Page 3 of Sucker
It’s set up like a museum. Images and interactive displays take you through the evolution of James Tech. Landon James is hailed as a visionary and a philanthropist. There’s no mention of what came before all this. No mention of my father.
No surprise there.
I move around the room, looking inside glass cases filled with pictures and handwritten notes, scribbles that show the development of the James Tech logo., how it started on a napkin and became the spinning disk it is now. I can’t help but wonder how much of this stuff came from Landon James’s mind, and how much he stole from other people besides my father. Are there more people out there like me, poor and bitter while Landon rolls around in his millions?We can’t be the only collateral damage.
I left out a sigh and move to the next case, expecting more bullshit. But when my eyes feast on the contents, I stop breathing for a short moment.This is it.The computer Landon James supposedly created his social media platform on.
“Sweet justice,” I mutter, pawing at the glass case. All the proof I need is right there on the other side. All I need to do is figure out how to get it out of there. But I can’t even find somewhere you’d put a key.What’d they do? Seal it inside?
I drop to my knees and inspect the seals, running my finger over the soft silicon.Maybe I could pick it off…I dig my fingernail in, just as a deep rumble fills my ears and flitters about beneath my skin. “It’s a replica.”
Landon
Willa shoots up at the sound of my voice and hits her head on the side of the glass case.
“Crap,” she winces, clutching her head.
I’m by her side in an instant. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.” I kneel beside her, placing my hand on her arm to steady her. “Are you hurt?”
She smells like springtime.
She scowls and pulls away, springing to her feet. “I don’t need your help.” She rubs her hand against her arm as if my touch somehow burned her.Ouch.
“Everybody needs help,” I say cautiously as I step so my body is blocking her ability to flee toward the exit. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for in here and maybe I can help you find it?”
Her brow pinches and she seems to withdraw into herself. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“You underestimate me, angel. I probably understand more than you know.”
Her eyes flash and blaze, and suddenly they’re boring into mine. “What did you just call me?”
I step closer. “I called you angel. Same as I always have, Willa.”
“Oh crap,” she gasps, her eyes darting for the exit before she tries to run left then run right, but all she does is get tangled in her heels and trip.
I try to grab her, but I’m too late. Her head collides with the glass cabinet, knocking her out cold.
“Well, fuck. This isn’t how I wanted our first meeting as adults to go, angel.” Kneeling beside her, I check the side of her head for any sign of blood but find nothing more than an egg forming beneath her skin.
Willa
Adull ache pulls me from my sleeping state and I find myself in an unfamiliar, dimly lit room. “What? Where?” I wince as I try to sit but lie straight back down when a wave of nausea hits me. “Oh god.”
“Don’t sit too fast,” a male voice says. “You’ve been sleeping off a concussion.”
“A what?” I do exactly what he said not to do and shoot up to a sitting position. The room shifts and tilts, then it spins and spins and I’m reminded of that time I ate too much cotton candy at the fair and decided to ride the Gravitron.Big mistake.“I’m gonna—” The words don’t come, but the contents of my stomach do.
The owner of the voice tells me I’ll be OK and holds a bucket up to stem the flow. Then he helps me lie back down and I can do is sink into the dark confusion of my mind.
“Where am I?” I whisper. I don’t even think I remember getting up this morning, but this isn’t my dorm.How did I get here?
“You’re in my house,” he says, except I don’t remember whose house it is.
“Is it still Valentine’s Day?” I have a vague recollection of someone handing me a chocolate heart.
He chuckles. “Yes. Do you have a date waiting for you?”
“No. No. I never have a date. Boys don’t like me.” I’m mumbling. My body is so heavy that I’m not sure my words are making it past my lips.
