Read Online Trust Me by Romily Bernard - Free Book Online

spine popping. Something else I need? A hot shower and probably another cup of coffee. And I’m halfway to the double doors when Kent appears, rolling his chair almost onto my toes.
    â€œWhat?” I ask.
    â€œEver since you got here, someone’s been hitting my firewall.”
    â€œYour firewall?”
    His lips thin. “Looking Glass’s.”
    I shrug. “Isn’t that kind of what happens around here?”
    â€œNot like this. It’s not just Looking Glass either. They’re focused on hitting your personal computer’s firewall too.” The hacker’s eyes crawl along my face like he can sense how my heart rate’s suddenly quickened.
    â€œYou’re checking my stuff?” I ask, and I sound good. I’m all light and unimpressed even though my insides are splintering. I was so careful. I was always looking over my shoulder.
    â€œHart told me to check on everything. You understand, of course?” Kent’s smile is animal white. “Safety is a virtue.”
    â€œSo’s bathing. You should make a note.”
    I start to move around him and he kicks his chair in front of me again. “It’s like they know where to look. You have a partner?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œLiar. You have to. How else would they know where to look?”
    â€œThey’re just lucky, I guess.” There’s a humming in my ears now and I have to push each breath through my nose. Regrettable since I can smell Kent even better now. “If you don’t believe me, talk to Hart. I work alone. It’s in my file. Whatever you’re seeing . . . it has to be someone random.Or maybe it’s the people I’m hiding from. I’m popular. Ask anybody.”
    â€œI don’t believe you. Whoever it is—they had to know what you were doing before Hart picked you up.” Spit flicks past Kent’s lips. He’s getting more and more agitated, and strangely, it makes me calmer. He isn’t rude to me because I’m a girl. He’s rude to me because I’m a threat.
    And maybe also because I’m a girl.
    â€œYou’ll get in trouble for not being honest with Dr. Norcut.” He’s grinning now. “I’ll make sure of it.”
    â€œGood to know. Are we done here?”
    â€œYou think you’re so tough, but—”
    â€œYeah, we’re done.” I walk around him and shove through the doors like my legs aren’t shaking. I want to stop, lean against the wall, and catch my breath and I can’t.
    I watch the security camera from the corner of my eye and wait for the elevator as my insides try to climb outside. Because it isn’t a “they” at all. Someone who’s familiar with my code? Someone who attacks firewalls?
    It’s Griff.
    I can’t concentrate during dinner. I can’t stop thinking about everyone who might hunt me down—Milo, Carson, even some of my dad’s thugs—but none of them know firewalls as well as Griff.
    How does he even know I’m here? Did someone tell him? And why’s he searching for me? Why now? We haven’t spoken in weeks. The last thing he said to me was that hecouldn’t touch me. Not even once, because if he did, he’d have to touch me again.
    And he wasn’t going to let himself do that.
    In Griff’s defense, I deserved it. I lied. To him, to Bren, to Lily.
    But mostly to myself.
    I haven’t spoken to Griff in two months now. It hurts and it has no right to hurt. It’s not like I’ve been spending all my time away from him alone. I have Milo.
    Had Milo. It’s stupid for me to worry about him. He’s way better at hiding than I am and yet I can’t seem to shake the anxiety that he’s going to get caught. Looking Glass and Hart and Norcut have cracked me and what-ifs are seeping through.
    After dinner, we have group therapy in the common room. Norcut leads, Hart watches, and a woman in a wrinkled