I clenched my jaw.“Fine.How about it always bugs me, and I’m tired of not saying so.”
“Feedback always bugs you?”Jeremy scoffed.“Since when?I don’t know what your problem is—your boyfriend isn’t putting out, you’ve got sand in your shorts, whatever—but don’t take it out on Sonya.”
“Excuse me?”I didn’t appreciate the personal attack.
“You heard me.If you’re looking to pick a fight, I’m here, but leave Sonya out of it.And if you want to fling insults and whine and sayI’m unhappy, I’ll give as good as you.”
I stared him down, tempted to say something I’d regret about two seconds after it left my mouth.Why couldn’t that filter have kicked in five minutes ago?“I’ll fix the music.”My tone was neutral again.“Feedback is fine.I’ll listen more objectively next time.”
“Great.Thanks.”Jeremy didn’t sound like he meant it.
Which was fine, I wasn’t sure I did either.
After they left, the encounter played on a loop in my mind.What was wrong with me?Seriously, what was I doing?And why couldn’t I stop?
I didn’t know, but I suspected if Jeremy walked back in here now, I’d try to pick a fight with him again.I scrubbed my face, and groaned into my fingers when my desk phone rang.
I grabbed it without looking.“Yeah.”
“Go home Brandon,” Judith said.
What?“Why?”
“Because I’m the boss and I said so.Go home.Stay there until next year.”
Yep, there was the surge of irritation again.I swallowed back a retort, amid the scream in my mind askingwould it be so bad if she fired you?
It would be.It really really would.“Fine.I’m gone.”I hung up the phone, not caring that it clattered in the cradle.
Twenty-Four
Danny
It wasboth strange and felt right, being back here.Not because of the three days of RinCon—I’d attended with Brandon for years—but that I was a part of it, both the event and the workplace.I was no longer an observer, orBrandon’s boyfriend.People greeted me like I belonged here as I walked through the building, and I felt like I did.
When I gave up this line of work, years ago, I never imagined myself coming back to it.But this environment was different.It was better.
“This is so much easier with a second set of eyes and a second brain,” Luna said.“Ooh, do you think I could grow a second brain?”
I stared at her.“Would you want to?You’d think twice as much.”
“That’s kind of the point.”
I shook my head.“About everything.Not just cybersecurity.”
Luna wrinkled her nose.“Fine.I see your point.I’ll just have to keep using yours then.”
“I’m at your disposal.”
We continued working.A short while later, one of my alerts pinged.I thought I’d cleared all of those out after we figured out the stolen assets problem.
Oh.This was related to the video posted of Reese and I, singing at the Christmas party.I had a match for the account it had come from.I clicked through the wall of text that was my code’s digital brain-dump, sifting out important bits of information, following links, and noting names.
Realization spread through me when I finally reached a source account.I didn’t recognize the woman in the photos, but I did recognize the man she said was her sister’s husband.Todd.Reese’s agent.I needed to tell her.Tell Brandon.Tell whoever this magical attorney was that Judith was supposedly hooking Reese up with.
“So, um… tell me to shut up if you don’t want to talk about it.”Luna’s timid request yanked my attention from the information.“But, is Brandon okay?”
I shouldn’t be surprised she noticed—Luna picked up a lot on people’s emotions.“He’s struggling a little, but he’ll be fine.”Hopefully that was vague-but-reassuring.