Page 105 of Smart Ass

Ben

“Explain how you circumvented the security measures of the Orbit mainframe computer.”

Ben looked over to Justice. They gave him a single elegant nod, setting their earrings chiming under their loose natural curls. Their gold-painted eyes were calm and serene.

It was such a relief having them here. Weird, of course, seeing them in this context where he was an actual potential criminal, instead of a brat stirring up trouble at the club.

Hopefully Max was just as relieved by Rashid’s support.

Ben explained the commands he’d given. Which structures he’d left in place and which ones he’d removed. He hadn’t wanted to explain how Max rerouted the traffic, but they’d apparently already figured it out and were just waiting for details.

Justice had advised him to be as honest and comprehensive as possible, and not be shy about putting his care for Evan, Quincy, and Max on display.

What he wasn’t supposed to do was make smart-assed quips or get angry.

But it was difficult when they kept asking bullshit questions like “did you consider the lives at stake when you let an unskilled spark take over a municipal traffic system?” and “how do you know that Max was being honest when he said the second Orbit system overload was an accident?”

He couldn’t very well say that Max had been using a naked sexbot to lightly strangle him while fucking his mouth with its tongue.

For science, of course.

Justice had been very clear that Ben wasn’t supposed to disclose any romantic relationship with Max. Ben had been about to quip that it wasn’t romance so much as… But they’d shut him down quickly. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

There were a lot of people out there who still had an anti-spark prejudice, especially when it came to relationships. Fucking bigots.

So Ben had been talking vaguely about Max practicing different skills without being able to describe any of them.

Shit. What if they found the maintenance room?

Well, it would be kind of hilarious to see federal agents tripping all over the colorful dildos… if there weren’t so many consequences.

“Your pulse just jumped,” the interrogator told him. “What were you thinking about?”

Ben stared back at her. Technically, she was an interviewer, but it sure felt like an interrogation.

And what had he been thinking about?

Dildos?

“Uh… sorry, ma’am. I have no idea what I was thinking about. It’s like a squirrel at an amusement park in here.” He tapped his temple.

Justice closed their eyes.

The interrogator gave him a look. “Explain it to me again.”

“Uh… which part?”

Justice’s expression promised punishments, and a lot of them. Though he didn’t really want to be punished by anyone but Max anymore.

And he truly had no idea what he was supposed to explain again. He’d already gone over everything a dozen times, and his eyes felt gritty.

“Let’s talk about the hospital files again.”

Yeah, so they’d figured that out. And that Max had hacked into the police officers’ body camera, but not the actual criminal record files.

As if that made a difference at this point.

“Max was only looking up Evan’s files. That’s it. He gave me three reports on Evan’s medical condition and told me what room he was being transferred to. I’m already listed as Evan’s emergency contact, so it’s all information I’m entitled to anyway.”