Mind Code (Coded Connections Duet #2)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Amelia

A sudden noise jolts me awake, sending my heart pounding in my chest.

I sit up in bed, my ears straining to catch any sound. There it is again—a faint plink, like water dripping. My heartrate kicks up, my breath quiet and measured. I left the lights on because I was afraid to sleep here alone, but now, even the brightness can’t chase away the anxiety gripping my heart.

I reach for my glasses on the nightstand, and slip them on as I climb out of bed, each movement cautious as I strain to hear the noise again. When my feet hit the cold floor, a shiver races up my spine, and I swear my heart stops.

Once I’m sure I can manage, I walk to the bathroom, and the drip-drip-drip of water seems to grow louder with every step. Turning on the one light I didn’t already have on, I close the tap on the sink faucet, but then the sudden noise of the ventilation starting up makes me jump and my heart race even faster.

Fuck, Amelia. Relax.

I grab a plush yellow hoodie from the bathroom hook, and pull it over my head for comfort before I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My braid looks as messy as I feel, with strands of hair escaping in every direction.

I’m still anxious as I head back to bed and lay down, trying to calm my breath. My eyes flick to the clock on the nightstand.

It’s already one a.m.

Jetlag is still messing with me something fierce, but I thought I’d be able to manage at least some sleep before heading to work in a few hours.

So much for that plan.

Taking a few deep breaths, I will myself to relax, repeating calming mantras in my head. But each soft creak of the building makes my heart race anew, my imagination conjuring up a thousand terrifying scenarios. The anxiety builds until I can’t take it anymore. I throw off the covers and get up, my body moving almost of its own accord.

I head to the elevator. My fingers tremble as I press the button for their floor. The short ride up feels endless, but I still have to take a moment in front of their door to catch my breath, trying to gather my courage.

Why the hell didn’t I just text to see if they’re still up?

God, I’m such a Muppet.

Since my phone is still on my nightstand, I decide to knock, telling myself I can always go back home if they’re asleep. But it doesn’t even take a minute before the door opens. Oliver is standing there, not looking sleepy at all despite the late hour, his eyes widening as he takes in my disheveled state.

“Everything okay?” he asks at the same time I ask, “You’re still awake?”

He searches my face, and I feel my bottom lip tremble traitorously.

Safe .

The thought hits me like a ton of bricks.

They make me feel safe.

But I don’t know if I’ve messed that up by pushing them away since we got back.

God, why do I always sabotage myself?

Oliver’s brow furrows when he sees me blinking rapidly, trying to hold back tears.

Stanleys don’t cry.

“My Fave,” he whispers before pulling me into a tight hug. The scent of clean laundry and strawberry Chapstick envelops me, so familiar and comforting that emotions bubble up inside, threatening to overflow as I grip the fabric of his shirt. I bury my face in his chest, trying to hide from the world.

Fuck being a Stanley.

And just like that, the tears start to fall.

“Come on, let’s get you inside.” Oliver lets go of me to grab my hand and pull me inside.

Grey and Misha, who were sitting on the couch, stand immediately when they see me, concern etched on their faces as they come to stand beside us.

“What happened?” Grey asks, his eyes scanning me for any sign of injury.

They’re going to think I’m completely mental.

I pull away from Oliver, looking down at my feet, suddenly feeling foolish. Taking off my glasses to brush my tears away with the sleeve of my hoodie, I deflect. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Jet lag,” Misha says, reaching out to stroke my upper arm. “We still have some leftover spaghetti if you’re hungry.”

Oliver shakes his head, a hint of exasperation in his expression as he questions, “Does she look like she’s hungry? ”

Misha shrugs. “Food helps when I’m sad.”

Grey moves forward, pulling me out from between them and guiding me to the couch. He sits me down next to him and grabs my face between both hands, stroking my cheek with his thumbs. His eyes lock onto mine with an intensity that makes my breath catch. “Talk to us, Princess. What’s really going on?”

“I-I don’t… know,” I stammer, feeling small under his scrutiny. “There was a sound, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. It’s silly, really.”

Grey’s eyes narrow. “You’re still scared of being alone in your apartment, which is understandable. But why were you pushing us away? You don’t have to be alone ever again if you don’t want to. You can be here with us. Move in if you want. Take the spare room. Take any of our rooms.”

“I don’t know if I can trust this. You. Us. ” The words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them.

Ah, fuck.

Grey lets go of me, looking bewildered, his brow furrowing deeply. “What are you even talking about?”

My heart races as I try to articulate the jumble of thoughts in my head. “The cameras… and I know you said… but…”

Why is this so difficult?

Mr. Donovan’s voice echoes in my mind.

“They’ve earned your forgiveness. Now they need to earn your trust. Don’t pull away.”

Oliver’s face falls when he comes to sit on my other side. “You’re worried that we’re still watching you?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Misha looks hurt. “I thought we were past this?”

Well, if I hadn’t fucked up before , I just did.

A pang of guilt pierces my chest as I look down at my hands in my lap and start to nod, unable to meet their eyes. The silence in the room is deafening.

“Fuck,” Grey huffs out, his frustration evident. When I look up at him again, he’s running a hand through his hair, his jaw clenching tightly.

“Grey, relax,” Oliver says soothingly as he pulls me away from Grey and over his lap. His arms wrap around me protectively as he kisses my temple. “It’s a lot to ask for forgiveness.”

“No, I forgave you,” I hurry to say. “That’s the thing, I forgave you for what you did. I told you, but I don’t know if I can trust you not to do it again.”

“For fuck’s sake, Princess,” Grey mutters with a mixture of exasperation and something else I can’t quite place, but I can’t bring myself to meet the hurt in his eyes again.

“You told me that you’re sorry for how I found out, but not for watching me.” The words hang in the air, heavy and uncomfortable.

“She has a point there, man,” Misha says quietly, earning a scowl from Grey.

Oliver takes a deep breath, his chest rising and falling against my side. “So let’s break this down. You’ve forgiven us, you want to be with us, but you don’t trust us.” His voice is calm and measured, trying to find the logic in this.

My logic.

“Yet,” Misha interjects with a glimmer of hope.

I nod slowly, feeling a lump form in my throat.

“That’s fair,” Oliver agrees, his arms tightening around me.

“Trust takes time,” Misha adds, and his sincerity makes my heart ache. “As long as you give us the time to earn your trust again, I’m fine with that. But believe us, Amelia, we will never again do anything that could risk losing you. ”

I nod again and sniffle, feeling a tiny bit of relief wash over me.

“Come on, I think I have an idea that might help.” Oliver puts me on my feet and stands, taking my hand in his. He leads me to their home office, where the familiar hum of computers fills the air. Gesturing toward the monitors, he says, “Take a good look. Go through all our stuff if you want to. We’ve logged out of everything. We don’t have access anymore.”

“I can’t just look through your stuff,” I protest, turning to look at Grey and Misha who have followed us in.

Misha shrugs. “Sure you can. I have nothing to hide from you.”

Grey steps up to me, gripping my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “No secrets anymore,” he says before leaning in and giving me a peck on the lips.

I don’t like the idea of invading their privacy, but I reassure myself that I won’t look at anything personal. I just want to check what I saw when I first found out.

Maybe it will help.

Taking a deep breath, I start to navigate through the systems, ensuring that they’ve indeed logged out of everything. To my relief, they have. From what I can tell, there’s no backdoor either. But knowing them, there might be some I just can’t detect.

And they’d be back in there in no time if they really wanted to.

And I hate myself for thinking that.

When I’m done, I turn the chair and look up at them. “Thank you.”

“Do you want Jamie back?” Oliver asks softly, his eyes searching mine.

“We haven’t looked at him yet, but I saw that he made the emergency upload to the cloud,” Grey adds uncharacteristically gentle.

I hesitate, weighing my options. Jamie is something they could misuse, just as they already have. The thought of giving them anything that could tempt them makes my stomach churn.

I need this to work out.

“No… not yet, please.”

“Okay, just say the word if you change your mind,” Oliver says, reaching out to pull me up from the chair.

We walk back out to the couch, and Oliver tugs me to sit beside him. His arm wraps around me protectively as he begins to stroke my upper arm in soothing circles. Misha settles on my other side, his finger tracing lazy patterns on my knee over my sleep pants.

It’s just all in my head. I’m making things difficult for us.

Yes, they fucked up, but now they aren’t, and I’m the problem.

“I’m sorry.”

Oliver’s lips curve into a soft smile. “As you know, in tech, we don’t immediately launch stuff live. We identify the gaps and the areas that need improvement first.”

I furrow my brows. “We do, but what—”

“We beta test,” he explains with a smile that makes my heart skip a beat. “We iterate and refine the code until it’s solid and ready for release.”

“ Right… ” I murmur, still not quite grasping where he’s going with this.

“So, how about we beta test this relationship,” Oliver continues. “We’ll identify the trust issues—”

“The bugs , if you will,” Misha interjects with a playful smirk. I narrow my eyes at him, and he splutters to clarify, “Not that you’re the issue, we are— ”

Oliver smoothly cuts off Misha’s flustered ramblings. “And work on them. We’ll gather feedback and make necessary changes, just like we would with any complex system. You don’t have to give us your full trust right away, we can run this PC in safe mode first,” Oliver assures me, his fingers continuing their soothing motion on my arm. “But give us a reasonable timeframe to beta test. It’s a process, and it’ll take time, but just like refining an algorithm, we’ll get there. Together.”

Gnawing on my bottom lip, I consider his words.

I can give them that.

I can give us that.

“Okay,” I finally agree, feeling a small spark of hope. “Let’s beta test.”

Oliver and Misha smile at me, but when I glance over at Grey, I notice he’s back to scowling. Reaching over Oliver, I stretch out to grab Grey’s hand. To my surprise and relief, he pulls it up to his face and presses a gentle kiss to the back of it, instantly easing some of the tension coiled within me.

Misha picks up the remote and announces, “We were just about to watch Forbidden Planet . You’re fine with that, or should we pick something else?”

I snuggle deeper into Oliver while still holding Grey’s hand, his thumb stroking the back of mine. “I’m fine with whatever.”

Oliver plants a soft kiss on the top of my head, his lips lingering for a moment. As the glow from the screen fills the room, I already find myself slowly drifting off, lulled by the comfort of their presence and the familiar sounds of the sci-fi classic.

Safe.