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“What? She’s over there because she’s worrying about it, worrying about if I know, what I think about it, how to act. Now there’s nothing for her to stress about. I know, I don’t care, we’re good. Let’s move on.”
I tilted my head at that, unsure if I was more relieved or disappointed by his words. Sure, I didn’t want Brax angry, didn’t want a fight, but him not caring at all? Did I really mean so little to him?
He stared at me, then pressed his lips together and shook his head. “You don’t get it. You’re still pretty slow, you know that?” His tight expression said he planned to say something else, but instead, he turned his gaze toward the poster on the table. “Let’s just focus on the plan, okay? For my part, I’ve checked out the generators. It’ll be easy to take them down. I’ll wait until the security gets shut down, that way it’ll lock everything open.” He turned his gaze to Wade. “How about you?”
Wade nodded, still sitting back in his chair as if relaxing instead of planning an extremely dangerous escape. “We’re good. I was able to get a simple virus from a tech mage. Since it’s just a framework, he has no idea what it’s for, so we don’t have to worry about being found out. It’ll also throw a false alarm to draw guards to the front entrance. I’ll plug it into the main computer in the server room and it’ll unlock all security measures. The thing is, that meansallsecurity measures. There isn’t any way to target only certain areas. Every door in every area of Larkwood will go green. It’ll be chaos. Think full-blown riot.”
Brax smiled for a moment before it faded away, his gaze shifting to me, then to Knox, then to Wade. I read him easily. He might enjoy a good fight, but it was a different matter when he had others around who might not be as safe. He cursed softly. “I have to get rid of the generators, but as soon as they’re down, when we rally, I can handle anything that gets thrown at us. You all just have to get to the meetup place safely.”
Wade grinned. “Are you worried about me? That’s cute.”
Brax did not return the smile. “I’m not worried about you. I just want to make sure you reach that point because your worthless ass would make good fodder.”
The joking helped to ease my worries, so I slid from the stool and made my way into the living room. I knelt down beside the table, bringing me close enough to read and write.
Next, I glanced at Knox, who hadn’t mentioned his progress yet.
“I’m meeting with someone later today who is going to give me a key for the roof exit.” He left it at that, and it would have been impossible to not hear the stress in his voice. Even without my skills, I would have caught it.
A flash in my head showed Knox and that woman whose shoe I’d broken, his body near hers, her lips at his throat.
I jerked my gaze away from him, hoping he didn’t see my expression, that he didn’t notice. The last thing he needed was my jealousy or censure over anything he did. He needed to feed, and using his skills was how he got what we needed.
I avoided looking at him again, unwilling to see whatever rested there. No matter how much I toldmyself to ignore it, I couldn’t. It wasn’t just jealousy, either, but pity. I hated that he had to do what he didn’t want to.
It only reinforcedwhywe were doing this, why we were escaping. I wanted him free, to have the freedom to do as he wanted, to not have anyone take advantage of him anymore.
Of course, if he heard that, no doubt it would just piss him off.
“And you?” Brax said, breaking the tension with his no-nonsense voice.
I let myself look at him.“I found where the communications center is and the layout of the North Tower.”
Brax tipped his lips down. “I thought we decided that you getting sent to the North Tower was a bad idea…”
“No. You just decided you didn’t like it,”I signed. “I’ll be fine. The security measures will be for there too, so it’ll pop all the locks for me. Even if it didn’t, I can open each door on my own. I’m pretty good at it now.”
As I gave my part of the plan, none of the men looked pleased. Had I ever hadallof them glaring at me at once? It almost felt like some achievement.
“Hera…” Wade said.
I lifted my hand to silence him before responding.“Wade, you’re sneaking into the main server room to plant a virus. Knox, you’ve been manipulating someone who could have you thrown to the North Tower in a heartbeat, all for roof access. Brax, you’re going to destroy the generators which will clearly draw some attention. Then you all have to make it through a riot to reach the rally point. We are all doing dangerous things to make this work. I’m not special.”
At least all three looked slightly shamed by my scolding, by the reminder that they were putting themselves at risk as well. I might be a woman, but that didn’t mean I needed their protection while they took all the danger on themselves.
I wasn’t useless. I finally understood and accepted it.I was tough. I had skills.
“You’re a little special,” Wade said. The words seemed sweet until I saw the smirk on his lips. “I mean, if something happens to you, I’m left with these two. I have a feeling that orgies will be a lot less fun without you.”
The words drew heat to my cheeks as they brought back the memory of what had happened, but at least it broke the tension from before. Wade really did know how to calm things down, didn’t he?
He made it almost impossible to keep fighting or stay angry when he did that, when he disarmed us with a well-timed and perfectly inappropriate joke.
“We all have to risk things,”I signed, wanting them to understand.“And getting out of here is worth any risk. I can do this—trust me.”
All three sighed and exchanged loaded looks. Finally, they nodded, one at a time.
“So, if we have the plan set, when do we do this?” Brax asked.
