Page 23 of To Catch A Rook

My shoulders slumped as I sighed in dramatic defeat. “Alright, Blondie, I’ll give it a go. Me first, right?”

I grabbed the plastic cup out of her hand, drew the straw between my teeth and took a long pull, swallowing quickly to bypass my tastebuds.

I choked on the thick, seedy sludge and shoved a spoonful of fro-yo into my mouth to smother the disgusting taste.

“I thought you were a badass, but now I know you are. That shyte’s dreadful, Blondie. I think that deserves two bites, that.”

“One bite.” The flicker of amusement betrayed her hard stare. “A deal’s a deal, Lucky.”

She wrinkled her nose in distaste, but opened her mouth to accept the spoonful I held out. I couldn’t take my eyes off her lips as I nuzzled the plastic between them; I imagined those lips around my cock, guzzling my cum like she was swallowing the sugary cream.

I hoped she wouldn’t look as revolted as she did right now, though.

“I can’t believe you’re eating that for breakfast.” She snatched the smoothie cup off of the tabletop and washed down my generous offering. “I’m not convinced you’re an adult, Lucky.”

I wiggled my eyebrows as I sucked another delicious spoonful, fully aware she watched my lips with the same interest. “Lass, where it matters, I can assure you I amverymuch a man.”

The fire in her eyes was enough to tell me I hit my mark. That was enough for today.

I tapped a button on my watch, triggering an automatic call to come through my cell. I glanced at the fake name coming across the screen and furrowed my brows in concern.

“Gotta take this, love. Thanks for breakfast.”

I awkwardly sidled my body out of the booth for ants, waved goodbye with a wink, then took my very ‘urgent’ call.

Step one and two complete. Hillary Lane would be calling me soon enough. I was sure of it.

“Thanks for meeting with me today, Lauchlan. Your portfolio is quite impressive.”

Marco Alvarez, the eldest son of Silicon Valley’s most major player and the world’s most major git, took stock of me from behind his mega desk, which was likely making up for a tiny cock.

I looked around the Elon-wannabe’s office, or what I imagined his office to look like; stark white, all metal furnishings, and a pretentious titanium sculpture of a human form on display in the middle of the room.

It was worth a bloody seven million dollars. That would normally pique my interest, but it was ugly as sin and wasn’t the reason for this ‘interview.’

His company hadn’t been here long. Rumor had it they’d recently shifted their base of operations to Sequoia on grounds of ‘tax reduction.’ My connections had landed me a conversation with ol’ Marky Mark, but I had to sell myself to get into the fold.

Challenge accepted, of course.

“I’m a lucky bugger who got into app development early,” I replied smoothly, feigning humility as much as I was pretending to care about cell phone apps. “I had a great team in Dublin, and I’m still managing that branch remotely, but I’m eager to break into the American market.”

The arrogant man’s booming laugh echoed through the creepy modern tomb. “I’ll bet you do; app development is the fastest growing industry in the world, and American technologies will be at the forefront.”

His dark eyes watched me like a hawk before he noted the sizable file on his desk. “Your work is impressive and your track record speaks for itself. I want you on the winning team with us.”

What a wanker. Instead of saying so, I pasted on my most gracious smile.

“I’m glad to hear that. When would you like me to start?”

“You’ll have a team of twenty. We’ll assign you to a few of our current priorities, but you’ll have time and flexibility to work on your own projects. Occasionally, we will pull your team for emergency requests, or when needing immediate work done for highlysensitiveclients.”

Oy, there it was. Marky had earned a reputation for dodging the line now and then—it was that line I was counting on.

I took in the sight of him; all smiles and charm from a bloke who’d destroyed as many lives as he had millions. The greedy fucker just took and took and took, until all that was left was a shell of a human being, their soul long sucked out of them. Her soul -

I buried that thought, swallowed the bile creeping up my throat and opted for a charming smile of my own.

“And you’re okay with me maintaining my ties to my Dublin team? I won’t be able to commit to full-time hours.”

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