Danger Calls. Caridad Pineiro

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СКАЧАТЬ the first level when he heard the grate of a key in the lock. “Well look who’s finally home.”

      “I have an early morning,” Diana answered as she entered the apartment.

      Sebastian gave her a puzzled look.

      “Ryder’s still weak. He needs to rest—”

      “And he’s not about to get it with you around,” he said with a knowing grin.

      Diana smiled and grabbed the squeeze balls from the desk. She juggled them at a speed well beyond what Sebastian could manage. But then again, Diana never did anything at normal levels. Including picking a boyfriend.

      “Show-off,” Sebastian teased and Diana playfully tossed the balls at him in response.

      Sebastian managed to catch them all as his sister peeked at the screen. “What are you working on?”

      Rising, Sebastian blocked Diana’s view of the monitor, leaned on the edge of the desk and crossed his arms. “Hacking into classified FBI files to see what’s new with my sis and her furry friends.”

      She crossed her arms and stood before him, impatiently tapping one sensibly-soled foot. “Ryder’s not furry.”

      “Oh, yeah. That’s right. He’s just life-challenged?” He cocked an eyebrow.

      Diana tried to see around him, but Sebastian dodged left and right, blocking her view. With a huff, Diana finally said, “You’re not hacking me, right? I mean, I know you could do it, but you didn’t. Right?”

      He grinned and stepped aside to show her the frozen scene in the game. “I could, but I won’t because you’d have to bring me in.” He held his hands out in front of him, pretending he was about to be handcuffed.

      His sister slapped his hands away. “Cut it out, hermanito. Concerned brother slash hacker extraordinaire that you are, you wouldn’t put me in that difficult a position.”

      Sebastian joined her on the couch as she kicked off her shoes. He watched his sister intently as he said, “Things are tough enough, aren’t they? What with Ryder and stuff.”

      Diana met his gaze squarely. “I’m assuming Melissa came by?”

      “She did. Explained her problem. I’m not sure what to do,” Sebastian admitted.

      “About her or the project?”

      “The project and nothing but the project.”

      “Funny. My radar hinted the two of you had connected.”

      Sebastian tried to laugh off the suggestion. He was hesitant to admit he and Melissa had shared a night together. “Yeah, like a wrong number kind of connect.”

      Diana rose from the sofa and placed her hands on her hips, drawing open her suit jacket slightly. She scrutinized him much the way she would a suspect. “Guess I was wrong.”

      “Yep. Major League error.”

      His sister smirked, confirming she recognized the lie for what it was. She playfully chucked him on the chin. “Little bro, you may fool some women with that pretty-boy face, but not this girl.”

      Ruefully shaking his head, Sebastian said, “We’ve been through too much together, huh?”

      And wasn’t that an understatement of gigantic proportions? In the year after their father’s death, Sebastian had tried to help his sister cope with the pain. His sister had always been the strong one—until their father had been killed and Diana had fallen apart.

      Diana had entered a dark and dangerous world, and Sebastian had thought he could somehow keep her from totally going over the edge. So he’d gone with her to clubs for those who liked to live precariously; been by her side on many a late night. Tried to make sure that in the numbing haze created by one too many tequila shooters, Diana did nothing that would harm her.

      The defiant streak inside of him had responded to the make-no-excuses, take-no-crap kind of life. In that blurry world of alcohol and angry music, he’d finally discovered peace. He’d realized there was nothing wrong in walking his own path, rather than toeing his father’s line. His dead father, who he’d never been able to please anyway.

      Rebellion suited Sebastian and gave him a place where he was free of his pain. But the freedom had been an illusion, and a dangerous one at that. The partying and drinking had only numbed his guilt over never having lived up to his father’s expectations.

      It had taken great strength to untangle all the conflicting emotions within himself, to deal with Diana’s pain, and his own, and find a way back to who he really was. It hadn’t been easy, but it had made him a stronger man.

      Years later, he had finally accepted that he could never have been the son his father wanted. The best he could do was be his own man.

      “There’s a lot going on now, and I’ve dragged you into it again, haven’t I?” There was an edge of anguish in his sister’s voice that Sebastian hated to hear.

      “You love Ryder and he makes you happy. I would never wish anything different for you.”

      “But you want something different for yourself?” she pressed, apparently hearing something behind his words.

      “I want the Happily Ever After, but with someone simple.”

      “Someone not like Melissa—is that it?”

      Sebastian was finding it difficult not to confide in his sister since they’d never kept anything from each other before. He didn’t want to start now. “There was something between us,” he said, although he didn’t quite know what to call the night he and Melissa had shared.

      “Something, huh? You think you can just make that something go away?”

      “I’m trying, although it’s not easy,” he stated flatly. “There are other things in my life that keep me busy.”

      “Like your games? And your hacking?” Sebastian flinched as he heard the echo of his father’s words lashing out at him. Like father, like daughter.

      Diana must have realized she’d struck a sore point, for she apologized instantly. “I didn’t mean to condemn.”

      “Didn’t you? You sounded just like him. RoboCop redux.”

      Her color paled at his rebuke and her generous mouth thinned into a tight line. But she still reached out and laid a hand on Sebastian’s leg in an effort to soothe the sting of her words. “Hermanito, I’m sorry. It’s just you and I are so different that way.”

      “Don’t I know it. Didn’t Dad tell me often enough that I should be more responsible? That I should care about school more.” His sister started to speak but Sebastian silenced her with an angry wave of his hand. “You know what I remember best about Dad? Besides watching him die in your arms?” He paused, although he expected no answer to his question. “I must have been thirteen or fourteen. I was playing a game up in my room and Dad came in. He sat beside me, watching the screen but not talking. I tried to explain the rules, but after a few minutes, Dad mumbled something about wasting time playing games СКАЧАТЬ