Hard Wired Trilogy by DeAnna Pearce (smart books to read .TXT) 📕

next day and retrieved one of their four-person all-terrain vehicles stashed in storage. It looked sturdy but well worn.

The road back was quiet, and they made it by nightfall. They parked the vehicle in the detached garage and walked to the cabin. They timed just right for dinner.

Harini rushed up to Ari and Patrick, welcoming them with big hugs, before moving onto the new guests. “You must be Marco, and Ari’s mom?”

“Call me Cynthia.” She reached out a hand, but Harini hugged her instead.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. I feel like we’re already family.” She even hugged Marco, who took it in stride. “Are you moving in?”

“That’s the plan,” Ari said, taking in the curious faces around the room.

Patrick set down the pack and turned to face the room. “This is Ari’s mother, Cynthia, and her brother, Marco. They will be joining us. We’ll get them integrated starting tomorrow. Blur?”

The blond warper looked up from his meal. “Yes?”

“I’m going to have him with you for now. He has a history in security and may be an asset.”

“Great. I can always use another set of hands.” Blur gave Marco a brief nod and went back to his food.

Not that Ari blamed him; she was hungry herself. Blur was never one to get worked up about much. He left that to Tricky, who was taking the arrival of Ari’s family surprising well.

Patrick continued. “Sue, can you help Cynthia get acclimated? She will be working with you, mostly. Oh, and thank you for keeping this place standing while I was gone. I’m glad to see everyone, but I’m going to head to my rooms.” Patrick rubbed his neck as if it was sore, and Ari realized how tired he looked.

She had been so caught up with her family, she never found a chance to say thank you.

Before she could say anything, Tricky stood. “Can I have a minute of your time? I’ve made some interesting strides with my work.”

“Of course. Walk with me.” He pulled up his pack, and headed out of the dining room, with Tricky hurrying to catch up.

The others stood to welcome the newcomers. After the introductions, Joe and Sketchy brought another bed into Ari’s room for her mother. Marco got the small guestroom for now.

By the time everything settled down for the night, Ari found herself in the bathroom thinking about Patrick. He had done so much for her, finally getting her family back. Since she never got a chance to say thank you, she headed towards his rooms. Set off away from the others, he had a couple of rooms for himself. One set aside specifically for their group meeting, and the other a mixture of an office and bedroom.

In front of the door, she froze for a moment, wondering if he would be already asleep. He looked exhausted, and here she was bothering him again. Hand lifted to knock, she dropped it ready to leave when the door opened.

“You think really loud, you know.” Standing in only sweats, he rubbed his face.

Ari’s eyes flashed to his toned stomach, then, feeling guilty, focused only on his face. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

“My door senses people lurking outside of it. How can I help?”

“I just wanted to thank you for bringing my family back. It means a lot to me.” Her throat tightened and didn’t let the words out easily.

“You’re welcome. I did take care of some work on our trip too.”

Ari lifted a brow since he never mentioned anything about work while they were gone.

“Every few months, I usually go to different cities and reach out to contacts from different electronic servers. Money to transfer, supplies to be secured. Nothing big. I just didn’t have a chance to leave since you got here, so you didn’t know. I would have done it for anyone here. We’re a family. That’s what we do.”

Ari nodded, feeling stupid for Marco getting in her head. “Whatever the reason. I’m grateful. Um, goodnight.” She spun around and headed off, a little embarrassed.

Several steps down, she faintly heard a “goodnight” in reply. Turning back, she saw the door close. They were friends, that’s all. The way it began in a pretend relationship in a virtual world had complicated things, but she was sure where her heart remained—with Reed. Back in their room, her mother knelt on the side of her bed praying while Ari climbed into bed.

Settling in to sleep, her thoughts wandered. Part of her dreaded the guilt every time she thought of Reed, and the other half relished the sweet memories of their dates and kisses on the beach. Her thoughts transferred over to her dreams that night. She caught glimpses of Reed as he walked away, always too fast to catch. His words floated on the wind yet felt empty without him by her side. Every time she turned to catch him, he vanished. He dissipated in the darkness. As she woke in the middle of the night, a deep ache pained her chest. She wondered how long she could cling to fading memories and empty hope.

Chapter 11

The following day, everyone was working like a well-oiled machine by ten in the morning. Early on, Ari had asked Harini how everything ran so smoothly here. “Patrick,” was her answer. Ari saw that today. He motivated people by working just as hard, if not harder than, everyone else. His kindness and intelligence saw not only what people could offer, but what people needed.

Granted, his team all had financial holdings all over the world, including even Ari now. Paying people well helped too. But this felt like a family or team that strove for safety in a world where warpers never had much.

By lunch, even Marco was impressed from his time with Blur. He sat across from Ari, while their mom helped Sue serve up enchiladas, a traditional dish from home. “He’s insanely fast. I can’t even begin to keep up.”

“They call him Blur for a reason.” Harini sat next to