From Broke Technician to Luna novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Mark

I wasn't in the vault.

I was on the couch in the east sitting room with my knees up and my laptop balanced on them, and the message I'd sent was a test.

Tiernan came through the door so fast it banged against the wall.

He was white to the lips.

"Stevie. Close it. Now."

"Close what?"

"The archive."

"I haven't touched it." I turned the screen toward him. It showed a game of solitaire. "Your vault has no network connection. I couldn't open it from this couch if I tried. I only wanted to see what you'd do if I said I'd opened it."

He stood with his chest heaving.

"You ran," I said. "Honest people don't run."

"That's not..."

"What's in the cellar, Tiernan?"

The silence was long.

"I'll tell you," he said finally. "I swear I will. But I have to mark you first."

"Why?"

"Because in six days my aunt can refuse you, and after that I can't keep you."

"And you think I'd leave."

"I think you'd have every right."

I put the laptop on the cushion.

I looked at him, the green eyes and the face of a man who hadn't slept since Thursday.

He had run through his own house to reach me.

I had a hundred reasons to say no.

I stood up and crossed the room, and I shut the door myself.

The latch clicked.

"I never work behind a closed door," I told him. "I'm not working."

He made a low sound in his throat.

"Stevie."

"You closed one on me yesterday. I'm returning the favor."

He laughed, shaky and short, and then I had my hands in his shirt and my mouth on his.

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