Page 2 of Suddenly Desired
David chuckled. “Yeah, and you nearly raised their blood pressure to lethal levels. But, hey, it proves you’re not perfect. That might be your best defence right now. That’s if the whole Greek god look doesn’t work for you this time.”
Blake almost laughed. He’d been blessed with his father’s athletic physique and his mother’s bright blue eyes, sure, and he’d looked after himself his whole life, the way his mother had taught him to. But he was no Greek god — not in his own eyes, anyway. You had to be strong to be a god. You had to be decisive, you had to be fearless. Right now, he was none of those things.
“You believe me, though, right?” Blake asked, looking at his friend. They’d met at Cambridge, over ten years ago now, and even though Blake had dropped out while David had gone on to complete his degree, they trusted each other like brothers. He didn’t know what he would do without David’s level head and fierce intelligence. “You know I’d never write those things?”
David walked around the table and opened his arms. They hugged, clapping each other on the back. When they parted, David kept his hands on Blake’s wide shoulders, not breaking eye contact. “Blake, I’m probably the only member of the board who knows your mother would tan your hide if you’d eventhought stuff like that,” he answered. “I know you’re not a bad guy. You’re one of the most decent people I’ve ever met.”
“Thank you.” Blake turned away so David wouldn’t see the fear on his face. Once again, he stared out of the window, losing himself in the warm, yellow glow.
“But the trouble is, nobody really knows you,” David went on. “You’ve always been closed off to the outside world — even the press haven’t been able to penetrate that great wall of yours. You’ve always eschewed the public eye. You never do interviews, and even your profile on Heartbook is just the surface stuff. There’s no depth there, noyou.”
He was right. Blake had always hated attention, and had done everything to avoid it, even throughout his meteoric rise. He figured people might think him aloof, or arrogant, but that had never really concerned him. Now, thanks to these mystery posts on his page — over a hundred of them, dated from eight months ago to as recently as today, all suddenly public — people had started to hate him. And it was so much harder to defend yourself when nobody knew the real you.
“Look, we’ve got a day to fix this,” said David. “It’s not long, but we can do it. Take some time, get away from the office for a while. Let me look into it. I’ll round up the tech team and we’ll figure this out, I promise.”
“Okay,” said Blake. “Do what you can. But I’m going to get to the bottom of this myself.”
“I know you will,” said David. “Go on, I’ll hold the board at bay.”
Blake wasn’t sure if even David could do that. Maurice and Agnes had been lobbying for years for Heartbook to strategically expand into an e-commerce site that would prioritise their profits. Blake had blocked numerous attempts — he didn’t want Heartbook becoming a glorified shopping site. He had always wanted Heartbook to be something good, a social network thatwas a positive force in the world, but as soon as the money had started to roll in, the vultures had arrived.
The honest truth was that Blake didn’t even enjoy his job now. All these years he’d thought of Heartbook as his way to escape from the real world, but now he was a prisoner in his own social network. As for Michelle, she simply hated him. This was just the excuse the board needed to send him to the gallows.
He offered his hand to David, who shook it, then he made his way to the door.
“Oh, and Blake,” said David. “You might want to keep a low profile. There are a lot of haters out there.”
Chapter 2
ELLIE
Something weird was happening.
Ellie Mae Woodward looked up from her notepad and adjusted her glasses to see a line of people walking swiftly past. They all looked panicked, and for a moment she wondered if the fire alarm had gone off. But it would have to be the world’s worst fire alarm, because there was no noise other than the hushed, frantic whispers of the crowd — that and the constantly ringing phones from the wide, curved reception desk on the other side of the lobby. A man and a woman were sitting there, red-faced and flustered as they fielded call after call.
Maybe it wasn’t weird, she thought. Maybe this was just how it was here every day. This was the world headquarters for Heartbook, after all. It would be unusual if it wasn’t a hive of activity. Wasn’t that one of the reasons she’d always wanted to work here?
But she was Ellie Mae Woodward. Things had a habit of turning weird as soon as she got involved.
“Ah, nuts!” said the man who was sitting two seats away from her in the large, sun-drenched lobby. He was staring at his phone with an expression of angry disappointment, and with another grumbled curse he stood up and walked out. There were seven other people there all looking at their phones too. Three of them packed up their things and left silently, joining the throng of people exiting the building.
Ellie dropped her pink notebook into her handbag. It was full of neatly written notes for her job interview today, as well as just about every other thought that had entered her head recently. It took her a while to find her phone in the clutter, and when she did, the ancient Samsung didn’t have a signal — eventhough they were smack bang in the heart of the city. Ellie called out to another young woman, with a face like an A-list actress and clothes to match, who was trotting out of the lobby. “Excuse me, do you know what’s going on?”
Either her quiet voice didn’t register, or the woman was too rude to answer. She pushed through the doors and disappeared into the crowd that was forming on the plaza outside.
This isreallyweird, Ellie thought, wondering if the Ellie Mae Curse really had struck again. She swallowed her nerves and picked up her bag, clutching it to her chest as she walked to the reception desk. Both receptionists were speaking into their headsets and she listened to them while pretending to study a Heartbook welcome pack in the rack by the desk.
“. . . I’m very sorry, all tours are cancelled today. Uh-huh, uh-huh, if you send us an email we’ll be able to refund the cost. I’m very sorry . . .”
“. . . not in today, all meetings have been rescheduled. No, you’ll have to talk to Mr Fielding, and I’m afraid he’s not in right now, and if you print that without comment then you’ll have to answer to our legal team.”
The man pressed the button on his headset and looked wearily at Ellie.
“Can I help you?” he asked, the phone already ringing again.
“Um, yes.” Ellie tucked a strand of honey-blonde hair behind her ear. She gave him her best smile, the only thing she ever seemed to be complimented on. “I’m here for the interview, for the design team post. We were told to wait in reception.”
The man laughed, but there was no humour there. “Sweetheart,” he said, the word instantly causing her hackles to rise. “Look around you. And maybe check your phone. Do you honestly think we’re recruiting right now?” He pressed the button on his headset and waved her away like she was a fly. “Heartbook HQ, how may I direct your call?”
