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

She wrote: I need some time to focus on my grades. Thank you for all your help and hopefully we can talk soon. Her thumb lingered over the send button. The “we can talk soon” didn’t even feel right. She hit the save button instead and thought another hour wouldn’t hurt.

Another message flashed. This one from her bank. The bank received her complaint about the missing cryptos and claimed she had legally withdrawn the money. Frustration boiled under her skin. Her academic assignment covered all of her food and board, but she would need some funds for Christmas. She should have several hundred cryptos in there from her part-time jobs.

Tessa came in, arms full of bags and coffee. That girl should get a straight IV of that stuff.

“Hey, roomy.” Tessa dropped her bags on her bed. “How’s the homework coming?”

“It’s coming,” Ari admitted. She closed her messages; she would deal with them later. “I think I need a break, actually. These damn walls seem to be closing in on me.”

“You could head up to the virtual lab upstairs and send your mind to get some fresh air.” Tessa gave a sarcastic smile, knowing Ari’s love for virtuals.

“I think I’ll go for some vitamin D from the real source.” It was a Saturday, and she had been working all morning. A walk by the lake sounded great.

“Whatever. I don’t have to worry about skin cancer though.”

“If that was my only concern,” Ari mumbled as she headed out the door.

She walked the path near the lake behind the dorms. A cool breeze brushed off the lake, and she tightened her jacket. Up ahead, a bit off the path, two guys argued.

As she neared, she realized it was her brother and Garrett. Her stomach tightened, and she hurried towards them. Marco’s face tightened in anger.

“You can’t cut me out of something that was my idea to begin with.” Marco shoved Garrett back.

“I can and I am.” Garrett had a coldness in his expression that was foreign to Ari. His hair, still dark, matched his icy exterior.

Ari placed a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Marco.”

He shook her off. “Here’s my sister you screwed over too.”

Garrett narrowed his gaze. “Leave Ari out of this. She has nothing to do with this.”

“You’re the one that brought her into this,” Marco said.

Ari’s mind spun trying to figure what this was about. Was Garrett working with Marco too? “Marco, stop.” Ari approached him and laid a hand on his arm. He was thinner. When did he lose weight? When he roughly waved her off, Ari turned to Garrett for some answers.

“Garrett?” she asked.

He finally turned his gaze to her, softening it a bit, but his cheeks remained flushed.

“Your brother is a loser, Ari. He is hooked up all—” Garrett didn’t get to finish the sentence because Marco tackled him to the ground.

Straddling Garrett, Marco punched him, repeatedly. Ari yelled at Marco and tried to pull him off. Amid the chaos, a fist flew in her direction, slamming into the side of her head. Darkness encompassed her.

Sitting on the grass with an ice pack nursing her jaw, Ari shot a passerby a dirty look. By the time she woke, Garrett had already taken off. Marco at least went to get her ice.

“Don’t you have a life to live or something? Oh wait, you probably don’t.” Marco hollered at an embarrassing level to one of the spectators.

The small group didn’t bother to look embarrassed.

“That’s all I need, more people talking about me.” Ari winced as she talked, her jaw aching.

“Don’t worry about those losers.” Marco brushed at his pants.

“Like I’m one to talk,” Ari said. Most of them, except Tessa, avoided her, online and in person. “Yesterday, Dr. Coleman’s version of a compliment was to tell the class that I was pretty good for someone who has logged fewer hours than his dog.”

“Don’t worry about it. His dog is pretty damn good from what I hear.”

Ari chuckled, and pain shot up the side of her face. “Who hit me? It hurts like hell.”

“Sorry, that was me. I didn’t see you,” Marco said. But he didn’t look sorry enough for Ari.

“Figures.” The running joke in their old school was “How do you know what block kids come from? How hard they could hit.” Rich kids who only fought in the VR, fought like crap in the real world.

“Marco?” Ari asked, waiting for him to look her in the eye, “Are you going to tell me what’s going on? I haven’t been able to really talk to you since school started.”

He didn’t reply, and she turned her gaze to the lake, waiting for an answer. The wind brushed the top of the water, sending slight ripples across the pristine surface.

“Reed, Garrett, and I started the underground VRs at school last year,” Marco gazed out over the lake. “Garrett has access to the lab from his job, Reed watches out for us while we’re in the virtuals, and I hack the system to cover our tracks.” Marco played with a piece of grass, avoiding her gaze. “I’ve been busy lately, and we’ve had a couple of close calls.”

“So, the fight wasn’t about me?” Ari couldn’t help but feel a little relieved.

“Garrett’s pissed about business, but it’s partly about you. Garrett deserved having me beat him down either way. Everyone heard you jumped ship on him at the last party—which I was glad to hear.” Marco leaned into Ari, bumping her shoulder playfully. “But this argument has been going on for some time, so don’t stress about it, sis.”

“Easy for you to say. What if the school finds out about this? I thought virtual-in-virtual programs were banned here since they’re so dangerous.”

“We don’t do much V-in-V, but we still make good money. The advanced students sell the programs at half the cost.” Marco looked proud of his business venture.

“Oh.” Ari didn’t know what to say. She’d spent most of her life quietly chastising her brother, like her mother had, but he