Page 5 of Unmasking You

He says more, but I don’t hear it. “But you promised, though. You said if I work for you and follow your rules, you’ll give me the money for the organisation.”

“I’m keeping my promise. You still have money, just not as much as before. I need to invest in something that’ll give me a better return than those kids you like so much.”

“Father,” I say, jumping up from the chair to stop him from walking away.

He turns around with a look of utter fury on his face, so I expect nothing good to come out of his mouth. “Stop playing with that foundation and do some actual work. Don’t force me to shut it down.” He looks at me pointedly and I back down.

“Yes sir.”

He leaves the room without looking back, and I stay there until I regain my composure. I can’t let him win, not again. If being an obedient son is going to give me what I want, I’ll do what he asks.

I’m a bundle of nerves by the time I get home, and instead of wasting time eating, I grab a bottle of beer and sit on the sofa. I look around at my functional apartment, at its high-end furniture so fitting for a million-pound apartment in London, but it doesn’t feel like a home, which sours my mood even more. I felt more at home in the dorms than here.

I take a sip of the drink and then place it on the small table in front of me. The view from the window is spectacular, and that’s the only thing I love about this apartment. Well, that and it’s a twenty-minute walk from the office. With the hours I work, I don’t have time to go to the gym, so walking is the only exercise I do during the week. I hit the gym on the weekend because I’m not dead, and I need to get laid sometimes.

That hasn’t happened since Jamie Wilson invaded my life with his wicked sense of humour, beautiful eyes, and that toned body I only had the pleasure of touching once. He won’t allow me a second chance. What we did… what I did… it was fucked up.

I drag my laptop close and fire it up, pulling up an internet window and typing Jamie’s name in the search bar. And… what the actual fuck? My mouth hangs open at the amount of information and all the shots of him that are on the web. He’s beautiful, even more so than the night we met again, probably because I can see his face.

He hasn’t changed much. I scoff at myself and my need to play down the effect his pictures are having on me.

Not changed much is a fat fucking lie.

He still resembles the boy I once knew, but that baby face he used to have… it’s all man now. His hair is a little longer, and those glasses—which he wasn’t wearing at the charity ball—make him look bloody scorching hot. I keep staring until I find myself extending a hand to touch the contour of his face as if he were here with me and not just a bunch of lines of code. That shadow of stubble I can’t avoid imagining pressed against my skin, and his pronounced jaw paired with those luscious lips, make me want to kiss him more.

The poor boy has become one of the most wanted IT geniuses in the entire world.

And now I want to know more about him, but that sort of information isn’t on the web. I want to have dinner with him and listen to him talk about what he’s done since the last time we saw each other.

I thought of him from time to time, even before meeting him again, most of the time with regret. But I never thought he would become this huge celebrity. Maybe what I thought was bad with the eyes of a kid really wasn’t, and Jamie has risen from it and shown everyone what he’s made of.

Now that my curiosity has been tickled, I’ll be making sure to stumble upon him again.

I’m looking forward to our next encounter.

I wave away the nagging visions of the charity ball. The visions where he pulled away and nearly punched me in the face. I’m sure if I apologise, we can put the past behind us and move forward.

Maybe we can rekindle that connection we had when we were kids. Before I was a prick. Before all the problems started.

I’ll do better this time because I’m an adult, and no one will have the power to make me do what they want.

Chapter 3

Jamie

Ten years ago

First day at school sucks.

It sucks because you’re the new person starting in a new school. It sucks because you had to leave all your friends behind. And it sucks because everyone here is rich and you’re the only outsider. When you live on a council estate and not in a Victorian house worth more than what my dad will make in his entire working life, then you’re the odd man out.

Feeling out of place is an understatement. The king of understatements in my case.

I adjust the shoulder straps to give myself courage to enter the building, and then, with a fortifying breath, I take the first step into my new school life.

I enter the classroom, and all eyes land on me. I’m a couple of minutes late because I had to report to reception before being shown how to get to my form room. I’m like a koala in a zoo, some kind of rare species everyone can’t take their eyes off.

“Mr Wilson, welcome.”

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