“Horn ball.”
“Thanks. Oh, and here are some valuable dating tips from an expert. Dress less Laney and be less conspiracy theorist, okay? He’s a doctor. Impress him. Don’t scare him with your talk of secret government agencies. Save that for date two.”
“He already knows about my radical ideas,” Laney returned. She entertained hanging up on her friend, but that would only prompt Harmony to show up on her doorstep. Harmony hated where Laney lived and the fact that the building was filled with what Harmony thought were vagabonds. “And I don’t think he cares what I wear.”
Harmony ignored her. “Wear that black mini skirt you have and that cute off-the-shoulder matching top.”
“The fact that you memorize my wardrobe is really weird,” added Laney, still typing, adding a few more lines to her post-in-progress. It would open the world’s eyes to what was really going on. Or, at the very least, make them think and wonder.
She couldn’t ask for more.
Harmony grunted. “You barely own any clothes, so it doesn’t take long.”
Fair point.
Laney grinned.
“Call me when you get to the coffee shop and text me several times so I know he didn’t murder you or anything,” said Harmony, a certain parental tone evident. “If you vanish, I’m going to have to publish that folder you keep—the in the event of my death one.”
“My folder is a brilliant idea,” challenged Laney. “Should the Man actually get me, everyone should know the truth. You remember where my backup system is, right?”
“Well, you only show me and remind me of it monthly. Someday, I’m going to meet this man you’re so against and I’m going to kick him in the nuts just for making me hear about him for so long. Until then, I’ll let you run with your bag of crazy because you’re my sista from another mother.”
“Gee, thanks,” said Laney.
“What are friends for?” Harmony was quiet a moment. “Hey, random thought, but what if wolf guy is really working for the same people you’re trying to track down information on? What if he is tricking you into a meeting to cut you up in little pieces?”
“Thanks for the awesome show of support. And thanks for freaking me the hell out before I get ready for my first date.” Laney shook off the unease Harmony’s question had brought about. There was no way Hagen was part of what she was investigating. She trusted him.
“I’m a stone-cold, back-up bitch,” said Harmony. “Keep me on speed dial and my ass will be showing up there with the police in tow. They’d come marching in, guns a-blazing, ready to protect my girlie girl.”
“Uh, not them. Not the police. They’re part of the establishment,” said Laney. “I’ll be fine. He’s a good guy. I have a great feeling about him.”
“Like a great enough feeling to want him to make your Va-jay-jay quiver with delight?” asked Harmony with a laugh. “He could totally talk dirty to you by just explaining his computer set up. You’d be moaning, groaning, thinking of ways to trick it out. Bling his system. Uh oh, talk syntax to me, baby.”
Laney paused, her full attention going to the conversation. She wasn’t really sure how to be a sex kitten, and the idea of embarrassing herself with a guy like Hagen didn’t sit well with her. “You don’t think he’s going to expect me to sleep with him on the first date, do you?”
“He’s male,” answered Harmon flatly. “Besides, we need to get your V-card punched, girlie.” Harmony laughed. “You’re twenty-two and a virgin. That isn’t weird to you? It freaks me the hell out.”
“No. I happen to like my V-card intact,” returned Laney, sitting back in her chair. The dim, pale greenish-colored lighting in her computer room made her skin appear even paler than it was. “And I’m not about to hand it to just anyone.”
Though Hagen isn’t just anyone.
Harmony snorted. “So, no hanging chads on your V-card?”
“If anyone has anything hanging I shouldn’t see, I’m gonna be sick.” With a groan, Laney touched her desktop. Her friend was something else. But in all honestly, the idea of Hagen’s man bits did sort of excite her. “For realz, Harm.”
“For real-zy,” Harmony returned. “And let’s be honest, LabLupus could be a hot stud and you could find yourself begging him to do you.”
“Bitch.”
“You know it,” she added with a laugh. “If the Fates feel the need to throw a hottie your way, you should take him. Though, at this point, I’m thinking you’ve fallen off the Fates’ radar. I think you might be in the giant bin of lost causes. Probably why they made our paths cross. I’m there too, but for other digressions.”
She had a way of objectifying men that made Laney blush, even when she was alone in her workspace. “Love ya like a sister, but you are a real piece of work.”
“Well, it gives me something to do. Life is hard,” said Harmony.
“Oh yeah,” joked Laney. “Up in the mansion with how many sports cars and staff? Tell me again, how many maids cleaned your room this morning?”
Harmony clucked her tongue. “I cannot help my father is loaded. He spends money like it grows on trees.”
“I know. I think you slum it with me to spite him,” added Laney. There was truth to her words. She had a feeling that in the beginning that was exactly what Harmony did. The friendship became real and their shared love of hacking cemented a bond between them that had only strengthened over the years, despite their differences.
“Daddy doesn’t know we’re friends. You made me swear not to tell anyone. Freak.”
“You know it. Gotta stay off the Man’s radar,” said Laney. “Big Brother is always watching.”
“Oh, let’s give him a show. We could wear sexy nighties and rub each other with lotion. I bet that will turn him on.”
Laney groaned. “Not funny. You don’t want to be on their radar, Harmony. You don’t want them watching you and looking into every aspect of your life.”
Well, before you break out the tinfoil hat—“
“Don’t joke about it,” said Laney sternly.
“Okay, okay, but can you come let me in before— Ugh. Never mind.”
“Wait, you’re here?” asked Laney.
“Yes, and Captain Black has found me,” said Harmony, the line going dead.
Laney laughed and hung up the phone. Whenever Harmony grew brave enough to stop by unannounced, she normally had to deal with Casey, or Captain Black as Harmony liked to call him because of all his facial hair and long, black hair. The proper thing to do as a friend was to go down to the lowest floor of the old hotel, which no longer was operating as such, and meet Harmony. The funnier option was to let Casey escort her.
Casey was a mystery to Laney, but she cared for him as if he were family. He had certain fatherly aspects about him, but he wasn’t nearly old enough to have fathered her. She wasn’t exactly sure of his age because he hid behind a lot of facial hair, but she thought he was probably in his late twenties, early thirties.
He, like the rest of the men she often referred to as her boys, lived in the old hotel with her. Casey seemed as if he could function on his own in the real world, unlike the others, but he didn’t leave much that she knew of. He was a recluse of sorts.
“Get your hands off me.” Harmony’s voice filtered through the halls.
“Keep walking, blondie,” said a gruff voice. “And stop shaking your backside at me or I’m going to spank it.”
“I’ll bite you,” Harmony responded.
“I like a little pain with my sex.”
Harmony snorted. “Me too, Captain Black.”
Laughing, Laney stood and headed out of her computer cave to meet Harmony at the door. The place wasn’t much. At one point it had been a fancy room with a small kitchen and two bedrooms. Years and neglect had left it looking a little worse for wear, but it was home. She and the others lived rent and utilities free because of her hacking skills.
She made it to the door and opened it in time to see a perky blonde trying, bu
t failing, to get her elbow free from a man with tousled black hair and a beard that was so long and scruffy that it was hard to make out much of his face. He wore a seventies rock band t-shirt that was threadbare and had a few holes in it. Harmony had on designer clothing from head to toe.
Such a contrast in her two friends.
Casey held Harmony by the arm as he led her to Laney’s door. “Did you lose this?”
Laney snorted. “No, but thanks for bringing her up. She tends to freak out when the other guys say hello to her.”
“One of them still thinks he’s in Vietnam,” said Harmony quickly. “He’s always trying to get me to duck and cover right before he asks me if I want a hit of acid. And that other one, he just stares all weird at me.”
Laney sighed. “Gus stares at everyone. It’s what he does. He’s a gentle soul but he doesn’t speak. That doesn’t mean he’s dangerous.”
Casey grunted. “And it’s not Bill’s fault that he often thinks he’s back in Nam. It’s all the shit the government did to him back then. Fucking LSD experiments. You really have no idea how much the government has done on people, testing-wise, on people without the world knowing.”
Harmony rolled her eyes and gave Laney a pointed stare. “You’re a freaky conspiracy theorist because you live with a bunch of them.”
“Like attracts like,” replied Laney with a smile. “Thanks for bringing her up, Casey.”
“You can stop touching me now, Neanderthal,” snapped Harmony.
Casey kept hold of her. “Say please, Princess.”
Harmony growled and it sounded ridiculous. Even Casey cracked a smile, something he didn’t do too often.
“You’re infuriating,” said Harmony, though her voice lacked malice.
“And you’re a fucking ray of sunshine,” Casey shot back. He released Harmony and she made quite the production of rubbing her elbow. Laney knew Casey hadn’t harmed her friend. Harmony had a flare for the dramatics. He looked to Laney. “We’re still on for a session, right?”
Laney bit her inner cheek, forgetting she’d agreed to another self-defense training lesson from Casey. He was very big on her learning to handle herself. She wasn’t sure why. All she did know was when she’d started nosing around and asking him questions about the stories he’d once told her—of men who could shift into animals—he’d started making her meet him weekly for sessions. “Well, I need to reschedule.”
He lifted a brow.
Harmony plastered a smile to her face, her blue eyes dancing with delight. She shook her chest a bit and swayed her hips. “Our little girlie here has a date tonight.”
Casey’s face went blank—totally unreadable. “With?”
“A guy she met on the internet,” replied Harmony, not helping the situation any.
Laney could feel the disapproval leaking off Casey. He locked gazes with her, dark brown eyes holding concern. “Is that wise?”
“No,” said Harmony. “But look at her. She’s a social leper. If she doesn’t meet a man online, she’ll never meet one.”
Laney put her hands on her hips. “Really, you two. I’ll be fine. He’s very sweet and a gentleman and he’s funny. We’re meeting for coffee. Somewhere public.”
“Laney,” Casey said, his voice even. “What have I told you again and again?”
She groaned. “Don’t trust anyone. Ever.”
“Wow. You guys are like total freaks,” said Harmony, shoving at Casey but not budging him. “Go. I have to help her get ready for her date and you’re in the way.”
He stared at her and looked her over slowly. “How did the two of you end up friends?”
“She needed style sense,” said Harmony.
Laney grinned. “And she needed to know how to boost a car.”
Casey shook his head as he left Laney’s place. Harmony shut the door behind him and then put her back to it, sighing loudly. “Why does he have to be such a jerkwad and so yummy?”
Harmony thought Casey was yummy?
Laney didn’t respond. “Okay, spill it. Why are you really here?”
Harmony paused and the silence was awkward, considering how much Harmony loved to hear her own voice at times. “Can we meet tomorrow? I don’t want to get into it tonight with you heading out on a date and all. There are some odd things I’ve noticed around my house that I just want to bounce off someone. You can then spin them out of proportion and make me feel better.”
“I can cancel.” She didn’t want to but she would. Her friendship was important to her.
Harmony’s eyes widened. “You will not do anything of the sort. You’re gonna go shake your moneymaker.”
“My what?”
Harmony pushed on her. “Let’s get you showered and see if we can make you presentable.”
“Gee, the love just pours off you.”
Harmony smiled. “We’ll meet up tomorrow, right?”
“Of course. We’ll meet for breakfast at Stew’s Diner.”
“If you don’t show, I’ll assume you’re a statistic,” reminded Harmony before she practically shoved Laney into the bathroom. “And no one wants to be a statistic.
Chapter Seven
James stood outside the small, neighborhood coffee shop. It was lit to a point one could see all the customers within through the windows this time of night. Most customers were on varying electronic devices, paying little mind to one another. He couldn’t help but reflect on how much the world had changed since he’d been alive. There used to be people having conversations with one another in person.
Not anymore.
Everyone had their noses in something that plugged in.
He leaned against a lamppost, his leg throbbing from the burn of standing so long. Nervous he’d somehow miss out on meeting Laney face-to-face, he’d arrived nearly an hour early. He’d showered, shaved and changed at work in the bathroom off his office, installed in the event James pulled an all-nighter, which he’d been known to do a lot in the past and old habits did indeed die-hard.
A group of women approached. They were walking so close together he wondered how they didn’t trip over one another. A stacked blonde left the group and stepped in his direction. She had full lips and actually made a kissy face at him, batting her long lashes. “What are you doing out here all alone?”
James put his hands in his pockets and took a small step away from her. She wasn’t Laney. He knew by her voice and his gut instincts that this was not the woman he was meeting tonight.
The woman who blew him the kiss wasn’t bad on the eyes at all. Some would say she was hot. And she was what he normally went for, but the shiny had worn off what he used to want. All he wanted now was for his little hacker to arrive. He didn’t care what she looked like.
“Waiting for my date,” he said with a slight incline of his head.
“She stand you up?” asked the woman, her friends forming a half circle behind her, looking a lot like a posse in Prada.
James grinned. “No. I got here an hour early. I didn’t want her to think I was standing her up.”
The woman eyed him and then shook her head. “You’ve got it bad for her, huh?”
“I think so,” he said. He knew he had it bad. Admitting it was half the battle.
Her friends laughed and she waved a hand in the air. “Any man who arrives an hour early for a date has it bad for the girl.”
James knew she was right. He merely shrugged, giving a sheepish grin. It was against his manly code to offer anything more. That was enough. It said what he wouldn’t.
The woman winked as if she fully understood where he was coming from. “Good luck. I hope she’s worth it.”
“She is,” he said with conviction.
The women walked away and James began to obsess about his appearance once more. He wasn’t even sure what to wear on a date, he’d not been on one in so long. Boomer had gone with him a week after his return to work to replenish his wardrobe. James had decided to keep a portion of it at the office. He spent mos
t of his time there rather than his home—a place that had been handed to him along with his position. He had enough money to buy his own place. PSI paid ridiculously well. So much so that he could have stopped working centuries ago.
When he had more time, he’d get some more relaxed articles of clothing. Currently he only owned two pairs of jeans and two t-shirts, not counting the Team Edward one he’d grabbed to shut Boomer up. Though, he’d left the shirt on his desk.
James had decided on black dress pants, black boots because he felt comfortable in them, and a blue, silk dress shirt. Duke had tried to talk him into jeans. He’d refused. Now he wasn’t sure he’d made the right choice. He continued to fidget with his shirt, wondering if he should have gone with a t-shirt and jeans, if this get-up was too much for coffee.
James took out his phone and texted the number Laney had given him. Having a wardrobe rethink. I feel like a teenage boy. You should get here soon so you can save me from myself. LabLupus.
He laughed partially under his breath. “Oh, how the mighty alpha male has fallen.”
He was about to text more when he sensed something. At first, he wasn’t sure what it was, only that it commanded his attention, drawing it from his text in the other direction. It took James several long seconds to realize what it was he was sensing.
A woman.
Not just any woman either.
One he had to see like he had to draw in air.
Breathe, he told himself, and then finally listened and did just that.
His entire body strummed with the feel of her approaching. His hands tingled and he lifted them, looking down at them, wondering what in the hell was going on. Every fiber of his being seemed to come to life, his gaze moving slowly towards the end of the street. There, across the way, was the young woman from his vision. Her long dark hair with purple streaks was pulled into a high ponytail. Her chocolate gaze was mesmerizing. She looked down at a phone in her hand.
His wolf, who had been missing in action for months, picked then to prickle to life, waking slowly. He felt it nosing around within him, wondering what this new curiosity was.
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