Page 214 of Claim Me
Even if it lasted only a brief moment, it still feels like a sign that maybe, slowly, we’ll grow even closer in the future.
But for now, even this calm pace makes me genuinely happy.
When we eat, Simon unexpectedly comes in and informs Blue that the meeting with the college chancellor is finally going to happen. After being pushed back again and again, it’s actually set this time. Hearing that, I feel this sudden spike of negative emotion, way stronger than it should be, and for a second I wonder where it’s coming from. Then I remember that asshole alpha professor who snapped at Blue and called him a eunuch, and I tell myself that’s probably why I have zero desire to see that bastard again.
We’re scheduled to leave at 9 pm.
Simon leaves and we finish breakfast.
But right before we’re about to head for the elevator, Blue gets a phone call.
"Adams? What’s up?"
He hesitates, then instead of walking toward the elevator, he stops in the living room and sits on the armrest of one of the chairs.
Adams’s muffled voice carries faintly from Blue’s phone.
"I think we may have our first breakthrough, Mr. Lowen. I was reviewing yesterday’s lab reports, and it looks like your suggestions were correct…"
Blue glances at me, covers the phone with his hand, and says,
"Wait for me in your room for a bit. I need to take this call."
I raise my brows slightly, because usually Blue has no problem talking around me, even about highly confidential matters, but this time there’s clearly something he wants to discuss without involving anyone else, even me.
So I head back to my room. I haven’t used it or slept there in days, so when I sit down on the edge of the bed, the place feels strangely unfamiliar.
My life has become tangled up with Blue’s now. We sleep together, wake up together, eat together, go everywhere together, so maybe it’s ridiculous, but the fact that he suddenly sent me away feels… unsettling somehow.
Dear Fate, what kind of absurdity is this? Have I really gotten so attached to him that I can’t handle a few minutes without him around?
At this rate I’ll start following him into the bathroom too, maybe even holding his dick while he pees.
A dumb laugh slips out of me, because my obsession with Blue seems to be getting stronger every day, and it’s starting to feel unhealthy.
Then my eyes land on my hacking setup, sitting unused in the corner.
Well… there just hasn’t been any need for it lately, since we’re constantly together with Blue.
Out of boredom, on a stupid impulse, I walk over to it.
Maybe I could use it?
Just listen in for a few sentences. Why not. I’m curious about what kind of secret Blue is keeping from me. Maybe it’s childish, because obviously we’re both entitled to our own little secrets, we’re not each other’s slaves. Oh, well.
The minutes pass, and I grow more and more bored.
I stare at the setup with unfocused eyes. Ah, the hell with it. I simply pull out the chair and sit down.
The receiver array comes alive under my hands. SDR module, antenna tuner, packet monitor. I load the profile I built for Blue’s glasses weeks ago. I don’t hunt through frequencies this time, no need for reverse engineering from scratch. I already know the handshake structure, the timing window, the ugly little quirks buried inside the protocol.
The connection locks in fast.
Blue’s voice reaches me a second later, clear, like I was standing next to him in the living room.
"…the problem is still the carrier," he says. "Impulses that weak degrade too easily. Even when they leave a trace, the signal disperses before you can maintain coherence."
Adams answers with something equally dense about substrate instability and neural persistence.
