So when Kyle had followed me into the break room talking about a bad code he had tried to cobble together last night, my first instinct had been to snap at him. To tell him to get lost. But then I had remembered that it wasn’t Kyle’s fault my life was in chaos. So I had changed my demeanor and decided to show him something.
Nothing major. He wasn’t ready for that. But I could give him a fun little glitch to annoy his friends with.
Clearly he didn’t appreciate my efforts.
The younger man’s stringy hair fell into his face as he squinted down at his phone. A few seconds later my phone pinged and I opened it, only to have it crash instantly.
Kyle chuckled. “Okay, yeah, that’s pretty fun. It’ll totally piss off my mom.” He instantly sent the non-Latin string of characters to as many people as he could think of. “Though I wonder if you could use the bug to control more than the off function,” he mused.
I raised my eyebrows. “I’m sure, if given enough time, someone could code something to do that.”
Kyle passed me the box of doughnuts that someone had left out on the counter. “Think we could do that? Together?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to say no. But Kyle wasn’t being too pushy, which was a pleasant change. What could it hurt to share some of the knowledge I had gathered over the years? It could be nice to talk to someone in the real world about the things I could do.
“Sure. Why not? Nothing too malicious. We don’t want the coppers breathing down our necks for a dinky iPhone hack. But yeah, let’s see what we can come up with.” I took a bite of a powdered sugar doughnut and wiped my fingers on a napkin.
Kyle looked ready to come out of his skin. “For real? That’s awesome. Maybe I can tweak this glitch a bit. Make it do something more…” His voice trailed off as he walked out of the room, engrossed in his new project.
My phone dinged in my pocket and I pulled it out. My heart thudded. It flipped and tumbled.
Good morning, Hannah. Should we try ice-skating again? Maybe I could redeem myself.
I wanted to massacre the butterflies running riot in my belly. There was no place for them here.
I wanted to call him up and tell him,Yes I want to go ice-skating with you again!I wanted to throw caution to the wind and embrace the madness that he evoked inside me.
But I couldn’t.
Because of the plan.
Always the goddamned plan.
It was essential to gauge my reactions to him carefully. I had to think about what would make him want me. What would make him view me as the woman he could tell his secrets to.
I needed those secrets.
They were integral to everything.
But…
I found myself liking him. The way he laughed. The way he asked me about my day. The way he listened when I spoke, as if what I had to say was the most important thing to him. The way he had let the boy teach him how to ice-skate, holding on to that silly plastic penguin for dear life, without caring if he looked stupid.
There was more to Mason Kohler than being an FBI agent. Than being incredibly good-looking and smart.
There was a heart to the man that moved me. A depth of character that intrigued me.
He hid his pain carefully, letting it out only when he felt safe to do so. And he felt safe with me.
I wasn’t sure I could abuse that power. Whether it was expected of me or not.
And that was risky. Because I didn’t want to like him.
I could be attracted to him. Lust after him, even. Butneverlike him.
That was not part of the plan.
Being dishonest wasn’t hard. I had lived a double life for a long time. My mother and Charlotte had no idea the lengths I went to in order to get justice for us. To make the right people pay for crimes they had committed.
