BONUS CHAPTER

Kabir

Was there any way out of this? Could I ever fall out of love with her? This was getting annoying. Damn, why did she have to be so infuriatingly perfect? Every time she spoke, it wasn't just her words that captivated me, it was the curve of her lips, the cadence in her voice that seemed to stroke the raw edges of my nerves, soothing yet stirring something deep within.

Why the fuck did I shove her into the ‘just friends' box? I've been down this road before, haven't I? Fallen hard and fast, only to be left with nothing but ashes and bitter regrets. Last time, it cost me a best friend and left me sorting through the emotional wreckage that I'm still trying to piece together.

Stupid, really, to think I could keep her at arm's length when every little thing about her pulled me in closer. The more I told myself ‘just friends', the louder my heart laughed at the feeble attempt. Was there truly any escape from falling for her? Maybe not. But every time I looked at Amelia, remembering the pain from before, I convinced myself it was better this way. Safer, for both our sakes.

But goddamn, look at her.

"Are you even listening to me?" She threw her hands up in exasperation. We were in the command center, diving into work at three in the morning, as usual.

"Nope, your voice is like nails on a chalkboard, but here I am, trying to be noble." I shrugged, the corner of my mouth twitching upwards. It was way easier to poke fun at her than to blurt out: ‘Amelia Desmond, you're the love of my life. Can I kiss those gorgeous lips of yours, now?'

Shut the fuck up, Kabir.

I was 99.9% sure that she felt the same way. But that 0.1% was what I clung to.

"Alright, let's buckle down," she said, cutting through my thoughts with a sharp tone. "If we reconfigure the API gateways and refresh the access tokens, it should let us penetrate the backend of the Bitch's control system. Once we're in, we can inject a reverse shell and gain admin access."

I chuckled at her attempt at hacking a high security device. "Why don't you create a technical ticket and Zane can handle that?"

She shot me a glare that could slice through steel. "Be fucking serious, Kabir. Just for once."

"Alright, alright," I conceded, half-amused by her ferocity. "But consider this—what if messing around with this thing just tips off Ling or Romano?"

"Isn't devising a workaround part of your job description?" she shot back, arms crossed.

"Fine!" I snapped my laptop open and pounded out a series of commands. Spinning the screen towards her, I pointed to the display where Bitch was initiating unauthorized communications with a remote server.

Predictable .

"Shit! Stop it! Stop, stop, stop!" she panicked, hammering at my keyboard like it was on fire.

I barked out a laugh, enjoying the chaos a little too much. "Relax, I've blocked all outgoing pathways."

She slumped back, then shot forward to kick me sharply in the shin. "You stupid asshole! Why would you scare me like that?"

I shrugged. But before I could retract the command, Bitch began to heat up in my hands—literally.

"Seriously, Kabir," she fumed, barely catching her breath, "next time you pull something like that, at least give me a warning. I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

Her rant faded into the background as my attention zeroed in on the device growing increasingly warm in my grip. "What next? Do we try another hack?" she pressed, trying to peek at the screen.

I didn't answer right away, my gaze fixed on the Bitch as it simmered in my palm, a ticking time bomb.

I dropped the device back onto the table and sprang to my feet. Grasping Amelia's elbow, I jerked her up beside me. Hesitating, I hovered a finger near the Bitch. Even without touching it, I could feel the waves of heat radiating from it.

Instinct kicked in. In one fluid motion, I yanked Amelia aside, tackling her to the floor, and shielding her with my body.

One second passed .

Two seconds.

She looked at me, utterly stunned. "What—"

Boom .

A muffled explosion tore through the command center, and I felt shards of the Bitch pepper my back.

Lying there, my heart hammering in my chest, I realized the narrow escape. Just seconds before, Amelia had been in the direct path of potential shrapnel. If I hadn't acted… fuck . The realization sent a cold shiver down my spine, mixed with a surge of relief.

"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice shaking with fear.

She nodded, her face pale, words lost to her. Just then, the fire alarm shrieked into life, slicing through the tension. I scrambled to my feet and extended a hand to Amelia, pulling her up. My eyes raked through her body, looking for any wounds or bleeding. I sighed with relief when I didn't find any.

We moved to the desk where the remnants of the operation lay. The Bitch was obliterated, and my laptop was nothing more than a mangled heap of electronics. Clearly, the Bitch had a self-destruct mechanism.

"What the fuck just happened?" Zane bellowed as he stormed in.

"The Bitch blew up," I yelled back, trying to be heard over the blaring alarm.

Zane surveyed the damage, his eyes narrowing at the destroyed laptop and the absence of the Bitch. "It's completely gone?"

"You can scrape its pieces off my back?" I quipped, half-turning to show him the shrapnel wounds .

Amelia's breath hitched, and her hand flew to the small of my back, her touch sending unexpected shivers across my skin.

Zane tapped his watch, and the fire alarm abruptly ceased its wailing. "Get cleaned up," he instructed before turning his attention to salvaging the hard drive of my laptop. I wasn't overly concerned about the destruction of the Bitch; I had anticipated some level of self-defense from it. Fortunately, I had managed to upload all crucial data to the cloud before it went critical. We should be in the clear, data-wise.

Dylan and Zarek burst into the command center, their expressions thunderous.

"It was the Bitch, not me," I announced preemptively, holding up my hands as they approached.

"That's my sister, you ass!" Dylan snapped, his eyes blazing.

From beside me, I heard Amelia's stifled chuckle. "He's talking about the Crazon device, you ass. "

Dylan's scowl morphed into a grin. "It actually blew up?"

"Must've been programmed to self-destruct," Zarek added, looking over the debris with a critical eye.

Meanwhile, Zane was deep in his task, picking through the remnants of my laptop like a surgeon. I knew he took every device casualty personally, treating his electronics like fragile babies.

I'm sorry, Zane. I'll build you a new baby.

"Come on," Amelia said, tugging at my hand. "Let's get you cleaned up. Your back looks like shit."

I couldn't suppress a grin as I followed her to my room. When we got there, she rummaged through my closet for the first aid kit.

I peeled off my t-shirt and sat on the edge of the bed, suddenly conscious of the fact that Amelia would soon be touching my back. Even though she'd be wearing gloves, the thought made my heart race.

Fuck .

As I waited, trying to steady my ragged breathing, I barely registered any pain from the wounds themselves. But the anticipation of Amelia seeing my bloodied back filled me with a different kind of discomfort. I didn't want her to see me like this, vulnerable and marked.

Then her touch came—gentle yet tentative on my upper back. "Lia," I murmured involuntarily, barely above a whisper.

"Just hold still," she said, her voice catching slightly. "This might hurt a bit. I need to get the shrapnel out."

I nodded, and she went to work. She was deft with the tweezers, her movements sure and gentle. Each contact, every breath she took close to my skin, sent shivers down my spine.

After she finished cleaning the wounds and was packing away the first aid supplies, I turned to face her. My heart clenched at the sight of her tearing up over me.

Come on, Lia. Don't fucking cry. I can't handle that.

A single tear escaped her, tracing a path down her cheek and I itched to wipe it with my thumb.

"Lia," I said, reaching out to her. "Please, don't. It's not as bad as it looks."

She busied herself with the kit, her hands shaking slightly. She was clearly trying to hide her vulnerability .

"Lia, what's wrong?" I pressed.

"It was just… a close call, that's all," she managed, not meeting my eyes.

"But we face danger all the time. What makes this different?"

She met my gaze, her eyes swimming with unshed tears, and in that moment, without warning, her lips found mine.

She's kissing me, goddamn.

It was a fleeting, desperate kiss, one that I wasn't prepared for.

Frozen, I didn't respond. As reality snapped back, I instinctively pulled away. The hurt that flashed across her face was unmistakable.

Embarrassed and rattled, she stood abruptly, her movements clumsy with haste.

"Lia, I—" I fumbled for words. "Fuck. We shouldn't—"

But she was already shaking her head, tears now freely flowing, as she dashed out the door, leaving me with a tangled mess of feelings and the echo of what might have been.