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“I didn’t know that—about the bullying.”
“Before you started playing Horse Lords, there was a guy in my guild that I just didn’t get along with. Even though I could never prove it, I swear he was using cheats and hacks. I got pissed and went on my stealth elf. I recorded him gaming and doing some shit that was totally illegal. He used a third-party script to hack into the gold system of the game. I showed it to my guild leader, who forwarded it to the admins, and he got banned for life.” I sighed, running my fingertips through his chest hair, playing with the occasional silver strand. “After that, he started harassing me.”
“Harassing you how?”
“He’d keep creating new accounts, with new passwords using stolen credit cards. Harassed me on every chat group I belonged to, tried to hack into my computer. You know, the usual douche stuff.”
“Wow…that’s crazy.”
“I know. Eventually he went away, but for a while there I could only play on private servers. It was a pain, but I used the time to do a lot of life skill grinding.”
“This guy…what can you tell me about him?”
I shrugged. “Not much. I ignored him as much as I could. Nothing pisses people off more than being ignored.”
He swept my hair off my shoulder, the air cool on my back. “Still, I’d like you to write down everything you know about him.”
“Why?”
“What if he’s the kind of guy who holds a grudge?”
I leaned up, bracing my forearms on his chest so I could look down at him. “What do you mean?”
“What if he’s the kind of guy who’d been biding his time? What if he managed to hack his way through the security I have around you?”
I leaned up further, snapping my fingers to get his attention off my breasts and on my face. “Security that you have around me? What security?”
His face went into that emotionless robot mask I hated. “It’s nothing.”
“Mark…” I growled. “What security?”
“Really, it’s nothing to worry about.”
I sat up all the way, straddling his stomach as I glared. “Tell me.”
He sighed, then ran his hands up and down my sides, his gaze sliding down to my breasts. The view must have been a good one, because his erection began to prod my bottom. I ignored it and crossed my arms over my breasts, hiding them from his view.
“Mark, tell me.”
Right away he loosened his grip, but he didn’t release me. “You saved me too, Layla. I was going through some bad shit when we met. That day on the elevator? I was fucking close to losing my mind. So many horrendous things had happened in my life, so much loss, and betrayal, and sorrow. I was beginning to think that maybe death would be better than the endless suffering I was drowning in. But then I met you and you gave me a reason to keep going. I treasured our time together. You were my light that chased back the darkness. You gave me hope. No matter how many obstacles you faced, or how shitty things got for you, you kept on fighting without losing your humanity. You’re the strongest woman I know. Not many people could endure what you have and still have a gentle and compassionate soul.”
He was so sweet, so sincere that I almost kissed him, but I held strong. “Security?”
With a sigh, he threw his arms over his head, making his whole torso flex in a distracting manner. “Even though I couldn’t be with you, I wanted you to be safe. This world is so fucked up, it killed me to think that you were out there, alone and unprotected.”
Jeeze, getting an answer out of him was like trying to turn a lump of coal into a diamond. “Annnnddd?”
“And I had a few of the tech guys at work set up some security on your system.”
“Wait, you had guys hack into my home computer? What the hell, Mark! That’s messed up.”
Pissed now, I tried to roll off him, but he merely followed me so I landed on my back with him hovering over me.
“Please try to understand. If you knew the things I know, had experienced the things I’ve gone through, you’d understand my worry.”
“I had a good security system on my computer!”
“Layla,” he chided softly, “you really didn’t. I mean, it would have stopped amateur hackers, but a semi-decent one could have blown through your firewalls like they were paper. I had to protect you.”
I pushed at his chest, but he didn’t budge. “That’s a total invasion of privacy.”
“I swear they didn’t look at your private files. They only made sure your system was protected.”
“Get off of me.”
“Layla—”
“Get off!”
This time when I shoved him, he moved. I then rolled out of bed, looking for my dress. “I can’t believe you did that!”
