Page 6 of Hide and Seek

“So, is he a good guy?” Felix asks. “Breaking up fake charities and giving the money to real charities sounds like something a hacktivist would do.”

“It is,” Jace agrees. “But even good guys can be dangerous if they decide you’re a bad guy. There’s evidence of other hacks in there too, and they all seem like white-hat jobs, but we need more information before I can know if he’s someone we need to deal with.”

“Do you think you’ll have an issue keeping an eye on him?” Killian asks me.

I shake my head. “Doubtful. He goes to class and hangs out in his room. That’s it. No IRL friends that I could find. He’s not part of any clubs or groups, and he doesn’t have a roommate. He’s as boring as they get, which makes him an easy mark.”

“He sounds a lot like me,” Felix muses. “Or how I used to be before you guys realized how awesome I am.” He shoots each of us a cheesy grin.

“Yeah, it only took what, nine years for you to realize that all that antagonizing you did over the years was you begging for me to put you in your place and fuck your brains out,” Killian says with a smirk.

Felix’s cheeks go ruddy, and he squirms a bit against Killian.

Jace tosses me a knowing grin.

We called this years ago but never bothered to tell Killian. We knew he’d be too stubborn to listen and decided it was best to just let them figure it out on their own.

They might have known each other since they were kids and been stepbrothers for the last five years, but they spent most of that time being dicks to each other and fighting about stupid shit because it was easier than realizing they were into each other and all that animosity was really just chemistry.

It only took multiple attempts on Felix’s life and us spending the last few months trying to unravel the murder plot so we could take down his would-be killers for them to finally see what was always there.

“Do you think he’s someone we have to worry about?” Killian asks me, bringing the conversation back to our hacker problem. “What’s your gut telling you?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I don’t think he’s a malicious person, and it feels like a lot of this is just him being a dumb kid who’s too smart for his own good.” I toss my brother a knowing look.

Jace grins. “Sounds familiar.”

“But at the same time,” I continue, “he’s a wildcard. I won’t know for sure until I can observe him and see what he’s hiding.”

“So I guess the plan is the same as it was before. Jace will keep digging, and you tail him and see what you can find,” Killian says. “Once we know more, we can figure out what we’re going to do.”

“Yup,” Jace says while I nod.

“We should probably get to bed,” Felix says casually. “It’s late, and I have an early class in the morning.”

“Yeah, we probably should,” Killian says, his tone far less casual than Felix’s.

I snicker. “Early class in the morning, huh?”

“They totally wanna go back to their room so they can bone,” Jace says to me.

“Oh yeah,” I agree. “And they really think they’re fooling us by pretending they have class in the morning.”

“Right?” Jace says. “It’s like they forget that we know their schedules, and last time I checked, ten a.m. isn’t exactly early morning.”

“I guess it is if they spend all night fucking,” I muse. “But that sounds more like a time management issue and not amy class is too earlyissue.”

“Sounds like they need a planner or something so they can schedule in all the sex they have without their other responsibilities falling by the wayside.” Jace grins at me. “A bone book, if you will.”

“No,” Felix admonishes us. “No bone books, and I’ll kick both of you in the shins if either of you even thinks of writing that on a planner and giving it to me.”

“We’re just trying to be helpful.” Jace’s expression is one of pure innocence.

“Fine.” I heave a dramatic sigh. “No bone book,” I say as Killian and Felix get up off our couch. “But don’t blame us when you realize that you’ve neglected all your real-life responsibilities because you can’t keep track of time when you’re making the beast with two backs.”

“What?” Felix asks with a laugh.

“Doing the horizontal tango, if you will,” Jace says.