Page 51 of Unexpectedly Wanted
“I have money,” I told him, pausing for a moment to take in his sad, tired eyes. “I’ll help you out. I will.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, Milo,” he told me.
“Why?” My brow furrowed. “I have it. I don’t really need all of it. I don’t mind.”
“You always had a good heart,” he told me, leaving me confused about whether or not he would accept my money. “And the thing is, I’m not sure you even know that you do. It’s a rare and beautiful thing, Milo. I know it has nothing to do with me, but you are truly an amazing person.”
I felt uncomfortable with the compliment, so I said, “I know.”
He laughed softly again as he finally stopped messing with the tea bag. He took the spoon that was sitting on the counter beside the mug and held it over the steam. He placed the bag on the spoon, then wound the string around the whole thing, squeezing some water out of the bag.
I’d never made tea before. I was finding the entire process fascinating. I’d really never given it much thought, but now I was confident that I could make a decent cup, if that was what my father had made, that was.
Which made me wonder if Remy liked tea. Was that why he had the kettle? Or did he use the boiling water for other things? And if so, what?
I made a mental note to ask him when I saw him again. Those questions would bother me if they went unanswered, especially since that kettle was right in the kitchen and couldn’t be missed.
“That boy cares about you,” he said, causing me to blink at him. He cleared his throat before clarifying. “Remy.”
“He’s hardly a boy,” I corrected. I wasn’t even a boy, and Remy was a few years older than me. “And… well, I think you know what’s really going on here, so we can stop pretending. He’s just… doing me a favor, I guess.”
“Maybe at first,” my father said. “But I think he has a good heart like you, and I think that,” he paused, his brow furrowing, “something has happened while he’s been here.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.” I didn’t think even he knew what he was talking about.
“I think he sees things most people don’t see,” he said as he lifted his gaze to meet mine. “Somehow, he got behind your defenses, and in doing that, there have been little seeds being planted. They’re growing and you feel it more every day.”
I played his words over again in my head.
There was something about them that triggered an idea in my head.
Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with Remy or what he was trying to talk to me about.
“That’s it,” I muttered under my breath.
My eyes were scanning lines, right to left, then jerked to the right again. It was like I could see them, but that wasn’t even what I needed right now. I had the path memorized, and I could get back in any time I needed to.
I had a way in, but what I needed was a way to stay in. To get my hands on all their files.
I had a program I’d been working on. I’d put it to the side a year ago, but I had been so close to finishing it. I had handed it over to Kyle, asking him to look at it and see if he could clean it up and finish it. He was really good at those sorts of things. It might be the thing right now, the thing that helped me find the head hub of The Sons of the Holy Fire. We could take them out, once and for all. And I could even collect more information to save more people.
“Seeds.” I was still muttering, and my father probably thought I was going crazy.
“Milo?”
“I have to go,” I told him, lids fluttering wildly as I came back into focus. “I have to go.”
“Now?” he asked, sounding a little scared. “It’s three in the morning.”
“Yes, now. It’s important. Work. You gave me an idea.”
“But… we were talking about Remy.”
“Right. I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.” I explained nothing further. I was pretty sure I didn’t need to tell him that Remy and I weren’t really anything. Especially not anything like we’d presented ourselves to be. And if he was trying to tell me something I hadn’t seen, he was dancing around it far too greatly for me to comprehend. But it didn’t matter. Because I had to go. “I’m sorry. I’ll see you later.”
Turning on my heel, I dashed through the house and up the stairs, not caring that I’d probably wake my mother in the process. Dressing as fast as I could, I tried not to see the things around my room that weren’t supposed to be there. The shirts in the closet. The glass half full of water sitting on the table next to the other side of the bed. The book that was next to it, its spine worn and cracked. It was a loved book, but sadly, I didn’t even know its title. I didn’t know what about it the owner loved so much.
Before I could go down a road I didn’t have time for, I snapped myself out of it.
