Page 11 of Hard Game

I groan, knowing what’s coming.

“You need to meet someone. Settle down. Let this shit go.” Tassa finishes off her cake and stabs at the last piece between us. “Fuck revenge.”

I stare at her, unsure if she’s kidding. Revenge is what fuels me. It’s what wakes me every day and pushes me from my bed. “You want revenge!” I remind her, watching as she reaches for my plate, lifting her brows with a silent question. “You can have it all, it’s your cake.”

Tassa grins before demolishing the rest of it.

I sit back in my seat while she finishes her cake, waiting for her to elaborate.

“I want love too, though,” Tassa admits, swallowing her coffee. “I’d take love over revenge.”

I shake my head and stare out the window. “I want revenge. Fuck love. Love is dangerous.”

Tassa nods, pressing her lips together as she studies me. “But if we don’t love, what’s the point, Mad?”

I think there are only two types of people: criminals and victims. While I watch the cars sail past the window, I can’t help but wonder which types the occupants are. How many are criminals, and how many have been or are victims?

Which one am I?

I’d rather be a criminal than a victim, but not like them. Never like them.

“The point is we stop them from hurting anyone else.”

Tassa sighs and leans back, cradling her coffee. “I want to heal,” she whispers, almost to herself.

I feel bad. I didn’t suffer like she did. Physically and mentally. “You deserve to heal. Walk away from me and all of this, find love and live, Tass.”

She meets my eyes, and something flickers in them that tells me that no matter how much she wants love and hope, she can’t deny the revenge she craves. “I don’t want them to hurt anyone else either.”

“I know.”

“So what’s next?” Tassa asks, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

“Well,” I lean closer so only she can hear me. I wouldn’t want to upset the civilians with reality now, would I? “We find them.”

Tassa nods. “I know someone who thinks she knows where they might be.”

I stare at her, wondering why she’s only just telling me this. “You what?”

“I know someone?—”

“I heard you, Jesus Christ, Tassa! Why are you only just telling me this?”

Tassa flushes and bites her lip, revealing exactly why she hadn’t told me about this. “She’s my secret, okay?”

I relax back into my chair and laugh, trying to ignore the butterflies of excitement fluttering around in my belly. “Okay, fine, keep your secret. But tell me how she might know this,”

Tassa leans forward, and I get a whiff of her vanilla perfume. “We met online.”

I nod as she tells me how she met this woman and how she revealed she is incredibly tech-savvy, like Tassa.

“Except she works for the government.”

I raise a brow as she nods, grinning at me.

“She has access to all kinds of shit.”

“Fuck,” I say with a smile. “This day looks like it’s getting better already.”

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