CHAPTER TEN
Upon reaching home, Jeuley powered up her computer, hoping for a suitable distraction. It was easy to get Danny out of her head, but Brad was a whole other twistedly cruel story.
Sure, she wanted to run a Blue Root program–any program–and go to town with fresh images of Brad in that dark green dress shirt tucked into black pants–well after removing them first–but knowing he was that geek from high school gave her the willies. He was the weirdo from her physics class who’d wanted to be her lab partner.
Looking back now, intellect was a whole lot sexier. Maybe that was why part of her was wishing she hadn’t run out on him. Even though he’d so rudely crossed up with her, she should’ve at least waved at him or something…anything. Just thinking about him sent her blood pulsing through her veins, hardening her nipples into sensitive pebbles.
Dammit. This was her break day and therefore, it was meant for play, not work…of any kind. No fantasies of her wrapping her ankles around broad shoulders while he drove her to orgasm were allowed. At all. Period. And get that out of your head, Jeuls!
She didn’t have to do more Blue Root programming. Some stuff for Adrian needed to be done. But the temptation was definitely there to pull up Jolly Jolts and tweak it into something worthy of naming Lusty Lasers. And that was much more fun than self-cleaning database restructuring.
Banishing Bradley March to the back of her mind, she peeled off her Blue Root before her current Bradley March-induced arousal had her female organ stimulator asking questions.
Email streamed into her inbox. Scroll, scroll, scrolling past the help requests, links from Rachel and the Prixus newsletter, her attention caught on an email from someone named Ordal Laverock. What the hell kind of name was that and how the hell did the person make the connection between her real name and Jeulmist? The email had landed in her Prixus account.
Granted, Jeuley had gone through great pains to have about fifteen different accounts so it was easy to organize her communications without anyone tracking her movements, but she never mixed up Jeulmist with anything that had her real name on it. That would be suicide. Jeulmist’s hacking activities needed to stay as far away from Jeuley Crissin’s world as possible. Even a minor infraction could land her back in jail.
She’d mastered sneaking under the sensors, but really the only times they cared were in matters of heightened security. Illegal shareware was bottom-rung, marginally punishable, and anyway, her aliases made her untrackable. Until now. Whoever sent the email must have needled through to a protected area, somewhere he or she shouldn’t be sniffing.
Setting up all of her anti-invasion software first, she opened the Ordal email. Her computer blasted a few tracking viruses and snatched the return receipt before it could auto-send. Once the message was completely cleansed it was ready for analysis.
Dear Jeulmist,
I am the inventor of the Blue Root. I have seen your work floating around the internet and would like to offer you an incredible business and/or employment opportunity. Someone with your talent could go very far here at BlueCentric Laboratories. We should meet. I’ll fly in tomorrow for such an occasion. How does Le Rouge sound? I do love San Francisco.
Ordal “Orrick” Laverock
Jeuley went on a research rampage, through as many media dumps as she could find that linked BlueCentric and Ordal Laverock. Apparently the guy–also known as Orrick because it sounded like Eric–yeah, whatever–really was the inventor of the Blue Root. His inherited company had been cranking out various technological gadgets for the better part of a decade, but the Blue Root was the first to actually sell.
According to a genealogy site, mom and dad had left him a sizeable inheritance and he continued the family tradition. The more Jeuley read, the more she wondered if he was the only unsuccessful Laverock. His parents had started many fads that caught on internationally. But Ordal, well, it looked like the Blue Root was his only decent idea. And Jeuley found it odd that both of his parents disappeared on the same day about three years ago.
As far as she could tell, BlueCentric mostly translated to eccentric. The guy might’ve been a tad weird, but Le Rouge wasn’t a small time cheap restaurant, either. The thought of dining on something better than canned macaroni got her thinking seriously about meeting this businessman. If he really did have a good offer for her programs, maybe she’d take it. There wouldn’t be any copyright issues to deal with.
Or better yet, she could start a bidding war between Orrick and Magneton.
Rachel was right. Jeuley didn’t want to sell suits for the rest of her life. She wasn’t sure she wanted a life of professional hacking again, either. But if she could pull some serious money out of this, she may not have to spend the rest of her life working. A few investments in the right places and things would get nice and simple and hopefully a lot of fun. This would easily be a quick grab the money and run. She had no desire to turn it into anything more.
Dear Orrick,
Thank you for your interest. Le Rouge sounds great. What time?
Jeuley Crissin
She pushed the email through her outbox then went to go grab a bottle of fennelwater. By the time she returned to her computer, Ordal had already replied.
“You don’t waste much time, do ya, buddy?” She used her software to cleanse the message. Same viruses and such as last time. Clearly, he trusted no one and was a rather nosy fellow.
Dear Jeuley,
The pleasure is all mine. See you at 5. Le Rouge. I’m quite anxious to make your acquaintance.
Orrick Laverock
And there was her answer. But five? That was awfully early. Either he was all business, or he was cheap. Not that it mattered. It would only be a quick dinner. She’d refuse whatever he had to offer, thereby raising the bar for Magneton. A friendly little bidding war between Ordal Laverock and Bradley March. Hopefully, their pockets were deep enough. There were advantages on both sides.
Orrick might provide a safe escape from Bradley. Plus, there wouldn’t be any copyright issues if she dealt directly with the manufacturer himself. That would be heaven. Easy days rolling in money. Oh yeah.
She decided to take the rest of the night off. Maybe watch a vid, read something. Just relax because her life was about to get a whole lot simpler.
As she stood up from her computer, she noticed an email from Brad flashing in her queue. The subject line read, “Is everything okay?” He must have used his handheld.
Y’know, you do at least owe him some kind of explanation. She opened the message.
Dear Jeulmist,
I hope everything is okay. You had me worried by running out of here so fast. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
Before I get too far ahead of myself, I have to say that I am really really really really sorry for crossing up with you at Prixus. I was a little new to the Blue Root. I’m a lot better with it and its protocols now, so you needn’t be afraid that I’m going to cross up with you like that ever again.
Oh, and while I’ve got the chance, I’m not sure if you remember me or not, but you used to sit in front of me in Mr. Johnson’s Physics class. I know it’s been awhile, but I haven’t forgotten. You refused to be my lab partner. I guess I was a bit scruffy and perhaps a bit nerdy back then. Okay, a lot nerdy, but anyway, I was hoping we could meet again if only to reminisce.
I’m free tomorrow.
Brad (Magneton) March
A smile crossed Jeuley’s lips and her heart went surprisingly aflutter. The man was polite. And he seemed worried rather than pissed off that she’d run out on him. That could certainly work in her favor when she tried to wheel-and-deal tomorrow. She immediately replied to his email while trying to deny that her nipples hardening had anything to with him.
Dear Brad,
I’m sorry. Everything’s okay, though. Tomorrow sounds great. Can we make it around 8? I should be out of my dinner engagement by then.
Jeuley (Jeulmist) Crissin
PS-You weren’t nerdy, you were geeky.
Chuckling, she pushed the email through her outbox while trying to quell the urge to put her Blue Root back on. What was it about the man that made her think of sex all the time? It was like he and her Blue Root somehow went hand in hand. Very strange.
The hardest part about meeting with him would be trying to talk to him without wanting to strip his clothes off and fuck him right there. Then again, what man could live up to the one she’d programmed into her Blue Root? He’d need stamina, an incredibly talented and certainly large cock. Not to mention the rest of him had to be equally as gifted and appealing.
No matter what guys hold as true, no man like that has ever existed anywhere but in his wildest and wettest dreams. Okay, and hers too. But that ran back to the simple matter of programming a fantasy into a reality and that couldn’t be too difficult.
Ready to call it a night, she reached out to power down her computer, but a message portal opened up.
Magneton: You there?
Jeulmist: Ummm. Yeah?
Magneton: Good
Jeulmist: what’s up?
Magneton: you’re right
Jeulmist: ?
Magneton: geeky describes me perfectly
Jeulmist: looks like both of us were a little different in high school
Magneton: yeah, you’re a lot
Brad was online and Jeuley wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to talk yet. Waiting for him to continue, she leaned back in her chair and sighed. What could he possibly have to say to her? There was still no response. She straightened back up and then gulped down some fennelwater.
Jeulmist: what?
Jeulmist: hello?
About to give up on him and close the portal, she took another drink from her water bottle. It was odd that he was messaging in the first place when email would have sufficed.
Magneton: sorry about that…
Jeulmist: okay…
Magneton: do you remember Danny Idesley from high school?
Jeulmist: ummm…yeah, eew. why?
Magneton: eew? Well, you could’ve at least said hello
Jeulmist: Brad?
Magneton: Brad’s in the little boys quarter
Magneton: you ran into me when you left
Jeulmist: you’re using his handheld?
Jeulmist: Was it you that wrote the email, too?
Magneton: No… that was almost all him
Jeulmist: k
That was good to know. Although, she couldn’t help but wonder what Danny’s contribution to the email was. Last she remembered of Danny, he could barely type his own name. Jeuley yawned and settled in. If memory served her correctly, Danny was a lot like Rachel in that once he got started talking, he didn’t stop.
Jeulmist: why are you messaging me?
Magneton: because I was wondering why you ran out
Jeulmist: I just had a bad evening
Jeulmist: everything’s fine now
Jeulmist: I swear it
Jeulmist: put Brad back on
Magneton: actually, I wanted to ask you something else
Jeulmist: k…
Magneton: do you still know Rachel Rodgers?
Jeuley searched her memory bank for anything at all that would link Rachel to Danny of all people. Rachel had dated a lot of guys in high school, but there was no way Danny Idesley could’ve been one of them. The boy was downright weird and Rachel wouldn’t keep a secret like this unless it was really crazy. Shit. Jeuley hoped it wasn’t so.
Jeulmist: why do you wanna know?
Magneton: Because if you still know her,
Magneton: I wanna
Once again, she was left waiting.
Jeulmist: you wanna what?
What the hell was going on over there? She looked at her network bars. They were at full. The net was still functioning. Maybe Danny had dropped Brad’s handheld or something.
Jeulmist: HELLO?
Okay, this time, she was really going to shut the portal. It was rapidly turning to bedtime. Wasting time messaging with a high school hooligan was not an ideal way to spend a break day.
Magneton: Jeuley, it’s me Brad
Magneton: Sorry about Danny
Magneton: He hasn’t changed a bit since high school
Jeulmist: no kidding
Magneton: sorry, but he’s not gonna quit bugging me-
Magneton: if I don’t ask if you have Rachel’s email address.
Magneton: Apparently, you running into him reminded him of
Magneton: a few Tuesday afternoons under the bleachers
Jeulmist: under the bleachers?!
Jeulmist: you must have her confused
Magneton: let me ask-
Jeulmist: I don’t think she did anything under the bleachers with anyone
Magneton: nope, he says he “could never forget a great-
Magneton: ummm…he’d never forget a fiery red head like Rachel Rodgers
Well, if he was telling the truth, Jeuley definitely had some good blackmail material here. And she swore she’d kill Rachel for not telling her. But that wasn’t like her. Brad and Danny had to be full of hot air. Then again, at this point, why would they be lying? Rachel had done several crazy things that Jeuley had found out about years after the fact. Maybe Danny really was one of them. Eeew.
Jeulmist: what if I do still know her?
Magneton: Y’know. Never mind. He’s gotten us off topic anyway.
Jeulmist: k…
Magneton: while you’re here, though, I just wanted to confirm
Magneton: Fallen Bytes, tomorrow at eight, right?
Magneton: are we still on?
A smile crept across Jeuley’s face as she sat there with her fingers poised on her keyboard, heart pounding madly. The moment of truth.
Jeulmist: yeah, we are.
Magneton: We can talk business some other time. I just wanna get caught up.
Jeulmist: Is Danny still there?
Magneton: …watching every word
Jeulmist: if she agrees, I’LL BRING RACHEL
There was another long pause. Jeuley finished off her fennelwater and tossed the bottle into the recycler. All she had to do was find a way of dragging Rachel to Fallen Bytes. Then again, Raych was always up for a strong cup of tea. Hopefully, Ordal’s dinner meeting wouldn’t run long so Jeuley could steer her way out and over to Brad. Not a problem. A nice little challenge for her to tackle.
Magneton: it’s Danny, tell her I still have her azalea
Magneton: she’ll know what I’m talking about
Jeulmist: I dunno. It’s been awhile.
Jeulmist: We’ll see.
Jeulmist: Don’t hold your breath
Azalea, huh? Jeuley laughed. She would definitely have to get Rachel to spill her guts on that one. What the hell was an azalea anyway? And where did Danny of all people find it.
Magneton: It’s Brad. Danny just fell out of his chair
Magneton: I think he might be a little excited about seeing her
Jeulmist: well, just tell him to comb his hair before he shows up
Magneton: Good one. Will do.
Magneton: And Jeuley
Jeulmist: yeah?
Magneton: Thanks for giving me another chance.
Jeulmist: you’re welcome
Magneton: I won’t even bring my Blue Root this time.
For some reason, she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Dammit, Jeuley, he’s still the perv who crossed up with you and he’s still the guy you’ve got to take for a couple extra million. That was a sobering thought.
Jeulmist: I won’t bring mine either
Magneton: I’ll see you tomorrow then
Jeulmist: yep… Bye
Magneton: Danny thanks you
Magneton: Have a good evening…Bye
Jeuley sighed. It looked like her plan should work nicely. All she had to do was survive tomorrow at work. After that, it would be show time with her as the leading actress.
She set her computer to media mode and turned on her delivery system to watch a few short vids before going to sleep, unwind and gather her strength for tomorrow’s starring role. The meeting should prove fruitful. Even if only to find out how important an azalea could be and why Danny would have Rachel’s after all these years.
Don’t kid yourself. You wanna talk to Brad this time around, too.
