Page 38 of Destroy Me
“Lyse.”
Her name on his lips was so quiet. So determined. Fionn wasn’t the only stubborn one in their friendship.
“You know, I’m just a man like anyone else. I make mistakes. Hell, I made an awful lot of them, especially where Elliot was concerned.” A chuckle escaped him. “We worked it out. You will too.”
That had her eyes flying open. “What?”
Every man in the room found that funny, apparently, including King. “Only one thing gets a man that twisted up inside,” Mack said, a yawn stretching the last word almost out of recognition. “I need to be finishing this, then getting some sleep. Wake me if anything happens, yeah?”
Deacon nodded in Mack’s direction, amusement still lighting his face. Lyse turned her focus to booting up the computer. “What system did you bring with you?” she asked. Anything to get this conversation off how delusional they all were.
“A little something new,” Deacon said, handing a laptop to King, who proceeded to hook it up to Mack’s computer with competent efficiency. He obviously knew his way around tech. “Your Predator series has had some upgraded components thanks to Tucker.”
“Tucker?”
“The new tech supervisor at GF.”
She knew all about the little hick—well, not everything. Much as she’d wanted to, she hadn’t hacked into Global First’s security upgrades. It had just felt wrong. She’d gathered everything she needed to using her old system’s access.
Not that she’d share that information. She’d learned her lesson about admitting to spying last night.
“What could a new tech supervisor possibly have added to my baby to make it better?”
“There are always new developments,” Deacon said absently, his focus on starting the program. Predator had been the latest version of an all-encompassing security system that both protected and aided in the hunt. It was some of her best work as far as ground-level security went, work she was particularly proud of. No way could Tucker have—
“What the—”
She had Deacon shoved aside before she’d even realized she was doing it. Lines of code ran down the screen faster than most people would track, but Lyse wasn’t most people. She was so absorbed in reading that the laughter surrounding her didn’t register until Deacon gently tugged her away from the computer.
A hot flush swept up her neck. “Sorry.”
Deacon shook his head, still grinning. “Give you a shiny new toy…”
“It’s not new,” she argued. She couldn’t deny the rest of the statement. Put complicated tech in front of her and she turned into one of those emoji faces with stars in their eyes. Nothing set her off like good tech.
Well, except for Fionn.
“He’s just building a name for himself off my work.” That wasn’t entirely true either—what she’d caught onscreen had her kicking herself. Why hadn’t she thought of those upgrades before Tucker had?
Because you weren’t there, remember?
“It’s all the same work, you know,” Deacon said, pulling a chair up to the laptop for King to sit. “Luckily GF is allowing me to continue working with them while I’m contracted with JCL Security.”
The company Elliot worked for. Deacon had retired from fieldwork when his wife died several years ago, working tech support from home while he took care of his young daughter, Sydney.
“I’m glad you’ve got Elliot,” Lyse said quietly.
Deacon gave her a brilliant smile. “So am I. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me aside from Sydney. I even gave her a ring.”
“Even more crazy, she accepted it,” King said.
Lyse had known that already but laughed along with them before congratulating Deacon. All it had taken was seeing him and Elliot fight together to know they belonged with each other. Only love could spark that kind of rage.
Sound familiar?
No, she refused to fall into that trap. She wouldn’t go back to being that naive young girl who’d thought Fionn McCullough might someday notice her.
Oh, he’s noticed you, all right.
