Mr. CEO(106)

Finally, he hums, then grins. “Deal. How do you want me to pass along what I know? I mean, coming here all the time is great for me, but puts you in more danger, right?”

I nod, then hold out my hand. “Phone.”

He takes out his phone, and I quickly go to his address book. “Here, under Grace Miseria. It's another one of my aliases. Jackson... not too many people have this number. I normally give out one of my rotating SIMs.”

He nods, and looks at the number for a moment, then puts his phone back in his pocket. “I understand. Let me talk to Nathan, and I'll be in touch as soon as I have something.”

Jackson walks to the door and unlocks it. In a moment of deja vu, I'm up, running to the door before he leaves, this time though catching him before he gets the door all the way open. “Jackson... wait.”

“What is it?” he asks, turning back to me, his face still full of concern. We were yelling at each other at the beginning, and now I want to kiss him. Weird.

“Just... I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry about getting your junk in the papers.”

Jackson smiles and shakes his head. “Thank you for the apology, but I'm not angry about it anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because it brought you back into my life. I think that's more than worth the price of a few pictures. Goodnight, Kat.”

“Not Kat. Not for you, at least,” I reply, taking his hand and give it a squeeze. “I was thinking, after you used it a few times... I kinda like hearing you call me Katrina again.”

“I like that, too. Goodnight, Katrina.”

Jackson leaves, and I watch him for a moment before closing and locking my door. My computer beeps again, and I see that it's Andrea.

BS- You okay?

CDG- Yeah. Took me a minute to read it over, and then to discuss what to do next with Jackson.

BS- He knows?

CDG- He knows the info. Not who sent it. That's up to you.

BS- Thank you. Maybe in time, but I've my own plans. Not sure if he's to be included.

CDG- I understand. Do me two favors?

BS- I can try.

CDG- He's going to talk to Nathan about the bomb. Keep an eye on him.

BS- If I can. And two?

CDG- Rich Dad, Poor Dad? Really?

BS- LOL. I just gave him that to give him some easy fluff to see if he was serious. It seems like he’s been snapped back to reality.

CDG- It does, doesn’t it?

BS- You sure you're okay with this?

CDG- I'll try and be. Hey, I just thought of something. If there's an emergency... call me on Viber. 864-885-9073. I check it often. Goodnight.

BS- Goodnight. And thank you.





Chapter 14





Jackson





I'm unsure of how to approach Nathan as I get back home. The sun went down hours ago, and Peter is probably gone. Growing up, he almost never spent evenings at home, usually going to see “friends,” as he would put it. So there's a chance that Nathan might be with him if he's actually conducting business.

On the other hand, if Peter's out with any of his current mistresses, he'd leave Nathan behind. Now that I've admitted to myself and to Katrina that he’s a philandering, lying son of a bitch, I'm able to recall little details about the way he does things, things that I'd overlooked or never really cared to think about before. Like dyeing his hair, or the fact that he changes secretaries on a roughly yearly basis. Or the fact that when he's going out to fuck around, he leaves Nathan behind.

I'm encouraged when I see that Peter's Porsche is gone. That thing only has two seats, and unless Nathan’s riding shotgun, he’ll be home. Of course, Peter never lets anyone else drive that German showpiece. I park my Audi and go inside. And here I thought my car was pretentious...

The first person I find is Andrea, sitting in the dining room with her textbooks in front of her. She's stripped out of her power suit and looks more like the twenty-year-old that she is. Shows me how fifteen hours can change someone, I guess. “Hey, Andrea.”

“Whatcha want, Jack?” Andrea asks, grumpy. Studying must be going bad for her. She's always been moody, but normally she's never outwardly hostile to me unless I'm being a jerk to her. “Don't tell me you finished Rich Dad.”

“No, I got to chapter four before everything sort of kicked off this morning. Since then, I've been... well, busy. How was your day?”

“Sucked. Got my midterms back.” Oh yeah, she said something a while back about preparing for her summer midterms.

“Andrea, you go three semesters a year, you've been doing that since junior high school. Don't you think, well, maybe you can let go of a test or two? Nobody can throw perfect games each time out. I've had bad lift days, shit like that. Besides, what'd you score?” It is one of the things that I've never grasped about Andrea until meeting Katrina again. Her drive is superhuman, and she's getting her MBA at twenty because of it. Still, it can't be healthy, having graduated high school at sixteen, getting her bachelor's at nineteen and now being more than halfway through her MBA. I've never worried about it before, mainly because I've been too much of a self-absorbed manchild to give a damn. Well, that's going to change. “Come on, Andrea. What'd you score?”