Andre and Chris - 7. Chapter 7

Tuesday was to be my “work from home day” and I wanted to get into the routine before I started looking after William. Andre and I kissed as he headed off to work and I started to go through the job requests and problems that had been logged for me along with work related emails. Fortunately, nothing was urgent. Most I could easily do from home. I had access to my clients’ networks and servers and could monitor and fix a lot of the issues without visiting their premises. There were a couple of requests that would require a site visit, but they weren’t urgent. I could do those tomorrow.

While monitoring one of my bigger customer’s servers I noticed a few things that worried me. I made a note to include this client for a visit tomorrow.

I was engrossed in my work, so it was mid-afternoon before I stopped for a break. I looked at the time in the bottom right hand corner of my monitor. I needed to do a quick shop for dinner.

When Andre arrived home I was working on a coding problem. He called out “Hi” and came in and kissed my neck. I rolled my chair back and turned to look up at him. He kissed my lips and I responded passionately.

“You’re still working?”

I looked at the monitor clock again. “And you’re later than usual.”

“Yes, I got caught up at the office and I stopped off to buy something for dinner.”

“Snap! I also bought something for dinner. How about a drink while we decide which we have tonight?"

We sat together on the couch with our drinks. Close together. We discussed our meal purchases. To me it didn’t matter what Andre had bought. The important thing was that he had thought about and bought something for a meal for us. As it turned out I’d bought pizza bases and ingredients to make our own toppings, while Andre had bought beef mince with the intention of making a meal using meat balls. Pizzas won for tonight but tomorrow would be meat balls in spicy tomato sauce with pasta.

I still couldn’t believe how comfortable it was living with Andre. It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced before. It was a feeling I cherished, and I now accepted that it was what I’d been searching for. Looking back, I’d been in relationships but not really living together, except for Xavier. I had come to understand that with Xavier, including the disastrous ending, there had always been an awkward edginess in our relationship. And Michael? Again, I’d never lived with Michael so I’m not sure I know what that would be like. He’s my closest friend, even after the break we had until recently. I love him as that closest of close friends but now I have no desire for that to be a sexual friendship. The more I’m with Andre the more I feel the love between us.

Andre announcing the pizzas were ready brought me out of my thoughts. After eating and clearing up, I explained that I really wanted to solve the coding problem I was working on. It was OK with Andre as he had a TV program he wanted to watch.

I wasn’t aware of the time when I finally revised what was on the screen and softly vocalized “yes! Got it. That will work. I'll test it tomorrow.” Immediately I felt Andre’s reassuring hands on my shoulders.

“How long have you been standing behind me?”

“A while, but it’s OK. I’ve enjoyed watching you work, even if I don’t understand it all.” He lent down and with his arms around me, kissed my cheek. “Have you thought about employing someone to help you with your business?”

I realized I was tired. I leaned back against him and sighed. “I have. I could probably use part time help but I’m just not sure that I can afford it.”

“Now that’s my area of expertise. How about tomorrow I go through your business accounts and let you know?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“It’s late and you’re tired. How about bed and sleep.”

“Now that sounds like a better plan.”

Wednesday morning and I was alone in bed which was unusual now we had started living together. I looked to see if I had missed the alarm. No! I listened to see if I could hear Andre in the bathroom. No! Then, I smelt coffee.

A dressed for work Andre walked into the bedroom. “I’ve made coffee. Would you like it in here or in the kitchen?”

“I’d like it with you wherever that is.”

“Good. Kitchen.”

I entered the kitchen without bothering to dress “Why are you up so early?”

He handed me my coffee and a plate of toast and Vegemite. He grinned. “Because of you I was up, but you were sound asleep, dead to the world, so I left you and got out of bed instead.”

I spluttered my coffee. “You were awake, ready for sex and you didn’t wake me. Why?”

“Because you looked so cute. Also, I figured that if I went to work and started early, I could finish early and look at your business accounts this afternoon.”

“I don’t know that I like being called ‘cute’.”

“OK. So how about you looked endearing?”

I chuckled. “OK, I’ll accept endearing as long as it’d not an excuse for not making love.”

Andre kissed me. “I’ll never look for excuses for not making love with you.”

The alarm in the bedroom interrupted us. We looked at each other and laughed. We were both awake, out of bed and, at least for Andre ready for work before the time we would normally wake up.

I went and quickly silenced the alarm and then hugged him. “Thanks for deciding to go to work early so you can go through my business accounts.”

“If you keep hugging me like this while you’re naked, I may never make it to work, and you could use a shower and some clothes.” He was being jovial.

Two of my clients were located in the Tuggerah Industrial Area, so I headed up there. I especially wanted to visit the business that I was concerned about. The owner, Harold, was also the manager so I spoke to him about my concerns and what I wanted to do. Naturally he agreed, even though at the time he didn’t understand the full implications of what I suspected was a security breach. I sent out a general email reminding everyone about the importance of using strong passwords and that the requirements for passwords would be strengthened. I introduced some more background security and two factor authentication for some key employees. All this was set to start overnight in 36 hours. I went through the activity logs and identified two possible people with suspicious computer activity but I thought one who had only been with the company for a couple of months as the most likely.

I went back to Harold and joined him for a cup of coffee and some general chat about his setup. We also chatted about his business, and he confided about losing a couple of contracts recently. He was surprised because they were businesses he had dealt with for years and they always seemed happy with his work and charges. This confirmed my suspicions, so I told Harold that I thought someone was passing on information to a competitor and that I’d set a trap to see if I was right. I said I‘d keep him informed.

I decided to have a quick lunch and then visited my next client. This job was easier than I expected. One of my tasks was to upgrade some of the staff with newly delivered computers. What made it easier was that the owner’s son had spent the morning connecting the new computers to the network and configuring them. I was impressed. Everything I checked was correct. I was running some checks on the server when my phone pinged. It was a message from Andre. He was home and asking for the password to my accounts.

I phoned back. “Hi. You’re home earlier than I expected.”

“Yeah, I finished all I had to do at work and didn’t want to just hang around. Now I need your password for your accounts.”

“Have you logged into the computer setup?”

“Yes, but it’s my login and that doesn’t give me access to your stuff.”

I smiled to myself. “Have a look at your screen. You should see an icon for my finances.”

“Hang on. Oh yeah. Cool, now I need a password. You know your multi-screen set up is really cool.”

“I agree. Now enter this password as I give it to you.”

I then gave Andre the password and had him confirm that he had the required access.

“I’ve just got a few things to finish up here and I’ll be heading home.”

“Great. Can’t wait for you to be here with me.”

I finished what I needed to do and went to check with the owner. I told him what I’d done and told him I was impressed with what his son had done in replacing the old computers. We chatted some more and then I left.

I walked in and Andre was still engrossed at the computer. I smiled inwardly as I thought that was how I would have looked to Andre when he came home yesterday. I walked over and put my arms around him, and we kissed.

“Well?”

“I’ve had a good look at your business accounts, and I had no idea you’re doing as well as you are. You can easily employ someone part time. Really, you could afford to employ someone full time.”

“That’s great because it’s possible I’ve found someone. I could use a coffee. How about I make two and we relax and discuss.”

With coffee and some snacks, we sat together on the sofa. “So, it’s possible you’ve found someone. That sounds as if you’re actually keen to have help with your business.”

“I am now you’re here.” I turned and kissed him, tasting him and a hint of cheddar cheese. “I’m not sure I should tell you this but before we agreed to be together, I did a lot of work at nights and weekends, which meant I was working very long hours for the business. Now you’re here with me I don’t want that to continue anymore. I want to have lots of quality time with you. Having someone working with me will allow me to do that.”

“Absolutely! I also want to spend quality time with you, so thank you. Now, who do you have in mind for the job?”

“Oh yes. It’s the son of one of the clients I saw today. He did Software Design and Development as a Senior High School subject and knows his way around computer hardware and some coding. He’s Enrolled in the Bachelor of Computer Science at university. I think he’ll be ideal, but I haven’t met him. I’ll have to talk to him about it. At present he’s just working part time for his dad as a general hand, mainly doing deliveries. His dad doesn’t really need him so, he could be available to work part time for me.”

“How old is he?”

“I didn’t ask. I suppose eighteen maybe nineteen.”

“Is he gay?”

I looked at Andre. He was wearing that devilish grin of his. He was teasing me. I gently squeezed his side under the ribs. He squirmed. I liked that he was ticklish, so I used all my fingers. I smiled as I continued.

“I told you I haven’t met him and don’t know. If I employ him, it will be for his ability and interest in computers. And besides, now I’m with you I don’t need anyone else and that includes some twink computer geek. And don’t you get any ideas either.”

He squirmed and giggled. “OK, OK I give.” I stopped attacking him with my fingers and used my lips instead. He kissed me back and we melted into each other with prostrations of love.

Together we prepared our dinner of meatballs in spicy tomato sauce along with pasta and green vegetables. While we were eating Andre told me that Jamie had phoned to say the flights and hotel were confirmed for Melbourne. Also, both Michael and my parents had decided on a joint party at Michael’s parents’ home on Easter Saturday. It would include both extended families so would be like a real reunion of families.

Andre went back to talking about my accounts.

“Your business and personal accounts are in the same folder. You know you gave me access to both.”

“Ahh yeah. I forgot about that when I set up your access. But I trust you so I’m not worried.”

“Thanks for trusting me but I did have a look and your personal accounts are interesting.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by “interesting”. I knew there weren’t any problems with my accounts. I waited for Andre to continue.

“Before that I want to ask about your business accounting package. I thought I knew all the good ones, but I don’t know the one you’re using. It’s so intuitive and easy to use, I could quickly extract whatever I needed to know. Where did you get it?”

“Oh that, it’s mine. I developed it myself to suit my needs and with some modifications the needs of a few clients. Glad you like it.”

“Like it! I fucking love it! Michael said you were a computer genius and I’m beginning to see why he said that. Can you sell a copy to dad for our family business finances?”

“Why? Does he have a problem with what he’s using?”

“Dad have a problem with it! I’m the one who has the problem. Dad wants to feel responsible for the business finances, but he harkens back to the days when people used cash and cheques and business and industrial laws were simpler. Don’t get me wrong. Dad’s good. I mean he built up the business from just him and an apprentice to what it is today but he has a problem with modern accounting technology and legal requirements. I’ve actually been doing the family business finances and accounts since before I graduated, and currently I spend more time than I should sorting out what dad’s done and making sure everyone and especially the ATO are happy. I reckon even dad could use your program.”

I chuckled. “Of course, he can have a copy. I don’t market it. I’ve got a few companies that use a customised version written specifically for them with the features they need. I can easily do the same for Lachlan.”

“Fantastic, and the spinoff is that I’ll get more time with you.”

“Sound like more than enough payment.” I leaned over and pulled him into an embrace and kiss. I loved holding my man. After a while he gently pushed me back a bit.

“Can you let me get back to your accounts?” I nodded. “I noticed you are doing very well from some royalties and investments including those Silicon Valley ones. Then there’s the money from your current business and those other small payments that you receive.”

I smiled. “Those small payments are probably for my writing and from my YouTube channel.”

“I’ll ask you about that later. What I was checking and what I found was that between us we can easily buy business premises for you and a bigger home for us. That is by pooling equal amounts of the finances we each have.”

I loved that he was talking about “us”. I lightly poked his nose. “So, mister money man, what do you suggest?” He pulled my hand down and licked my finger.

“Let’s start by looking for premises for your business. If we can move all your work stuff out of here, we can then take our time to find a bigger house, and hopefully find a house close to your work.”

“Sounds like a plan. But, what about close to your work?”

“We can deal with that when we’re looking for a house.”

“That’s all settled then. Let’s do it.”

“Yes let’s do it.” The double entendre was immediately obvious. He was still holding my hand, kissed it then pulled me up and kissed me. He was, so bloody sexy. For once leaving the dinner detritus, we headed for the bedroom. Loving and living with Andre was the best.

We both woke to the alarm. This morning I was big spoon and Andre was teasingly rubbing against my morning wood. As I woke fully, I remembered something I’d forgotten.

“Shit. There’s something I wanted to do last night.”

Andre rolled over and grinning, kissed me. “Well, good morning to you too! Don’t tell me you’re fretting about not cleaning up after dinner last night.”

I smiled happily while kissing him back. “Good morning. And no, I wasn’t fretting about that. Not after what we did instead.”

“So?”

“I’m concerned about security with one of my clients. I set a trap yesterday and I wanted to see if it caught the mole.”

“You suspect someone in the business is accessing information and passing it on to someone, like a competitor?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well don’t just lie there. Let’s go see if you caught them.”

Was I missing something?

“Why are you suddenly so interested?”

“Industrial espionage is a massive problem. Using a mole in the company is a very simple tactic. As financial information is a major target, I’m interested in them getting caught.”

Andre was excited and practically pulled me out of bed and into my computer workroom. He stood like an expectant father as I opened my computer system and logged directly into the company’s server. It took less than a minute of searching for me to exclaim “got the bastard.”

Andre was leaning over my shoulder trying to follow. I quickly explained that I believed confidential quotes tendering for work were being accessed and passed on to someone outside the company. I had two suspects, but one was most likely because his computer was being used to log into the company’s data bases using the IDs and passwords of other staff. I couldn’t understand why other staff were logging in using his computer rather than their own, so I set up a trap where he could only access fake quotes for potential work. I also included a fake quote for work for one of my own companies.

Andre laughed, “I see. If you receive a quote for that work then you will know the mole is working for that business.”

“Absolutely. Also, the camera on the monitor will have recorded him accessing the information.”

“What if he noticed and covered it up?”

“The whole work area including the office has CCTV coverage. There are signs warning everyone and everyone forgets. I can access those if the camera in the monitor was blocked.

So did any of the cameras catch him doing it.”

“Well let’s see”. I opened another screen and searched for the file I wanted. A video from his monitor started playing. I fast forwarded to the time I wanted. “Sure did. There he is using his computer at the time it was logged in as someone else.” We both smiled. I searched and opened another file. “And look at his email log. An email with attachments to another company, timed for just after he accessed the quotes. Not very sophisticated industrial espionage but still very effective, especially because other staff were slack about their passwords.”

Andre placed his hand on my shoulder. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t have to be sophisticated to be effective. At least that’s one more business that will be more security conscious. I feel like celebrating but a champagne breakfast before work seems a bit excessive.”

“Totally! Even though it’s early, I have to phone Harold now and give him the news. How about just coffee now and champagne tonight?”

“Two coffees coming up.”

The call didn’t take very long, and I agreed to send a detailed report later in the morning. He said he’d decide what action he’d take and let me know. I kept the monitor footage in case it was needed. I walked into the kitchen where Andre had not only made coffees but was preparing breakfast. I started clearing up from last night and stacking the dishwasher.

“Harold happy?”

“Yes. Very.”

“No wonder your business is successful, and you need to employ some sexy young guy to help you.”

I knew Andre was playfully baiting me. I was saved from responding when he put two plates of scrambled eggs and toast on the table.

“I thought you said you couldn’t cook anything?”

“With your inspiration I’m looking online for simple recipes I can’t stuff up.”

“Well I can see you didn’t stuff this up. Thank you for breakfast.”

While we were eating Andre asked, “what’s with your YouTube channel? The one you mentioned last night.”

“Oh that. Just a side interest really. I post advice and tips about software and reviews of new stuff like games, technology and phones. I also write reviews for some online publications and for my website.”

“When do you do all that. Like when do you make the videos for your YouTube channel?”

“Before you agreed to live with me, I had plenty of time to do all that. Now, with a part time assistant I’ll continue to be able to keep doing it.”

“But where do you get the stuff to review?”

“The companies send it to me to review. I’ve got a reputation and I do solid, honest reviews. I’ve also got a big following, usually around a few hundred k views each video. That helps.”

He was curious, “So, what happens to this stuff after you review it?”

I shrugged. “Sometimes they want it back and sometimes they don’t. I’ve got a collection of what they didn’t want back. That games console we used at the weekend was one they didn’t want back.”

Andre was still curious and, I suspected, now hopeful. “What about phones?”

I smiled as I picked up the dishes from breakfast and walked to the kitchen. “Yes, you do need an upgrade. I’ll see what I can find for you after I start the dishwasher.”

When I returned, I handed him a new phone. We kissed lovingly but not passionately. After all we both needed to get to work.

I received a call from Harold to say he had sacked the mole but decided not to report him to the police. Instead, he would put the word out about the underhand tactics being used by our newly arrived competitor. He thought that would be more effective in dealing with them than going through the long legal process of prosecuting a single individual while the other company denied he was working for them. I started giving my tech colleagues a heads up on what was happening. As it turned out this strategy worked better than we expected. It turned out the new guys didn’t know a lot about running the business and were hopeless at costing their work. They either over quoted and didn’t get the work or under-quoted to the point that they lost money. In less than a year they were gone. And yes, my company did receive a quote undercutting the phony one I’d created.

My real focus for today wasn’t security but checking out a young man as a possible part time employee. I had an informal interview with Tyron and he ticked so many boxes for the position. He knew more about computer hardware and software than I currently needed him to know, and he was keen to learn more. I could see him taking on more work in the future. Being an attractive six foot, solid, athletic, surfing, football playing, nineteen year old he didn’t look like some young computer geek, even though he really was one. That would please my customers. He was straight which would ease Andre’s concerns. Tyron and his father were happy for him to start with me as soon as possible. That made me happy.

I had just shaken hands with Tyron after arranging times for him to work that suited his university schedule when my phone rang. It was Skye. She was returning to work the week after Easter and wanted to know if I was still prepared to look after William on Tuesdays. I explained that we were going to Melbourne to meet my family and weren’t coming back until the Tuesday after Easter.

Skye laughed. “I’d love to be there when Andre meets your family. Don’t worry about William. It’s a short week and my boss only wants me there for two days. There’d be World War Three if the grandmothers didn’t each get a turn looking after him in that first week. I start four days the following week.

I confirmed that I would start looking after William then. After all, how difficult would it be to look after a baby for a day? After Easter I would find out.