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

“Joe’s right.” Patrick turned to join the conversation. “Ari can fight. And though Echo is big, I doubt he’ll be a problem. Once he’s out, Joe can head in. An hour in his room would be priceless. It will be a simple op.”

“An op in the real. This isn’t a VR.” Marco’s fingers tapped against his thigh.

“This will be safer.” Patrick stood. “You two go shopping and get what we need for the night. I’m going out to touch base with the others. Joe, you find something to knock Echo out for a couple hours.”

Joe began shutting down the computer. “Be back before five. He has plans in a fantasy realm that I want to be in before he finds his date.”

Marco grumbled about dating and left without a goodbye.

Chapter 22

Ari ran to catch up with Marco outside the apartment and together they began the path downtown. Tired of traveling, she opted to walk instead of using the tram. There was a market less than a mile away, and moving would keep her eyes open. She braided her hair and zipped up her maroon jacket to keep out the bite of fall in the air. She enjoyed the scenery, very green. It was different, though, to her life on the island with more bushes and full trees. She enjoyed the plants that lined every storefront as the green grass grew up in between the cobble path.

She spared a glance at her brother, who was still brooding. “You know, I’ll only have to flirt with Echo. It won’t be hard.” They walked across a street and back onto the sidewalk. “What’s really bothering you?”

He ran a hand through his hair, and Ari noticed the dark circles under his eyes. “Nothing… I just…”

“What?” Ari prodded.

“I’m sorry.”

Ari briefly closed her eyes in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about when you got your assignment for school.”

“What does that have to do with now?” She couldn’t follow his train of thought.

“I told you to take the assignment.” He kept his gaze in front of him. “If you didn’t take it, we would still be home. You and Reed would probably be together, and you wouldn’t have to hit on some weirdo tonight.”

Glancing around, she was glad no one was close enough to hear that last part. “You can’t blame yourself.”

“But I do. I haven’t been around. Dad wasn’t around. If we were, maybe things would be different.” Marco always hid his true feelings, but Ari never knew just how much.

She stopped and pulled him to the side of the street. “Marco, you had no clue about my abilities. And if I didn’t have a fear of VRs, they would have been discovered much sooner. My life would have been inside a cage, even a well decorated cage, serving the government until my brain turned to mush. Life would have been worse. At least the way I discovered my abilities allowed me a choice, and regardless of how things have turned out in the last year, they are better now, because you are here, not stuck in some VR. You’re here fighting for our family. If anything, this is my fault. If only I could have stayed in the programming course at school, then my biggest problem would be Garrett.”

“Garrett,” Marco laughed at the mention of his old friend. “He was a such a loser. What did you ever see in him?”

They started back towards the market. “Like you can talk. You went through several girls when you were at school. It didn’t leave a great reputation with the teachers by the time they taught me.”

“I set the bar low. When you showed up, all the teachers loved you.”

Ari laughed at that idea. “What? The girl who couldn’t learn anything in programs? They were insulted at the idea they might have to teach. Not that they did. They just gave me the old programs.”

“You were such a nerd.”

“Thanks.”

A couple more blocks and they approached the market. “Does Patrick really think I’m going to go shopping with my sister to pick out a slutty dress to grab a programmer?”

“Who says it has to be slutty?”

“You didn’t see the girl he went home with last night. There was more skin than dress, and her dress may have actually been painted on,” Marco said seriously, then in a lighter tone, “I asked Joe if he thought it was paint or fabric, but he had no comment.”

“Yeah, I can’t see Joe having that conversation with you.” Ari walked into the store. “Don’t worry. Not every girl has to be near naked to grab a guy’s attention.”

Marco mumbled something she didn’t quite catch, but she didn’t care. Surprisingly, Ari sounded more confident that she really was. Niomi taught her about men, about flirting, and how to entice them. During the lessons, Ari had made sarcastic comments, and she had been grateful VisionTech didn’t require that of her inside the VR Realm. Her fake relationship with Patrick was the closest thing to forced flirting. Even though she joked through her lessons, this past year had taught her about guys, more than she wanted. Maybe she had to pretend to be easy, maybe she didn’t, but she knew she had to catch Echo’s attention.

It took a while for Ari to find the outfit that said what she wanted. With bags in hands, they had lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then headed back to the apartment to find the others still gone.

Marco dropped the bags on the dresser. “Do girls really need this much to get ready, or are you just especially challenged in that department?”

“Challenged? Really? Don’t be an idiot.”

He shrugged off the insult and kicked off his shoes. “Wake me up in an hour.” He looked like he needed a lot more than an hour.

She watched her brother face plant onto one of the two queen beds and found a tender spot in her heart just for him. His long hair curled