“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she asked.
Ash had explained his worry that Caspar would keep coming and his fear that he and Hope would bring trouble to Taryn and the bar. She’d tried to argue that they had time. That Caspar might not have even noticed that Hope was gone yet.
Ultimately, though, it was his decision.
“Let’s get you over to the chair.” Slow baby steps brought them to the hacker chair in the center of the room. The chair wasn’t far, but each step felt like a mile. The throbbing in his neck was worse than any hangover or post-surf crash he’d ever had. Worse even than the pain of getting it installed in the first place.
When they reached the chair, Taryn guided him in a little dance that ended with him eventually sitting. As soon as his ass hit the cushion, she released him. Leather—real leather—embraced him.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked.
“Um...” Was this a bad plan?
He fiddled with the arm rests, making minute adjustments until they felt right. “Would you help me adjust the head rest?”
“Sure.” She moved slowly, sliding the head rest close to the back of his head, carefully avoiding the port area.
“What next?”
His head and neck weren’t even touching the back of the chair, but he knew it was there. Knew that the port that would connect him to the system was there, too.
Inches away.
It was the closest he’d been to porting into the network in years.
All he needed to do was align the newly freed port with the plug on the chair. It was that easy.
Just a head butt away.
So why was he hesitating?
“Everything okay?”
Taryn had obviously picked up on his delay.
“Fine.” An automatic response. Ash wasn’t fine.
He was afraid of a fucking chair.
For five years he’d had an excuse for not surfing the network. That excuse was gone. A golden opportunity was staring him in the face and he was terrified.
What if something went wrong? What if he’d forgotten how to do this? What if he got brain burn like Hope?
He loved his sister, but the thought of losing himself in the system was more terrifying than the thought of losing her.
What if he got stuck in the network?
“Is that what you’re worried about?”
Ash turned his head slowly because it still throbbed like a son of a bitch. Had he said that out loud?
Ash nodded, even though the movement made him queasy.
Taryn’s hand brushed his forehead, shifting hair away from his skin. Then she trailed her fingers down his face until she cupped his chin, her fingers resting on his cheek. He closed his eyes and leaned into the comfort of her touch.
“You’ll be fine,” she said.
Ash wanted to believe her. He really did.
