83
Knightly
“He installed a new kind of software into a computer in the former king’s study on the third floor,” Perry says and brings up the mirrored images on my screen. “He’s using it right now,”
“What do we have on the coding?” I ask. I’ve never seen anything like this.
“It’s new,” she sighs and sits back with her arms crossed. “And it’s a lot more sophisticated than the old shit they were using. I have a few tech classes here at Nova. If it’s a new programmer, the kids have to be talking about it. I’ll get back to you on that,”
“Okay,” I agree. Great another thing we have to worry about. Because having one Perry in the world isn’t enough.
“You’re not still mad at her, right? She had every right to do what she did. We’ve taken lives for less,” she says quietly.
“I couldn’t tell she was lying,” I say. “The whole time. I believed her. It was perfect. She wasn’t even scared,”
“I know,” she sits up to get closer to the camera. “Is it wrong to be this proud? Holy shit.
I love her,”
I wasn’t, but hearing Perry enthusiastically say it makes me a little proud of her. Anyone else might have folded under all that pressure, especially getting caught. How she wasn’t brutally comprehended is beyond me. We’ve all been tased trying to get out of that shit hole during missions. She winged it. The whole thing. Her dynamic with my father is a little unnerving.
“I don’t want her out here doing this shit,” I shrug. “Even if she seems to have a knack for it. That’s how this all starts. It’s addicting. You know that better than the rest of us,”
“We’re not talking about running her, Knight. These are good skills for her to have. I bet she feels a little more in control of herself. We’ve been kicking her ass from the day you found her. This is her first win. Let her have it,”
“This is going to be my life now, huh? You two doing dumb shit together, and defending her while I post your bail,”
“You have it made, bro,” she laughs. “I’ll have Joe pay the bail sometimes.”
“Laters, freak,” I roll my eyes and cut the feed.
you
“Knight?” I turn around to find Phoebeestingdekede doorway of my studio. “Your father left. Your mom is here with the twins. I just wanted to tell you that,” she clears he throat and then nods when I don’t say anything. “Okay,” she spins around to leave. “I‘
go then,”
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“I didn’t ask you to leave,”
“You didn’t say anything,” she quips angrily. “I didn’t expect the silent treatment to be in your arsenal, and it’s literally my weakness. Now you’re mad, and Midnight is mad, and I don’t know what to do. I’m not good at expressing my feelings. I just tell people what to do,”
She covers her face as if that would somehow lower the volume of the frustrated
growl she lets out. I press my lips together impressed with the way the glass vibrates. I wait until she tries to catch her breath by fanning her face with her bare hand. I stand up, push her back to the floor vent by the door, and blast the AC. She doesn’t stop me from touching her.
“Angel, you can’t be bottling shit up like this anymore. Your wolf amplifies all that,”
“Well stop doing shit that makes me bottle things up, Knight. I’m trying my best here and I’m drowning,” she drops to her knees in front of the vent and rests her head on the wall so the air is hitting her in the face. “Stop enjoying this and say you forgive me,”
“Angel, what are you talking about? I have nothing to forgive you for,”
I finally break and start laughing. The look of pure rage, she glares back at me only fills me with joy. She’s right. I am enjoying this.
“I’m going to kick you,” she threatens. I crouch down in front of her, shaking my head.
“I’m not mad at you. I never was. I’m upset with myself,” I admit. “I like to think really hard about shit, and I get spacey,”
“For a week?” she sneers.
“Sometimes longer. I’m not ignoring you as a punishment. I’m just fucking weird. What you pulled off with Arnold was very impressive considering you’ve never done something like that before,”
“Breaking and entering? Have you ever looked up my criminal record? I have one of those,” she scoffs and shakes her bouse out to let the air inside.
“No, you don’t. It would have been the first thing Perry shoved in my face,” her sweet scent fills my work space perfectly and she doesn’t even know that this is a way females claim their territories.
“It was in the binders. It’s a big binder. I’m not sure why that sounded like bragging. It’s not. I had to get Xo to help me get a couple of things expenunged before going into certain parts of the UK. It was so embarrassing,”
“Like what?”
“Breaking and entering. Arson, assault, and this is in my juvie record, but theft,”
“Assult?” her left hook might have gotten her arrested for that.
“I hit my ex so hard I dislocated his jaw, and when he hit the floor, he cracked his head
on the curb. It may have been after I kicked his fat head into it,” she says sheepishly.
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Who knows? It was never proven,”
“Did he deserve it?” I try not to laugh.
“He slept with my stepmom’s little sister. I think so,” she nods.
“Me too,” I agree and sit beside her.
“I’m not prim and proper, Nate. Well, I am now, but I wasn’t always,” she sighs. “I also almost talked myself out of it until I saw she forged my stitch. I can be a hothead. I am a Scorpio. I hope that’s informative,”
“Oh, it is. I remember when Perry and Vy got into that shit,” I laugh. “I’m sorry I ignored you for so long. It’ll probably happen again, and it’ll be confusing because you won’t always be the reason why I have to step back and rethink shit,”
“I’m sorry I made you question your existence and it’s probably not going to be the last time. I make myself question my own several times a day,”
“Do you want to know what my father used you as a distraction for?” I ask her. She sits up and then shakes her head.
“I am already super stressed about everything else. The Dean told me that the only school that offers the curriculum the twins tested in was n somewhere called Redford City.”
“Redwood City, and he’s right. I was actually talking about that with Violetta. That’s where Perry became a freak brain,”
“Is that far away from here?”
“I think it’s time to show you the rogue outposts. Just so you know where you’d be welcomed best,”
“Right, wolves are hella racists,” she nods. “I’m starting to pick sides. Pack wolves are fucking rude,”
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