Smoke doesn't stop to greet anyone, not seeming like the social type. Instead, he settles a hand against my back and guides me forward. I don't miss the furrow of his brow or the grit of his jaw.
"Are you okay?" My concern comes out in a whisper.
He grunts before his hand shifts closer to my outer hip. "Taking baby steps. Holding myself back isn't easy."
Heat rises up to my cheeks when I realize he's serious.
He really isn't putting up a performance. Even now, he's feeling jealous?
I barely have enough to digest the discovery before we stop at a door. Smoke pounds his fist on it before shoving it open.
I'm unsure what awaits on the other side, but it isn't what I anticipated.
The room is scattered with flashing lights on towers with thick cords running along the ground like tendrils. Through the darkness, I finally notice there's a desk with a woman sittingbehind a bunch of monitors. Hardly even noticing our arrival, she continues to stare at the monitors as the reflection of whatever she's looking at dances over her large, round glasses.
"Watch your step, and don't mind Hex." Smoke gives me a warning, and I don't know what he means before he flips on the light.
The woman jerks instantly, whipping her head in our direction. At the sound of a hiss leaving her, I realize she's not alone.
There's a guy in here, too. He's sitting against the wall, blinking slowly like we've woken him up.
Smoke steps on her cords, moving toward her. "Every time I come in here, it gets worse."
The woman tears her eyes from him and looks at me. Despite the bags beneath her eyes, I can immediately see the defense building up before I can even try to introduce myself.
Smoke tilts to the side, blocking me from her view. "Someone fucked with our bikes at the casino. I need you to pull up the feeds."
Her mouth twists into a deeper frown, but she turns back to her monitors. Her fingers move in a blur, her keyboard making softclick-clackynoises as she works.
Looking over Smoke's shoulder, I don't miss the way she stiffens as the other guy stands.
He gives Smoke a nod in passing and doesn't even look at me before leaving the jungle of cords.
Left alone, Smoke catches her up on all the small details. He doesn't outright spell out my stalker, but he mentions that he expects one of the staff at the casino did it, rather than a random attack.
"You're sure you didn't swindle the wrong guy?" She sneaks a glance between us, arching a red brow.
It makes me wonder if it was the guy who'd grabbed me. After all, he did technically leave on a bad note.
Smoke is confident it wasn't, his eyes locked onto her screens. Surprisingly, he asks her to look into any alterations by any of the security members first.
Does he think someone on the security team has been the one harassing me?
That would explain why nothing has been done by now...
The thought alone makes me shiver as I dread it being someone who could've come in and saved me in the past, playing the role of a good guy while being the second.
Hearing the door open, I glance behind me to see the guy has returned. From the patch on his vest, I discover his name is Trouble.
He passes us before setting a can in front of Hex, some kind of energy drink, paired up with a few pieces of candy. Ignoring the glare he receives, he settles right back in his spot as he'd never moved to begin with.
Hex ignores his offerings to her for only so long before she's tearing into a piece of chocolate.
"It looks like none of the feeds have been manually touched, let alone altered." Yawning, she pulls up another window with a lot of dates and numbers. Clicking through them, a feed pops up of the parking lot. With a few taps, cars come and go at a sped-up pace. "Any idea of who you're looking for or when?"
Smoke leans closer, his brows pinched closer. "You've got me questioning my original guess." His frustration grows as their bikes remain untouched. "Can you grab all the employees' timeslots and break times? I'd like to see if any will match up."
On another monitor, Hex resumes typing away before popping in another piece of chocolate. "You think they're dumb enough to make such an obvious mistake?"
