“Junior, sir. He seems…irritated.”
“Fuck. Okay, I’ll check my Nexus. Thanks, NOVA,” I replied, hunting down my phone. I’d left it in the living room, and when I unlocked it, I cringed.
I had six missed calls and more texts than I ever wanted to see from Seb on a Saturday.
Opening my inbox, I frowned.
Seb:
Answer your goddamn phone, Jay.
Seb:
Luke wants us to meet him at Comms. He says we need to be briefed for a meeting with the director of fucking DARPA.
Seb:
Jay, what the actual FUCK! This is so serious. You need to fucking call me.
My eyes widened, and I felt my mouth part in shock.
I’d beendreadingsomething like this happening. I knew Luke was going to pull some shit like this, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow.
DARPA stood for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It was a U.S. government agency under the Department of Defense. Its mission was to develop emerging technologies for military use.
The last thing I wanted was my technology being used for fucking war, but I had known for a while that this was the direction Luke wanted us to go, despite the fact that he hadn’t said it in so many words.
War was lucrative, and if Luke could find a buyer who saw the weaponized potential of memory technology, we would never need to worry about investor acquisition again.
My fingers shook with terror and fury as I hit Sebastian’s contact to call him back.
He answered on the first ring.
“Jay, thank fucking god, where have you been?” Seb’s voice was panicked, and I winced.
“It’s Saturday. I wasn’t checking my phone. We’re off the clock,” I explained, keeping my tone calm despite the way my heart was hammering in my chest.
“I was just about to come to your cube to get you. Luke wants to meet now. He’s being… Well, you know how he gets.” The quiver in Sebastian’s voice made me feel sick. I’d never seen Luke actually hit him, but I knew he was emotionally abusive. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was physical abuse as well. My heart pinched with concern for Sebastian. As complicated as our relationship was, he was like a brother to me. I fucking hated the way Luke treated him.
I glanced back at my room, where a fucked out Milo was waiting for me to come back for cuddles, and I ran my hand down my face in frustration.
He needed aftercare. I couldn’t leave him right now, no matter how much this meeting was stressing Sebastian the fuck out. I couldn’t do that to Milo.
“I… can’t meet right now. I have plans.”
“Cancel them! Jay, it’s fuckingDARPA,if we don’t do something to stop this?—”
“Iknow!”I snarled, growing increasingly frustrated. “I fucking know, okay? But I really can’t right now… Can you just cover for me? Please? I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
The line went quiet for so long, I checked my phone to make sure the call hadn’t dropped.
“This is about Milo, isn’t it?” Sebastian finally said, his tone dark and edged with something dangerous.
“No. It’s not. I told you that was just a one-time thing. It was a drunken mistake.” I flinched, the lie feeling sour on my tongue.
“It better fucking be, Jay. You can’t bring an outsider into this. He’s going to get hurt.”
“I’m not,” I lied, feeling like I was going to be sick.
