Page 55 of Bound by Passion (Ravage MC)

“Fuck off,” Micah clipped. “The fuckin’ flash drive that cop fucker gave you has every single file on it encrypted in code. Every. Fucking. Thing. Not to mention shit Crow’s men pulled from the ex’s shit is so expansive at almost five T, Deke started working on a special encryption program to see if we could sort through the monstrosity of information without going through each individual file.”

“You need me? Say the word.”

Leaving Nyx wasn’t ideal. Fuck, I hated the thought. She had a ton of fucking questions to answer. So much shit was swirling around her, and I needed to get her sorted out. Whether she wanted me to or not.

She didn’t have her car either. And considering it was still at Screech’s place, no way in fuck he was coming to get her.

Fuck that shit. He might be her friend, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to fuck her. Because who the fuck wouldn’t? She was beautiful. Sexy. Smart. Spicy. And so damn intriguing.

Until Nyx and I talked, I didn’t want her anywhere near the man. Hell, I didn’t want her around any man. And I needed time to look into Screech.

“I will, but right now I need you to take a look at something,” Micah said, moving toward the screens that lined the wall.

Vagueness. Hated that shit, but being away from Nyx—I hated more. My mom would take care of her, that I knew without a doubt, but I wanted to be that person.

The one that she held on to. The one she told all her secrets.

And I wasn’t fooling myself. I knew whatever those mysteries were, getting them out of her was going to be a challenge, but I had time. I’d make time.

Micah sat in front of several screens, otherwise known as mission control, and I fell into the chair next to him.

“What’cha got?” I asked him, taking in the information on each of the screens that were all illuminated.

The far left screen was in the process of configuration. Probably what Deke had been working on.

As I scanned, my eyes caught on the security screen to the right. It was larger than most because it had several views of locations around the clubhouse.

It was Nyx sitting outside with my mom and all the ol’ ladies under the awning that drew me in, but that wasn’t what made me pause, though. Nyx was laughing. Throwing her head back, hair flying, low in her belly as she held it shaking, laughing. It was a sight I hadn’t seen from her, and fuck she was gorgeous. Seeing her happy, having fun, I vowed to give her more of that. More freedom.

“Hello!” Micah snapped his fingers rapidly four times in front of my face, and my gaze went to him.

“Do you want me to break those fuckers?” I growled low.

“Know you’ve got a hot piece out there, but can you wait five minutes before fucking her?” he challenged, and an angry heat rolled over my skin.

“No. And if you call her ‘a hot piece’ again, I’ll break your fingers and toes with rusty pliers.”

Micah burst out laughing. With the asshole being so damn tired, you’d think he wouldn’t have the energy. “Fuck, you’ve got it bad.”

“You gonna show me whatever in the fuck you want me to look at?” I responded, not giving him any opening for him to give me more shit.

He wasn’t wrong, though. All I could think about was to get back to her, but she was having fun, and fuck, if I wanted to mess with that. The more she felt comfortable here the better. She didn’t even realize the amount of time she’d be here very soon.

“Yeah. Fuck, it felt good to laugh. I’ve been here around the clock. It’s buggin’ the fuck out of me. All this shit here and…” He shook his head and then put his focus up on the main screen in front of him.

Micah had the laptop from Thompson’s house connected to the system, and I didn’t have a good feeling.

“This.” He clicked a few keys. “Have you ever seen anything like it before? My dad said you’re good with random shit, and to me this is random.”

Studying the screen, first I noticed the image was a bit blurry. There was a navy blue background with a gold or yellow circle in the middle of it. Points poked out around the circle.

“What the fuck!” Micah yelled as the screen went into that fuzzy black and white shit you’d see on old movies. First his monitor, then another, then another in a domino effect, each going made my stomach fall to my knees. “Unplug the fuckin’ server now!” he yelled, but I was already on it, racing around the corner to yank all the cords out of the wall. I wasn’t going to fuck with the circuit breakers and take a chance the breaker didn’t turn off.

I moved to the large storage system and pulled the plugs on those as well. I heard the fans and motors halt, telling me they were shutting down.

“Did we pull it in time?” I asked, coming around to an entire room that normally would have flashing lights everywhere and screens showing activity, was now vacant. If the overhead lights weren’t on, it would be pitch black, considering there were no windows down here.

“Fuck if I know! This motherfucking computer!” He started to lift Thompson’s laptop, and I saw his intent. He’d be pissed at himself afterwards even if it felt good in the moment. I moved to him quickly and snatched the computer out of his grasp before he could slam it down to the ground.

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