Rendezvous (Renegades 5)

“Oh, Aunt Br—”

“I know you hate it, but I hate the way you sound more. And if you don’t sleep with your mom, I’m going to worry. If I worry, I’m not going to get any sleep. And I have to work tomorrow, buddy.”

Keaton found a few video game–related projects and started scanning through them. He needed one the kid could do on his own, one that didn’t cost much, one that didn’t take much time…

Brooke got a long-suffering sigh from Justin, then a disgusted “Fine.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise. But I might not be sleeping anyway. I need a project.”

Keaton spun the iPad toward her and pointed at the screen.

“Hold on. Might have found…” She scanned it, her brow furrowed, and she gave him a confused, are-you-crazy look. “What…?”

He smirked and lifted a shoulder.

“What?” Justin echoed, drawing her attention again. “Is someone with you?”

Which earned Keaton the most adorable look-what-you’ve-done look from Brooke before she told Justin, “I’m just chatting with a friend online. I’m going to put you on hold a second while I talk with them about this to see if it will work for you.”

“Okay.”

Brooke tapped a button and set the phone aside so she was out of the camera’s view and groaned, covering her face with both hands. “I don’t know how parents do it. He’s so damn smart, it takes everything both Tammy and I have just to keep up with him.” She scraped her fingers through her hair and scanned screen Keaton had pointing to. “I don’t know anything about computer games. What’s this?”

“It’s an intermediate-level project studying animation and how its structure and implementation affects the viewer’s perception of action in the game.”

Brooke’s eyes glazed over, and she gave him a pained look. “You lost me at intermediate.”

Keaton grinned and shook his head. “He’s a boy, he’s into video games, and he’s a brain. Trust me, he’ll like this.”

“Fine, whatever.” She waved her hand over the screen as if to clear the whole idea from her mind. “You obviously speak his language. Why don’t you just explain it—”

“Because you need to be the one to help him. He called you for help, and you need to be there for him and answer that call. It doesn’t matter what source you get the answers from, what matters is that you bring the answer back to him.”

Her eyes closed, and her breath leaked out. “I’m so tired.”

“I know. This is going to be easy. I promise.”

He gave her a quick rundown of the information available on the site and how Justin could use it to get his paragraph due tomorrow finished in ten minutes. Then Justin could dig deeper into the information to start building the project. And he told Brooke to give Justin his cell number and email to contact for support.

“And if he wants to whip the pants off that school, all I have to do is whisper the words ‘secret project’ to Rubi, and all hell will break loose.”

Mention of their friend and computer guru Rubi Russo, girlfriend to Renegade Wes Lawson, made Brooke break out in laughter. “Oh my God. Rubi would probably make the animations come to life.”

Smiling, Keaton cupped Brooke’s face and stroked her cheek. “That’s better.” He kissed her forehead. “Now tell Justin what to do, and then tell him to get his sick ass to bed. Because you need to get your tired ass to bed.”

Keaton stayed there while she explained the project to Justin, his hand covering one foot, his thumb massaging her instep. He had to hold back his laughter at Justin’s excitement over the project idea, the amount of information on the website, and the fact that Brooke had a stuntman on call to help Justin out.

“Oh my God, Aunt Brooke, this is going to be the best project ever.”

Both she and Keaton were smiling, but the sound of Justin’s voice when it strained with excitement made them wince.

“Okay, okay. Ten minutes to write a few sentences, then bed. With Mom.”

“Okay.” He didn’t sound as upset about it anymore. “Thanks, Aunt Brooke. You’re the best. I love you.”

Brooke’s eyes sparkled with joy. “I love you too. Tell your mom to call me tomorrow, okay?”