Page 27

EON

A fter another day, I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to go back to work at Dev’s—just to get out of that damn basement, at least for a few hours.

My identity wasn’t tied to the shop in any way, digital or otherwise, so unless Cy decided to walk through the front door looking for some chip tuning, I was safe.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite anti-corps terrorist.”

“Shut up, Dev! Ugh, I should have never told you anything.”

“I’m your boss—don’t I have the right to know everything you do at all times?” He grinned as I flopped down on the couch in the back room of the shop.

I groaned, throwing an arm over my face. “My boss. My enabler. And my therapist, apparently.”

“Therapist? Please. I charge way more for that.” He spun around in his chair, his tools scattered across the workbench in front of him. “Besides, you’d be a nightmare client. Too much baggage.”

“Says the guy who still has a holo of his ex on the wall,” I shot back, peeking out from under my arm.

Dev’s grin didn’t waver. “That’s not baggage. That’s a warning label.”

I rolled my eyes and sat up, grabbing a half-empty bottle of energy soda from the table. It was warm, but I took a swig anyway. “You never told me how you ended up in this hellhole?”

He laughed. “Oldest story in the book. I followed a guy here. He wasn’t any good for me, but this city was, so I stayed.”

I sat up at that. “ This city was good for you?”

“Maybe not good for me, but better than home. At least here I could be who I really was—didn’t have to hide anymore. I can date and go to clubs, and the only person who judges me for it is you.” He winked.

“You know I have no leg to start on for judging who you sleep with.”

“And yet you still do,” he said, leaning off the back of his chair, grin still wide.

“That last guy was a bum! You deserve someone who’s your equal.”

I didn’t like the look he gave me at that—like maybe I should take my own advice. I stood up and walked over to him. “What are you tinkering with, anyway?”

“Scrap Flux chips. Got them for free and wanted to see if I could refurbish them. Stop trying to get chisme out of me and earn your paycheck for once.”

Now I draped myself over the back of his chair, looking over his shoulder. He adjusted a magnifying glass so we could see the chip better. As he futzed with it, I asked softly:

“Do you ever miss home?” It wasn’t just a question for him.

He sighed. “All the time.”

“You never think about going back?”

“Nowhere to go back to. Parents said to never show my face again unless I showed up with a wife, like a good son.” He shook his head. “That’s never going to happen.”

I put a hand on each of his shoulders. “Guess you’re stuck with me then.”

He chuckled, but there was a warmth to it that made me feel a little less alone. “Not such a bad deal.” For a moment, the weight of everything I’d immersed myself in felt a little lighter.

Dev kept working on the chip in front of him, but he wasn’t going to be able to fix it.

The problem was circuit-level—something only I could see.

I put my hand on top of his, stopping his work.

I stretched a single finger out over the chip, and the low thrum of my Flux pulsed.

I found the error—a burnt-out transistor—and sent power there, just enough to rewrite the silicon and fix the chip.

More precise work than what I’d done on Cy’s Vysor, but I was calmer now, not out of my mind on Vector.

I reminded myself this was why I was clean.

This is what I could do when I wasn’t lost in the current.

No matter how good it felt…

A single spark shot from my finger, and Dev checked the diagnostic screen he had it hooked up to.

“Damn, you are good, aren’t you?”

“Thought that’s why you hired me? It’s only because of your mods to my chip.”

At that, Dev gave a grin, happy to take all the credit.

Modding was even more prestigious than cyber engineering.

The best of the best worked at places like POM, MedTek—all of big pharma—developing new hormone modifier chips, not just for the Flux-mutated but now for all sorts of illnesses and bodily enhancements.

They made the corps a lot of money, and they were paid well for it.

Dev was good. He’d gone to the top university in India, and his skills spoke for themselves. But here he was, putting last season’s chips into kids in the slums for next to nothing.

“Be careful, or I’ll have you fixing scraps all day.”

“Do I get a raise?”

“Definitely not.”

We both laughed, and he kept running diagnostics on the chip. I watched for a moment, looking at this man who had so much talent, who had saved more lives than I could count—and never asked for a reward.

“Why are you here, Dev?”

Dev didn’t look up. “Nowhere I’d rather be.”

“I’m serious. You could be at MedTek, making top creds, doing cutting-edge research. But you’re here, eating instant noodles with someone like me.”

“No one else will learn all the old Bollywood movie dances with me,” he said with a grin. I didn’t return it.

Dev exhaled a slow breath, setting his tools down and peeling off his gloves.

He tapped a finger to his lips, thinking.

“Because if I don’t, no one else will.” His dark eyes flashed, something sharp beneath the usual sarcasm.

“You ever notice how the people who need the most help are the ones no one gives a shit about? People like you. Like me.”

I frowned. “So you’re doing charity work?”

Dev let out a short, humorless laugh. “Charity’s for people who want to feel good about themselves.

I do it because it pisses off the people who think we should just suffer.

The corpos. The rich assholes. The parents who throw their kids out because they don’t fit into their perfect little mold.

” His lips curled into something between a smirk and a snarl.

“Every time I put someone back together, it’s like spitting in their faces. And that? That makes it worth it.”

Now I did smile back. “So you’re a petty bitch?”

He mirrored my grin. “Why do you think we get along so well?”

I tugged on his earlobe, and he flinched. “Watch the tech, E!” He waved me away, and I sat back down on the couch, enjoying a few moments of comfortable silence. He finished his testing and stood up, stretching his lean arms overhead, fingers laced together.

“You going to sleep here tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah, if that’s okay. I don’t have—”

He waved his hand, cutting me off. “What’s the point of me being a bleeding heart if you don’t take advantage?” He grinned, but my heart sank.

“Dev, you don’t have to do this. I can take care of myself. I’ll figure something out.” My pinky twitched, and I knew Dev saw.

“Do you need me to order you more detox?” His voice was gentle, and I hated it.

“No, I’ve been clean.” It didn’t count.

The kindness on his face made me want to run as far away as possible. “Eon, you know it’s not a burden.”

My face twisted. I wasn’t used to having things in my life that weren’t transactional. Dev knew this, so he gave me an out.

“How about you keep the clinic open late? See if anyone stops in to make an appointment. Then we’re even for the sleepover.”

“You’re leaving?”

“I’m gonna go see a man about some fitted sheets. Will you be okay by yourself for a few hours?”

“Of course I will.” Now I finally returned his smile. “Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“That is a very short list, E.”

I threw a pillow at him as he walked out the door.