ReBoot (MAC Security 4)

Luke and Ty stare each other down, neither one of them willing to back down.

“This is bullshit, we don’t know who the fuck he is and you’re letting him on the motherfucking team!”

“Think of it this way,” Ty grinds out, stepping toward Luke. “You get to keep an eye on him.” He raises a brow, letting it sink in and smirking when Luke inclines his head in a small nod.

“We need to start planning,” Seb announces.

I look down at my watch and close my laptop. “It’ll have to wait, I have a class to teach.”

“Class?” West asks.

“Yep.” I smirk at him. “Self-defense.”

“Well damn, little Nevan grew up and grew some balls.”

“Yep,” I say, popping the p as I stand up and walk toward the door. “And they’re really fucking big balls too.” I wink and open the door, leaving a trail of chuckles in my wake.

I pull up outside of the community center, looking over at the precinct briefly. Normally when I’m early for teaching my class, I’d go and see Geena. But today, for some reason, I don’t want to. No, that’s a lie, I know exactly why I don’t want to.

Things haven’t been right with us for a while: at first, I was okay with her asking me not to wear my favorite t-shirts, her telling me not to drive her around in my car. But lately, I’ve started to resent her; I’ve started to see the way she’s always trying to manipulate me and the way she huffs if she doesn’t get her own way. It’s getting old.

I can’t help but compare her reaction to Lexi’s when she said she liked my shirt at the diner. I was gobsmacked when she said that, not sure whether to believe her or not.

A few months ago, I would have gone along with everything Geena said and not argued back, but now I’d rather avoid her than face her. I thought it was a woman thing, Geena not liking the shirts, but I’m starting to realize it’s not: it’s a control thing.

Voices catch my attention and I turn to face them. I tilt my head as I see Lexi talking to someone who is lying down on the bench outside of the center.

I frown as she shakes his shoulder and doesn’t get a reply. Pushing out of my car, I walk around the front, pressing the button on the fob to lock it.

> “Sir?” she asks, shaking his shoulder again, only this time she gains his attention and he shoots up into a sitting position. I recognize him right away, knowing that it’s the same homeless man who tries to take shelter in the precinct every day. The same man that Geena brags about kicking out and sneers that he smells like a pile of shit—her words, not mine.

“What? This is public property, I’m allowed to be here,” he sneers, his voice gruff, but it doesn’t faze her. I come to a stop several feet away, watching it play out.

“Oh, I know that, sir. I was just wondering if you’d like to come inside in the warmth? Maybe I could make you a cup of cocoa and you could use the restroom to freshen yourself up?”

He stares at her for several seconds, his gaze roaming over her before finally settling on her eyes again.

“Why?” he asks, but I can see the hope in his dull eyes.

She looks down at the ground and bites her lip, an action that renders me speechless. I’ve never seen anyone quite like Lexi. She’s awkward but kind at the same time. She looks like she’s uncomfortable in her own skin but also comfortable too. It makes no sense, but then I don’t think she makes any sense either.

I may have only known her for a few weeks, but I feel like I’ve known her all of my life. I need to pull myself together, I can’t keep thinking of her as anything other than what she is—was—a criminal. No, that’s not right, she’s nothing like I thought she’d be. Dealing with criminals in work, I guess I had a preconceived profile of how they act and behave. Lexi couldn't be further from fitting that profile.

“Well, I could do with the company,” she finally says, looking back up at him.

He hesitates for a second and then stands up slowly, his dirty clothes crackling as he moves. “I suppose, only to keep you company though.”

“Of course,” she replies, walking ahead of him and then turning her head back to make sure he’s following.

I step back into the darkness, my heart in my throat at the kindness this woman shows. I have to keep reminding myself that she’s not long come out of prison, that she’s adjusting to the new world around her. The more I’m around her, the more I realize that she’s just a young woman who has been dealt a bad hand. She needs someone to take a chance on her, to believe in her.

Why do I want that to be me?

I take a deep breath and push my shoulders back, forcing myself to go inside and to be the normal me and not the choked-up version that I’ve suddenly become.

I swing the main doors open and drop my bag in the room I use, switching on the lights and the aircon before I go to the kitchen where I hear their voices drifting from. I’m two steps from the door when Lexi flits out of it. I come to a complete standstill, my eyes on hers as she steps forward, putting her hand on my chest, begging me with her eyes as she backs me up a couple of steps.

My gaze flits down to her hand, my body on high alert and my skin breaking out in goose bumps. I open my mouth, ready to say something, but nothing comes out.