ReBoot (MAC Security Series Book 4)

by Abigail Davies

  “I have enemies, Lex. It comes with the job. If anything ever happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to...” He trails off, his face filling with fear.

  “Evan…” Lifting my hand to his cheek, I run the pads of my fingers through the scruff, the scratching sound echoing around us.

  “I was worried,” he whispers. “And you lied.”

  My gaze flits away from his, focusing on the potted plant that sits in the main foyer before bouncing back to him. “I… what…” I shake my head and let my hand drop from his face. “What are we?”

  His head reels back. “What do you mean… ‘what are we?’”

  “This.” I point my finger between us. “What are we? Are we a little fun? Because if we are, then I can’t do this anymore, Evan. I feel too much to be something you can throw away at any time.”

  He stares at me for several seconds before he takes ahold of my hand, placing it on his chest and covering it with his large one. “You feel that?” he asks as I feel his heartbeat against the palm of my hand. “That beating? It beats for you. Only you.” I swallow against the lump working its way up my throat. “I can’t tell you what we are, because I have no clue what this is that I’m feeling. But if you want to put a label on it?” He stops for a beat, placing his hand on my hip as he brings my body flush against his. “You’re my everything, Lex.” He leans closer, his lips centimeters from mine before he whispers, “Everything.”

  I stare at the silver case that sits on the passenger seat of my car before my gaze flits to the rearview mirror. I see the van a little ways back and I know that Luke and Dean sit in there, watching me in case anything goes down.

  It’s been three weeks since Darrell gave me the chip and although I know I could have had this done for him in a day, I wanted to make him wait. After all, if I jumped when he said jump, I’d never have any control over this situation, and I don’t like to not have control when it comes to my work.

  “Black SUV coming your way,” I hear in my ear through the small device that we’re all wearing.

  After the last meeting and the way I felt like an easy target out in the open on my own, I haven’t once questioned Ty when he’s sent Luke and Dean behind me, much to Luke’s dismay having to sit in a confined space with Dean.

  “I’ve got eyes,” I reply when I see the SUV coming.

  It turns around, coming to a stop ten feet directly in front of me. I wait for Darrell to step out before I grab the briefcase and push my own door open.

  “Evan.” He nods in greeting, his gaze moving down to the briefcase in my hand. “You did it?”

  “Did you think I couldn’t?” I ask, a smirk lifting up the corner of my lips. “Of course I did it.”

  He nods his head, his eyes shining like a man who hasn’t eaten meat for a month and is about to cut into a piece of perfectly cooked steak.

  “Good, good.” He holds his hand out for the case, but I shake my head.

  “Payment?”

  “Wire it,” he shouts back to the car and a couple of seconds later my cell pings.

  Pulling it out, I check that the money has gone into one of my accounts before immediately moving it into another account that is offshore.

  Stepping forward, I hold the case out to him. “Nice doing business with you.”

  I spin around, ready to get the hell out of here but halt when he calls my name. “The job is in four weeks, be ready.”

  I turn my gaze back to his, but he isn’t looking at me anymore, he’s walking back to his car. I watch as he shuts the door and a couple of seconds later, the car is spinning out of the same lot that we met in last time.

  “Is it done?” Luke asks in my ear.

  “Yeah... but he said the main job is in four weeks.” I pull open my door, sliding into my seat and clicking my belt in the holder before starting the engine and peeling out of there myself. “I’ll see you back at the compound.”

  I press a few buttons on my steering wheel and then listen to the ringing tone that comes through my speakers.

  “Seb,” the gruff voice answers.

  “Meet me at the compound in an hour.” I don’t say anything else before I press the button to end the call and speed back toward the warehouse.

  It’s normally a two-hour drive any other time, but I keep my foot to the floor, trying to shave as many minutes off the journey as I can.

  My mind is on anything but the job right now. It’s on Lexi and the way she looked at me the other night at the center.

  I’ve never been good at words or reading women, but I knew something was off when I left her there and I’ve kicked myself ever since I walked out of those doors without checking on her.

  We’ve had so much fun over the last few weeks, taking things slow and trying to build a relationship.

  It wasn’t until then that I realized I need to open up to her: share all of my past with her. We promised each other there’d be no secrets, so that’s what I’ll give her.

  My fingers start moving of their own accord, the ringing coming through the speakers for the second time as I wait for the call to connect.

  “Hello? Livvy speaking.”

  “Hey, Livvy, is Lexi there?”

  “Sure, one second… Lexi!”

  I wince as her voice rattles through my speakers.

  “Hello?” My whole body sags in my seat when her soft voice sounds over the line.

  “Hey, Lex.”

  “Evan.” I can hear the smile in her voice, and when I catch my reflection in the mirror, I see my own grin spreading across my face.

  “Come to my place on Saturday? I want to cook for you.” I leave that hanging in the air, but it’s more than that. I want to share my space with her, I want to talk to her with the knowledge that no one else can hear.

  That’s one of the problems when you do what I do. No matter how much you block people’s signals, if you’re not in a secure place—like my cabin—then you can never be sure someone isn’t listening in. Like this phone call, it’s a landline, not one of the cells that I adapt.

  Why the hell haven’t I given her one of my cells? That’s another thing I’ll be rectifying.

  “I… what time?” she asks.

  “About seven?”

  “Okay.” I hear her gentle breathing over the line and I lean back in my seat, letting my hand rest lightly on the side of the steering wheel. Having her on the other end of the phone has me relaxing like nothing else ever has.

  How can someone have this kind of effect over another person?

  I start driving up the road that leads to the compound and sit up straighter. “I have to go, baby. I’ll see you on Saturday, okay?”

  “Yeah,” she breathes. “I’ll see you then.”

  I click the button to end the call at the same time as I hit the button for the gates to open.

  When I pull up into my usual space, I spot Seb’s car and a few minutes later, Luke is pulling in on the other side of me.

  “What was the rush?” he asks as he climbs out, Dean following behind him from the other side.

  “He gave me a rough date, I want to know what Seb and West know.”

  Luke nods his head in understanding and then follows me into the warehouse where Seb and West sit at the meeting table with Ty, Kay, and Kitty.

  “What’s going on?” Seb asks, standing up.

  “I just met with Darrell.” I sit down in my seat, leaning my arms on the table in front of me. “What do you know about this job?”

  “Nothing we haven’t already told you,” West answers, his gaze meeting mine and narrowing slightly. “It’s the gallery, something to do with them.”

  I nod my head slowly before opening up my laptop that I left on the table before I left. My fingers flying over the keys, searching for any shipments that are scheduled. The piece of art still hasn’t arrived, which must mean that Darrell got word on when it would be arriving.

  “There’s nothing here,” I say out loud. “He must have an inside person in the ga
llery to know when it’s happening.”

  “Wait… what are you talking about?”

  I move my gaze from my laptop screen before meeting Seb’s eyes. “He told me the job is in four weeks’ time. He knows something that we don’t.”

  Seb turns to West, both of them sharing something silently through their eyes. “He hasn’t told us anything yet.”

  I tilt my head to the side, my gaze flitting between them both as I assess them. Why wouldn’t he tell them but would tell me? They’re the ones who have been working with him all of this time, yet he hasn’t said a word. I huff out a breath coming to a conclusion. “He doesn’t trust you.”

  West’s head reels back before he pushes his chair back, his hands clenching into fists. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  I lean back in my seat, watching as a vein in his neck pulses.

  “He’s right,” Dean interrupts. “If he trusted you, you’d be one of the first people he’d tell about the date… not Evan.”

  I hook my thumb toward Dean. “What he said. The question is, why? Why doesn’t he trust you?”

  The room is silent for several minutes before Kay clears her throat. “He knows about you both, he knows who you are.”

  West swings his head around to her, fire in his eyes which causes Ty to stand up, lifting to his full height as his eyes flash a warning at him.

  He slowly sits back down beside Seb, his face turning red as his anger overtakes him. “He can’t know, we’ve been fucking careful.”

  I close the lid of my laptop, pushing my chair back and picking it up off the table. “Let me do some digging, if I find anything, I’ll let you know ASAP.” With that, I walk out of the warehouse and back to my cabin where I head down to my safe room so that I can do some digging without anyone being able to get into my system.

  If Darrell knows who Seb and West are, then why are they still partially in the loop? I know they’re doing side jobs for him, so he must trust them at least a little. Unless it’s all a setup and he wants them to think he still trusts them.

  I frown. He trusts me because he gave me the date, right now that’s all that matters.

  The trees rustle as the wind flows through them, the branches causing shadows on the road that I’m currently walking along. The sun is setting above them, casting darkness all around me at a fast pace. My heart thumps loudly in my chest, my palms start to sweat and I seem to hear noises that aren’t really there.

  I should have thought about this when Evan called and asked me to come over. I shake my head as I think about it. I was so caught up in him asking me to come here, giddy with excitement at being invited to his home that I didn’t even think how to get there until I was about to leave Livvy’s house.

  I managed to get a bus to the main road, but I’ve been walking for the last half an hour with the darkness slowly surrounding me.

  I pull my thin jacket around me, trying to ward off from the chill that is slowly seeping into my bones when I finally see the large, imposing gates. The breath leaves my body in a sigh of relief before I speed up, stopping when I see the sign that warns me the fence has electricity running through it.

  I’ve only been here twice, and each of those times I came in with someone else in a car.

  I slowly lift my pointer finger, pressing the button on the metal box that sits next to the gate, waiting for something to happen.

  It’s several seconds before a click sounds and then static comes over the line and I hear, “Hello?”

  “Erm…” I clear my throat. “Hi!” I shake my head at the loudness of my voice as it echoes around me. “I’m here to see Evan.”

  “Lexi?”

  Shuffling on the spot nervously, I look down at the boots that I’m wearing. They come up to just under my knees, my pale-yellow sundress sitting above them.

  “Yeah.”

  The static goes off as the gates open enough for me to slip through before they’re closing behind me.

  I take a good look around, seeing the large warehouse to the left and then another house to the right with a wraparound porch. As I walk closer, I see a figure standing up, holding their hand to their head as they watch me.

  My stomach tumbles, not able to make out who it is until I hear, “Lexi?”

  “Kay?”

  A smile kicks up the corners of my lips as I start to walk toward her when she jogs down the few steps that lead to the house.

  “I didn’t know you were coming!” She wraps her arms around my shoulders, pulling me closer as she hugs me. I don’t hesitate hugging her back before pulling away. I haven’t seen her since I had a mini meltdown in the community center.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “About the other week—”

  She waves her hand, cutting me off as she places her arm through mine and steers me in the opposite direction to the house she came from.

  “Don’t worry about it, trust me, I’ve seen worse.” The knowing look in her eyes tells me that she’s telling the truth, but all I can do is nod as I frown. “So you’re here to see Evan? I have to say…” she starts. “I’ve never seen him like this.” Her gaze meets mine as I turn to face her. “Ever.”

  “You… you haven’t?” My hand lands on my stomach, trying to stop the butterflies that are swarming like bees who have had their nest disturbed. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that she’s never seen him like this? I’m about to ask but decide not to.

  “Nope,” she says, popping the p. “Anyway… this is you.”

  She comes to a stop outside a wooden cabin and my eyes widen. He’s in there—the person who has consumed me ever since I first set eyes on him at the community center. I never knew that I could feel something like this: something so strong, mind-numbing, and all-consuming.

  I turn around but Kay is already halfway back to the house with the wraparound porch; she lifts her hand in a wave to which I reply with one of my own before turning back toward the cabin.

  The curved wooden slats are slotted into each other, the width as long as a trailer. I never thought Evan would live in something like this; I imagined something more… sleek, modern? Not this.

  My feet move forward, one step at a time before they land on the first step that leads to the cabin. Two more steps and I’m right outside the door, lifting my hand to knock on the wood.

  “Deep breath, Lexi,” I tell myself, shaking my hand out and then rapping my knuckles on the door three times.

  The door swings inward and my head snaps up, my gaze zoning in on the naked chest that I’m graced with. The dips and curves of the defined abs slowly run down into a V before I come face to face with the black band of sweatpants.

  I slowly move my gaze upward, my eyes connecting with his and flirting across his lips that are spread into a wide grin.

  “I thought you’d never get here,” he says, his deep baritone invading all of my senses and causing goose bumps to disperse over my skin.

  “I caught a bus,” I blurt out before heat rises in my cheeks as my gaze flits back down his chest and down to his bare feet.

  Why are his bare feet so sexy?

  “You did, huh?” His lips slowly unfurl from the grin he was wearing before his back straightens and his brows draw down into a frown. “I should have picked you up.”

  “No, no… I’m okay.” I snap my gaze from his to behind us as I hear gravel crunching.

  “Dean’s on the nightshift!” Ty shouts, looking at Evan and then at me before he turns his head to a waiting Kay on the steps of what must be their house.

  Evan’s throat clearing has me spinning back around. “You gonna stand out there all night?” he asks, chuckling.

  “Yes… no.” I laugh, taking the last step into his cabin. “I mean yes I’ll come in, and no, I won’t stand out here all night.”

  He watches me as I step inside, the door shutting behind me as I take stock of the room. Because that’s essentially what it is… a room.

  Computer screens sitting on a table with a lone keybo
ard are on my right, a big black, leather chair tucked neatly underneath. To the back is a small kitchenette, although a counter would be more accurate. A sofa sits in the middle, a small table in front of it and I skirt my eyes to the only door in here, which I presume leads to a bathroom.

  “Take a seat,” Evan says, waving his arm out.

  I nod, smoothing my dress down before stepping toward it and sitting down. I can’t stop my gaze flitting this way and that as he moves about the small space.

  “I know I said I’d cook but… well… I’m not very good at that so I got Thai,” he comments, picking up the bag off the table. He sits down next to me, pulling out several boxes and opening them, setting them on the table in a neat, straight line before handing me some chopsticks. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a collection.”

  Clutching my hands together in my lap, I stay silent, scared to admit that I’ve never tried Thai before. What kind of person hasn’t tried something so simple, and frankly something that smells amazing?

  The scent of chicken, rice, and noodles wafts around us and my stomach growls as I pull apart the small paper that is joining the chopsticks together.

  I pick up the first container, seeing some kind of chicken dish and pick up a piece, popping it in my mouth and closing my eyes as the taste explodes all over my tongue.

  “Oh, wow,” I mumble, chewing it and turning my face toward Evan. “It’s delicious.”

  “I know, right?” He grins at me before slowly wrapping his hand around my forearm, the pads of his fingers scratching against the smoothness of my skin as he brings the piece of chicken I just picked up toward his mouth.

  I watch, fascinated as I see his tongue dip out slightly, licking along his lips as he places the chicken inside, his gaze not moving from mine as his thumb strokes the inside of my wrist.

  I swallow, my throat suddenly dry before I move my gaze from his and look back down at the box of food.

  I shuffle in my seat, squeezing my thighs together to relieve the sudden ache that I’m feeling. I know he notices because he moves closer, picking up another box and dipping his chopsticks into it.