Chapter 26 #2
After feeding Felix, I move through the hall to the bathroom so I can shower.
I brush my fingers along the wall, and the wiring behind it blooms in my head like a constellation.
Data pulses faintly through the building’s network.
My neighbor is streaming something that would probably embarrass them if they knew anyone could see it.
Someone on the third floor is Googling symptoms they absolutely do not have.
I freeze in the middle of the hallway.
It’s not the ability. I’ve been quickly growing used to that, a little too quickly. Because that’s what’s stopped me in my tracks. It’s the ease of it. It’s not overwhelming anymore. It’s not crashing over me like a wave. It’s just there, involuntary. Like breathing. Or a heartbeat.
“Cool,” I mutter as I step into the bathroom and start to strip. “Love being a walking Wi-Fi router.”
I get a shower, glad it wasn’t a toaster in the tub kind of situation, and dress in clean clothes—comfortable ones because, duh, I just died. Then I head back into the living room, and my gaze catches on the camera tucked into the bookshelf.
Do I want him to know? Or should I let it be a surprise?
I’m honestly not the most patient person. I live for instant gratification. That’s probably one reason Reese and I would never work even if our circumstances were different, not with the way he’s edged me to oblivion during both of our sexual encounters.
My mind snags on that and gets stuck, memories of both those times coming back to me as I sit in the chair at my desk. Seven years ago in that small shower when he wouldn’t let me come for what felt like hours. Just the other day in that basement when it was his shadows doing the exact same thing.
I peer down and see my dick tenting my gray sweats.
“Fucking traitor. Can’t even let me lie to myself.”
Okay, fine, I fucking love it. But I think it’s only because it’s not my choice. Because I’m giving something like that up to him, something I usually chase with little to no patience. Letting him decide. Giving him the power over it, over me.
Not to mention the orgasms are fucking explosive.
Still, I can pretend I hate it. Because as much as I love surrendering my body to him, I don’t love feeling weak in front of him. Defenseless. He kidnapped me twice, held me hostage, used his shadows to torture me.
None of that, ever again.
I’m already powerless to my stupid fucking feelings for him. I refuse to be powerless to everything else when it comes to him. The only time I’ll ever submit to him from here on out is if he’s giving me what I fucking want.
Not that I want him.
Felix jumps up on my desk, stares straight into my soul, and meows.
I glare back. “Let me live my life in denial.”
Glancing behind me at the camera again, my jaw tightens before I quickly look away like it doesn’t matter, like he doesn’t matter. Like I didn’t just die thinking about him.
Denial is safer.
I’m not fucking waiting.
“Right.” I clap my hands and rub my palms together like I can reset my brain with enthusiasm. “Let’s see what we can do.”
I place my fingertips on the keycaps of my board, and that’s all it takes.
The computer turns on at my touch, and the connection snaps into place instantly.
I can see everything behind the screens—the operating system, the processes running in the background, the network connections branching out like veins.
1s and 0s thread through my vision. I don’t have to think about what they mean. I just know.
My fingers twitch, and the cursor moves. Not because I touched the mouse, but because I told it to. I lean in, focusing on some locked file buried three folders deep. I don’t open it. I bypass it. Like walking straight through a fucking wall. The file unfolds, no passwords, no barriers. Nothing.
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
I pull my hands back slowly, my heart kicking up a notch.
Apparently, I can hack anything I touch now.
Felix blinks at me.
“Don’t look at me like that. You’d absolutely abuse this power if you had thumbs.”
I drag a hand through my hair as I stare at the screens, at everything I can reach now. The Institute. Malcolm. Reese and his resistance.
Except…I don’t want to do that again.
My chest tightens, and I rest my head back and look straight up at the ceiling. “Okay, let’s not spiral. We just died. Let’s take it one existential crisis at a time.”
Felix stands, stretches, and strolls across the desk before hopping into my lap as though he’s clocking in for emotional support. With one hand, I scratch behind his ears, letting my other hand hang off the side of the chair. Electrical sparks skip across my fingers, hot and visible.
“You’re fucking mine, Reese Morgan.”
I keep my voice quiet, but it still trembles. And yet I feel stronger than I ever have. Because maybe this is finally enough. Enough to stand a chance, enough to not feel like the weakest person in the room.
I’ll always be weak for him, but I’m done being weak to him.
I’ll finally fucking—
There’s a buzz in the air. Something shifts, but it’s not visible, not tangible. It’s subtle, in the network, but not like in the rest of the building, not background noise or passive data flow.
This is…targeted.
My head tilts as I reach for it without thinking. A signal. It weaves through the system, bypassing everything like it knows exactly where it’s going. Where I am.
The screen in front of me flickers, just once. Then…
Come and get me.
The text just appears, not typed but placed. There’s no name, just numbers. Coordinates. Somewhere I don’t immediately recognize until that clicks into place too, my new brain not having to reach far into the nearest network to grab it.
The house Reese held me in.
Apparently he doesn’t want to wait either.
My heart starts to race, and Felix leaps off my lap like he can feel the change. I spin my chair around and stare right into the fucking camera. I swear I can feel him staring back.
There’s no question, no hesitation. Of course I’m going.
But this time, I’m going willingly. This time, I’m not the same person he left behind on that basement floor.
This time, maybe these abilities will make me strong enough to tear through every hold he has on me. Strong enough to finally break free of them.
“See you soon.”