Page 76 of Byte

I wanted to roll my eyes. “Seriously, Keegan? I wasn’t going to ask her to lie to her family for me.”

She grinned. “Just checking.”

“You’re such a little shit sometimes.”

“That’s why you love me.”

“What are we doing about this Chad prick?” Ranger asked. When all heads turned to him, he looked slightly confused. “What? I thought we were finished with Byte’s secret life. Is there more?”

“No, that’s everything,” I confirmed.

Ranger looked at Keegan and Shaker. “Do you guys need to have feelings about this new revelation?”

Shaker shook his head, and Keegan laughed. “No, Papa. We’re good.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes, really. Why?” Keegan asked.

“I don’t know. I guess I thought there’d be more.”

“I mean, it was a big secret to share, but it doesn’t change anything,” she said. “Well, except for your age.”

“And even that doesn’t matter,” Shaker added. “Your name and age don’t change who you are.”

Gabby smiled and leaned closer to me. “Told you they wouldn’t care.”

I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Yes, you did.”

Ranger cleared his throat. “Now that we’re one big happy family, let’s talk about Chadprick?”

“Chadprick?” Keegan laughed.

“I assumed Chad was short for Chadwick and made my own improvements on his name,” Ranger said.

I sighed. “Nothing new there. The police haven’t found anything, and neither have I.” I hated admitting defeat, but I hadn’t been able to find anything on Chadprick.

“Then I think it’s time someone had a chat with Lauren,” Ranger said.

“Papa, we can’t do that,” Gabby said.

“Of course we can,” he countered. “We just have to be creative.”

“Something tells me you’ve already given this some thought,” Phoenix said.

Ranger grinned. “Who? Me?”

“Yes, you, you old pain in the ass.”

“I’ll pretend to be offended later.”

Surprisingly, it was Gabby who spoke next. “Can we skip to the part where Papa tells us his plan?”

“I don’t really have a plan. I just think we should send someone in to talk to her while she’s still in the hospital. It won’t be as easy once she’s discharged,” Ranger said.

“Even if we manage to get someone in there, she can’t talk. Her jaw’s wired shut,” Gabby pointed out.

“I’ve got a pair of wire cutters,” Ranger said.

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