Page 126 of The Restoration Program

“Obviously, someone can.” Nicole’s harsh tone settled uncomfortably between them.

Darlene’s brows pulled together, and she tried valiantly to keep her spirits up. “Well, they sound like a fun pair,” said said. “Maybe a double date is in your future. A few more outings could make Ryan chill about having me visit more often.”

Nicole shut her eyes for a moment and gathered herself.

“Hey…” Darlene’s forced lightness dropped. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah. Double dates aren’t happening. I don’t think we’ll be seeinganyonefrom the group anytime soon.”

“What? Why?”

“I told you that things got tense at this week’s meeting, but…” Nicole sighed heavily, shame making her shoulders hunch forward. “Ryan… He and Carlos got into it.”

“Holy shit, Nicki. In front of everyone?”

“No—no one else saw. A hallway cam caught them.”

Darlene’s eyes were wide, voice hushed. “Did Ryan hurt him?”

“No, he didn’t but…” Nicole swallowed hard. “He could’ve. He didn’t, though.”

“But… Why? Did Carlos say something?”

“He…” The memory of their kisses haunted her nearly as much as Ryan’s temper. How perfectly their lips had matched. How much she had ached for more. “They had been grating on each other lately. Anyway, I don’t know if it was Carlos or Rebecca or some tech watching the cameras that reported the incident, but we got the boot.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Wish I was. Ryan got a call the other morning, permanently dismissing us from the group because of hisunfriendly conduct. I thought he might be exaggerating, but when I tried to log into the portal this morning…”

Nicole shifted onto her knees and used her entire hand on the trackpad to share her screen and open a new web page. She opened the bookmarked app, where her login credentials were pre-filled from her many visits to the site. She paced over to the side of the keyboard to jab theEnterbutton.

The colorful landing page that designated access to the NüPrint job database, articles sponsored by the Facility, and her recent chats with the others from the group did not appear. Only three awful words appeared on the login screen.

User account not found.

“Shit,” Darlene murmured. “You’d think they’d start him off with a suspension or something, instead of it being so indefinite. Either way, it’s not fair you have to suffer for whathedid!”

Nicole shrugged helplessly. “It’s a couple’s support group. They don’t want me there alone.”

“What about that girl, Holly?” Darlene said. “Wasn’t she without her boyfriend for a while? Hell, what if I went with you instead?”

“They’ve gotten stricter.”

Darlene folded her arms, unsatisfied. “What’s Ryan’s take on all this?”

“He apologized again this morning before he holed himself up to start work. He swears he’ll find a way to make it up to me.” Nicole rubbed her arms. The sensation of his hug lingered, but the feeling kept morphing back to the moment he’d scooped her up in front of Carlos.

“Tell me he’s doing everything he can to get you guys back in the group.”

“Not yet. We agreed that we’re going to give things about a week to cool down. Then we’re going to call the Facility together and see if we can smooth things over. Maybe even get in touch with Carlos and apologize directly.”

If he’s still around.

Nicole trailed off, wondering how serious Carlos had been about running away. Had he already gone through with it?

“Nicole, I hate to ask, but…” Darlene’s voice snapped her attention back to the screen. “Are you sure you want to betherewith him?”

“What?”