Chapter 14 #2
Scratching at the back of my neck, I groan before I speak like the secret is spilling out of me in a rush. “I’ve been seeing someone. Sneaking out to meet with her as well, lying about where I’m going. She’s hot as fuck. I mean it, she makes Sierra Carpone look like a dog.”
The only canine around here is Kyle as he laps this all up eagerly, ignoring Walker’s instant glare of disapproval as he whoops in excitement. “Holy shit! Sierra is number one spank bank material, who the hell is this chick?”
He’s been obsessed with Sierra as long as I can remember, she’s probably in their Bond Group as well, but her parents won’t let her get tested until she’s twenty-five.
Blowing out a breath, I nod like I’m being murdered. “That’s my problem, man. She’s from a Lower Tier family. My Dad would rather cut his own dick off than let me keep her, but fuck, I’m not giving her up so easy. It’s the best lay of my life.”
I send a silent apology to my Bond for talking like this, even if the other woman is entirely hypothetical and I’m having to picture my own Bond to get my voice to sound even a little convincing.
Kyle smirks, nodding along. “Fuck no, I wouldn’t give that up either. Hell, you’ve banged all the Top Tier girls around here anyway, this one must be something.”
I really don’t want another reminder.
Wincing, I turn back to the computer. “I just need to get into my Dad’s security tapes to wipe some shit. If he finds out I’ve been sneaking out, I’m fucked. I can’t lose this girl, Kyle.”
The tapes are irrelevant, but the saved files of footage there aren’t.
They only save important shit, stuff they’re investigating or people they’re keeping an eye on, and I’ve sifted through hundreds of hours of intel already.
What I’ve learned is invaluable for getting my Bond out of the country and away from Davies, but I’ve run out of files.
Kyle is my only option for getting more.
I might not be able to get into the network without him, but thankfully I can send myself the files without Kyle being involved or knowing about it. God only knows what horrors might be on it, but if there’s any chance it could help my Bond, I’ll risk it.
I’d risk it all for her.
He nods along eagerly, his fingers flashing across the keyboard until the screen changes and I’m looking at a dozen security cameras, hundreds more listed.
Subtlety out the window, I’m scanning each and every one of them for some sign of danger to my Bond.
There’s nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to suggest they know anything new about her or the rest of the Bond Group, but my hand tightens around my phone regardless.
“Which tape do you need wiped? Shit, your parents have too much freaking security on this—wait, Bass, holy shit! There’s an anomaly at the new Hub, the mall they cleaned out? The cameras are picking it up right now. You know they think that shit is the Dravens, right?”
My stomach drops to my feet.
He sees it, misreads it, and nods like we’re both freaking out about the same thing.
“Fucking Death Dealers, man! They’re out snooping in our shit again.
You know Renault was killed the last time they showed up to one of the recruitment camps, right?
Their nightmares killed our strongest Telekinetic like it was nothing. ”
My plan adjusts instantly.
Waving my hand to shoo him from the seat, I scoff, “Like I give a fuck about the Dravens. Get out of the way so I can cover my own ass and get back to this stupid dinner before my mom comes searching.”
Kyle side-eyes me, and I smirk at him again. “Walk away, man. You need the alibi if you’re questioned, that way you won’t be lying when you say you have no idea what I really did here. My father wouldn’t ever let someone get that close to me, but you’ll be free game if we take too long.”
He gulps at the reminder that even being from a Top Tier family wouldn’t spare him from Davies if he got found out. I’m also certain it wouldn’t save me, but Kyle practically scrambles away from the seat like it’s on fire at the thought of facing that psychopath.
Fear pools in my own stomach thinking about him, but the rage burning in my veins at what he did to my Bond is far stronger, my heart thumping violently in my chest to spread that fire rapidly through my limbs until I’m ready to rend the man limb from limb.
Kyle and Walker murmur with each other about how stupid I’m being over a hookup by the bottom of the staircase, but I ignore them as I watch the screens shift in and out of focus, an inky stain moving around the footage that looks like the world’s best CGI.
It’s without a doubt the Dravens.
I owe those assholes nothing. In fact, in any other situation, I’d want them to suffer the worst and most torturous deaths possible for what they’ve been putting my Bond through at that stupid university…
only, she’s a Central Bond. Obvious, I know, but it means she has four other Bonds to think about.
Now, I don’t give a fuck about any of them surviving this war—except how it affects my Bond.
She’s met them all now. It’s not as easy as finding her and running away with her, fuck the rest of them, because if they die, it won’t be an ‘ache in the chest sort of pain’ or something that can be easily dismissed.
No matter how she might feel about them thanks to their shitty treatment, prolonged proximity establishes ties.
Losing them could break her.
The girl who couldn’t be broken by the most sadistic motherfucker in the Resistance might be strong enough to bear the pain of a lost Bond, but I can’t be sure until I’ve met her in person. Bonding with me could soften the blow, maybe, but she’s terrified of the power exchange, with good reason.
I can’t let any of them die before I know for sure.
Not if I have a say in the matter.
I wipe the footage, disable the cameras for the entire area as well as two dozen more in different areas, scattering the order I shut them off to cover my tracks. My mom will still probably figure it out, but fuck it, as long as it throws my father’s closest friends off, I don’t care.
Glancing over my shoulder, I grab the last fifty or so files to be uploaded to the archiving server and send copies to my own highly encrypted cloud server.
As I move to log out and get the hell out of here before my luck runs out, something new pops up on the screen.
My bond tugs at my chest, pulls me toward it in a way it’s never acted before. Scowling, I open it.
It’s a report, but I only manage to read the opening line before Kyle is calling out to me, forcing me to hit send and log out with my gut churning viciously.
Phase Two Approved: Recoup the God Bond by any means necessary.