Moments of Julian (7 page)

He looks over at me and his eyes seem
to be evaluating me. I must not seem too threatening when he
proceeds. “I’ll be thirty in December.”

“
Lucky. I can’t wait to be
thirty,” I say with an envious shake of my head.

“
What?” he asks in
disbelief. He sits up and wraps his arms around his knees. “I’m
dreading it. Thirty sounds so old. When you’re in your twenties you
feel immortal and like every day can be the best day of your life.
I feel like after I turn thirty it’s just all downhill from
there.”

A laugh bubbles up from my lips as I
sit up and cross my legs and let my hands rest in my
lap.

“
I’ve worked really hard
to earn everything I have. I finished school early, got a great job
at a young age. I’ve risen quickly in the company. But there are
still people who don’t take me seriously. I hate being looked down
on. I just feel like,” I say, pausing and trying to figure out how
to word what I feel. “Like people will finally see me as an adult
when I’m out of my twenties. Your twenties are all about being
irresponsible but having all the expectations of being an adult.
I’m just not like that.”

“
I know it’s important to
care what people think of you,” Julian says, his eyes on mine. “But
do you think that maybe you care just a little too
much?”

I can’t hold his gaze anymore and my
eyes drop to my hands in my lap. “Maybe, but I don’t think that
part of me is going to change any time soon.”

“
It’s not really a bad
thing. We are who we are.”

When I meet his eyes they are intense
and sincere. I know there are things in his past and reasons he is
saying the things he says. And this is the perfect setting to get
all those things out.

But this is just a casual get together
with a stranger after a dance lesson.

So instead of getting intense and
close, I lay back on the dock and look up at the stars that are
struggling to shine brighter than the city lights.

Julian lies down beside me, and side
by side, we silently stargaze.

CHAPTER FIVE

Ten years ago, some tech wiz created
this technology called the Blue Wall. Every credit card processing
company has to have some kind of security systems in place to
prevent hackers from getting into their systems and potentially
stealing endless amounts of money. When you swipe your credit or
debit card at a store, for a short window, a door opens up to your
bank account. They then collect the amount of money they need, and
the door closes.

But hackers can steal your
information, and while the needed money is being withdrawn, the
hackers put a doorstop in and the door never fully
closes.

That’s what the Blue Wall does. It
prevents hackers from putting in that doorstop by constantly
scanning for openings in its walls. It protects not only those
credit card processing companies, but banks started using it five
years ago as well.

As soon as the banks started using it,
our company was launched into the stratosphere.

But we did not exist before the Blue
Wall was invented.

We do not handle our own credit card
processing. Digit sells the software to them and we maintain the
systems once they are in place. The entire third, fourth, fifth,
and sixth floors are filled with teams of tech people. And we have
crews that work twenty-four seven.

Monday is when I suspected that there
is something going on. Mr. Maxwell locked himself in his office all
day and was on the phone for at least five hours. I know, because
my office is directly across from his.

Tuesday there is a meeting with three
of the six board members, which is odd. Why have a meeting with
some board members, and not all of them? Beside Mr. Maxwell and the
CEO, the rest of the board members are just stock and shareholders.
None of them knew much about what we do here at Digit and they
don’t have much of an active role in the company.

So why were only a few of them at this
meeting?

I press the intercom button that
buzzes out to Gretchen’s desk just outside my office. “Could you
come in here for a minute?”

She doesn’t even reply. She stands and
walks straight in. There is a hint of nervousness in her eyes.
Things have remained a tad frosty between us ever since last
Thursday.

“
Do you have any idea what
they’re meeting about?” I ask, keeping my voice low. Mr. Maxwell’s
eyes are narrowed at some papers that are on his desk and two of
the board members look like they’re trying to talk at the same
time.

“
I don’t know but he told
Cindy that he’ll fire anyone that walks through his door today and
he’ll fire her if she disturbs them,” Gretch’s voice is a
whisper.

I nod, my eyes darting to Cindy, Mr.
Maxwell’s assistant. She looks pale and even from this far I can
tell her hands are shaking as she staples some papers
together.

“
This conversation doesn’t
leave this office, okay?” I say, giving her a solid, serious
stare.

Gretchen nods.

“
Have you heard any talk
about new technology that the company is creating?” I
ask.

“
Brian hasn’t said
anything to me about it,” Gretch says as she sits in the chair
across from me. “But he’s been awfully busy lately. There’s been
some pretty nasty technology the hackers have come up with lately.
Nothing the Blue Wall can’t handle, but they’re working to
counteract it.”

Brian is an average middle man, not
one of our top guys by a long shot, but not one of the pee-on’s
either.

“
Hm,” I say, looking one
more time toward Mr. Maxwell’s office. “If you hear anything, will
you let me know?”

“
Of course,” she says with
a small, forced smile. Just then, the phone at her desk rings.
“Gotta’ get that.”

She darts out to her desk and answers
the call by the third ring.

“
Sage?” she calls back
through the door. “It’s Avia.”

My mind is distracted, but I pick the
phone up anyway.

“
Seriously, if you ever
let that girl go, I want her.”

“
Avia, I’ve already told
you, Gretchen isn’t for sale and I have no intension of giving her
up.” I say this just loud enough for Gretch to hear. I’ve punished
her long enough for calling me out on having no social
life.

“
Fine,” she says with a
dramatic sigh. “Hey, I’m in the mood for some Thai, you want to
come with?”

“
Uh.” The board members
have stood and they’re all shaking hands like they’re ready to
leave. “Uh, yeah. I have somewhere to be by seven, but can you meet
at six?”

“
I’ll see you
then!”

“
K, bye.”

Mr. Maxwell is standing now and he’s
wearing that fake, forced smile of his that says he’s putting on
the show for those that are around him, but he isn’t happy about
how the meeting has gone.

The three board members exit the
office and head for the elevator.

The second they’re in it, Mr. Maxwell
lays into Corbin.

I can’t make out individual words, but
his booming voice sends vibrations throughout the tenth
floor.

Maybe my promotion is coming sooner
than I thought.

“
The rugs, the throw
pillows, the wall color, it was all a total wreck,” Avia says
animatedly as our plates are set down in front of us. “It’s a
complete redo. I mean, what is a woman with that much money trying
to do decorating a house like that on her own?”

“
The nerve,” I say as I
grab a fork and stab at the pile of noodles and vegetables on my
plate.

Avia was a half hour late, and now I’m
looking at the time on my phone every few minutes.

“
I know, right? I mean,
why would she go and make my job harder? Do it right the first
time.” Avia twirls her noodles around her fork and pops it into her
mouth.

I love Avia. We have a lot in common.
We’re young, ambitious, brash, and occasionally a bit too
judgmental. But she tends to rant. And it gets hard to listen to;
because once she starts it’s hard to get her to stop.

“
I mean, she has mustard
throw pillows, with grey chevron curtains. Her flooring is wood,
orange-brown hued wood! Why doesn’t she just gag me now?” she says
as she twirls another forkful.

I smile as I watch her eat. She’s warm
and round and absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately most guys won’t
ever look past her slightly plus sized figure to see that she’s got
gorgeous cheekbones, the most amazingly shaped eyes, and hair I
would kill for. Seriously, it’s always set in perfect soft
waves.

“
And don’t even get me
started on her bedroom. It’s obvious she didn’t even try in there.
Which I suppose is a bit of a relief, I don’t feel like I have to
be so polite about it and fake that it isn’t that bad. She knows it
is. And you’re already bored of me,” she suddenly changes
direction.

“
No,” I insist. “I’m not.
It’s just that there’s been some weird stuff going on at work
lately.”

“
I personally think pretty
much everything your company does is weird,” she says as she sips
at her Diet Coke. “We’ve been friends for three years and I still
don’t even understand what it is you or your company
does.”

I chuckle and twirl up another bite.
It’s spicy, just enough that my eyes nearly water as I
chew.

“
What was it that you
needed to go to at seven?” she asks and then forks another bite
into her mouth.

“
Just this thing,” I say,
trying to brush it off and not have to fess up that I am taking
dance lessons.

“
Uh huh,” she says, giving
me a speculative look. “And is this thing a guy?”

“
No,” I scramble to
redirect this situation I don’t want to be in. “Not a guy. Just,
something I need to fix.”

“
What’s with all the
mysteriousness?” she asks, her eyes suddenly gaining concern. “Are
you going to a doctor or something?”

“
No,” I say, my voice
losing its patience. “Can we just drop this? I need to hurry and
finish eating. I’ve got to go in like ten minutes.”

“
Well, if it’s not really
a guy you’re shrouding in mystery, perhaps he will do.”

Avia’s eyes have locked on the windows
that overlook the street and I turn to see what she’s staring
at.

Of course staring back at us is
Julian. And the second our eyes lock, a smile curls on his
face.

“
Oh, he’s coming inside!”
Avia squeals at the same time my heart sinks.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

“
Ladies,” Julian says as
he stops next to our table. “It looks like you’re enjoying a lovely
meal this evening.”

“
I could be enjoying
something much lovelier much later this evening,” Avia says
unabashedly as she looks Julian up and down. He’s wearing a tight
pair of khaki pants and a dark blue shirt that hugs him nicely.
They also expose the tattoos that sleeve his arms that I have not
had the privilege of seeing yet.

“
Tempting,” Julian says,
flashing her a devilish smile. “But we might be moving a little
fast. Sage seems to have forgotten her manners and hasn’t even
introduced us yet.”

Avia’s eyebrows jump and
she gives me a
look
. “You two know each other already?”

“
We had the pleasure of
meeting at her work banquet last Friday,” Julian says, giving me a
smug smile that makes me want to grind my four inch heel into his
toes.

“
Uh huh,” she says, now
giving me the stink eye. “And you never found it important to tell
your best friend that you met a piece of eye candy like
this?”

“
Best friend?” Julian
says, excitement in his voice. “Wow, it’s an honor to meet a person
who considers herself to be the best friend of a woman like Sage.
You must be an impressive character.”

“
Sage, if you aren’t going
to claim him, I will keep him,” Avia says, a smile plastered over
her face, completely won over by Julian’s charm.

“
Avia, this is Julian
no-last-name, Julian, this is Avia Leroux,” I say. I have a mean
poker face, but I am often given away by my easily blushing
skin.

“
It’s nice to meet you
Avia,” Julian says, taking her hand and actually pressing a kiss to
her knuckles. “And it’s Julian Dohring, not
no-last-name.”

“
My pleasure,” Avia says,
mock fanning herself.

“
Now, if you don’t mind,
Sage and I have somewhere to be,” Julian says as he pulls a wallet
from his back pocket. He drops three twenty dollar bills on our
table and then reaches for my hand. “I must steal her away or we
will be late.”

“
Liar!” Avia accuses as I
grab my purse before Julian can lead me out of the
restaurant.

“
I’m sorry!” I call
loudly, drawing lots of attention. “I’ll explain, maybe.
Later!”

A light drizzle has started outside
and I’m torn on whether to let my hair get soaked or let my three
hundred dollar handbag take the hit.