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He closed his eyes, already knowing. “I can’t.”
“You can. You’re stronger than your past. You’re the leader of the Tech Hatch, the fucking best. And my favorite,” he added, the tacked on stupidity bringing a shot of laughter.
“You laugh,” he said, offended. “You will always be my T-Bit, oui?”
Ethan nodded. “Always. Would you like a kiss? I’m giving them out in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons.” Ethan nodded at his laughter. “Maybe you can start a comic in the Nouvelles. Or a metaphorical obituary. Today, another Twelve succumbed to the error of his wondrous stupidity. Beat and buried alive by his wife. Survived by nobody because he’s too stupid to have family.”
A full minute later, Bishop managed, “What you need is a real mess. Like a Hurricane in two days to take your mind off it. You okay on that front?”
“Yes,” he sighed. “The Hurricane Hack squad is on auto-pilot. Updated yesterday.”
“Very good. Your Hurricane Hacks were always the best.”
“Not sure about that,” he said, wondering what Cat was doing.
“You’ve been ranked #1 for two seasons straight,” he cried.
The odd information scrambled his brain. “Number one in what?”
“The Hurricane Huster List in the Nouvelle! You did not know of this?”
“I don’treadthe Nouvelle’s, I submit data to it.”
“Meh, maybe that’s your problem.”
“What? What else is my problem? Pile it on.”
“You need to take a break from the data and experience life in another format. And hey…how aboutthat’sanorder. See to it immediately. And report to me after. In a conversation over Kool-aid, not a spreadsheet, oui?”
He was fucking dead serious. “Oui,” he said.
“Take her on a date.”
“She hunts. And fishes.”
“Then take her fishing and hunting,” he said, like it wasn’t rocket science.
But with Cat, everything was science. She was her own science. And the sooner he learned it, the better the entire fucking world would be.
“Fine. I will. If you find me dead, just know I went down fighting about something that had nothing to do with the reason for my death.”
“Mon Dieu, you fucking kill me,” he said, ending the call on wheezing laughter.
Ethan stood there, contemplating everything. A date. A hunting date? Fishing? It occurred to him in a panic, and he dialed Eveque again. The second he picked up, he wondered, “Why wouldn’t she take my hunting or fishing proposal as an insult too?”
“Because youwon’tuse it like it’s some kind of deal or bandage.”
“So just…”
“You want to go hunting or fishing.”
“But I don’t. At this time.”
“Make it relevant, T-Bit.”
Relevant.
“There’s a Hurricane coming. We can always stand to have a surplus of fresh food, oui? And you’re short-handed due to the prep. If she’s anything like Ma Petite, she loves helping others.”
