Page 67

BUGS

I squeezed my eyes shut, attempting to relieve some of the pressure.

It only made things worse, though. The left side of my head tender to the touch, the right doing its best to compensate for the change.

But it was the random twitching that really got to me.

The way the muscles in my face seemed to have a mind of their own.

Still, I was grateful. A little bit of pain was better than the silence.

Than being ignored. Most of the time. Sometimes blending into the background had its benefits.

Made it easier to grab a few extra pudding cups, swap out some batteries, or plant the occasional camera.

To watch the crap going on behind the curtains and read lips.

I didn’t need to hear what they were saying, not when I could see it up close.

Not when I could study it and their mannerisms.

The human body told ya a lot more than their words. Every fucking time. Except when it came to the real psychopaths. Then it turned into a bit of a guessing game .

Either way, technology was my lifeline. Gave me more than human interaction ever could.

Kept me in contact with my brother when they did everything in their power to separate us.

It was also the answer to bringing us back together.

He needed his brain fixed and I needed another implant.

Might not have had the cash but what I did have was the skills to get it from someone who had plenty of that shit to go around.

I glanced at my reflection on the black screen. I looked like a dog tilting his head, like someone was blowing a whistle and I was trying to find the source. The imbalance was driving me fucking nuts. Then again, I suppose I was in the right place for it.

I tapped a key before entering in my password. Never needed one until Casper started flooding the hard drive with viruses. Kid liked porn more than I liked my dick. Which was saying something.

My shoulder jerked upwards, tapping my temple at the sudden crackling sound, like Pop Rocks going off in the back of my throat, except this shit was all in my head. The slight ache radiating from the middle of my ear and down my jaw. I wasn’t used to the implant. Or all the noise that came with it.

It was a constant sensory overload. Everything making some sort of sound. The buzzing of the lightbulbs, the humming of the computer screen, the rattling of the glass in the window frame.

It was hard to focus on anything when I was focusing on everything.

I powered down the sound processor, shrugged the tension out of my neck, and returned my fingers to the keyboard.

It didn’t take more than a little bit of coding to bypass the hospital’s security system, hack into their cameras, and stream the live feed.

I didn’t know what exactly I was looking for, just that it needed to be incriminating.

Blackmail usually was. Which meant hours of watching this shit in real time.

Not that I was squeamish. It was just boring.

No better than watching a goldfish swim laps around the same bowl.

Until that goldfish slipped a fin into his pants and started jacking off.

I sat straighter in my chair and hit record. And not because I was a fucking perve. Guys weren’t my thing. But doctors behaving badly certainly were. Especially when this doctor in particular was worth more than the gold watch sliding up and down on his wrist.

It was weird. Walking freely through the empty halls.

Not having to worry about tiptoeing past the orderlies or pretending I was too slow to know what they were saying.

The sounds were weird too. The dripping of rusty pipes and the creaking of the foundation.

How the stale air seemed to whisper around you.

I didn’t believe in ghosts. But if I did, Briarwood would be chock-full of ?em.

I turned another corner, stepped over a pile of construction material, and pushed my way inside Dr. Lambert’s office. He looked up from his computer screen just as I was tossing the thumb drive onto his desk.

“You know I have eyes everywhere, right?”

He quirked a brow, waiting for me to clarify.

“You might wanna think twice before going to town on yourself. Could ruin that squeaky-clean reputation you’re trying to maintain around here.” I smirked.

He swiped out a hand and grabbed the drive, not bothering to deny what we both knew was true. “What’s this?”

I lifted a shoulder before turning around and making my way back towards the door. “Just a little insurance. In case the premiums go up.”