Who knew such a thing could pay so well? It had never been one of the trading options on the markets. I suppose that could fall under Lock Martin or Howmet Technologies. They do defense stocks. At least that’s what they refer to themselves as doing. While it was lucrative, my moral scale didn’t tip that far. Or so I’d thought. But she changed that all for me.

Marco: She keeps notes of everything. It’s strange.

I grip the phone tighter in my hand. She’s not strange. Quirky, sure, but that only adds to her whole appeal. Somehow the freckles that are sprinkled across the bridge of her nose do as well. I don’t know why. All together, it adds up somehow in my mind.

Me: Stop

He and I both know I don’t want him to actually stop. I want every bit of information about her. There is not a single detail I want left out. But in some weird way, I hate that he knows these things about her.

Marco: She’s tucked away in her apartment. I’ll let you know when she moves.

I drop my phone back down on the nightstand to rub my temples. It’s six in the morning. She should still be in bed. The girl works too damn much.

That’s laughable coming from me. I should be checking my emails, not stalking a girl who doesn’t even reside in the same city as I do. I shouldn’t be here. I have a twenty-million-dollar deal on ice right now with the Stone Brothers because I left the city to travel here. All because I heard the sound of one sweet, scared little voice. That’s all it took for me to leave.

It came out of nowhere. I was enjoying my quiet, as I always do. The quiet is always so telling. You can get people to say so much when you say so little. I’d learned that from my father because he could never shut the fuck up to save his life. We’d been cut from two very different cloths. So I thought. Obviously, the apple doesn’t fall from the tree in this instance.

My old man had made irrational decisions. I promised myself that I’d never be that way. I’ve worked hard to maintain that. Until her. For the first time in my life, I'm the one that is acting irrational and all because of a voice.

One that should have annoyed me. And would have if it came from anyone else. Instead, it lured me in like a lighthouse clearing the fog from my mind I hadn’t known was there until her bright light was shining in my face. Now I can’t look away, and I only keep drifting closer.