Shattered

Chapter 6: Ocean Eyes

Violet's POV:

"I lend everyone my ear, but nobody my heart." – Erin Hanson

Trivia with Kaden, Xander and Tess was actually more fun than I thought it would be. Kaden and Tess had a good sense of humor but Xander seemed a little weird, stand-offish. Lola also had a good time and invited them to a party one of our friend's was having over the next weekend. Her invitation nearly gave me a heart attack, especially after Kaden and I's weird... I don't know what I would call it, moment I guess. There was something about him, something that drew me in and made me want to know more. The feeling scared me. I didn't want to be close to anyone. I couldn't be close to anyone and the fact a weird part of me wanted to be close to him was alarming.

If that was alarming, what was more alarming was falling asleep and dreaming about him. Except they weren't normal dreams. They were intimate dreams. Dreams of him and I with nothing between us, our bodies moving in synch, our lips sealed together. I'd never in my life had a dream like that and when I woke up with an ache and feeling like I wanted it to be real, I decided I'd completely lost my mind. I didn't even know him that well. I had two weeks until that party to get my shit together before I saw him again.

Thankfully, I had hacking to keep me busy. I was currently two walls away from being completely in the nonprofit's database. The nonprofit that was laundering the money they got for things other than the charity they claimed to give. Turned out very little of the money donated actually went towards what they claimed it did and they were lying to donors when they told them how much of the money they donated went directly to the charity.

They would be coming back to work in the morning with a big surprise and a big scandal.

"One wall left," I said to the otherwise silent room, the soft clicking of all our typing being the only sound in the room.

Thankfully our group was usually pretty quiet while we were actually working. Once we were done, that was another story. They tended to party pretty hard. It wasn't that I minded the drugs they used and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't occasionally indulged but I preferred to do so alone if I took it anything at all. Taking anything lowered my inhibitions way too much to be around other people.

"Down," I said, lifting my fingers and lacing them together before stretching them out in front of me. I tilted my head to one side, then the other, trying to stretch out the stiffness from siting in one place without moving for so long.

"Found the files," Connie called out, still typing.

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing the rest of them search through the files. They could handle this part, I'd taken down the firewalls and hacked into the emails basically by myself.

"Got it," Lance said. "Uploading it and sending the info to The Sun."

The Sun was the news outlet we usually leaked information to first. They were the least corrupt out of the others, sadly enough. They were still corrupt. Not the editor though, the editor seemed to be a good person. Then again, lots of people seemed good until you got to know them.

"Good job everyone," Marnie said, rising from her chair. "Who wants a line?"

"I do," Farris said, jumping up.

Most the others jumped up as well while I stood slowly, picking up the three empty cans of energy drinks I'd had to keep myself awake for this. How many hours had I been awake now? I'd lost count.

"Violet?" Marnie asked. "For old time's sake?"

"No," I answered, giving them a small wave before walking down the dark hallway and out the door, dropping the cans in a recycling bin just outside. I was trying to be better for Lola and Jen's sake but I also hadn't touched that stuff in almost two years, it was just the other things I had to work on slowing down. I would never be completely better, but I hated how worried they were about me. It wasn't fair to them.