“Figures,” he mumbled into the phone. He wasn’t always tactful with what came out of his mouth, not that it mattered. We weren’t exactly on each other’s Christmas card lists.
“Aaron, I need a favor,” I said.
Aaron chuckled. “There it is. I knew you didn’t just call me to shoot the shit. There’s always an ulterior motive with you, Ryan. Some things never change, do they?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I know I asked a lot of favors in college. You covered for me more times than I can count, and I’m grateful for that.” I sat down on the couch, ready to plead if I needed to.
“You’re the best tech guy around,” I continued. “Do you still do your side business?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he feigned ignorance.
“Come on, Aaron. You made way too much money to have stopped. I can pay you.” I gripped the phone tightly.
He sighed. “Fine, I still do odd jobs here and there, but I’m even better now. And more expensive. What do you need?”
Hesitation tugged at me. I knew Aaron, but I didn’t know him like I used to. It had been years, and people can change a lot in that amount of time. Even so, he was my only solution to get what I wanted. I had to trust that he was honorable and would do the job, then delete the information. “I need access to security cameras.”
“Please tell me they aren’t government ones. If so, it’s a no go. I learned my lesson with that shit. I’m not going anywhere fucking near a government security system,” he conveyed.
I smiled, wondering what the hell he’d gotten himself into. Maybe I would hit him up more often. I’m sure he had some epic stories. “No, they are private cameras,” I responded. “One set is at a business and I think one at a residence. They’re probably the same brand.”
“You think?” he asked. “I’m going to need to know the cameras exist before I can do anything. What city are they in? You better not say they’re in a different country, or I’m also out.”
I rushed to give him the information while I started pacing again. Shuffling sounded in the background. “Hang on, let me find a fucking pen. My coworkers are vultures.”
I waited for a few minutes before he came back on the line. “All right, do you know the brand of the cameras?”
Shit. “Uh, no. I didn’t think to take it down. I was pressed for time.” Fuck, why hadn’t I thought of that? Probably becauseI was too focused on the pussy behind the door when I went to Raven’s office.
“Well, I need the brand, or else this is impossible since I’m not local,” Aaron huffed.
“I can get the brand, no problem. It will just be a few days.”
“Ok, what’s the name of the company?” he asked.
I cleared my throat. No going back now. “Lovelace Financial,” I said and then rattled off Raven’s address.
“I’m assuming the business has a website?”
“Yeah,” I responded.
“Get me the brand of the cameras. For your sake you need to hope they’re cheap and have a back door I can get into. You also need to pray that one of the employees is stupid enough to click a phishing link. If not, well, I’m going to need you to do a lot more work which also means more work for me.”
“Let’s hope this works, then. Talk to you soon,” I said, but the phone beeped before I could finish the sentence. This was precisely why I had no use for Aaron until now.
I laid the phone on my desk and prepared myself for the busy week ahead, the image of onyx hair and emerald eyes never too far away.
Chapter Nineteen
Raven
Pissed didn’t come closeto what I was the morning after Ryan followed me. I knew it was him, but still a small part of me wondered if it was the man who I’d almost let ruin my life. The only thing tamping my anger was the fact he had given me some of the best orgasms I’d ever had. The anonymity of his attire and that I still hadn’t met him face to face likely contributed to the intensity of the encounter. Still, following me afterward was annoying.
I grabbed my earbuds off the island after dressing in my most revealing athletic clothes, a low-cut sports bra, and skin-tight bike shorts, in black of course. When I reached for the apartment door, my smartwatch vibrated with an incoming call.
“Fuck.” I said into my empty apartment before pulling my phone from the pocket in my shorts and answering. “Hey Mom, what’s up?
Shame speared me for being annoyed with the call as soon as I heard Mom’s excited voice. “Hey, honey. I wanted to call to see if you wanted to come to an early dinner withme this evening, just us. There’s a new locally owned cafe that opened up in town, and I wanted to try it.”
