Something flickered in his expression and he glanced away. “It’s not like . . . Yeah, we do.”
She winced inwardly. Obviously she’d pushed some button. She had no idea if it was because he was embarrassed to be staying at someone’s house or if there was more to his and Ren’s relationship than business. Now there was a visual . . .
Focus, rude, nosy girl. “Sorry, that’s none of my business. Curiosity overrides my mouth sometimes.”
“It’s fine. It’s not classified information or anything. We’ve shared a place since college.” He peered at her screen but still didn’t sit down. “So, any luck?”
Business talk. Okay, she could do that with him. That was a better plan than “shipping” her two new employers in her head or thinking too hard about the fact that this man was an ex-con. She turned toward the computer and tucked her leg beneath her. “Not much, but I can show you what I’ve gotten so far.”
“Okay.” Hayes stepped around the desk and perched on the edge of it to look at her screen. The scent of him drifted her way—fresh laundry and something earthy, like he’d rolled around in the grass.
She ignored that distraction and clicked open a few windows. “So, do you speak computer geek?”
“A little, but dumb it down for me. I’m only an MBA.”
She smirked. The man didn’t smile but there was a dry sense of humor hiding in there. Problem was she didn’t know what else was hiding in there.
That thought had her spine straightening, the ease that had slipped in quickly evaporating. She told him what she’d found, explaining it in layman’s language and showing him a bit of the process she went through. He asked good questions and seemed to listen carefully to her answers. He didn’t speak computers but he was smart as hell. Analytical.
He crossed his arms and eyeballed the screen. “So what’s that part you’ve highlighted?”
“That’s when I think the system was first hacked. All the other admin access times were during working hours. This one is after one in the morning and the sign-in times in the days following are mostly night hours. So if that’s the case, it means our guy got in the system about two weeks ago.”
“Damn. That’s a long time to have a free pass.”
“Eons. And whoever it is, he or she knows enough to cover their steps pretty well. I can’t see if other emails were sent. We’ll have to rely on reports from users to figure that
piece out. But I can see whose profiles were opened by the admin in that time period.”
“So this wasn’t just directed at you?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem so, unless the person was trying to dig through files to find me. That would mean they were after me personally and didn’t know who my character was in the game. But I’m guessing this is more big picture than someone just coming after me. I can’t think of anyone who’d be pissed enough at me to do what they did.”
“Have you had any conflicts with anyone recently that stick out? A co-worker, maybe?”
She shook her head. “No. People I worked with would’ve had no way of knowing I’m a member even if someone did want to mess with me. I haven’t shared that with anyone.”
“A former boyfriend or girlfriend, maybe?”
She didn’t blink at the question. She’d gotten used to people wondering if she was a lesbian. Her clothes, her tomboy ways, and her lack of any long-term boyfriends tended to bring up the question—even from her mother. She’d wondered herself for a brief time in high school, considering that maybe that was why she’d always felt different from her female friends, but that hadn’t been her answer. She wasn’t gay. And she didn’t want to be male. And boys had inevitably been the subject of her attraction. She’d just never felt comfortable being über girly. And when she’d tried to force the issue to fit in—subjecting herself to the dreaded makeover by a well-meaning friend—she’d felt like an imposter.
So now her friends probably assumed she was making some feminist statement that she wouldn’t conform to gender expectations. But really, she just wore the things and acted the way that made her feel comfortable in her own skin. It was disastrous to her dating life but necessary for her own mental health. The only time she let herself step out of that was when she was Lenore.
She adjusted her glasses. “No. The last guy I dated had the skills for this kind of thing, but our relationship wasn’t that intense and he didn’t know I played the game. Plus, he wouldn’t put out this much effort on my behalf. He didn’t put out much effort in general.”
In her periphery, Hayes turned toward her, and she could feel his curiosity. She grimaced. “Annnnd . . . that’s TMI, sorry.”
He made a little sound, almost like a laugh trapped in the back of his throat. “It’s fine. But are you sure you can rule him out? What if he somehow figured out you were playing Hayven? Finding out your girlfriend is spending her time playing a kinky game with strangers instead of you could make a guy jealous or make him feel like he’s inadequate. A guy with a twisted temper could think—hey, if she wants some guy to treat her like that, I’ll show her. I’ll send some asshole over to grab her.”
She sighed. “Kevin could be a jerk but not that brand of jerk. He didn’t have feelings for me and wasn’t possessive. I was just a convenient friend to hook up with. And even at his worse, he wouldn’t do something to put me in danger. At the end of the day, he was a decent guy.”
Hayes’s gaze on her was unnerving—like he was absolutely, one hundred percent listening to every word. The fact that it seemed so strange made her realize how often people, men in particular, only listened with half an ear. “Okay, so a lazy shithead who doesn’t know how to treat a woman but not an evil guy. We’ll scratch him off the list.”
The words were said with a touch of annoyance, like he was offended on her behalf that Kevin had acted like a dick. She had a flash of the much-bigger Hayes grabbing Kevin by the shirt and telling him to not treat a girl like a drive-thru restaurant where he could pick up a quick fix when it was convenient. She ignored the little zip of pleasure that image gave her. “Right.”
“What about in Hayven? Have you had any conflicts within the game? Any scenes gone wrong? Members who gave off a bad vibe?”
Talking openly about herself playing the game was completely out of her comfort zone, but he was being so matter-of-fact that it helped tamp down some of the embarrassment. “No, nothing I can think of.”