Love 2.0

by Lee Kilraine

  “Well, first off, welcome to Climax. I’m Mrs. Johnson and I’ll be happy to get you set up on one of our computers. We’ve got a bank of them on the second floor. I’ll just need some form of ID to get you started; either a driver’s license or a student ID will be fine.”

  Huh. Mira had forgotten she didn’t have her purse with her. “I don’t have any ID on me. My purse is over at the Cates’s house. You see, I was in an accident on my way out of town and—”

  “Goodness, you’re Elvis.” Mrs. Johnson reached out and patted her hand. “I know exactly who you are. That’s fine. You come on in and use the computers whenever we’re open, dear. We’re open until nine tonight. I’m going to issue you a library card to make it easier for you. It’ll only take a minute.”

  That was all it took. Before you could say Elvis has a new library card, she did. And then, a few minutes after that, she was ensconced in front of a terminal checking her email. She was able to email her mother, who at this very moment was on a cruise with Philip, the first man her mom had let herself love since her father’s death. Her sister had emailed, bubbling over with enthusiasm for her new responsibilities at work. And Mira hit the trifecta when she caught Gwen online and they talked via Facebook video chat for more than twenty minutes. Everything seemed quiet on the Ivan front in Florida.

  “You know, Mira, maybe he just needed time to calm down and accept the break-up. Time when he didn’t run into you and keep getting reminded of how much he wanted you back. I mean, I’m still triple-decker pissed at him for getting you fired. He’s still a rat weasel slithering snake of a bastard, but the good news is, maybe you can come back and even work as a CPA again.”

  “Yeah, I had the same thought, but I’m afraid to get my hopes up.” Mira decided against telling Gwen about the accident. Something about the words “my car got totaled by a one-ton bull while I was in it” had the potential to cause a lot of unnecessary worry at this point. “I’ll give it a few more weeks to be safe, then decide.”

  “Sounds like a plan. But I’m crossing my fingers because I miss you.”

  “Me too.”

  She couldn’t think of anything better than having this year-long nightmare end. She could go back to her old life, the life she’d had before she’d met Ivan. Reconnect with the friends she’d let slip away during her time with him. Heck, she could go back to accounting. The thought of working back in her chosen field and even paying payroll taxes had her giddy. Her heart raced at the thought, but she reeled herself in.

  No point in getting too carried away. She’d started each new accounting job with excitement only to have it dashed with each firing. No. Focus on one day at a time, Mira. That’s all you can afford right now.

  After signing off with Gwen, Mira signed in to the only thing that had held her loneliness at bay the last six months, Zero Point, the online game she’d stumbled upon when she researched how to disappear. The game had been a lifesaver, especially when she finally fled Florida for North Carolina two months ago.

  Mira was an extrovert, which was why the change to a solitary life had been difficult. She hadn’t liked being alone the past few months, but it felt like the safest path to navigate. For someone who had no trouble making friends, she’d become nervous meeting new people.

  Those normal, seemingly innocent exchanges of information when first meeting someone were a hurdle she couldn’t jump over. What was her name? Where was she from? What did she do? The world felt like a smaller place with the internet, especially when someone was stalking you. She hadn’t even come up with a fake story to tell people because she was too afraid she’d forget and trip herself up into revealing something that could lead Ivan right to her.

  The online game not only broke up all the lonely hours, it also gave her a way to interact with people again. Some of the other players were now her friends. Well, virtual friends, although she’d met up with a few of them at Charlotte’s GamerCon last month.

  Today she simply needed to escape, so instead of going into the game’s chat forum, she jumped right into playing and attempted to conquer the next level. The 3-D maze reformed according to some algorithm. Fighting off the Zorbs while she ran the pattern through her head, she jumped into the correct openings when they appeared and escaped out of the maze. She even managed to grab the elixir, scoring extra points that could one day buy her a new life. Too bad that wasn’t an option to solve her real-life predicament. Although that was in essence what she was trying to do: buy herself a new life. A life far away from her ex.

  She moved on to the next level, this one taking her to the depths of the ocean and into a shipwreck. Someone had warned her about this level in the forum. After distracting the singing mermaids of Babylon, the level had two options. Option one brought a player face-to-face with the giant man-eating squid. Option two led to swimming with a pod of whales. The trick was to decipher the correct sequence of notes to get the whales. Thanks to her excellent memory, she was swimming with the whales in record time and on to the next level.

  She kept playing until the library lights flashed off and on once, the universal we-are-about-to-close signal. Mira made her way down to the first floor and waved to Mrs. Johnson on her way out. Her hotel was only a block away and the night air was fresh and clean. After not getting on a computer for three days, she was on a relaxed high from her hours of escaping into the game.

  Finding the game had given her a world where she could escape the reality of her life. Where she could feel competent again as she traversed and conquered each level of the game. And the longer she stayed in the game’s make-believe world, the calmer she felt. It was a tranquil place, a place that lowered her stress but challenged her imagination.

  The game presented choices. As a woman whose choices had been severely limited lately, Mira found it liberating. A player could choose the free-form creative path or the logical path that fit neatly into the numerical equations and scientific formulas of the realm. She usually went with logic because it calmed her, but she’d lost herself in both many times over.

  It had been in one of the game’s forums that someone had whispered about the Wizard and Mira had begun her months-long search for him. She had to admit she’d been devastated when Kaz first said no to helping her, but maybe she’d asked the wrong brother.

  Other than their eye color, Paxton and Kaz were practically identical. Was Paxton the one she should have begged instead? She literally crossed her fingers and sent up a prayer that Gwen was right and she wouldn’t need either brother.

  Chapter Eight

  Mira woke up the next morning feeling the most stress-free she had in months. So much was going her way. Finally. Starting with the amazingly comfortable bed in the hotel room. The sheets even smelled like sunshine. It was a real treat after two months on the old and painfully lumpy mattress in her apartment in Greensboro.

  After lying awake simply enjoying the comfort, Mira finally forced herself from the bed and into the shower. There were sweet perks in there too. No rust-stained or mildew-coated tub. No leaky toilet and, best of all, plenty of hot water. Funny how a person adapted to the conditions life necessitated, but Dios mío, she was going to appreciate every second of the luxury while she could.

  Once out of the long shower, she smoothed on some of the hotel lotion and combed the tangles out of her hair. She stared at her fogged-up reflection in the mirror, noticing her dye job was fading and strands of auburn flashed through like dark flames. A touch-up would be necessary if she talked her way back into her job. Something about the black hair slicked back from her face made people buy into her being Elvis. She’d need to cut her hair again soon too. In the two months since she’d chopped off her long curls to pixie length it had grown back until it was tickling her neck and jaw.

  She dressed quickly and walked across the street to the diner. When she realized her purse was still at the Cates’s house, Renee, the Elvis-loving waitress she’d met the day before, waved off her worry and let her start a tab. She
let her good mood carry her away and splurged on what Renee promised were the best homemade biscuits and jam she’d ever eat. Renee did not lie.

  After taking the time to enjoy each bite, Mira got a coffee to go and took it outside to sit on the bench in the morning sunshine. Was it just her or was the scent of promise and fresh possibilities drifting around to everyone today?

  Between the soft bed, the heavenly breakfast, and Gwen’s suggestion that maybe this situation was working itself out, the load she’d been carrying around for so long lightened. The knot of fear that had gripped her chest ever since she’d lost her first job a year ago eased its hold on her.

  She sipped her coffee and counted people as they walked by, running different calculations in her head for fun. The percentage of people wearing cowboy boots. The ratio of pickup trucks to cars driving on the main street in front of her. The number of people who smiled or said hello compared to those who didn’t. She was way off on that calculation. The small-town friendliness skewed oh so different from how it worked in a big city. In the city people rarely made eye contact, let alone said hello.

  Kaz pulled up to the curb in front of her and leaned over to open the passenger door. “Morning. I drove by the garage and grabbed your guitar out of your car. Thought maybe you might want to head over to the music store to see about getting it repaired.”

  It was like the universe was gifting her in spades. Or had she finally used up all her bad luck and was hitting the good luck from here on out? It didn’t matter. She’d take it.

  “That would be great.” She stood up, tossed her coffee cup in the trash receptacle next to the bench, and hiked herself up into Kaz’s truck. Buckling in, not even the sight of her guitar neck, hanging off like a drunken sailor, could dampen her positive mood today. “Thanks.”

  Kaz nodded and pulled away from the curb, his gaze running over her, pausing on her hair before cutting away. “No problem.”

  They drove ten minutes in relative silence. Kaz wasn’t big on talking, but Mira didn’t get the sense that he was shy. Some people hated quiet moments and rushed to fill them with small talk. Not Kaz, apparently, and it was kind of nice being able to relax in the quiet space between them.

  Well, she could have relaxed except his very alert and focused gaze had her pulse speeding up. The man was intense. She shivered, thinking what it would be like to have all that intensity focused on her in the bedroom. Her cheeks heated at the thought and she jerked her gaze away to focus on the slice of small-town Americana they were driving through. It was downright adorable.

  A barber shop with a vintage blue-and-red-striped pole out front, a quilt store in an old house with rainbow-colored quilts waving in the breeze along the porch rails, a toy store, and a small hardware store, not the big-box home stores that took up football fields of real estate. It was picture postcard lovely.

  At the music store Kaz grabbed the guitar out of the backseat. He was about to shut the door when he reached back in again and pulled out her purse. “Almost forgot. I picked this up from my parents’ house last night.”

  She took it from him, hanging it on her shoulder as she realized that, other than her phone, there was nothing else she needed in the darn thing. A little bit of the cash left from the tips from Paxton and Kaz. No credit cards that weren’t maxed out and long overdue. No driver’s license she felt safe using just now. No check that wouldn’t bounce. Maybe she had a tampon in there or a tissue, but that was as useful as it got.

  They entered the small music shop, which appeared geared to high school band more than anything else. A beat-up pine counter with a cash register, a goldfish bowl, and a display of colorful guitar picks flanked the entrance. Behind the counter hung a selection of band instruments from a small piccolo to a trumpet to a trombone and beyond. Except the tuba sat on the ground. A small selection of guitars hung on another wall, while a drum set sat inside a booth in the back corner with a large glass viewing window.

  A woman with aqua hair gathered into two short ponytails sat behind the set wearing headphones and banging away on the drums. She was good too. When she hit the cymbal for the final beat she pointed at Kaz through the glass and smiled before dragging off the headphones and exiting the booth.

  Instead of moving behind the retail counter, though, she went straight to Kaz and wrapped her arms around him in a very friendly greeting. “Kaz Cates, it’s about time you made it into my store.”

  “Hey, Holly.” Kaz nodded curtly and patted the woman’s back with his free hand until she slowly slid out of his arms. “I told Mira you could help her with her broken guitar.”

  “Sure.” Holly moved her attention to Mira, smiling until her gaze landed on the guitar. “Oh, ouch. Not good. I heard about this on the Grapevine. Pisser did that? So much for music soothing the savage beast. But the good news is, it appears fixable. Let me check in back to see if I have the correct size neck to repair it so I can give you an idea of when I’ll have it ready.”

  Mira waited until Holly had pushed through the curtain over the door to the back storeroom before setting her purse up on the checkout counter and turning to Kaz. “You totally caught that invitation, right?”

  “What invitation? The hug? That was an invitation? I thought that was a hello.” He moved next to her, placing the busted guitar on the counter beside her purse.

  “You didn’t see her hug me, did you?”

  “She doesn’t know you.”

  She squinted up at him to see if he was being a wiseass on purpose. Nope, no sarcastic gleam in his lovely brown eyes. The man’s good looks were luring women in like ants to a sugar cube.

  His phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket to check the caller ID. “Excuse me. I need to grab this.”

  Mira pulled her own phone from her purse to see what she’d missed or ignored since her run-in with Pisser while Kaz explained some malware-infected zombie computer used as an identity-concealing proxy. She had no clue what he was talking about, but she could listen to him talk all day. His voice was deep and sexy, like a slow stroke along the length of her spine. Very pleasant and possibly addictive. Yeah, she could see why the single ladies were throwing themselves at him.

  Scrolling through her phone log was as depressing as she’d thought it would be. Credit card companies and collection agencies were after her like starving dogs on a bone. She’d happily pay them if she had any money. Seriously, who wants to be hounded by them? Nobody.

  Gwen had left a message to say, after their conversation last night, she was going to look for a two-bedroom apartment they could share. Leave it to Gwen, the eternal optimist, to grab on to the idea that her troubles might be over. Mira wasn’t ready to get excited yet; more than a few planets had to align to make that a reality.

  She didn’t recognize the next phone number, but she recognized the voice when she pressed to listen to the message. Her knees buckled and the blood drained from her head so fast she had to lean against the counter to stay up. Her hand smacked into the goldfish bowl and she reached out automatically to steady it as the hopes from that morning crumbled down around her.

  Mirabel, I’ve missed you. And I think you’ve missed me too. It’s a shame the job at J. J. Pharmaceuticals didn’t work out, but it was beneath you. And the equity firm after that? You were too good for that job also. Mira, whatever I did, I’m sorry. I’d like to see you so we can discuss it. Clear the air between us. I’m out of the country on business the next three weeks, but I want to see you, Mira. Come back to Miami.

  Mira didn’t know whether to be angry or frightened so she was both. What had Gwen called him? Rat weasel slithering snake of a bastard. Dios mío! Who did this sort of sick stuff? I mean, who the fuck did this to people? Was he getting off on trying to scare her? Because she was scared, dammit. If she told him he’d accomplished his goal, would he feel satisfied enough to stop? The thin, terrified voice inside her didn’t think so and her hand shook as she stared at the phone like she held a live grenade in her hand.

/>   She heard Kaz cut his conversation off and then he was next to her.

  “What? What just happened?” He stared down at her, his gaze moving back and forth over her face.

  Her mouth opened and shut a few times, but she could only stare up at him as the anger and fear had her vocal chords in a choke hold.

  Kaz took the phone from her hand and listened to the message, his gaze intense on hers the whole time. His eyes narrowed with each second that passed until he clicked the phone off. “Is this what you came to me for? Is he the reason you think you need to disappear?”

  She could only nod her head like a plastic bobblehead Chihuahua on a car dashboard.

  “Has he left you messages like this before?”

  “Not like that, no.”

  “He’s letting you know he’s keeping tabs on you. Did you know he was?”

  “I thought maybe he was.” Dios, she felt like an idiot. She’d broken up with him a year ago and it stole her breath to think he’d been watching her all this time. The only smart thing she’d done was run. “That’s why I asked for your help.”

  “You want my help?” Kaz reached over and dropped her phone into the goldfish bowl and she let out a surprised squeak. “Rule number one: no traceable phones. We’ll get you a burner phone.”

  Holly reentered from the back with a smile, but her step hitched at their serious faces. Her forehead crinkled when she noticed her goldfish circling the cell phone. “Um . . . everything okay?”

  Kaz’s brown eyes hardened as he stared at the fish bowl and gave one quick nod. “Fine.”

  “Okay, well, I’ll have the guitar fixed for you in three days. Does that work?”

  “Yes. Thank you.” Mira nodded but didn’t take her gaze off the clenching muscle in Kaz’s jaw as they headed out to his truck.

  “All set?” Kaz asked after Mira had buckled in. “What do you know about self-defense?”