Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

in a swift graceful movement, and left Ari gasping for air. Now that she found Tessa, she pushed up to her knees and took a few moments to catch her breath. Tessa continued her tirade at the security guards, complete with colorful words and creative metaphors. Ari had missed her.

Once they left, Tessa offered Ari a hand to stand.

“Thanks.” Ari rubbed her sore shoulder. “You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find you.”

“Not as hard as it is to find you,” Tessa countered. Her hair had gotten shorter since Ari last saw it. Bubblegum pink colored the top of her head while the rest was shaved and bleached a white blonde.

“You look like an ice cream cone.” Ari motioned to her hair.

“All the better for people to underestimate me. It’s been a challenge working for good old dad.” If her hair looked like dessert, the rest appeared to be the poison parents would warn their kids about. Heavy earrings lined her lobes, along with a spike through her brow. She had a new tattoo on her shoulder and looked dressed for a rave, not work. Guess there were perks for working for family.

“It’s good to see you.” Emotion bubbled up in Ari and she pulled her friend into a hug.

Tessa squeezed her tight, before pulling back. “Don’t get all mushy on me now. Let’s get coffee and catch up.” She motioned for Ari to follow.

“I have a friend outside who will be worried about me. Can we go out of the building?”

“No.” Tessa kept walking. “Roids and Godzilla were right. It’s not safe for either of us. Call your friend and have him come here. Not that here is really safe. We’ve been having random searches by the government for months now.” She lifted her fingers in air quotes when she said random safety searches. “There have been some close calls for me. You’re lucky to catch me here when you did. My schedule is very random.”

As Ari placed a gentle hand against her sore ribs, Ari didn’t feel lucky, but admitted to herself that the situation could have been much worse. They didn’t get on the elevators that Ari came down on but continued to a private lift in the back. Once out of the basement, a short buzz of static sounded in Ari’s ear.

She pressed the piece in her ear. “Patrick, you there?”

A loud exhale filled her ear. “Thank God. Where are you?”

“Tessa found me with security. She says it’s not safe to go out. Want to come up?”

He didn’t reply for a moment. Ari realized in that empty space how it could look to him. She may have been forced to say that to trap them.

“Patrick. I promise it’s safe. Or as Sketchy would say, smooth as ice.” She used a familiar phrase to let him know she wasn’t under duress.

“Where are you guys?”

She turned to Tessa. “Where should he go?”

“Tell him to go to reception and tell them that techno sucks. They’ll direct him to the right place.”

Ari conveyed the directions, which didn’t faze him.

“Really?” she turned to Tessa. “Techno sucks is your big password?”

“Well, it does. Fake music isn’t music. No matter how mathematically precise it is. The perfection is in the mistakes. Everyone knows that.”

Despite her aches and pains, Ari couldn’t contain her happiness. “I’ve missed you. You know that?”

“Yeah. I’ve missed you too. Even if all you seem to be is giant drama. Life gets boring without you.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” Ari laughed, frequently turning to look at Tessa to make sure this was real.

They rode up to a top floor and headed to her office. With large screens and oversized chairs, it was well set up to game. Perfect for Tessa.

Ari brushed a hand over a large sofa. “What have you been up to? I heard you’ve been out of your games for a while.”

She gave a scoff. “I still check on it now and then, but never publicly. A bunch of posers, governments, and other weirdos took it over. Too bad. That world rocked. I’m working on a new one with a retro twist.” She took a seat in a black chair and kicked her boots up on the desk. “The real question is what have you been up to. I take it that your island vacation wasn’t as much of a paradise as we hoped.”

“Not quite.” Ari filled her in on what happened in the past year that they had been apart. When she got to her current residence, she kept it vague.

“This Patrick, the guy you’re staying with now, he’s safe?” Tessa didn’t sound concerned, but she watched Ari. “How did he make his money? Mansions don’t grow out of the ground. Not in the real, even for warpers.”

“Not sure exactly.” Ari bit the inside of her cheek, deciding how much to say. She knew the team had side jobs, like hacking and insider trading, but Patrick kept her out of that. Trust was hard for her, but her options were limited. “But he’s a good guy. We do important work.”

“Important work, huh?” The disbelief heavy was heavy in Tessa’s voice.

“Yeah. There’s a few of us. It’s good.” Ari lifted her chin, hating that she had to justify her actions.

“Hey, don’t worry about me. I don’t care if you’re making cartoon VRs for babies. I just want to make sure you’re safe and this guy is treating you right. You always have other options, okay?” Tessa leaned forward with her elbows on her knees with an earnestness in her demeanor Ari rarely saw.

Ari glanced down at her tight hands and slowly released them. She looked back up to Tessa. “Thanks. That means a lot to me. Right now, I’m in a good place. Learning a ton about my abilities. I feel stronger than I ever have, and I still have a ways to go.”

Tessa watched her for a minute. “Okay then. Let’s see this mystery man.”

“Open,” Tessa said, and the door swooshed open to reveal Patrick