throat, but he doesn’t look up.
I really should debate doing this. If I get up and do as he asks, he’ll get it in his head that I’ll do anything for him.
And after last night, that’s not what I want to think about. I really don’t.
I need some distance between us.
But I can’t find it in myself to deny him. I pull up a delivery app on my phone. “What do you want?”
He bites his bottom lip, but doesn’t acknowledge the question. I’m not sure if he even heard me.
“Neo,” I say with more force, and he finally turns.
“What?” He sounds annoyed, which makes my nostrils flare.
“What do you want to drink?”
I hold out my phone, and he arches an eyebrow. “Where from?”
“Northbound Grounds.”
“Oh, fuck yes. That’s, like, the rich people stuff.” He grabs the phone from me, scrolling and tapping the screen a few times.
When he hands it back to me, I glance at the cart emoticon and frown. “Four items?”
“Yeah. Something to eat and drink for you, asshole. Even if you don’t deserve it.”
I pull up the order and see that he’s selected what I normally drink. Just how much attention is he paying to me that I’m not noticing? I glance over at him, but he’s back to work and ignoring me.
I pay and then set my phone down, scooting my chair away a few inches.
He just shifts his in the same direction until the arms are touching.
I sigh loudly. Aside from a tiny smirk, Neo doesn’t respond. He just stays hyperfocused as he flies through the emails. It leaves me to work on other things.
Like The Firm.
I shouldn’t when Neo is close enough to glance over my shoulder.
It’s one thing to let him assist me with Umbra, but anything else?
That’s a level of trust I don’t have in anyone aside from my siblings.
I debate what to do before deciding it’ll be fine.
Neo doesn’t seem particularly interested in what I’m doing.
He’s extremely focused on what is happening in my inbox.
And, really, I need to get on top of The Firm as well as everything else.
Going to the safe, I press my thumb to the pad and wait for the beep. After that, I enter the three codes needed to make the door unlock.
The briefcase is heavy as I lift it out; a physical representation of the work that awaits. Of all the people who need our help. Who need my help. Maybe that’s why I don’t have the patience needed for the donors.
Everyone needs a slice of me. The donors. The Firm. My family. All the time. Need, need, need.
Suddenly, I’m so very tired.
Neo doesn’t so much as lift his head as I open the briefcase. I sift through the requests—some handwritten, others typed. They all have one thing in common though.
Desperation.
I organize them into piles based on the nature of the request. As always, money ranks the highest, followed closely by murder.
While we will honor the vast majority of the financial requests, it’ll only be a few of the latter that will be granted.
Despite common belief, The Firm does not murder innocents.
We aren’t just the executioners of St. Dismas, but the judges and jurors too.
And, like judges and jurors, we consider all the evidence before delivering our sentence.
It makes the work extra arduous. Especially for me, given I’m the one who conducts all the background checks.
I can’t rely on my brothers as I’d like to, even if they’ve made noises about being more helpful.
Matthias has been around less and less since he got together with Wyatt.
While Cade is happy to play the executioner, he’s not so quick to volunteer to help with the admin side of things.
Samson has no patience for research, and Harley gets too invested in the targets.
Which leaves Dalton. Dalton, who, with every passing day, seems increasingly more interested in whatever shit Jackson is getting himself into.
I’m like a boat. My brothers have jumped out and swum to shore. Meanwhile, the tide is taking me farther and farther out. There’s a hole too, one I know will grow until I’m sinking and drowning. No one will know. No one will hear me cry out.
I’ll be all alone.
I’m so lost in my own depressing thoughts that I don’t realize Neo has moved until he clears his throat. “Wylder?”
I blink up at him. He’s standing over me, sipping coffee.
When did that arrive? I must not have noticed. There I go again. Unaware of my surroundings. What is it about Neo that has me dropping my guard?
He eyes the little mountains of paper I’ve been sorting through. “This system is archaic.”
I grunt. “Any computer can be hacked. You should know that.”
“True, but do you normally do this on your own?”
“Who else is going to do it?”
Neo’s lips thin, but he doesn’t say anything else, just holds out another coffee. “Here.”
I take it from him silently. He picks up the small paper bag and holds that out too. “Drink and eat something.”
I take the bag apprehensively. When I checked the cart earlier, I didn’t bother to look past the coffee order. I peer inside to find a chocolate croissant. Terrible for my health. Delicious in all the wrong ways.
Like Neo.
I shake that thought off.
“Eat it,” he says, and I stare at him. He’s far too close. In more ways than one.
I pull it out and take a bite, my lashes fluttering.
“Yeah, you like that,” he says, his eyes flickering. “You fucking like it.”
I swallow and lick my lips. “I’m eating it to shut you up.”
His mouth twitches. “Yeah, all right.”
Then he turns back to the computer, noisily slurping on his blended drink while I slowly drink mine.
The chocolate lingers on my tongue the same way his touch lingers on my skin.
Yes, not at all good for my health. Not in the slightest.