“Why do you think he manifested so early?”
He shrugged. “Early onset puberty. Likely environmental factors. Too far along for me to reverse since his Flux already emerged. Didn’t have a choice.”
“Like I said, you did the best you could.”
He let out a long sigh. “Is it true what you told the kid? You hurt your mom with your Flux before you got chipped?”
The guilt I felt even to this day rose with the memory. I’d been fourteen and terribly bullied at my ramshackle Magenta school. An outlander girl whose breasts had developed at twelve. I was an easy target. A group of boys had harassed me for weeks, but I’d held it all in until I’d gotten home.
I don’t remember what Mom did, but I lashed out, and the next thing I knew she was on the floor, convulsing as electricity crashed through her system. I’d thought she was dead.
She’d been all right, but I hadn’t. She’d held me tight as I sobbed and murmured, “Siempre te querré, pase lo que pase.”
After that, I never let it get out of control again. I’d gotten chipped, and I’d vowed to keep it inside. I only ever let it out to play with my electronics around the apartment, and only when Mom wasn’t home. I’d learned to read their circuits. I didn’t make friends, so the hidden language I shared with them was my company.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s a unique story.”
Dev shook his head. “No, especially not in places like this with people packed in and hormones always running wild.”
He sighed again and tapped my shoulder, walking to the back room without another word.
I grabbed the keys from under the counter and walked to the door to lock up. I pressed the door into the frame so the lock would catch, when a flash outside caught my gaze. A lit-up Vysorsat on a face that roiled my stomach. He pushed his way inside the clinic before I could stop him.
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite girl.” Rook had his platinum hair slicked back on the top of his head, a ragged pink scar that ran from his cheekbone to chin set off against his pale skin. It made the smile he wore crooked, menacing. Before I could stop myself, I took a reflexive step back. Retreating.
He closed the door behind him. “Long time no see, E.”
I kept walking backward, trying to keep my hands from shaking. He kept coming toward me until my back hit the counter behind me. I tried to calm the erratic beating of my heart, hoping to breathe through the surge of adrenaline that was trying to take over my body.
“What do you want?” I hadn’t been able to keep the waver out of my voice, and he knew it.
“Can’t a guy just stop by to see a gorgeous lady?”
“Got plenty of those around. Don’t need me.”
He chuckled. “That I do. Actually, good old Dr. Dev hasn’t paid his monthly, and I’m here to collect. If he wants me to keep sending my girls’ brats to him, I need my kickback.”
Damn it, Dev.A fucking genius Modder, but he’d lose his head if it wasn’t screwed onto his shoulders.
“I’ll take care of it.” I circled the counter, happy to have something between me and Rook. I fumbled with the safe that stored our supply of hardcreds when I heard Rook mumbling.
“Actually heard some rumors about your old pal Taos’ crew. Like they’re getting up to something big. You know anything about that?”
My throat went dry. Did everyone know about this job? Deacon’s loud mouth. He’d loved being labeled a folk hero, getting praise for sticking it to the corps. If he wasn’t more careful, they were all going to disappear under black bags.
“I haven’t heard anything. Try to stay away from that kind of work.” I walked back around the counter to hand him the wad of creds.
“Uh-huh.” His eyes raked me up and down, and he didn’t move to take the money.
“Actually,” Rook drawled, wrapping a hand around my arm, “creds flow has been pretty good for me recently. If the Doc’s hard up, you and I could come to a different arrangement.”
He’d fucked me more times than I could count. He didn’t actually want this. He was just doing this to fuck with me—to remind me who held the power. And it was working. As he leaned in, the memories I’d fought to bury from those months in his club surged up again. Flashes of neon lights and dirty VIP rooms. Vector held out, then snatched away. Hands ripping me apart. My mouth choking on Rook’s cock as he shoved it down my throat.
“Come on, for old time’s sake. We could make it a party. I even brought goodies—your favorite.” He flashed a cartridge filled with fluorescent green liquid that lit something inside my blood.
“I don’t do that anymore.” I tried to shove him off.
“What? Vector or sucking dick? You used to be so much fun, E. What happened?”
