The one thing Keys had going for him was his height. But right now, he looked like a beanpole. Turning to the side, he practically disappeared.
Determined, he headed back to his computer. He needed to order equipment, some exercise clothes, running shoes, and whatever else he would need to help him. He was no longer his father’s son—he’d proven that years ago. Now he needed to start acting like it.
Immediately, his eyes landed on the message waiting for him.
Gl!tch.OS: First, thank you for confiding in me. That couldn’t have been easy to type, and I hope you know that you can talk to me about anything. We’re friends, Keys. You’re one of the few people I know I can trust, and I hope you feel the same about me.
Gl!tch.OS: As for what you said, and maybe it’s just me because of how I am reading your messages, but I hear the pain in your text. You wish you were more like your brothers. Hell, as annoying as she can be, there are many days when I wish I was more like my sister. But we can’t be THEM. If we were THEM, then we wouldn’t be US. I wouldn’t be ME and you wouldn’t be YOU. And I think YOU is pretty damn fantastic.
Gl!tch.OS: I hope this helps. I don’t envy you having to get up on a stage and being auctioned off, but make the most of it. Who knows. Maybe your true love will be waiting for you in the crowd and takes a chance on you. Whoever she is, she’s one lucky girl. Because you, Keys, are the best man I know—and trust me, that’s saying something.
Gl!tch.OS: I hope you have a good night. Oh, and Bishop to C3.
CHAPTER 3
WiseWave620: Running sucks. Whoever invited it deserves to realize they’re out of toilet paper mid-shit.
* * *
Six Weeks Later
Rose really shouldn’t be doing this, but she also couldn’t help herself. If she had any self-control, she wouldn’t be in her current life predicament, anyway. But it was a well-established fact about her that once she got a thought in her head, she became obsessed with it—no matter how obscure or ridiculous that thought was. She just fixated on it, and a lot of times, she did not think the consequences of those actions through.
She’d been trying to do better since Oscar. It wasn’t just her life she was risking fucking up anymore. Unfortunately, that self-control took a lot to maintain, and Rose tried her damnedestto keep to an agenda that was standard for her and Oscar without being predictable to an outsider.
And alarms. She had a lot of alarms scheduled, because she knew the moment she strayed from her agenda, it would be Oscar who suffered.
Shehadto be better for him.
But maybe… Maybe just a peek… She’d been helping Keys out with his new security system, testing his code to find weak points. Part of his software included an overwatch of Mount Grove itself, including police cameras, traffic cameras, and even private security cameras from outside residences and businesses. Whether it was authorized or not, Rose didn’t know, though she highly doubted it was. Part of her system was set up to attack his program, but the other part had access to his cloud base.
The trust he offered her by even showing her his code meant more to Rose than she could possibly express. The blueprints of a code were kept secret and secure for a reason.
It wasn’t a breach of his trust, per se, to access it now. She just hadn’t gotten permission to do so. But how else was she going to watch this bachelor auction? Sure, she could hack into the town’s mainframe on her own, but his program might pick up on that. That was what it was designed to do, after all. And then he’d be alerted to her eavesdropping…
Plus, they hadn’t exchanged pictures or real names. She didn’t know how much Keys knew about her, and she’d been trying to keep herself from looking too much into him. It was a temptation that would gonowhere. What difference would learning his name make?
Or putting a face to the name?
The oversight that Rose kept on Poison and theNon Crasmight seem creepy to some. Even now, she had several monitors set up with various angles of traffic as the club cruised through the streets of New Orleans. But Poison had already been kidnapped once, and Rose would not lose her sister again.
What was a little peek anyway?
Keys had been working so hard to improve himself. Not for this auction or for his brothers or even for her—but forhim. He was very adamant about that. It might be small things, like making the decision to grow his hair out and to stop shaving, to switch up his diet and add a workout routine, but he was still making the effort. Rose was very proud of him for that. In fact, he’d inspired her to make a few changes of her own, including getting an under-the-desk treadmill so she wasn’t sitting all day long—other than her only daily exercise of chasing Oscar around when he got the zoomies.
Even after only a few weeks, Rose could already feel the difference.
Looking up the auction wasn’t to spy on Keys, to finally be able to see him. That was a perk, sure, but not her main reason. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself as she pulled up the feeds to the town.
It had been a long time since Rose had belonged anywhere. Ironically, or pathetically, the place she’d felt the most loved and supported had been juvie when she’d been seventeen. While she could argue unfairness on the part of the judge, who had only seen her “bad girl” image, her six month stint had been a structured environment where Rose felt seen for the first time. Her counselors especially had tried to set her on a different path, but Rose had panicked leading up to her release date, and one bad decision had led to another.
She couldn’t curse it all, though. If she’d listened to her counselors, she wouldn’t have Oscar, and she wouldn’t trade her son for anything. He was her reason for living, her purpose for not returning to a life she’d hated but felt she deserved.
Looking through the monitors, Rose watched the townspeople of Mount Grove mill about. It was mid-afternoon on the east coast and the mountainside terrain was already bringing the winter chill, even though it was only October.
There was something homey and humble about Mount Grove. In all the places she’d lived, she’d never experienced the affection for that place, a love ofhome. Maybe because she’d never allowed herself to become attached, or because she subconsciously feared it disappearing in the blink of an eye. It wouldn’t take much, a small slip-up could have dire effects. Like a ripple in a pond that she couldn’t yet see.
The way Keys talked about Mount Grove, even in the lifeless text of their written messages, there was a warmth, a bond, with the land he called home. Rose envied that. Watching the celebration that was for nothing more extraordinary than the changing of the seasons, Rose saw the camaraderie and simple atmosphere of small-town life.
