beside them awkwardly. Braden knew they'd fucked last night. They knew they had. Right now, Rhaven was doing her best to make it clear she still liked him and it helped, but Braden could feel the tension growing between him and Psyc.
Lunch kept him distracted from it for a while. Jason laid out his plan to work this like developing a game. Mark set up teams. Kate, Zara, and Amy were all the organizers, promising that they'd worry about making sure each team knew if something on another board affected them. In the process of talking it all out, the group realized they had more options than previously thought.
Void would be looking through all the PLG data. Riley offered to assist. Knock and his crew were tracking the digital footprint. Dez was tracing her own connections from her assault, with Chance following any side leads she pulled up. Adam and Psyc were assigned to rifling through social media and other virtual connections. Braden and Jeff would deal with the information Deviant had accumulated through history. Jason and Bradley were going through federal records and their own cyber security options. Mark would pitch in where he was needed. Rhaven and Cade were digging into the KoG forum posts.
None of it had a hard line where one person's job started and another's stopped, though. That was what the girls were going to help with. Once they were all done eating, the crew broke up to head upstairs, hitting all of the buttons for the elevators so they could all fit. When the one before Braden, Rhaven, and Psyc opened, Cade hurried over to climb in with them.
"Hey," he said, offering Rhaven his hand. "Cade, Knock's boyfriend. Seems we get to look at the worst of the worst, huh?"
Rhaven accepted his hand with a little smile. "Don't worry, I've seen it all before, or something similar."
"Same," he agreed. "So..." He glanced at Braden. "This your girl?"
"She is," Braden agreed. "Psyc's too."
Cade just smiled. "I'm telling you, consensual non-monogamy is the new in-thing. Only way to pay the bills in today's world, am I right?"
Braden flicked a finger at Psyc. "He's rich, and we're not-badly-paid game developers."
"Right," Cade groaned before tapping his chest. "I'm an aspiring college student about to rack up insane amounts of debt for a degree that won't earn me any more money. Worked at the Happy Stop in town for a bit. Yep, minimum wage."
"You should charge for that hacktivist shit you do," Psyc told him. "Plenty of people would pay, and you know you're going to do it anyway."
Cade gave him a disgusted look. "That's not right. We help because people need it, and no, we aren't the good guys." Then he grinned and turned back to Rhaven. "So, I've seen some of these forums, but I've never dived in too deep. Is it as bad as everyone's saying?"
"Not if you're a guy," Rhaven told him, but she wasn't accusing. "It's all sexist shit, and the whole thing is filled with all that men's rights bullshit."
By the time they reached the top, Rhaven and Cade were already making plans for how they'd tackle their task. The four of them turned toward Riley's suite, but when they passed their door, Psyc caught Braden's eye and tilted his head.
"Hey, beautiful?" he asked Rhaven. "We'll catch up in a sec."
She nodded and kept going, clearly immersed in what she and Cade were talking about. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Braden followed Psyc into their suite. The guy headed right for their fridge, pulled out a pair of sodas, then passed one over.
"I expected you to crash with us," he started.
Braden headed over to the table and dropped into a chair, gesturing for Psyc to take a seat. "So, we're doing this?"
Psyc nodded. "I'm officially the other boyfriend now. Kinda wanted to ease into that, but I also wanted to tell you straight up."
"Thanks," Braden grumbled. Then he lifted a hand, realizing how that sounded. "This is fucking hard, bro."
"No shit," Psyc agreed. "And so you know, I'm cool with the co-sleeping. Like, just always. Makes more sense to me than us trying to figure out where she's staying, or we are, or whatever."
Braden took a long drink then nodded, and kinda kept nodding. He heard Psyc. He agreed with him. He also knew that this was his chance to just get it all out there.
"I'm fighting real hard against my jealousy," he admitted. "I know you fucked