Page 174 of Rush of Jealousy

“I ended up at North Pacific University in Seattle and double majored in computer science and electrical engineering, with a minor in business management.”

“Could you be any more of an overachiever?”

He chuckles. “I’ve always been up for a challenge.”

“I figured with a jewelry company you would have had a degree in design or something more artsy and creative.” I make a scrunchy face. “And less math. Yuck.” I stick out my tongue.

His eyes flash to me, and I can tell he is pondering over my comment. “You’re beyond insightful.”

“Just tell me the truth, please.”

“I never planned on having a jewelry company when I graduated from college. But I knew I wanted to do something hands-on. My last semester in college was the game changer for how I would secure enough money to even be able to buy up companies or start my own.”

“What happened that last semester?”

“At NPU there is an electronics lab that is typically used by students working in the graduate research programs, but I was allowed to utilize it because I had a work-study job and the professor who ran the lab gave me free access to it. I used to tinker with electronics all throughout my childhood. Take things apart. Put them back together again. But what separated me from most other kids was that I would try to find a way to make the device better before I would piece it back to its original formation. It became a little hobby of mine, but you would refer to it as an obsession.”

“Probably,” I agree. “You do like to take things a little too far.”

“Ha. Well, I would start with computers. Take them apart and rebuild them to be faster, have more memory, etcetera. Well, during that last semester, I had access to many different tracking devices. Probably twenty different models and styles. Most had GPS capabilities and were bulky, and none were tinier than a memory card for a camera. I spent months messing around with the ones that were in the lab. Taking them apart and putting them back together again. I did that until I could produce one that was small. Smaller than any others on the market. I held on to my idea after graduation. There was no need for me to try to replicate it in a factory setting without a steady income to back my project.”

“What did you do with your idea then? Just forget about it?”

“I waited until I graduated and worked for a couple of years with my dad on commercial building structures handling the electrical issues and some of the system engineering stuff. But I was really waiting for Nic to finish his degrees and move back to the West Coast. He was skilled and had talents beyond his computer science degree, with a specialty in privacy and security.”

“What does that mean?”

“He became an expert, really. And several government agencies sought him out. He just wasn’t interested in the private sectors. He had other dreams.”

“Okay…”

“Nic was young and ambitious and able to see outside of the box on solutions. While I was more physical with my skill set, Nic was more behind the scenes, but put us together and we could be a force. However, he fell in love with a girl named Tara. He was going to marry her and it changed his outlook for the future. No longer was being a hacker as thrilling as it was to having a family of his own.”

“Love can change everything,” I say softly.

“Or ruin you,” Graham points out with a frown. “And that’s what it did to Nic. He would have stayed east but he broke off the engagement to Tara.”

“Oh no, why?”

“He suspected she was cheating on him.”

“How did he find out?” I ask. And then it dawns on me. “Oh no, did you put a tracking device on her?”

“No. I didn’t. But I gave Nic the resources so he could. He wanted concrete evidence before he called everything off.”

“Pretty sure that is illegal in most states.”

“Yeah, and neither of us cared. He needed to know where she was going and wanted proof. He got it. And thankfully avoided a train wreck later on.”

“Why not just place one on her car?”

“Because she would use a taxi. Knew all the tricks. Except the one where she led Nic straight to the other man’s bedroom.”

“Wow. That just sucks.”

“Yeah, but it helped him find closure and move on with his life—despite being jaded toward women and refusing to date or get involved with any girl who even breathed the word ‘commitment.’”

“Sheesh.” I stretch out my legs to avoid them getting the pins and needles feeling from falling asleep. “Has to be pretty lonely shutting yourself off from women.”

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