Page 41 of Heart Stopping
"Is that so?" Boner took a hand out of his pocket and rubbed his chin. "Maybe he can look at mine when he's done with yours. A bloke can never be too careful."
"I'd be happy to," Cass said. He looked back at me. "So far, I can't find any sign you were hacked. I'm working on getting into Granger Fairfield's systems. Whoever set it up is good."
"This is where you say you're better, yeah?" Boner asked.
Cass looked over at him and smiled. "I don't want to brag."
"Why not? I do it all the time. Go on, tell us how good you are." Boner pointed a finger gun at him.
A blush crept up Cass' cheeks. "I'm very good. I haven't met a system I couldn't hack."
"There you go." Boner gave him a quick, light clap. "Felt good, didn't it?"
"I… Yeah, it did," Cass admitted. Looking like he'd reached his limit of the amount of time he could talk about himself, he picked up the milkshake and gave the straw a good suck.
"I like this guy," Boner said.
"Me too," I said.
"As much as you like me?" Boner cocked his head and he might have even fluttered his eyelashes.
Cass was watching us both, his eyes wide, straw pressed against his lower lip.
"Maybe more," I said, deliberately baiting Boner. He deserved it for putting me on the spot like that.
He straightened his head and frowned, then broke into a smile.
"You had me going for a while there, love. Lucky for all concerned, I don't mind sharing." He gave Cass a wink.
"I…" Cass started to say. He jerked his gaze back to the screen. "I'm in. Now I just need to figure out what I'm looking for."
I gave Boner a warning look before saying, "Anything that looks suspicious." I jerked a thumb toward Boner. "Apart from this guy. I know about him already."
Boner pretended to be outraged. "Did you just refer to me as suspicious?"
"How do I put this nicely…" I teased.
He huffed and tossed his head. "I'm starting to think you know me too well."
"Maybe you're just obvious?" I offered.
"Cass, do I look suspicious?" Boner asked.
Cass gave him a sideways look, but didn't respond.
"That's not a no," I said.
"It's not a yes either," Boner pointed out. He looked like he was about ready to strut like a rooster. The man wasn't short on ego, that was for sure.
I couldn't help liking that about him. He knew who he was and wasn't shy about expressing it. At the same time, he managed to be just this side of arrogant. Lucky for both of us, because I didn't do arrogant. Arrogant men were usually on the receiving end of a nice, sharp blade. Or a box filled with water. Or whatever other method I used to dispose of them. Sometimes I liked simplicity and sometimes I liked to challenge myself. It depended on the monster and my mood. Some of them didn't deserve to die too slowly.
"Um, Harlow?" Cass' voice was small, his eyes fixed on the screen.
My stomach dropped.
I didn't want to look, but my gaze went straight to the images he'd found.
"Fuck." I'd nevernotfelt sick seeing things like this. This was the very worst of humanity. The deepest evil I could ever conceive of. And these weren't even the worst I'd seen.
