money or skeevy apps or letting people know who your parents were and why you didn’t talk to them—looked appealing. Also terrifying. All those people sucking face were probably going to have a traumatic breakup before the end of the year. Some friend would say the wrong thing and there’d be an epic fight that would last two months and hours upon hours of drama and tears.
I was lonely and they weren’t, but I also wasn’t going to have my emotions shredded by some petty shit. And that was good enough for me.
I hunkered down and walked with purpose to one class, then another, focusing on the things I could control. There were no friends to meet with, which meant I had no distractions. I could focus on my work, and I’d get this shit done, and then I’d leave this all behind and actually make something of my life.
I had a full schedule this semester, but the class I was dreading the most was my final one for the day. My first year in school I’d been too gung-ho, skipping a lot of the core requirements for my degree. At the time I’d figured I’d hack the school system and just mark myself as having completed them.
But...the lure of working for the FBI was too great. And if they’d caught me out at cheating my way through a degree, they’d never hire me. So I was taking those courses now and completing my degree with good old-fashioned hard work.
And I hated it. But if I was going to prove myself what I was capable of—to prove my parents wrong about me—it would mean not taking shortcuts.
So even though I didn’t want to be in that class at all, I arrived early in class to grab a good seat and plopped my stuff down. Pulling out my syllabus from the previous classes, I began making a list of the textbooks and materials I’d need to pick up. I didn’t pay attention to the classroom around me—why would I?
Whoever sat next to me wasn’t exactly going to be a study buddy, you know?
Except that the body that plunked down next to me was larger than your average freshman or sophomore, and my body immediately stiffened at the close proximity. Then a voice said, “Fancy seeing you here,” and it was painfully familiar in a way that sent shivers down my spine.
And maybe also launched my heart from chest to throat.
I looked up and stared into the smiling, smug, (handsome) face of Bryce Waller. My competition. And, it looked like, my classmate.
Fuck.
2
Bryce
My fingers flew over the keys as I scanned the lines of code I was writing. I hadn’t truly hacked into anyone’s accounts for years. It had been tempting as hell, but Reagan had kept me on the straight and narrow, and the thought of disappointing him was more than I could take.
For one, I had a home, and I was making good money, so I no longer needed the stolen credit card numbers I’d lived on for a few years back in my teens. To steal now would be a one hundred percent dick move, and I tried not to be a dick if I could help it.
Plus, there was the whole jail thing. Unlike sweet, devious sixteen-year-old hacker Bryce, if I were to get caught now, I’d be in prison for a long time.
But my biggest reason of all was my grandma, who’d actually been the victim of someone like me, all her bank accounts wiped clean right before we’d reconnected. All of her savings, her pension...the asshole who’d hacked her had left with her with nothing but hospital bills she couldn’t afford.
She’d never forgive me for doing that to someone else, and now that I knew more, and could see firsthand the devastation something like that could bring? I’d never forgive myself, either.
So, I had really good reasons not to steal… but that didn’t mean I didn’t miss it. Well, not the stealing itself, exactly, but I fucking loved the specific brand of creative problem-solving that could only be found in sneaking into someone else’s internet life.
And now, I might have a way to use those skills for good. I was finally back in school and it made me giddy as fuck. My grandma had laughed in her warm, frail way when I’d kissed her cheek goodbye. She’d never fully forgiven me for dropping out all those years ago to help her through her battle with cancer and