Page 7 of Crush & Byte
“So?I’ll hack into El Diablo’s schedule and set up his private jet.”I was already making arrangements.“It’s not like we’ve never hijacked it before.”
“You’re that eager to meet her in person?”Byte’s voice had that teasing edge I’d learned to hate over the years.
I ignored him, focusing on the logistics.“I’m more anxious to see what Maggie has in store for River.She’s making it seem like it’s a life-or-death CIA operation when we both know it’s not.She is convinced River needs an exciting vacation.The stupid code words she told her to give us was the confirmation.You know that.”
“Yeah,” Byte nodded emphatically.“I do.I also know Maggie wants us to play along, and I’m practicing.”He grinned at me.
Byte in public and Byte in private were two totally different people.Byte was nearly backward when he was around people he wasn’t comfortable with.With me, he was quirky, and annoying in the extreme.I loved every fucking second of his annoying bullshit because I never thought I’d ever see my brother finally accept his personality quirks and be comfortable in his own skin.It had been a baptism by fire in the military, but I’d been with him and had been able to keep him from spiraling and withdrawing into his computer banks.And, yes, we’d hacked the government and made sure we’d been placed in the same unit.Our superiors kept putting in requests to separate us and those requests kept getting lost in the system.No clue why.Innocent look.They’d finally given up and put us in cybersecurity in the field.
Byte shrugged.“Does it really matter?She’s got us going to get a woman who clearly interests us both.I’m pretty sure she intends for River to end up with one of us.”He said it so matter-of-factly I glanced at him to see his expression.When it was carefully blank, I knew he felt the same attraction to this girl I had.Honestly, it was expected.Byte would always need me to help him navigate people’s feelings.I couldn’t let my brother flounder on his own.
Yeah.I’d think about this later.While I knew we could work it out between us, now wasn’t the time.The fact Byte brought up our mutual attraction meant he was definitely thinking about River and calculating how and when to make his move.He was also giving me fair warning to figure out how I was going to handle the situation when he did.
Typically, I took point on everything me and Byte did together.Not only was I the older sibling, but I was just better at dealing with people.Byte tended to take the path around all the hoopla and got what he needed by nefarious means because he hated asking anyone questions.If he wanted information, he found it on his own.There were things he could do even I didn’t know about.But he was never wrong.There were never any misunderstandings.Byte got to the truth, no matter how hard it was.
Just like he had with Claw and Hammer.
That was a dark time in Grim Road I hated thinking about.It had taken both of us a long time to gather everything we had on both men.The evidence had been damning from the very beginning, but Byte had refused to issue judgment until he’d found every scrap of information he could because he knew the consequences of the transgressions would mean a death sentence for both men.He wanted to make sure he could live with his own consequences, and that meant making Goddamned good and sure the information he’d dug up was solid.
I chose not to comment on Byte’s observation our grandmother likely intended for one of us to claim River.Instead, I confirmed the plane I’d commandeered would be ready in an hour, then slid back from my desk.“We need to leave for the airport in fifteen minutes.I want to leave the second we can.”
“You’re avoiding the issue.”Byte actually smirked, like he’d gotten one over on me.Which, I guess he had.A relationship with a woman wasn’t something that had been on my radar for a very long fucking time.We fucked club whores.And yeah, we’d shared one on more than one occasion.But I wasn’t sure I was ready for this.Not yet.
“I am.”I didn’t even try to deny he was right.“And I’m going to continue to avoid the issue until I have a chance to think about it.”
Byte shrugged.“What’s to think about?We’ve shared women before.You help me not be a dick.No pun intended.”
“I know.But that was just sex.”
He shrugged.“No one said this had to be anything other than sex.”
I gave him the side eye, only to find him givingmethe side eye.“Later, Byte.Let it rest for now.Maggie wants us to take this girl on an adventure, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Whatever you say, big brother.”
I tuned Byte out.He was trying to goad me, and I wasn’t going to enable him.Instead, my thoughts drifted back to the girl with the shy smile.I hated how much I wanted to see her again.I really, really fucking hated it.
* * *
Seven hours at thirty-seven thousand feet with Byte was the kind of punishment that, in some religions, counted as penance.Private jet or not, my knees were jacked up from sitting and my nerves were raw.I’d never been a good flyer, but at least this wasn’t a commercial flight where I had to deal with armrest wars and some stranger snoring on my shoulder.It was just me, my brother, and a fridge stocked with enough beer and sandwich meat to keep us alive until we hit the ground in Vancouver, Washington.
Byte was stretched across two leather recliners, booted feet up, arms folded behind his head, watching some classic heist movie with a glazed-over look that said he’d mentally solved the entire plot during the opening credits.He’d been that way since wheels-up.Checked out.This was how he rested without actually sleeping.I thought it was weird as fuck, but it worked for him so I didn’t judge.
I, on the other hand, was on my fifth bottle of beer and my seventh time scrolling through the flight tracker on my phone.Patience wasn’t my strong suit, and the more I thought about River the more I wanted to just get there already.
Byte burped, loudly and theatrically, and set his empty bottle on the armrest with a soft clunk.“You gonna burn a hole in that screen, or do you want to actually talk about what we’re doing?”
“Just checking our ETA.”
“Again.”He grinned at me, sharp and knowing.“You wanna tell me what’s really got you wound up?”
I set my phone on the table between us, maybe a little harder than intended.“We’re disrupting her whole life for one of Grandma’s games.That’s what’s got me wound up.”
Byte shrugged, not even pretending to be bothered.“Is it really a disruption if she has nothing tying her down and goes willingly?”
“She also needs the paycheck.”I fished another beer from the fridge, popped it, and took a long pull.“We’re kidnapping her.That’s what this is, no matter what you call it.”
“Nah,” he said, grinning wider.“We’re rescuing her from a boring existence.”
