Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“Well, he should,” Braden said. “It’s not smart.”
“He can’t stop. It’s part of who he is.” I held Kage’s gaze as I replied to Braden. “If you knew him better, you wouldn’t be worried, though. He knows what he’s doing. Nothing he does is ever accidental.”
Chapter 3
(KAGE)
THE conversation died in the kitchen as Jamie’s roommates and Layla-the-jealous-bitch continued to pick over the food on the table. Jamie just stood near the refrigerator watching them with a blank expression on his face.
“Come on, Jamie. Let’s go get something cleaner to eat.”
He blinked at me, as if unable to comprehend my words. “You don’t want any of the food I cooked?”
“Well, I love that you went to the trouble of cooking for me. It was nice. I just don’t think there’s enough for everyone.” I looked pointedly at his friends scarfing down the food. “Besides, I’d like to visit your school and see if it’s anything like I’ve been imagining when I picture you in class.”
“Oh, how sweet,” Layla mumbled around a mouthful of bacon.
I figured Jamie might prefer it if I ignored her, but I didn’t. “Could you swallow that mouthful of fat before you speak? It’s not very attractive.”
Trey stopped chewing and stared at me, and I knew what he was thinking. He was thinking, Man, I’d love to come to my girl’s defense… But then he’d probably kick my ass. Or something to that effect. He was smarter than he was brave, so he kept his mouth shut.
Jamie, however, wasn’t afraid of me.
“Kage, could you please not?”
“Please not what?” I demanded, moving to stand directly in front of him. “She started it. Am I just supposed to ignore her obvious digs? Dammit, you know what she’s doing. She might as well come right out and call us—”
Jamie slapped a hand over my mouth. I swear to God, if it had been anyone else pulling that shit, they would have been picking themselves up off the floor. As it was, I grabbed him roughly by the wrist and snatched his hand from my lips, squeezing his arm. I saw him wince, so I eased up on my grip.
“Don’t fucking cover my mouth, Jamie.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, working hard to stay calm. Then I released his arm. “Let’s just go, okay? I’m getting hungry.”
He nodded, and no one tried to speak to us as we left the kitchen. Jamie grabbed his car keys off his bedside table, and then he reached out to unplug his phone from the charger. I shushed him with a finger against my lips and depressed the device’s power switch. Then I removed it from the charger and placed my own phone beside it on the table.
“What if we have an emergency?” he asked.
“It’ll be fine. Just be quiet for a minute.”
He looked skeptical, but he did as I asked and left his phone without a word. Once we were outside, I pulled Jamie into an alcove near his condo door and explained.
“Remember I told you I thought our phones were being blocked and possibly tapped?”
He nodded, his forehead wrinkling in alarm.
“Well, I got to thinking… Aaron is paranoid as hell, and he’s always imagining somebody’s watching or listening to him, so that’s nothing new. But he happens to be a surveillance expert, and he said that anyone can use your phone as a listening device, like a bug. All they have to do is access your phone while it’s hooked in to a network, and they can either infiltrate one of your installed apps or do a stealth install of a new app.”
“Are you for real? That sounds like something from a James Bond movie. Also, I thought Aaron was mute.”
“Nah, he can talk just fine. But he only talks around people he trusts. Probably a side effect of working in surveillance. I imagine that knowing all of the ways someone could be listening to you might make you scared to say anything important or incriminating unless you feel completely safe. Anyway, Aaron said the way to tell if your phone has been compromised is to charge it to a hundred percent, power it down, and then leave it off of the charger for several hours. A phone that’s being used as a bug will function even with the power off, which means the battery will still run down.”
“Uh…” Jamie ran a hand through his hair and whipped his head around, presumably looking for spies. “That is really creepy. Why would someone be using my phone as a listening device?”
“It’s all about me. You know that.”
“But why? I don’t understand. This isn’t a movie, Kage.”
I went to shove my hands into my pockets, only to discover I was wearing Jamie’s ridiculous sweatpants, so I fiddled with the string instead. It was so difficult to be completely honest with him. Not because I didn’t want to share, but because I worried about him. Maybe knowing too much wasn’t a good thing for a clueless college boy who was flirting with the dark side.