Page 3 of Hacked For Love
I’m still pulling together the last details on this project. I have time to decide whether to actually go through with it. A slow and steady draining of their wallets would be safer, but I’mtorn.
There are so many people in this town who need help, and they need itsoon.
I’ll sleep on it,I think as I strip off my sweater and wander to bed in my yoga pants and a black tank top. I pull my hair off my shoulders and tie it up with a plain elastic band before clambering intobed.
Strangely, the last thing in my head before I doze off is Steele’s beautiful face and cold eyes. I want to ask him when he stopped caring about people, but as I drop off, I remind myself again of the rules I’veset.
We must nevermeet.
Chapter2
Drake
I should know by now never to go through the news feeds during breakfast. It always shows the most depressing shit. And this morning, as I sit in my breakfast nook in one corner of my penthouse, is noexception.
My bagel with lox, cream cheese, and purple tomatoes sits there untouched as I stare gloomily at the touchscreen in front of me. It rests in a plain black stand partway across the table. Wary of getting crumbs on it, I use an extra-long stylus to flick through article after article describes disasters, crime, government corruption, and people near and far being fuckedover.
I stop at one in particular and let out a heavy sigh before forcing myself to choke down some orange juice as I skim over the article.Every time I read about this goddamn fire in South Park the situation gets more screwedup.
The tragedy hit the news on an icy night three days ago. There’s a whole little list of headlines, which outline the story pretty well bythemselves:
Electrical Fire in South Park Leaves Three Dead, ScoresHomeless
South Park Fire Casualties Now atFive
Electrical System Overloaded After Tenants Forced to Use SpaceHeaters
Landlord Questioned Over UnheatedBuilding
Fire Marshall Discovers Disconnected Sprinkler System, FireHoses
Self-Described “Frugal” South Park Slumlord Hit with MultipleViolations
South Park Slumlord May Face Wrongful Death Lawsuits, LawyersUp
The list isn’t even done yet, and I already have a headache. I turn the screen away from me to concentrate on my breakfast, cutting my eyes toward the view outside as I scoop up my loaded bagel and bite into it like a burger. The burst of flavor on my tongue wakes me a little from my doldrums, and I grunt in satisfaction, giving a littlenod.
The world’s misery can wait until I have a full stomach and a focusedmind.
The view outside reminds me of the Northeast or maybe even back home: white rooftops, evergreens crowned with snow dotting bleak hills full of bare broadleafs, plows beeping as they push the mess down on the street into piles at the side of the road. Now and again, I hear the screech-honk-crunch of a fender bender as wheels slide out of control on patches ofice.
This winter has been brutal. After two strangely mild early Februaries in a row, we’re now breaking records in the otherdirection.
Which is why everyone had their electric heaters blasting in that apartment building. No radiators. Just trying to stay warm in some antiquated shit-heap with an electrical system that probably hasn’t been upgraded since thefifties.
I wince and force myself to bite down on my bagel again, chewing angrily. I can’t afford to get this caught up in other people’s problems. My family used to mock me for being too soft-hearted.
And they had a point—unplanned, emotional decisions cause nothing but trouble. I have my own ways of working for the greater good, and they don’t involve swooping in to rescue every desperate person I run across. If they have a plan for pulling themselves out of poverty, then I’ll help them in a second, but I’m nohero.
I finish my bagel, my collagen drink, and half my orange juice before I let myself look back at my flat screen. The latest additions to the stories make me lift an eyebrow; the newest posting is barely an hourold.
Donation Site for South Park Fire Victims Receives $25k In ThreeDays
South Park Slumlord Facing Wrongful Death Lawsuits from Victims’Families
South Park Slumlord Attacks Fire Marshall During Questioning,Jailed
I sit back, a faint smile of relief on my face.Good. A bit of a happy ending. These people don’t need my help now—someone else took care ofit.
