Free Cipher by Aileen Erin Page A

but Marquez was watching me. If I ran, would he follow? If I stayed, would he ask questions or just hit on me?
    Hitting on me I could deal with. I’d turned guys down before. Not guys I was attracted to, but the technique was the same. I just had to stay firm.
    Mona grabbed my arm. “Where are you going? He said to wait.”
    I blew out a breath. “Nowhere.” Apparently.
    “This way.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd around the back of the demo area.
    “Wait there,” Oliver called out. “We need a sec.”
    Mona gave him a thumbs up. I scanned the faces in front of me, but Marquez wasn’t anywhere. I hoped he’d get back soon, or else I was bailing.
    Maybe I should just go. Like now.
    “Hey,” said a deep voice behind me.
    Chills broke out along my skin. I made myself turn and it hit me again. Stupid hormones. He’d been shirtless a second ago, but with his shirt on…he was still annoyingly good looking. That didn’t mean I could act on anything.
    I sniffed. What was that? Oak? Man? Wow. Was that really how he smelled? Did his sweat smell good?
    I was a sick, sick girl.
    “You okay?”
    My skin heated.
    “Are those freckles?” He went to touch my nose and I jerked back.
    “Yeah.” But I couldn’t let him touch me.
    His grin did something melty to my insides. “I like them.”
    “Ookaaay.” I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with that bit of information. It wasn’t like I’d added them for his benefit. They were just there.
    He was quiet for a little too long. The way he stared down at me with his hands on his hips, as if he was studying every piece of my face, trying to make sense of something, made me feel like I was coming unglued. “What?”
    “Do I look familiar to you at all?”
    I crossed my arms, trying to look more severe and most likely failing. “Nope. We just met. Remember? Me, Cipher. You, Marquez. Hello and welcome to five seconds ago.”
    He laughed and I felt it tingle along my skin. “I hear you’re looking for something of mine?”
    Of his? No. He couldn’t be. Crackhead would’ve told me if I were meeting the actual Knight. “I’m looking for a special kind of processor.”
    “Mine are very special.”
    He was bullshitting me. “A very specific, top-of-the-line processor.”
    “Aww. You think my stuff’s top of the line. That’s—”
    “Knight!” A voice rang out, and Marquez turned.
    No way.
    “What’s up?” he said to another guy dressed all in black.
    No fucking way. He couldn’t be the Knight. It wasn’t possible. I knew him. We chatted online a lot. I’d know if he had a helix. Wouldn’t I?
    “Boss man wants a word.”
    The fun, flirting guy was gone in an instant. His expression turned flat and so cold it gave me chills. I didn’t know who the boss man was, but I was glad it wasn’t me.
    “Be there in five,” Marquez said.
    “Chatting with a lady fan? No worries. I got your back.”
    “Thanks.” Knight focused back on me.
    “Knight?”
    “That’s me,” he said with a nod.
    I swallowed. The guy I’d been chatting with for years was a Black Helix. Had I really been friends with the enemy? “Bullshit. Knight’s not a helix.”
    “A dual helix. And yes. Yes, he is.” He crossed his arms. “But are you the real Cipher?”
    I rolled my eyes. “I am. Prove you’re Knight. We talked four months ago. March twenty-sixth. About what?”
    He blew out a breath. “Four months ago? March twenty-sixth. Hmm. That was when I was…” He paused. “Right. We talked about a few things. Strategy in FV34. The latest episode of Along the Shore . And I think you brought up some lame classic movie.”
    He was so wrong. We’d gone back and forth for hours about it. “It’s not a lame movie. It’s hilarious. I can’t help it if you have no sense of humor.”
    He grinned. “I have a fantastic sense of humor. You just have bad taste. Why didn’t you tell me you’re a girl? Why the charade?”
    I used a vocoder whenever I talked