Page 12 of Misunderstood Hacker

The question about anything being broken made me laugh hysterically. I had just had my casts removed yesterday. When Brock found out I tried to drive myself somewhere, he would deliver on his promise to tan my ass. I couldn’t stop laughing. Antonio said something about shock before he lifted me into a cradle position and walked toward the elevator.

“Jessica, you need to tell me where Brock is. They can’t locate him in the garage,” Antonio said before putting his phone back up to his ear.All the security guards were talking to each other through the earpieces.

“He’s at work.”

The look on Antonio’s face was pure fury. I could feel it vibrating off his body. “What were you doing in the garage?” he demanded. His question left no room for avoidance.

Well,I had done something wrong, and I needed to fess up. “Alex needed me to take a meeting for him. It was at one of our project sites.” I was coming down from the adrenaline high, and coming that close to death again was beginning to set in. Tears ran down my face.

When we entered the elevator, I asked Antonio to put me down. He refused, and we rode the next twenty-seven floors in pure silence.

Once we reached my floor, Antonio headed to the left toward Alex’s office. I would have to deal with three alpha men and their egos.

“You can take me to my office. Numbers don’t calculate themselves. I will call the project manager, and we can do it over the phone. When Alex gets out of his meeting, I will tell him what happened.” Maybe I could sneak out before Alex’s meeting was over and go into hiding. I wasn’t sure who would yell at me the most—Alex or Brock.

Antonio gave me a stern stare. “No.”

When we walked around the corner, the double doors to Alex’s office were open. He was pacing back and forth, yelling about something, and his assistant, Sarah, was taking notes. When he saw Antonio caring me, he headed toward us. “Thank god you’re okay.”Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his cool. “Is Brock in the garage working the case?” Alex asked Antonio.

Once Antonio had set me on Alex’s white couch and dropped a blanket over me, he replied, “No.”

“What the fuck do you mean no? Where is he? Is he okay?”

Antoniolooked at me and raised his eyebrows. It seemed Antonio wanted me toexplainwhy Brock wasn’t with me. “Umm, Brock is at Blackwood Security. He’s meeting with a high-profile client.”

Alex was not holding his anger in any longer. “That can’t be right. I told you to take Brock to the jobsite!”

The tears streaked down my face. “I wanted to help you out. Brock is meeting with new clients today. I told you I would take care of it. I never said Brock would take me.”

Alex stormed back to his desk and picked up his cell phone.

I leaped off the couch to stop him. The blanket pooled on the ground, and I tried to hobble toward him. “You can’t call him. He is in important meetings. With Sam and Pattygone, he’s in charge.”

Alex gave me an I don’t give a shit stare and dialed Brock’s number.

* * *

Brock

This daywas turning into a clusterfuck. I hated having to leave Jessica alone at work. With Sam gone to Shialia, we were short-handed. The FBI Director, CharlesWestblack,needed help on a human trafficking case that kept leading to dead ends.

I had been in a meeting with the FBI director for the past couple hours. Another woman had been seized, and the FBI thought theMujahideenterrorist group was behind the kidnapping. Mia would take lead on the case. I was helping with the digital fingerprint.

The door to the conference room swung open, and John walked in. I could tell by the look of him that he had more bad news. I took a swig of my warm Mountain Dew before addressing him.

“What’s going on, John?”

John shifted. “Do you have your phone on you?”

Fuck. I had put it on the charger and forgotten to bring it with me.

“Alex has been trying to get in touch with you, and he’s not happy.” Knowing Alex, he’d probably chewed John out because I didn’t have my phone.

I didn’t care that we had the FBI director in the room. Mia could finish working on the case and grab anyone else she needed. If Alex was throwing a fit, it meant something had happened to Jessica.

I ran down the cream-colored hallway to my lair. My phone was on the charger next to my keyboard. I swiped my finger across the screen and saw I had thirty missed calls, all from Alex. Dialing Alex and grabbing my truck keys, I ran toward the exit. Alex picked up on the first ring.

“About fucking time you called me back!” Alex screamed in the phone.

“Is Jessica okay?” I’d become accustomed to Alex’s temper tantrums, and they didn’t bother me anymore.

“Yes, other than her work car blew up ten seconds before she got in it.”

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