The Heart System

What the hell kind of dream was that? Fucking Penelope in my car? Jesus. Her fake tits were apparently so burned into my eyeballs that they started showing up in my dreams. And yeah, she was hot. Stupidly hot. I wanted to fuck her so bad in real life too, but I knew I shouldn't. But would I?

I probably would. I wanted to pin her down and just go nuts on her.

I tried to shake the thought off and walked to the door. I grabbed my jacket and zipped it up, hiding my boner at least a little. Kayla stepped toward me too, fixing her hair. Penelope unplugged her phone from the charger and sighed.

"You're gonna drop us, right?" Penelope asked. "Like a true gentleman."

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "I will. You guys ready?"

"Yep," Kayla said. Then she lowered her voice and muttered, "Not as ready as your member though."

I pretended not to hear that.

"Mendy, I'm really sorry again," I said. "You shouldn't have seen that. I was tired after the game and… well—"

"It's fine," she said with a small, awkward smile. "It happens. Don't worry."

"Thanks for understanding."

"Come on," Penelope said, opening the door. "Let's go before he pops another boner."

I shook my head and stepped outside. Kayla and Penelope hugged Mendy first. I stood there on the porch, kicking at the snow with my boot. This was so damn embarrassing. Why did I have a dream like that? Why now?

When they finished hugging, I turned and gave Mendy a small wave. She waved back with that sweet smile of hers. Then the three of us walked down the street toward the car and got in.

This time Penelope took the passenger seat, while Kayla slid into the back. I turned the engine on and the heater kicked in, humming softly. I took a second before pulling on my seatbelt, letting the warmth hit my frozen face. When I glanced left, I noticed Mendy watching us through her living room window.

"Wow," Penelope said, still staring at her friend but talking to me. "You could be worse than Richard actually, Evan."

"No," I said, pulling away from the curb. "It was a genuine mistake. For real."

Penelope leaned back and crossed her arms. "Right. Mistake. Sure."

"It happens," Kayla said from behind us. "But Jesus, dude, you are one unlucky guy. You know that?"

"Yeah," I muttered. "God."

"What were you dreaming?" Penelope asked. "About me?"

My heart dropped. She said it jokingly… but shit. She nailed it. And I had to answer or she'd know I actually dreamt about bending her over in the car. Total disaster.

"Nah," I said quickly. "I don't really remember. One of those dreams, you know."

"I also never remember my dreams," Kayla said. "Then they come back randomly during the day. Weird brain stuff."

Penelope leaned closer and whispered right into my ear, "I heard you muttering my name in your sleep, you fucking liar."

I immediately checked the rear mirror to see if Kayla heard that, but she was looking at her phone, not paying attention. Then I looked at Penelope. She was smirking like she owned the world. She slid her seat back and put her foot on the dashboard, dirty boots and all.

"Anyway," I said. "I'm sorry. Again."

"Stop being a bitchy girl. I'm joking," Penelope said with a laugh. "It happens. I also came in my sleep two months ago."

"You did?" Kayla asked. "That never happens to me."

"Okay, how about we change the subject?" I said. "Cute dogs. Cute cats."

"Cute pussies?" Penelope asked.

Kayla laughed. Penelope laughed with her. Then… both of them slowly stopped, like they suddenly remembered they were supposed to hate each other.

But something in their faces changed. They weren't glaring anymore. They weren't clenching their jaws. It actually felt like they were warming up to each other. Or, well, began to tolerate each other.

Honestly?

If my embarrassing boner disaster brought them closer…

Eh, I'd take that.

❤︎‬‪‪❤︎‬‪‪❤︎

╭──────────────────────╮

NEW MAIN QUEST

==========================

Title: Corporate Betrayal

Task: Find the mole in TechForge

Reward: +950 EXP, 1500c

╰──────────────────────╯

The Quest notification appeared again on my screen. A mole in the company. Out of more than a hundred workers in TechForge, this was going to be a nightmare. Nala was already driving herself crazy over it. I heard her get up in the middle of the night, pacing around and muttering to herself before finally lying back down. She wasn't sleeping properly anymore.

I checked the clock on the wall. Ten in the morning. Greg would be heading to Emilia's house soon to look for more evidence. Hopefully we weren't too late. The guy was fast and never wasted time.

"Fuck…"

I needed to focus on the mole for now. Form a plan. Figure out how to expose them. Nala had already started taking action. Even I wasn't allowed to bring my phone inside the building anymore. Security kept all the phones locked up. It would slow the mole down, but it wouldn't solve anything. We needed something permanent. We needed to find the person and deal with them. I trusted our CEO with this because corporate work wasn't exactly my field.

I heard Nala knock on her glass door and saw her gesture for me to come in. I got up and walked toward her room.

"Hey," Nala said as she opened the door. "We've got a problem."

I entered the room and nodded. "Alright, hit me. What happened?"

She closed the door and went back to her desk, shutting her laptop. I sat down on the small couch.

"I had security count the phones this morning," she said. "At nine, they had a total of one hundred and fifty-four."

"Only one-fifty-four? That's… surprisingly low."

"Some people didn't bring theirs since they already knew security would take them. But that's not the point," she said. "Ten minutes ago I asked them to count again."

"And?"

"They told me there are now one hundred and fifty-three."

"Great," I said. "So someone took one. The mole grabbed their phone back? Or maybe someone just left the building early."

"No one left. Adam says nobody came to ask for their phone. So one phone was stolen."

"Adam, the security guy, right?" I asked. "Where does he keep the phones?"

"In his office," she said. "When you enter the building, the room on the far left. It has SECURITY written above it."

"Yeah, I know the place," I said. "There isn't much space to hide in there. Anyone would see someone sneaking in. Especially Adam."

"Maybe Adam is the mole," Nala said, rubbing her temples. "I don't know what else to think."

"Adam doesn't have clearance for anything important," I said. "But what if he's working with someone? He gives the partner their phone back and pretends nothing happened."

"That was my thought too."

"But then why would he tell you about the missing phone?" I asked. "If he were the mole, he'd probably lie. I don't think it's him."

"I'm desperate enough to point at a houseplant and accuse it," Nala said, dropping her face into her hands.

"We'll figure it out," I said. "Project Phoenix is paused, right?"

"Yeah. We can't move forward until we deal with this."

"But how do we find the mole if there's nothing for them to leak?" I asked. "We should continue the project and keep our eyes open."

"I thought about that. But it's risky," she said. "Project Phoenix is all I have, Evan. If it fails or gets leaked before it's ready, I'm ruined."

"Hmm." I grunted. "What's the board saying?"

"Nothing," Nala groaned, rubbing her forehead. "But Marcus is chewing me alive. Keeps hinting I'm a terrible CEO, and if Guy were in charge none of this would've happened."

"He can suck my dick."

She let out a short, humorless laugh. "Maybe he's right? I don't know, Evan. I feel like I'm screwing up."

"Alright, breathe," I told her. "I'll go talk to security and check the cameras with Adam. Someone had to walk into that room."

"Okay," she murmured. "If you find anything, call me."

"Call you with what?" I raised an eyebrow. "Start a campfire outside and send you smoke signals?"

Her face blanked. "Huh?"

"Or I can write a note, strap it to a pigeon, and hope it knows your address."

"What are you—"

"I don't have a phone, Nala. That's the joke."

"Oh." She finally registered it and gave a tiny laugh. "God, I'm slow today. This mole is turning my IQ into room temperature."

"Yeah," I chuckled, getting to my feet. "Anyway, I'm off. Let's hope something shows up."

"Thank you, Evan. Seriously. You and the girls are the only ones I trust in this entire building."

"Always." I leaned down, gave her a quick kiss, then stepped out.

As I walked toward the elevator, the situation played on repeat in my mind. Someone had slipped into the security office without being noticed. Someone grabbed a phone without being seen on camera. Someone who knew exactly what they were doing. This wasn't random. Nothing about it was sloppy.

I hit the elevator button.

A moment later, someone stepped up beside me. Amelia. The same woman from the bus—the perfume one. She adjusted her glasses and stared straight ahead, pretending I wasn't there. Fine by me.

The elevator dinged. We stepped aside for people coming off, then got inside together. As she lifted her finger to press a button, we locked eyes accidentally.

"Oh. Evan." She blinked, surprised. "Hey. Thought you were someone else."

"Morning," I replied. "You look… exhausted. Or distracted. Or both."

"Yeah," she admitted, letting out a breath. "I'm avoiding everyone until this mole is caught. Not talking to anyone. But since there's literally no chance you're involved, I guess you're safe to talk to."

"Thanks," I muttered. "I guess."