She whirls around to face me, her mane of curly blonde hair whacking me in the stomach as she turns. “What if the earpieces going out wasn’t just an accident? What if it was sabotage too?”
“But who would want to sabotage you?”
Her face tells me she thinks I’m an idiot for asking the question.
“Okay,” I concede. “But you know I’m not doing it.”
“You do have a half brother who has far more to gain from this than you do.”
“Don’t love that you didn’t acknowledge that you know it’s not me…” I pause.
She rolls her eyes. “Fine. I know it’s not you.”
“Ahh, thanks, babe. Your confidence means so much to me,” I tease.
“It could be Trent,” she says, staying focused on the discussion at hand.
“I’ve thought about it,” I admit. And I have. Everything that has happened has made Kelsey’s team—just Kelsey’s team—seem like they’re dropping the ball. Of course I’ve considered Trent, the person with the most to gain from Kelsey looking bad.
“I just feel like sabotage isn’t Trent’s style. He’s far more likely to try to convince Jaxon with golf trips or drinks at some fancy club, or to try to piss you off when you’re in the same room as Jaxon. Then there’s the tech side of things. The man can’t respond to his own emails. The earpieces—it’s not likely, but he could handle spilling water on something. But with the video? I just can’t imagine he’d be able to handle the tech side of the infiltration. We don’t have anyone on our team who could.”
“If it’s not him, though, who could it be?” she asks, not even attempting to mask her frustration. “Why would someone try to make me look bad?”
Chapter thirty-five
Carter
Ican’tstopthinkingabout Kelsey’s question as we load up the vehicles and head to Regency Circle Garden for one final concert. Or, more accurately, I can’t stop thinking about the only answer that makes any sense—Trent needs this contract.
I still believe sabotage isn’t his style, but he has been talking more and more about the other two contracts we’re certain to get once we land Jaxon. These last few weeks, it’s almost all he talks about when he checks in with me, but then again, he’s always been focused on the business development and shmoozing. He likes that kind of thing.
Trent couldn’t do the hacking portion by himself…but who’s to say he didn’t outsource the work to someone not on our team?
When we arrive at the arena, I tell everyone else to head inside, pointing to my phone when Nash starts to hang back from the crowd.
Questioning if I want to have someone dig into my half brother’s life, I hover my finger over the contact information for Julian, an oldcollege buddy of mine—one who dropped out midway through our junior year. I’m 99 percent sure he’s a hacker, but I’ve never wanted the moral burden of knowing for certain and not doing anything about it.
I watch Kelsey walk into the arena, and the sight of her makes my decision for me. I tap the call button.
“Hey, Carter,” Julian says when he answers.
“Hey, Julian. You got a minute?” I ask.
“For the guy who got me through American Literature 101? I’ve got at least five.”
I snort, remembering how much Julian had hated that class. The final essay had to be handwritten in class and was based on a topic the teacher randomly decided at the beginning of the finals period. Julian almost cried when he realized there was no way he could use his considerable computer skills to help himself.
“But first,” Julian continues, “tell me how you came to be providing security on Jaxon Steele’s tour.”
“How do you even know about that?” I ask with a laugh.
“Dude. Did you really think I wouldn’t keep tabs on you? I get notified any time your name pops up online. I was impressed by your statement about the security breach on the tour. Very buddy-buddy with KH Security, though. I did a little poking around on their website. Their owner looks like the real deal.”
“She is,” I say, unable to keep the admiration I feel for her out of my voice.
“Oh, shit.” Julian laughs. “You fell in love with the competition? Rookie mistake, my guy!”
“Yeah. It’s working out okay for me, though.”
