13 Retrieval

IMANI

Imani blinked. Cocked her head to the side. Squinted.

None of these actions made the words in the e-mail she was currently staring at change. She cocked her head to the other side and read the e-mail she received from support this morning again.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Dear, Imani Tallerico. Your request has been marked as solved by one of our team members. If you were not fully satisfied with our answer and you need further assistance, please let us know by replying directly to this e-mail. If your request is indeed solved, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience we may have caused you. Thank you and have a great day.

She opened her e-mail inbox and reloaded the page but she still didn't see the e-mail from Vinay Sanjana. She went to the spam section and reloaded it too but the only e-mails that appeared were from Italy Men Dating.

She rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh after she saw that they all started with 'Get a hot date with Italian hotties!'

"You're looking for Italian men dating websites. Didn't you say Kyle is hot?" Lola's voice came from behind Imani and she glanced at her.

She was currently lying on her bed with her front facing down while Lola was on all fours above her, looking like she just woke up.

"No, I'm not looking for Italian men… And I never said Kyle is hot," she replied and Lola gasped.

"So Kyle's not hot?" Lola asked in a high pitched voice making Imani wince.

"He is. Ugh, don't make me say things."

"I'm not. Minerva says he's hot so you definitely say he's hot."

'Oh, come on. That's not true,' Imani thought as she frowned.

"I'm not Minerva and by the way I don't fancy every man she posts on her website."

"Well," Lola said as she sat on Imani's back making her groan at the sudden weight. "You'll definitely fancy this man."

Imani looked up from the e-mails she was staring at in her phone just as Lola shoved a phone in front of her face.

Her attention snapped to the picture of the guy on the phone and some unconscious part of her registered his hotness before the rest of her could catch up.

'No, no. This is not a guy. Kyle's a guy. This is a man… Probably the hottest man on the planet.'

The man was sitting on a wooden chair, with his front facing the back of the chair and his arms placed on the top rail. He was grinning at something that hadn't been in the camera's view. He was also shirtless.

'Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow.'

His thick dark brown hair was in unkempt waves and that gave him a decidedly just fucked look, like a really lucky girl had just clawed through it. Luscious, kissable lips. Strong jaw and those beautiful deep blue eyes smoldered her, making her blush. And those abs…

Her brain must have short circuited because she was startled when Lola brought her lips to her ear and whispered, "Hot, right?"

Imani yelped and slapped the phone out of Lola's hand onto the bed as she buried her face in a pillow.

"Lola, this is voyeurism!" her voice came out muffled but Lola heard her just fine and she let out a laugh.

"You read the website every day. You know Minerva always asks for permission before she posts a person's picture."

Imani looked up from the pillow as she stared at the picture again. "I don't stare at shirtless men."

'Lie, Imani. Lie through your teeth.'

She looked away from the picture. "Besides it doesn't look like he knows the picture is being taken and Minerva doesn't always -"

She stopped talking and pressed her lips together as her eyes darted back to the picture. At the name displayed in block letters beneath the picture… LUCAS HARRISON.

'Eh?' Imani thought as she blinked repeatedly in surprise and read the name again.

She turned off the phone's screen and turned her head around to glare at her friend who was grinning at her.

"What?" Lola asked innocently.

If she had shown her this as a joke four years ago, Imani would have thrown the phone at her face and would have gotten angry but now, she just shook her head at the girl sitting on top of her.

"Lars!" Imani called out and she heard the machine let out a series of beeps in the hallway outside before it zoomed into the room. "Get this trash off me."

Lola snorted as the vacuum cleaner made a whirring sound before it circled the room, let out a beep and zoomed out into the hallway.

"Get off. Go to Takeda's place and sit on him."

"Oh, I'll do more than sitting on him if I go to his place," Lola stated and Imani groaned.

"You're weird. I don't need to know about your extracurricular activities. Get off, you're heavy."

Lola placed a hand on her chest as her mouth slightly fell open. "Did you just call me fat?"

Imani rolled her eyes at the overdramatic girl and handed her her phone.

"I knew there was something going on between the both of you," Desmond announced from the doorway of the bedroom and she glanced at him as he slightly shook his head.

Imani rolled her eyes before she rolled Lola off of her and onto the floor. She yelped as she hit the floor with a thud while Imani sat upright in her bed.

"I lost an e-mail, Des. Help me retrieve it."

"Why would I get in return?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes at his sister while Lola got up from the floor and sat on the bed.

"A roof over your head?"

Desmond clicked his tongue and walked into the room. "Should I do it on your phone or your computer?"

"Phone. The e-mail disappeared when I was reading it," she said and handed her phone to him.

"Are you sure you didn't delete it?" he asked and she nodded.

"I didn't."

"Work e-mail?"

She nodded again.

He gave her the phone back after a couple of minutes. "It's restoring now though it's quite slow. Seems like you lost a lot of e-mails."