by LJ Byrne
Ryder stills, a hint of wildness as his eyes dart between me and Liam. For a moment, I think he’s going to walk away or hide like usual. After a minute, his shoulders straighten defiantly. “I’m in love with your girlfriend,” he says through gritted teeth, lifting his chin as if he expects Liam to attack him.
This is unexpected. Celeste gasps out loud, Nate and Xander elbow each other, and Connor smiles faintly.
Liam chuckles. “Is that the case?” After a second, he rests his hands on my shoulders. “Is that why you brought me here, Mira?” I shake my head. The way Liam tilts his head tells me he’s come to a decision. “If you think you’re a threat to me, Cabot, you’re wrong. And you are definitely not in love with my girlfriend.”
Ryder’s lips thin. I wait for Liam to finish his thoughts. Liam opens his backpack and hands me a laptop. As he does this, Liam continues calmly, “You’re not in love with my girlfriend because Mira’s not my girlfriend.”
The room explodes into questions and shouts as I hold the laptop dumbly in my hands. Ryder’s in shock.
“You win, Mira, like always.” There’s no bitterness to Liam’s voice, just resignation. “I guess we’re doing this, but we need to find a way to deflect it from me. From both of us. I want safeguards in place, Angel.”
I huff, but Ryder shouts above the din. “What the hell does that mean? Mira’s not your girlfriend?” Ryder shakes Xander’s hand off, and he surges forward.
Liam sits down, not bothering to glance up. “Mira and I are friends. Friends without benefits, I should add.” He turns his laptop on. “This is your play, Angel. What do you need first?”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Celeste practically screams, stomping her foot. “You guys have been acting like lovebirds since school began!” Her small frame rounds on me.
Nate shakes his head in confusion. “So, you two are faking it? Why?”
I perch myself at the end of a table, accessing my files remotely. “We’ll need to install something that works on phones, Liam. Destroying the operating system or installing a variant of a ransomware is easiest.”
Liam grumbles, oblivious to everyone else. “Easiest? Different operating systems for different phones, Angel. And we need to make sure they aren’t backed up in the cloud.” He sighs. “Where was I? Oh, right. We were pretending because I planned to help Mira complete her revenge by destroying your lives online. It allowed us to spend a lot of alone time without questions being asked.”
“Wait, what?” Xander blurts.
“Be glad we waited,” I add. “I mean, you won’t believe the things I had planned for you, Xander. Disappearing homework, college applications sent awry, emails not received, nasty social media posts.”
Ryder briefly fists his hair before grabbing the laptop from my hands and handing it to Connor. “We need to talk now,” he snaps, slinging me over his shoulder.
Really?
“What the –?” I never finish my expletive because Ryder hauls me to the kitchen, unceremoniously dumping me on the counter. He corners me with both hands and places his face inches from mine.
Ryder breathes heavily. “I am very close to losing my shit, Mira, so you have a minute to explain to me what the fuck is going on between you and Liam!”
I frown at his language. How confusing can it be? “Wow, very Neanderthal-like, Ryder.” I pat his shoulder placatingly. “Liam’s a hacker. Like me.”
“Like you? What are you talking about?”
Shrugging, I say, “I tinker around with stuff online.” When Ryder continues to look confused, I ask, “Can I trust you? Like really trust you?”
Ryder’s pupils dilate. “I’d do anything for you, Mira. I hurt you before. I know that, and I know I screwed up. I won’t do anything to hurt you deliberately again. You can trust me. Even if you need me to keep things from Connor.”
Reality check. Why should I trust him? A more accurate question would be why do I trust him? Instinct. Because he’s vulnerable. Because he’s in love with me. That last bit will take some time to process. “Liam’s not really a student. He works for the government, and he’s here working on something.”
Ryder swears softly. “Is this like 21 Jump Street or something?”
I squeal because it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who thinks that way. “It’s almost exactly like that, but he isn’t twenty-one,” I say excitedly. “I’ve known Liam for a few years – you know, chat forums and all that. But you can’t tell anyone that. It’s complicated.” Maybe I’m not the best at explaining things, but I hope Ryder gets the gist of it.
“What are you saying? That he’s an agent for the government?”
I place my hand on Ryder’s chest, and his eyes close at my touch. “Ryder, he’s not an agent. He’s part of their cybersecurity division. Something is going on in the area and someone’s using the school’s servers. It’s complicated. He’s here because it’s easier to investigate if you have someone on site. It would take a while to explain everything. Let’s just say he’s following the money.”
I make a move to leave the counter, but Ryder holds me fast. “Just to be clear,” he says, a muscle twitching in his jaw, “you’re not with that dipshit out there. You didn’t sleep with him. You didn’t live with him this summer.”
“Correct. Correct. Wrong. I crashed at his place for the summer,” I say, “but he was a perfect gentleman. The first time he kissed me was when you punched him.” I make a face. “We’ve cuddled and gotten handsy but only in public.”
Ryder grips the counter so hard that I’m surprised his hands don’t start bleeding. “You didn’t sleep with him,” he repeats to me, relief in his face. After two steadying breaths, he cups my face. “Mira, I need you to be perfectly clear here. You aren’t in love with that asshole out there?”
“I just told you we’re friends. I mean, I love him as a friend,” I say with a befuddled look. “Why are you –?”
Ryder kisses me, cutting off my words. I shouldn’t want him – at least, not so suddenly – but I’ve never exerted common sense when it comes to Ryder. I kiss him back. When he groans against me, I break away. “Does this mean—?” Ryder stops and closes his eyes briefly. “I just announced to everyone in that room that I’m in love with you.”
I bring his forehead to mine as his thumbs stroke my cheeks gently. “You can’t take it back. I have witnesses.”
He huffs at me. “I don’t care who knows. Maybe that means I’m whipped. I don’t care. I don’t care if it means there’s a chance for me. For us.”
When he tries to kiss me again, I hold him back. “We have to be careful, Ryder. We don’t know what else Ingrid has. We can’t do anything until we’re sure those pictures are destroyed.”
His voice grows husky. “And after that… Once you fix my mess, do I get another chance? Because if you’re not with Liam, then I’m not giving up. Please give me another chance.”
“If it hadn’t been me… If Ethan’s cousin had been someone else, would you have gone through with the bet?”
Ryder’s pained silence is answer enough. “I don’t know, Mira. I’m not going to lie and say no with any level of certainty. I don’t deserve you, but I want to. You make me want to be a better person. I-I don’t want to lose you.”
“Then don’t put me on a pedestal. I’m not an angel. I’m not perfect.” Our eyes meet, and I wonder if my feelings for him ever went away. “And I don’t want to lose you either.”
“Before you two disappear again, can we finish the plan first?” Liam is snarky, his eyes taking in the way Ryder lingers by my side. He cocks a brow at me. I flip him off.
Connor and Celeste snicker between themselves while Xander shakes his head in disbelief.
“Remember Echo? Modify the program.” My flippant request doesn’t sit well with Liam.
“Oh, gee, Angel, that won’t take long,” Liam says sarcastically. “You know I’ll need a few weeks to do all that.”
“Stop whining,” I snark right back at him.
“It’s not like I haven’t pulled all-nighters to help you.”
Celeste and Connor look at me in a new light. Even Nate regards me differently. “I’ve never seen you like this before,” Connor observes. “And why does he call you ‘Angel’ all the time?”
Liam chuckles. “She calls herself Arch4ngel101, but she’s a terror when she works against you. I find it funny to call her Angel.” He scrunches his face. “Mira is probably the best hacker I know. She can deconstruct code faster than anyone.”
“So, what’s the plan then?” Ryder asks, running his hand down my arm before entwining our fingers.
I start adding things in my head. “Halloween is two weeks away,” I begin. Liam’s eyes grow huge. “Oh, don’t be a baby. You’ve pulled off more in less time before.” I smile at Nate and Xander, enjoying the way they get nervous at my scrutiny. “Time to earn your keep. Start a rumor that all is not well between me and Liam. In the meantime, I will infiltrate their computers so that I can wipe their systems once we have their phones under control. At the Halloween party, we’ll need to separate Ingrid, Judy, and Victoria from their phones. And Daniel, too.”
“If you ask me to seduce Ingrid, I’m going to have issues,” Liam drawls, typing on his laptop. Xander is befuddled like he can’t understand how Liam doesn’t care that Ryder walked off with me. “Mira, your rootkit, can it be modified quickly?”
“I was planning on sending it out to all the Royals to infiltrate their computers, but I guess we can spare the guys. Modifying it isn’t difficult.” I check to see that Liam has a copy of my program.
Ryder, Xander, and Nate exchange uneasy looks at my words. Liam smirks. “Don’t worry, she won’t destroy you guys now.”
“That’s how you knew the videos were fake,” Celeste says slowly. “You got into the school’s network.”
I don’t deny it. “Whoever Ingrid used is good.” I pause. “Not as good as me, I know how it was done.”
Liam rolls his eyes. “Angel, no one is as good as you. That’s why everyone wants you. The Halloween party is on campus, right?” Liam asks. When Celeste tells him yes, he asks me, “Is there a chance there are cameras where the party will be?”
“There are, but no one monitors the feed,” I tell him. “I can glitch them so it doesn’t record anything in the building for an hour. I don’t want it to be obvious, though, in case whoever Ingrid used takes a look.”
Liam observes me with narrowed eyes. “Are you telling me there’s a person who’s better at this than you?”
My pride flares. Dammit. I hate being challenged like that. “No, dumbass. Fine. I’ll loop in a false feed. All I’m saying is we need to be careful.” I scowl at Liam, who tilts his head back and howls.
“Are you really that good?” Ryder asks me.
I’m no longer shy about what I can do. “Yes. I am.”
Ryder drags me away for some privacy. “I wish you could pull this off sooner,” he murmurs, holding my hands. “You’re mine, Mira.” He gives me a cocksure smile.
He’s so arrogant that I consider making him squirm. “Maybe.”
“Maybe? How do I make that a certainty? Do you forgive me? Can you?” Some of his worry fades when I smile. “I burned everything she touched.”
“Ryder, what Ingrid tried to do wasn’t right. I might be angry with your decisions, but I could never hold them against you. You’ve been hurt enough.” I pause. I want to talk about his father, but I decide to wait. “I do forgive you, Ryder.”
Relief floods his body. “Whatever you’re doing for Liam – it doesn’t put you in danger, does it?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m just working on the periphery. They have real people to handle the dangerous stuff.”
“I hope so.” He hesitates. “Mira, promise me you’ll be safe.”
I nod absentmindedly. Honestly, what could happen? It’s why I like working behind the scenes. Do all the work, miss all the drama.
“It’s going to be a lousy month,” he grumbles. “And tell Liam that I’ll break his nose if he touches you again. I’m dead serious. The way he kissed you at the party… Once this is behind us, I’ll do whatever it takes to make things right between us. My summer was hell.” He pauses. “Liam made no moves on you all summer?” Ryder tilts my head so that he can see my eyes.
“He had an extra bedroom. He was incredibly polite. I never even saw him with a shirt off. Besides, I spent a great deal of time crying in my room.”
Sadness crosses his face. “I’m sorry I did that to you.” Ryder drops a lingering kiss on my lips. “Just so you know, you can see me with my shirt off anytime you want. Or anything else off, for that matter.”
I swat his arm. “Behave.”
His mood lightens further. “Next summer, for my birthday, I’m taking you somewhere.” His body is warm and relaxed against me.
“I missed your birthday? I didn’t get you anything,” I say with dismay.
He cups my cheek. “You’ve given me everything.”
011011
Nate and Connor begin the rumor treadmill by telling the Court Liam and I had a massive fight after Ingrid’s party. Celeste tells Victoria Little that she’s sure I dumped Liam. Xander tells Judy Lee that he heard Liam broke up with me after he saw Ryder dancing with me. Celeste then tells Connor while Daniel Jameson is eavesdropping that I’ve been crying in my room, heartbroken. Ryder, per plan, pretends to not care. (Obviously, this is a twisted version of the game Telephone.)
Whether Ingrid believes Ryder is irrelevant. Since his actions during the party are telling, there’s no point in trying to spin the narrative. Instead, Ryder continues to be sullen and resentful. Liam, on the other hand, relishes his new role. It takes a few tips from Xander and Nate to teach Liam how to come across as frustrated and upset. This is not easy since Liam learned his lines from role-playing games. Liam is nothing but determined. When Victoria flirts with him in the hallway, he fluctuates between vague interest and uncertainty. And during lunch, Liam and I sit together but ignore each other.
Amidst all this fake drama, I spoof Ingrid’s school account to send emails to certain students. Guys will click on anything that looks like it might contain salacious pictures. I clear minor members of the Court first. Most of them are only guilty of following Ingrid blindly anyway. I spend some time going through Ingrid’s files. After I saw the Discord site, I stopped snooping which was a mistake. This time, I find the files I should’ve looked for originally. I transfer copies and then set up a virus that will wipe her system completely when triggered. Of course, I remember her cloud storage. I stop the backup storage, delete everything on her cloud, and create a fake pathway to make her think she’s backing up files to the cloud.
Ingrid has a few email accounts attached to her name. Her private account is primarily used to contact her father – most teens don’t really use email anymore, but parents still do. Still, it’s weird for a teen to email this much. And there’s something odd about her emails with her father. At the bottom is what looks like random letters in the shape of a box. But the letters vary from message to message. It could be a cryptogram. I send a copy of the files to Liam. RReagan can use his guys to break the code. I’m still in high school and don’t have time for that.
Judy and Victoria don’t seem to have anything on their laptops – I still plan on wiping their phones – but since Liam’s cloned Ingrid’s phone, we know they’re aware of the incriminating photos. I plan to be thorough about destroying any backups. We’ll decouple the phone from the service provider before rewriting the operating system.
During my Zoom chat with Darcy and Brittany, I fill them in on what’s happened. When Celeste joins us, our fifteen-minute chat goes to an hour. Brittany declares she always knew Ryder was in love with me, Darcy can’t believe how evil Ingrid is, and Celeste tells us all that it was a lot more fun being in a quad than a single. Brittany plans on returning to Royal Bridge Academy in January now that we have a better sense of what happened among the Ro
yals last year. I don’t blame her for staying away, but I’ll be glad to have another friendly face.
Because Darcy gives Ethan the gist of what transpired, I’m left with filling in the blanks. He’s still hurt and angry I was targeted, but I know that deep down what Ethan feels is guilt. If he hadn’t chosen Darcy over Erin, if he hadn’t strong-armed Ryder, if he hadn’t forced his will on everyone. It’s easy to dwell on ‘what ifs,’ but doing so keeps you trapped in the past. (Yes, I learned that during therapy.)
Even though Ryder keeps his distance at school, he doesn’t seem to think that applies to weekends. I barely have time to explain everything to my aunt and uncle – Uncle Robert is not as forgiving – before Ryder shows up on Saturday. He refuses to leave until my aunt and uncle allow him in. It’s agreed that Ryder can visit me on the weekends if I keep my bedroom door open. When Uncle Robert casually walks by my room, neither Ryder nor I believe his “looking for a book” story.
“I wasn’t going to tell you about the basketball part,” Ryder admits to me the weekend before Halloween. He runs his hand along the back of my calf to my knee and then back again. Ryder has this thing for my legs. When I look at him curiously, he smiles wryly. “Honestly, I thought you would freak.” He goes on his hands and knees to crawl towards me. “Ryder Cabot, student of RBA, stalker of young girls at basketball games.” He brings his face close to mine.
I brush his hair back. I love the way it falls across his forehead, giving him a mischievous air. “I wasn’t even dressed to impress when you saw me.”
“I only saw you,” he murmurs before kissing me.
“Oh, great, you two are being cute,” Liam groans, entering my room since I’m required to keep my door open. “I need you to check my code, Mira. It doesn’t work.”
Ryder scowls, leaning back against my headboard. “You couldn’t do this remotely?”
Liam plops onto my floor, handing me his laptop. “It gets boring working alone,” he whines. “Besides, we can pretend I’m trying to win my dear love back.” He makes a kissy face at me.
