Chapter 1 Voss #2
He’s somewhat of a vault, and I’m fucking intrigued. Also, he’s pretty to look at. I love that effortlessly defined chest and stomach he always has on display. I’m hypnotized by his low-hanging pants and what’s hiding under them. I want to know what’s going on in his damn brain.
“How was work? You sell any houses?” I ask.
Brek glances up at me. Daylight from the window to my right reflects off his glasses, partially obscuring his dark eyes. He shrugs one shoulder. “One. Two showings. Mostly returning calls.”
“Good. Congrats.”
He gives me a bemused look. “On making calls?”
“No, for selling a house. You said you sold one, right?”
“Oh, yeah, I did.”
“Then congrats.”
Brek nods absently. From what I know about him, he’s never proud of what he’s accomplished because he’s always been made to feel like it’s not good enough by his family.
But he’s a damn good real estate agent. It’s rare that a week goes by when he hasn’t sold at least one house, though I think two is his average.
“How was your work?” he asks.
How domestic of us. I smirk as I glance at my phone. It’s finishing setting up the mirror application to Brek’s phone. Another three minutes and it’ll be complete, as long as Brek doesn’t shut down his phone.
“Normal. Not interesting.”
He nods again and glances at his bag. His face scrunches a little. “What do you do again?”
I laugh. He asks me at least once a month.
Probably because I’m vague. This time, I decide to give him a little more than I usually do.
Just for fun. To see where he goes with it.
“I have two major avenues. One is cybersecurity. I’m hired by companies to break through their online security systems. Then they hire me to build it up so no one else can do that. ”
“That seems like a waste of time,” he says. “You’re hired to break something and then fix what you broke.”
“I’m the best in the world at my job,” I say.
Okay, maybe I boast a little. “If I can break in, that means their security isn’t as strong as it should be.
So I fix it so that no one other than me can get in.
If I’m really successful, I won’t even be able to get back in because all the back holes and weaknesses I exploited should be fixed. ”
“Ah. I see.”
“Yep.”
“The second thing?”
“Research. I help out private investigators often.”
“Oh. That also sounds boring.”
I laugh again. “I enjoy finding everyone’s secrets and exposing them.”
Brek rolls his eyes. “You like to ruin people.”
“Think about it. If you’ve truly lived a good life like so many people insist they have, then there’s nothing to find, right?”
He tilts his head as he considers this. “I guess not.”
“Which means when I find something on these so-called good citizens, I’m proving they’re not as holy as they loudly claim to be. In which case, they deserve to be exposed.”
“Because they’ve hurt people,” he interprets.
“That’s usually what it comes down to. For me, anyway.
To be honest, I don’t give a shit about tax evasion or whether you’ve changed your name.
Whatever. Most people have a skeleton in their closet they’re trying to hide.
Like all these radically conservative politicians who frequent Thrustr for hookups. Get bent, buddy.”
Brek snorts.
“What would I find if I looked into you, Albrecht?” I tease.
He gives me an amused look. “A very boring life.”
I wouldn’t call it boring. I also don’t tell him I’ve already done a thorough investigation of him. And not just him, but all his friends too. If we were letting them into our lives and this close to all our secrets, we needed to be prepared.
Needless to say, I didn’t find anything worth noting.
Oakley, Jessica, and Levis came from really great families who worked hard and loved their kids.
Briar’s family was… interesting, but I wouldn’t classify anything I found as overly concerning.
His mom needs a lesson on kindness, but she acts out of emotion, and it’s not inherently bad, even if morally wrong.
Haze’s family? Well… let’s just say that daddy needed a lesson in control. When no one’s looking, Frankie is going to get the same lesson. Dane? I’m letting him live his scandalous life in peace for now. One toe out of line, though, and he’s also going to get taught a fucking lesson.
Brek’s family, though. It’s a matter of not being great parents.
Which arguably means they’re not great people.
However, if I take the personal connection to Brek away, it’s a gray area.
They weren’t good parents, but does that mean they’re shit people?
They’re not breaking the law. They’re not beating or neglecting their kid.
They haven’t killed anyone, not even a goldfish.
They simply should have taken some parenting classes or counseling or something and learned how not to make their son feel like he’s never good enough. That the quantity of their love is based on his success as defined by them.
They’re shitty parents. They’re not evil. If I didn’t have a personal connection to Brek and we received a contract to kill one or both of them, I’d wave it off. It’s far too gray.
Though with Brek sitting across from me, with all his emotions and childhood trauma shut away, I feel very differently. At the absolute fucking least, I’d like to run them both over with a golf cart.