ReBoot (MAC Security 4)

Everyone is silent for several seconds, and when I look up, I find them all having a silent conversation with only their eyes. I start to shuffle on the spot, feeling uncomfortable.

Cal’s gaze turns back to me, his brows rising on his forehead as he rolls the sleeves of his shirt up and pulls a chair out from the giant glass dining table that has eight chairs sitting around it. He tilts his head to the chair. “Take a seat.”

I shuffle forward, perching on the edge of the chair he’s pulled out. “It’s nothing really,” I start saying as he pulls the sweater off my shoulder. “It happened all the time inside. I used to push it back in myself because they wouldn’t let me see the medical staff.”

“Inside?” he asks, touching my shoulder, his voice seemingly bored.

“Yeah.” I forget where I am and who I’m around, my mouth just opens and everything floods out. “I just got out of prison, I’ve been inside since I was fifteen. I’ll be twenty-one in a few months.”

“So, you’ve just gotten out on parole?” He moves his one hand to just above my elbow while his other one rests on my shoulder.

“Yeah, Livvy took me in. I’m in a special program.” My eyes track the grout in between the slate tiles on the floor. “I mean, I didn’t kill anyone.” I laugh but it’s not humorous. “I was just trying to get my gran her pills, they stopped them because she couldn’t afford them anymore. She needed them. I had no—Holy fucking shit!”

The sound of my shoulder popping back in the joint where it’s supposed to be has me both in pain and instant relief. I work my shoulder in a circu

lar motion, thankful that I’ll be able to work tomorrow. There’s no way I could have called in sick when I’ve only just started and trying to prove myself.

When I look up, I’m met with another staring contest between Livvy, Malcolm, and Cal. This one is different though, the atmosphere tense.

“What did you do, Liv?” Cal asks, his voice low.

“Well…” She looks off to the side nervously and then pushes her shoulders back. “You’re the one who mentioned the program.” She points at him accusingly.

“I did,” he admits. “But not for you to do! Jesus, you don’t know a thing about her!”

“Actually,” she whispers, her eyes meeting mine briefly before looking away. “I do. I know exactly what she was put in prison for. I also know that they tried her as an adult. It’s ridiculous! Had she had a lawyer like you, Cal, she probably wouldn’t have even done prison time!”

He watches her carefully, the whole room feeling like the air has been sucked out of it. I’m scared to move even the slightest inch. There’s several tense seconds before Cal turns back to me. “You need to wear a sling for a couple of days.”

I’m shaking my head before he’s even finished his sentence. “I can’t. I have to be able to use both of my arms for my job.”

“You’ll have to take a couple of days off.”

I push the hair behind my ear that has fallen in my face. “With all due respect, sir. I can’t do that. If I’m going to make a life for myself, I can’t be losing my job after only a few days.” I stand up and step toward him as he watches me with narrowed eyes. “Thank you for putting me in my place—I mean putting my shoulder back in its place.”

It’s my turn to be under his intense gaze. Jesus, why am I squirming so much? It’s like he can see right through me, almost like—no, don’t go there, Lexi.

“I think I like you.”

“Oh, damn,” Mal gasps, coughing to cover it up.

“What?” Cal snaps, turning to face him.

“Nothing! Nothing.” Mal smirks and holds his hands up in the air in a gesture of peace. “I said nothing at all.”

“Right,” Livvy announces. “Now that my girl is all fixed up, we’ll be getting out of your hair.”

She threads her arm through mine and walks back the way we came, down the hallway with the mushroom-painted walls full of framed photographs. “I trust I’ll see you for Sunday drinks?” She shouts over her shoulder, turning back to face them as she opens the door.

“You will.” They both answer in unison.

“Good, catch you laters, alligators.” She snorts at herself and I can’t help a chuckle slip through before I turn back to them.

“Thank you, again.”

“More than welcome,” Mal replies but Cal just nods.

Damn, he’s intense. How can someone as free spirited as Mal put up with all that broodiness?