I Can't Own You? (BOOK 1)

17

Sam is angry as he drives home on bumpy roads in a dark work uniform, his fingers drum hectically on the dashboard. "Since 10am I've been calling you; it's 11 now. You left your bag...I got worried. What were you doing at a casino? Dressed like you're on the damn red carpet...still pretending you're someone else. Who are you right now?" I sit quietly in the passenger seat like a toddler. "What are you doing?!" He rages like a bull.

No music is on in the car, just the windshield wipers scraping frost from the windows and the car tires on snow. Am I crazy? No, he's just blowing it out of proportion. Right? Well...I did risk my life and put on a fake persona...but I did it for the greater good.

I look over to him; Sam's eyes mean mug the street, viciously. He's so severe. Too serious. I think we ended not just because of the cheating but because of our five year age gap. Sam's 29, set in his ways and pessimistic. But who isn't stubborn? Sometimes his bullheadedness is beyond what I could handle, yet I did...and he did the same with me. "I'm sorry." I finally say.

"Please use your real voice."

Damn, I didn't realize I was still faking it. "I'll stop; I only did it to get information."

"Explain what you mean," I relay everything about James and the phone call I overheard, the drugs, the billion dollars. I skip the sex part because it'll probably make him crash the car. Also, he wouldn't believe that it was part of my mission. Sam keeps his eyes on the road the whole time, every now and then he says, "go on," which I do.

I tell him my plan to pay the hackers. "I won't tell the team about the billions that will be on there this weekend, we can keep that to ourselves, kick back and enjoy the sweet life."

"That depends on if James transfers the funds to a new card or not, like you said, he's trying to get the money off."

"No, the card is illegal; he had Ryan, the dude from the call, make it for him. It took time to whip up from the way he had said, "I thought so." It's not like he can go to a bank and get a new card and be allowed to dump billions onto it without the feds getting involved. The money is there to stay for now, plus his customers are all connected to it."

Sam stops the car at a red light. "Okay, so say the hackers can get the money off...wouldn't they get tracked too?? James is waiting on his guy to track your new phone...this Ryan could easily locate you and the team, why else would James involve him?"

"So what if the hackers get caught?? Don't try to make me care for strangers." I interrupt before he can respond. "I don't care about anyone else; I just care about us." Oh god, today is a crazy-ass day. "This is a miracle. Imagine not working for other people...waking up when you want to, picking up and going anywhere, shopping with no budget, living in luxury. Everyone wants that."

"That's true..." Sam sounds persuaded this time around...as if he's on my side. "Just because you have this information doesn't mean you can stop playing it safe. If the hackers get busted, so do we."