Page 156 of The Sidekick

You actually talked to me. You let me in just the tiniest bit, and now I’m sweating because I’m hoping that means we can talk. Really talk.

Chapter Fifty

Tera

“First off, let’s see what he put on you.” I pull the plain chair up to the desk and crack open the lid, powering her on.

“Your diary is on this thing?” Max pulls the second chair up next to me, staring at the screen like it’s the answer to all his prayers.

“Not for long. Depending on what kind of viruses he put on her, he could be monitoring my actions as we speak. I’ll do a clean sweep before I get into anything serious and delete any files he put his dirty fingers on. Then all I have to worry about are copies.”

Satan has just pulled his chair around to watch when the password screen pops up.

“Turn your heads,” I demand, fingers poised over the keys. Once they both chuckle and face away, I type it in as fast as I can.

“Whatever it is, it’s long,” Max comments. “Can I look now?”

“No. Stay oblivious, frowny face.”

He turns to me with a glare.

I start the process of finding anything he could have put on the laptop and sit back with a sigh. “This is going to take a while.”

Satan shrugs and pulls out his phone. “I’ll order some pizza. What would you like?”

My fingers freeze on the keys as a chill washes over me. “Nothing, I brought my own lunch.”

When he looks at me with a frown, I can see Max’s head shaking from the corner of my eye. The subject gets dropped and silence reigns.

I text Asher to keep him up to date, settling back in the chair.

Max twists, draping his legs over my thighs with a loud groan. I pull his calves up a little more to stay comfortable and resettle.

“Max,” Satan mutters darkly as he scans food options.

“What? I’m not bothering her,” he protests but he has a smug grin on his face.

“He really isn’t,” I confirm absently. “It feels nice.”

“Really?” Max asks in surprise, smile wiped away.

“Yeah,” I frown. My laptop is sluggish responding to me. There’s definitely something on here. Along with a million updates I don’t need, I’m sure.

“Is there anything I’ve done that actually bothers you?” I’m not paying attention to his face, but he sounds super mad.

I think about it with half of my brain, using the other side to focus on my laptop. “I can’t think of anything. Maybe not talking to me? But I’m not really mad about that, it’s just fun to tease you. I like grumpy Max as much as gossipy Max.”

They stare at either side of my face. I can feel the attention tingles on my cheeks but I ignore them.

By the time the pizza arrives I’m done with my scans and pouting. I start removing all of the viruses he put on her.

“I should back-hack him for this. What a nosy jerk.”

“You know how to do that?” Satan’s eyes narrow on me. My shoulders tense at the speculation there.

“How did you learn all this?” Max asks with a wide grin, either oblivious to Satan’s mistrust or trying to make light of it.

“You can learn anything if you apply yourself,” I shrug, trying to be casual. “Computers are fun.”

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