Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“Whitaker, I’m going to leave if you don’t lock in,” Steve said. “We have to get ahead of this, and you’re fucking annoying. What happened to you, man?”
I lifted my dark stare to Steve. “Fuck you. Tommy’s on a new device. Back the fuck off.”
Tommy lifted his hands to give a time-out gesture. “This was just received to your email, Slade.” He turned the phone’s screen partially toward me while he spoke aloud, using the keypad to open an attachment. “It’s officially become a problem. They’ve sent a folder with these images. They want money to stay silent.”
The first photo was enough to cause alarm. Mace and I were sitting under the trees two days ago. We held hands, laughing together.
My heart dropped. My world went still. We did in fact have a major breach. Dammit. We had a probable avalanche heading our way.
“Check the legitimacy of the email. Then build time for me,” I said, the violation to our security officially distracting me from my text conversation as I rose to my feet. “Cancel the rest of my week. I’m heading to Texas. Tommy, schedule transportation.”
“Whatever the breach is will be waiting for you to get back,” Steve said. Nothing changed in his demeanor, arms still crossed, but looking smug. Fucker.
“Yeah, but Mace needs to know, and I need to be the one to tell him.” What I didn’t say or even let myself dwell on was that I didn’t have the safe place I thought I did. My arrogance was ridiculous.
“You aren’t hearing me. You go back there and act an ass, they’ll know you know. How do you build time if they know you know? Or suspect you’re playing them?” Steve said.
I stopped in my tracks seconds before I disappeared down the hall to my bedroom. He wasn’t wrong. I gripped the phone tighter, running my other hand over my face. What did I do?
“Slade,” Tommy said. “Everything in this file had to be taken on the same day. You’re wearing the same clothes. How much do they know? This breach could be on Nico’s side. He’s hired everyone there on property. Maybe it looks like you don’t know about this yet. Maybe.”
“All right, let’s reconvene after I talk to Nico.”
Dammit.
I promised Mace we had this under control.
Fuck.
=♥=
Mace
Apparently, Slade paced a lot.
This time down the longish strip of space from his kitchen to the house’s front door, moving back and forth to achieve his ten thousand daily steps. At least it felt that long from my perch on the barstool at his kitchen island. Slade was spent from a day under the extreme anxiety that he’d placed on his own shoulders. So much so that my own worry took second place to presenting a calm façade for my anxious boyfriend.
When he’d told me about the breach on Sunday, a calmness actually spread through me and it still held true, which was weird, and meant certain people in our lives needed to know what was happening. My shuddered breath went unnoticed as I lifted my cell to my ear, counting the rings until my mom answered the phone.
“Son, you have thirty seconds. My grandchildren are here and they need me to hold them.” My mom’s chirpy voice spoke of pure happiness at having her grandbabies near.
“I need to come over. Is Lori still there?” I asked. The sudden shift in the air let me know I’d drawn Slade’s attention to me.
“What’s goin’ on?” she asked, sounding less happy as she no doubt caught the stress in my voice.
“Just somethin’ I need to tell you. Is Lori there? It’d be better if I told everyone at once,” I explained.
“Yes. They were gonna leave soon. I’ll ask them to stay,” she said. “Come quickly, Mace. Don’t make me wait to hear what you have to say.”
“On my way,” I said and ended the call.
Her urgency made me smile as I lifted my gaze to Slade’s who took the final step to stand in front of me. My mom loved me, and honestly, I didn’t see that changing. My problem with being gay was my own. I didn’t like being the subject of any sort of long-term attention. Coming out meant finger pointing. Augh.
“You ready,” I said, reaching inside my front pocket for my truck keys. Slade’s focus lasered on me as if trying to read cues that weren’t there.
“I’m not riding in your truck. The air conditioning’s out and I don’t want pit stains the first time I meet your parents.” Slade inhaled deeply, his anxiety had him bending at the waist, leveling out about halfway over. He stayed like that for a few long seconds before jerking upright again as another worry assailed him. “Am I dressed okay? Is the beard right? Should I shave before we see them? I will if necessary.”