Page 2 of Loved By the Hacker

He was here.

Again.

With his dental hygienist. The same girl he’d allegedly started dating a minute after we broke up. Jack could be a lot of things, but I hadn’t thought he would be as heartless and nonchalant about how he restarted his life. I picked up my glass of wine and heard my brother sigh.

A sigh I was all too familiar with.

“Mind your own,” I mumbled, taking a healthy chug of red wine.

“You need to find a hobby,” he suggested in an annoying way only a little brother could. “Or download an app,” he muttered. I glanced up at him, surprised and amused.

Onyx was only two years younger, but to me, he would always be the kid brother who bugged me all the time and got away with all sorts of things just because he was a boy.

“An app?” I repeated, hoping he wasn’t about to suggest what I thought he was going to suggest.

“You know, swipe right or left.” I blinked.Yup. He’s gone there. A dating app.

I was a thirty-two-year-old divorce and estate attorney who had to go on dating apps after being with someone for over a decade. Someone I thought I would one day marry and have kids with.

Good god, life had a weird sense of humor.

I used to believe everything happened for a reason. Like, truly believed it. But I couldn’t figure out why this whole thing with Jack had to be this way. Had I really been so blind to him and his charms? Had I really let my light dim into the background?

“A dating app.” The idea made me want to gag. The idea of going out and trying to meet someone again? Why? For what? “I don’t think so.” I shook my head.

“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it.” My brother’s hands rose with innocence, and I rolled my eyes. “All I’m saying is, there’s a reason they say getting under someone is a great way to get over someone else. Just ask Oli.”

“Of course, you would say that. You’re a man child,” I teased with a smile. I knew Onyx was just trying to cheer me up in the best way he could. Though, he wasn’t wrong. One of our youngest sisters, Oli, short for Olive, had said that to me countless times over the last couple of months.

“He’s a dick,” my brother said. His dark eyes never wavered from mine. Jack’s betrayal hadn’t just affected me but everyone in my family. “And like I told you that first time he walked in here after you two split, I am more than happy to kick him out. The offer still stands.”

“I know,” I said softly, emotions getting the better of me. “Moonlit Pines is a small town. We’re bound to bump into one another.” I shrugged. “I’d rather have it be here with you and the girls around me than at the grocery store.” Which coincidently had already happened twice to me, but I wasn’t going to mention that to Onyx. He might be younger than me, but he was overprotective of all his sisters equally. I just didn’t know why Jack appeared everywhere I was. If he hadn’t moved on, I would have thought he was following me.

“I guess. I just wish you’d let me and the guys go over and talk to him,” Onyx complained.

“We both know if you and your boys”—I pointed towards his best friends and business partners—“approached him, you would do a lot more than just talk.”

“Maybe then, he’d get the idea and date over in Sugarloaf or fucking Running Hills,” he countered.

“Maybe, but it’s unnecessary. We’re adults. We grew apart,” I mumbled, almost starting to believe my own lie. The truth was a lot more complicated than that. I wasn’t sure when the relationship had turned sour. “Anyhow, I should get going, I have a case to look over waiting for me at home.”

“You okay to drive?” he asked, and I giggled.

“Oni, really?”

“Hey, you know how pissed Mom would be if you got a DUI after leaving this place? Dad would have my ass!”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, Oni-Bonnie.”

“Don’t call me that,” he hush-whispered, making my lips twitch.

“I’m walking home,” I shared.

“Walking—“

“I literally live a block away.”

Now.Now I lived in a two-bedroom apartment and was just starting to look at town homes. It was a lot different than the little place Jack and I made a home, or the place I’d thought we’d made a home. Now it was the place that had been the background for when I let myself be torn down to shreds. The place he bought me out of since it turned out he had just been waiting around for someone better to show up. Someone younger who fit the idea of whom he should be with.You just don’t need me like you should.His stupid voice sounded in my head. I shook it away and focused on my brother, who was looking at me like he was worried I’d break down and cry. “I’ll text you when I get home. I’ll pick up my car in the morning.”

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