Bitter Arrangement: Chapter 14

Numbers scroll across my screens as I drink coffee. My feet are up on the desk, and soft classical music is playing through my stereo system.

The watch is connected by a long cable to my main PC system. It’s entirely air-gapped, which means it’s not connected to anything at all, with no possible way of transmitting any data.

I run the watch through my diagnostic system, and so far, I’ve found nothing interesting.

Except for a whole lot of encrypted data.

Which means it’s useless, at least without the key.

I’ve been in this business for a long time. I’ve gone up against some very talented hackers in the past, and mostly I’ve come out on top. Generally, I’m very good at what I do. My hacker name, Permafrost, has a very good reputation among the underbelly of the dark web.

But this is some extremely advanced shit.

I’ve seen good cryptography before. Most of the publicly available cryptographic protocols are very solid. They’re crackable with some computing power and a little luck, but it would probably take me at least a few months, depending on which one they used and the length of the passcode.

Except this is something new.

It’s bizarre, and it’s powerful.

“Good morning, husband.” Riley steps into my office. She beams at me, looking a little too perky for seven in the morning. Sunlight streams through the window and catches in her auburn hair, and I’m struck by how truly beautiful she is. My wife’s in a simple pair of tights and a long t-shirt with not a speck of makeup on her face, and she looks like heaven. Plump lips, upturned nose, high cheekbones. Those cute Irish freckles. And a body that makes me shiver with pure want.

I nearly lost control last night. Lying in bed with her and keeping my hands to myself was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I had to distract myself, and the only topic I can think about these days is her.

Which only made me want to touch her even more.

It’s probably a good thing she turned her back on me. I have to remember that this girl got me tangled up with the Black Mantis. There’s a serious chance that we both end up dead at the end of this, and I’ve got only pretty little Riley to blame.

“Can I help you with something?”

“No, I don’t think so.” She sprawls on the couch a few feet away. I glance at her legs and thighs, jaw flexing. I’m tempted to bury my face between her legs. Focus, Alexan. “Just seeing what you’re up to.”

I gesture at my screen. “Right now, I’m reminding myself how we’re in deep shit.”

“That bad, huh?”

“That bad,” I agree. “There’s no way I’m going to crack this before Mantis decides to come kill us both.”

“You can’t do that thing?” She waves a hand in the air before making a muscle. “You know, brute force?”

I snort a little laugh. “How do you know what that is?”

“I watch TV.”

“Okay, well, no, I can’t brute force this. My system’s got a lot of compute power, but it’d still take—” I do the quick math in my head. “Something like ten thousand years to crack it.”

She whistles and shakes her head. “That’s not good.”

“No kidding.” I sip my coffee, considering. “We’ll need to try something else.”

“We can always, you know—” She stretches out on my couch with a sigh and looks at me upside down. “Steal it.”

“Not this again.”

“Better than waiting ten thousand years. You’re going to be an ugly mummy by the time that happens.”

“We’ll both be mummies with bullet wounds in their foreheads.” I study my wife, considering. “I’ll come up with something else.”

“Oh, come on.” She stretches, and her top pulls up, showing a naked band of flesh around the top of her tights. I stare at that skin and think about pushing her shirt up more, up over her breasts, taking my mouth to her pierced nipple⁠—

Focus, damn it.

“Are you here to help, or are you going to make the same suggestion over and over again?” I’m being a little needlessly surly, but it’s better than walking over there and fucking her senseless, which is what I really want to do right now.

“I’m going to keep on suggesting it until you realize it’s our only option.” She props her face on one hand. Her top stays pulled up, and now I’m sure she’s messing with me because she knows I keep looking. Her eyebrows raise, and she’s got a sly smile. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Because you’re bothering me.”

“Oh, no, I’m distracting the poor genius hacker?” She pouts and bats her eyelashes. “Are you going to punish me?”

A thrill runs into my stomach, and I’m already half hard thinking about smacking her perky, pale ass until it’s pink with my handprints.

“You want me to leave my mark on you, Riley?” I lean forward, staring at her with a vicious hunger. “Or do you think this is just some game?”

“I think it’s a game,” she says, smiling softer now and stretching again. “And I think you’re also full of shit. You’re going to sit at that computer all day, cursing and getting all mad, and in the end, you’re going to realize I was right all along. Why not save us both some time and get right to doing what I want?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Is that something you get often? What you want?”

“Rarely,” she says, glancing at my arm muscles.

So, the little kitten likes what she sees as well?

I smirk slightly and let her eyes move along my torso. They linger on my lips for a moment. And I swear, now she’s blushing. I wish I could read her mind and hear all the dirty thoughts she’s got rattling in that filthy brain of hers.

“You aren’t getting anywhere near Mantis again. The last time you were in the same room with one of their operatives, you got us into this mess.”

“I was ignorant. Mea culpa. But I know better now.” She sits up and spreads her hands. “Use me, Alexan.”

My eyebrows raise. “Use you?”

Her cheeks turn pink. “You know what I mean. Use my skills.”

“I was thinking I’d use you for something else.” I lick my lips, thinking about her mouth wrapped around the head of my cock, sucking and moaning and whimpering for me to fuck her.

“I’m going to admit that I feel a little guilty about this, okay?” She says it quickly, like she’s rushing to cover something else. “I didn’t know who I was stealing from, but that’s not really a good excuse. I’m impulsive sometimes, alright? I screwed up and now you’re involved, and I just want to do something to help. That’s all.”

I consider that while drinking my coffee. She sits back on the couch, arms crossed over her chest, looking frustrated.

“That’s admirable,” I finally admit. “You want to make this right. I totally get that.”

“I want to be useful,” she says. “I can be useful. You just have to trust me first.”

“I believe you, I really do, even though I’m kind of surprised, but it’s not about your skills.”

“Great, thanks, that’s almost a compliment. What’s it about then?”

“Keeping you safe. Making sure the alliance we built doesn’t fall apart.” I lean forward before she can talk over me. “My boss murdered your leader’s brother. Do you have any idea how hard it is to come back from something like that? The fact that we’re sitting here in this room together is a testament to hard work and pure luck. The second we screw this up is the second a lot of people will start trying to kill each other again, and I don’t want that. I assume you don’t either.”

She looks toward the window, frowning. “I don’t want that,” she says gently. “I knew some of the men that died. They were boys, really.”

“Then I have to keep you safe. I need to preserve this relationship. Which means you go nowhere near Mantis.”

“I still think it’s the only option.”

“And I still think I’ll come up with something else.”

She pushes to her feet, looking frustrated. “It’s not just about protecting me though, is it?”

I tilt my head. “What else would it be?”

“It’s about protecting your investment. It’s about… protecting this.” She puts a hand over her belly. “Don’t act like I don’t know what we’re supposed to do.”

“Marriage is one thing, but there’s nothing like a baby to bring two organizations together.”

She turns her back on me. I can’t tell how she feels about that, but I’m guessing it’s not good.

This is a woman who craves control over her life. She’s impulsive and passionate, and yet she wishes she had more agency over the direction of her future. It must be hard knowing she has no say in whether she gets pregnant or not.

That’s the ultimate hell for her.

She doesn’t even get to say what happens to her own body.

If I feel guilty, I shove it back down. That’s just weakness talking. Pity’s not going to fix our situation.

We’ll be lucky if we even get to the point of knocking her up before Mantis ends us both.

“Let me know when you change your mind,” she says and heads to the door.

“You can help,” I say without thinking. It spills out of my mouth, and I don’t even know where it came from. Now I feel like her, saying whatever comes through my head. But normally, I have better self-control than that.

“Really?” She perks up slightly. “You’re going to let me steal the key?”

“I’m going to keep you involved in my plans.”

She frowns, clearly not happy about that. “Sounds like a load of crap to me.”

“Best you’re going to get.”

She turns back to the door. “Keep me updated.” Her hips sway slightly as she leaves my office.

God, I’m weak for that woman, and I don’t even know why.