I Can't Own You? (BOOK 1)

24 (NEW)

JAMES

In a modern, glass mansion, at the dead of night, I wait on a call from my tag team. My silky pajamas sway when I pass a heat vent as my bare feet tap on heated floors. I watch a city of lights dance beyond big windows. A few airplanes travel the sky; I survey the crafts. Come on, call, what's taking so long? Typing comes from the kitchen, I exit a cozy living room and go to the location; a pale gray kitchen with the darkest wood floors and appliances. "You got anything?" I ask.

Ryan, a teenager, takes a Cheeto puff from a chip bag and munches. "Not yet." He types, using an Apple laptop at a nook table. I stand behind him, reading the screen. "But I got a location in Tennessee; it's not exact though...it may be the hackers. The phone trail went cold a few miles from us, possibly due to a broken line. Have your guys called?"

"No." Hmm, the track went cold, huh? Interesting. This man has to be one hell of a criminal; he left before I arrived at the apartment and is now a ghost, luckily I have a name that I required from his mail, Chris Johnson. "Did you complete the name search?"

"Yep, Chris Johnson, right?"

"Yes." I nod. "How many results are there?"

"I found three pages full of Chris Johnson's that are in the state, so it's gonna take a while..."

"Narrow it down to 173rd Street, keep searching. This motherfucker has to be hiding out somewhere close by. Try the mall area again."

"Okay," Ryan clicks the keyboard, adding the two locations on a black box screen full of odd characters, numbers, and letters. Codes. "Ten, there are ten results now." The boy says cockily, as he eyes me with a smugness.

I lean forward to view the computer screen. "Pull up their Facebooks, Instagrams, Twitters, whatever. We just have to match a face to the ATM recording."

"Maybe I should just search Facebook instead; people are more personal on there." Ryan licks his Cheeto dusted fingers.

"Alright, go."

We read through Facebook accounts, knocking five off the list. An emo girl and two guys who were elsewhere visiting family at the time. The last two were a grad student and a self-employed artist with big breasts; triple D cup. I don't think an older fucker is the culprit...especially not with how this guy talked. So arrogant and overly confident.

"Try a younger age, twenty to twenty....six. The guy sounded around that age." Ryan does something on the encrypted screen, typing fast and adding numbers into the mix. Three results pop up; one is a private account; the others are open accounts that hold a teacher and a deceased biker.

"Well, that leaves the only one." Ryan cracks his knuckles and brings up a video file. A short guy at an ATM with a chubby face, completely shaven., dark eyes, and blonde hair in a top bun. This video plays on a loop. Ryan minimizes the video screen then goes back to Facebook, uncovering the web-page's coding on a sidebar.

Rows of fast scrolling text read on the black box, "Now, let's kill the locked room." He types in a hack code-an alien language, including symbols. The text scrolling stops, the last line reads login password: Texas22591%*@. "Private, my ass!" The webpage logs into the Facebook account. The ATM video file continues playing on a loop.

My eyes bypass silly posts on the page and zero in on pictures to make comparisons. This guy could be the one, same eyes and face shape. I watch the video loop again to make sure. This is the guy. In the bio, I read Forever 21 as a current job. Ryan scrolls down the page, viewing animated, puppy ear pictures of the guy, where the face appeared pore-less. This crazy youth, no one looks like that.

Ryan keeps passing posts; most of them are months old, TIKTOK videos, love quotes, and dance challenges.

I couldn't help but frown at the nonsense....kids these days. "Go past the bullshit."

"Oh man, she's hot!" Ryan obnoxiously drools at a picture of the Chris guy at work sporting orange hair, next to him is a pretty blonde chick. Both of them wear work uniforms and poke out their lips. The post is tagged: @Jasmine411 #forever21 #halloween. "Yum, I'm sending a request to Jasmine sexy ass."

I ignore Ryan's hard on. "We have collateral."

"Hold up." I sigh and wait for the jackass to send a friend request to the girl. "Please don't kill her." He makes a prayer position with his hands, appearing to be completely serious. Ryan's an okay looking boy, goofy, lanky, with chestnut hair all over his head like Harry Potter. I never ask how his sex life is...and never will.

"Don't be sloppy; this is work...not a matchmaking event."