Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I drew in a deep breath, relaxing into the softness of the pillows. The linens smelled like Kelly. Soft, light, and unique.
Since our dinner, I had been more conflicted than ever. The thought of her leaving had cut me so deep, I had cried unknowingly. I hadn’t cried since the day my mom died. There was no point—tears never solved a situation. But the tears and the pain I felt went even deeper than losing my mom. I refused to admit it to Kelly, denying the tears and what I was feeling, but both were real.
I tried to avoid her, but the bottom line was, I couldn’t stay away from Kelly. I attempted to remain distant, step back, but my resolve melted every single time. Against my better judgment, against all my instincts, I was drawn to her, and I couldn’t control my reactions. When she was close, I wanted to be closer. When she wasn’t around, I missed her. When we were together, I felt whole. As if she filled in that missing part of me. I knew it wasn’t forever. Even if she decided to stay for now, one day, she’d be gone. I told myself over and over to stop hoping, yet the smallest of flickers refused to die.
I sighed as I felt the drugs and ice begin to work, the pounding easing off to a dull throb. The muted noises from the garage below were like a slow, steady beat that helped lull me into sleep. I gave up fighting it, and I drifted.
Sometime later, I woke with a start, hearing voices. Charly and Kelly were in the living room, Kelly sounding anxious and Charly triumphant. I lifted my head, pleased the headache had settled into a manageable throb in the back of my head. I sat up, swinging my legs over the mattress, planning on going to the living room to alert them to my presence.
Until I heard Charly.
“After what that fucker Carl did to you, Kelly? He deserves this and more.”
I was shocked to hear the loathing dripping from Charly’s voice. And her swearing. She rarely ever did. She used funny, made-up expressions to express her displeasure. Her hatred of Carl was obvious.
“Then it makes me no better than him.”
“No, this is different,” Charly insisted. “We’re taking back your files and destroying the shit he was trying to blackmail you with.”
I frowned.
Blackmail?
What the hell was Charly talking about?
“I’ve got a new account all ready, Kelly. We’re going to transfer all the stuff he stole into it, plus the other photos. In and out. Then we’ll destroy those pictures.”
“He will still have them on an SD card. He keeps everything on SD cards. Hundreds of them in a case he had built that he takes everywhere. Sorted in date order,” Kelly replied. “He’s terrible with passwords and always worried he would be somewhere and not be able to get to his remote storage, although I told him it was far safer than carrying a case of SD cards around.”
“Well, his forgetfulness is working in our favor since you got the notice he was trying to sign in somewhere. We’ve blocked him, but we have to hurry.”
“Okay.”
I didn’t know what they were talking about. Pictures. Blackmail. But I felt my anger beginning to grow. I knew there was more to this story than Kelly had let on.
I could hear furious typing, Charly’s mumbled questions, and Kelly’s equally low responses. I knew they were probably bent over a laptop, doing whatever they were doing. There were some silences and mutterings as they worked. About ten minutes passed, and Charly made a low grunt of satisfaction.
“Done. I got all your photos back. You’ll have to fix the metadata he changed on the ones he stole.”
Kelly sighed. “That is awesome.”
“You really want to change the password back to something he’ll recognize?”
“I don’t want access to his work. I just wanted my stuff back. Give him his account.”
“We could make him work for it a little, though,” Charly said.
Kelly was quiet, and I could picture her looking indecisive and worried. “No, leave it.”
“Okay.”
“What about the, ah, other?”
Charly sighed. “I sorted the files date-wise. There were four folders from that time, and I downloaded them all. We have to look at them to figure out which one it might be. They only had the date and a letter.”
“Move, and I’ll look.” Kelly sounded odd. “I don’t want you to see them.”
“I know they aren’t real.”
“Please,” Kelly begged.
I heard movement, and Charly spoke. “Okay. Be quick.”
A moment later, Kelly made an odd noise. “May 3, B file. That’s the one.”
There was more movement, and I heard the rapid tapping of keys.
After another few moments, Charly exhaled. “Okay. I uploaded the files to the new Dropbox. I deleted the ones in Carl’s Dropbox and replaced them with duplicates from another file so he doesn’t know they’re missing. You can delete them from the files if you want to. But I think you should keep them for evidence if you ever decide to go after him.”