Love and Wargames: A Bad Boy Hacker Romance (8 page)

Fox grabs his radio. “Caleb — you in position?”

Her voice comes through.
“Yes.”

“Can you see inside?”

“Not from this distance. I’ll get closer.”

“Whoa—” I say. “Should she really be getting
closer
to that?”

“She’ll be fine, Boxcar,” Fox says. “This is what she does.” He clicks the radio. “I’ll cover you. See if you can find out what they’re doing.”

“On it.”

Fox rolls his shoulders, shaking out his tension. He pauses to glance over at me and he smiles. “She’ll be fine,” he repeats.

“I know.” I inhale a deep, frustrated breath. He sees through it completely but there’s not much I can do about that. There’s not much I can do about
anything
right now, other than watch and I can barely even do that out here in the dark.

“Here.” I look up from the radar and Fox hands me a pair of binoculars. “Night vision.”

“Ooo…” I flick them on and bring them to my eyes, being careful not to scratch my glasses. The once black warehouse now glows with shades of green. Caleb catches my attention, slowly slinking onto the grounds from the west side dressed all in black. Her short hair is secured back out of the way but I can still see the harsh wind attempting to twist the locks free to fall against her cheeks. “Damn, she’s cool.”

Fox chuckles and clicks his radio on. “Slow down, Caleb. You have movement around the corner.”

I flinch, pulling my gaze away from her long enough to catch the very armed, very scary-looking, man headed right for her location around the building. “Shoot him—!” I gasp.

“Calm down, Box…” Fox’s voice slides off his lips, smooth as butter.

“But he’s—”

“Box.”

Caleb drifts backward and retreats into the shadows before the patrol makes it to her location. He continues on, completely unaware she’s even near him.

I exhale the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “Okay…”

Fox turns away from his scope to pat me on the back. “See?
Relax
…” he says. “Panic only when necessary.”

“How do I know when panic is necessary?”

He shrugs. “Watch me. If I’m not panicking, then you shouldn’t be either.”

“But you’re cool as fuck, dude. You never panic.”

“I’ve panicked before.” His eyes flick in thought. “Once or twice.”

“You can hold his hand later, Fox. Do you mind giving me an update on my path, please?”

My chest sinks at the sound of her voice.
Fuck…

Fox focuses through his scope again. “You’re all clear, Caleb.”

“Thank you.”

He clicks the radio off and offers me an apologetic nod. “Sorry.”

I collapse against the sand.

“All right. I can see inside.”

I raise my head back up and look through the binoculars again, this time trying not to focus too much on Caleb alone. There’s a whole warehouse around her and not a single person inside will care if they had to put a bullet in her.

“Any idea what they’re doing?” Fox asks her.

“Not a clue,”
she says.
“I’ll take them out and look around, though.”

I furiously shake my head at Fox.

He nods. “Negative, Caleb. Come on back. We’ll report to Rhys and check it out again after the storm passes.”

“I agree. I just wanted to freak Carson out a little bit. Did it work?”

I sigh.

“That’s an affirmative,” Fox answers, smiling.

“Cool.”

He lays his rifle down and pats me on the back again, giving me a weak, yet purposeful, smile.
Let her go. You don’t stand a chance. Move on.

I fight the overwhelming urge to smother myself in the sand.

Chapter 9

Caleb

Afghanistan

Two Years Ago

I feel his eyes on me long before I look up. Carson — or
Boxcar
, whatever — sits on his cot across from mine with his laptop balanced on his outstretched legs. We make eye contact for the slightest of moments before his shaded eyes shift to the loud display of manliness happening a few feet away from the back of the barracks.

I ignore the grunting and groaning and focus my attentions on putting my weapon back together.

Rogers and West sit on the floor across from each other with Fox’s footlocker between them. Their hands are locked in a fierce arm wrestle while the ropey muscles of their arms quiver in a hard flex. Neither one of them seem any closing to winning than they were fifteen seconds ago.

“Do they do this a lot?”

“Carson—!”
I jolt to my left to find him knelt down on the floor beside my cot.
“What are you doing?”

“Starting a conversation with you.”

“Why?”

He shrugs.

I sigh, gesturing softly with my hands to push him away. “You’re in my bubble…”

He shifts back a little but maintains that schoolboy smirk across his mouth. “So, do they?”

I slide closer to the right. “Do they what?”

“Arm wrestle.”

I look over at them, my eyes landing on Fox as he leans over the battle, playing referee. “Yeah.”

“Do you?”

I turn back down to the revolver parts now littered along my mattress. “No.”

“Why not?” he asks. “You seem like you’d be good at it, even against these guys.”

I catch him looking up and down tank top, admiring my toned arms.

A hard slam finally hits the footlocker and Rogers launches up in victory as West growls in defeat.

“That’s two out of three,” Fox counts. “Pay the man.”

West spins around to his cot and fishes beneath his pillow for money.

My eyes fall on Boxcar again and he smiles, still awaiting my answer. “I was banned from competing.”

“What? Why?”

“Because she cheats!
”

I raise an eyebrow at Rogers. “I don’t cheat. You just suck.”

He leans closer, rolling his freshly-won money into his pocket.
“Cheater…”

“Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” Boxcar argues.

“You want to try her?” Rogers laughs, gesturing at me. “Go ahead, Fawn. Show him your moves.”

“I’d really rather not…” I mumble.

Boxcar stands up. “I’m in.”

I roll my eyes, glancing up at him. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, come on,” he says. “I challenge you to an arm wrestle, Caleb Fawn.”

“No.”

“Caleb…” Fox says. “You know the rules. You can’t back down from a challenge.”

“Yes, I can. Watch me.” I stay seated.

Boxcar nudges my arm. “I promise I’ll go easy on you.”

The guys wince and with good reason. Boxcar hardly even reacts, ignoring the obvious warning signs of rage prickling at me.

“Fine,”
I say, my eyes turning red. “What’s your wager?”

“Well,” he says, smirking wide, “let’s keep it simple. If I win, I get a kiss.”

Anger spikes in my cheeks.
“A what?”

“A kiss.”

“Are you
fourteen
?”

He gives a half shrug.

I glance around the tent, suddenly realizing how silent it is. Fox stands back with his hand latched over his mouth, simply fucking amused by the whole thing while Rogers and West look terrified. “No,” I say.

“What’s wrong, Caleb?” Boxcar asks. “You scared I’ll actually win?”

I pick myself up off the cot, seething. “And if I win?”

His smile makes gentle dimples in his cheeks. “What do you want me to give you?”

My eye twitches. “How about you just owe me some money? That seems fair.”

“Okay.” He moves around the cot and lowers himself to the floor beside the footlocker, firing off a sly wink at me while he waits for me to join him.

I take one more glance at Fox’s grinning face before kneeling down and facing Boxcar. He’s already in position with his right arm forward, eagerly awaiting me to take his hand. His fingers wave at me and I hesitate briefly before laying my elbow down and placing my palm against his.

I touch him and a bolt of warmth charges up to my shoulder blade.

Fox clears his throat. “Okay… are we ready?”

“Ready,” I say, wrapping my fingers around Boxcar’s. His knuckles quake with nervousness but he tries to hide it.

“Ready,” he says.

Fox takes a quick step back. “Three, two, —
Boxcar, don’t look down
— one.
Go!
”

Boxcar flinches. “What—?”

It’s too late for him to absorb the warning. I flex, bringing his attentions back to me and he gives my hand a hard shove in the other direction.

I’ll admit — he’s not as weak as he seems. He definitely doesn’t have a bodybuilder’s physique but I can’t help but glance at his bicep as his shirt tightens around it.

Boxcar lets out a struggled breath and my ears twitch. A grunt escapes his lips and it travels down my back, all the way to my kneecaps. I shake it off, ignoring the quiver between my thighs and tighten my grip on him. His eyes wander my face and for a brief moment, the struggle in his eyes fades into a look of lust. It twists at me, knocking me off balance enough that my strength almost slips completely.

His eyes flick downward and I shift my shoulders forward to deepen my cleavage.

“Cheater!”
Rogers shouts.

I feel Boxcar’s strength waver for just a moment but that’s all I need to send his hand down to the footlocker.

Boxcar shakes his head, jerking his eyes away from my breasts. “Wait— what?”

Fox reaches for my hand and raises it high. “And we have a winner.”

I stand up. “Sorry, Carson. You can pay me back later.”

Boxcar stays on the floor, positively dumbstruck while his eyes blink away from my chest. “Damn…”

“I told you not to look down, man,” Fox tells him, shrugging his wide shoulders.

I walk back to my cot and Rogers and West shake their heads at me again. I ignore them, forcing my attentions back to my disassembled revolver, hoping this throbbing feeling beneath my skin goes away quickly.

Manly grunts resume but they don’t affect me nearly as much as Boxcar’s did. I keep my head down, breathing steadily as the menial task takes hold of me and my pulse resumes its normal rhythm.

“Fawn!”

I look up to find Sergeant Rhys standing at the end of my cot. “Yes, sir?” I ask, jumping up.

“Where’s Carson?”

“Oh, he’s—” I pause mid-point, realizing that he’s not on his cot. A quick glance around tells me he’s nowhere around. It’s just Fox, Rogers, and West. “He was here a few minutes ago.”

Rhys stares back at me with annoyance. “Well, go find him. We don’t need him wandering around alone,
remember
? Bring him to me. I need to see that radar footage from earlier.”

“Yes, sir.” I bend over to find my boots, silently cursing his name.
Dammit, Carson.

Fox gestures to Rhys. “Sir, have you heard from command about the convoy?”

Rhys’ face falls. “Yeah… they said to ignore it.”

“Ignore it?”

He nods. “Apparently, it’s not interesting enough to waste resources on. I’ll keep you guys updated if they say anything else, but in the meantime — ignore it.” He spins around to leave, firing a quick glance at me. “And find Carson.”

I wait for the sergeant to disappear before heaving a hard sigh at Fox. “Did you see him leave?”

He shakes his head. “I’ll go with you.”

I slide my jacket on and wait for him to lace his boots before charging outside into the windy night.

“This guy is really starting to piss me off,” I murmur, glancing around the nearly abandoned camp.

Fox grins. “You should cut him some slack.”

“Why?”

“Caleb… come on. It’s obvious.”

“I know it is and I don’t like it. This isn’t the place for his crush.”

“It’s not just
his
.”

I stop in my tracks. “Excuse me?”

He smirks. “Caleb.”

“What?”

A spark of amusement crawls across his face.
“Caleb.”

My jaw sags. “You think
I
…?
Him?
”

“Yup.”

“That guy?”

“Yup.”

“The man named Boxcar?”

“That’s the one.”

“Are you
crazy
?”

He laughs. “It’s not that crazy, Caleb.”

“Did he put you up to this?” I ask. “I don’t need you trying to
incept
me, Fox. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Says who?” I glare at him and he laughs again. “Caleb, I’m not
not
on your side here. But I do think you’re jumping the gun a little bit with the suspicion that
this guy
is somehow a criminal mastermind sent to infiltrate the U.S. Army and kill us all.”

“Then what is he doing out here?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?”

“I will.” I cross my arms. “As soon as I find him.”

Fox points a finger over my shoulder and I turn around. Boxcar sits about twenty feet away, leaning nonchalantly against a crate with his laptop once again balanced on his thighs.