Glitch

by Olivia Linden

  Now he began to see it as something else. Eagle treated them like trash, because that’s what they were to him. People he could manipulate, use and discard. Glitch wondered how many others like him there were, and he wondered why he hadn’t thought of that before. The clock was ticking, and he hated not knowing how much time they had left.

  “Talk to me,” Scratch said, knowing that Glitch’s mind was working a mile a minute. Glitch blinked out of the blank stare he had directed out the passenger window, and glanced at Scratch. His friend was still wearing a nasty scowl, but he drove the car in a casual posture, leaning his shoulder on the driver side door while he steered the car with his right hand, a cigar hung loosely from his lips. Another thing Glitch had grown accustomed to over the years.

  “I just had a thought,” he started, trying to formulate words for the idea that was forming in his mind.

  Scratch glanced at him sideways before cutting his eyes back to the road. “Shocker.”

  “Shut up and listen,” Glitch said in an amused tone as he made a half-hearted attempt to knock the cigar out of Scratch’s mouth, soliciting a sharp curse and a smack on the shoulder before he continued.

  “Now that it’s pretty clear that we might as well be disposable diapers as far as Eagle is concerned, I want to find out how many other ex-cons are, or have been on the payroll.”

  “I’ve always known he thinks we’re worth shit. Why do you think I hate his fuckin' guts,” Scratch pointed out.

  “I never gave a shit before to be honest,” Glitch admitted.

  “Yeah, but you're different G. You don’t really pay us humans any mind as it is, unless someone is trying to kill you. Then you pay attention,” Scratch joked.

  “Whatever.” Glitch couldn’t argue a point that was true.

  “Let me make a correction, unless they are trying to kill you, or come rolled up in a spicy little package that threatens to rip your balls off.” Scratch made an exaggerated show of adjusting his own package and Glitch couldn’t help but laugh.

  “You’re a first-class idiot,” he stated but continued to laugh. That was Scratch for you. A crazy mix of a brainiac and a Brooklyn thug wrapped up in a tailored suit.

  “First class all the way, baby,” Scratch proclaimed proudly.

  They pulled into their building’s parking garage before he could continue to expound on the new plan that was already coming together in his head. He thought that was for the best anyway since he would just have to repeat it for Jack and again for Araceli. That thought had him glancing towards his other partner’s car, only to find it empty.

  “Shit,” Glitch cursed as he jumped out of the car and made a dash for his apartment.

  “What the...” He heard Scratch’s confused words behind him, but he couldn’t worry about that. If Jack wasn’t in his car, that meant he was inside with Araceli, and that wasn’t a good thing.

  Glitch didn’t even stop to clear his door for safety before he burst inside. Once inside, he nearly collapsed as he felt the release of pressure as relief flooded his body. It took a moment for his mind to adjust to what his eyes were seeing, and trust that what he was seeing was true.

  Araceli and Jack, sitting around the table eating what looked like Fettuccine. They both glanced up at his abrupt entrance. Araceli grinned, and Jack just smirked.

  “What’s this?” It sounded like a stupid question, but considering that less than two hours prior, Jack was hell bent on killing her, he felt it was warranted.

  “I figured if he was going to babysit me all night that I could at least feed him,” Araceli replied dryly.

  Jack just shrugged. “I was hungry.”

  “There’s a story here somewhere. I’m almost positive,” Scratch mused as he began to pile a plate with pasta. Araceli snuck a glance towards Jack but remained quiet. Glitch decided he wouldn’t push the subject. He would just ask Araceli about it later. Shrugging his shoulders, he headed into the kitchen to get a plate for himself.

  “What’s the update?”

  Jack was always impatient when it came down to their work. Glitch joined the crew at the table.

  “Just what we thought. Eagle has been using spyware to monitor all of my jobs. Well, maybe not all, but this one for sure. Of course, my programs are too advanced for whatever basic technology he is using, so we are still in the clear as far as our project goes.”

  “Confident much,” Araceli teased.

  “I trust this man with my life. If he says we’re clear, we’re clear,” Jack weighed in.

  “Damn girl. This pasta almost tastes as good as my mother’s,” Scratch said around a forkful.

  “Thanks?” Araceli sat back in her seat, seemingly satisfied that she had now gotten the approval of both his partners. Maybe.

  “Focus.” Glitch glared at Scratch while he steered the conversation back on track.

  “Eagle is using us, and up until now we haven’t paid attention to the endgame. Now it’s time to find out what part we really play in Hawk Global’s expansion. We need to find out if they have more of ‘us’ on the payroll. That’s where I need you.” He nodded towards Araceli, who still looked confident despite all eyes being on her.

  “You need me to collect all the bread crumbs,” Araceli confirmed.

  “Exactly. You're the best at making sense of random pieces. We need to find a connection between each mark. I need you to find out exactly who owns Hawk Global, and then who owns them and so on,” Glitch explained.

  “All the info I’ve collected so far is saved in a remote cloud server that I built just to track you,” she said with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

  “That’s my cue.” Jack pushed back from the table, tugging at Scratch’s collar when he still hadn’t moved away from his plate.

  “Oh yeah. You guys are starting to talk in Glitch speak anyways. I’ll get you a spreadsheet with each job and the accounts the money went into, tomorrow. Thanks for dinner. It almost made up for ruining my day.” Scratch gave Glitch a dap before following Jack out the door.

  Now that the guys were gone, Glitch began to absorb the enormity of their situation. Going back to prison was the least of his troubles if Eagle decided he wanted them dead. Araceli’s presence was a blessing as well as a curse. Yes, she was the perfect person to help him devise a plan to get his crew free from the chains of Hawk Global, but now he was also responsible for keeping her safe. That meant that they would be together for an undetermined amount of time. But what would that mean for them? He thought of the moment they shared, and the kiss that he could still taste on his lips.

  “Zero!” Araceli snapped him back to the present. The zoning out was becoming a problem again. He only got like that when he was highly stressed or mentally fatigued. As much as he wanted a hot shower and his bed, he still had a lot to deal with before his night was over.

  “You ok?” The concerned look that filled her features was enough to kick him back into gear.

  “I should be asking you that,” he countered.

  “I’m fine, now that your goons see the value of my life,” she replied.

  “About that. What was Jack doing in here? Did something go down?

  She looked down to the ground with a guilty glint in her eyes.

  “Well, I was going to try to get my gear and saw him in his car ‘watching’ me. So I walked right up to him to tell him to at least come inside and keep me company. I was shocked when he complied without pulling a gun on me.”

  Glitch let loose a hearty laugh at the thought. If there was anything Jack hated, it was babysitting. He sobered up at the thought a Jack pulling a gun on her

  “You know this is going to get dirty. Collecting Intel and hacking is nothing compared to what may be coming our way. The things I’ve done, seen Jack do... Nothing can prepare you for that kind of ugly. This is your out, Araceli. Leave now while you still can.”

  He hadn’t meant to say those words, but as he recalled all the dark deeds that he had been a part of over the years, and
knowing that some sort of karma might be coming their way, he didn’t want her sticking around due to some misguided sense of loyalty. So he put it all on the table, no sugar coating. She needed to know just how deep shit went.

  “In case you forgot, I’m here because you kidnapped me. I think I’m aware of the level of danger,” she shot back.

  “Then why stay? I know you want to help me, but is it worth your life? Because that is what’s at stake if we fail,” he warned.

  “If I needed your help, would you abandon me because it might put you in danger?”

  “No,” he answered emphatically.

  “And neither will I. So WE better make sure that WE don’t fail. You got me, now you're stuck with me,” she stated.

  Glitch could only shake his head. The situation still didn’t seem real to him. Just a few days prior she was merely a dream, a forbidden memory from his past. He didn’t know how to process her being there or the feelings that she stirred up, but he felt like the god of luck had shown him great favor.

  Accepting his silence as the end of the subject, Araceli began to clear the plates from the table. Glitch watched her navigate his revered bachelor pad like she had always been there. Like she was supposed to be there. And he liked it.

  “Thanks for dinner, by the way. The guys really seemed to enjoy it,” he said.

  “Did you enjoy it?” Her eyes pinned him with a saucy stare as she looked back at him from the kitchen sink.

  “Yes. Immensely.”

  “Then, you’re welcome. Now get my workstation setup so we can get this show on the road,” she said with a wink and then returned to the sink full of suds.

  “Yes ma’am!”

  Chapter 9

  “What a hell of a day,” Hex said as she washed the dishes. He didn’t respond at first. Not because he didn’t appreciate the sentiment, but because it meant more than it probably should have. Tonight wasn’t a good night for him. Correction, lately things haven’t been going good for them. They’ve had their suspicions, and now everything was confirmed. Actually having that in their face was a bitch. Everything snowballed from there. From having to kidnap who he thought was just some hacker freak, to finding out it was Hex, and now realizing he was going to be the fuel that burned his team; he concluded that his life was a bunch of shit. There really wasn’t any other way to look at it.

  And yet, instead of thinking about his partners and how to help them, he was staring at Hex’s ass as she cleared the dishes, wondering just how lost in her he could get. Just how the taste of her flesh would be. Maybe he was projecting. Maybe he was just giving in to his need because that was easier than having to think about how to get them away from Eagle. And maybe, he had just always wanted her, and now there seemed no excuse not to have her.

  With that in mind, he stood up and walked behind her as she went to release the water in the sink. He heard her breath hitch as he pressed against her. She smelled of citrus and spice. A smell that, for some reason, had his heart pounding in his chest. The apple of her ass pressed against him, reminding him that he was still a man. That all of his needs weren’t found on a computer screen, and couldn’t be satisfied except by the most basic means. She froze as he leaned forward, slipping his hands in the water over hers and pressing her palms against the sink. He held her there as he nuzzled her neck, breathing her in deeply. He wished that her hair was down, that he could bury his face in its strands.

  “Zero,” she whispered.

  “I told you,” he argued, nipping her neck where it met her shoulder in punishment, “to call me Liam.” He trailed his tongue up her neck, circling the shell of her ear and then dipping inside. Her fingers curled under his, but he held her down.

  “You taste so sweet,” he whispered against her flesh.

  “Liam, as much as I love this idea, we need to cool down. You haven’t told me what Eagle said. What we need to do.”

  “Cool down?” Glitch asked. He didn’t want to cool down. He didn’t want to think about Eagle. Not here, not now. He wanted, for a while, just to remember that he was once a man who just wanted this woman. A simple hacker who had used his mind to get out of a small town outside of Chicago, surrounded by people that didn’t understand him and couldn’t keep up with him. Wanted to just be the person she met on the screen. He didn’t want to be Glitch. He just wanted to be Liam.

  “Let’s cool down then,” he agreed, but before she could turn in his arms he twisted the faucet, turning on the cold water. He detached the spigot and pointed at them. He gripped her with one arm, still biting and sucking at her neck as he sprayed them with the water.

  “Liam,” she yelled but couldn’t twist out of his arms.

  “Just give me right now, Araceli,” he urged against her flesh. She gasped as he pinched one nipple through her wet shirt. She gripped his wrists, holding him to her body as she turned her face towards his.

  Her lips, soft and strong at once, slid against his, chilled from the water. Her tongue pushed into his mouth, licking over his and then caressing the roof of his mouth. All of his blood pooled into his dick in zero point three seconds. This was Hex. This was passion. He could taste it on her tongue. Feel it in her nipples pebbling under his palms. She felt so good. He pushed his hands up under her shirt, lifting her bra out the way, and gripped her breasts. He plumped them as he played with her nipples, never breaking the seal of their mouths.

  Angling his head, he delved deeper into her mouth. He wanted to be inside of her to know if her body would grip him as tightly as a fist. If he could make her scream until his head exploded with pleasure. He wanted to know if he could make her his. Make her belong to him. Stamp her so deep she wouldn’t know what it was not to be his.

  “More,” she begged, and he didn’t have the heart to stop. With rough hands, he turned her in his arms and lifted her on the counter. The faucet forgotten, he pushed her shirt and bra up. He had his first glimpse of her tanned flesh and light caramel nipples peaking at him. It made him hungry to see it. So hungry. He sucked one nipple into his mouth, playing with the soft nub with his tongue and teeth as his free hand found its way down her body. It took nothing to find the edge of her underwear. Been wearing nothing but one of his shirts over them to begin with.

  She was wet and slick, her pussy bare under his fingertips. He nearly lost his mind. She was so smooth. Dammit, he needed to taste that. He couldn’t focus on any one thing. He wanted it all. He wanted her screaming.

  “Dammit, Hex,” he growled, leaving her breasts and sinking to his knees. He ripped her panties away from her, impatient to get to her. He licked his way from her clit down to her hole, as far as he could. She leaned back, angling her hips forward for him.

  “Liam, slow down,” she whispered.

  “I need it all,” he argued back. He sucked her clit into his mouth and pushed a finger deep inside of her. She clamped around him like a fist. So tight, just like he thought she would.

  *

  Araceli couldn’t keep up. Liam was everywhere and all over her. He kissed her, he played with her breasts, and then he had her in his mouth, eating her with a ferocity that she didn’t understand. He didn’t have to rush. They had all the time in the world. But he was lost to it, not able to decide what he wanted. The idea made something click. She understood then. Glitch’s mind always went a thousand miles a minute. And that also meant that he couldn’t focus. That told her more than anything that they needed to slow down. He wanted her, that was evident, but he was also fighting with what was going on around him. She understood his need to get lost in something, but this wasn’t the way to go. She forced herself to push back and close her legs.

  “What’s wrong,” Glitch asked her, looking up from kneeling in front of her.

  “I’m not a stand in, as good as you are,” Araceli said.

  “What?”

  “When we do this I want your complete focus on me,” Araceli continued. “Not on the hell Eagle is kicking up around us.”

  “That’s no
t what it was.”

  “Maybe not consciously, but I know you. You’re more jumping from one thing to another, a sure sign you can’t focus.” Glitch smiled.

  “I must say, this is the first time this has happened.”

  “Yea, I won’t touch that conversation with a ten foot pole. Just get off your knees before I second guess myself.”

  “Are you sure? As good as you taste I could be there for hours,” Glitch argued. She moaned, deep in her chest, head falling back as he licked his way over the crease of her closed legs.

  “I’m focused now. Utterly and completely. After I’m done I’ll tell you all about Eagle and you can help me come up with a plan. For now, though, let me taste you. Let me hear you scream.”

  Araceli couldn't stop him as he pushed her legs open again and slid between them. This time, though, was different. So different. She cried out. His tongue glided slowly over her clit, swirling around the bud with precision. His fingers slid over her flesh teasingly, curling her whole before dipping in only to the knuckle and retreating.