Page 166 of Dark Love

Knowing Shock, he’d just have them delivered.

“These people are bad news. Like obituaries that your family finds six months after you’ve been buried kind of news.”

And what else is new with my life? “So am I.” Shock hasn’t been involved in my escapades past a little bit of research, but he knows what I’m capable of.

“It’s going to take a while.”

Time that I don’t want to give it. “Fine.”

“I’m going to need some equipment.”

He always needs something new. “Order what you need.”

“That’s the thing. I can’t just order it.” Shock stops and taps one of the armchairs. “It isn’t available to the public.”

“What do you want me to do, steal it?” Focus on the happy face on the security footage, not the desire to whap one of the best hackers in the world upside the head.

Shock shrugs. “Maybe. But you might be able to ask for it first.”

Like some tech company is just going to hand me unleased technology.

“You're friends with Maximus Vincenti, right?”

No.

Couldn’t it be anyone else?

There’s no way he’s going to hand it over without explanations after I gave him two black eyes the other day. “Ask for something else.”

Shock stops. “It doesn’t work like that. Vincenti is rumored to have—"

I hold up a hand before Shock bores me to death with a seven-hour discussion of some tech specs that I don’t want to know in the first place. “The ‘only’ place I can get this is from Vincenti?”

Shock nods.

“Fine.” Now, I’m going to need to have to have two conversations that I don’t want to have. “Is that all?”

Shock puts a note on my desk with the tech he wants and starts pacing again.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to do my own project.”

When have I ever complained about him using — “What kind of project?”

He’s lapping my office at a dizzy pace. “Don’t want to say. It’s private.”

“On my equipment, is it that private?”

“Yes.”

What could it possibly — “Are you in trouble?” It’s not a good time to fix whatever mess he’s gotten into today.

“No. No. It’s not about me.”

“Then why won’t you tell me?”

Shock blushes.

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