Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
MATEO
“Do you think… you could fix it?” Dax asked hopefully.
Despite getting Dax’s computer handed off, Mateo’s afternoon was no less busy than it had been since he started.
The Cyber Security office was still getting into the swing of things, and with Roz at the helm, there was almost always something unexpected that popped up throughout the day that they had to deal with.
He was barely functioning enough to get through the work day, much less help a coworker who didn’t understand the basics of technology upkeep.
He didn’t want to be mean though. Dax had been nice in bringing him to the pool when he was overwhelmed.
“I, uh…” he began awkwardly.
Dax’s eyes widened like he realized he was asking too much, and shook his head rapidly, waving his hands around.
“I didn’t mean right now. I meant some other time.
You know, after you’ve gotten some rest and maybe a snack.
Did you finish your lunch? You look like you could use more food. Do you eat enough?”
Blinking in surprise, Mateo wasn’t sure how to respond to that. The barrage of questions felt like it came out of nowhere, and he didn’t have a hope of keeping up with them.
He watched as Dax’s cheeks flushed, his laugh awkward as he tried to play off the weird line of questioning.
“Sorry. Older sibling problems. I tend to look out for people. Don’t answer those questions.
You’re already tired. You know what? Forget I asked entirely.
I don’t want to make you feel pressured or anything. You should just ignore me–”
A smile tugged at Mateo’s lips. The kraken’s awkward fumbling attempts to take care of him were kind of cute. And it was nice to know someone cared, even if it was just a random coworker. He put his hand on Dax’s shoulder, waiting for him to slow down his rambling before answering him.
“It’s fine. I’m a younger sibling, so I get the hovering thing. My sister still texts me at least once a day to ask if I’m exercising and eating enough. She’s worse than my mother.”
The reassurance seemed to help, and Dax let out a breath, giving him a tentative smile. “Just one older sister?”
Mateo nodded, then looked at Dax curiously. “How many do you have?”
Snorting, Dax replied, “A lot more than one. I’m kid number three of nine.”
Mateo’s mouth fell open in shock. “Nine? That’s insane!”
He realized after the words left his mouth that it came out a little rude, but Dax just shrugged, a lopsided grin on his face.
“Yeah, according to my parents, we were ‘too cute to just have one or two’. I guess I’ve got that going for me at least, since I’m so bad with tech.
” He blanched, jerking his head up. “Not that I think I’m cute.
I’m not like full of myself or anything, I just meant–”
A laugh bubbled up, and Mateo felt his shoulders come down, the ease of the conversation and the adorable rambling helping him relax. “I mean, I don’t disagree with them.”
The way Dax lit up at the compliment made Mateo glad he had a swarthy complexion. It hid the blush in his cheeks. He hadn’t meant to flirt, it had just slipped out. Something about the kraken made him lower his guard.
Clearing his throat, he gestured to Dax’s phone. “If you don't mind waiting, I can probably help next week with your phone. It’s not really broken, you just have too many apps taking up memory space. It’s an easy fix.”
Dax cocked his head curiously. “So if I just delete apps, I should be fine? I could do that on my own and save you the trouble.”
Narrowing his eyes, Mateo studied the kraken. Why did he feel like that statement shouldn’t be taken at face value? The man had so many apps his phone ran slower than regular human phones, which was concerning.
Dax’s eyes widened, and he shrank under Mateo’s scrutiny, a sheepish grin on his face. “What?”
“Why do I feel like I can’t trust you not to delete something important?”
When Dax’s gaze flicked to his phone and back to Mateo, he felt like he hit the nail on the head. The kraken couldn’t be trusted with electronics.
A smile still tugging at his lips, he shook his head with faux exasperation. “It’s fine. I’ll help. Maybe we can meet for lunch next week now that you’ll no longer be pestering me to fix your computer.”
Wrinkling his nose, Dax said, “I’m sorry about that. I’m a little worried that with the missing data, I’ll have to redo the last phase. I was just hoping it somehow still had what I needed. That’s not your fault though, and I shouldn’t have bugged you so much.”
It was nice to get an apology at least, even though he wasn’t actually that bothered by Dax himself.
It was his home life that was draining him dry.
Had it been a normal week with normal sleep, he doubted Dax’s repeated emails and attempts to wheedle him in the office would’ve bothered him all that much.
“You should give me your number,” Dax said suddenly, making Mateo blink in surprise.
“Uh, what?”
“So we can meet up for lunch. I sometimes get lost in my research and eat late. I don’t want to leave you sitting around waiting for me.”
Oh. Well that made sense. He hadn’t thought about that. Then again, he was surprised he was awake enough to even follow along with this conversation. “Sure. That sounds good.”
He took Dax’s offered phone, plugging in his number before handing it back. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he sighed, trying to summon the energy to go back upstairs and finish the rest of his day.
“You okay?” Dax asked worriedly.
Dropping his hands, he gave the kraken a weak smile. “Yeah. I’m good. Just tired. Let me know if you have any more problems with the system. It should be working fine now. I gotta get back to work.”
He felt a little better after talking to Dax.
The guy was nice, and Mateo hadn’t made any real friends yet in the office.
He hadn’t really been there that long, and cyber security was so busy getting things up and running that socializing was a little difficult.
At most, he got a few minutes to say hello to his coworkers when the day started before they were inundated with tasks to get done and were too busy to speak.
He hoped that’d change one day. He’d burn out working like this all the time, especially if he couldn’t get a break at home.
To his surprise, Jonah was waiting for him at his desk when he arrived back upstairs, a worried frown on his face as he looked Mateo over. “I didn’t get a chance to check in with you after lunch. Is everything okay?”
Blowing out a breath, Mateo dropped into his seat, immediately opening the drawer that had his sanitizing wipes in it.
He was not neurotic, no matter how many times his sister said otherwise.
He just preferred to keep things clean. “I’m okay.
Just tired. I’m sorry I had a meltdown earlier. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
Jonah, who was a decent enough person not to perch his butt on Mateo’s desk, grabbed an empty chair from nearby and wheeled it over, sitting and facing Mateo with a concerned frown.
“You said you were tired, yeah. But being so tired you have a meltdown isn’t a good thing, Mateo.
Can I ask why you’re so tired? Are things not going well at the condo? ”
Mateo focused on wiping the surface of his desk clean, debating how much he wanted to share with his boss.
Jonah was related to Taron, and Taron was already asking questions after overhearing part of their conversation.
He didn't have the energy to deal with Taron right now. He just wanted a decent night’s sleep.
“It’s nothing, really. The guy who lives across the hall from me is up at odd hours, that’s all.
” It honestly wouldn’t bother him if the noise was consistent, he was used to the pounding music and talking from his neighbors before.
This was different, though. The guy, whose name he didn’t know yet because the guy hadn’t been there during the introductions, would be quiet for hours then suddenly start making noises that startled the crap out of Mateo.
Sometimes it was high pitched, like he was working on some kind of tech, others it was a deep buzzing noise.
Sometimes the noise lasted a while, other times it was over almost as quickly as it started.
It was hard for Mateo to block it out to get rest when it was so random like that.
“Have you said anything? This is a new project, there’s bound to be some chafing. I’m sure if you said something–”
“No,” Mateo shook his head. “I’m okay. It won’t be forever.”
He had no intention of sticking around. He was just staying in the condo long enough to save for his own place in a decent area. A few months was all it would take. He could handle it.
That or he’d start sleeping at the office. He wasn’t about to tell Jonah that, though.
Jonah eyed him suspiciously, but he relented eventually. “If you’re sure. You can talk to people if there’s problems, you know. Or I can talk to Taron for you if you’re uncomfortable. You’re not alone, Mateo.”
Mateo’s shoulders loosened and he gave Jonah a small smile. “Thank you. I promise I’m okay. The pool helped a lot. I forgot how much I loved swimming. It helps clear my head.”
Jonah nodded slowly. “I guess I can see that. I don’t swim much, but Emmett and I do go on hikes together. The exercise helps when things get too insane around here and I need a break.”
He considered not asking, but the opportunity was there, and he was pretty sure the rest of his coworkers would want to know the answer as well. “Will it always be like this? This crazy, I mean.”
“Goddess, I hope not,” Jonah chuckled. “Things should settle once we’ve got all the security measures in place and the system is fully functional.
We’re not fully set up in all the buildings yet so things are still in the works, you know.
” He tapped Mateo’s desk before standing.
“Speaking of which, I thought I’d let everyone know we’re moving onto Medical Innovations next week.
We’ve had a few instances of hacking attempts in that division, and Roz wants to lock it down.
Each system in the division will need to be checked, tagged, and removed if there’s anything sketchy going on.
I need a volunteer to join me in setting up a few backup replacements in case of that instance. ”
Shayna raised her hand, and because it meant less interacting with people, Mateo did as well.
He’d prefer to be in a back room setting up computers right now.
It required less brain power, and he needed the rest. He made a mental note to warn Dax about the sweep next week.
Roz might be mad that he warned him, but he didn’t want Dax to suffer her wrath if he didn’t need to.
He was sweet. He deserved a little warning.