Love and Wargames: A Bad Boy Hacker Romance

by Kiss, Tabatha

  “Claire,” Tobias says, “did Amy mention to you how she got those bruises?”

  I drop my hands and look back at him. “She said she got them at the gym during a boxing lesson,” I shrug. “Why?”

  “Just curious,” he mutters as he looks me up and down. His eyes once again lock on my lip. “You should keep practicing.”

  I look at my pink knuckles, my heart racing. It’s a new sensation buzzing through my veins, an elixir of power and adrenaline. I honestly can’t say why it’s affecting me so much, but at the same time, I have a pretty good idea. I grip my wrist trying to steady myself, but I can’t seem to calm my nerves.

  “Claire, you okay?” Tobias asks.

  I look up at him, taking in his sharp, green eyes as they stare down at me with concern. “Yeah,” I say quickly. “Just a little revved up, I guess.” I swallow my spit down to wet my dry throat.

  “I know how you feel,” he says. He takes my wrist and presses his fingertips into my skin, massaging the muscles within. “You’ll feel better in a few minutes.”

  “What do you usually do to wind down after a fight?” I ask.

  Tobias flexes his jaw. His moving fingers pause on my skin before he lets me go completely. “Something I can’t do right now,” he whispers, staring into my eyes. He turns away and grabs his jacket off the motorbike. “You should get inside.”

  I step closer to him, reacting to a driving, physical need to be near him. “Tobias…” I whisper.

  He reaches for me and grips my shoulders. “Claire,” he says. “Go.”

  I see it in his eyes. He doesn’t want me to leave. He wants me to stay with him. It’s how he’s always looked at me, ever since the moment we met just over a year ago.

  Rick.

  I pull away from Tobias and my heart lurches in my breasts. “Yeah,” I whisper. “I have to…”

  I don’t say another word. I turn around and grip the barn door to pull it open. Everything inside of me hurts. Pangs of guilt and betrayal strike me down. I shake my head to ward off the confusion trapped inside of it.

  Tobias is not Rick.

  He’s Rick’s cousin. They’re nothing like each other. Rick is firm, but kind to me. He’s fun and free. Sure, he has a temper, but what man doesn’t? Everything he’s done has been because he loves me. He told me that himself. He’s my black-haired, blue-eyed, bad boy. I’m counting down the days until I see him again.

  Tobias is nothing like him.

  He’s just another good old boy from the country. Or rather, that’s who I thought he was at first. After tonight, I’m not so sure anymore. His bruises. His tattoos. All of it shows a very different picture than the one his father painted for me.

  I stare out my bedroom window, hoping to catch another peak at him when he finally comes out of the barn, but sleep claims me before I can see him again.

  Chapter 6

  It’s Tradition

  A knock strikes the front door and my eyes drift slowly to the clock on the wall. It’s six-thirty in the morning and I can barely even keep my eyes open. Who could possibly be at the door at six-thirty in the morning?

  Charlie stands up from the kitchen table and sets his plate by the sink before wandering into the living room.

  “Hi, Mr. Eastwood!”

  My ears perk to hear Amy’s high-pitched voice carrying through the house.

  “Good morning, Amy,” Charlie greets. “What brings you all the way out here so early?”

  I lean back in my chair to get a better view of the front door. I can just barely see her in front of Charlie; tall, perfectly-styled blonde-hair, and long legs poking out of the bottom of her skirt. I’ve never quite understood how girls like her pull it off while making it look so easy.

  “Well,” she grins and holds up a large, brown envelope, “my father got those documents you needed and his paralegal is out sick with rabies or whatever, so he asked me to deliver it for him on my way in to work today.”

  Charlie takes the envelope. “Rabies?” he asks.

  “Or mono or strep,” she shrugs. “One of those things.”

  He steps back, leaving the door open. “I’ve got something for him, too, if you don’t mind delivering it for me.”

  “No problem, Mr. Eastwood,” she says as she waltzes inside.

  “Be right back.” Charlie turns around and walks up the stairs towards his room.

  Amy’s big, blue eyes drift around the living room once before finally falling on me. “Oh, hey!” she squeaks and rushes into the kitchen. “How you doing, Claire?”

  “I’m fine…” I mutter, pushing through a yawn.

  “You are not a morning person, are you?” she asks as she sits down in Charlie’s chair across from me.

  “Not really.” I get a better look at her and notice a fresh brush hovering above her cheekbone. “Another boxing accident?” I ask.

  “Hmm? Oh—” She touches her pink cheek. “Yeah. Dodging is not my strongest suite. Do you mind?” she asks as she slides my plate closer to her. She doesn’t wait for an answer before she snatches a slice of my half-eaten toast off of it.

  “Not at all,” I chuckle. “So, what documents are you delivering?”

  Amy shrugs. “Something lawyer related. I didn’t ask.”

  “Your dad is a lawyer?” She nods, chewing silently on my toast. “What kind of lawyer?”

  “Malpractice.”

  I tap my fingernail on the table and glance out the window. “Interesting…”

  “If you say so,” she says, rolling her eyes. “So, are you coming tonight?”

  I quickly shoot a look over my shoulder, searching for Charlie. “What’s tonight?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

  Amy takes the hint and lowers her own. “There’s a fight just outside Jefferson City. Didn’t Tobias tell you?”

  I shake my head. “I haven’t seen him since the last one a week ago. I think he’s avoiding me…”

  “Elimination round,” she says, shaking with excitement. “You have to be there. I’ll pick you up.”

  I sit back and my mind shifts into its old habits. Plotting and planning. Coming up with fun, new ways of sneaking out of the house undetected and getting back without my mother or stepfather finding out. It’s a rush, to say the least, but a hard, cold feeling nestles into my gut. “I’m… not supposed to leave the farm,” I tell her.

  Amy leans forward and her smile widens. “I knew you weren’t just here to visit your uncle.” She drops the rest of the uneaten toast back onto my plate as Charlie’s boots come bounding down the stairs.

  “Here you go,” he says as he enters the kitchen.

  Amy stands up and takes the stack of papers from him. “I’ll deliver them right away, Mr. Eastwood,” she says.

  “Thank you, Amy. Oh—” He pauses and points to his face. “Are you all right?”

  She laughs and brushes a hand through the air. “Just another little boxing mishap. No biggie.”

  I stand up quickly. “I’ll walk you out, Amy.”

  Charlie regards us with suspicion, but says nothing as I follow Amy outside onto the front porch.

  I wait until we’re near her car, far from his ears, before speaking again. “I want to go tonight,” I tell her.

  “Of course you do,” she says as she slides a pair of pink-rimmed sunglasses onto her nose. “Just get to the end of the driveway by nine-thirty and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  I nod as she lowers herself into her shiny and clean sports car. “Thanks,” I tell her.

  She presses her fingers against her lips and blows me a kiss before taking off down the driveway. I turn back to the house and my eyes are instantly drawn towards Tobias’ window.

  It’s been several days since Tobias taught me how to punch, but the memory is still very vivid in my head. I haven’t seen him since. I hear him sometimes. I’ll hear the thumping of his feet upstairs while I’m in the kitchen or the roaring of his motorbike speeding down the driveway while I’m in the horse
stables. Wherever I am, he’s not there. I’m beginning to think our paths haven’t crossed again on purpose. Maybe it’s better that way.

  “Time to get to work, Claire!”

  I jolt at the sound of Charlie’s stern voice on the porch. “All right, all right…” I call as I step back towards the house.

  ***

  “So, are you like, a prisoner?”

  I roll down the window and let the warm, summer breeze strike my cheeks. “Sometimes feels that way,” I tell Amy. “But technically not, I guess.”

  She pushes down on the gas pedal and swerves into the left lane to pass a slow-moving pick-up truck. It shakes me to the side and my seatbelt digs into my chest. “Sorry,” she mutters unapologetically. “Well, I can honestly tell you that if getting sent to hang out with Charlie for the summer was your only punishment — for whatever it is you did — you got off pretty light.”

  “Did I?” I ask.

  “Oh yeah.” Amy grabs a bottle of water from the cup holder and drops the wheel to untwist the cap. The car gently glides to the side of the road and I feel another wave of nausea. “Charlie is a super nice guy — and he gets plenty of bonus points for being a silver fox.”

  I chuckle. “I don’t see it, but I’ll take your word for it.”

  “You don’t?” she asks, jerking the car back into the lane. “He’s a total Clooney.” I shake my head, silently smiling. “Well, if Charlie doesn’t strike your fancy, then Tobias surely does.” She groans softly and uses her hand to fan herself.

  “I’ve seen worse,” I mutter.

  “I’d kill to be in your position again.”

  “Again?”

  Her eyebrows bounce in the dark. “He and I have spent a little time together,” she says with a purposeful inflection. “But it never really went anywhere.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yeah.” She stops and cringes with a quick glance in my direction. “Oh, I’m talking about your cousin, aren’t I? Whoops, my bad.”

  “Just through marriage,” I explain. “My mother married his uncle.”

  “Good for you then,” she teases with a wink.

  “How long have you known him?” I ask to shift the subject elsewhere.

  Amy hits the gas again for apparently no real purpose other than to go very, very fast. “A long time. Ten years, ish. We went to high school together.”

  “Has he always been so…?”

  “Brooding?” she completes, flashing me a smile.

  “Yes.”

  “Pretty much.”

  I look out the window and watch the empty fields shoot by in silence. It seems like I learn something new about Tobias every day, something that makes him a little more intriguing to me.

  “Speak of the devil…” Amy adjusts her rear view mirror.

  I spin around in my seat to see a motorbike speeding towards us on the dark highway. “That’s him?” I ask.

  “Yep, that’s him,” she grins. Her finger presses a button and her window slides down. As Tobias passes, she sticks her head out the window and lets out a piercing holler. “To-bi-aaas!” She honks her horn wildly, but he doesn’t even look over at us as he speeds down the road.

  I chuckle at her as she rolls the window back up.

  ***

  I look around the gym and see plenty of familiar faces.

  Tonight’s fight isn’t taking place at a secret, underground ring like the one before. This one is in a legit boxing club in the center of town. There’s a sense of urgency about it, like we could be busted by the local police at any moment, but this just adds to the adrenaline buzz pumping through my veins.

  My eyes roam the crowd; their faces red with excitement. It’s strange to think that these are just normal people during the day, but at night, they’re here, eager for blood. Even my heart thumps wildly in my chest as I glance around, in search of his face.

  “You okay?” Amy asks me, a permanent giggle on her tone.

  I nod quickly. “Yeah, why?”

  “You look tense.” She stuffs some dollar bills into her glass jar and waves a few more people inside.

  “Just excited, I guess.” I lean closer to the wall near the door.

  “Good!” she shouts. “Tonight is going to be wild!”

  The door near me flies open and a large man steps inside. I recognize him immediately and I hear Tobias’ voice in my head.

  Stay away from him.

  “Pike!” Amy greets him with excitement. “It’s about time. I almost counted you tardy.”

  “You know me, Amy,” he growls as he slaps money into her palm.

  “Unfortunately,” she quips.

  He reaches a thick hand around her and forces her body against his. The entirety of his palm covers her rear as he gives her cheek a firm squeeze. “That’s not what you said last time!” he laughs.

  Anger boils in me, but Amy’s face splits with a loving smile. “I’ve said many things to you, Pike.”

  “Say more tonight,” he replies.

  “Win your fight and we’ll see,” she teases as she glides back.

  His hand drops from her ass and he turns away, his gaze falling right in my direction. “Claire…” he says with curling lips.

  I push my back so hard against the wall, it feels like I might fuse with it. “Hey,” I say.

  He lays his hand near my head on the wall behind me. I recoil as his body odor invades my nose. “I was hoping you’d be here tonight…”

  “Pike!” Amy shouts. “Locker room. Now.”

  He turns away from me and looks down at Amy. “Yes, ma’am,” he says. His eyes scan my body from head to toe before he finally walks away towards the back of the gym.

  “That was impressive…” I say to Amy.

  She shrugs as she quickly flips through a bundle of bills to face them all in the same direction. “I’m an Alpha Dame, Claire,” she says. “No one fucks with an Alpha Dame.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yeah. You show disrespect to one of us and you have every fighter in her league on your doorstep the next morning — and they ain’t there for board games, if you get my meaning.”

  I nod slowly. “Sounds like a nice gig.”

  “It’s the best job in the world.”

  “So grabbing your ass in public doesn’t count as disrespecting you?” I ask.

  “That was personal business,” she winks and spins on her thick heels towards the door to greet a few more new arrivals.

  “Right…” I chuckle with amusement and look back to the ring as the cheers from the crowd fill my ears.

  A woman steps into the boxing ring, drawing the attentions of everyone in the room. Her long, red hair flows down to her navel like a cartoon mermaid while her thick breasts beg to explode out of her tight, leather-bound top. She points a single finger and slowly brings it to her lips. The entire room falls into a dead silence. “Greetings, ladies and gentleman!” she calls.

  The crowd cries out in response, but quickly dies back down again.

  “Who’s that?” I whisper to Amy.

  “That is Lillian Tombs.”

  “Is that her real name?” I ask.

  “Doubtful,” she replies. “But that’s what we call her. She runs the St. Louis branch and oversees the activities of the entire operation. If we had a monarchy, she’d be queen. My mother and her were besties before she died.”

  “I’m sorry…”

  She dismisses the remark with a wave of her hand. “Lillian never shows up to fights outside of her branch, so this is a big deal…”

  “Are all these branches run by women?”

  Amy nods with smiling eyes. “It’s tradition.”

  I look to the ring as Lillian’s voice pulls me back in.

  “Six fighters. Three fights,” Lillian says with a commanding, warrior princess-like tone. “After hearing about the talent displayed so far this year, I just had to come down here and see what the hell y’all were squawking about.” She grins widely and the crowd laughs
with her. “And now that I’ve snuck a peak in the locker room, well…” Her eyebrow peaks. “I may just have to spend the night.”

  Behind her, the fighters climb into the ring among the satisfied calls of the audience. All six of them, Tobias included, stand tall, wearing nothing but shorts and sweat.

  “Three of you,” Lillian continues, her eyes snapping to each of them as she glides around the ring, “will go home victors tonight. The other three… will just go home.”

  My eyes move across their faces, each fighter a little more daunting than the last. They all bare their teeth in efforts to look menacing and scary — all but Tobias, that is. He stands there, dark and silent, with his head held down and his arms crossed over his chest. I feel a spike of fear for him; a sheep surrounded by wolves.

  Or is he also a wolf, cleverly disguised in sheep’s clothing?

  “Our first match is between one of mine and one of yours…” Lillian teases. She moves down the line, her finger sliding across each of their chests as she goes. Tobias doesn’t budge when she touches him, firm as stone. She stops in front of Pike and gently digs her black-painted finger nail into his chest. “Pike the Punisher!” she calls out, driving the noise of the crowd, while Pike flexes for them. “And…” She steps to the next man in line and stops in front of him. “Freddy the Freak!”

  Freddy shivers with purpose, forcing his bright green mohawk to shift about on his head, and sticks his tongue out to excitedly wag it around.

  Lillian throws her head back and laughs. “The rest of you will just have to wait your turn…” She steps towards the ropes. “Enough stalling!” she cries. “Let’s see some fights!”

  Hands wave into the air and feet stomp loudly as they step out of the ring, leaving Pike and Freddy alone. They enter their corners and wait for Lillian to give the signal. She slides a metal whistle out from between her breasts and slips it between her teeth.

  I catch sight of Tobias outside the ring. He far more focused than the rest of them with his eyes on the fight, while the others take selfies with their adoring public. It’s clear which fighters are in this for the promised underground fame and glory and which fighters are not. I search his eyes from the other side of the room and wonder what other reason Tobias has for being here.