“And, you think I’m dumb enough to fall for it?”
Josh paused and looked up in the air as if he was thinking about if I was dumb enough. “I’m not sure,” he joked.
“I’ll keep my eyes out. Now what am I supposed to do with my trading account? I’m already bored to death; can’t I at least trade regular stocks?”
“I wouldn’t advise it. Even regular trades could get blocked or you could end up doing something stupid while they are watching. Let’s just go over the rules again; I want to make sure you understand everything,” Josh said.
“I know, I know, I can’t trade stocks for my old company. I can’t trade stocks for my close friend’s companies. I can’t buy more than ten thousand shares at a time. What else?” I said as I became more and more frustrated.
“These rules are for your own wellbeing. They aren’t technically illegal, but you can get yourself into a full investigation, have your accounts frozen
, and be unable to access your money; it’s serious, Brandon.”
I knew he was just trying to help me out, but I honestly hadn’t been trading enough to get on the radar of any big agencies. My trading account was probably less than some teenagers who were investing. I only made small trades and had been listening to all the advice Josh gave me. I’d been researching stocks before purchases, keeping my stocks until the first signs of a down turn, then selling. There wasn’t anything exciting going on in my trading account.
“I understand.”
“I’m going to head out for the day. Let me know if you notice the red flag disappear from your account and don’t start trading again until I’ve come and looked things over.”
“You do know I’m the boss here, right?” I asked.
“You do know I know what I’m doing and you don’t, right? Try spending your day doing something fun. You’re rich, remember? You get to go do fun stuff all day if you want to.”
He did have me on that one. Josh was very knowledgeable with all the trading information I’d asked him about. He clearly was very passionate about his day trading, and I knew I needed to listen to his advice. I wasn’t going to risk having all my bank accounts frozen. Even a rich man could get himself into a heap of trouble if he didn’t have access to his money.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I said. “Don’t let being smarter than me in the stock world get to your head, though. I’m a quick learner, and I’ll be snowing you in these investments in no time.”
“All right. I’ll check back with you tomorrow before I come over. I don’t want to come all the way over here if we can’t trade.”
“See you tomorrow. I’m sure it will be just fine.”
As Josh left, I quickly checked my phone to see if there were any messages from Del. I had asked her how her day was going earlier, but she hadn’t responded yet. Soon, I found myself looking over her online profile and then quickly getting out of it again. I didn’t want her to see that I was digitally stalking her like a lovesick puppy and knowing that she worked at the website made me hyper aware of the skills she might have to know who was looking at her page.
I went back to my trading platform and watched the stocks of the day. There was a lot of movement, and I found myself keying in on one particular stock as it moved up a little and then back a few points. It looked like it was gearing up for a nice spike before the end of the day, and I wanted to get in on it.
Just before one o’clock, I threw in an order for as many shares as I could buy with the available funds in my account. Sure enough, I watched as the stock took off and started one of the best climbs I had seen in a really long time.
First it was up to $12.03, then suddenly it was $13.49, and by the time I sold off my shares, it was well over $18.00 per share. It was my best buy all on my own and I wanted to call up Josh to tell him all about it, but I held back. I wasn’t supposed to have been trading and I knew he would get angry.
As I sat in my guilt-ridden happiness, I hoped I hadn’t just made more of a mess for myself. The trades had been one hundred percent legal, though, and I knew it. There was no reason for my account to be flagged, unless it was some sort of random issue.
I watched my computer monitor steadily as I waited for some sort of sign that I had been watched.
In life, I wasn’t much of a rule breaker. Sure, I liked to push the general rules if they didn’t fit with what I was doing with my business, but I never straight out committed crimes. In general, I was a very law-abiding citizen and probably a little tame in the risks I took with my life.
It made me nervous that my trading account had been flagged. I hadn’t ever dealt with a real investigation into my life, either financially or legally, and I really wanted to keep it that way.
After a good thirty minutes of no action on my account, I finally clicked out of it and tried to find something else to keep myself busy as I waited for Del to message me back.
There was plenty for me to do; I certainly wasn’t all that hard up for work. I was working on a new business deal with some of my old partners and we were actively looking for new companies to invest in. I also had a lot to do around my house. I’d spent so many years working that I hadn’t put any effort into decorating the place to show who I was. I was hoping to make it more livable and less like a bachelor pad.
Delilah: I’m doing good. How’s your day?
She texted me. I could have gone into all the crazy flagging that was going on with my account, but all I wanted to do was talk to her. Instead of texting her back, I just dialed her number. It was a bold and spontaneous move that I hoped would come across that way to her.
“What kind of maniac responds to a text by calling someone?” she laughed into the phone as she answered.
“Sorry, I just thought if you were available, I’d much rather hear your voice than just look at your words on the screen,” I said.