Page 44 of Jezebel's Liberation

Cece’s face lights up. “Oh, that’s Phantom.”

“Phantom, huh?” Heather smiles.

Mel cocks her brow. “Something you want to share with the rest of us?”

I hold up my hands. “Nothing to share. Phantom works for me.”

“Whaddya mean?” Violet asks.

“She’s talking about her secret hacker club,” Cece informs them.

Violet’s eyes widen. “You have a secret hacker club?”

Mel laughs. “You know, Violet, if you came out for air every once in a while instead of staying pinned under Grim and your books, you’d know.”

Violet narrows her eyes. “For your information, I’m not pinned under Grim. He helps me study, and for every answer I get right, I get an orgasm.”

Apple spits her margarita into Mel’s face. “Oh shit, sorry, Mel.”

“What the fuck?” Mel screams.

Apple shrugs. “Can you blame me? Who would’ve dreamt those words would ever leave Violet’s mouth?”

Violet’s face turns a deep shade of red. “I-I-I can’t believe I said that. Forget I said it.”

“I don’t think so,” Skye teases. “However, I think we’ll let you off the hook for now and focus on Jez.”

Violet breathes a sigh of relief. “So, about this secret hacker club…”

I chuckle. “I have a team, Hellfire Hackers.”

“Seems appropriate,” Cece mutters.

Ignoring her, I continue. “There are six of us. Basically, we do what Iusedto do for the club. We tend to take people out digitally, though.”

I give them a brief rundown of who Hellfire Hackers are and what we can do, but I don’t provide too much information since I haven’t spoken to my team yet. There’s no surprise on anyone’s face once I finish spilling my secret. I take a generous sip of my margarita while I sit back and wait for them to process what I’ve told them.

Cece laughs. “You can chill, Jez. We already knew.”

My eyes widen in shock. “What do you mean youknew?I kept this all a secret from everyone.”

Mel tsks. “You were always running out of here and mysteriously disappearing for days without a word to anyone.”

“I could’ve just been fucking someone, Mel,” I mumble.

Apple snickers. “Speaking of fucking, have you taken them for a spin yet?”

I don’t need her to clarify who she’s talking about. It’s been on my mind since Phantom and Demon both declared they wanted me. Phantom is hellbent on not backing down, but there are too many factors at play. If this doesn’t work out, I risk losing one of my top hackers. Not to mention, Demon is a long-time friend and now a patched member of the club. I’d never be able to show my face around here again.

“You’re thinking awfully hard over there, Jez,” Heather teases.

“I’m not fucking either of them,” I state firmly.

“But you want to,” Ivory says matter-of-factly.

“No…That’s not… I can’t,” I protest.

“Why not?” Skye demands.

---