Page 13 of Jezebel’s Liberation (Hellfire Hackers #1)

“ S he can go.”

I jerk a nod at Abyss before turning away from him and striding into the room Jez has been in for the last two days.

Soul’s old lady played dirty after she agreed to finish that last bag of fluids before leaving and brought Harper in to visit Jez, and after that, Jez agreed to stay until Abyss officially cleared her.

Unfortunately, her one condition was that Soul does not enter her room or speak to her while she’s here. I honestly thought he wouldn’t abide by that request, but he must have realized how upset she is because he hasn’t shown his face.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Jez snaps when I step up to the bed.

“About?”

“I wanna go home, and I’m done waiting.”

Glancing at Demon, who’s taken to sitting in the chair in the corner with his gaze permanently fixed on Jez, and he shrugs. He doesn’t know that Abyss just cleared her to leave, and neither does she.

Maybe I can use this to my advantage.

“I think I can make that happen,” I say casually.

The shock on her face tells me she was expecting an argument. “Really?”

“Pretty sure if we made you stay any longer, you’d find a way out, so, yeah, really.”

She stands on shaky legs and grins. “I think I could kiss you right now.”

“And I think I’d knock his teeth down his throat,” Demon snarls, getting to his feet.

Jez’s eyes widen, and she gapes at him. “You’d?—”

“He’s just grumpy because he wants to kiss me, too,” I say lazily.

I’ve seen the looks he gives me when he thinks no one is watching. There’s a side to him that even he might not be aware of.

“Wait, what?” Jez questions, looking from Demon to me and back to him again. “Is he… What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Demon barks, unable to hide the heat infusing his cheeks. “Let’s just get the fuck outta here.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” she quips, tearing the IV out of her arm.

Blood trickles from the site, so I move to the side of the bed and grab some gauze. “Here, hold this on the puncture with some pressure.”

She does as she’s told, and I turn my attention to Demon. “Can you get us out of here without raising the alarm?” I ask him.

“Without raising the alarm?” He shrugs. “Does it matter as long as we’re out?”

“No,” Jez snaps. “It doesn’t fucking matter.”

Fifteen minutes later, Jez and I are waiting in the garage for Demon, who got sidetracked by Soul. When he steps off the elevator with a bag slung over his shoulder, she exhales deeply.

“I thought for sure you were a dead man,” she says as we make our way to the car.

“I probably woulda been if Abyss hadn’t already told him you were good to go,” Demon states, veering in a different direction and tossing his bag to me almost as an afterthought. “Go with Phantom. I’ll follow you on my bike.”

“That was sneaky,” Jez gripes as I pull out of the garage.

“What?”

“Pretending that you were going to break me out.”

“I thought so.”

She huffs and leans her forehead against the window. “I still don’t get why you’re here,” she mumbles, so quietly that I wonder if she actually wants me to respond.

I take a chance and say, “I’m here because you needed me.”

She bristles, and I know I said the wrong thing. “I had it handled.”

“Jez, stop,” I snap. “There’s nothing wrong with needing to lean on people sometimes. You were out of your depth, and you know it.”

“Just because I have a vagina, doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself,” she barks furiously.

“Jesus fucking Christ, woman,” I mutter. “I’m not your brother, so stop treating me like I am.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The thought that you couldn’t take care of yourself never once crossed my mind,” I explain, annoyance bleeding into my words as I slam a fist into the steering wheel.

“I came to Nevada because I couldn’t get a hold of you for five days.

Five fucking days, Jez! None of the others had heard from you, and I was worried out of my goddamn mind. ”

“Quit yelling,” she gripes. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“Then quit saying stupid shit.”

“I don’t remember you being this much of an asshole when I hired you,” she grumbles.

“And I don’t remember you being this much of an idiot, but here we are.”

A gasp fills the space, and I glance at her. Tears fill her eyes, and guilt immediately has me biting my tongue so hard I taste blood.

“I didn’t mean that,” I say quietly, reaching over to grab her hand. She tries to pull away, so I tighten my grip. “I’m sorry, Jez. It’s just…”

“It’s just what?” she asks when the silence grows.

I chuckle without humor. “You’ve got me so tied up in knots that I lose my head when I’m around you. Hell, I lose it just thinking about you.”

“But I’m your boss.”

“You don’t think I know that? That I haven’t tried to talk myself out of this crush for a while now?”

“Crush?”

Shaking my head, I say, “I flew all the way across the country because I couldn’t get in touch with you. I’d say crush was the wrong word.”

Before she can question me further, I turn the radio on. I had no intention of telling her how I feel, but her pushing made it impossible for me to stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

After what feels like forever, I pull into her driveway and park. Demon pulls in next to us and is opening her door before I can even turn off the ignition.

“Let’s get you inside,” he says, but she swats his hand away and moves past him.

He leans in and glares at me. “What did you do?”

“I was fucking born,” I snap, getting out of the car and storming up to the porch.

Jez struggles to get the door open, but I don’t dare try to help her. Demon, however, has no such problem. He yanks the keys from her hand and deftly unlocks the deadbolt and two other locks.

“Stupid fucking men and their stupid fucking penises,” she mutters as she storms inside, trying to slam the door in our faces.

“What’d you just say?” Demon seethes.

“Nothing. I’m going to bed.”

“It’s three in the afternoon,” he argues.

“I don’t give a damn,” she snaps. “And, Phantom, I want Demon out of here before I wake up.”

Without another word, Jez climbs the steps, but it’s not lost on me how her movements slow with each lift of her legs. She’s worn out and still sore. Sleep is exactly what she needs.

And I need her to be out of my sight, so I don’t strangle some sense into her.

Demon sighs behind me, and I turn to face him. “Is she always this difficult?”

He huffs out a laugh. “No. Pretty sure that’s reserved for just us.”

“And her brother.”

“Yeah, him, too.” He walks past me to the couch and sits. “You still leaving?”

Despite what she said, he has no intention of being gone when she wakes up. Even if Soul hadn’t ordered him to be her shadow, he’ll die before he walks away from her.

He and I had plenty of time to talk over the last two days, and I informed him of my decision to return home to grab some of my things so I could stay here longer.

I booked a flight, and a quick glance at my cell reminds me that I need to be on the road to the airport in the next ten minutes if I don’t want to miss it.

“Yeah, but I’ll be back.”

He and I also talked about how each of us feels about Jez, not that there was a need for that conversation. It’s clear as crystal that we’re both already half in love with her.

What we didn’t discuss was the heated looks between him and me. I’m totally fine with it, but it’s going to take him some time to come to grips with what he’s feeling in his pants.

“Be careful, man,” he says, surprising me.

“Aw, you care,” I tease.

“About her,” he snaps, though the longing in his eyes when he levels his gaze on mine tells a different story. “And despite her attitude, she’d kill me if something happened to a member of her team.”

“Right,” I mutter as I walk toward the door. “I’m gonna catch an Uber from the next block over. Keep her safe while I’m gone.”

“I plan on it,” he snaps.

“And Demon?”

He glances over his shoulder at me. “Yeah?”

“You better not make any moves on our girl until I get back.”