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Dani turns to me one last time. “Keep a low profile. Don’t go outside. Don’t cause me any trouble.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I say, but I can’t help but smile.
“Take this seriously,” she grumbles. “I’m here to keep you out of harm’s way, but not if you go chasing after it. Do you understand?”
I nod, peering deeply into her eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter 16
Dani
Watching Luka mill about the safehouse on the surveillance camera feeds feels a lot like watching a hamster adventuring around their little cage. In his case, a giant hamster who apparently prefers to go about his business shirtless, his wide chest and washboard abs on full display as he tinkers with the old, clunky laptop I had delivered earlier this morning as per his request.
I’m not sure what I should focus on more. The fact that he looks distressingly good in nothing but his baggy sweatpants, or the fact that he’s bashed apart the microwave and electronic clock like a fucking caveman in search of parts.
I’m no electrical engineer, but I can tell Luka’s fishing for wires and chips to make the early aughts clamshell iBook halfway usable. Luka’s got everything laid out on the kitchen counter, so it’s clear to me he isn’t afraid of any repercussions that might come out of this. I found the damn thing in the very back of my closet, a remnant of my youth. It’s been wiped clean, so I figured I might as well give it to him.
He never specified whatkindof laptop he wanted. With the slow processing time and shoddy internet connection—if there’s even enough bandwidth to begin with—he can’t cause much harm.
It’s impressive, I’ll give him that much. I knew he was smart but seeing him pick apart screws and strip wires and rearrange the entire motherboard is truly stunning. The guy knows his stuff, and I strangely find myself on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what he’ll do next.
“What’re you watching?”
I nearly jolt off the couch. Tabitha is surprisingly stealthy when she wants to be. She tries to peer at my laptop’s screen, but I slam it closed as she makes her way around to the front.
“Nothing,” I say quickly. Maybe a littletooquickly. “What’re you doing up so early? You usually sleep in on the weekends.”
“Dolly and Rachel invited me out shopping.”
I’m genuinely glad to hear this. It’s really nice to see my little sister coming out of her shell. There was a period of time after the accident when Tabitha didn’t want to do anything at all. I couldn’t even blame her. It took some time to adjust to everything, but Tabitha came out of the ordeal as strong and brave as ever.
“Do you want me to make you breakfast first?” I ask her.
“That’s okay. We might go to that pancake place around the corner.”
“Okay, cool. Do you need me to spot you some cash? Treat yourself to an extra-large stack, on me.”
My little sister beams. “I’m never going to turn down a free breakfast.”
Setting my laptop aside, I hop up and enter the kitchen. I left my wallet on the counter. Tabitha follows, but I can’t help but notice the strange expression she wears as she watches me.
“What’s up?” I ask her, handing her a fifty.
“Oh, nothing,” she mumbles. “I was just wondering about the guy you were with the other day. That Luka guy.”
I force an easy smile. “What about him?”
Tabitha shrugs. “I don’t know. You were acting kinda weird when me and my friends showed up. I just thought…”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just reading into things, but it felt like you were really trying to get rid of me. You’re not, like, embarrassed of me or anything, are you?”
My heart sinks. “Of coursenot. How could you think that?”
Tabitha shrugs. “Sorry. You were just acting so strange.”
I kneel beside her and take her hands, giving her fingers a light squeeze. “You mean the world to me, Tabitha. I could never be embarrassed by you. I’m really sorry I made you feel that way.”
